Fellow Ministers in SoTac,
Great thanks to John and his talented church member who fixed some dang good crossaint sandwiches. Yumm. In addition, the Korean coffee is always a treat. Thanks.
Originally, I'd thought I would miss the morning as my wife is due on Feb. 5th. But as of the writing of this recap, the baby is still hanging out in the warmth of the womb. Thanks for your prayers.
The Word
While stuffying our 'cakeholes' we started to share any reflections we'd had from the Word. What followed was a pretty cool sharing of insight. Kaj shared about a passage from Acts 11:27 in which despite the prediction of a severe famine, the believers in Antioch took up a collection to help out those in Judea. Rich shared about some of his digging into the Psalms with Psalm 38 during which David 'fesses up' and then really experiences God's grace. John talked a bit about the ways God motivates us, stick, carrot and ultimatley love. I talked a bit about the questions I think we all ask in in some way. Is God real? If so, does this God have power to change things? If so, does this powerful God care anything about me? Psalm 62 gave me some hope in the answer to these questions. Each one of these reflections was like a gold mine and is impossible to recap completely here.
Agendas
Next, we started to answer the question, "What is our agenda?" I confessed, as I mentioned in the previous post, that if I have an agenda it is simply for us, as Pastors in South Tacoma, to continue meeting so that we might build enough trust between one another that when God presents us with an opportunity or challenge uniquely suited for us to collectively address that we would be united enough to faithfully do so. Okay, that is perhaps worded a little better than what I said on Wednesday. Others echoed this sentiment, but added a couple of other words to their agendas such as 'comraderie,' 'mutual support,' 'reminder we aren't alone,' and 'prayer.'
Prayer
We closed our time in prayer and I want to officially offer my apologies to Jeff for cutting him off at one short prayer. I was confused and I am sorry. I promise folks will be allowed to pray more than once next time. :).
Next Breakfast
Wednesday, March 4th 8:30 at Puget Sound Christian Center
Shaloma in South Tacoma, Ken
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Feb Breakfast Reminder
Fellow Ministers in So Tac,
First, the news, we have no news yet as our 3rd child has decided to remain in my wife, Erin's, womb for a bit longer. We aren't due until Thursday, so we haven't started to worry yet. That being said, I did have a death in the congregation and the memorial is on Thursday. So, you can keep us in your prayers for both of these endeavors.
Now the reminder. Our next breakfast is tomorrow, Wednesday, Feb. 4th at 8:30 at Green Pastures Presbyterian which is located at the corner of 66th and Junnett on the East side of South Tacoma Way. I just talked with John and he is getting all ready for us. Assuming that I will not be there, I'm sending a rough agenda for us to continue to talk about and so here it goes.
1. What interesting things are going on in your ministry or life?
2. What weeds do you notice in our community that need pulling?
3. What seeds do you notice in our community that need tending?
John asked me if I had an overall agenda for this group. It was a good question to which i answered yes and no. I don't have a specific agenda for this group to accomplish, but i do have a hope that we will come to a place of mutual trust amongst one another that when God reveals to us what he would like us to do together, that we would have enough unity to engage that work. So, in short, my agenda is for us to build trust between one another with the hopes that it will lead to a greater amount of God's shalom being reflected in South Tacoma. That's my hope. Perhaps that would be a good question to pose to the rest of the group. Do you have an agenda or hope for this group?
Grace and Peace, Ken
First, the news, we have no news yet as our 3rd child has decided to remain in my wife, Erin's, womb for a bit longer. We aren't due until Thursday, so we haven't started to worry yet. That being said, I did have a death in the congregation and the memorial is on Thursday. So, you can keep us in your prayers for both of these endeavors.
Now the reminder. Our next breakfast is tomorrow, Wednesday, Feb. 4th at 8:30 at Green Pastures Presbyterian which is located at the corner of 66th and Junnett on the East side of South Tacoma Way. I just talked with John and he is getting all ready for us. Assuming that I will not be there, I'm sending a rough agenda for us to continue to talk about and so here it goes.
1. What interesting things are going on in your ministry or life?
2. What weeds do you notice in our community that need pulling?
3. What seeds do you notice in our community that need tending?
John asked me if I had an overall agenda for this group. It was a good question to which i answered yes and no. I don't have a specific agenda for this group to accomplish, but i do have a hope that we will come to a place of mutual trust amongst one another that when God reveals to us what he would like us to do together, that we would have enough unity to engage that work. So, in short, my agenda is for us to build trust between one another with the hopes that it will lead to a greater amount of God's shalom being reflected in South Tacoma. That's my hope. Perhaps that would be a good question to pose to the rest of the group. Do you have an agenda or hope for this group?
Grace and Peace, Ken
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Reflections from Jan 7th 2009 Breakfast
Notes from 1/7/08 STM Breakfast
Wow, if it weren’t so obvious that Jeff is called to children’s ministry, I’d push for him opening a restaurant in South Tacoma. Man, that was great. Big thanks to Jeff and the rest of the Celebration staff for their wonderful hospitality. It reminds me of a friend who just published a book about hospitality. Her theory was that hospitality is the central Christian discipline. I know the disciples on the road to Emmaus was a key passage for her as it wasn’t until they invited Jesus in and broke bread with him that they recognized who it was. I can say it was good to sit and continue to recognize Christ in one another this morning.
So, as usual, I try to do a little recap of our breakfasts and so here it is.
Introductions and Interesting things in our congregations.
It was good to welcome a new church representative to our fold in Bruce from Grace Lutheran on Tyler across from the new Gray. It was also good to hear snippets of how God has been working in our various congregations. What follows are just a few of the things of interest that I can recall: Baptism of a sixteen year old neighborhood kid. A letter from a lady who causes a lot of trouble in the church expressing an apology and her gratitude for the value of the pastor’s work. A church who was dedicated enough to come to worship despite the deep snow. Going from biking leather to the pastoral care minister. The value of a retired gentleman’s gifts being used to establish a ministry through the internet. A young girl who is so thirsty for community and worship of God that she begs to stay for two worship services. A 16 year old girl who has been through rehab and is now plugging into the youth group. A church that is committed enough to pray and fast for the first 21 days of 2009. A chance to minister to the women of the church even when you have to say tough things. Becoming a church that simply wants to do the Father’s will. And a church that has taken a courageous step to sell some of their land to Habitat for Humanity and welcome new neighbors to their former church property.
Wow, and this was all in the matter of a bout 20 minutes. Breaking bread (or cinnamon rolls). Recognizing Christ
Weed, Seed and Pray
After folks refilled with coffee, we attempted to pick up our last where we left off our last conversation which was stirred up by the question, “If it didn’t have to result in new members, what kind of ministry might God call us to in South Tacoma?” Previously, our conversation led us to begin to look at places in SoTac where weeds are choking life out of people while simultaneously looking at places where seeds are waiting to be protected, nurtured and fed. I asked where we’ve seen either of these over the last month. What follows are a few of the thoughts:
- The seed of desire for relationships for single folks in the community. Jeff offered the hope that this group might lead to some of those folks meeting one another
- The weed of drug trade and gang violence that tends to focus around the corner of 56th and Lakewood and the apartments that surround it
- The seeds that will now be arriving at the new Gray Middle School just down the street and the weeds of violence, poor self-image, etc. that try to choke their growth
After mentioning a few of these things, Jim helped raise a great question that our group will need to continue to wrestle with. I will do my best to reframe it and then if you get a chance or want to post some of your thoughts, please do and then this can be apart of our conversation next month. The question focuses around what and how. What is our hope for the community? How will we as Christians work toward that hope? I work best in continuums and so I’ll use one to express the question.
On one side sits the folks who say that what we hope for is that the hearts and souls of individuals might be changed to follow Jesus Christ. How we do this is through building relationships with those folks and inviting them to experience that relationship with Christ through our (or another) church. I’ll call this side approach ‘one by one.’
On the other end of the continuum sits the folks who believe that what we are hoping for is that the systems and structures of a place might be changed in such a way that the place might more closely reflect the kingdom of God. How we do this is by personally challenging the powers (calling the city to keep our drains clear) and by mobilizing the people to work towards these changes (organizing block meetings). I’ll call this approach the ‘systems and structures.’
There are other ways to name this ministry tension. In the past it has been divided with evangelical sitting on one side and social gospel sitting on the other. In the political realm it is sometimes divided between conservative and liberal. How we read the Bible and what passages we hold as more central than others has a great influence on where we land on this continuum. John 3:16 is a great passage to support the ‘one one one’ approach. While Paul in Ephesians seems to support the ‘systems and structures’ approach when he writes, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm.”
So, I think I will leave my reflection there. I’ve posted this reflection on a new blog that I just created for this group called ‘South Tacoma Ministers.” You can find the blog at www.sotacministers.blogspot.com. To protect our privacy, I’ve restricted access to only those in this group. If for some reason you can’t get on, then just e-mail me and I’ll add your name to the list. If you so desire, I invite you to post some of your own thoughts on this reflection.
I continue to look forward to working together with all of you as we strive together to be faithful to God’s call upon our individual and coporate lives in this place of South Tacoma where he has placed us.
Next Meeting:
Wednesday, February 4th at 8:30 at Green Pastures Presbyterian Church on the corner of 66th and Clement.
Wow, if it weren’t so obvious that Jeff is called to children’s ministry, I’d push for him opening a restaurant in South Tacoma. Man, that was great. Big thanks to Jeff and the rest of the Celebration staff for their wonderful hospitality. It reminds me of a friend who just published a book about hospitality. Her theory was that hospitality is the central Christian discipline. I know the disciples on the road to Emmaus was a key passage for her as it wasn’t until they invited Jesus in and broke bread with him that they recognized who it was. I can say it was good to sit and continue to recognize Christ in one another this morning.
So, as usual, I try to do a little recap of our breakfasts and so here it is.
Introductions and Interesting things in our congregations.
It was good to welcome a new church representative to our fold in Bruce from Grace Lutheran on Tyler across from the new Gray. It was also good to hear snippets of how God has been working in our various congregations. What follows are just a few of the things of interest that I can recall: Baptism of a sixteen year old neighborhood kid. A letter from a lady who causes a lot of trouble in the church expressing an apology and her gratitude for the value of the pastor’s work. A church who was dedicated enough to come to worship despite the deep snow. Going from biking leather to the pastoral care minister. The value of a retired gentleman’s gifts being used to establish a ministry through the internet. A young girl who is so thirsty for community and worship of God that she begs to stay for two worship services. A 16 year old girl who has been through rehab and is now plugging into the youth group. A church that is committed enough to pray and fast for the first 21 days of 2009. A chance to minister to the women of the church even when you have to say tough things. Becoming a church that simply wants to do the Father’s will. And a church that has taken a courageous step to sell some of their land to Habitat for Humanity and welcome new neighbors to their former church property.
Wow, and this was all in the matter of a bout 20 minutes. Breaking bread (or cinnamon rolls). Recognizing Christ
Weed, Seed and Pray
After folks refilled with coffee, we attempted to pick up our last where we left off our last conversation which was stirred up by the question, “If it didn’t have to result in new members, what kind of ministry might God call us to in South Tacoma?” Previously, our conversation led us to begin to look at places in SoTac where weeds are choking life out of people while simultaneously looking at places where seeds are waiting to be protected, nurtured and fed. I asked where we’ve seen either of these over the last month. What follows are a few of the thoughts:
- The seed of desire for relationships for single folks in the community. Jeff offered the hope that this group might lead to some of those folks meeting one another
- The weed of drug trade and gang violence that tends to focus around the corner of 56th and Lakewood and the apartments that surround it
- The seeds that will now be arriving at the new Gray Middle School just down the street and the weeds of violence, poor self-image, etc. that try to choke their growth
After mentioning a few of these things, Jim helped raise a great question that our group will need to continue to wrestle with. I will do my best to reframe it and then if you get a chance or want to post some of your thoughts, please do and then this can be apart of our conversation next month. The question focuses around what and how. What is our hope for the community? How will we as Christians work toward that hope? I work best in continuums and so I’ll use one to express the question.
On one side sits the folks who say that what we hope for is that the hearts and souls of individuals might be changed to follow Jesus Christ. How we do this is through building relationships with those folks and inviting them to experience that relationship with Christ through our (or another) church. I’ll call this side approach ‘one by one.’
On the other end of the continuum sits the folks who believe that what we are hoping for is that the systems and structures of a place might be changed in such a way that the place might more closely reflect the kingdom of God. How we do this is by personally challenging the powers (calling the city to keep our drains clear) and by mobilizing the people to work towards these changes (organizing block meetings). I’ll call this approach the ‘systems and structures.’
There are other ways to name this ministry tension. In the past it has been divided with evangelical sitting on one side and social gospel sitting on the other. In the political realm it is sometimes divided between conservative and liberal. How we read the Bible and what passages we hold as more central than others has a great influence on where we land on this continuum. John 3:16 is a great passage to support the ‘one one one’ approach. While Paul in Ephesians seems to support the ‘systems and structures’ approach when he writes, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm.”
So, I think I will leave my reflection there. I’ve posted this reflection on a new blog that I just created for this group called ‘South Tacoma Ministers.” You can find the blog at www.sotacministers.blogspot.com. To protect our privacy, I’ve restricted access to only those in this group. If for some reason you can’t get on, then just e-mail me and I’ll add your name to the list. If you so desire, I invite you to post some of your own thoughts on this reflection.
I continue to look forward to working together with all of you as we strive together to be faithful to God’s call upon our individual and coporate lives in this place of South Tacoma where he has placed us.
Next Meeting:
Wednesday, February 4th at 8:30 at Green Pastures Presbyterian Church on the corner of 66th and Clement.
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