August 24th, 2008 - Evening Holy Family - Creator Joint Worship

On August 19, 2007 (after a number of meetings together and enthusiastic planning) the Episcopalian Holy Family Fellowship families and Creator Lutheran celebrated their first joint worship. It was pure celebration. Pastor Dayle described that first service a year ago in this way “We eat, we worship, we pray, we laugh, we sing, we create community. This is very cool!”

There was the same joy but mixed with other complex feelings as well in this evening service as Rt. Reverend Sandy Hampton, on behalf of the Episcopal Diocese, entrusted the Holy Family fellowship to Creator Lutheran Church and our call to common mission.

The table fellowship of the potluck picnic was great. Reverend Julie, Reverend Jamie, Reverend Maureen and Reverend Al were all present together with people from Holy Family and Creator. The conversations were animated throughout the room. It ended with gifts being exchanged between the children with Reverend Maureen.

Similarities and differences between Creator and Holy Family services always give me a greater understanding of God's spirit. Seeing how these families worship as parents and children make me thankful they will worship with our congregation.

The worship reflected our feeling of community for the opening hymn We are Marching in the Light of God to the closing anthem Make a Joyful Noise which the children present did wih great delight. That all did not go as the families or the diocese hoped or expected was named and was present at the worship as well. Tokens of promise were given by the families to Reverend Al, who represented Creator as Pastor. These were touching, meaningful moments.

We look forward to the new ways we will find to follow common mission and worship with everyone we have come to know at Holy Family services.

August 24th, 2008 - Rock and Affirmation of Welcome

It was nice to see Liz worshipping for the first time since her accident. She was in a wheelchair. Still she was in good spirits and joked how much her current eye level gave her a new perspective on how much decorating she needed to do for this level.

There was an announcement that David Lee's mother passed away today. The congregation felt his loss. Kelly played piano and sang for the worship music. Overall there was a majestic grandeur to the music, particularly during Creator Praise.

Father Al centered Children's Time on the gospel image of Peter as the rock on which Jesus proclaims the church will be built. The kids received rocks and also passed out rocks to the congregation. Father Al talked about the properites that made them the same (small, shiny smooth) and what made them unique (color and shapes).

We sang The Church's One Foundation as opening hymn and one part of the sermon highlighted the words we had sung. Particularly, Father Al linked those words with what many of us had seen last week in the Beijing Olympics, the image of the runner in the race pushing himself to do his best suddenly entering a stadium filled with cheers. The words of the hymn and triumphant Olympic images blended powerfully.

Our August RIC activity took place after the service. The second lesson in worship was Romans 12 which teaches we each are given different powers while still being one body in Christ. A fitting lesson to keep in mind for the Reconciling in Christ process.

This Sunday we planned to talk about the language of Creator's draft affirmation of welcome. Instead those in attendance continued the conversation regarding fears, concerns and what excites us about RIC. The team was a bit surprised by what needed to be explained and emphasized to this group today.

On Sunday there was a discussed perception that the same people come to these RIC events each time and that we "preach to the choir". Yet the heartfelt feedback on Sunday that reached me was coming from those for whom Sunday was only their first or second RIC event.

In particular we discussed the Affirmation of Welcome detailing who we welcome as opposed to a blanket "all are welcome". This is at the heart of being an RIC congregation. This is why we need to develop the language of the Affirmation. "All are welcome" may not be as deep a commitment as when the groups we welcome that have not been necessarily welcome in the past are listed.

For example, one of our proposed explicit welcomes connected Sunday with someone who was divorced. There are other Creator members who still feel uncomfortable with a divorce in their past. They are hesitant to share their past because of their church's reactions and pronouncements at the time of their divorces.

I hope the RIC team can work with the congregation to take this journey of discernment more hand in hand with the congregation.

August 17th, 2008 – Singing God’s Song

Father Al presided and Team Hope was the volunteer Spiritworks team. It was great to see people like Peg, taking on a task that was new to them. She beamed as a greeter. There was an enthusiasm that filled all the volunteers.

The service was filled with music. Luke and Stephanie performed a piece We Fall Down. Luke was on piano and shared vocals with Stephanie. There is something about sibiling vocals that can blend in a unique way and Stephanie and Luke's talent was evident. Geoff played violin for music during communion. We sang Kelly’s liturgy with Kelly at piano and David on drums.

There are those in the congregation that are currently inspired by what WELCA and the Spiritworks teams are doing. Ruth and Nita announced a year-long project WELCA is involved in, where they will be providing midwifery kits to those in need in Africa. One part of that work is knitting infant caps. Spiritworks is bringing out new volunteers for different pieces of the service.

The youth currently took inspiration from their recent trip south. During the majority of this service’s sermon some of the youth shared their stories of the Western State Youth Gathering they attended in Anaheim. Others shared stories of their mission trip to Tijuana, Mexico. During Creator Praise we sang Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord partially in Spanish and the youth shouted out “Gloria a dios” Glory to God instead of the usual “Hoo-Rah”.

The youth reported, during the sermon, hearing about Invisible Children, an organization working to provide educational and economic opportunity to displaced children in Uganda and Dafur.

Another experience that made an impression on them was hearing John Nelson speak. John’s joints are locked from his neck down and he has no control over any of his limbs but he is Assistant Coach at Pacific Lutheran. His story was dramatic and inspirational.

Those that discussed the mission trip to Tijuana talked about the different way children and adults approach life there. They felt changed by being with people who were not part of the consumer lifestyle that we have in America. They were impressed with the Mexican society they were exposed to where relationships were given priority over schedule.

This was an important trip for the youth and gave them a new perspective on mission and being sent to help. There was a piece of being ministered to as well ministering.

August 10th, 2008 - βαπτίζω : A Sacred Double Baptism and the Creator Conversation

The Sunday service and the Creator Conversation afterwards were very special, a gift and blessing.

This was a double baptism; Lauren, "almost 3 years old" according to her (birthday in October) and her uncle Stephen. It was a joyous and wet affirmation - a tangible expression of love and obedience to God.

The Rev. Mary Peterson presided and the Spiritworks team volunteers for the service were Team Faith. They all contributed to the atmosphere of this service that held our hearts fast. Annie was the Assisting Minister. She did not wear an alb and, interestingly; together with other elements of the service; that gave the baptism a less formal look and established a feeling of a community piece to this baptism.

Lauren was incredibly energetic and curious. Her enthusiasm for all the parts of the sacrament contributed to the beauty of the baptism. At one point Pastor Mary could tell that Lauren was eager to move ahead on the baptism and Mary cut short what she was saying to move the sacrament along.

The water used to baptize Lauren and Stephen came from the river Jordan. Jane and Don, parents of Stephen, grandparents of Lauren, I’m sure were the ones who supplied that water. Physical and spiritual journeys tie together with their stories of trips to the Holy Land. I don’t know whether it was where the water came from or not but both Lauren and Stephen were particularly wet after the baptism.

Also, as Stephen was baptized, he moved his head to be eye-level with Lauren. I wish I had a picture of the joy in his face at that moment.

After the service was the Creator Conversation. A group of forty met after the service to talk about Creator’s ministry with Rev. Mary facilitating. There were two lists developed. One was a list of words about what ministry was to us. The other, a list of words associated with not ministering.

Pastor May asked what came to our minds as we read both lists. There were expected responses but Susan, our council president, came up with the something that stuck with many of us. She said both lists seemed contagious to her.

There was food for the event. I sat close to Debi and she was peeling and eating oranges. The conversation we were having fused with the fresh scent of oranges for me and I felt close to everyone in the discussion.

Leaving Creator I believe many people were feeling revitalized with a new sense of purpose.