I saw a piece in the news about Rick Warren and the Saddleback Church. This past Dec. 30 Pr. Warren put out an urgent appeal to his congregation for donations to cover an end of year deficit of $900,000. By the end of the next day, Dec. 31, they had received $2.4 MILLION, the vast majority of it in donations of less than a $1000 each.
On my study wall I have a cartoon from LEADERSHIP magazine. A man was enthusiastically shaking the pastor's hand on the church steps while saying, "I was glad to hear you say you didn't know where the money for the mission budget was going to come from. For a minute there I thought you wanted to get it from us."
Many years ago, while I was on internship, I learned a very important lesson in ministry, from the United Methodist president of the Ministerial Association in Greenwood S.C. The other pastors had complained that at all the meetings he brought in another area group asking for money. He said, "I don't know what your people are doing with their tithe, but most of mine are sitting on theirs. You never know what cause might melt someone's heart and open their pocketbook. Never hesitate to present people with an opportunity to be generous."
What I have learned since is that generosity breeds generosity. When something uncorks the willingness to give the cork seldom goes back in. People discover that not only does it not hurt to give, it actually feels good. We, the church, are called to encourage people to grow in their response to God's love.
And, to practice what I preach, the synod is experiencing a serious budget deficit, around $500,000 for the year. That amounts to less than $10 from each member of the synod. The result of the deficit is significantly decreased support of our agencies and institutions, severe cutbacks in programming, salary cuts and an impending staff layoff. Unlike Pr. Warren, the synod office does not have access to all the members of the synod.
Can you help? Can you ask others to help? Please don't hesitate to present others with the opportunity to grow in their giving.
Delmer
Friday, February 26, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Ash Wednesday
In his book GOD IS CLOSER THAN YOU THINK, Presbyterian pastor John Ortberg says that for many years his wife ran a young adult ministry with about 1500 participants. He jokingly remarks that it had two effects on him: 1) Because his wife was around so many young men, in inspired him to keep in good shape, and 2) he kept abreast of current young adult relationship patterns.
In particular, Ortberg was fascinated by the D. T. R., which stands for "Define The Relationship." When a member of a couple asks for a D. T. R.; they are asking, "Are we just dating or are we moving to another level, are we in this for laughs or for keeps, where is this relationship going, or is it going nowhere?"
To ask your partner for a D. T. R. is a scary proposition, because you might not get the answers you want. And to be asked, invited into such a discussion can also be frightening, because you may be comfortable with the way things are and don't want to rock the boat by changing or by saying I don't want to change.
It seems to me that Ash Wednesday is God's invitation to a D.T.R. of the soul, 40 days of examining and deepening the relationship, a time for all of us to decide if we're in this for laughs or in it for keeps.
Delmer Chilton
In particular, Ortberg was fascinated by the D. T. R., which stands for "Define The Relationship." When a member of a couple asks for a D. T. R.; they are asking, "Are we just dating or are we moving to another level, are we in this for laughs or for keeps, where is this relationship going, or is it going nowhere?"
To ask your partner for a D. T. R. is a scary proposition, because you might not get the answers you want. And to be asked, invited into such a discussion can also be frightening, because you may be comfortable with the way things are and don't want to rock the boat by changing or by saying I don't want to change.
It seems to me that Ash Wednesday is God's invitation to a D.T.R. of the soul, 40 days of examining and deepening the relationship, a time for all of us to decide if we're in this for laughs or in it for keeps.
Delmer Chilton
Monday, February 15, 2010
Shrove Tuesday/Mardi Gras
Shriven or Fat?
When I was growing up in rural NC, I knew nothing about Church Traditions. Our Church had a Christmas play on the Sunday night before Christmas; and Easter just kind of showed up one Sunday with no preliminiaries or warning and mostly had to do with Sunrise Service and Easter Egg Hunts and new dresses for Mama and them. We were not a liturgical people.
Across the street from Robbie's Army/Navy store was Trinity Episcopal Church; a tiny stone building that seated about 50 people and had a Fellowship Hall and office in the basement. Every winter as I shopped at Robbie's for cap pistols or knives or work boots, I was fascintated by the sign that went up in Trinity's yard;; "Shrove Tuesday Pancakes and Ash Wednesday Service." Pancakes and Ashes and Church; a little bit more than my 10 year old, Free Church mind could figure.
At about the same time I became acquainted with the word Mardi Gras through the efforts of my Aunt Ethel, who unfailingly gave me evangelistic tracts and pamphlets for my birthday until her death when I was about 40. (She died still hoping she could save me from the crypto-Catholicism of Lutheranism by getting me to "accept Jesus.")
I learned about Mardi Gras through a somewhat lurid account of the life and ministry of the Rev. Bob Harrington, known to his supporters as the "Chaplain of Bourbon Street." The only effect on me was that I decided that if God were so cruel as to call me into ministry, I was going to go to New Orleans Baptist Seminary for training.
It was only when I was in seminary (Duke, not New Orleans) that I realized Shrove Tuesday nd Mardi Gras were connected. Here's this from THE OXFORD ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CHRISTIANITY: On the eve of Ash Wednesday . . .people first went to confession, to be "shriven" hence Shrove Tuesday, and then ate pancakes, to use up the ingredients forbidden during Lent(fat and eggs). This turned into a longer period of pre-Lent celebration, known as Carnival or Mardi Gras. p. 468
I don't think it is far-fetched to see the two different ways of observing this day as being more than a cultural difference between the repressed and dour English and Northern Europeans on the one hand; and the looser and freer attitudes of the Frennh and other Mediterranean peoples on the other.
We all find it difficult to figure out how seriously to take sin; both our own and that of others.
We know we're not as good as we could be, or maybe should be.
But also, most of us are unwilling to admit being as bad as some other people think we are; or as bad as we think some other people really are.
No matter how much we have failed our own ethical and moral standards, most of us are more than willing to look around and say, "Well, at least I'm not as bad as that person; at least I never did THAT!"
And so, we come to Lent with two conflicting attitudes;
One is represented by being Shriven. Lent is a time to grow, to pray, to read devotionally and to draw closer to God. We see this day before Lent as a time of sober reflection and confession; well represented by eating damp and tepid pancakes and half-cooked sausage off a paper plate that folds up and spills syrup on the Fellowship Hall floor as we sit uncomfortably in our metal chairs and drink bad coffee from Styrofoam cups.
The other is represented by getting FAT. By the wonderful phrase "Let the Good Times Roll!" We have to go through this Lenten time of restriction and restraint, so we'd best get the partying out of our system before it starts.
To tell you the truth, I'm not exactly sure which of these represents Sint and which Sinner in Lutther's famous simul justus et peccator, saint and sinner at the same time.
What I am clear about is that each of us is just that; saint and sinner simultaneously. Each of us struggles with it; each of us seeks the good and all too often fails to see it in others or to achieve it in ourselves.
And the Gospel in the midst of our struggle is: God loves us anyway; yes indeed, God loves us anyway. Ye that do truly and earnestly repent of your sins, LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL!
Delmer Chilton
When I was growing up in rural NC, I knew nothing about Church Traditions. Our Church had a Christmas play on the Sunday night before Christmas; and Easter just kind of showed up one Sunday with no preliminiaries or warning and mostly had to do with Sunrise Service and Easter Egg Hunts and new dresses for Mama and them. We were not a liturgical people.
Across the street from Robbie's Army/Navy store was Trinity Episcopal Church; a tiny stone building that seated about 50 people and had a Fellowship Hall and office in the basement. Every winter as I shopped at Robbie's for cap pistols or knives or work boots, I was fascintated by the sign that went up in Trinity's yard;; "Shrove Tuesday Pancakes and Ash Wednesday Service." Pancakes and Ashes and Church; a little bit more than my 10 year old, Free Church mind could figure.
At about the same time I became acquainted with the word Mardi Gras through the efforts of my Aunt Ethel, who unfailingly gave me evangelistic tracts and pamphlets for my birthday until her death when I was about 40. (She died still hoping she could save me from the crypto-Catholicism of Lutheranism by getting me to "accept Jesus.")
I learned about Mardi Gras through a somewhat lurid account of the life and ministry of the Rev. Bob Harrington, known to his supporters as the "Chaplain of Bourbon Street." The only effect on me was that I decided that if God were so cruel as to call me into ministry, I was going to go to New Orleans Baptist Seminary for training.
It was only when I was in seminary (Duke, not New Orleans) that I realized Shrove Tuesday nd Mardi Gras were connected. Here's this from THE OXFORD ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CHRISTIANITY: On the eve of Ash Wednesday . . .people first went to confession, to be "shriven" hence Shrove Tuesday, and then ate pancakes, to use up the ingredients forbidden during Lent(fat and eggs). This turned into a longer period of pre-Lent celebration, known as Carnival or Mardi Gras. p. 468
I don't think it is far-fetched to see the two different ways of observing this day as being more than a cultural difference between the repressed and dour English and Northern Europeans on the one hand; and the looser and freer attitudes of the Frennh and other Mediterranean peoples on the other.
We all find it difficult to figure out how seriously to take sin; both our own and that of others.
We know we're not as good as we could be, or maybe should be.
But also, most of us are unwilling to admit being as bad as some other people think we are; or as bad as we think some other people really are.
No matter how much we have failed our own ethical and moral standards, most of us are more than willing to look around and say, "Well, at least I'm not as bad as that person; at least I never did THAT!"
And so, we come to Lent with two conflicting attitudes;
One is represented by being Shriven. Lent is a time to grow, to pray, to read devotionally and to draw closer to God. We see this day before Lent as a time of sober reflection and confession; well represented by eating damp and tepid pancakes and half-cooked sausage off a paper plate that folds up and spills syrup on the Fellowship Hall floor as we sit uncomfortably in our metal chairs and drink bad coffee from Styrofoam cups.
The other is represented by getting FAT. By the wonderful phrase "Let the Good Times Roll!" We have to go through this Lenten time of restriction and restraint, so we'd best get the partying out of our system before it starts.
To tell you the truth, I'm not exactly sure which of these represents Sint and which Sinner in Lutther's famous simul justus et peccator, saint and sinner at the same time.
What I am clear about is that each of us is just that; saint and sinner simultaneously. Each of us struggles with it; each of us seeks the good and all too often fails to see it in others or to achieve it in ourselves.
And the Gospel in the midst of our struggle is: God loves us anyway; yes indeed, God loves us anyway. Ye that do truly and earnestly repent of your sins, LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL!
Delmer Chilton
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