Children's sermon

On Sunday I gave my first childrens sermon at St. Antony's. I told the children the story of the healing of Jairus' daughter by drawing a picture for them on an easel pad. Above is one of my practice drawings.

I plan to do childrens sermons during the summer, when Sunday School is in recess. I want to let the children know that they're important to us, and I hope to communicate the Gospel story in ways they can absorb it.

A good childrens sermon takes as much preparation as an adult sermon...and sometimes it communicates the Gospel better than the adult sermon! A childrens sermon should pack the Gospel story into a easily grasped package. That means simplifying the message and crafting a good container - not easy.

We'll see how my creativity holds out over the course of the summer!

Choir retreat

Today we held our choir retreat to mark the end of this year's choir season. Before our picnic lunch at the Little's lakeside home, we had a fruitful conversation about what choir means to us and we shared our hopes and dreams for next year's choir.

Several of us spoke about how important music is to our spirituality, and how for us singing is praying. All of us value the relationships formed in choir, and we resolved to do better next year in spending social time together as a choir.

We agreed that we want to have enough time to prepare a high-quality anthem, and so we'll only offer an anthem very two weeks or so next year. We also decided to spend a Sunday afternoon at the Little's once every two months to really work on some music.

We sang a round together for our grace, and after lunch we sang from the "Wonder, Love and praise" Hymnal. It was lovely to sing together and hear our voices blend with each other.

Stewardship Conference

I feel like I've overdosed on conferences. First I had eight days of the College for Congregational Development, then a day of Fresh Start on Tuesday, then Saturday I attended a stewardship conference at St. John's, Kirkland, entitled, "Enabling Generosity in Anxious Times".

The stewardship conference had some practical offerings as well as some food for thought. "The Ten Commandments of Annual Pledge Campaigns" was especially helpful in planning a successful pledge campaign. Here are some of the key points:

1. Conceptualize the program at the beginning - get the big picture.
2. Identify the support you'll need, like key people and databases.
3. Define the parish leadership roles. Who will do what?
4. Recruit and train the leaders of the campaign.
5. Define what the mailings will be, such as invitations, thank yous, and pledge cards.
6. Recruit people to offer their witness.
7. Create a theme for the campaign with words and images.
8. Plan events that will happen.
9. Celebrate "Pledge Sunday" when pledges are returned.
10. Follow up with thank yous and evaluations.

I'm sure this will be helpful as we plan our pledge campaign this summer and fall.
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Fresh Start meeting

Today I attended a Fresh Start meeting at St. John's, Olympia. Fresh Start is a national program designed to help clergy who are new to the diocese deal with the issues that arise when entering a new parish.

Today's subject was the second of two sessions on Conflict. We heard a presentation on the levels of conflict, beginning with Stage I, a problem to be solved, and culminating in Stage 5, when the conflict is intractable and unsolvable.

We broke into small groups and examined a fictitious case study in which the new rector of a parish and the organist introduced a new hymnal to the parish without adequate consultation and preparation. The ensuing conflict pitted old against new and caused factions to form in the parish.

We had a good discussion about the causes of the conflict, how it could have been avoided, and what could be done about it. The case study brought out several stories of conflict from the participants at our table and it was very helpful.

As always at Fresh Start meetings, I enjoyed being with my fellow clergy and sharing with them. A fruitful meeting.

College for Congregational Development I

Today I returned home from a week-long stint at the College for Congregational Development, held at Dumas Point Center in Federal Way.

The goal of the College is to help parishes develop into healthy, effective congregations. We learned new models for parish life; we learned how to be effective leaders; and we learned about our personal leadership styles.

There were about forty participants at the College, about half of whom were lay people. Many parishes sent a team of lay and clergy in order to develop a team approach to leadership in their parish. The Rev. Melissa Skelton was the lead trainer, assisted by four other trainers.

What I like about the College is that it works from a Benedictine model of parish life that is especially amenable to the Episcopal ethos. The Benedictine vows of stability, obedience, and conversion of life can be applied to a parish in a way that is true to our Anglican roots.

Stability as applied to the parish means that we remember that God is with us here and now, in the people, buildings, and life of our parish. Our parish is holy ground; our time together is sacred time. We are rooted in this place and these people.

Obedience in parish life means listening to God as a corporate practice. What does God want us to do? How is God leading us? Providing the Daily Office, times of silence and prayer make this happen.

Conversion of life for a parish means that we seek to continually reassess where we are now and how we might find revitalization and new life for our parish. Building on what has gone before, we keep the future open for new ways to be faithful to God's call.

In all of this, we pay attention to rhythm and balance so that we keep the parish centered and whole. I like this model because it seems like it provides many ways to be a healthy, spirit-led parish.

A week at the College for Congregational Development

This week I'm attending the College for Congregational Development at the Dumas Bay Retreat Center in Federal Way.

The CCD is sponsored by our diocese and has the support and encouragement of Bishop Greg and Bishop Nedi. It's their way of helping our congregations reach a higher level of functioning. The CCD draws on the learnings in the field of organizational development and applies them to congregations.

What I like about the CCD is that it's oriented towards Episcopal Churches with an Anglican heritage. It speaks our language.

I may be away from computers and unable to post this week, but when I'm able, I'll write about what I'm learning.
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Volunteering at the Clear Creek Trail

This morning I volunteered at the Clear Creek Trail. Today is National Trails Day, and people all over the country were invited to work on their local trails to encourage walking and running. Our local Clear Creek Trail Conservancy organized a workday on our trail here in Silverdale.

The Clear Creek Trail is a local jewel, stretching from tidewater near the mouth of Clear Creek to open fields several miles upstream. The creek was saved from development, even though a long string of big-box stores are located on either side of it on the lower portions.

The trail is maintained by volunteers, so it's important for local people to show their support. A good crowd of families and individuals showed up at the red barn near Bucklin Hill road, where we were given our assignments. I was sent to the portion of the trail behind the bowling alley, where we cleared brush and alders that were encroaching on the side of the trail.

As I was working near the back of the bowling alley, I noticed an old car near the trail. I didn't think anything of it until I passed by it and saw a young man was sleeping in the car. It made me wonder why he was sleeping in his car at eleven in the morning. Is he homeless? Does he have any resources? Where is his family?

At any rate, this morning certainly taught me a lot about Silverdale.

Interview questions for parishioners

Next week I'll be gone for eight days as I attend the College for Congregational Development. It's a continuing education offering that addresses the dynamics of parish life. It should be very stimulating.

In preparation for the CCD, they ask that you interview three parishioners and collect their answers. Here are the interview questions:

1. What is your history/background with the congregation?
2. What attracted you to the congregation? What caused/prompted you to visit?
3. How easy or hard was it to enter the life of the congregation? What made it easy/made it hard?
4. What has caused you to stay?
5. What renews you spiritually in the congregation?
6. What if any effect has involvement in the congregation had on you in terms of who you are, how you function?
7. What if any effect has involvement in the congregation had on your a) family life, b) work life, c) civic life?
8. Any other comments?

Today I did two interviews and tomorrow I do a third. I found both interviews to be very interesting and quite helpful. It's amazing what you hear when you ask questions and then...listen.
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The Day of Pentecost

Yesterday we celebrated Pentecost day with lots of red!

People wore red clothes, we had red balloons in the entry to the church, a red altar cloth adorned the altar, and the children made a banner of red streamers. There was red everywhere.

I especially enjoyed the banner the children made. Conner, our banner-bearer, was very proud to carry the new banner the children had made the previous week. He carried it in happily and planted it in the altar rail for everyone to see.

My sermon focused on the energy the Holy Spirit brings to us, as symbolized by the flames that appeared on the disciples' heads on the Day of Pentecost. The color red reminds us of the flames of Pentecost and the energy of the Holy Spirit.

It was a good day and we had a good spirit present among us. The Holy Spirit!