Second Church Steps

The book of Esther is a difficult one, but it is important.  It speaks of power! There is personal power, royal power, and providential power.  It is a book that can be difficult to discuss with children and anyone who has been voiceless; however, it is not a book exhaulting the victim.  Esther is not a submissive girl who gives up.  She has inner strength and power.  She lives her life and draws on her community.  When the time comes, she uses her wisdom to be a vessel for the will of God.  Her uncle tells her, “perhaps you have been made royal for a time such as this.”  We often skip the “royal,” in our attempt to make the message universal.  However, we forget that we are children of "the king of all creation" and therefore “royal.”  I cannot help wondering how the Rev. Becca Stevens hears the book of Esther? Rev. Stevens works with women who have been commercialized and abused.  She teaches that "#LoveHeals." ...

Devotion for Smalls, Talls, and All on Psalm 46 (verses 1, 7, 9-11) There was a lot of violence in the news this past weekend-- from the accidental to unthinkable. I really avoided thinking about it all day. Then, my work was finished. I didn't have any other tasks to occupy my mind. Just as I was settling into a "think," I ran across this devotion from this summer. I wonder if it might help others to think about hard things. I offer it to you for you and your children. 1 God is our refuge and strength,     an ever-present help in trouble. 7  The Lord Almighty is with us;     the God of Jacob is our fortress. 9  He makes wars cease     to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;     he burns the shields [ d ]  with fire. 10  He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;    ...

I am the kind of person who really likes to hit a mark.  Whether it is checking off a list or perfectly duplicating Martha Stewart’s Peter Rabbit cake, I love replicating excellence.  I also have trouble coloring within the proverbial lines.  Yes, it is an interesting dichotomy, and my brain is a playground of diversity which is most often a ping pong match between organization and innovation.  However, if there are enough undercurrents/challenges all bets are off.  Then it becomes a bob and weave of programming.   https://goo.gl/images/hgXDu7 This summer did not really go according to "the plan,"  after all life happens.  You've heard of Plan B, right? We ended up punting the (A through) “K Plan” aka the “Kat Plan” in its many manifestations.  I had a beautiful plan for coping with absences and summer staffing realities…and then after “Plan A” comes “Plan B” and so on.   I then realized we had skipped “Plan G.” Plan G...

Figure 1 http://www.montreat.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Mountains-2-400x250-300x187.jpg We think of “Sabbath” as a time to NOT DO something.  We stop.  We wait.  We rest.  We sit.  However, that is a lot of work!  I think of Sabbath as “making a space.”  It is an active choosing, remembering, and prioritizing a holy space for God.  It is less about “letting go” and more about “leaning in” to the Breath of the Holy Spirit.  In this context Sabbath is a return to our making.  You see, in the beginning “the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7). It is the breath of the Lord God that stirs dust into human.  It is the breath of the Lord God that makes us living and gives us a life.  Therefore, “Sabbath” – a time for rest and renewal, is an opportunity to reach for that breath of God which gives u...

Grover taught me about the joy of Easter morning.  I knew the Easter story, see my previous blog post.  However, until someone is NOT where you expect them or someone is where you LEAST expect them -- only then can you step in the very soil of Easter joy.  Grover was an elder of a PCUSA church near the Cumberland Gap in Kentucky.  He was the "open-the-doors-in-the-morning" and "there-until-the-last-light-is-out" elder. His wife brought cookies every Sunday morning.  My children felt rather than knew this couple's ministry.  One morning, there weren't any cookie s because Grover's wife had died suddenly.  My daughter was astonished!  How could this happen? She insisted that we bring cookies the next Sunday.  Since Sunday School wasn't until HOURS after  two toddlers were awake, we began a year and a half practice of making sugar cookies for church on Sunday, yes every Sunday.  My three year old nudged us into taking up thi...

Covenants are important and life giving moments in our lives as Christians.  They are moments of promise and faith.  They are moments of action and attention.  They  are important moments that have a unique beginning. These promises are not chores to check off or dates circled on a calendar; they are holy promises that begin with God.  They all begin with God choosing us and choosing to be in a relationship with us.  In return we are loved, claimed, and wanted.  This gives us the freedom to respond with truth, kindness, caring, and service to others. We learn about truth when we read God's book of hope and good news.  We care for God's people both our friends, neighbors and ourselves by participating in  Sunday School, Choir School, or VBS. We serve others by living as a people of promise. How do we live as  promise people?  We do it by remembering that we are HOLY PROMISE People  and lived the truth that so is our neigh...

(Spiritual Practices for Families: Giving Thanks) Where is the Love? In December, amidst the wrappings and the shouts of glee, we found a quiet time to come to the manger and contemplate the great Love that God sent, wrapped in swaddling clothes. Here, as sparkling Christmas lights give way to snow and rain and ice, as gathered family gives way to bill paying and schedule keeping, how might we hold on those manger moments when we embraced the Love that embraces us? In these more ordinary days, can we still see the light that leads us to Bethlehem, to the ordinary extraordinary places where Love shows up? Here is my invitation to you, and to your children:  Pause... in the middle of your "what's next" life... to see, hear, touch, smell, taste... all the amazing that is right here and now.  Point it out to one another like we might point out the twinkling lights on a Christmas tree.  Give thanks... for the warmth of the sweater, the wag of the do...

If my sisters ever were to hear me say, “well…” they might race to respond, “Deep subject for such a shallow mind.”   Stewardship season for Second Church’s Children's Sunday School is “well” begun.     A Second Truth I have learned is that “a little child shall lead them” is practiced and preached here. Just as Home arrived early, stewardship season has already landed in Children’s Sunday School.  October is Stewardship Season, but you will find our well already overflowing with generosity from children, parents, pre-school families, and other church members.   Every week the Children’s Second Church Sunday School digs deep to fund shallow wells in Malawi.So far we have $100+ to help provide safe and clean drinking water to our “kin” in Malawi We are wishing for more funds to help our friends stay well in their home town. Thinking of “well wishes” brings this familiar hymn by Horatio Spafford to mind:      ...

Always Have you seen the silverware? Home has been many places for me since coming "home" to Indiana.  “Home” has been my sister’s house where Homer, who is my dog,  and I found comfort, shelter, food, kittens, and hospitality.  “Home” has been my storage facility and its staff where the precious touchstones of the years, pictures of my children, three decades of creativity and work, and book Books BOOKS  have found air conditioned safety. “Home” has also been the Children’s Ministry Office where I found space, history, colleagues, helpers, and hospitality. “Home” now is a condominium near work where I find quiet, calm, safety…until Monday.  Now “home” is a mixture of calm and chaos, creativity and contemplation, here and there.  You see, the common denominator is not “home,” nor “hospitality,” nor even safety, not even Homer; "Home" is finding and being found.  That is and was and will be the gracious love of God finding us where we are and t...

I really like orange safety cones. The color is awesome; they provide a safe zone for workers on streets and highways; they mean that Children’s Circle Preschool is BACK.  The quiet halls of planning and projects become vibrant with teacher greetings and children’s voices. Parents fill the building with prayers, hopes, worries and a few tears. The children sleep, play, sing, and sometimes cry. Earlier this summer I was told, “We can get kind of loud.”   Also, I was warned “You might want to shut your door.”  Finally, I was cautioned “Do not play heavy metal loud music during nap time!” However, I could not know the void the children would fill. I am reminded of the adage “You don’t know what you don’t know.” How could I know that the church was missing all of this exuberance? After day one of preschool, I pulled into the parking lot. I walked up to the majestic building that is a testament to the glorious worship and service we do in the name o...

I have moved a lot in my life.  I have moved from Western Tennessee to Eastern Tennesee then back to the Mississippi River banks.  I have moved to Indiana, to Tennessee, to Texas, to Houston (not really Texas--ask a Texan or a Houstonian), to Kentucky, and to Missouri.  Now I find myself between houses in Indiana again. Although it may seem like an aimless life, I prefer to think of it as being in the wilderness.  It's a site longer than 40 days and 40 nights, but I am as ever looking for "Home." "Home is where the heart is." "Home is where you lay your head." "Home is..." All of the above moves have been to a particular church--even the college move. There has been a movement towards being at home in a church community.  After enough moves and enough times explaining where I am from--where is "home"-- I have come up with a great answer.  Borrowing from a children's book by Carol Wehrheim, "God is my home." It is...