Intentional Faith Practices Week 3 Day 2

I am wondering if any of you can identify with the woman who attends a bible study, realizes that the questions she has are not that different from the questions other people are asking. By gathering is this community of learning she can engage her faith and grow more deeply.

I remember as a teenager there was a couple at our church and they offered to have a bible study for the "young people" meaning the teenagers. I went because it was offered and don't remember much about it although there was something sustaining about it. As I got older I found the weekly bible studies during the summer while I worked at Camp Wightman were more meaningful. I felt I was desiring "something" more, guess it was some kind of "spiritual" hunger.... study seemed to feed me. Today my bible study tends to be in my office in preparation for Sunday morning rather than in a group gathered for spiritual nurture and growth. Perhaps something I can consider...

Consider the questions for the day: What is one learning experience in your faith life that has changed how you live in a significant way? How did you learn it? Have you shared it with others?

Just some food for thought!

Blessings,
Rev P

Intentional Faith Practices Week 3 Day 1

Last week I had the opportunity to engage in our "Chicken Soup for the Soul" Lenten series. I wasn't able to make it for the soup but after both kids were safe at home I walked over for the "Soul" part. It was a small yet mighty group gathered, under the faithful guidance of Gwen Lang, a wonderful experience was had by all. The topic and the stories revolved around the issue of obstacles in our life, how we deal with them, and ultimately how we grow with them.

At NCC the kids have an easy time entering the world of intentional faith practices. Sunday School for the younger kiddos is fun and engaging. Confirmation and Youth Group seems to capture the enthusiasm of our teenage members. The area where we might be more intentional are the programs for adults. But that has always been an issue. Adults lives are filled with obstacles that get in the way of their having time, making time, setting as a priority faith learning just for them. The Faith Formation team is working well and developing a plan which includes a variety of forms of programs that might fit a variety of needs. This is wonderful! Thanks Gwen and other team members. We need to support their efforts and take seriously for ourselves the ways we engage in deepening our faith outside of Sunday morning.

Don't get me wrong, I think the churches first responsibility is for worship to be a growthful and transforming experience (see prior blogs)and then for folks to leave wanting more... I guess the question really is ... are people feeling they want more? what is the more they want? how might we as a church help meet that need?

Just thoughts for us to ponder...

The questions for Day 15 are good ones:Outside of worship, how do you deepen your understanding of the Christian Faith? How do you cultivate your relationship with Christ?

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Help me Lord to delight in learning your word so that like a tree planted by a stream of water, my life may bear fruit.

Blessings to you all,
Rev. P

Planting Seeds

When I read the lists of "seedlings" for radical hospitality and passionate worship I am pleasantly surprised at how many of these ideas are already in place at our church. We are actively working on welcome, our worship services seem to be touching people given the numbers of folks in worship every week and the numbers of visitors that return week after week. Of course there are areas that we could be doing better at...

I am curious what you have identified on the lists of "seedlings" that we might want to focus on. What thoughts do you have about welcome and worship for the next three to six months? What seeds might you be interested in planting in the days ahead?

As I look out into the Sunday morning congregation I feel a bit overwhelmed. Mostly because it is very hard to keep up with all the new faces. I generally am able to keep peoples names and faces in my little brain but lately I feel less able to keep up. I wish and pray for us a more streamline way of tracking visitors, getting contact information, following up, and helping folks get involved. Also, helping connect older and newer members or guests. Let's think through what are our next steps....

Yes this is an amazing journey. Looking forward to hearing from you!

Rev. Patty

Finally another post! Worship Week (and then some)

It is interesting to me that almost universally folks have had a harder time putting into words their thoughts about worship. It is much easier to discuss the how's and why's of making a person feel welcome at church but I think it can be more difficult for us to put into words what makes worship important, meaningful or even transformational. I have also been less verbal. Perhaps it is hard for me as well ... hmmm... could it be that something special happens during worship and if we talk about it, it somehow diminishes it or our experiences. It is hard to talk about - let's call it - the "God" moments we have had, during worship or otherwise.

I think for the sake of our deepening conversations I would ask a few questions for you to ponder.

Are there parts of the service that feel more meaningful to you than others? Do some elements help you feel closer to God or one another? What parts of the service are we as a church most successful at? What parts could we work on? Share a meaningful time in a worship service.

My hope for worship is that somehow, through the music, spoken word, quiet time, people's hearts are touched, moved; they are inspired, find hope, find forgiveness, find renewal,they leave feeling different (in a good way), more alive, more joy-filled, more comforted, more able to endure...

So often worship is left to the pastor to figure out. After all they have the degrees and all... but I need your help. We need to work together to understand the worship needs/life of this congregation.

Don't hold back, let's share!!!!

Rev. Patty

More on Worship

Please don't wait for me to post!!!! It has been an incredibly hectic week and it appears that I have dropped the blog ball! Never fear, I, like you, are reading. There is so much to thing about when we consider worship. Thoughts on the readings?

I will catch us up Tomorrow!

Still getting ready for worship at this late hour.

Rev. P

Passionate Worship - A New Week - Day 1

All right folks lets get back in the saddle as they say!!! Today I am inviting us to begin our second week of "Cultivating Fruitfulness" together. We begin the section on "passionate worship". For a while now we have been discussing welcoming people in to the church. That is all well and good, but what are we welcoming them to. For most folks it is Sunday morning worship. We hope that it will be a good experience. If they are going to sit in a pew for an hour (+ or -), they need to feel like it has some meaning for them and for their lives. This becomes our responsibility.

Our mission statement puts forth that we believe in "transforming worship". Simply put, we want to offer worship experiences that transform or change people's lives. Change "from what" ~ "to what" may be different for every person. Ideally folks may transform from hopeless to hopeful, purposeless to purposeful, etc.etc. How does worship do that???? Great question, glad you asked. I am not sure worship does the transforming, I believe God does the transforming. We just create the forum for the transformation to take place.

It is an important job. We need to take our responsibility seriously. We need to do our job with excellence so God can do the work of transforming.

But first, let's back up for a moment .... How do you feel about the experience of worship? The questions posed by today's readings invite your thoughts: What is your earliest positive memory of worship? What made it positive or memorable? What did you learn? ... I would include the question: What is positive or memorable about your worship experience today? What have you learned?

I look forward to your thoughts on these questions or any reflections about today's readings!

Great journey huh!

Rev. P

Hello - Week one - Day 7 is here!!!

It is Tuesday and we have (theoretically) moved into the next practice of the five. But WAIT!!!!! I would like to invite us to consider taking a moment to consider the wealth of information, ideas, and stories that have filled that pages of our first week on Radical Hospitality. What has stuck with you?? What ideas seem to be one's that we can incorporate into our ministry at NCC? What ideas/thoughts are you planning on discussing with your teams?

Friends this in the beginning of a period of discovery and renewal and we as leaders need to (must) be on the cutting edge. We need to have these values and practices well ion hand as we move the ideas and challenges of radical hospitality into the larger congregation. You need to help me understand where you believe God is calling the church to grow. We need to work together to survive any growing pains we may experience.

It is a new day here at NCC and I for one am extremely excited!!! I can feel the undercurrent of God's spirit bubbling up among us. We need to be ready.

So ... we can learn the names of our members and friends, we can say hello to those who God brings through the door, we can muster the courage to bring a friend to a church event or worship, we can follow through with guests who have visited and let them know how much we enjoyed them being with is, we can look around our spaces and wonder how welcoming they really are... Because all are invited to the banquet!!!!

The question we are moving to is what do we do once they are here. For now though please respond with your thoughts about this section!!!

Thank you, love to you always!

Hello! Week 1 - Day 5 and 6

Greetings. As you can see I am posting for two days. Like you, this daily thing can be tough to keep up with but I want to say that the comments both on the blog and in person regarding the readings have been immensely thoughtful. I believe these conversations will really lead us into a clearer sense of our vision for today and for the days ahead.

Upon reading these two reflections I am thinking about how we both reach out to groups outside our self and how we nurture the groups we have. For families with young children we provide childcare in the service, for the growing number of teens in our congregation we began a Youth program that has already blossomed and they have invited others in, we welcome outside groups like the veterans for the annual 4 chaplains Sunday, among other things. The question remains are their others we could be reaching out to? Is there more we could be doing to make the folks we have more comfortable? What have we each been doing to help this process?

I look forward to your ideas and leadership as we take this to our teams and to the congregation!!! Thank you for you willingness to be on this journey.

I love you all,
Rev. Patty

Fruity folks UNITE week 1 - Day 4

Once again another moving reflection by Robert Schnase. Imagine watching the man at the hospital walk away alone after loosing his wife, her wedding ring and eyeglasses in an envelope. How sad. Thinking back to my own experiences of loss it is hard for me to imagine not having a supportive community surrounding me while I went through it all. Yet so many people "go it alone." Many because they don't know a loving, caring community/church that would welcome/care for them. I think so many people have written off church because of past experience, past hurt or just because it was never a positive (or any) influence in their lives.

I love the image of the king who says go and invite everyone into the banquet... "Go search the streets and bring them all in!!!" the King shouted. I believe that is God's message to us about our "banquet."

When was the last time you invited someone to church? Not in a preachy way but just in a "I know you are sort of lonely and need some support" way. I know it tends to be hard for us New Englander's to invite someone to church without feeling like the next thing we will be doing is standing on the corner handing out religious fliers. It question is: How will that man who just lost his wife know there is a warm safe place for him to heal if we don't invite him? How will that friend know that there is a larger purpose in his/her life if we don't introduce them to place we heard that message? Again we must face the question: Who does God have, but us?

I await your thoughts on the reflection . Rev. Patty

Good and Fruity - Week one - day 3.

Today, we read from Cultivating Fruitfulness, written by Robert Schnase,chapter one, day 3, pg.13 (just to make sure we are all on the same page). I was moved by the reflection for today. It is often easy for me to get complacent and lose sight of the importance and value of what the church offers people. It was a helpful reminder to review the simple things people may need when they arrive at our doorstep. "People need to know God loves them, that they are of supreme value... that they are not alone, etc." I read that part again and again. What parts of this do you relate to? When you arrived on NCC's doorstep what needs did you bring? What needs are being met? What needs are still present?

The questions for today relate to how our lives have changed by being apart of this church community. Has it been enriched by being a follower of Jesus? What have you received by being part of a community (this) of faith?

I have been so blessed by being apart of this community. When I arrived 10 years ago I would have never guessed that I would be here today feeling like our ministry together is still so alive and rich. I wouldn't ever have guessed that I would have had to look to you for support in dealing with the death of my mother and more recently the death of Lynne. I feel blessed that you have been the village that has helped raise my children. I have changed, grown, been humbled, made mistakes, and had successes while here and through it all I do believe what Schnase writes: that the church is the "school of love."

And I love you all.

Good and Fruity Week 1 - Day 2

Today, I was feeling for the poor woman who kept visiting churches and never had people approach her in welcome. The phrase "This is the only Sunday that counts" is really true. How many of us have visited a church, not felt welcomed and never gone back? Do we have the luxury to be too busy, too shy, too "whatever" to not make that step toward a guest? To say it another way, who does God have but us to reach out and touch a guest who is there for the first (or second or third) time. Yesterday's scripture still hits home for me ... "I was a stranger and you welcomed me"

Questions for the day: If a "secret visitor" came to us how might we be graded??? If this is the "only Sunday that counts" how do we respond to newcomers each week?

I love the prayer for the day:
Dear God, open my eyes so I can see people as Jesus sees them, and see Jesus in the people you bring into community. Make me attentive to others, especially help me support the newcomer take tentative steps toward you. Amen

So glad we are on this journey of discovery together!

Rev. Patty

Cultivating Fruitfulness- Week 1- Day 1

Welcome to week 1- day 1. Okay, here is my initial attempt at creating a blog as a way of sharing with one another. I realize the board is currently very busy with preparations for this Sunday's meeting but my hope and prayer is that each day you will take a few minutes (honest, that is all it will take), read the daily reading and reflect on the questions offered or offer your own thoughts and insights. Please for now let's keep our conversations amongst the Board so we can share honestly. Hopefully my order of books will arrive in a day or so and we can widen our circle to include other staff and youth leaders.

For today we are asked in the reflection: "Do you remember walking into our congregation for the first time? What was it like? Who reached out to you?"

This Sunday I was aware of the whole "name thing" and tried at points in the service to see if I knew all the peoples names. Also I tried to be aware of new people. At the end of service I shook hands with a man who I had not met before, his name was George. He was somewhat disheveled and his hands shook. I thought to myself.... okay could this be Jesus? Boy he sure looks like he could use a cup of coffee and a treat. I felt so blessed that I could simply turn to the next person in line, Jack G. and say Jack, this is George, can you take him in and get him a cup of coffee. After a quick hug, Jack did as was requested. I realized that for the most part people are eager to help a newcomer or guest when asked. Would anyone have invited this "shakey" man in on their own? I am not sure. Does how a person looks impact our eagerness to approach? I know the anwser is "of course" but I think the question is a good one to ask ourselves. I just pray George got what he needed yesterday. And if all he or anyone needs on a Sunday morning is a warm place to come and a cup of coffee to drink, well welcome to them too!

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on our daily reading and the questions listed above. I love you all and am excited about embarking on this journey of fruitfulness together.