I've got nothing to give but the Spirit...

I am speaking tomorrow night (Sunday 9/26) for an evening church at University Presbyterian in Fresno, CA called Resonance . The previous speakers have been speaking on Acts and I am going to speak on Acts 3.

Doing a new thing...

I was in Spokane a weeks or so back and was able to see an old friend, Steve Hart. He and his wife, Jamie, are starting a new church, planted in a great part of Spokane called Brown's Addition. I was impressed, as I always am with Steve, he is going out and doing something. He had a little help from a church but this is pretty much his thing. He relocated his family into the neighborhood, which I think is vital to understanding the people with whom he is going to be in relationship. (There is a church I know of that is in a lower income area of Fresno, where the pastor lives in a gated community 5 miles away. That is just bizarre!) It is more than a job but a relationship. He continually teaches me every time I see him. He is not talking about it but giving it a shot. His blog is listed to the right...

Wedding in Bakersfield.

I am in the hotel room tonight preparing for Sean and Julie's wedding tomorrow. I was going to get a $35 ordination card so I could do the whole thing. I did not like that idea as much as I thought. There was something wrong with it. Sure it is legal and it was not going to cause any problems. The thing is there is something about being ordained that I cherish too much. I don't want to be legally ordained, I believe that I will be and may already be spiritually. I am hoping some day a church or organization will recognize it for the call that is already on my life. I probably don't make any sense, but it felt wrong for me.

I am in charge of the whole service tomorrow. I am reading the order of worship and the litany and am going to rewrite it to be more relevant to the day and to the couple. Hope I don't get tomatoed...

Modern worship and repentance...

Last night at our church, SierraVista Presbyterian, we had a "Solemn Assembly" of prayer and repentance. A church that has been around for 20 some years, started in a living room, bought some property with a ranch house on it and turn the living room into a meeting room for worship, built a new sanctuary that seats 300, replaced an old upright with a beautiful baby grand, picked up those who left other churches, grew during the Promise Keepers events and flattened out afterwards, founding pastor resigns and goes back to seminary for his doctorate and the church panics and goes through some loss and misdirection, calls an interim pastor who's heart is open to the spirit, new elders, no youth pastor, great parking lot, and I love playing that piano...

Anyway last night we had a time of prayer and repentance. It was wonderful to see the room mostly filled with people who had grey hair and walked with canes, choir people, my mom's age and faithfulness. There was a some 40-50s, very few 25-40s and lightly powdered with youth.

But the elderly were there to worship and repent. There was a heart of quiet faithfulness that was glacierally moving. Deep, slow, not much show on the outside but their prayers were familiar because they have been in it for a long time. I was repentant on my view towards them in the past. These were the ones who invested in the church before the dividend paid off. These were the ones who wanted a place for their grandchildren to hear the stories of Jesus, these are the ones when called showed up. I learned something last night.

They are the foundation of the faith. We should not be post-foundation but cherish their stories, encourage conversations that let them talk rather than sit by and let us have our turns. Old men need to dream...

new faces, new hearts...

I have been involved in some weddings this past month and have another this coming weekend. (This is the season, at 50 years old, that you go to weddings of the children of peers and funerals of the parents of peers.)

At Jeff and Krista Crotty's wedding this weekend up in Spokane, Washington, I met a number of new people with whom I fell in love. Bob Crotty the father of the groom and I started a wonderful friendship that began 5 minutes after we met. Eye to eye there was a wonderful respect and appreciation for the other's life and heart. I look forward to more conversations and stories from his life.

Another person I was very impressed with was a woman named Rachel, who was an entrepreneur and hard worker. When she shared what she was working on her eyes lit up, voice and face got animated and her thought process intrigued me. She will be doing big things soon.

Next weekend is my friends' Sean and Julie's wedding so I must get ordained before I go so I can officiate the ceremony and make it legal.

This is kind of corny...

I went to the bachelor party of my friend Jeff Crotty. It was given by the best man, Bryan Cosby. I was impressed by the love of men for each other as we gathered around Jeff and spoke about what he meant to us. 99% were brothers of the faith and only a few were not. Heart to heart, kind things were said but mostly prayers to the Father and blessings asked from Him were given. At the end of the time Jeff knew what his friends thought of him. We should do this more often and not just at special occasions. We should tell our parents, children, siblings and friends what we love about them, so they will know.

Off to Spokane for wedding...

I haven't really had a lot of time to blog these pass few weeks. Maybe after all of the weddings and funerals, etc, I will have some time to think and write. Check back in a week...

CommonFire arrives...

A new season of CommonFire begins today with their arrival, move-in, barbeque, and time of prayer. We have 17 people this year with the ages getting older and older. It is exciting to see some people coming back to spend the year with us. I pray that I will commit more time to being with them and develop some intentional relationships and experiences.

Take me out to the ballgame..."

Cosby and I have been invited to see a Fresno Grizzlies' game by Scott Falk. I am looking forward to the game, the conversation, the dogs, the fries, and the bee... soda.

Hard times for good friends...

This has been a difficult week for a couple of friends. Some had to make hard decisions, some had to deal with decisions that didn't go in their favor. You are in my prayers.