I was blessed to be a part of eighteen Birmingham area ministers who went together to Israel for the first two weeks of July. This trip was a part of a grant program through McAfee Seminary of Mercer University in Georgia and led by Dr. Loyd Allen and Dr. Bret Younger of their faculty. It was not a tour, and not primarily an educational event, although there was plenty of both for us. It was designed to create fellowship among a group of ministers, most of whom had never been to the Holy Land, who shared a spiritual pilgrimage together. We had, in essence, an extended journey and retreat together in the land where Jesus was born. We spent a week in Galilee, staying in a Benedictine retreat center on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, a short walking distance from the ruins of Capernaum where Peter lived and where Jesus preached, just down the hill from the site of the Sermon on the Mount, and a short drive from Nazareth. This was almost entirely funded by the CF Foundation, created by a Christian layman in Atlanta who wanted pastors to have rest, fellowship and spiritual renewal. An incredible gift by a Christian steward.
We were diverse and denominationally plural--Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterian, Mennonite, and Episcopalians, young and not-so-young, mostly pastors, but some in other ministry settings, like our own Michaela Bundon, who works at Beeson Divinity School, and Ryan Hankins, who is the director of MPower. Soon I will take a Wednesday night to ask Ryan and Michaela to share about that pilgrimage with me as a service of sharing testimony with you, but part of the grant was to create an ongoing fellowship of ministers who are far too busy sometimes for things that matter most--time for prayer together, for each other, and the Christian fellowship that is needed to do God's work more effectively.
I am grateful for such an opportunity, and thankful to my church for the opportunity to be away. Thanks to Mike McBrayer and Dr. Brad Creed for preaching for me in my absence. I returned home refreshed, recommitted to my wonderful church and excited about a new church year together.
On our first night in Jerusalem, several of us accompanied the director of the center where we stayed, the Institute of Notre Dame in Jerusalem, up to the rooftop for a spectacular view of the old city and a short orientation to all the sites. Notre Dame (pronounced "Notre Damm," which is the same as Alabama football fans call it) is a hotel and retreat center across the street from the New Gate in the old city of Jerusalem, a short from the holiest sites in Christianity--where Jesus died and rose again, the Via Dolorosa where tradition says he carried his cross, and a short way from the Mount of Olives where he knelt to pray and was arrested. Father Eamon Kelly is an ebullient, indefatigable Irishman who is always smiling. He says he is from the Holy Land to which he will return when he retires from Jerusalem, which I assume is his home county in Ireland.
After a wonderful lecture, he said "Children of the Reformed Tradition" as he called us, "Let me remind you that while you are here you are not simply here as a tourist, or to learn about ancient history. You are here to experience the Risen Christ." Nothing could have been more truly stated.
But I feel the same way every Sunday when we gather to worship. I feel it when I hold a baby for dedication, or baptize or teach. We are not here to occupy your time with meaningful things, merely to help you domesticate wild children or adjust to living in Alabama, even to help you have good friends for a lifetime, though all those things will happen in this fellowship, hopefully. We gather in the hope that you will encounter the Risen Lord, Jesus the Christ, who turns sinners into saints and collects them into a community of friendship, forgiveness, love and service.
I look forward to this school year about to begin. God is, as always, bringing new people and possibilities to us. God will provide the resources to do things, wonderful things, among us. Somehow, as I walked again and again among places where Abraham and David, Joseph and Mary, Paul and Silas, and the Lord Jesus walked, lived, and found God's power, the economy seemed less stressful to me, the world more full of hope, and my church looked, from Father Kelly's rooftop, like the most abundant and wonderful place in the world to service.
Workers Needed!
As we head into the fall, we need volunteers in many places, especially in Worship Care. Please see Nancy Akins or contact the church office if you would help do the work of Jesus on a Sunday now and then--blessing someone else's children. Blessing them sometimes involves a little more than holding them on your lap, but it is well worth it!
Your staff wants to help you find a place of service. If something is "calling" you, come up to one of us and tell us--we will try to connect you with it or tell you how. We have many missions and ministries waiting for you to be involved. Let us help you!
Followup to our Strategic Discernment
Your church staff is already at work to follow up on the Strategic Discernment document adopted by our church recently. We will spend extended time next week working together to identify all the tasks, priorities, and to put all the pieces into a manageable proposed timeline to bring to the church. There are many exciting and meaningful tasks implied by that report, and we are working diligently to follow up and continue the conversation. I look forward to ongoing reports, new initiatives, and, most of all, following God's leadership together as we seek to be the presence of Christ among our neighbors and city.
