In the traditional church calendar, the four weeks prior to Christmas are not the "Christmas season," they are Advent. While the world celebrates the season, many churches utilize music that hangs out in a minor key. While Christmas carols play everywhere else, the church sings song of expectation and waiting. We tell stories about John the Baptist and the Apocalypse. There is a massive disconnect between the "sacred" and the "secular" if you are in a church that follows the church calendar.

This year, I decided to get rid of the disconnect and gear my sermons and our worship toward Christmas to, hopefully capture some folks in need of some Christmas spirit. So, we started singing Christmas carols at the beginning of December and there wasn't anything anyone could do about it!

The crowds didn't show up, however. I was a little disappointed that we didn't have more visitors. It seems that waiting won't be denied. Whether we like it or not, we will have to wait. Wait to grow, wait to get better at preaching, wait for transformation to happen.

This afternoon, I read an article by Richard Foster over at Renovare. It was a great reminder of the importance and benefit of waiting.

Waiting, however, is not a passive activity, however. That is where I find the "waiting" of Advent as typically practiced as boring and frustrating. We wait and wait and wait and nothing...ever...happens.

We wait because we must, but that waiting is active. It is the runner at the starting line, itching to move at the sound of the gun. It is the race car mired in the pack looking for an opening to move into. Waiting is an active activity. When we must wait we are driven deeper into the Divine.

In my scripture reading this morning, one of the instances of Jesus' feeding of the multitude popped up. It is a good reminder that God's plan is for there to be enough. It is a major theme of scripture. So often, in our personal life and in our church life, we get used to there not being enough. We accept that state as normal. But it shouldn't be. This story, which shows up in all four gospels, and many, many other stories in scripture--a preponderance of evidence, I guess we could say--point to the fact that when the Divine becomes involved, there is enough and more than enough.

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We were a little bit nervous at first, unsure about how the community would respond to us, but it ended up being a blast. Twelve of us went out for an hour on Sunday evening, going door to door and handing out bags of candy with a little card telling folks about our church. Most of the people we encountered were surprised but thrilled at the gift. Some tried to give us money. Others were curious and asked questions about who we were an why we were doing this to which we were able to respond that this was just our small way of showing God's love to our neighbors. Yes, a few were skeptical, and a couple of people wouldn't open their doors, but mainly it was a great experience both for our neighbors and us!

USA Today ran a story a couple of weeks ago based on the findings of the Barna Research group. Here is an excerpt:

Majorities of young people in America describe modern-day Christianity as judgmental, hypocritical and anti-gay. What's more, many Christians don't even want to call themselves "Christian" because of the baggage that accompanies the label.

A new book based on research by the California-based research firm The Barna Group found that church attitudes about people in general and gays in particular are driving a negative image of the Christian faith among people ages 16-29.

"The Christian community's ability to take the high road and help to deal with some of the challenges that this (anti-gay) perception represents may be the ... defining response of the Christian church in the next decade," said David Kinnaman, Barna Group president and author of the book,

UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity

.

"The anti-homosexual perception has now become sort of the Geiger counter of Christians' ability to love and work with people."

As new generations come of age, the opportunity--the necessity--for a renewed understanding of Christianity as a source of love and grace and acceptance grows.

Tom Bandy, a consultant with Easum, Bandy, and Associates has written an excellent piece on the synergy that takes place in thriving churches. By excellent, of course, I mean that he agrees with my ideas. Not only does he talk about the importance of process from worship to discipleship to mission, he takes a stab at quantifying, with percentages, how that should take place.

I was able to spend the day Saturday with four of our church members at an all day seminar by Paul Nickerson, a church growth and vitality consultant. I think it was an incredibly positive experience for all of us. Much of what was shared is what I have been sharing with the church. Much of what was shared our church has already been doing long before my arrival. It is exciting to see our denomination embrace the idea of vitality and growth.

Some ideas that were fresh for me:

* "Taste and See" Events (events hosted for the community) should always have a "hand-off" event-- "If you liked this you might be interested
in..."

* People born before 1950 come to worship to be soothed. For Baby Boomers and later, often suffering from at least low-grade depression, the
desire is for exciting worship to inspire and energize. This is why blended worship is never completely successful.

* Nickerson's encouragement to bathe the entire process in prayer was an inspiring reminder. Prayer is essential at every step of the process,
from the prayer team to prayer walks in the neighborhood, to prayer triads that listen to the community.

I had the opportunity to hear a fantastic musician Friday night at a house concert sponsored by a friend. His name is Erik Balkey and bills himself as a "traveling house painter and poet." I can't attest to his house painting skills, but he is a fantastic poet. Each of his songs are a short story, drawn from observation and what must be a vivid imagination. He tackles social issues not by railing against them, but by sharing stories.

He introduces characters that one wants to meet and creates worlds that draw one in.

Linda, the Starbucks barista, is leaving Starbucks with little cups of a new seasonal beverage, pumpkin Frappucinos™. She is stopping in each business along Lake Avenue and treating folks to a sample of the tasty treat. Those that like it may stop by Starbucks after work and buy a full-size drink and maybe a cookie to go with it.

As the church, we have a "product" that is just as refreshing as a Frappucino™. We offer love in a world of indifference. We offer acceptance in a world of intolerance. But nobody knows. We keep it a secret. We need to be offering "free samples." In our everyday interactions, however brief, we need to be offering little cups of love and grace.

This morning I spent a couple of hours working on my sermon. Not unusual for a pastor. What is slightly unusual is that I did it not in my office or at home, but at Starbucks. I am making it a point to spend a couple of hours one morning and one afternoon a week there in a baby-step toward being present in and to our community.

The Starbucks at 415 Lake Avenue is hopping in the morning, let me tell you. There is a group of regulars there and I'm sure it will take me a while to crack that group. But as I was sitting there with my Bible flipped open and my notebook out, someone approached me and asked me what I was doing. Honestly, I hadn't been expecting that on my first venture out. I told the young man that I was the new pastor at First Congregational Church and I was spending some time preparing my sermon for Sunday. He proceeded to tell me how he went to a church when he was a kid, but hadn't been to a church service in at least five years. I mostly just listened as he told me how he didn't feel comfortable in church and how he thought church was just about a bunch of rules that didn't apply to "real life."
I shared with him that not all churches are like that and that I pastored a church that was at least trying to be real and make a difference in people's lives, helping them no matter where they found themselves on their journey.

Will I see him Sunday morning? Honestly, I doubt it. But I hope to see him again. I told him I would be here at Starbucks every Wednesday morning from 8:30-10:30.

That was Emerson's cry this morning. Unfortunately, it is Monday and he is on the way to daycare as I write this. But it made me think about a couple of things.

First, it reminded me yet again of the privilege that I have of being in full-time vocational Christian ministry. I

am

going to church today. I am spending my days fulfilling my vocation--doing precisely what I am called to do.

Second, how wonderful would it be to provide a church experience that people actually

wanted

to be a part of. What if the first thought that arose in one's mind in heart on Sunday morning was "I want to go to church!" or "I get to go to church!" ? How do we, as the church, get there from here?

Sunday morning should be so accessible and so applicable that we could all shout "I want to go to church!"

I happened upon Luke's Emmaus Road account in my daily reading:

"At that moment, open-eyed, wide-eyed, they recognized him [Jesus]. And then he disappeared. Back and forth they talked. 'Didn’t we feel on fire as he conversed with us on the road, as he opened up the Scriptures for us?'" -

Luke 24:31-32

The

Washington Post

tried an experiment. If they put Joshua Bell, the world renowned classical violinist, into a Washington, DC Metro station and asked him to play, would people know it was him? Well, as you can see below, most did not.

It was the same with the two disciples on the way to Emmaus. When the Christ was taken out of the context they knew and expected, they didn't recognize him.

Do I recognize the Christ when he shows up in my life? Am I expecting him? Am I so attached to the Jesus Christ of traditions and creeds that I wouldn't realize it was Christ if he was sitting across the table from me?

According to Scholastic Books, the U.S. publisher of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, 8.3 million copies of the last volume of J.K Rowling's series were sold on Saturday, the first day of the book's release. The latest installment of the film version, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, raked in $32.2 million. It was followed at the box office by Hairspray, which opened with $27.8 million in its first weekend.

Of course, these are two very different stories. However, I believe their success points to two realities in our culture. In the case of the Harry Potter phenomenon, the story resonates with our knowledge that we are destined for something more, something greater. Harry Potter is not just a boy who lost his parents and is mistreated by his aunt and uncle. He is a wizard of great renown, destined to be a major player in an epic battle of good versus evil.

Hairspray, adapted from the Broadway musical that was adapted from the original John Water's film, all of the same title, speaks to a desire in many if not most of us, to reach out to others, even those who are different from us--and to just dance!

Both of these impulses, good and true, are satisfied in discipleship to Christ. In the stories of his teachings and actions, it is clear that Jesus believed we must stand against systems of oppression and injustice--even on a cosmic scale. And in his words and actions, Jesus proclaimed that everyone is invited to the Kingdom party. Everybody gets to dance!