Posted in Life

Wine recommendations

Posted on by William Douthwaite

A woman stopped me in the wine aisle of Publix today to ask my opinion of some wine she was considering buying. I wasn’t dressed like someone who worked there, just jeans and a t-shirt. But she assumed I could help her understand the subtle differences between two bottles of red wine she wanted to give as a gift.

My knowledge of wine is limited, although I have learned quite a bit over the last few years by hanging out with people who do know something about wine. As we talked, she mentioned having bought a bottle a few years ago that was over $20. Now I knew I was out of my league. My league is the under $8 varietals. She seemed to be more interested in the price that anything else about the wine, so I helped her find a more costly choice on a top shelf. She was grateful for my help.

When it comes to wine, I mostly know what I like (mostly reds) and what my wife likes (Chardonnay), and buy what’s affordable. I’ve had many people comment about how much they enjoy the communion wine at church. We use Manischewitz Concord Grape, which is a bottom shelf variety (on sale this week at WalMart 2 for $7).

My best wine advice: buy what you like and enjoy.

Posted in Life

Holiday concert

Posted on by William Douthwaite

My wife and I attended our daughter Olivia’s holiday concert at her high school this evening. There are few things I enjoy more than attending our kid’s events, and I am admittedly biased towards band concerts, since I played in many of them myself over the years.

Attired in long black dressed and tuxedos, the band looked so different from the marching group who just finished their season. A number of the students played different instruments than they did for marching season. Many from the percussion section and pit were back on their primary instruments, which looked strange at first.

The jazz band started and played some very nice, swinging Christmas numbers, including a medley from the original Charlie Brown Christmas special. The concert band followed with some Christmas and Hanukkah pieces. The low brass resonated beneath the talented, well-blended woodwinds, trumpets and horns. A nice way to spend a chilly, rainy evening in Palm Coast.

I can still remember many band concerts from elementary school through college and even some community bands after that. I can even remember some of the songs we played. It’s amazing how all those notes tend to stay with you, as well as the faces of the people you played with.

Posted in Ministry

A little dialogue

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Last night at our Advent Midweek service, I tried to interact with the congregation during the sermon. I asked questions to get responses, to get at what they were thinking or their impressions of a person or situation. I’ve done this a little bit in the past, but tried to do even more. It’s an interesting process. In our church, they aren’t used to talking to me during a sermon, although we’ve had plenty of personal conversations in the past.

I believe they liked it. I believe it kept their attention on a warm, rainy evening. (Yes, in Florida, Advent is usually warm.) And it gives me a chance to respond to their thoughts, rather than simply guessing what they might be thinking.

The idea of some dialogue in a sermon requires a lot of flexibility, and the ability to keep moving towards the goal and conclusion. It requires a lot of faith, that people will respond and that you’ll be able to think on your feet, responding to what they say. You may need to abandon something you were going to say along the way, to make room for other thoughts. It works best, of course, in a smaller group. In front of 500 people, it just won’t happen. But with 50 or so, it has possibilities.

Posted in Ministry

The cattle are lowing

Posted on by William Douthwaite

I sang “Away in a manger” with the preschool children this morning. I meet with them each Wednesday to read a Bible story, sing some songs, pray, and learn some Bible words. They are getting ready for their Christmas program next week, so we practiced a few of their songs.

After we sang about lowing cattle, I asked them what “cattle” were. I got some really interesting answers. Everything from flying very high in the sky to something you wrap up the baby in, to a box with feathers in it. Once I told them it was a bunch of cows mooing, they understood. They told me the mooing cows woke up baby Jesus, but he didn’t cry, at least not that time.

There are probably lots of other words they can’t define, but we’ll just take one at a time.

Posted in Ministry

Advent midweek worship

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Tomorrow is the first of our midweek Advent worship services. They are part of our worship tradition in my denomination (Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod) and my congregation (Shepherd of the Coast, Palm Coast, FL). But they are not a part of most people’s lives. In other words, few show up.

I believe that if you didn’t grow up with this tradition, it wouldn’t even occur to you to show up at a church for a Wednesday night worship service during Advent, Lent or any other time of the year. Even if it’s heavily promoted, the idea is a hard one to sell to busy people who figure they get enough religious input on Sunday mornings.

But I like it. I like night services. Things look and sound different to me. Rather than being at the beginning of the day, it’s the end, before bed, and our thoughts are on the day past, rather than  the day or week ahead.

This year, I’m going to try and be less formal and more conversational with those who are there, most of whom will be the choir and the youth group, who are there every Wednesday anyway. I want to hear from people, not just talk at them. We don’t do much of this, but it’s worth a try. I’ll let you know how it goes!

Posted in Grace, Ministry

Kids in church

Posted on by William Douthwaite

I love having kids in church. I know not everyone shares my zeal. That’s OK. I’m not against children’s church at all. It’s just that I love kids, and I love kids in church.

In our church, kids

  • Teach us how to pray. Confidently, with no hesitation, perhaps with some made up words, and with no doubt whatsoever that God is listening.
  • Pay attention. Especially when you get down on their level, tell them a story, and show them something.
  • Tell the truth. They don’t tell you what they think you want to hear. They are real.
  • Snack. Hey, we always eat at movies and sporting events. Why not church?
  • Dance. Our little ones love to get up during the last song and gather in a make-shift mosh pit of movement and joy.
  • Teach us about grace. We have to be like them to get in the kingdom, right?
  • Make us laugh. We all need to lighten up a little.
  • Are blessed. By no less that our Lord who wants the little children to come to him.

I love having kids in church.

Posted in Grace, Ministry

Advent begins

Posted on by William Douthwaite

I wasn’t really sure what to expect in worship today. It was the first Sunday in Advent, the beginning of a church season I dearly love, from the Advent wreath and candles to the blue of the paraments. But it was also the Sunday after Thanksgiving, so I thought a lot of families might still be out of town or traveling back in time for work and school tomorrow. Even our organist was out of town, having sequenced all her music on the organ for our traditional service.

Though quiet, it turned out to be a moving morning for me. I focused on the Righteous branch of Jeremiah 33, who we know as Jesus. Our hope is found in the promise of his coming, just as it was for Jeremiah’s audience for whom invasion, destruction and exile were inevitable. Don’t let anyone fool you with the nice words, “Everything will be OK.” Both Jeremiah and Jesus tell us it won’t. Things are bad and getting worse, but we have a Savior who is coming. And that is why we have hope.

Rather than getting swept away in the hurried culture of Christmas preparation, the quiet assurance of Advent has already made an impression on me. I “get it” in a way that I don’t think I did before. I’m getting off the ride and spending some time focusing on the Son of God who came and is coming. Who was here and will be back. Who somehow gives me hope.

Posted in Life

It’s over…for now

Posted on by William Douthwaite

The party is over, kind of. My two oldest children have gone back to school and our home is suddenly a little emptier and much quieter. The last few days have been a blast with the five of us home. Twice as much conversation, food, games, mess, and laughter.

I know that everyone will be back again in just a few weeks, for Christmas, but when you all don’t get together too often, you take in and enjoy every minute you can.
Here are my favorite memories of this Thanksgiving:

  • Adam leading worship with me on Sunday and Wednesday.
  • Adam’s turkey made of olives and pickles, Katie’s pumpkin bread and green bean casserole, Lisa’s pumpkin pie, and Olivia’s mashed potatoes.Little ones hanging on the altar rail trying to see Pastor Bill.
  • Bike rides on two beautiful days.
  • Two posters filled with sticky “thank-you” notes.
  • The image of Jesus giving thanks right along side us.

As we head full steam ahead into Advent, these memories will quickly fade, so I’m glad I jotted them down here to remember.

Posted in Life

Christmas feels better already

Posted on by William Douthwaite

I’ll be encouraging our church to think along the lines of Advent Conspiracy this year. This book, video and study by Rick McKinley, Chris Seay, and Greg Holder really makes you take stock of how commercial Christmas has become, and how much more it could be if we worship fully, spend less, give more and love all instead.

To be fair, though, I don’t know that we chose to create a Christmas that was all about spending, debt, quantity, extravagance and gifts void of meaning. I was raised that way. For boomers like me, that’s what it was all about. My dad has slides (kind of like filmstrips that you can project instead of snapshots to pass around, for you who have no idea what slides are) of our Christmases that were consumption oriented. And we didn’t even have that much. But we had a lot. It was great. We loved it. We had a great time. Our stockings contained an orange and a penny, from a past generation for whom fruit and pennies were valuable commodities.

But in the last decade or so, I ran up against a wall when it came to Christmas. Having lost touch with the lifestyles of my family and in-laws, we had no idea what to get them for Christmas. They had no idea what our lives were like, either. So we began exchanging worthless gifts. We’d send each other a $25 gift card. We broke even. One year we got a gift card we couldn’t even use because that franchise wasn’t in our area. Money flushed down the Christmas toilet.

We even had a hard time coming up with gifts for our kids. There wasn’t that much anyone wanted. Christmas became really frustrating.

I, for one, am glad that we are making gifts for each other, giving money to some worthy causes, and scaling back our Christmas. Even before I’ve really done much, it feels better already.