Posted in Rant

Christmas in November

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Christmas in November?

It’s hard to say how many Facebook updates, tweets and emails have told me that families have already set up their Christmas trees, hung stockings, and put up lights on their houses. It has become a badge of honor to have all your Christmas preparations done before Thanksgiving. Are you kidding me? Are you for real? Has anyone noticed that it’s not even December yet? Is there anyone who hasn’t pressed the fast-forward button from Halloween to Christmas?

This is a really hard reality for me. When I was growing up, we decorated for Christmas on Christmas Eve.  The lights might have gone up on the house a few days before that.

Basically we have no Advent. Thanksgiving is just a drive-through meal as we pull off the interstate highway from Labor Day to a new year.
How can anyone not get sick of Christmas when we start it 6 weeks out? Or more. Lots more.

Sorry. This is definitely a rant. You see, as a pastor, I don’t think we can survive an eight-week Christmas celebration. What started as a hardly-noticed night has become two months or more of the music, shopping, and decorations.

Have we become so desperate for something that makes us feel good that we will simply stretch out a pretty happy day into weeks and weeks and weeks of celebration?

Personally, I think the guys doing Advent Conspiracy (google it!) or Hole in the Gospel are onto something. A little less Christmas and a little more Jesus just might do us some good.

Posted in Ministry, Rant

We gather together…

Posted on by William Douthwaite

We had our usual Thanksgiving Eve worship at church today. Actually two times today, once at noon for those who don’t drive at night, and then again in the evening. Each year, the attendance goes down. In the evening, half of those who came were the choir. A quarter were small children (pre-schoolers), which made me think maybe we could try something different.

I like having some kind of Thanksgiving worship, but wonder what we could do that was a little more interactive, a little more family-oriented, a little less formal, and perhaps a little more attractive. I think it’s important to have something, a time to give thanks together, but I’m not sure what it should look like.

I’m going to research some alternative types of worship, activities, gatherings, something different than the usual I grew up with. Maybe wii-thanksgiving.  Some interactive thing we make to take home with us. Something we can share with each other. I’m certain I can find something.

Posted in Ministry

How do we learn thankfulness?

Posted on by William Douthwaite

I meet with our preschool’s students each Wednesday morning. I love the chance to interact with a room full of three, four and five year olds who have such a great way of seeing the world and who teach me a lot about God and faith.

Each November, in preparation for Thanksgiving, we sing a song about how much we have to be thankful for, including Jesus. Now even though most preschoolers know how to say thank you, how do you teach them what gratitude is? How do we learn to be thankful?

I start out by having them share things they have that they like a lot. This would include everything from toys and pets to friends and families. We’ve already talked about how everything we have is from God, who made everything. So then we connect the two. You say, “Thank you, God, for my toys.” Or parents. Or bugs. Or whatever. At some level, I think they get it, perhaps even better than we do.

In time we also learn to take things for granted. Until Thanksgiving comes along and stimulates our gratitude glands and we humbly remember our dependence on God and his grace. At least that’s what happens with me. But I get an earlier nudge since I teach the kids about Thanksgiving and they help me see the God who deserves our thanks and praise.

Posted in Rant

Bake sale?

Posted on by William Douthwaite

A week ago, our church’s youth group had a bake sale to help fund next summer’s mission and youth gathering trip. At least that’s what was advertised. When I walked by, though, I noticed it was nothing but some store-bought donuts and muffins on a plate, with a donation basket nearby. The youth in charge that Sunday had forgotten and their mom went out and grabbed whatever at the convenience store.

Now I don’t want to be inflexible about bake sales. The goods were indeed baked at some point in their lifetime. However, I’ll bet more was spent than was donated that day.

Who came up with the idea of a “bake sale,” anyway? Who can lay claim to having the first bake sale in history? Wikipedia had no information, but did note, “A major selling point of bake sales is the supposed and often advertised homemade nature of the goods being offered, but with the proliferation of prepared cookie dough and boxed muffins and cupcakes, this claim has become increasingly dubious.” So I’ve learned.

Posted in Ministry

Creativity

Posted on by William Douthwaite

I’ve recently discovered that a change in venue is a great way to stimulate creativity. When I’ve gotten myself out of the office and just sat around at Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts, I’m able to come up with vision, ideas, and stories that I never could just sitting at my desk. Why is that?

There are plenty of distractions at the office, for sure. Like phone calls, computer, and people stopping by. There are plenty of distractions out in the community, too. But they’re different. In a way, rather than distracting, they open up my mind. People who walk in, music playing, overheard conversations. I think it’s because I don’t know most of the people. The music is different than what I usually listen to. The conversations are not intended for me to hear. Together these things stimulate my imagination. Suggest things to write about, learn about, ask about. Give me a different view of the world.

It gives me a different view of the church. The church looks a lot different out in the community than it looks in the parking lot, the sanctuary, or my office. It’s people I don’t know, who don’t know me. People I will most likely never see in the usual church places. Yet people for whom the kingdom of God has come near. They are in the world that Jesus was born into. They are around people like me, who carry grace around with us.

Whenever my creativity sputters, I need to remember this simple jump start strategy.

Posted in Ministry

LCEF conference (part deux)

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Today the reigning Miss America, Katie Stamm, spoke at the president’s prayer breakfast at the LCEF leadership conference in Tampa. She is a Missouri Synod Lutheran and spoke very movingly about her faith and her duties as Miss America. She has flown over 200,000 miles this year.  That’s a tough schedule. About 300 hundred people lined up for autographs, so I passed on this opportunity.

Later in the morning, the keynote speaker was Rev. Bob Roberts from NorthWood church in Keller, TX. He’s a Baptist pastor and had some very interesting thoughts and experience on mission, church planting and the globalization of the church. He noted that though there are more mega-churches in this country, there are actually fewer people attending. Christianity is exploding, just not in this country. I need to read some of his books.

At lunch with some folks from New England, and North Dakota, I was reminded that not everyone is used to sitting outside the weekend before Thanksgiving.  The weather I take for granted was beautiful and a real treat for all who attended.

As usually happens with me, an event I’m not looking forward to turns out to be a great experience.  Perhaps I’ll get to go next year in Nashville.

Posted in Ministry

LCEF conference (part 1)

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Tonight was the opening banquet/session of the LCEF (Lutheran Church Extension Fund) leadership conference at the Marriot Waterside in Tampa, FL. I initially wasn’t too excited about coming, but decided to be positive and learn something.

I’ve already talked with some people I knew in New England. It’s also very good to connect with the national church, reminding me I’m not alone in this ministry. It’s so easy to get isolated in FL. Not good. It helps to get out a little.

So far, the LCEF knows how to put on a good conference, from the devotions to the food to the technology, they’ve got skills. It turns out I didn’t have to come, because our district actually brought more voting members than they needed. But I think I will benefit from the trip, and may be able to make some new friends.

I also discovered that I know the LCEF president-elect. He and his family vacation in Palm Coast and have worshipped with us several times.

Posted in Ministry

Initial Thanksgiving thoughts

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Our congregation traditionally has a Thanksgiving Eve service each year. Thinking about my sermon for that service, I thought about Jesus giving thanks at the last supper. When else did Jesus give thanks?  When he fed the 5,000, when he thanked his father for hearing him before he raised Lazarus from the tomb, and when he thanked his father that some spiritual truths were hidden from the wise and revealed to little ones.

Preaching on thanksgiving isn’t always easy. Those who come to worship are thankful and generous people. I don’t have to remind them to give thanks. We do it all the time. But we don’t always get to do it together, and that’s what makes it special.

A gathering of family and friends, a meal, and a word of thanks. On TV, it’s heartfelt and sentimental. With Jesus, it’s sacramental and sacrificial.  Most of our thanksgivings could use a little depth. Perhaps this is a way to accomplish that. I’m not exactly sure where I’ll go with this, but I find it personally very interesting.

We usually think of Jesus as the one we thank. Sometimes he’s the one doing the thanking. I can even hear him saying, “Thanks,” to a disciple who handed him some food or got him a drink. When the Son of God is thankful for something, we should pay attention.

Posted in Rant

All my friends were

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Sitting in Starbucks the other day, I overheard the following conversation:

“You mean she just wanted to get pregnant?”

“Yeah.  All her friends were.”

On one level, that at exchange makes having a baby sound like something you do because all your friends are, like going to a party or getting a tattoo (or both). On another level, it sounds like someone who didn’t want to be left behind or miss out on something important. You can’t always find someone you want to spend the rest of your life with, but you can always (usually) have the experience of having a child.

I wonder how the church will deal with families that have this dynamic. I’m not sure we’re prepared for this. We seem to do much better with one mom, one dad, one marriage, and some kids.  Few families are like this anymore. I am convinced God doesn’t love them any less, its just that we weren’t ready for something so different.

In the Old Testament, guys had lots of wives, lots of kids with their wives, and even more kids with servants, concubines, and prostitutes, so in a way, I guess we’re really not breaking new ground. God did some amazing things in those families, so maybe I should expect to see more of his grace.