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.

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.