Word from the Pastor – A School Shooting Close to Home

I remember a few years ago when one of the many shootings that year took the lives of 50 people. In response to the tragedy, the governor of the state where it happened said, “All we can do is pray.” I was aghast. As a Christian and a minister, I was angry. To hear that anyone, certainly an elected leader, thought that there was nothing people could do at all to prevent tragic things from happening except pray that God would simply fix it all for us.
 
Sometimes we say prayers and then feel like our job is done; there is nothing left for us to do. But that is never the case. As Jesus followers, we are always called to actively build God’s kingdom of heaven here on earth. So it’s never true that all we can do is pray. We can always show love to others and work hard to stop suffering from happening.
 
The book of James says, “Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead” (2:15-17). If we are to be people of faith, then, what action needs to happen to stop these terrible school shootings? James would tell us today that if one of us just says to a school “thoughts and prayers,” then “what good is it?”
 
Over the years, it has been easy to fall into the regular pattern of 1) hear about yet another mass shooting, 2) be sad and/or upset, 3) wonder why it happens so frequently only in our country, then 4) go back to our regular lives as time passes and something else fills the news cycle. Even when the worst happened, at Sandy Hook Elementary, where 20 first graders were shot and killed, you would have thought things would have changed then, but they didn’t. It’s still just as easy for them to happen. And now it has happened to my family.

My mother, Ellen Dunn, is a teacher at The Covenant School in Nashville. She was there the whole time. She locked herself in her room and heard the assault rifle fired outside. She taught all the students who were killed two years ago when they were first graders. She was friends with the staff who were killed. We are so thankful that my mother was not physically hurt, but the trauma of that day will stay with all of the children, parents, and staff forever. So it has been a heavy week, with many emotions that come and go. Maybe for you too. Disbelief, shock, disgust, sorrow, and a full-throated anger that we have not made it harder for these things to happen. If nothing changes, then nothing will change.
 
We absolutely pour out our hearts and prayers to everyone in The Covenant School community in Nashville. For comfort in the midst of their terrible grief. And also in our prayers, we confess to God that we have let this situation happen again, over and over, only in our country. We beg forgiveness, and we pray that God would break our hardened anxious hearts, so that we will do whatever is necessary and make whatever sacrifice to prevent this from happening again.

We speak in prayer the names of those who were killed on Monday: Hallie, Will, and Evelyn (all age 9); Cynthia, Mike, and Katherine (all brave workers). Lord, have mercy.

A Gift of Art

Recently, the church was contacted by a friend of Pastor Stuart’s, who was wanting to find a home for a piece of art. Bernice Levy and her husband were trying to find good homes for some of their special possessions, and since the art piece is religious, Bernice thought our church might be a good place for it. Since then, we have learned how special it is.

The piece is called “Mother,” by Allen Stringfellow (1923–2004), and is now hanging in the middle of the Sunday School hallway. It’s not a painting but is technically a collage, using different patterns and materials to portray a modern and artistic depiction of Mary, Jesus, and an angel.

Allen Stringfellow was a highly respected artist who lived in the Chicago area. He frequently produced collage art, often with religious themes—worship services, baptisms, fellowships, meetings, and singings. (See more here.) Many of his works he framed himself, and ours seems to be framed by him as well. Among those who collected his works include Oprah Winfrey, Whitney Houston, civil rights leader Percy E. Sutton, journalist Les Payne, and Congressman John Lewis, among many others.

He was born in Champagne, Illinois, as the son of a jazz musician and a nightclub manager who lived in Chicago. Stringfellow was raised by his deeply religious great-grandmother, who took him to church services constantly. As he grew, he started painting murals for local churches.

After completing his formal education, he opened a gallery to help promote other talented African-American artists. He continued to mentor and teach artists the rest of his life. In his own collage work, he used vibrant colors, and especially loved reds. Church and gospel themes were common in his work, enlivened by a flutter of choir robes and stylish women’s hats. A fresh-air baptismal in the river is recalled in his signature piece, the dazzling collage “Red Umbrella Down By the Waterside.”

Over the years, his work evolved to use patterns and groupings that were abstract and surreal, inspired by his parents’ jazz influences. Translucent shapes suggest sunlight, opaque flourishes for clouds and multicolored facets become skirts, parts of blouses and jackets recall African patterns and modern culture.

Through some online research, Pastor Stuart was able to connect with Allen Stringfellow’s nephew in Illinois, Bryan Piper. Mr. Piper shared how beloved and celebrated Stringfellow was in their family. He was glad that this special piece is now on display at a church so it can bless others. His encouragement to us was, “Please treasure it.” And we certainly will.

A Word from the Pastor – What kind of work are we called to do?(The answer may surprise you.)

Since we’re having a fun lunch this Sunday around the theme of “How can you make a difference,” I’ve been thinking about how everyone is called and gifted to help—both individually and as a church. While pondering some of those different ways, I came across this article about the incredible things a church in Ukraine is doing.

The town of Irpin is outside the community of Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv and the site of horrific destruction and killings. Irpin is sometimes called “the Evangelical Hub of Ukraine” because it has many churches as well as offices for the Ukraine Baptist Union. One of the churches there is Irpin Bible Church (IBC). As soon as Russian troops pulled out of the area, IBC volunteers immediately began delivering food to survivors, cleaning up destroyed buildings, and even removing land mines. (!!) Apparently when the Russians retreated, they left landmines behind to try and kill or maim the people there.

The very idea astounded me. We invite people to volunteer in many ways here—inside and outside the church. But all the good work we do seems so… low-risk, compared to removing landmines. That’s not an activity you’d expect to see on a church Sign-Up Shack.

The Coordination Center of Ukrainian Baptists asked all of us to pray for church volunteers clearing landmines: “prayers for their strength and safety.” That’s quite an understatement. Can you imagine that being on our list of prayer concerns? It’s hard to fathom.

As it turns out, Irpin Bible Church’s ministry center was badly damaged in a bombing raid when the Russians pulled out. (see photo) The congregation had just bought the building a year before; then spent eight months renovating it. I can’t imagine that either. I see everyday the awesome work that our church volunteers are doing on our hallways, ceilings, carpet, gardens, and more. So many work hours they’ve put in to help our church look beautiful, especially as we get ready for our 100th Anniversary this summer. But what if, once we finished, someone bombed our church? It would be heartbreaking.

Despite all of that horror, the pastor of Irpin Bible Church said, “We believe that the Lord will give us the opportunity to rebuild the church building…. But most importantly, we pray for our people in Irpin and try to serve them, so that they will see that in the most difficult times, the Lord is near.” Amazing. What a witness of endurance, service, and strength. (see photo of people sheltering in their church for safety) What an inspiration. And it really puts things in perspective.

The next time we think about the work there is that needs doing, and if our schedules allow it, we can think about the kind of work that church volunteers in Ukraine are doing. Hopefully it will make us all the more thankful for what we have, and the work that we get to do.

A Word from the Pastor – The Evidence of Things Not Seen

In Bible Study a few Wednesdays ago, we talked about the effect of having a Resurrection perspective in life. If you believe that Resurrection is on your horizon, then that trajectory has many wonderful benefits. For one, it gives you an attitude of Abundance, which makes us more likely to love our neighbors, serve other people, and help those in need—all the Jesus kind of things. The opposite attitude is one of Scarcity, where we want to keep as much for ourselves as possible, not willing to listen or share, we’re very touchy, and we get over-reactive.

Someone in Bible Study asked why so many Christians claim to believe in Resurrection, but then seem to live with an attitude of Scarcity. Good question.

As humans, it’s actually really hard to develop a perspective of Resurrection, because it’s not how we start off in the world. Think of what we’re like as children. If a child doesn’t have what they want when they want it, they get upset. They don’t stop crying until they get what they want, no matter how many times you say, “You don’t need to cry. I’m making the bottle right now!” A baby needs to see or feel the thing it wants, and doesn’t take your word for it that it’s on the way. Or, if a baby can’t see its parent, it cries then too, because it doesn’t understand that the parent really is still there, even when the baby can’t see them. That’s how we all see the world when we start out in life, so it’s hard for humans to grow past it. And it’s why some people who claim to believe in Resurrection still live with an attitude of Scarcity, because they live based on what they see and what they have and what they want.

Concrete items and things and ideas are easy to see and feel, because they’re visible and are right there in our lives in the moment. But abstract concepts—things we can’t see with our eyes—those are harder to think about. It takes effort because a Resurrection perspective requires looking past our own situation and our own lives. It’s hard to grow out of our base humanity, and yet, we are called by God to always keep growing and maturing towards the mindset of Christ.

As a perfect but terrible example, take the coronavirus. The reason it’s so dangerous—maybe more so than symptoms and fatality—is that when people get it, they can spread it for about a week before they even start to feel sick. That’s why it’s dangerous. People think to themselves, “I know I’m not sick, because I feel fine.” And then they go visit friends or family or a group and don’t think precautions are necessary, until later, when the symptoms start, and they realize they’ve had it a while, and then symptoms start for others. All because it’s hard for people to believe something that they don’t see with their own eyes.

From the very beginning of the pandemic, infectious disease experts said, “This is a horrible disease. Treat it seriously and responsibly.” But many people decided it wasn’t that bad, until their friends or family starting getting sick, and going to the hospital, or worse. Only then did people realize it’s as serious as the experts told us in March 2020. How many stories have we heard in the news of people in the ICU regretting the way they thought and acted? If only we had taken it seriously at the beginning, without waiting until it affected each of us, to finally understand. We could have prevented many of the 680,000 American deaths that Covid has claimed so far. That’s a lot of people. Each one with a family, who now misses them.

So remember that it is for our own good that God calls us to mature our understanding toward that Resurrection perspective, because it helps us know things in life that we cannot see. Hebrews chapter 11 talks about that. And it also warns us, that people who grow to reach that perspective have been mocked and mistreated because they live in a way that is not based just on what is seen around us (Heb. 11:1-2, 36-38). That’s another reason it’s hard. It’s hard to act on things that we cannot see, because there will be pushback from people who don’t have that perspective. But Hebrews 11 also says that because of our faith in the unseen, we can endure and persevere anything that the world throws at us. Because our perspective is based on Resurrection.

A Word from the Pastor — Admitting When We’re Tired and Frustrated

I have found myself saying this a lot this week: “I’m tired of thinking about the coronavirus.” Have you said or thought that too? I’m sure I said it a lot a year ago, but in corona-time, a year is like a decade and a month is like a year. So last summer was like a different era. And this summer felt different too, but in a good way. As more people were getting vaccinated, more things were possible, and it was great. I was excited and energized about non-stop improvements in health and safety…

And now this. To quote one of my favorite songs, we’re now all “in the land of the Delta blues.”

So once again, I’m tired of thinking about the coronavirus. However, I am truly blessed to be part of a great community here at our church. For anyone to be a part of this family of faith is a blessing, and one that should not be taken lightly. That’s why the church’s Health & Safety Team did not take the situation or our church people’s health lightly when it met this week.

No one liked having to put some of the rules back into place that we had 5 months ago, but nobody liked that the Covid cases in the county were again spreading like they were 5 months ago. We certainly don’t like pausing Sunday School, since we had only just gotten back to enjoying that good group time. And we don’t like having to wear masks more often like we used to, because wearing masks is annoying. So it was hard to make hard decisions, but the safety of those who come to our church is paramount as we follow Jesus’ command to love our neighbors.

To my knowledge, no one has gotten Covid from coming to our church. Not a one. As was expected, a few folks in our church family did contract Covid over the past year, as it spread to every community in the world. But thanks to the different safety guidelines we have used over the last year, no person got sick from coming to our church. And by golly I want it to stay that way.

Rules are frustrating and annoying, but I do remember when it was worse. I remember many weeks of standing in an empty sanctuary, preaching only to a camera. Those were weird lonely worship services, with only a handful of folks inside leading it. And when we came back, I remember having to put ropes and signs on the pews, and the ropes kept falling off, and sometimes your favorite seat had been blocked. (There won’t be any ropes this time for August, at least.) And a full year of Bible Study by myself, just talking to the camera. Ugh, those were the days. So I remember when it was worse.

Years from now we’ll be talking to each other or younger generations, and say, “Do you remember all that crazy stuff we had to do back then to stay safe? Back and forth, ups and downs, hopeful one day then worried about your family the next. Gosh, those were weird times. Thank goodness God was with us then. And thank goodness God is with us now.” I bet we’ll be saying that a lot in a few years. In fact, I might start it saying now. Because it’s true. Even when we are tired and frustrated, God is with us. And when we are weak like that, it's when we can be strongest, because we’re finally ready to let God’s Spirit fill us up.

May God’s Spirit fill us, guide us, soothe us, and strengthen us during hard times now and always.

A Word from the Pastor — Where Is God Located?

In the Old Testament, Jews believed that the presence of God resided specifically and physically in the Jerusalem temple. That’s why the holy festivals required a trip there, to make sacrifices on God’s holy altar, right next to the room where they believed God’s Spirit was focused: the Most Holy Place. And it’s also why, when the Jews were exiled to Babylon, it was soul-crushing and spiritually devastating. Not only were they far from home, but they thought they were far from the very presence of God—between 700 and 1,000 miles away, depending on where in Babylon they ended up. So how could they even worship God, since they couldn’t go to the building where they thought God dwelt? That was the motivation for the lament in Psalm 137, “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion…. How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?” (vv. 1, 4)

When we read and think about that kind of belief, we might be tempted to think, “Bless their hearts. It’s not like that. God isn’t limited to just one building. God’s presence is all around you. Whatever place you’re in, you can pray to God and God will hear you!” We know that and believe it. However, how hard was it during the last year not to be able to gather as a congregation together—to really be together? Very hard. We chose to do that out of love and responsibility for our people, but it was sad. Maybe that’s why some churches thought it was impossible to even be a church if they could not all meet in person in the same spot at the same building. That sounds similar to what the ancient Israelites' believed.

When I read what the Israelites thought, I want to reach out and say, “It’s okay. You can actually worship God everywhere,” but maybe I need to hear that too. Maybe, as challenging and weird as the last year was, maybe I didn’t need to be so stressed and worried for the life of our church. Maybe the church—the Body of Christ—can still live and work even if a part of it isn’t in the building they love. A good reminder that even if the church—the Body of Christ—has to take a different form or meeting style, nothing in the world can ever stop it.

Was it hard, difficult, and sad for us when we could not all worship in the same space? Absolutely. But was God still worshiped, from many different places at once? Absolutely. And that fact is beautiful in its own way.

Even though it took a big catastrophe to help the Israelites learn the truth that God can be worshiped from anywhere, at least they learned it eventually. For us, in the past we all assumed that we had to walk or drive to a church building and be physically there in order to worship God, because that’s where God was going to meet us. Now, the catastrophe we went through last year taught us some amazing new truths. God can even be worshiped—and the Body of Christ can even stay connected—on the internet, of all places. There's nothing God can't use to bless people.

However, the past year also taught me how much of a true blessing and gift it is when we can gather together. So as hard as the pandemic has been, it has taught us some great, good lessons. And it makes us even more thankful now when we can be together in person. I hope we never take it for granted again.

Pastoral Pandemic Reflections – One Year On

One year ago this week was the first week of our pandemic time. The previous Friday there was a special called staff meeting where we decided to cancel church that Sunday due to the increasing risk of the coronavirus. Then on Monday, March 16, we had another called staff meeting to figure what we and the church could do and would need to do in the days ahead. What a year it has been since.

There have been highs and lows, laughs and tears, sad from being lonely but worried about being in a group. There have been many changes and learning curves in all our lives. During different phases of the past year, different things needed to be done in different ways—for the church and everyone. It’s certainly not boring being a minister these days. But it has also certainly been a true honor to serve a church that is so compassionate, thoughtful, wise, willing, and good-hearted. All through the past year I have said, “If I had to go through the craziest year on record, at least I could go through it with our people here!” You have been a blessing to me for sure.

I have been thankful to the staff for figuring out new things they had to do. I’ve been thankful for the deacons and church leaders who helped facilitate needed discussions during difficult circumstances. And I am proud of our congregation—for you—in the way that it handled and dealt with this long crisis. With determination, wisdom, care, and humility. Through it all, you continued the two most important things: love God, and love your neighbors.

In a sermon last April, I said the following:

I know that there are a lot of problems, and fears, and uncertainties, and loss. But when I think of the people in our church, and I think of your hearts and your minds…. Folks, I believe this will be our finest hour. Because a crisis this big shows who people really are—as individuals and as a society. It’s easy to look good when things are easy, but during a crisis, your real self is shown, for better and for worse. And I have faith in us, right now, as we do show others who we really are and how we care about people and the power of God’s Spirit inside of us. This season is indeed a true test of faith, but we are in it together.

Those things have stayed true for the past year and on through today.

I have been reflecting and writing about what the year has been like. I felt it was important for history, for the church’s record, and just for me to remember. If you’re interested in reading more pandemic reflections, you can click HERE. I will be updating it from time to time. Although, it is long with lots of information. (You know how preachers like to talk.) For a shorter snapshot, here are some figures for what the church has done over the past year:

• 1,200 meals made and/or delivered

• 262 separate videos posted online for people to watch

• 13,140 total times that people have looked at our various videos

• 113,340 total minutes that people have watched us (about 1,889 hours!)

• 120 worship service DVDs made

• 4,100 visits to the church’s website for information and updates

• 370 posts published on social media (our website blog posts, the Facebook Page, Instagram, etc.)

• 21,950 people who saw at least one thing we posted on social media

• 104 e-mail newsletters sent out (not counting other e-mailed special announcements or pressing updates)

It’s been a full busy year, but full of good things to do. Here’s to another year of God’s wisdom guiding us, the Spirit’s strength sustaining us, and Christ’s compassion inspiring us.

A Word from the Pastor – Later, When We Look Back

December is always a special time. The Christmas decorations, music, aromas, clothes, snacks, movies, and everything make this time of year feel magical. But there’s also another reason its magical: during Advent, we experience the past, present, and future.

We enjoy the present, with its Christmas sights and sounds. And we think back on Christmases past, with warm memories of family or childhood. Of course we also remember the first Christmas story, as we read and celebrate when Jesus was born. But Advent is also about the future, because we also look forward to hope for Jesus’ second coming, and the peace it will bring, and the joy we would have, and the love that would reign in God’s fulfilled kingdom. Advent is magical because we get to experience past, present, and future all at once. So let’s gaze into the future for a bit.

Eventually, one day, the year 2020 will be considered “history.” So cast your minds ahead a few years. When we all look back on this year, what will we think? When you remember the way you acted, thought, and spoke, how will you feel about it?

This is an historic year, a year when everything got thrown up in the air—for better and for worse. A year when many things changed. Bad behaviors were flaunted, and selfishness was often encouraged. This year we have experienced the worst. Some people showed their worst sides because of it. Others showed inspiring compassion and integrity. So act and speak in a way that you can be proud of years later.

It will be interesting what future generations say about the way we responded to the pandemic, and how our country broke all records the world over for deaths and infections. I wonder if future generations will be surprised at how, as a people, we were not willing to do whatever was necessary to protect others from getting sick and dying unnecessarily.

Our own future generations will talk about how everyone acted in 2020. So when one of your descendants asks how you responded to that hard year, what do you want them to say? Go ahead and be mindful of that now. As we close this sad year and begin a new one with hope for better days, spend time praying over your attitude and actions. Ask God to give you wisdom and courage, so that when you and others look back on this time years later, it can be said of you, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”