Welcome to Monday!
1) Talitha P blogs at Madame Future Moderator: Some day I'm going to grow up to moderate something very important; like a Session, or a Presbytery, or maybe even the General Assembly of the PC(USA). Alternately, I might give up on all things establishmentarian and go live with Jesus in a tree. I like Talitha because she reads Robert's Rules of Order for fun. Or maybe it's because she's so passionate about mission work. But what makes her stand out this week is her most recent post.
Here at the unofficial PC(USA) blog we're all about respectful conversation and, yes, even disagreement. Check out that blog roll, folks! But this week we got a few messages from someone with a passionate hatred (and mistaken understanding) of the denomination. So stumbling upon Happy To Be Presbyterian was a wonderful surprise. Especially today, when I was elected to serve as an elder for the first time. So thanks, Talitha!
2) Over at Mark Time, Mark Smith recently reviewed Carol Howard Merritt's Reframing Hope. (My brother-in-law is reading that one right now.) He also discusses the unexpected turn his recent job search took. Congrats, Mark, on the big leap: hearing and responding to a different call than you were seeking! Best of luck and God's blessing on your journey.
3) Meanwhile, Rev. Carl Wilton continues his short story, "A Treasurer's Tale" over at Monmouth Presbytery Clerk's Corner. The tale begins (with apologies to Charles Dickens):
Ebeneezer Droodge, church treasurer, awoke with a start from his fitful sleep. That noise – what was it?
It was nothing, he assured himself. Probably a little too much tuna casserole at the church potluck. Sure, that was it. Tuna casserole.
No, wait – he was sure he’d heard it this time.
“Over here, Ebeneezer.”
“Where?”
“Over here, on your computer. Where you sit up late every night fussing with the church spreadsheets.”
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query talitha. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query talitha. Sort by date Show all posts
Monday, September 27, 2010
Monday, January 03, 2011
Happy 8th Day of Christmas!
I do find myself rushing through this part of the season, though. Usually I'm loathe to let the magic of Christmas subside into the melancholy of winter, replacing red and green decorations with silver and white, substituting diet and exercise for parties and over-indulgence. I leave all of our household decorations out until Epiphany. But this year I find myself anxious to "clean up" and "clear out" and "shape up" and move on to the next thing. I continuously remind myself that Christmas isn't a season to rush through, it's not a series of to-do lists, it's not clutter. It's what really matters (although perhaps not the cookies and the drying fir in and of themselves).
So. Moving along to the first January Member Blog Meet and Greet. Two items of business today.
First, a welcome to our newest member blog: The Preacher's Husband: A journal from the living community of faith by Derek Maul. "Life is good. It's about living in partnership with my wife, Rebekah, about serving God in the context of our church home, about being the parent of two amazing children, and of both honing and using my particular gifts in order to make this world a better place." Recent posts at this fabulous weekly blog run the gamut from "Who wears the pants? (did somebody really say that...)" to "Preachers and a Healthy (redemptive) Lifestyle." This blog is worth a read!
Second, and very important, we have a new blogger to welcome to the unofficial PC(USA) Blog! Starting this week, Presbybug Talitha will start a weekly column on Wednesdays, and I'll let her explain the concept to you as she gets started with her first installment. Talitha's written here before, frequently in comments and notably with a guest-blog about mission.
Welcome, all. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Friday, August 08, 2008
Whose Mission?
Today, Talitha from Madame Future Moderator has written a thought-provoking post about mission. I hope it sparks some interesting discussion!
Whose Mission?
I can't help my geekiness, I have to start this post in Latin.
Mission, though a common noun nowadays, came from a verb, mittere, to send. We may have missions and do missions and even live in missions, but once upon a time when the western world still spoke Latin, people knew that the word was verbal. That you couldn't have a mission unless someone was sending someone – that there is no mission without a sender and sendee.
(of course, we knew that. God's the sender and we're the sent)
How, then, did we end up with short term mission trips? Wherein we choose an exotic, impoverished destination and go minister there for as long or as short a time as we care to?
We have a good concept of the basic structure of mission. God sends someone and they go – just like Jesus told us.
But I think in many cases we are holding on to a fragile eggshell of what mission could be. What we have is the "going" part, made more accessible by our friends in the airline industry. Where did the "come back a week later with a lot of photos" come from? Why did we go, anyway? What did we do there? Who sent us?
I'll be the first to admit I sent myself on mission trips. Less than a month after I graduated from college, I sent myself to Uganda to serve orphans. I stayed there, with my sister, for five months and then returned and served the American side of the same organization for the remainder of the year. I did it because I was in an open minded, questioning, vocationally unsure point of my life, but also because I knew there would be great benefits for me. I went looking for an escape from the shallowness of American life, and I'll even admit that my sister and I wrote a really melodramatic song about how crucial it was to get away from the empty glitter of America.
I went with personal goals. I knew, somehow, that God would be able to touch me through this work. I was seeking a more raw, direct way of living life, hitting my boundaries, opening up and learning to "really live." I still think that these kinds of benefits are an important goal of mission -- the "conversion of the missionary" as Anthony J. Gittins has written. Isn't this why we send our teenagers out on mission trips? We are hoping that they will be touched and inspired.
However, within the structure of our mission work, the hard question has been asked -- do we do anything more than seek our own spiritual experiences? Are we doing any earthly good at all? If we're doing more harm than good, we must wonder whether God is doing the sending, or if we are taking mission (the noun) into our own hands.
The Washington Post has asked it.
Catapult Magazine has asked it, and asked it well.
In Uganda, I have seen and worked with some groups who rode the fine line between volunteer service and spiritual tourism... or maybe I was just bitter because they had so much more energy than I, a jaded three-monther, could muster up.
In committee 8 at GA218, Hunter Farrell mentioned a slightly embarrassing episode wherein short-term-mission-trippers came from different PC(USA) churches and over the span of the summer, painted and re-painted the same church in Guatemala. Such sloppiness with regards to the task at hand indicates that the participants may have been doing a little more navel-gazing or sightseeing than they were binding up the broken-hearted and proclaiming the year of the Lord's favor.
I wonder if we haven't been working only with the empty eggshell of mission (the noun - the going places - the openhearted adventure)...
Have we lost sight of the one who moves mission, who sends us, and in whose mission we are mere vessels?
i mean, maybe not... maybe the problems are exceptions, and really we just need to use our God-given common sense... but that lets us off the hook. If we look at the church as a wonderful group with just a few ignorant people in it who perpetuate cheap foolishnesses, we ignore the fact that these studies and articles cover trends and not isolated cases. Somehow we may all be complicit in sloppy, self-serving patterns of mission.
I wonder what we need. Confession, perhaps... perhaps the Invitation to Expanding Partnership in God's Mission can show us our goals, and we can confess whenever we fall short.
Call to Confession:
people of God, we serve a great God who calls us to great things. Let us not be ashamed to turn from our mistakes, knowing that God is calling us, pushing us, and sending us forth to serve in ever-better ways. Let us pray!
Written by Talitha from Madame Future Moderator.
Whose Mission?
I can't help my geekiness, I have to start this post in Latin.
Mission, though a common noun nowadays, came from a verb, mittere, to send. We may have missions and do missions and even live in missions, but once upon a time when the western world still spoke Latin, people knew that the word was verbal. That you couldn't have a mission unless someone was sending someone – that there is no mission without a sender and sendee.
(of course, we knew that. God's the sender and we're the sent)
How, then, did we end up with short term mission trips? Wherein we choose an exotic, impoverished destination and go minister there for as long or as short a time as we care to?
We have a good concept of the basic structure of mission. God sends someone and they go – just like Jesus told us.
But I think in many cases we are holding on to a fragile eggshell of what mission could be. What we have is the "going" part, made more accessible by our friends in the airline industry. Where did the "come back a week later with a lot of photos" come from? Why did we go, anyway? What did we do there? Who sent us?
I'll be the first to admit I sent myself on mission trips. Less than a month after I graduated from college, I sent myself to Uganda to serve orphans. I stayed there, with my sister, for five months and then returned and served the American side of the same organization for the remainder of the year. I did it because I was in an open minded, questioning, vocationally unsure point of my life, but also because I knew there would be great benefits for me. I went looking for an escape from the shallowness of American life, and I'll even admit that my sister and I wrote a really melodramatic song about how crucial it was to get away from the empty glitter of America.
I went with personal goals. I knew, somehow, that God would be able to touch me through this work. I was seeking a more raw, direct way of living life, hitting my boundaries, opening up and learning to "really live." I still think that these kinds of benefits are an important goal of mission -- the "conversion of the missionary" as Anthony J. Gittins has written. Isn't this why we send our teenagers out on mission trips? We are hoping that they will be touched and inspired.
However, within the structure of our mission work, the hard question has been asked -- do we do anything more than seek our own spiritual experiences? Are we doing any earthly good at all? If we're doing more harm than good, we must wonder whether God is doing the sending, or if we are taking mission (the noun) into our own hands.
The Washington Post has asked it.
Catapult Magazine has asked it, and asked it well.
In Uganda, I have seen and worked with some groups who rode the fine line between volunteer service and spiritual tourism... or maybe I was just bitter because they had so much more energy than I, a jaded three-monther, could muster up.
In committee 8 at GA218, Hunter Farrell mentioned a slightly embarrassing episode wherein short-term-mission-trippers came from different PC(USA) churches and over the span of the summer, painted and re-painted the same church in Guatemala. Such sloppiness with regards to the task at hand indicates that the participants may have been doing a little more navel-gazing or sightseeing than they were binding up the broken-hearted and proclaiming the year of the Lord's favor.
I wonder if we haven't been working only with the empty eggshell of mission (the noun - the going places - the openhearted adventure)...
Have we lost sight of the one who moves mission, who sends us, and in whose mission we are mere vessels?
i mean, maybe not... maybe the problems are exceptions, and really we just need to use our God-given common sense... but that lets us off the hook. If we look at the church as a wonderful group with just a few ignorant people in it who perpetuate cheap foolishnesses, we ignore the fact that these studies and articles cover trends and not isolated cases. Somehow we may all be complicit in sloppy, self-serving patterns of mission.
I wonder what we need. Confession, perhaps... perhaps the Invitation to Expanding Partnership in God's Mission can show us our goals, and we can confess whenever we fall short.
Call to Confession:
people of God, we serve a great God who calls us to great things. Let us not be ashamed to turn from our mistakes, knowing that God is calling us, pushing us, and sending us forth to serve in ever-better ways. Let us pray!
Written by Talitha from Madame Future Moderator.
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
My Personal Mission
For my post on personal faith experiences today I'll be kicking off a conversation about mission and service. Please reply with your own stories on this topic, or send related topic ideas by clicking the "send your ideas" link the sidebar...
Just as background: I'm the son of two UCC missionaries in Turkey - Dad was a teacher there for 11 years and Mom was a nurse there for 9. We've always been "church" people, and that meant a lot in my small childhood church with an average Sunday attendance of 30 to 50. Needless to say, there's always been an emphasis in my life on giving of one's self.
In college, my wife and I were members of Alpha Phi Omega, an international "service fraternity." We helped with Special Olympics, tutored city-kids, cuddled and read to babies born adicted to drugs, and built houses with Habitat, among other volunteer services. The organization has a basis in Christianity, but doesn't have an official religious association.
Shortly after college, my fiancee and I spent some time looking seriously for a church home. While it is true that we landed at First Pres of Kirkwood because the 11am service was late enough to ensure we had time for in-line hockey and showers before the service, it's also true that we were very attracted to the wide variety of mission and service opportunities at the church. Even before becoming members of the church, we particpated in a spiritual gifts inventory to help us identify where our gifts and talents might lie. This was a great way to help us identify how we could provide a service to the church and contribute to its mission elsewhere. My big mistake was to check the "I'm interested" box next to everything that I was interested in "learning more about"... not necessarily volunteering for!! Although I haven't done as much as said I was interested in "learning more about," over the past 8 years, I've gone on work camps with senior high students and relief after hurricane Katrina, volunteered with a local shelter program, participated in committees, and served as an elder.
At a business meeting a couple of years ago, I sat with a woman who told me about a mission trip she and her husband had planned to Costa Rica. They'd spend most of their time site seeing, but everywhere they went, they planned on handing out bumper-sticker sized flyers that said "JESUS" on one side, and the Lord's Prayer in Spanish on the other side. She was so excited to be able to save so many souls that way. This kind of mission, I struggle with.
In college, we focussed a lot of attention on giving of our time and talents rather than our money -- we didn't have much. As I moved into the professional world, money started to become a part of the giving -- donating supplies, paying for gas, etc. Having "evangelism" called out as one of my spiritual gifts surprised the introvert in me, but I've certainly begun to see the value of sharing your beliefs with others. As an elder in a church with some fairly wealthy members, I've seen how monetary gifts can also be a form of mission. I wonder where else I'm not yet recognizing mission in action?
In lieu of our "Ask the Experienced Pastor" feature this Friday, we'll be continuing our focus on mission with a discussion about the caveats and dangers in the way we currently organize our mission trips. Please join guest blogger Talitha for an interesting discussion!
Just as background: I'm the son of two UCC missionaries in Turkey - Dad was a teacher there for 11 years and Mom was a nurse there for 9. We've always been "church" people, and that meant a lot in my small childhood church with an average Sunday attendance of 30 to 50. Needless to say, there's always been an emphasis in my life on giving of one's self.
In college, my wife and I were members of Alpha Phi Omega, an international "service fraternity." We helped with Special Olympics, tutored city-kids, cuddled and read to babies born adicted to drugs, and built houses with Habitat, among other volunteer services. The organization has a basis in Christianity, but doesn't have an official religious association.
Shortly after college, my fiancee and I spent some time looking seriously for a church home. While it is true that we landed at First Pres of Kirkwood because the 11am service was late enough to ensure we had time for in-line hockey and showers before the service, it's also true that we were very attracted to the wide variety of mission and service opportunities at the church. Even before becoming members of the church, we particpated in a spiritual gifts inventory to help us identify where our gifts and talents might lie. This was a great way to help us identify how we could provide a service to the church and contribute to its mission elsewhere. My big mistake was to check the "I'm interested" box next to everything that I was interested in "learning more about"... not necessarily volunteering for!! Although I haven't done as much as said I was interested in "learning more about," over the past 8 years, I've gone on work camps with senior high students and relief after hurricane Katrina, volunteered with a local shelter program, participated in committees, and served as an elder.
At a business meeting a couple of years ago, I sat with a woman who told me about a mission trip she and her husband had planned to Costa Rica. They'd spend most of their time site seeing, but everywhere they went, they planned on handing out bumper-sticker sized flyers that said "JESUS" on one side, and the Lord's Prayer in Spanish on the other side. She was so excited to be able to save so many souls that way. This kind of mission, I struggle with.
In college, we focussed a lot of attention on giving of our time and talents rather than our money -- we didn't have much. As I moved into the professional world, money started to become a part of the giving -- donating supplies, paying for gas, etc. Having "evangelism" called out as one of my spiritual gifts surprised the introvert in me, but I've certainly begun to see the value of sharing your beliefs with others. As an elder in a church with some fairly wealthy members, I've seen how monetary gifts can also be a form of mission. I wonder where else I'm not yet recognizing mission in action?
In lieu of our "Ask the Experienced Pastor" feature this Friday, we'll be continuing our focus on mission with a discussion about the caveats and dangers in the way we currently organize our mission trips. Please join guest blogger Talitha for an interesting discussion!
Monday, August 04, 2008
Changes Are Afoot!
Perhaps you've noticed some differences around here lately . . .
First, the email link under "Send Your Ideas for Topics of Discussion" is functional and already receiving some good suggestions. Keep 'em coming!
Second, we have a larger stable of regular bloggers, and some new weekly and monthly features. The schedule is listed in the sidebar, and nifty little bios of all of our authors should appear there soon. New content is added every day, so check back here often or subscribe to our feed!
Third, we're updating the blogroll! To start out, I've listed all the current members of the PC(USA) web ring. Check the list (Members of Our Community - in Development) near the bottom of this page, on the right. To join the ring, follow the link on the right or at the bottom of the page, and I'll add you to the blog roll as well as the web ring.
Since we started revamping the blog in the middle of July, several bloggers have joined our ring. Going forward, I'll highlight a blog every week. Today, I'd like to introduce our newest members:
More changes are coming, including links to additional sites of interest, and an ever-growing blog roll of Presbyterian bloggers and our friends.
If you'd like to contribute to the blog, please drop us a line (email link in sidebar). In particular, we're especially looking for a minister who's been around for a while to host our "Ask the Experienced Pastor" monthly Q&A session, and an experienced member of session to host the monthly "Ask the Elder Elder" Q&A session.
Whatever your role in the church, welcome to the blog, and we'd love to hear from you!
First, the email link under "Send Your Ideas for Topics of Discussion" is functional and already receiving some good suggestions. Keep 'em coming!
Second, we have a larger stable of regular bloggers, and some new weekly and monthly features. The schedule is listed in the sidebar, and nifty little bios of all of our authors should appear there soon. New content is added every day, so check back here often or subscribe to our feed!
Third, we're updating the blogroll! To start out, I've listed all the current members of the PC(USA) web ring. Check the list (Members of Our Community - in Development) near the bottom of this page, on the right. To join the ring, follow the link on the right or at the bottom of the page, and I'll add you to the blog roll as well as the web ring.
Since we started revamping the blog in the middle of July, several bloggers have joined our ring. Going forward, I'll highlight a blog every week. Today, I'd like to introduce our newest members:
- Pastorjayban’s Weblog: the one where jay ban blogs… Jay is the associate pastor of Clemmons Presbyterian Church in Clemmons, North Carolina, and the proud youth director of a group of youth who named themselves GOOTH…which stands for, believe it or not, “group of youth.”
- Rev. Dave's Raves. Dave is a dad, husband and pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Petaluma (CA). He is also co-directing Tents of Hope Petaluma, a grass-roots organization that paints refugee-style tents to raise awareness of the needs of those who are displaced from their homes in Darfur, Sudan.
- Called To Be: The Pastor's Wife & The Pastor. Rev. Kim is a wife and a pastor in the wilds of Wyoming.
- Transforming Seminarian: Reflections on the Christian life and Transformers toys. Mark Baker-Wright is an Assistant to the Faculty and Dean's Office at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California.
- Junction Barkers: Jim and Laurie Barker are Co-Pastors for two wonderful communities of faith in the Hill Country of Texas.
- Madame Future Moderator. Talitha says, "Some day I'm going to grow up to be moderator of the PC(USA), or at least of an immensely important committee. Alternately, I might give up on the establishment and go live with Jesus in a tree." And she has a lot of great things to say about mission. I'm delighted that she's going to share some of her thoughts with us here on Friday!
- Time Loves a Hero. Reverend Paul A. Andresen of the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas posts his sermons here.
- A Reformed Catholic in the PCUSA: Reformed Catholic grew up Italian R.C., fell away from the church, then married his wife, who brought him back into the church as a Presbyterian. He's now an Elder. And a Computer Geek.
- She Rev Writes. She Rev is first a child of God. Then she is a wife, a mother of 2, a daughter, and sister. She is also a Presbyterian pastor.
- He Wakens My Ear to Listen as Those Who are Taught. Dorontheos23, M.Div writes hauntingly beautiful devotions.
- Reverend Mike’s House of Homiletic Hash. Rev. Mike is an ordained minister and also an engineer. He's not currently pastoring a congregation, but is working full-time and finishing up his Doctorate of Ministry.
- More Presbyterians Blogging.
More changes are coming, including links to additional sites of interest, and an ever-growing blog roll of Presbyterian bloggers and our friends.
If you'd like to contribute to the blog, please drop us a line (email link in sidebar). In particular, we're especially looking for a minister who's been around for a while to host our "Ask the Experienced Pastor" monthly Q&A session, and an experienced member of session to host the monthly "Ask the Elder Elder" Q&A session.
Whatever your role in the church, welcome to the blog, and we'd love to hear from you!
Wednesday, January 05, 2011
New series: Grounded Scriptures
Hi folks! I’m Talitha, a seminarian, a New Yorker transplanted in California, a musician, a Sunday School teacher, a feminist, and an aspiring farmer.
Whaa? You may ask. What kind of well-educated, urban, pulpit-bound woman aspires to spend her days digging in the dirt? What kind of feminist is eager to do more canning and preserving than her grandmother did? Odd, I know. I often keep this part of my self-identity under wraps, because people do just that – “Whaa?” … and then I have to explain about how I might not have to operate a tractor, it could be urban community gardens, or how I could have a seedling nursery… But the fact remains, surprising many – I want to farm. I'm itching for more than a few square feet of land to do it on.
I have to blame a lot of the “why” for this unfortunate vocation on the Bible. Ever since my Old Testament professor Marvin Chaney shouted at our Prophets class “you can’t read this in stained-glass language!” about the sin of land-grabbing, I have had a vivid sense that the Way described and commanded in the biblical texts had plenty to do with how we work, live, spend our money, relate to our neighbor, and how we eat… perhaps more than with how we pray. And through reading (lots of Ellen Davis) and learning (with the Presbyterian Hunger Program roadtrip) I’ve come to believe that the particular realm of how we grow and distribute food in America is drastically opposed to the ideals set out in the Bible.
The rubber hits the road in my new blog series, posted here & elsewhere on Wednesdays, “Grounded Scriptures.” I will search each week for a Bible verse we tend to read in that “stained glass language,” extricate it from my piously cerebral assumptions, and look for a way to understand it in terms of the relationship of God’s people to the land, the soil, and the plants and creatures that grow in and on it. Read & join in!
Whaa? You may ask. What kind of well-educated, urban, pulpit-bound woman aspires to spend her days digging in the dirt? What kind of feminist is eager to do more canning and preserving than her grandmother did? Odd, I know. I often keep this part of my self-identity under wraps, because people do just that – “Whaa?” … and then I have to explain about how I might not have to operate a tractor, it could be urban community gardens, or how I could have a seedling nursery… But the fact remains, surprising many – I want to farm. I'm itching for more than a few square feet of land to do it on.
I have to blame a lot of the “why” for this unfortunate vocation on the Bible. Ever since my Old Testament professor Marvin Chaney shouted at our Prophets class “you can’t read this in stained-glass language!” about the sin of land-grabbing, I have had a vivid sense that the Way described and commanded in the biblical texts had plenty to do with how we work, live, spend our money, relate to our neighbor, and how we eat… perhaps more than with how we pray. And through reading (lots of Ellen Davis) and learning (with the Presbyterian Hunger Program roadtrip) I’ve come to believe that the particular realm of how we grow and distribute food in America is drastically opposed to the ideals set out in the Bible.
The rubber hits the road in my new blog series, posted here & elsewhere on Wednesdays, “Grounded Scriptures.” I will search each week for a Bible verse we tend to read in that “stained glass language,” extricate it from my piously cerebral assumptions, and look for a way to understand it in terms of the relationship of God’s people to the land, the soil, and the plants and creatures that grow in and on it. Read & join in!
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