Technically I am still proud to have graduated from the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary of the time. For most of my time there Dr. Russell Dilday was president of SWBTS and it was an amazing place. Dr. Dilday was dismissed, on the day Pam went into labor with Adam, because of a power struggle for the future of the seminary (he didn’t do anything wrong other than to have been moderately conservative with a board that had become increasingly more hyper-conservative). Dr. Dilday led SWBTS in such a way that it was one of my favorite places ever. Dr. Hemphill, who replaced Dr. Dilday, may have done a good job I just wouldn’t really know because I was only there for for a few weeks while he was president at SWBTS.
What I know is that the changes I learned about after Paige Patterson became the president of SWBTS in 2003 made it more and more difficult to want to support my alma mater. I went from encouraging people to go to SWBTS to conveniently forgetting to mention it when I talked to people about going to seminaries. When I decided to start working on a Doctor of Ministry degree SWBTS was no longer a place I would consider attending. I went to New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary for my D.min because I couldn’t stomach so much of the ideology in which Patterson had led my alma mater, specifically in regard to women in ministry. Patterson continues to act and lead the seminary in manners that I can’t and won’t support. A place I once loved has become a place I am no longer have pride in.
This past week there has been an uproar, rightly so, over a story that Patterson has apparently been telling for years concerning his recommendations for dealing with spousal abuse. Dr. Ed Stetzer writes about Patterson’s loony comments in his Christianity Today article “Paige Patterson and Doing the Right Thing for the SBC, Again” from April 30th. I’ll just quote part of an audio recording in which Patterson shares a story of advice he gave to a wife who was being abused by her husband. The recording can be listened to here.
‘Every evening I want you to get down by your bed. Just as he goes to sleep, get down by the bed and when you think he’s just about asleep, you just pray and ask God to intervene — not out loud, quietly.’ But I said, ‘You just pray there.’
“And I said, ‘Get ready because he may get a little more violent, you know, when he discovers this,'” Patterson said. “And sure enough, he did. She came to church one morning with both eyes black. And she was angry with me, and with God and the world for that matter. And she said, ‘I hope you’re happy.’ And I said, ‘Yes ma’am I am.'”
Patterson went on to explain that he was not happy about the abuse but her husband’s attendance in church (and believed repentance), which Patterson thought was from his guilt from the abuse he had inflicted on his wife. Please let me stress this.
THIS IS HORRIBLE ADVICE!
It saddens me that one of my alma maters is lead by a person who gives this type of terrible pastoral counseling. I saddens me even more that some have probably been hurt by such counseling.
I am a subject in a friend’s Doctor of Ministry project concerning discussions of church facilities. He told me a story of one church that he was dealing with where the leadership hadn’t told the pastor their true feelings concerning their building because they were being “Minnesota Nice“. So my friend asked if Tapestry’s leadership was OK telling me their true feelings even if it meant disagreeing with me.
I just started laughing. Yeah, they have no problem telling me when they disagree with me. 🙂
One of the things I love about Tapestry’s Leadership Team is that while I always feel like they have my back, they also have absolutely no problem telling me when they disagree with me or think that one of my ideas is stupid – which they often are. Today is one great example of this.
Tapestry continuing a worship gathering during a tornado warning.
Today we canceled our worship gathering for tomorrow. This is a big deal for me. In all my years of ministry I have NEVER, until today, canceled a worship service. I once held a worship service for our church’s youth, open to everyone, once during a hurricane even though the main church service had been canceled. Once in Tapestry we continued our worship gathering after we had been forced to move into the school’s very small basement because of a tornado warning.
So today while discussing whether or not we should have our worship gathering tomorrow I was seriously leaning toward continuing the worship gathering because my mindset is that people should just choose not to come if they view it as dangerous. As we chatted via text messages I told them all about how I had never canceled a service/gathering. There are 5 of us and the vote at the time was 1 to 1 with 3 others considering their vote. When I told the LT that I had never canceled church Marc came back with a message saying he felt secure traveling because he had all-wheel drive and lived in town but that wasn’t true for everyone else, and we shouldn’t have church out of pride. Marc & the Holy Spirit don’t play fair. 🙂
BAM! Suddenly the vote was 5 to 0 for canceling our worship gathering tomorrow.
I hate it when I am wrong, but I am VERY thankful for our Leadership Team.
BTW – Tapestry WILL NOT have its normal Sunday worship gathering tomorrow.
The Main Grain’s Firecracker Rolls are proof that God loves us. 🙂
I am not real good as a pastor at reminding people to invite others to church. I should be better about it because studies have shown that if you invite someone to church there is a really good chance they will say “yes”. I think my problem is that I believe that if something is helping you then you just naturally want to share it with others. A lot of my friends now wear Darn Tough Vermont socks because I love them and recommend them to everyone. Many of my friends now use Ting Mobile because they were the first cellphone company I ever actually liked and therefore I encourage others to try them out. Several of my friends now use Robinhood because I found trading stocks for free on it enjoyable. If I see you at Emy J’s on a Wednesday there is a pretty good chance that I will give you a Firecracker roll from The Main Grain because I love them and want everyone else to love them too. Like I said, I believe people naturally invite others to be a part of things that are good for them, and I know people are finding that God does things in their lives through Tapestry because people tell me this.
That’s why today I have already invited 3 people to come to church tomorrow and I’ve only been to The Companion Shop to pick up treats for Clive and to Kwik Trip to buy some peanut butter cookies that were on sale (both of these are places that I love and would recommend). I’ve also invited people via Facebook. I remember to do this personally but I forget to encourage others to do this. I’m really not that great of a pastor.
Anyhow I would like to encourage you to go to whatever church that you connect with tomorrow and to invite someone else to go with you. People are looking for meaning and purpose, in my opinion because we were created with a purpose – to be in relationship with God. So often people look for meaning and purpose in things that can’t actually provide said things. I end up hearing lots of conversations about people looking for ultimate meanging in something that can’t possibly provide such meaning. The church can be messed up sometimes, I don’t deny that. Yet at its core it is about connecting with Jesus and that is an awesome thing. In my opinion that is our ultimate meaning.
We were meant to be connected with Jesus. There are so many things around us and in us that keep that from happening. From our sins, to the evil around us, to the seemingly small distractions, there are so many things that keep us from enjoying communion with God, and with each other. Resurrection Sunday is about Jesus defeating all those things.
Death – defeated.
Sin – defeated.
Evil – defeated.
Things that can’t provide meaning – defeated.
Etc. Etc. Etc.
That’s why I want to encourage everyone to go to church tomorrow (even if you haven’t been in years or ever), and to invite others. You were meant to be loved by God and to love Him back. Resurrection Sunday (i.e. Easter) is God proving that He wasn’t going to allow anything to get in the way of that love.
I am fairly sure that my celebration of Easter weekend is defined by singing all but the last verse of “Were You There” during our Tenebrae gathering on Good Friday or Maundy Thursday and then singing the final verse (the resurrection verse) on Resurrection Sunday. The video above is from Tapestry singing the song a few years ago at one of our normal worship gatherings.
“The God of freedom, the true God, is… not recognized by his power and glory in the history of the world, but through his helplessness and his death on the scandal of the cross of Jesus”
It doesn’t always work out this way but I do love it when it does work out for Tapestry to do the Thursday night Place of Peace meal on the Maundy Thursday of Holy Week. This year it worked out, so tonight we made, served, and the ate the Place of Peace meal with everyone who was there. Maundy Thursday is when the church traditionally commemorates the Jesus washing the disciples’ feet (the Maundy) and the Lord’s Supper. I simply can’t think of a better way to remember our Lord’s service and death until He comes again than to be a part of the PoP meal.
It was a wonderful night and a great way to lead into tomorrow night’s Tenebrae Gathering. If you don’t have a Good Friday service consider joining us for the evening. We’ll be at the Smith Scarabocchio Art Museum.
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For those of you who may be curious, the guys who were the focus of Protect Tuna Casserole were there tonight and they were thrilled by the tuna casserole that the Glaze’s brought. Also Project Memories has been initiated.
Back in December I posted about Project Tuna Casserole, where I asked a “thread” to make tuna casserole for a group of guys at the Place of Peace meal who hope for tuna casserole each week. Two weeks from now Tapestry is providing the meal for Place of Peace again and the tuna casserole is again planned for the evening, but as of tonight I have a new project to add to Project Tuna Casserole. I am calling it Project Memories (Memories has to be sung in an overly dramatic manner like the song “Way We Were”).
Tonight as I was leaving the Place of Peace meal one of the regulars, about my age or a little older, grabbed my arm. This isn’t unusual. My whole purpose at the meal each week is to be there simply to pray and talk with people. Very often the conversations I have with people start by me walking one direction and someone grabbing my arm to pull me another direction. So I thought this was just going to be a prayer request. She started off by saying ” I have what may seem a weird request.” Okay, nothing really strange there. That is often how conversations with me start out. She then said “do you know anybody who can teach me how to scrapbook?”
I can honestly say that I have never been asked that question.
Between chaplaining and pastoring I get lots of requests for help and resources, but scrapbook never been one of those requests. She added that she wanted to organize her pictures because she was afraid she was beginning to loose them and the memories of them. That sounds like something that someone can help with and I have no doubt that this lady would be very grateful for the help.
So Sunday I will be asking at Tapestry if someone would like to help one of the regulars at Place of Peace in learning how to scrapbook. I’m fairly sure Jesus was never a Creative Memories consultant but I think He will be pleased with this effort.
This Sunday is the 3rd Sunday of Lent so here is the link for Google Doc file that I have setup for my preparation. If you are up for it please consider going by the Doc, reading the scripture, and writing down your thoughts in the Doc. I would appreciate if you mark your thoughts with your name somehow, but you don’t have to do that. You are welcome to write anonymously.
For the 3rd Sunday of Lent we are reading John 3:13-22.
When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem.In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money.So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!”His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”
Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”
They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?”But the temple he had spoken of was his body.After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.
I am thankful that I don’t experience this much in Tapestry. It happens but it is very rare.
It isn’t just Calvinists that do it.
Anyhow the article gave me a chuckle. Especially the last paragraph:
At publishing time, Johnson had spent several hours laying out a Calvinist view of soteriology before finally leading the pastor in a prayer to receive the doctrines of grace.
I get the privilege of being a part of one of Marc Martin’s C12 (a business peer and coaching group from a Christian perspective) meetings each month. It is always enjoyable. Sometimes the business specific information he covers relates very well to the pastoring and chaplaining I get the privilege to do and sometimes I just get the chance to take the topic and think of other things (sorry Marc but there wasn’t much I could do with the section a few months ago concerning cyber-security – I don’t have anything to do with CCAs cyber-security and I simply used “password1234” for everything related to the Tapestry 😁)
Today we talked briefly about the struggle to delegate and I confessed how much trouble I have delegating things within Tapestry. Specifically, that I don’t really have a problem asking someone to do something but then I struggle with them not doing it the way that I think it is important. I am basically the “jack of all trades and master of none” when it comes to setup for our Sunday morning worship gatherings. There isn’t much involved in setup that I am not at least proficient in (other than making the cover – for some reason I really stink at making the coffee). This works well in that I can fill in where every it is needed. It also leads to me being seriously tempted to take over when I see something not setup in a way that I believe reflects the purpose we are aiming for as a church that follows Christ.
Rublev’s “Icon of the Trinity” hangs beside the desk in my study where I write the messages for Tapestry, along with an image of C.S. Lewis’s wardrobe, a hatchet from my dad, and an autographed football form Bart Starr.
Therefore, I want to write out some of the “why” of our setup for our Sunday morning gatherings. We have a purposeful idea of why we do the things we do and that should be, and ideally is, reflected in the setup of our Sunday morning worship gatherings. I have discussed before (here) why the church is named Tapestry. The short version of that post is that we best bear the image of God (Imago Dei) when we are “woven” into each others’ lives, like a tapestry whose image is created by its threads being woven together. I believe God’s nature as Trinity is the best example of this type of union. I love Andrei Rublev‘s Icon of Trinity for its image of this interwoveness (I may have created a word here). That icon displays God as Trinity as the Three seated at table in conversation. That is what I believe Tapestry’s Sunday morning worship gatherings should look and feel like – an inviting conversation of people who love each other deeply and are ready to welcome others to that love.
Let’s begin with a drawing of what they looks like in our gym setup.
Now for me to explain what and why that drawing is the way it is. This is going to be long winded so I will do it in several posts.
First, I’ll talk about the most important part of the whole room, the coffee and snack table. I’m really not joking there. Yes our singing is important, yep the message is important (and hopefully I do I decent job of), sure our information table is important, but I personally believe that the coffee and snack table is the place in the room where we make it or break it on displaying a love for each other that comes from God and welcoming others into that love (unless, of course, if you consider setup and tear down – which are my favorite parts of our gatherings). This is where “threads” gather and talk with each other and also do the best job of bringing others into that conversation. I love that I have a hard time each week getting people away from the table to “start” our gatherings, or at least start the “formal” part of our gatherings. This table isn’t merely about socializing. At its best it is deep interwoveness (I am going to continue using this word because I like it). It is a reflection of the Trinity. It is the followers of Christ letting others know that they are Jesus’s disciples by their love for one another (John 13:35) and welcoming others into that love also. I believe it also hints at the Agape Feasts that were so much a part of the early church, which were basically a weekly potluck that had communion as a part of them.
The importance of this table is why I have thought seriously about its placement. The table used to be where the sound table is now, which is by the entrance to the gym/ The problem was that the crowd that gathered around the table, to enjoy each other’s company, formed a barrier right by the entry and made it rather intimidating for guests to enter the room. Imagine having to walk through a crowd of strangers to enter the room. So we moved the coffee and snack table across the room so that our guests can enter the room easily. Soon after entering some “thread” will see them, start talking with them, and slowly but surely some way or another end up at the coffee & snack table. This is why we keep plenty of open room around the coffee and snack table.
My personal goal for every guest that enters the Washington School gym on a Sunday morning is for them to have 3 significant interactions with someone who is a part of Tapestry (one with me, one with a member of the Leadership Team, and one with another random thread). I see it happen pretty much every time a guest enters the gym. They walk in past the sound table, where I often am and I start a conversation with them. Then a member of the Leadership Team does the same thing. Finally, a random thread comes over and invites them to the coffee and snack table. Bam! “Hey come grab some coffee, a snack, and jump into the conversation.”
This table is the beginning of the welcoming conversation and it is why the coffee that is made and the snacks that volunteers make each week are so important. When you make these snacks I encourage your to pray over them because God uses the work of your hands (or your purchases if you are running late) to invite our church to live out His image that we bear together as we are woven into each others’ lives. Our snack volunteers are on the front line of us bearing the image of the God described in Rublev’s Icon of the Trinity.
Tomorrow (or the next day), I’ll write about why we setup the chairs the way we do. For now I will leave you with the sound of our “haunted” percolator that sits on the coffee and snack table.
SIDE NOTE – Thanks for making me think about putting this in writing Marc.
Every now and then Marc M brings his grandkids to Tapestry and usually asks me if the sermon is going to be G, PG, or PG-13 before bringing them. Reading “The Gospel of Luke” by Joel Green concerning our passage for Sunday, Luke 7:36-50. In describing the actions of the woman Green wrote the following:
Within her cultural context—especially with women readily viewed as temptresses and/or sex objects, and all the more given her apparent reputation as a prostitute—her actions on the whole would have been regarded (at least by men) as erotic. Letting her hair down in this setting would have been on a par with appearing topless in public, for example.
Just making sure here but I assume that it would not be appropriate for me to preach topless Sunday?
