This past weekend, my family and I had the pleasure of accompanying

Everyone pitches in... except maybe Jude and Rev. Mamma!

Kristi Willis
Doug Willis
Michael Reinert
John Reinert
Jeremy Reinert
Kent Binfield
Tanis Binfield
Sharon Ouer

on a mission trip to our denomination's camp and conference center, Slumber Falls in New Braunfels, Texas.

Rev. Charles Stark, the camp's director, was recently able to purchase a very large telescope for the children at the summer camp to teach them astronomy.  The telescope that was purchased is much too large to move outside every night, and so it needed a permanent structure to protect it.  The structure to house it, however, would also need a roof that could roll away at night so the telescope could turn and search the sky.  We had our work cut out for us!  But with the help of our incredibly capable volunteers, in just a few days we had this amazing structure built!

Jude eating a Micky Mouse Pancake made by John Reinert

I can't credit for the amazing work that was done.  I wasn't able to spend much time at all at the work site.  My 16-month-old son, Jude, has had tenacious separation anxiety the past few months, and it seems to be getting worse in spite of our efforts.  Despite all the literature we've read, advice we've received, and tactics we've tried, leaving him with someone else is pretty cruel... not so much to Jude, but to whoever we leave him with.  Our strong-willed son has been known to scream at the top of his lungs until he ends up making himself barf or his babysitter deaf.  So in the moments Jude was down for a nap, or could be distracted by a cup of yogurt or a bottle of bubbles, I helped Michael with a of cooking, dishes, and cleaning up.  My parents even stopped by on Saturday with the intention of taking the baby for a few hours while I worked on the site, but Jude was having none of it.  Instead my mom ended up working for a couple of hours on the site!  That first work day was particularly hot, so we all cooled off with the crew in the pool in the afternoon.

Sunday morning worship at Vesper Point

Sunday morning we all worshipped together at "Vesper Point," a beautiful spot perched right on a cliff overlooking the Guadelupe.  It was a peaceful and memorable way to celebrate Pentecost.


And so before I preached my short sermon Sunday morning, I had been thinking about Pentecost -- the birthday of the Church -- the day that Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to be with us as our comforter, and I thought about how what we were doing fit in so well with this church holiday.  What better way to celebrate the birthday of the Church than to leave our building, leave all our church accessories and committees and worries behind, and go somewhere we can just BE the Church?  Because the Church is not a building or a place or an institution or a tradition or a club or a denomination -- the Church is a group of people, filled with the Holy Spirit, who are on a mission.  And that's what we were this past weekend.  We were just a little family, filled with the Holy Spirit, on a mission to spread God's love to the people we met along the way, to our brother Rev. Stark, and to all the kids that would soon come to summer camp, look up to the heavens with this new telescope, and feel the awesome power of God's love.

So that's what I'm taking back from New Braunfels this past weekend.  I'm taking back the reminder that despite all the dreams, and plans, and to-do lists I have for our church, I need to continually come back to the questions: What is Church?  Who are we?  What would Jesus have us be?

And I think I catch a glimpse of the answer in this beautiful image of you all below: the image of a church family working together as a team in the midst of God's gorgeous creation -- working hard so that, through the science of astronomy, the fun of stargazing with dear friends, and witnessing the amazing beauty and complexity of God's Creation,  God's children may come to know Christ.

The rolling roof is up!

Emergence

I received a beautiful gift the other day -- a Monarch butterfly chrysalis waiting to open. Finally, one morning I saw it had just emerged, so I took it outside to set it free.

It took longer than I thought for her wings to dry. She hung on the twig. Moved around to perch in different positions. Tried her wings. Hung there a while more. It took a few hours. But once she made up it's mind she was ready -- she took off! Fast!

Her first flight was only marginally successful -- she landed quickly in the grass. I was afraid the dog would step on her, so I put my finger down and she latched on. She sat there on my hand for a moment, as if catching her breath, then flew away up into the trees.

It was magical and I am reminded how powerful a symbol this is for our life of faith. I recently found this prayer that seemed appropriate:


A Chrysalis of Grace


God

give us

a chrysalis of grace

wrapped around

our lives
& our dreams

& around

our past.
And in the dark & lonely
sometimes
remind us

to change

& grow
as we wait

& wait
& wait

& wonder.
Open our eyes
to see a peak
of light

as bright

breaks through.
Then finally
finally
but gently
slowly

push us
into the future
to emerge
a new creature
transformed
to realize

these wings
are meant

to fly.
Amen
.

by Tracey Marx

North Texans weigh in on same-sex marriage debate

North Texans weigh in on same-sex marriage debate: From the average citizen to the heads of two very different Christian congregations, North Texans, including UCC Dallas Pastor Rev. Dr. Jo Hudson, are talking about President Obama's stance on same-sex marriages.  We affirm our Rev. Dr. Hudson!

Party On

I find it irritating, and at the same time, providential that our consumer culture jumps the gun on celebrating Christian holidays.  During the season of Advent, when the Church is doing it’s best to create a mood of meditative waiting, the rest of the world is doing the opposite; they’re in the midst of a manic buying-frenzy!  And more recently, during the season of Lent, when the Church is doing it’s best to create a somber mood of penitence and fasting, the rest of the world is already gorging on peeps and scattering plastic eggs for premature egg hunts.  Then, the day after the either holiday, when the Church is just beginning to celebrate, the rest of the world takes down their holiday decorations and puts all the stuff on clearance.  It’s like the Church is doomed to always arrive to the party too late!

But as I said, I also find it providential.  How so?  The Good News, my friends, is that we Christians get to buy our holiday candy, decorations, and gifts on clearance during our celebration!  Last year I had an Eastertide BBQ at my house for the young adults a week after Easter Sunday, and I gleefully cleared out Wal-Mart shelves of plastic eggs, bunny ears, and peeps.  We partied in style.  Maybe our culture’s hasty celebrating is Jesus’ way of blessing His Church with bargains?

At Central Congregational Church, we’re still celebrating Easter because the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is something so HUGE that we prepare for it for 40 days and 40 nights of fasting and self-reflection, and then we celebrate it for 40 more days and nights once it’s here!  This calendar clearly clashes and inverts society’s calendar… but then again, that’s what Jesus was about!  He didn’t celebrate the Sabbath how people thought He should, and He didn’t minister according to other people’s schedule.  Our counter-cultural calendar reminds us that being a Christian means living in this world, yet not being completely in sync with it.

Eastertide challenges us to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus for 40 days and nights, all the way Pentecost on May 27^th!  God is ordering you to keep on partying!  That might sound frivolous and unspiritual, but celebrating what God has done in this world and in your life for 40 days is an enormous spiritual challenge!  To sustain our celebration, to continue singing praises to God, and to keep on partying can be even more challenging than any Lenten discipline we might have practiced.  So it may be counter-cultural to keep dancing and singing about Easter long after all the merchandise is gone our neighbors are already decorating for the 4^th of July, but this is our joy and our challenge as Christians in this world.