...but not today.
The Wednesday after they notified me my job was being eliminated I worked from home. Friends and coworkers who know me well will tell you that I have a lousy poker face. I needed the time and space to take in what is happening. I spent that Wednesday making lists. Once the announcement was out, I could start going through my office and sorting the accumulated stuff.
It's amazing just how much stuff accumulated over eight plus years.
Over the next few days I made and labeled piles of books, files, and resources for the Formation and Vocation Ministries Team members to go through. I made piles of things that I needed to bring home. So far I've brought home three tote bag of books, personal files, and personal items.
There's still a stack of books on my desk waiting to come home. And the two pictures and my EfM diploma are still hanging on the wall.
It's amazing just how much stuff accumulated over eight plus years.
Today I got tired of looking at tote bags and piles. I hadn't even completely unpacked the large tote bags I'd taken to Dance Camp last weekend. So I unpacked. I cleaned out the hallway bookcase and put the books from my office there--leaving space for what remains in my office. The files are now sitting in a basket for sorting. I don't know if I'll ever need most of this stuff again. After I lost my job at Pitney Bowes due to downsizing, I did much the same thing. The only things I still have from those six years are a favorite pen and a couple of business cards in a case with the others from my past jobs.
Each time I've been laid off--I've only left one job voluntarily in my entire adult professional life--I've gone on to something completely different. The accumulated books and files from the previous job eventually get donated and tossed. Skills are transferable. Stuff, not so much.
It's amazing just how much stuff accumulated over eight plus years.
It takes some creativity to find places for all this stuff in the 450 square feet of my apartment. Even before this happened I'd been thinking it was time for another apartment purge. When you live in a small space you need to do that from time to time. But given the current circumstances, now really isn't the time to be making those kinds of decisions.
I haven't even reached the angry stage yet...
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
It's Official
This morning management sent an email to the Church Center staff announcing what they'd told me Tuesday afternoon. While I was shocked and am currently in the numb phase, it wasn't a total surprise given the state of finances across the church. Quite frankly, the primary reason I had the job of Children's Ministries Officer in the first place is because a previous director was dismantiling a colleague's job in hopes of forcing her out of the organization. And I was surprised to have survived the General Convention layoffs last year. So 16 additional months of employment was a good thing.
As I said, I'm still numb. Friends and colleagues have already begun the networking rally, for which I am truly grateful.
This is not the first time I have been laid off. In fact, except for one job, I've been laid off from every position I've held in the course of my professional life. If there's one thing I've learned, it's how to pick up the pieces and move on. And I know that it's not something you do alone. Please keep me in your prayers as I make my way through this transition.
= = = = = = = = = =
If you're interested, here's the official notice:
To: DFMS Employees
Subject: Changes in Formation and Vocation Ministries Team
Dear Colleagues,
We write to let you know of changes being made in the area of Formation and Vocation Ministries. As of January 2011, the work of the Office of Children’s Ministries, formed in 2008, will be reincorporated into current staffing positions and among networks and local entities. Though this decision reflects a mission strategy we believe will enhance the work of the Formation and Vocation Team, the hard consequence is that the position currently held by Jeff Harre as Children’s Ministries Officer will be eliminated.
Jeff came to the Episcopal Church Center in 2002 as the Program Assistant for Children’s Ministries and Christian Education. In 2008 he became the Associate Program Officer Trainee providing administrative oversight for the Evangelism and Congregational Life Center and in 2009 he was named Children’s Ministries Officer. Jeff has been a valuable colleague in the planning of Christian Education Conferences and the General Convention Children’s Programs. He has consulted with dioceses and congregations on issues related to Christian Education and currently sits on the board of the National Association for Episcopal Christian Education Directors.
At the Church Center Jeff has been a committed member of the chapel team and a regular leader at Morning Prayer.
Jeff will be in the office through mid December.
Please join us in thanking Jeff for his service to this community and the children’s formation network he has so ably served.
We wish him the best in all his future endeavors.
Faithfully,
Margaret and Toni
As I said, I'm still numb. Friends and colleagues have already begun the networking rally, for which I am truly grateful.
This is not the first time I have been laid off. In fact, except for one job, I've been laid off from every position I've held in the course of my professional life. If there's one thing I've learned, it's how to pick up the pieces and move on. And I know that it's not something you do alone. Please keep me in your prayers as I make my way through this transition.
= = = = = = = = = =
If you're interested, here's the official notice:
To: DFMS Employees
Subject: Changes in Formation and Vocation Ministries Team
Dear Colleagues,
We write to let you know of changes being made in the area of Formation and Vocation Ministries. As of January 2011, the work of the Office of Children’s Ministries, formed in 2008, will be reincorporated into current staffing positions and among networks and local entities. Though this decision reflects a mission strategy we believe will enhance the work of the Formation and Vocation Team, the hard consequence is that the position currently held by Jeff Harre as Children’s Ministries Officer will be eliminated.
Jeff came to the Episcopal Church Center in 2002 as the Program Assistant for Children’s Ministries and Christian Education. In 2008 he became the Associate Program Officer Trainee providing administrative oversight for the Evangelism and Congregational Life Center and in 2009 he was named Children’s Ministries Officer. Jeff has been a valuable colleague in the planning of Christian Education Conferences and the General Convention Children’s Programs. He has consulted with dioceses and congregations on issues related to Christian Education and currently sits on the board of the National Association for Episcopal Christian Education Directors.
At the Church Center Jeff has been a committed member of the chapel team and a regular leader at Morning Prayer.
Jeff will be in the office through mid December.
Please join us in thanking Jeff for his service to this community and the children’s formation network he has so ably served.
We wish him the best in all his future endeavors.
Faithfully,
Margaret and Toni
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Housework
I live in 450 square feet. Sometimes I wish my apartment was a little bit bigger. A separate bedroom would be nice. And I'd like to be able to entertain more than one or two people at a time. On the other hand, it's just me, and I really don't need more space. I'd just fill it with more stuff.
Of course, not making the bed in the morning means the apartment looks messy when I get home at night. And has anyone noticed that dust seems to accumulate more quickly these days? We seem to have the same problem at our office.
On the other hand, an advantage to living in a small apartment is that I can pretty much give it a thorough cleaning in about three hours or less. But do I really want to spend three hours on Saturday cleaning?
A couple of weeks ago I started trying some things I remembered from The Fly Lady, which Mom had done for a while. I started by shining both sinks before retiring for the night. After a few days of that I started setting the timer for 15 minutes every weeknight evening I was home. During those 15 minutes I dust. In five days I pretty much have the entire apartment dusted. The Fly Lady says set it for 10, but I remember reading someplace else that 15 minutes was a manageable amount of time. You can do anything for 15 minutes.
Once a week I tackle a "big" job. Washing either the kitchen floor or the bathroom floor. Cleaning the kitchen appliances. Sweeping up the crud that comes down the chimney into the fireplace. You get the picture.
There are still some things I haven't tackled. My desk is cluttered. I've been better about it, but I still tend to pile stuff on it until the pile starts to fall over. The file drawers need purging again, as do the bookshelves. Or at least the bookshelves need to be reorganized. Maybe I'll try The Fly Lady's Hot Spot approach.
In any case, it feels better coming home in the evenings. And I don't have to go into a cleaning frenzy when company is coming. Or worry about what kind of shape the apartment is in when someone drops by unexpected.
Now, if I could just figure out where to store the bicycle when I'm not using it.
Of course, not making the bed in the morning means the apartment looks messy when I get home at night. And has anyone noticed that dust seems to accumulate more quickly these days? We seem to have the same problem at our office.
On the other hand, an advantage to living in a small apartment is that I can pretty much give it a thorough cleaning in about three hours or less. But do I really want to spend three hours on Saturday cleaning?
A couple of weeks ago I started trying some things I remembered from The Fly Lady, which Mom had done for a while. I started by shining both sinks before retiring for the night. After a few days of that I started setting the timer for 15 minutes every weeknight evening I was home. During those 15 minutes I dust. In five days I pretty much have the entire apartment dusted. The Fly Lady says set it for 10, but I remember reading someplace else that 15 minutes was a manageable amount of time. You can do anything for 15 minutes.
Once a week I tackle a "big" job. Washing either the kitchen floor or the bathroom floor. Cleaning the kitchen appliances. Sweeping up the crud that comes down the chimney into the fireplace. You get the picture.
There are still some things I haven't tackled. My desk is cluttered. I've been better about it, but I still tend to pile stuff on it until the pile starts to fall over. The file drawers need purging again, as do the bookshelves. Or at least the bookshelves need to be reorganized. Maybe I'll try The Fly Lady's Hot Spot approach.
In any case, it feels better coming home in the evenings. And I don't have to go into a cleaning frenzy when company is coming. Or worry about what kind of shape the apartment is in when someone drops by unexpected.
Now, if I could just figure out where to store the bicycle when I'm not using it.
Monday, October 18, 2010
A Trip to the Supermarket
This evening after returning from New York I drove to the local Stop & Shop to restock the kitchen. I had a list so that I wouldn't pick up anything I didn't need. Usually these trips go pretty quickly, thanks to technology. If you have a Stop & Shop card, you can check out a scanner. You scan items as you put them in your cart and then scan the "finished shopping" bar code at the register. The register downloads the information from your scanner and tells you how much you need to pay. And if you bring your own bags, you can pack them as you go along. Easy in and easy out.
Not today, however.
The ginger snaps (they are on my diet!) were 2/$5 according to the pricing on the shelf, yet they scanned at $3 each. I asked the person who oversees the automated registers, and she said there wasn't anything she could do, and I'd have to go to one of the regular registers where the price could be corrected. No problem, I said, and found the shortest line. The very nice cashier there managed to wipe all the data from my scanner when attempting to resolve the cookie pricing. A manager was called who was also unable to retrieve the data. Everything had to be rescanned and rebagged. In the end, they couldn't solve the scanning issue, so $1 from the store was added to the till to decrease my bill by the amount of the overcharge on the cookies.
Isn't technology wonderful?
Whenever I check out of a store, I know I'm in trouble when I can make change in my head faster than the cashier. I'm old enough to have worked as a cashier when the cash register only totaled the order. The cashiers had to count back the change manually. Once you had the method down, very rarely was your till more than 10 cents off either way. So why is it so hard to make change when the register tells you how much change to give the customer?
Another skill from my days as a cashier is packing brown paper shopping bags. Have you noticed how many of the "green" shopping bags are about the size and shape of brown paper shopping bags? One day a couple of months ago I observed a manager training a new employee as a bagger. I had my canvas bags, and she showed the new employee to pack the bags in the same way I used to pack paper bags. She was about my age, and I commented on the necessity of having to rediscover a lost art. We shared a smile.
Over the past couple of months I've become increasingly aware of how much more expensive it is to make healthy food choices. On those days when I don't take my lunch, I can get a sandwich, soda and chips for about $8.00 or so. If I go to the hot/cold bar and pick out things more in line with my eating plan, or get a salad and milk, it's more on the order of $10- $11. I can get a Wendy's Baconator combo with double patty, large size and a large Frosty for a little more than $11. When fast food is cheaper than healthy food, added to our over scheduled life styles, is it any wonder so many of us are overweight? And if you try to buy organic products as much as possible, which I do, that can increase your bill by as much as 25%.
Maybe I need to find a local farmers' market.
Not today, however.
The ginger snaps (they are on my diet!) were 2/$5 according to the pricing on the shelf, yet they scanned at $3 each. I asked the person who oversees the automated registers, and she said there wasn't anything she could do, and I'd have to go to one of the regular registers where the price could be corrected. No problem, I said, and found the shortest line. The very nice cashier there managed to wipe all the data from my scanner when attempting to resolve the cookie pricing. A manager was called who was also unable to retrieve the data. Everything had to be rescanned and rebagged. In the end, they couldn't solve the scanning issue, so $1 from the store was added to the till to decrease my bill by the amount of the overcharge on the cookies.
Isn't technology wonderful?
Whenever I check out of a store, I know I'm in trouble when I can make change in my head faster than the cashier. I'm old enough to have worked as a cashier when the cash register only totaled the order. The cashiers had to count back the change manually. Once you had the method down, very rarely was your till more than 10 cents off either way. So why is it so hard to make change when the register tells you how much change to give the customer?
Another skill from my days as a cashier is packing brown paper shopping bags. Have you noticed how many of the "green" shopping bags are about the size and shape of brown paper shopping bags? One day a couple of months ago I observed a manager training a new employee as a bagger. I had my canvas bags, and she showed the new employee to pack the bags in the same way I used to pack paper bags. She was about my age, and I commented on the necessity of having to rediscover a lost art. We shared a smile.
Over the past couple of months I've become increasingly aware of how much more expensive it is to make healthy food choices. On those days when I don't take my lunch, I can get a sandwich, soda and chips for about $8.00 or so. If I go to the hot/cold bar and pick out things more in line with my eating plan, or get a salad and milk, it's more on the order of $10- $11. I can get a Wendy's Baconator combo with double patty, large size and a large Frosty for a little more than $11. When fast food is cheaper than healthy food, added to our over scheduled life styles, is it any wonder so many of us are overweight? And if you try to buy organic products as much as possible, which I do, that can increase your bill by as much as 25%.
Maybe I need to find a local farmers' market.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Well, That Didn't Work
Good idea, but not so good in the execution. Following the alphabet just made for a bad case of writer's block. Not that it is the only cause of writer's block. It just added to the block.
What to write about? That has plagued writers since alphabets were invented. Just write, many people say. Write what you know, say others.
That's all well and good for a personal journal or someone who is self employed. Blogs by their very nature are public. Extremely public sometimes. That means choosing your words carefully. And your topics.
I'm still working on finding a voice within those parameters.
What to write about? That has plagued writers since alphabets were invented. Just write, many people say. Write what you know, say others.
That's all well and good for a personal journal or someone who is self employed. Blogs by their very nature are public. Extremely public sometimes. That means choosing your words carefully. And your topics.
I'm still working on finding a voice within those parameters.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Western Christian Educators Conference - Day 4
This morning I had to track down some paperwork for Human Resources. It didn't take very long, but I used it as an excuse to miss the morning session. I'd reached the saturation point, and I really didn't think the morning exercise was going to be all that helpful. Instead, I took care of a couple of things for the office and watched the view from my window.
I sat at the "wrong" table at breakfast. I got tapped to serve during Communion at our closing worship and to give the blessing at lunchtime.
Victor Floyd led closing worship. The pretty much the entire service was sung, including the blessing of the bread and the wine. One of the pastors in attendance sang the verses, and the congregation sang the refrain. That wasn't the only time while I was at the conference that the entire community gathered blessed/consecrated the bread and wine. Monday night and Tuesday night Arris had all of us hold our our hands over the elements as he said the prayer of consecration. At this morning's worship there were three stations, each with a holder and two servers. The holders held a plate of bread and a small bowl of wine. As each person came forward to receive one of the servers would take a piece of bread, dip it in the wine, and place it in the person's mouth. Then the server would lay hands on the person and give a blessing and perhaps a prayer, if the person requested it. After the congregation had been served, the servers and holders served and blessed each other before gathering in a huddle to say a final prayer for themselves.
This is how they do Communion at Victor's Metropolitan Community Church congregation. The practice arose during the height of the AIDS epidemic when it might be the only time in a week when someone with AIDS was touched by another person. I don't think anyone refused the laying on of hands, though Victor said that if it made you uncomfortable to be touched, you didn't have to be, and the blessing would be said anyway.
I forgot to ask Victor where the sung prayer of consecration came from. If I can't find it, I can email him and ask him where to find it.
After lunch, one of the Episcopal folks who drove to the conference dropped me off at the Lakeside Inn where I caught the shuttle to the airport. It saved me a $15 cab fare and gave us a chance to spend a few more minutes in conversation. These personal connections have been the greatest part of attending this conference. We stopped for coffee at the Starbucks in the Safeway. Slot machines in the Safeway. Slot machines in the airport. Slot machines just about everywhere! Of the resort hotels that the shuttle stops at, the Lakeside Inn is the closest to the conference center, and it's the dingiest. I suppose if you're gambling... At least it was clean, and the restaurant had good food (I ate lunch there Sunday).
I have a three hour layover in Salt Lake City, so I'll get some dinner there before catching the red-eye home. Tomorrow counts as a travel day, and Friday will be a Sabbath day.
Peace,
Jeff
I sat at the "wrong" table at breakfast. I got tapped to serve during Communion at our closing worship and to give the blessing at lunchtime.
Victor Floyd led closing worship. The pretty much the entire service was sung, including the blessing of the bread and the wine. One of the pastors in attendance sang the verses, and the congregation sang the refrain. That wasn't the only time while I was at the conference that the entire community gathered blessed/consecrated the bread and wine. Monday night and Tuesday night Arris had all of us hold our our hands over the elements as he said the prayer of consecration. At this morning's worship there were three stations, each with a holder and two servers. The holders held a plate of bread and a small bowl of wine. As each person came forward to receive one of the servers would take a piece of bread, dip it in the wine, and place it in the person's mouth. Then the server would lay hands on the person and give a blessing and perhaps a prayer, if the person requested it. After the congregation had been served, the servers and holders served and blessed each other before gathering in a huddle to say a final prayer for themselves.
This is how they do Communion at Victor's Metropolitan Community Church congregation. The practice arose during the height of the AIDS epidemic when it might be the only time in a week when someone with AIDS was touched by another person. I don't think anyone refused the laying on of hands, though Victor said that if it made you uncomfortable to be touched, you didn't have to be, and the blessing would be said anyway.
I forgot to ask Victor where the sung prayer of consecration came from. If I can't find it, I can email him and ask him where to find it.
After lunch, one of the Episcopal folks who drove to the conference dropped me off at the Lakeside Inn where I caught the shuttle to the airport. It saved me a $15 cab fare and gave us a chance to spend a few more minutes in conversation. These personal connections have been the greatest part of attending this conference. We stopped for coffee at the Starbucks in the Safeway. Slot machines in the Safeway. Slot machines in the airport. Slot machines just about everywhere! Of the resort hotels that the shuttle stops at, the Lakeside Inn is the closest to the conference center, and it's the dingiest. I suppose if you're gambling... At least it was clean, and the restaurant had good food (I ate lunch there Sunday).
I have a three hour layover in Salt Lake City, so I'll get some dinner there before catching the red-eye home. Tomorrow counts as a travel day, and Friday will be a Sabbath day.
Peace,
Jeff
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Western Christian Educators Conference - Day 3
This morning we arrived for the morning session to find four small paper bags on each table. It was obvious that there was stuff in each bag. They were part of this morning's energizer, which was a community building exercise. Each table had to use what was in the four bags, and only the four bags of stuff, to build a model representing their community. That was followed by time to look at what the other tables built. Then every two tables had to combine their models, followed by looking at the other combined tables. Finally, we combined into four tables to build yet another model. What was interesting about our group was that we were the ones willing to move and integrate with the other tables, while they seemed to be more interested in us coming to them. This exercise comes from a Youth Specialties book (Experiential?). Here's the progression of our community model:
Our worship has been primarily music, and Victor Floyd, our worship leader, has been great. We have a variety of songs and styles, some of which he teaches us as we go along. This morning he played "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen. A handful of us dissolved into tears. Sometimes songs just hit you that way. You can hear Rufus Wainright's version and see the lyrics on this YouTube video.
Joyce began her talk with some discussion about Harry Potter and how he would have been better off with some Christian education. She told us that it was clear from reading the books that his parents had been churchgoers and believed in God. In the scene where Harry and Hermione go to the churchyard looking for his parents graves, Harry completely misses the clues on some of the gravestones, including his parents', because he doesn't recognize the quotes from Christian scripture.
From Harry Potter she moved to Lewis' Narnia series, specifically The Last Battle. I can't even begin to tell you the context because I've never read the series, not even The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. I suppose I really ought to read them, so I can get some kind of idea as to why are they so popular and what is it about them that appeals to so many people.
She also read us a rather lengthy quote from a paper by Karen Marie Just that was quite critical of Christian education/Sunday School curricula and the role they played in the development of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. Someone tracked down the book the essay appears in, and it's $105 on Amazon.com!!!
The morning refrain was, "What we believe about God matters to how we live."
She gave each table a question about God and asked us to come up with three things we believed. My table's question was "Who is the immanent God?" This is what our anwer looked like by the time we got done with it:
An observation from this morning's sessions: I am amused (and sometimes aggravated) those who are sticklers about following directions yet can't follow directions from other people.
After the morning break, Victor spent a half hour talking about hymns. He's picked some wonderful music for us throughout the conference, and not all of it was in the hymnals! He also has a great sense of humor. Lots of good stuff, but the two questions that stick out in my mind are: Is it ethical to lead liturgy that you don't agree with? Is it ethical to lead liturgy the people don't agree with? Interesting questions to ponder, and not just in terms of leading liturgy.
Back to Joyce, who finally began to take us from the theoretical to the practical. We are in eight groups working on presentations about each of the age groups and their pictures of God and ways in which me might teach them about the image of God. We'll be finishing up tomorrow morning.
I've been making an effort both in the morning sessions and at meals to sit with different people. That's not an easy thing for an introvert. But, it's about making connections and getting to know others who are working in the same field. Today I ate lunch at a table of United Church of Christ educators. The conversation ended up being about a new program that's in the process of being released online. Obviously, I didn't have anything to add to that conversation. Still, it's been good for me to make the effort.
This afternoon while I was sitting in my room working on a couple of things, I looked up and saw this:
At one point today I realized I wasn't feeling quite up to par. A slight headache and that just slightly "off" feeling. Then I thought, "Just because you're on the waterfront doesn't' mean that you're at sea level!" Drinking some extra water helped, and by dinner time I was feeling fine.
For the fourth and final workshop session I chose something for me, rather than strictly for work: Small Groups for Big Impact Adult Formation led by Julia McCray-Goldsmith and Lyle SmithGraybeall. Julia I've known for a while through networks related to my job, but Lyle, who works for Renovare, is someone I met here for the first time. Again, I didn't learn a lot of new stuff, but there were some snippets of helpful information.
After the evening workshops, we Episcopalians gathered for Eucharist. Part of me really wanted to bring a Prayer Book, but I refrained. Aris' extemporaneous services have been wonderful. And he asked all of us to lift our hands during the actual prayer of consecration. Nor have they been totally "Aris-led services. They have been community Eucharists. These evening Eucharists have been important to all of us. They have strengthened the connections we are building with each other.
A good deal of what I've been writing in these blog posts about the conference will end up in my report to my team at the office. And I will be copying the Program Directors on that report. Even with the technology available to help us meet online, face-to-face connections are important. Many of the folks I have met here I would not have the opportunity to meet via Skype, GoTo Meeting, or any of the other online communications tools we use. I value those tools, but I also understand their limitations.
I have made valuable connections here, and they are all the stronger for having been made in person.
Peace,
Jeff
Monday, October 11, 2010
Western Christian Educators Conference - Day 2
We spent the morning with Joyce MacKichan Walker talking about the results of the National Study of Youth and Religion that was done in 2002-2003, specifically focusing on the book Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers, by Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton (Oxford Uni verity Press, 2005). Our table discussions were about our reactions to the data and how it fit with what we observed in our own communities. A lot of it didn't seem to fit, but the majority of those in the study turned out to be conservative Christians, which, of course, skews all the rest of the data. It left some of us wondering just how random the sampling truly was.At least half of our time was in discussion of (Christian) Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, which is the main thesis of Soul Searching
Often Joyce forgets that there are non-Presbyterian and non-reform folks in the room. Not all of us are familiar with the Westminster Catechism, for example. Note to self: Remember this when working with ecumenical groups!
We've been using music from different denominations during worship. Today we used The New Century Hymnal, which is not used by all churches in the United Church of Christ. It is an attempt to use more expansive language about God, and according to our worship leader, when it is used, it often leaves everyone mad.
My first workshop was "Let's Start A Sunday School." I didn't learn very much, and there really wasn't anything cutting edge presented. But it was interesting to see how a small church Sunday School is handled by someone else.
My second workshop was "Using Children's Literature in Sacred Ways." Every book on the table was "secular." No retellings of Bible stories, etc. My book for the workshop was The Three Questions, which is based on a story by Leo Tolstoy. We were asked to read through the book and then think of Scripture that might relate, or how we might use it in our congregations--and not just with children. I thought The Three Questions might make an interesting reading at the end of our service at Grace when Lois gives us a moment of silence to think about how we are going to go out into the world.
The Episcopalians here have been gathering in the evenings to share Eucharist. The one priest amongst us is Aris, who was a classmate of Rob Bloulter's at Berkeley. It has been an interesting experience doing the entire service without a Book of Common Prayer or a leaflet with the service in it. Some of what Aris did was jarring, but it was holy and life giving nonetheless.
(Get out of your left brain, Jeff!)
The office intrudes on the conference:
I've been checking Email a couple of times a day. This afternoon we received one from Toni Daniels. They're consolidating Church Center Staff and opening up another floor to be rented out. The General Convention office will be moving to the second floor, and the Program Staff will be located on the fifth floor. Yes, I'm moving again--the sixth time in the eight years I've been at the Church Center. I won't know details until I go back into the office because Toni wrote that they would be talking with those of us affected by this move during the week. Since I won't be back in the office until next week...
Peace,
Jeff
...[W]e have come with some confidence to believe that a significant part of Christianity in the United States is actually only tenuously Christian in any sense that is seriously connected to the actual historical Christian tradition, but has rather substantially morphed into Christianity's misbegotten stepcousin, Christian Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. This has happened in the minds and hearts of many individual believers and, it also appears, within the structures of at least some Christian organizations and institutions. ...It is not so much that U.S. Christianity is being secularized. Rather more subtly, Christianity is actively being colonized and displaced by a quite different religious faith. (p. 171)My reaction? It's not the first time Christianity has "strayed" along these lines, and it probably won't be the last. And I'm not sure that's really a bad thing.
Often Joyce forgets that there are non-Presbyterian and non-reform folks in the room. Not all of us are familiar with the Westminster Catechism, for example. Note to self: Remember this when working with ecumenical groups!
We've been using music from different denominations during worship. Today we used The New Century Hymnal, which is not used by all churches in the United Church of Christ. It is an attempt to use more expansive language about God, and according to our worship leader, when it is used, it often leaves everyone mad.
My first workshop was "Let's Start A Sunday School." I didn't learn very much, and there really wasn't anything cutting edge presented. But it was interesting to see how a small church Sunday School is handled by someone else.
My second workshop was "Using Children's Literature in Sacred Ways." Every book on the table was "secular." No retellings of Bible stories, etc. My book for the workshop was The Three Questions, which is based on a story by Leo Tolstoy. We were asked to read through the book and then think of Scripture that might relate, or how we might use it in our congregations--and not just with children. I thought The Three Questions might make an interesting reading at the end of our service at Grace when Lois gives us a moment of silence to think about how we are going to go out into the world.
The Episcopalians here have been gathering in the evenings to share Eucharist. The one priest amongst us is Aris, who was a classmate of Rob Bloulter's at Berkeley. It has been an interesting experience doing the entire service without a Book of Common Prayer or a leaflet with the service in it. Some of what Aris did was jarring, but it was holy and life giving nonetheless.
(Get out of your left brain, Jeff!)
The office intrudes on the conference:
I've been checking Email a couple of times a day. This afternoon we received one from Toni Daniels. They're consolidating Church Center Staff and opening up another floor to be rented out. The General Convention office will be moving to the second floor, and the Program Staff will be located on the fifth floor. Yes, I'm moving again--the sixth time in the eight years I've been at the Church Center. I won't know details until I go back into the office because Toni wrote that they would be talking with those of us affected by this move during the week. Since I won't be back in the office until next week...
Peace,
Jeff
Western Christian Educators Conference Day 1
It's after 10:45 p.m. PACIFIC TIME, even though I'm on the shores of Lake Tahoe in Nevada. I've been up since 3:00 a.m. Eastern Time so that I was ready for the 3:40 a.m. shuttle pick up to take me to JFK. 7:00 a.m. flight to Salt Lake City, which is on Mountain Time, followed by an 11:35 a.m. Mountain Time flight to Reno, which landed at 11:45 a.m. Pacific Time. Then I took a two hour bus ride to the Lakeside Inn where I had lunch. Then I took a taxi to the Zephyr Point Presbyterian Conference Center.
It's a beautiful site right on the shores of Lake Tahoe. Here are a couple of views from my room.
And here is my room, which could sleep up to 6 people (three queen-size beds). I have the room, which is almost as large as my apartment, to myself.
This is a multi-denominational conference, but most of the attendees come from reform-type denominations. This evening our keynote speaker Joyce MacKichan Walker focused on Matthew 28:16-20, the Great Commission. It's a little difficult to be a Great Commission Christian(Matthew 22:36-40) amongst Great Commission Christians. Did you know that Bishop Jeffrey Rowthorn's "Lord You Give the Great Commission" is hymn number 429 in the Presbyterian Hymnal?
But she led us through an interesting exercise. Each table of seven was given seven small numbered rectangles with colors and shapes on the other side. Each person at the table took one of the rectangles, copied the number on the back of a sheet of 8 x 11 1/2 white paper, and drew the shapes, enlarging them as best they could using the colors available in the baskets of markers on the tables, on the other side of their sheet of paper. When we were finished, we were to put the small square, color/shape side out, on a sheet of paper with numbered spaces and then put our large copy on a large grid of numbered sheets of paper.
Here's my sheet (I locked my inner perfectionist in the basement!)
Here's what our finished grid looked like:
Here's the original:
While we were doing the drawing at our tables, we were to discuss amongst ourselves the images of God we had as children.
After the main session, there were denominational Meet-and-Greets. Nine of the 10 Episcopalians in attendance gathered in a small chapel to have Eucharist to start off our time together.
More tomorrow. I hope to be tweeting from the conference on @EpiscoChildMin, which should also appear on my office Facebook page Children's Ministries - Episcopal Church Center.
Peace,
Jeff
It's a beautiful site right on the shores of Lake Tahoe. Here are a couple of views from my room.
And here is my room, which could sleep up to 6 people (three queen-size beds). I have the room, which is almost as large as my apartment, to myself.
This is a multi-denominational conference, but most of the attendees come from reform-type denominations. This evening our keynote speaker Joyce MacKichan Walker focused on Matthew 28:16-20, the Great Commission. It's a little difficult to be a Great Commission Christian(Matthew 22:36-40) amongst Great Commission Christians. Did you know that Bishop Jeffrey Rowthorn's "Lord You Give the Great Commission" is hymn number 429 in the Presbyterian Hymnal?
But she led us through an interesting exercise. Each table of seven was given seven small numbered rectangles with colors and shapes on the other side. Each person at the table took one of the rectangles, copied the number on the back of a sheet of 8 x 11 1/2 white paper, and drew the shapes, enlarging them as best they could using the colors available in the baskets of markers on the tables, on the other side of their sheet of paper. When we were finished, we were to put the small square, color/shape side out, on a sheet of paper with numbered spaces and then put our large copy on a large grid of numbered sheets of paper.
Here's my sheet (I locked my inner perfectionist in the basement!)
Here's what our finished grid looked like:
Here's the original:
While we were doing the drawing at our tables, we were to discuss amongst ourselves the images of God we had as children.
After the main session, there were denominational Meet-and-Greets. Nine of the 10 Episcopalians in attendance gathered in a small chapel to have Eucharist to start off our time together.
More tomorrow. I hope to be tweeting from the conference on @EpiscoChildMin, which should also appear on my office Facebook page Children's Ministries - Episcopal Church Center.
Peace,
Jeff
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)