Each Word a Gift

Hurtful language.  Snide remarks. Sarcasm.  Anger. Rage and malice. And the wreckage behind.  

It happens.  It is amazing how that children’s rebuff to bullies:  “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me” was once super popular, yet so far from true.  That phrase was said to have first appeared in a publication of the Christian Recorder in March 1862, a publication of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.  It was there presented as the “old adage.”

But we all know that words are powerful.  Indeed a bone can break with a blow, but words wound the heart, injure the mind, and sear the very soul.  It is incredible how powerful our words can be. Each of you can testify to this, for were I to ask, you would be able to come up with some painful thing that was told you as a child.  Even if the event happened decades ago, it still can carry weight. For some of us, depending upon the level of healing we have experienced, that “word” can carry with it all the feelings that accompanied the event.  Indeed, if it is still very fresh, we would be able to tell what we were wearing, where we were standing, and who else was with us.  

Scripture affirms the power of words, saying, “The tongue can bring death or life…” (Proverbs 18:21). James wrote that the tongue is “full of deadly poison” (James 3:8).  

Have you noticed in your life how a single putdown can have more power than 30 uplifting comments?  It is as if we lean in to the negative and push back from the positive.  

In the world of child development there is much evidence that using negative words has less authority/impact than positive.  Indeed, some research into children’s lives noted that discipline worded negatively is much harder for the child to understand.  “‘Stop’ on its own tells a child nothing. He is left to deduce what he shouldn’t be doing and what he should be doing. For preschoolers and toddlers, that’s asking too much.  And then if we “add” what a child should stop doing, I am asking that the child double-process, both what I have told him not to do and to decide what he should do instead.” 

This article continued, “In general, science finds that when a child (or anyone for that matter) is told no, their fight, flight, freeze or faint response is activated (1). In this state of mind, children are more likely to emotionally respond. The result is a child who likely feels angry, avoidant, rigid or helpless. In contrast, when a child hears positive phrasing, their prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain responsible for resilience, curiosity, open-mindedness, problem-solving and even morality is engaged (2).”  (Whole article here)

All from the choice of positive or negative language.  Language with kids, language with adults, language that is yelled or spoken softly, language that tears down or builds up.  There are so many choices for us in the words we use. And as we make those choices it might help to recall how language impacted our own lives.  It seems that the way we were spoken to often is how we speak to others.  

This is tough to see, but it helps to ask those we trust.  Get feedback from others around you -- how did I come across?  Did that sound harsh? Was I negative? Did that comment impact you negatively?  Get feedback for what you cannot know: how others experience you.  

Do the hard work of communication.  It is important to learn how your words are impacting others. It is important to communicate to others how their words have impacted you.  And it is important to learn to use language in a way to always seek to build others up, to equip them for the good, to embrace them with the words you use.  As Paul wrote to the Ephesian Christians he spoke in this manner: “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen” (Eph. 4:29). Eugene Peterson caught the sentiment this way in his translation, “each word a gift.”  

What a picture.  Each word a gift to the hearer.  

There are so many situations torn apart by the use of language in our times and in the church. In the midst of these times, language is all the more important.  May you speak allowing each word to become the gift it needs to be for the hearer. May your goal become to build up those around you with the words you are using.  

I swim with one guy who seeks to always encourage everyone he meets day by day.  He seeks to find something to uplift the hearer. And this friend is not yet even a Christian, but that is his goal.  What a godly goal. Make each word a gift today.  

This Thing is REAL

The freight train hit me on Sunday.  That’s what it felt like. “Five months from today will be my last Sunday.”  

I was sitting there, minding my own business, listening as Erin preached a great message on Unity, when it hit.  It nearly threw me off my chair. It was one of those earth-shattering, soul-shattering moments. I didn’t quite know what to do with it.  So, I swallowed. The fact remained in my heart, if this month was any clue, the next five months would go quickly. 

There were two kinds of realities for me in that moment. 

On the one hand, the fact of departure from this place and you all is accompanied by an immense feeling of loss.  This has been such a great journey of growth and transformation for me, for us. That came on Sunday -- I will miss you.  Alongside that was the fact of hearing a message and not delivering it. I didn’t expect it, but there was loss attending to that as well.  I’ll still be preaching places, but it won’t be here. It was something like a gut punch.  

Then, on the other hand there was this fact:  before July 1 hits I need to have this other gig that Jesus is leading me into more up and running than it currently is.  Both of these knocked the wind out of me. I sat there, breathless. Astounded.  

Later that evening, Gabri asked how I was doing and I shared this with her with the tears that accompanied the revelation.  This is quite a journey for me -- It is a new kind of Camino.

The only way through a transition is to walk it and feel it.  We must all face the loss that is in the transition. Certainly, I’m not dead, so we will see one another again.  But, still, we cannot pretend that nothing will change. In a transition there are feelings of “shock, anger, denial, fear, sadness” that are all normal emotions. If you are familiar with the stages of grief, you might recognize that some of those are in that list.  We must feel the feelings. I think some of you have been feeling these along the way, and others may not have many feelings.  

Sunday was one of my “feel this thing” days!  

The second stage of transition includes what is called a neutral zone, that feels unsteady, and might be accompanied by feelings such as a sense of confusion, feeling displaced, disoriented, skeptical, even apathetic.  Like feeling that depressed “what does it matter” kind of drag.    

In any time of transition, we need permission to feel whatever is there, in order to take the steps God has for us in order to actually enter new beginnings.  The goal for the transition team is that by the time I actually pass the baton and you have a new pastor, that you can be ready to experience the feelings of such a new start of excitement, joy, energy, commitment, and acceptance.

You might notice that the Church Council team put these into their goals for this year, so this idea is literally “on the walls” as we make this journey.  

But we have to feel it as the feelings come.  The key in this season is to come, come to worship, stay in community, feel the feelings around one another.  

Sunday was such a crazy day with the conversation during worship, the Chili Cookoff (congrats to the winners!), where we were joined by friends from Christ UMC and from Aloha UMC for the gathering time centered on what might possibly be happening at General Conference. That was a lively and good conversation, but for me ended with many people from both of those congregations coming up to me. Some of them lamented my decision to leave, for they would miss me.  They asked questions and wanted me to tell what was going on for me, again, and again, and again. 

By the time I left I was fully in the feeling level of transition!  What was I doing? What did God have for me and for us? I needed to read and re-read what God has been saying, to come back to a firm foundation!  

On Sunday it also became clear that not only are we at Westside in transition but the whole church is as well.     

There were many bright moments in the midst of the gut punch Sunday, one of which was when Wendy Fedderly came up to me and said, “Even if some of the process was poorly handled back in 2009, when you came, we can be confident in the process itself, for it did bring us you.”  What a clear note of hope and glory that was! And if Jesus can handle even the messy processes of the UMC, then, it is clear, He can handle all of this for me, for us and for the greater church. God is IN this. We only need to read some of what God spoke to the members of Church Council last June at our meeting to be assured of that.  God is in this.  

May that reality uphold you too as you process transition, feel what you need to feel, and share this with others.  We are not meant to do any of this alone, we are together for a reason.  

Hamilton and the UMC

This week I finished reading the book entitled Hamilton:The Revolution which describes what went into the creation of the play that has become an international sensation.  The book describes the history of the play, the many people that went into making it a reality, the achievement of it, and the power of the statement it continues to make to many about what it means to be an American.  

Truly, that most of the roles of the nation’s founders are played by people of various ethnicities alone was impactful.  The actors themselves spoke of the power this had on their own sense of “belonging” in this nation. And audiences were left with a challenge to “not throw away their shot” at becoming an answer to the divisions experienced in our nation.  Indeed, it helps that the story of Alexander Hamilton is the story of an orphaned immigrant, who ought to have died either in the hurricane that had hit the island where he was born or of the same illness that took his mom’s life yet he lived to change this nation.

The quotes and tweets of actors, the director, choreographer, costumer, set designer and author add power and heart to the challenges faced to produce this first-ever play of its kind.  That every line is sung and in rap alone is remarkable. It was all written by Lin-Manual Miranda and evokes the emotion and power of that and this era of history.  

Before every show, Chris Jackson, who played George Washington, would gather all his castmates and arrange them in a prayer circle beneath the stage.  “Hey, every great team has a huddle, right?” he’d quip. He would tell them to breathe and breathe again, and then would offer a little benediction, half pep talk, half petition to the Almighty.  He’d say, “Let’s be sure, that no matter what happens out there, I’ve got you. Let’s agree that for the next 2.5 hours this is the most important thing we will do in our lives. He closes with the hope that everyone in the audience, on the stage and in the orchestra pit would leave the theater a better person than they walked in.”   

Lin-Manual Miranda says of his friend Chris, if he had wanted to be a pastor, he would have a megachurch.  

Through a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, thousands of high schoolers came to see the production and left impacted by the lives depicted.  Their teachers gave them various assignments to follow up on the experience. One teacher asked the students to debate various topics by using poetry and rap not prose as the medium.   The teacher said the result was powerful as the students‘ creativity was placed on display.  

The effort to produce this magnitude of a play took weeks of intense rehearsals.  Reading this I was astounded at how malleable the entire project was right up to the critic performance on Broadway after which they could not make other changes.  

But the thing which stood out the most, other than the genius behind it all was this one fact: this play illustrates that it was not through one person but through the combined work of many that this nation was built.  It was not built through all one race and gender, but through the actions of all, working in unity that brought the nation (and the play) into being. Indeed, the unity of the nation is heightened by its diversity.  

This one reality spoke to my heart as I read the book.  

The UMC as a global denomination is facing division.  We are needing to hear this message:  

We need each other.  

We are instantly impoverished when we cut off one viewpoint.  Who has the corner on God or Jesus? Would any of us audaciously claim that our thinking is the only thinking possible on any one topic?  Could it be this difficult journey of the UMC is an opportunity for us to rediscover the importance of each person, of each of us? I know that here at Westside we are richer because we have a breadth of theological understandings within our congregation.  All of us have unique experiences with Jesus. And all of us have unique testimonies to share.  

None of know what will happen in the UMC.  On Sunday 1/26 we talked some about the possibilities.  However, we don’t know what’s Coming.  

We do know: God is good and that the church is of God.  So the church is not in danger due to any human action. And we do know this too — we need to stick together to achieve anything.

Last Things

It was Maundy Thursday 1983. That is the service before Easter Sunday that celebrates the last night Jesus spent with his disciples. I was sitting in the choir at St. Mark United Methodist Church in Santa Barbara, California. Jimmy Gibson was preaching. 

Jimmy was an Irish-born evangelist then in his 70s. He’d retired to Santa Barbara and served as the minister of evangelism at St. Mark church. He was a unique and beautiful guy. When he talked about Jesus, or heaven, or just about anything connected to Jesus, he would get so excited that he would stand on his tiptoes and lean out towards the congregation.

He did that lots in the sermon he was preaching that night. His title was “The Importance of Last Things.”

He told of saying goodbye to his mom in Ireland as he set sail for America. He told of the last goodbyes to friends dying. He told of Jesus’ last night with his disciples. God used that message to awaken a move of God in my life.

There’s something clear about last moments. There is a special quality to those times in life.

I was saying goodbye in August 2000 to my mom at the care facility before I left to head back home to Oregon. Mom and I both knew this was our last goodbye. Sometimes you just know.

Mom had had ten years of Parkinson’s disease at that point. She was doing ok, just with some dementia, but still we knew. I leaned over her bed, kissed her and said, “Bye mom. I love you.”

She had been incoherent at points during the conversation we had just had, so I wasn’t certain she was even seeing who I was. But as I leaned over her, she reached up, placed her right hand on my left cheek and with a completely lucid expression on her face and in clarity of voice, she said, “Lord, bless my son.”

There we were. Mother and son bonded in a touch. 

It was like the moment when Jacob blessed the sons of Joseph in Genesis 45. It was this clear moment of loving affirmation and grace. And then the lucidity vanished. And she was speaking to people I couldn’t see.

I walked out staggered at that moment. She died a week later to the day, while two nurses supported her, one on each side, to walk her to lunch. On one side of her room’s doorway she was alive, on the other side, she’d left.  Gone from here.

Last things.

 As we have exited a decade and I’m in this last six months of pastoral ministry, I’ve been thinking a lot about last things.

Last summer I led my last Hagg Lake Baptism Service. 

I participated in my last Camp Iwannabe here with our partner congregation. 

I also went on our missions trip to the DR for the last time. 

And, I just walked through my last Advent and Christmas celebration. 

It was my last Christmas Eve service to celebrate as a pastor. 

Each of these has felt particularly unique it its own way. But Christmas Eve was poignant.

With all my love / hate relationship with that service still, for me, it was the best year.

It was simple, stunning, and moving. And the coolest thing happened. Because we finished early, I was able to make the 30-mile drive from my church building to Karen’s and attend her service! 

So in the same night I led my last and participated in my new first Christmas Eve service. And it made the ending less painful. 

Not that I won’t grieve the endings, but I discovered that just because something ends doesn’t mean there’s nothing good awaiting us around the corner. For I so enjoyed just attending the service, hanging with friends there, laughing and being.

I totally didn’t expect that.

You too are experiencing and have experienced “Lasts” -- not only with me, but within other areas of your own life. And each of these too must be noticed, grieved, and released, in order to greet what next might come. Together we will walk this journey in order to prepare our hearts to welcome what may come.  Thanks for being here and walking in this journey with me, as I get to walk it with you. As Kari Suppes reminded us, 2020 can be applied to 20/20 vision, and this new year can be one full of vision. In the middle of the new things to welcome, we remain rooted in the old, long-term, real, substantial faith we have been given, into which we have been welcomed, in which we find life and hope.  In this faith, we can face any future, together, united, filled with hope. Grace and peace.

Because of You

Dear Friends,

What a year!

“Could I stay here with Brian instead of going to church,” the 17-year-old Family Promise guest asked his dad.  Later he told me, “He never says yes to that request.”  So, instead of church that night, this young man and I talked about scripture, about the story from Daniel of the three Hebrews in the furnace, about faith and about life. Then, he taught Abby Hawkins, the other evening host, and I how to play a video game using his setup.  We also got to hold another guest’s infant.  Had you walked in, you would have found us simply caught up in joy, crying with the laughter.  Later this young man said, “I’m going to ask my mom if you could come pray through our house to bless it after we get one.”  I was staggered. 

IT IS BECAUSE OF HOW YOU GIVE THAT SUCH MINISTRY OPPORTUNITIES HAPPEN HERE.     

Jamie, at 71, was referred to me for counseling this year and after a couple initial times we have met monthly.  Together we have seen Jesus work miracles through deep healing, so that she is set free in so many areas of heart and life.  She has begun to live again.  Jesus loves to heal.

AND YOU ALL ARE PART OF THAT HEALING, BECAUSE OF YOUR GENEROSITY.

Tim Gibson, the team leader of the 2019 missions’ trip to the Dominican Republic told us that money brings aid but relationships bring hope.  The community of Rio Grande has been transformed by the relationships built with teams over the past eight years so that child prostitution has ended and those children now have a vision for a future as doctors, teachers and forensic scientists.  The workers who staff the projects that the teams join, have met Jesus and had their lives changed.  All this happened because of your willingness to create a place where missions matter and relationships matter both here and there. 

YOUR GIVING MAKES SUCH MISSION POSSIBLE. 

Because of your overwhelming generosity…  we have hosted Family Promise four weeks, started monthly HomePlate meals, participated in reaching 40 kids with Jesus’ love at Camp Iwannabe; continued food distribution through the Free Food Tents to around 1000 people a week both at the site and through local pantries; experienced the Holy Spirit moving at the women’s retreat; built all the interior walls of a house with Help Build Hope and our friends at Christ UMC; took weekly, hot meals out to the Migrant Camp and built ongoing relationships there; participated in the WFWA outreaches; distributed Christmas Food boxes; gathered weekly to praise and worship God, hear the Good News, advance the Kingdom, and experience the transformation that occurs as we follow Jesus by being part of a community.  

ALL THAT AND MORE BECAUSE OF YOU! 

Then we reached December and almost as if to say, “Well, that’s not quite enough,” you stepped up to the plate, accepted the challenge and gave in an overwhelming way so that we had a Christmas Offering that totaled $37,605.46!  Seriously! 

So, because of you, we have been able to give:

$3940.55 to Family Promise of Beaverton

$6000 to help us build two homes June 20th with Help Build Hope and Christ UMC

$1000 to assist one delegate from the Alaskan Missionary Conference to come to this year’s joint Annual Conference

-AND-

$26,664.91 to pay down the principal on one of our mortgages!  This will shave a full three years off those payments! 

THIS IS ALL BECAUSE OF YOU…  RELATIONSHIPS DO BRING HOPE.

I have such deep hope because of all of you.  Thank you for changing my life, too, these nearly 11 years.  You are an incredible congregation.  I am richly blessed to have served here and am so excited to see whom God will bring for the next season of Westside Journey’s life in ministry for I know God has GREAT PLANS for you and through you. 

THANK YOU AGAIN FOR GIVING AND CHANGING SO MANY PEOPLE’S LIVES!

We are rejoicing to join you in serving Jesus Christ –

Pastor Brian and the Stewardship and Finance Teams 

Seeing is Acting

2020.

We want 20/20 vision. 

We speak of “360 evaluations” in which we have a full circle review of an employee— so we see them in the fullest light, or can see them with 20/20 vision!  

We say that hindsight is 20/20 — that we see God clearest when looking back at past events. 

Vision and Seeing matter.  We want to see clearly in life, so that when we have trouble with our eyesight we get prescription lenses.  We buy TVs that help us see more clearly. There’s always an upgrade in technology. 

Seeing while driving is important, so we replace wiper blades. 

When sight is mentioned in the Bible - like a blind man getting his sight restored, in the healing is intimated also a spiritual kind of seeing.  Certainly, the person once had no physical sight and now does, but also, the person gets to see and in seeing, sees Jesus. In that is spiritual sight -- often seeing then is accompanied by worship -- as in John 9 where once the blind, now seeing, man meets and recognizes Jesus as the one who healed him, begins to worship.  

As we launch into the year 2020 -- can you imagine we are at that year? There was a time when 1984 was far, far in the future.  When George Orwell wrote his futuristic novel, it was some 40 years in the future. But now that “future place” is three decades ago.  

But as we step into this new year and the beginning of a new decade, what steps might you take so that you step with all the “Seeing” you can muster?  

Often people will set resolutions -- about weight, exercise, eating, drinking, etc, resolutions that often are not accompanied by enough accountability to make them stick. 

This year -- what if instead you chose three actions that were not about a long term goal, but about how you want to be.  An action is like something visible -- it could be caught on camera. What if you chose three necessary actions that you want to begin to characterize your life; actions that might influence your life.

Here are some actions I’ve encountered with others: 

“Read the Bible daily”  “Pray 15 minutes daily” “Greet strangers” “Buy coffee one time each week for the person behind me” “Give away $10 weekly” “Invite others to join me” “Join an exercise class” “Read a book a week” “Skip coffee once a week and give the money away” “Write down three things I’ve thankful for in the last 24 hours into my journal daily” “Tithe 10% of my income to church”  

Like goals or resolutions, critical actions like these will take others knowing about them, and holding you accountable to them, to make them happen.  So, don’t just decide without telling others. But choose. Take action. Let 2020 not only be the year of transition, but the year of critical actions that bring change to how you view your life and this world.    

Listen

The man in the men’s group walked up to the leader, Jamie Winship, and said, “I don’t believe in all this God speaking garbage.  I don’t believe it for a second. The very notion that God speaks.” You might have expected him to end this with a resolute “BAH! HUMBUG!” but he didn’t.

Jamie was nonplussed.  He said, “Well, how about you and I and this other man here (a young guy whom Jamie was training up), go into that room there for some privacy and ask God to speak to you and see what happens.” 

The man was flustered, “I don’t think you heard me. I said I don’t believe in all this God speaking nonsense.”  

“Oh I heard you,” responded Jamie, “but what I am saying is God does speak and does so with or without you believing it. So, what you believe or disbelieve does not matter a bit.  If you want, let’s put your question to God for Him to show up to you in a way that you cannot deny.” 

The guy agreed so Jamie, he and the other younger man went into the side room.  Once there, Jamie said, “Ok. I am just going to open with a simple prayer to silence the voices in your head that you are listening to all the time. The negative self talk. The mean words. I am just going to ask Jesus to silence that, and then I will ask Him to show up to you and you can tell me what you hear.  God is going to talk to you, not to us.” 

The man was still a bit miffed that Jamie still seemed to believe God would show up.  

So Jamie prayed, everyone with eyes open, the man who was confronting Jamie looked intensely into Jamie’s eyes.  Jamie said, “Jesus, I just ask you to silence the voices this friend is listening to all the time for now and let him be open to hearing from you. Now, Jesus what would you like to speak to him?” 

And they waited.  

Jamie asked, “Are you seeing or hearing anything?” The man said, “Well, it’s just stupid.” 

Jamie said, “What is it? Say it.” The man said, reluctantly, “I see a door. Just a door and I cannot go through it.” 

Jamie and the other young man were so excited. A door? They were thinking how Jesus said He himself was the door (and the gate of the sheep). They were also thinking of Revelations 3:22 in which Jesus says, “I stand at the door and knock and if anyone opens the door I will come in and eat with him and he with Me.”  But they didn’t say any of these things for this was about Jesus speaking not them speaking.  

Jamie said, “Lord, what else would you like this man to see?” 

The man said, “My feet. They are stuck. I cannot get to the door. I cannot move.” “Ok,” said Jamie.  He and the other young man again exchanged glances thinking they knew who was holding this man back from movement.  

Jamie prayed, again, eyes open: “Jesus, please show our friend why his feet are stuck.”

And, at this, something happened. Suddenly the man became afraid, and closed his eyes, and knelt on the floor and cried out, “It’s Satan. It’s Satan. He is holding my feet.” And this man who was so certain God didn’t speak, was kneeling, eyes closed and crying.  

And Jamie and the other guy, got down with him, on each side of the man, hands resting on his back.  Jamie said, “It’s ok man. Jesus is speaking to you. You are hearing him. Say it; whatever you need to say.” 

And the man was sobbing, “We killed them. We killed two babies. We wanted to keep our careers going. But it was my decision. I wanted them out of the way. And I have felt guilty about it for these 27 years since we did it.” 

Two abortions and this man, now in his 60s still feeling such intense, gripping guilt over it.  And he is sobbing and sobbing having confessed, “we did this.” 

Jamie said, “Just get it out of you.”  The man, yelling it, shouting it, sobbing it continued. And they were with him. Then suddenly the man said, “Wait, wait the door is opening! The door is opening! And Jesus is standing there and He, He, He…” he was sobbing again.  “He is holding two babies. He has our babies. He is holding them! He has always had them.” 

Yelling, shouting, and transformed, this man gave himself to the same Lord who was holding his children. He entered through the door. 

This account told by Jamie Winship is a marvelous reminder of the fact that we serve the God who speaks and speaks and speaks. The God who needn’t be carried like mute idols but who is alive (see Isaiah 46).  This is the kind of God who makes the lame walk and the blind see and the dead rise. This is the kind of God who is REAL. What a God to serve into this new year. Just do it! Give yourself to him. Happy New Year!  

Christmas Memories

At a breakfast gathering for BIC (Brothers in Christ) on December 11th, I sat in a room with some 60 other guys and listened as each introduced himself with his name, family connections and favorite Christmas memory.  It was a fascinating time of sharing.  

As each one shared, his stories prompted my memories of my own. 

• The year when I snuck around seeking the secret hiding places of the gifts my mom had purchased and hidden. She walked in on me as I was digging into her and dad’s closet, behind shoes and dresses, discovering the longed-for game Mousetrap!  She was not amused at my tactics, but she did let me play with it that day and throughout the days up until Christmas.  Like most games of that ilk, it broke quickly! 

• The year Anna, age 2, danced and danced around the living room in awe of the tree’s beauty. The year we first celebrated Christmas with Perseverance Chapel and had a room filled with gifts from that excited congregation.  

• The year Karen and I walked, arm in arm, through a magical Kentucky, snow-laden village, her wrapped in our prized $3 wool, plaid coat from Goodwill.  So many memories of laughter, of gifts, of those hopes and dreams sung of in the carols.  

• The first year here, experiencing Christmas with all the kids dressed as animals moo-ing, and baa-ing and bleat-ing around the sanctuary.  You had to be there! Maybe you were.  

That morning the stories ranged from the dad who set booby-traps to keep his kids from sneaking downstairs early -- these increased in severity as the kids aged, until as teens, they included broken glass in the carpet!?!  Yikes. To the guy who remembered Christmas in London at Holy Trinity Brompton Church.  

With all those memories, I know that Christmas is fraught with both good and hard times. Karen and I used to say “It hasn’t been Christmas until somebody cried!”  Well, that may sound bleak, but for us it was a realism that the expectations of Christmas seemed to always lead to some level of disappointment.  

But here’s the thing -- with all this, one of the best Christmas gifts in my life has been YOU.  You have been and are the best congregation I have ever served. There has been more of me available to experience the blessing, for certain.  And I am blessed and privileged to be among you. So, receive my thanks for being YOU. Thanks for bringing such magic to my life and my Christmases celebrated among you.  

Also, I would love to say one thing to you today:  

 MERRY CHRISTMAS!  

I am praying for each of you to experience a rich and blessed experience with family and friends.  Remember: You are loved. God has plans for you that are immense. Keep the faith. Keep walking in the fullness of life day by day.  

“...for unto YOU is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ, the Lord.” 

Blessings upon you this season! 

Brian 

Joy to Your World

Karen’s dad, my faith-in-law, Paul Koch loved, loved his grandkids. He was a caught-by-work guy, who essentially never stopped working, so afraid he was — of lacking meaning and of dying. He never released the financial oversight to his oldest daughter as he said he would do, but kept her in the dark on decisions, until it was nearly too late to share. But his grandchildren, they were gifts into his life, the light in the darkness, the hope in his world.

He made up nicknames for each of them, little playful phrases, “Grace is terrific, wow!” He’d say of our Grace. “Susanna is super, awesome!”

And with them he’d laugh like he couldn’t and wouldn’t laugh with anyone in life. His grandchildren accessed a part of his life he’d not accessed before, indeed, perhaps had refused to access.

Dad had lacked a childhood. Raised by harsh, unrelenting German immigrants who’d made their own way in this culture, he grew up bi-lingual, and without much play time. At 3 he’d almost died of polio and was left without the use of his right hand/arm so had to work harder just to be equal to others. Never an ounce of victim in his thinking. Dad was this amazing overcomer. Also, his childhood was filled with abuse which stole more of his childhood.

But to have his grandchildren became a vehicle of rediscovering laughter and joy and the kid inside of himself who never got invited out to play. Dates with their grandpa meant a trip to get a donut, a time to play in the park, or out to eat at some special restaurant.

But the favorite times were when he and grandma would come to the Christmas Eve service in Banks. The service was always fairly fun and predictable — and often the grandkids would be playing music beforehand or during.

But then afterward he and grandma would come over to the parsonage, we lived just a couple doors down from the church, for Christmas cookies, hot chocolate, hot, hot coffee for him and times around the table filled with laughter, story and fun.

One year, Grace, just back from Texas where she was living, launched into the retelling of the Christmas story all with a southern accent and Texas flavor. That was such a memorable time. Dad laughed so hard he couldn’t get a breath. Such joy exuded from his face. There it was— joy unceasing and full of glory.

In that moment I knew I was watching the beauty of joy come to earth, joy come into being anew. So splendid was the moment and so profound.

What might it take for us this Christmas to inhabit and experience this season anew? How might we enter and access the gift of such joy?

Mary knew what I’m talking about as she encountered the King’s earthly arrival. She was caught up with joy. Joy unspeakable and full of glory. My prayer is no matter what else is coming your way that you might also encounter the king in such a way as to bring you joy.

New Memories

“Can we go for a walk Tuesday morning and memorize scriptures?”  

The request surprised me.  

It came from our 30-year-old daughter Susanna in anticipation of our arrival in Boise for Thanksgiving. Her mom was taking her to lunch for her birthday on that first Tuesday, and I think she really wanted some time with me as well. 

The reason it surprised me is that we had not walked and memorized Scripture together for decades. It had been a regular part of our lives during her growing up years. She was the one who wanted to go on morning walks and together we learned all the Psalms of Ascent (120-134), the book of Colossians, reviewed the book of James which she had learned in 7th grade Bible class, and learned the first 8 chapters of the book of John.  

This father and daughter duo had walked, talked and learned the Word together. This foundation in her life had not only rooted Scripture into her heart, and mine, but had also built a bond between us.  As we walked, laughed, talked and learned the Word, enacting it, repeating it, we were creating memories. Joyous light-filled memories of times spent together on the Linear Trail that runs 20 miles from Banks to Vernonia, Oregon.  

I know you too have had this experience -- when you are reading or listening to a book and when you read it again, you can recall the place, the scene, the smells in the house, the place you were?  Perhaps for you, it is a certain strain of music that carries not just the song but the memory of where you were when you listened to it, perhaps the first time? 

For me, I can read passages of the Psalms, or John, or other books and passages we worked with, and I can see the trees along the Linear Trail, the place where we would have been, and picture Susanna age 10, 11, 12 and older, walking along with me, bending down as we said, adding a certain beat to our feet as added rhythm and demonstrated the word.   

When Susanna asked, of course, I said, “YES!” immediately to the request.  I love walking with her. And I will never refuse time with any of our daughters.  

In Boise, in November, it was 26 degrees that morning as we left to walk those miles.  

“Do you still have that little Franklin Bible device,” she asked?  “Hah! Susanna that no longer exists. I have a phone, it will work.”  We decided to work on Psalm 27, for which I knew the first verses, but nothing beyond.  So in the dark of that cold morning, the fingers of the cold penetrating my jacket, gloves, hat, and pants, briskly walking the path around a local park on the frosty ground alongside the partially frozen lake.  Geese and ducks were swimming in the lake! Incredibly insulated those creatures!

The language of this Psalm echoed through our shivering voices and hearts that morning.  It was good to be declaring that the “Lord is my light” in that dark, cold environment. The Psalmist wrote of the wicked advancing against him to devour him, and we noted who those “wicked” might be for us, that day even.  We agreed that the things which are most pressing against us often are not external enemies, but those internal enemies of thought and attitude and heart. 

I told her how I had had a dream in June of 2017 in which I had awakened with this black bubbling, scab-like mess on my thigh. When I pushed the scab aside, beneath were these black cells lined up. In the dream, I knew it was a picture of cancer, of a deadly disease eating away at me. Something wicked was devouring me.  When I prayed about this, the Lord spoke, “This is your attitude! It is eating away at you from the inside out. Your belief you are more spiritual and better than Karen. It is killing you and your relationship will suffer.”  

Nothing like God to get his message across in a way that was riveting and life-changing.

We shared more in the Psalm and then Susanna looked at me to ask if I wanted to go one more time around the lake, but I said “no!”  It was just too cold! When she told her sisters of this moment later, she mimed it saying I had just turned us off the path back to the road.  What joy!

We returned not having learned the whole Psalm, or even the first section, but having had such a joyful walk, sharing of life and heart, and deep opportunity to share life with one another. Another memory created.  

In this season of Advent, focus on creating some new memories with those you love. Perhaps a time apart, or a time in front of a movie you love, or eating a favorite food.  Create a new memory. It creates a blessing you might not have anticipated. 

And remember to pay attention to what might be “eating away” from the inside out during this season and let Jesus touch you there, at that place.  

Remember Who You Are

This summer, all five of our grands and all four daughters were here for our 60th birthday party bash on July 13th, then, second, the first week of August, three of our grands, Antonia, Theo, and Gregory, were here for a week while their parents went backpacking. Both of these times were incredible. I just love these kids. 

Theo and Josie, cousins, are close to the same age and are the daring duo for certain. During the visit in July, I overheard this conversation: 

Theo: “You know what, Josie? When I grow up I will be a man and when you grow up you will be a,” and he paused trying to think of what exactly to say she would become.  He’s a wordsmith but was stumped, momentarily, “you will be, ah, a mother. I will be king and you will be queen. Won’t that be fun?” 

Josie was not paying attention too keenly but said, “Yah,” in response. 

After Josie returned home, her other grandma was poking at her with words one day saying, “Josie, are you going to grow up to be accident-prone?”  And perhaps tuning into this previous conversation with Theo and others, Josie instantly responded, “No.  I’m going to be a princess and Spider-Man.”  When Theo was told of this response, he responded by reminding her that she would be queen but affirmed she could be Spider-Man, as well. 

Actually this is not bad theology. 

In Christ we are all priests and kings — we are mighty with authority.  And as to Spider-Man, well, we have been given great power and equally great responsibility.  

However, we often live below God’s high calling and gifting of our lives.  This is especially true when we are not connected to community. For it is in community that we get reminded and invited into this greater Story — just like Theo did with Josie. 

On our own, it’s hard to even remember the Story we are a part of.  We can spend too much time immersed in other less significant stories. From there, it is difficult to remember our regal status, our great power, our amazing giftings, especially when surrounded by other voices which downplay instead of emphasizing who we truly are.  

I noticed this when the kids were playing at the park the first week of August. Karen and I had both been playing with them, and then the two older ones were off in a game of their own filled with a plotline, intrigue, and adventure. I was following 20-month-old Gregory around as he made the circuit from the ladder, down the slide, back under the play structure to the ladder again.  

Suddenly, the two older kids were beside me:  “Ok. You are the bad guy and we are going to tie you up and leave you in jail.”  

“Hey! How did I even get into this game?” I jokingly complained. “I was minding my own business here!”  

But they were insistent, not to be dissuaded, and Gregory was being tracked by Karen. So, I was dutifully tied up with invisible webs, which they quickly dispatched, and put into jail (the ground beneath the play structure onto the astroturf) and they ran off and left me there.  

Alone — I would just have been standing there in my own thoughts but together, by their insistence, I got involved in a larger story. 

Sunday a few weeks back, in first service, the scripture and the quote included in the bulletin hit a couple of people significantly. 

One woman shed tears as she told of her own journey with fear. She shared how Esther’s story had spoken right into her own. In other words, her own story had been placed into the larger Story of Scripture and within that greater story she had found strength, sustenance, and hope for her own. 

That’s the idea — we need to be “included in a larger Story” by walking this faith thing together with others.  

Had this woman in first service not been at church, she would have missed two connections — one, that of being connected to the larger Story which answered questions she did not know she was asking. And two, she would have missed connecting with all of us there, who totally could relate to what she was sharing and got blessed in the overflow. 

This faith thing is not meant to be alone, for when we try that, we miss out on finding how we are part of a larger Story which gives meaning to our own.  And remember — you too are a king or queen, or, if you will, a superhero, you just may not have recognized your regal status when you saw yourself today in the mirror.   

Thankfulness

Aunt Rachel.  That’s what we called her, even though she was not related to us and was at our family table every Thanksgiving. My dad would go pick her up at her place. In all these years I have no clue who she was, how we knew her, or why she came, but she did come and brought with her a feisty personality, sense of humor and such love for us all. She had lots of love.  

For me, she epitomizes what Thanksgiving was growing up.  A table full of sometimes disconnected people who gathered, laughed, prayed, shared life and got blessed by the joy poured out by my parents.  It was always a table full of people, always my cousins, many wanderers ended up around my family’s table, many college friends with no place to go would arrive for the weekend.  It was always a table laden with food, of every variety, beverages and surrounded by stories and laughter. Some years as my older siblings got into health foods, the stuffing would be with brown rice rather than bread made by my brother John, and the pumpkin pie made with real maple syrup.  

One year as we all were awaiting everything to get ready, my sister’s corn souffle was still baking, taking its sweet time. I remember standing at the oven as everything else was done, and discussing what we might do with two of my siblings, Nancy and John. That was about when mom came in, and said, “Now why is that corn souffle taking so long,” and with that, she whipped open the oven door, took a spoon and stirred it to get the heat all the way through.  If you know corn souffle, it is delicate, you don’t open the oven while it is baking. And also, Nancy had carefully lined her pan with waxed paper. So, with the stirring, we all knew that waxed paper had been stirred someplace into the souffle. Mom’s action happened so quickly, that all we could do was look at one another in surprise and laugh. Mom was right. It cooked quickly then, and we were soon seated at the table.  

The joke that year was “who would get the waxed paper?” Mom never knew but the three of us who had been standing in the kitchen, looked around, eyes sparkling with joy, waiting to see.  We didn’t want to worry mom with such details. As we watched, all of us smiled as Nancy signaled that she had gotten it. 

Certainly, Thanksgiving has historic roots of the first pilgrims being assisted through a terrible winter by the American Indians and celebrating with a feast, and the history is important. But even when recalling that event, still the meal today means so much more to me because of the tradition given by the faith of my parents.  They made that weekend filled with joy, laughter, and blessing. They demonstrated how there is always room at the table for another. They gave of themselves that those without families could have one. When I think of thanksgiving, I’m grateful for this upbringing, for the shared values, for this reason to give thanks to God not just for what has happened historically in our nation, but what happened in my own life.  

As you have the opportunity to gather with others, whomever, wherever, I hope you can experience joy and a deep thankfulness to God for all the gifts placed in your life.  

Tilling the Soul

Standing in the back of the sanctuary someone shared this — “This church has redeemed church for me.  The way you lead has brought me back to Jesus. I find such hope because of this place and you.”

I am continually grateful for what Jesus is up to.  This man also shared how concerned he has been that I’m going to leave the end of June.  There’s that real sense of “how can we go on?” in the middle of loss. It’s true for me too.  There’s a difference ahead and none of us know what it will feel like, look like, or what we will become in the middle of it. 

I think that sometimes in a season of change we can forget that Jesus has this.  That as He has called me on, equally so He is calling all of you on in the future of the church expressed as Westside Journey UMC.  

At our last church council meeting, while listening for what Jesus would speak into our lives, this word came.  I share it here to remind you of the plans Jesus has for you. You too have a life to look forward to into which Jesus is leading.  

Here’s the word: 

“Just you wait children.  I have great plans for you all.  I love the sincerity of your hearts, your tears, your desire to honor and follow Me!  I have plans that I’m unfolding. And these good plans include all of you. Never fear about change.  When you till your gardens, when you pull up one plant to plant others it is not a frightening task but a joyous one.  Don’t you love working the soil and watching new growth come forth? So now. I’m not uprooting plants but I am Moving some plants around.”

“It is a season to till the soul.” (Note:  the word changed here to SOUL and suddenly I knew the metaphor of the garden was of our souls too.).

“ It is a season for me to plant within you and through you and those plantings will bring great movements of my Spirit.  Yes, Brian is moving on but I am yet at work mightily. I have great plans for you and your new pastor and great plans for this upcoming year.”

“So do not fear.  Rejoice. Celebrate.  You’ll see Me bless!”

I hope you can hold onto this and place Hope in the One who has this and has us. He is the One who has made this place a “Safe Haven” which was a phrase that also came through listening at the meeting.  Stay in His love.

Better Together

Coming this Sunday is our “charge conference,” which again this year will be taking place in the format of an Action Assembly. This is a gathering of many congregations from our area, all at Beaverton First UMC.  We will worship, hear from Erin, our District Superintendent, hear faith stories of people living the faith and walking in it -- one from the LGBTQ+ perspective and another, Amy Fiederowicz from outreach ministry.  We will share in 1-1s and small groups. We will discuss the possible change in the UMC after General Conference comes in May 2020. And then we will have time to do the official work of voting on areas of church business.  

The DS has heard some kickback about this format. Last year was the first attempt and some things didn’t go as planned.  There were some responses of confusion to this format.  

Erin wrote this in response: 

“The confusion (about action assemblies) centers around the "Why?" 

Why has the way we do Charge Conferences changed? 

Why do we have to travel to different churches, gather with other people we don't know and do things otherwise not associated with Charge Conference? 

The "why" question is an important one. … Let me try to be abundantly clear: Why Action Assemblies? Because there is greater power in our gathering across congregations. We are stronger together than we are apart. We break down isolation, create bigger community, and understand ourselves as interconnected with each other. Now more than ever, we are not alone. These are important values for us as United Methodists in our District at this time. Each of our contexts uniquely contributes to the greater whole. At Action Assemblies, we get to experience the richness of our varied connection as we gather in larger ways.”

I know that we do not all agree on all things, but I also know we need to be unified in order to move forward.  And unity cannot be around opinions but must be centered in a Person: Jesus. Once we find our unity in Him, we can disagree on many things yet come back to unity around the Savior. The Action Assembly is one opportunity to discover that unity.  Hopefully!  

November 17th, 3-6 pm.  Beaverton First UMC  

Love or Hate/Add or Release

“I hate this season,” the woman said, “I hate the remembrance of my son’s death.”  

“The lights are glorious around Christmas. I just love this season.”  

“Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday!”  

“The loss is so painful, I just wish we didn’t have the meal at all for Thanksgiving.”  

“I wish I could eat pumpkin pie every day, all day long.” 

So many contrasting feelings and emotions surrounding holidays, especially these two that fall within our longer Advent.  Each holiday and the seasons around them carry their own stories in each of your lives. For some of you it is light and glorious. For others dark and dismal, for the losses, hurts, and pain have marked these events so the holiday comes as an annual reminder of that loss.   

The early church began the practice of fasting during Advent, and began that fast in what is now the month of November.  As we have begun Advent early, take time to reflect on the coming of Jesus and ask this question: How might this miracle impact how I live each day? 

I know, you have already been doing that. But during this season, do it all the more.  Remember the first coming and anticipate the second coming of Jesus.  

During Advent some of the scriptures you will be asked to reflect upon in Next Steps will focus upon the second coming.  Ponder those and how you relate to the idea that Jesus is coming again?  

Also, during this longer Advent, what do you plan to take up or let go of in order to draw nearer to Jesus?  

How might you follow more closely? 

That’s a similar question that we asked during Lent.  The ancient church, and still practiced in the Orthodox church, fast in this season.  

You and I can choose to cut something out or add something in, during this season, in order to draw closer to Jesus.  

What might that be for you? 

How might you subtract or add something to experience more of Jesus in your heart and life?  

This is like waiting at a certain corner for a bus. If you know the bus is coming, then waiting at the correct corner is all that is needed. So, your ‘fast’ -- the thing you cut or add -- can be that means to wait daily upon God to show up. God will. God loves to meet us! 

Something to release. Something to add. 

Let’s do this for the longer advent and submit ourselves to God all the more.  

Who's On Your Team?

“There’s a transitions team?” The brother said.  “What do they do? Who’s on the team?” 

I was surprised by his questions for it has felt like we’ve been answering them for three months.  But in the slides, verbal announcements, bulletin blurbs, email newsletters with team members listed, and published stories about each meeting, although I’ve felt like we have been communicating, others hadn’t heard nor seen a thing.   

It was a blatant “case in point” that communication is a challenging dance.  The steps are not scripted. Although an announcement is made, that might have been the moment someone said something to you and you didn’t hear it.  Or the blurb in the bulletin didn’t catch your eye. And you hadn’t been reading the church email so missed those as well.  

And that points to this blog here— it might also not be seen! 

And it takes effort to communicate. You’ve noticed that in your life as well.  Next time you are in the building look for the transitions team posters and announcements. 

Have you noticed the weekly prayer request to be praying for our new pastor?  That’s been in the bulletin for months and is from the transitions team. Have you heard the announcements and seen the sign up for “Tables of 8?”  Again, transitions team.  

At our last meeting, October 13, the energy that filled the room was incredible.  Over lunch we broke into smaller discussion groups, each with a different topic. Out of these, a plan for communication, for listening posts, for Christmas events, for skits and community times emerged.  This team, made up of the Gabels, Loayzas, Mark Smith, Jane Williams, Paige Flanagan, Gayellyn Jacobson, Kristin Walters, Francie Stacey, Kari Suppes, Wendy Fedderly, Martha Tunall and Susan Brehmer is intent upon making a transition that helps us say goodbye well and also leaves you with the bandwidth to embrace and welcome the new pastor who will begin Júly 1.  

One of our whole group conversations dealt with the possible changes coming with the 2020 General Conference.  Our Western Jurisdiction (all the states west of Colorado) has said that barring some middle road agreement this might be our (speaking of the Western Jurisdiction) last General Conference with the UMC.  What that will look like no one knows. But that it might happen and might impact us is something to discuss, ponder and hold in prayer. This discussion brought tears to a team member desiring with us all that the UMC might remain united.  

We have two new monthly “tables of 8” groups beginning soon.  One of them is comprised of families with teenagers, which ought to be dynamic.  Do you have a desire to join a Table of 8? Contact Cindy Loayza at 206-779-6208 or cknewell@gmail.com and she can help you form a group.  

A team of people with you all in heart and mind desiring to see us transition successfully is something to give thanks for.  Also, pray for the team and give your input so we can be assured to be hearing your voice too. 

A Moment in History

Fall is here. Temperatures are falling.  Leaves are changing. Beauty abounds. And with fall comes our annual Charge Conference -- which is that yearly opportunity for us to meet, celebrate, hear from our District Superintendent Erin Martin, and make decisions together.  This will be a unique year, indeed we are in a unique season in the church’s history. 

With the advent of General Conference 2020 which will occur in May, we are looking at a huge shift in what it might mean to be United Methodist in this area.  We don’t know what will occur at this gathering, but there are rumblings about the entire Western Jurisdiction of the UMC choosing to break away from the greater UMC at that point.  We don’t know how long such a thing might take, but at this point it could come about quickly.  

While I don’t think schism is best, it still may come about.  

Because of this, because we need each other, because we are stronger united than separated from one another, because no matter what happens at GC 2020 we are still in this thing together, because Jesus is bigger than anything the Western church might decide, and because we are called to a unity that is bigger than such decisions, we will be gathering in larger groupings again, in what are called Action Assemblies.  

An Action Assembly is a gathering of churches from our area meeting together in one big place (Beaverton First UMC) to hear from Erin, share together about ministries happening among us, and discuss what may come in 2020.  This is important to do this together. As Erin wrote:    

“We are at a threshold moment in the life of the United Methodist Church. We stand on the edge of a potential radical shift/break in our denomination. The future is uncertain in some ways but very clear in other ways. That is, regardless of what happens at General Conference 2020, we need new ways of being in connection with each other. Our structure may no longer determine our life together.”

We are at a point when we will need to “choose what we are to one another. We need a renewed and embodied connection.”

“The Action Assembly then helps us break down our isolation, create bigger community, and understand ourselves as interconnected with each other … At Action Assemblies, we get to experience the richness of our varied connection as we gather in larger ways.”

Choose to come, will you? 

November 17th, 3:00 - 6:00 pm
Beaverton First UMC
12555 SW 4th St, Beaverton

This is a moment in history. The church is in a new season.  Never will this be the same. Come.

This Money is God's

I met the couple, Bill and Liz, at the local laundromat.  The woman worked there, her husband hung out with her there frequently, especially late at night when I would be there washing my clothes.  

That was the same laundromat outside of which, one late night, God had sent an angel.  

Here’s what happened.  I was waiting for my clothes to wash and dry, and sat down outside on the bench on that hot, muggy, Newton, Iowa evening.  My heart felt as dark as that night did, and the air as hard to pull in as water. It was full of water for certain. This man, a stranger, had walked up to me, sat down on that bench, looked into my eyes and given me this message. I don’t remember what he said, but remember the feeling that accompanied his words -- hope filled me, light penetrated me, and to quote an old hymn “love lifted me.”  It was intense. He then stood, and walked away. I never got his name, and when I thought to ask for his name, and turned to go after him to get it, he was gone. Just gone. That’s why I feel like he was an angel.  

That was the summer I had recommitted myself to Jesus and God was on the move in my young heart.  

I spoke with Bill and Liz every time I was washing my clothes. They invited me to their church, and also taught me about giving.  They said, simply, “Give 10% out of every dollar. Just make it a plan to give first to God.” That was the first training in discipleship that I received! 

After that, I began to follow that principle.  Whenever I earned anything, I chopped off 10% and gave it to the church. I began to practice that in 1978. Yikes:  41 years ago! It took a while until I learned the corollary to this was a budget. If I am giving first to God, I need to learn to budget the rest, to make a plan.  What I ended up internalizing years later was to put a “name on every dollar” I earn. In essence, that is to know where it goes. Tithe. Groceries. Gas. Recreation. Movies. Medical.  It’s a simple idea but it helps to track the income God has given and how I am spending it.  

That 10% has expanded out now so that it is more than 10% of my pre-tax income. It’s an adventure to give.  God provides. He provides again and again. But this also means learning to say “no” to some expenditures that I might have wanted to make.  Do I need that coffee? When I am out of my funds for whatever areas, I stop spending. This means planning and saving for expenses that are up the road.  

Money can have a strange influence over the human heart.  I’ve found that to give first is one way to begin to break its hold, it is a way to say, this money is God’s.  

This is stewardship time to think about giving, how we give, how much God is calling us to give financially, and also in our time and service through the church to God. How is God motivating you to give?  

Pray and Pray and Pray

On Sunday John Stacey asked me: How’s the transition going? And specifically he asked what was the process for the arrival of a new pastor.

I told him the transition team had only met twice so far. It is this super team. The first steps had involved brainstorming about many things (which I wrote the end of August), and one of those things was looking at what we believe we need as far as pastoral leadership here beginning July 1st.

Here’s the process:

• We identify what we need in pastoral leadership and communicate this to the District Superintendent, Erin Martin.

• She and Brian stay in communication about possible people who might best fill that need.

• She will then bring that person selected and possibly a bunch of people to the cabinet (made up of all the district sups of Oregon-Idaho and Washington and our Bishop). This group discerns who would be the best person for our congregation. They all have the best heart for this unique congregation.

• Then this person approved by them will be brought to meet with our leadership team (church council, and others can come as well.) Barring any difficulties after that meeting, he or she will be appointed to this congregation to begin July 1, at our annual conference in June.

Right now we are in the pray stage of this journey. So, pray and pray and pray for God to move in the heart of this person, put blessing upon this heart and call him or her to know that God is calling them to say “yes” to this opportunity. Pray also for all of us here - that as you move from my leadership to this new person you would have hearts ready as well. Recognize this person comes with his or her own set of gifts and yet with a clear call from God, and a heart to serve. This process has been repeated many times with other congregations in our conference, but at Westside this is all new. This will only be the second time there has been a pastoral change in our history. I was the first change from the founding pastor Dan Pitney. So, you all, you are unique.

What the transition team wants most is that you all could be readied for this transition. That means doing the work this year of remembering that cool stuff we have all experienced together, and then preparing to anticipate all that God has planned as the new person comes. God loves this church and is building us as a place to flood this community with love to impact homeless youth, change the destinies of our houseless neighbors and bring Jesus to our neighborhoods.

All This Time

The couple in front of me boarding the flight and I started to talk in the jetway.  I asked, “Are you traveling for pleasure?” And the woman teared right up, “My father,” she choked out, “down in Florida.  He has cancer and might be dying.”  

“So sorry to hear that,” I responded.  “Clearly this is hard news.” We moved down the jetway. 

“I don’t know what to do with it,” she said. “But this guy,” she added, bumping into her partner dude who was 12” taller than me and three times as wide, “he said we needed to go.  So we got the funds together and we are going. And also, we are expecting our first child and my dad doesn’t know this yet. And on top of that, it is his (again bumping the giant next to me) first trip on a plane.” 

Clearly she did a lot of talking for he hadn’t spoken. 

 I looked up at the guy standing next to me, looking slightly chagrined at her revelation, and said: , “No way! Your first plane trip?  And congratulations to you both. Babies! So exciting!”

“Yep,” Mr Giant responded to the fact of his first flight, looking a bit sheepish that she’d brought it up at all, “And I’m  a little nervous.” 

“Well, from the looks of it, you could pick up the plane if need be.” At this, he laughed.  “But, sometimes it helps to recall that lots of people fly every single day and there really are minimal problems.  You’ll do fine,” I said as he ducked to enter the plane. Yes, ducked. And then walked sideways down the aisle.  

They got into row 18, window and middle seat, and the man who had stood so they could enter, exhaled this huge, frustrated sigh, as they were seating themselves, and literally rolled his eyes up to the ceiling of the plane looking so annoyed to see this giant sit in the middle seat meaning that his own seat just shrank a bit.  I chuckled and prayed they might chat, really the giant was quite pleasant.   

An hour later, as we got off, they were waiting and looking lost in the terminal gate area. 

 “Congratulations on surviving your first ever flight!” I told the giant.  And then, “You guys doing ok? Are you a bit lost?”

She spoke right up, “We don’t know how to find where our next gate is.”  

 “That much I do know,” I said.  I showed them to the departures display and helped them find their gate.  They thanked me and then, before I departed, the woman said, “This is really strange, I know, and kinda stupid, but, we both think you look just like Ryan Reynolds!  You have his same build and jaw and hair. You could be him playing a fatherly role.” 

I laughed.  That was a first.  I checked out his picture later online and was flattered, but decided the comparison was quite a stretch!   

She continued: “Could I take your picture so I can prove to others I met you?” 

“Sure, but you know I am really not Ryan.”  

She laughed and snapped a picture of me with her husband/boyfriend.    

I wished them well, said goodbye, and we started to walk in opposite directions to our gates.  The words of a woman named Trista, whom I had just met the previous week returned to me. She had said, “We are practicing saying these seven words, ‘Could I pray for you right now?’” 

As I remembered that, I felt a clear prompt to turn around and offer to pray for them -- they were headed for her dad’s side with a child within and didn’t know Jesus, from what I could tell.  It took a while, but I found them, and said, “I’m Brian Shimer by the way.” “Dustin” said the towering man with glasses. “Christina,” she said.  

“Great to meet you. I returned, for as I walked away I felt like I needed to come back and ask if I could pray for you right now?” 

Clearly uncomfortable with the idea but open to it, after all it was Ryan Reynolds asking, she said, “if you’d like.”  

We moved a bit to the side by a big post out of the flow of traffic.  

I prayed: Binding up the cancer cells in her dad’s body and offering them to Jesus.  Placing them all, including that baby, into God’s care. By the end of my prayer they were both crying.  Christina couldn’t speak.  

“I wish there were more people like you in this world," Dustin said. "Everyone is so selfish all the time.  No one stops for anyone." I knew what they meant.  

I added:  “Well some do stop, don’t they?  And actually this is Jesus. He loves you and sent me to stop.  You know that idea that people don’t stop, reminds me of a story..."

I told a brief preface to the Zacchaeus’ story from Luke 19 and then said "and this is what the Bible says, ‘when Jesus came to the spot, he looked up and said Zacchaeus you come down.  I must stay at your house today...’.” And then we talked about this story of Jesus stopping, knowing Zacchaeus’ name, and inviting himself to Zacchaeus’ house. We noticed that this same Jesus is also inviting himself to their home as well.  I asked some brief questions and after discussing this a few minutes, the conversation shifted, they were heading off, and we bid one another goodbye. But this time I could continue praying for them and her dad Mark in Florida for continued healing. 

Meeting this couple for this random encounter, praying with them, sharing with them, uplifting Jesus to them, and then parting from them, reminded me of the fact that our lives are filled with brief and longer encounters all along the way.  Daily we meet people briefly whom we may not see again, and then with others we have the opportunity for more long term relationships. As I am living each day of this year, I am so grateful for the time God has given us together. All this time.  

I was struck with that especially when I stumbled upon this picture of me with Dylan and Jesse Theriot taken around 9-10 years ago just how much time has passed!  These two young men are now teens! SImilarly, you all and I have had this wondrous and unique and delightful privilege of a long time to walk together, work side by side, see God build us up into a community actively engaging our community and growing into all God has for us.  We have shared so many times of prayer, of story, of sharing, of tears and laughter. It has been and it continues to be a marking time of my life. I’ve become more myself here because of all of you!