A Message from Our Pastor

May 8, 2008 - Given Birth Twice Joseph C. Rosenbaum tells the story of what happened to him and his family during World War II. He was only 19 years old when they were rounded up with a large group of Jews by the Nazis. Some were to be boarded onto cattle cars and sent to a concentration camp where they were destined to die. He was among those who had been selected by the Nazi officer, separated from his family, and ordered to board the train. Just as he was climbing into one of the cars, his mother tore away from the throng of arrested Jews and stepped into line to trade places with her son. The Nazis, who cared only that the daily quota was met, did not protest. Though she would perish in the gas chambers, her son would live. Many years later, he recalled vividly the urgent look on her face as she boarded the train and turned to say goodbye for the last time: “I have lived long enough. You must survive because you are so young.” He wrote, “Most kids are born only once. I was given birth twice—by the same mother.” This is the kind of love we celebrate this Sunday, the kind of love which the Bible calls agapé—sacrificial love, self-giving, unconditional, never-failing. “Greater love has no one than this,” said Jesus, “than a man who would lay down his life for his friends”—or a woman who would die for the sake of her child. It is the kind of love that has the power to make life new, to bring forth birth from death, to raise us up from the rubble of the past and set our feet on the high ground of hope and trust in the future. The Good News of our faith is that we are, every last one of us, loved in this incalculable, unfailing, amazing way. We too are “given birth twice” by the same heavenly parent—once on the day we were born into this world, and again on the day when we are born into the unseen realm of God’s everlasting grace and peace. This Sunday, Mother’s Day, let us celebrate the unmerited gift of God’ love which for so many of us has been so beautifully embodied in the lives of our mothers: “I will never forget you, my people. I have carved you on the palm of my hand… Does a mother forget her baby? Or a woman the child within her womb? Yet even if these forget, I will never forget my own.” Isaiah 49:15-16 See you Sunday, Callie May 1, 2008 - A Message from Our Associate Pastor If you put your heart against the earth with me, in serving every creature, our Beloved will enter you from our sacred realm and you will be, we will be… so happy! Rumi, Love Poems from God, (Ladinsky) Dear Sacred friends, Today we resume our path of seeking the sacredness of our lives, finding what is within, living in that country, and committing to start again on a journey that has no end. The never-ending journey can sound quite daunting, and is thoroughly un-American, as we are accustomed to paths that “get us somewhere, produce something,” or “have positive results.” Is being the being I am a “positive result?” Is being this being -- “productive?” Ask the earth. Let us lie on the earth together and see what we hear from the Golden World, from voiceless Voices, from The One Who Is. Let us stretch ourselves, open our arms wide and say “Yes!” to this very life being given at this very moment. When the Beloved enters us, no matter what our current circumstances, we will know happiness, or joy, or the ultimate fulfillment in this present moment. From within this fullness, “serving every creature” will only magnify the joy. This is not sacrificing ourselves for others. There has already been one crucified Christ. Do we need more, really? Rather, let us put our hearts against the earth, open to the Beloved entering us from the sacred realm, and then serve every creature with joy. This is our Way. William Thiele April 24, 2008 - God Will Provide There is an old Yiddish saying that goes: “God will provide. But if only God would provide until he provided!” It is a sentiment with which we can all identify, for even though we trust that, in the end, “all will be well,” we can’t help but wonder “but what about in the meantime?” How do we get through those difficult passages of life when resources seem scarce, problems are plentiful, and questions outnumber the answers 2 to 1? What exactly might God provide “until he provides”? That’s what the 50 days between Easter and Pentecost, the birth of the church, are about. The New Testament tells us that during those weeks of uncertainty and insecurity, the forlorn disciples would experience again and again the presence of Christ’s own Spirit comforting, assuring, directing, and sustaining them. What does God provide for us “until he provides”? God gives himself, “best Gift Divine,” ever-near, deep within, nothing less than the source of life, the impulse of love, the ground of our being, no small thing! May the knowledge of God’s promised nearness be for us an unfailing source of strength as we move forward in faith, day by day, trusting in the providence of God! “I will not leave you orphaned. I will come to you… the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” John 14:18, 25 See You Sunday, Callie April 17, 2008 - Hurt Not the Earth If you were at church last Sunday, then you learned that the first of the “Three Simple Rules” by which John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, and the early idealistic Methodists practiced their faith is simply “Do No Harm.” I wonder what Wesley might say if he were alive today about “doing no harm” to the earth’s environment, when even carrying groceries in plastic bags, drinking latté from Styrofoam cups, eating out more than once or twice a week, regularly consuming red meat, driving a gas-guzzler, or even taking deep, hot soapy baths, contribute to global warming, and thus, “does harm” to our increasingly fragile environment? This week, in preparation for Sunday’s Earth Day Celebration at Rayne, I took a simple test online to determine the size of my “carbon footprint” —that is, the extent of my lifestyle’s negative impact upon the earth measured by the amount of carbon dioxide it produces. How dismayed I was to learn that mine is larger than the average American’s, making me a so-called “Carbon Bigfoot.” Clearly, if I wish to offset the harm done by lifestyle, I must double my modest efforts to “go green” both at home and at church. While we have already taken some steps at Rayne to recycle, conserve, educate, to eliminate Styrofoam, and to exchange incandescent for fluorescent, surely there is more we can accomplish to become environmentally responsible. In the months ahead, particularly as the oncoming hurricane season heightens our awareness, we will be exploring ways to “do no harm” to our precious home--The Earth. Join us this Sunday as we give thanks to God for the beauty of the Earth, as we celebrate the goodness of the creation, and as we pray for guidance to be faithful stewards of all that God has entrusted to us: “Hurt not the earth, neither the sea or the trees…” Revelation 7:3 See You Sunday, Callie April 10, 2008 - Surely Cassie Worley’s father, the well-known, beloved psychiatrist Dr. Charles Steck, died last week and his funeral service, was held on Thursday at Rayne. One of the several scripture passages Cassie and her brothers selected for the service was Psalm 23. Cassie told me that when she and her family were evacuated to Mobile following Katrina the psalm had become a very significant source of sustenance and strength. Displaced, far from home for many months, facing a multitude of uncertainties, flooded with a turbulence of emotion, she turned to it several times a day, reciting it from memory. For some reason, while in Mobile, there was one word in particular which she would accent with unusual power and emphasis: Surely. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Surely! Bold, underscored, and with an exclamation mark! As if to say to God, “I am counting on this! Remember, you promised!” Surely!-- goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life… I am reminded of the words of Isaiah, “Surely it is God who saves me; I will trust in him and not be afraid,” and the words of John, “By this we are reassured whenever our hearts condemn us, for God is greater than our hearts, and he loves us,” and the words of the hymn, “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine,” and the little-known Christian Doctrine of Assurance which promises us that we can indeed be assured of God’s eternal love and care. That’s what Eastertide, the 50 days following the death and resurrection of Jesus, are about. More than a dozen times recorded in scripture the brokenhearted disciples of Jesus would experience his living presence among them, his indomitable life within them, his unconquerable love for them, giving them confidence that they need not live in fear of the future, for surely he was alive, and surely he was with them, and surely they were not alone. May your Eastertide be filled with the same confidence in God’s unfailing goodness and mercy. And may this word take on special power and unusual emphasis for you as well. In your times of doubt and fear, let it be in your heart and on your lips--surely! See You Sunday, Callie April 3, 2008 - Born in the Grave The German theologian, Paul Tillich, tells of hearing the testimony at the Nuremburg War Crime Trials of a Jewish man who had escaped the Nazi gas chambers by hiding in an empty grave in a Jewish graveyard in Poland. It was the only place that he and many others could live during that treacherous time in human history—ironically, in an empty grave. During this time he wrote poetry, and one of the poems was the description of a birth which took place in a nearby grave when a young Jewish woman gave birth to her firstborn son. The 80 year old gravedigger, wrapped in a linen shroud, assisted. When the newborn child uttered his first cry, the old man prayed aloud: “Great God, hast Thou finally sent the Messiah to us? For who else than the Messiah himself can be born in a grave?” Is this not the amazing truth of Easter? Out of the tomb, in a place designed for death, came forth instead new life! This is the birthplace of our faith—of all places, a graveyard! Is this not what makes it possible for us over 2000 years later to stand in a cemetery at the graveside of a loved one and proclaim it to be, of all things, a place of hope? As the hymn we will sing on Sunday says, In our end is our beginning; in our time, infinity; in our doubt there is believing, in our life, eternity. In our death, a resurrection; at the last a victory, unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see. Never has our city, nor has our church, nor have the members of our brave congregation needed the Easter proclamation more than we do now: we too can be born in the grave. What looks like the end is, in fact, a new beginning. See You Sunday! Callie March 27, 2008 - Thank You Dear Friends, Adequate words escape me still, even as they did on Easter Sunday morning, when I attempted to stammer out my profound sense of gratitude for the gift that was presented to me so beautifully by Lyle Colombo, Chair of the Staff-Parish Committee, following the 11 am worship service. It is a refinished piece of wood cut from the rugged cross which had been fashioned from our fallen steeple timbers. Affixed to it is an engraved brass plate bearing the verses of 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 which we have used as our benediction ever since the storm. I have it proudly displayed in my office and will truly treasure it for the rest of my life. “Another piece of rubble,” Lyle said. But how I love this “rubble,” out of which our new Rayne is rising up! It will always be source of joy to me to remember that together we were a part of the rebuilding of our beloved church and this great city. Two more months, I am told, and the steeple will at last be finished. “The higher we go, the slower we go,” says Steve Budde, our site manager. It seems to me to be a good metaphor for life! For the higher we aspire to reach, the greater the obstacles will become, the more challenging the journey, and all the more reason to “Stand firm in your faith; be strong, be brave! Let everything you do be done in love.” See You Sunday, Callie March 13, 2008 - Staff-Parish Committee Announces New Position Part-Time Director of Senior Ministries Dr. Jane Stennett Dr. Stennett has been well-known in our community as a psychologist, counselor, consultant, and radio personality, but she is well-known in our church as an effective, energetic and creative servant leader of the Primetimer’s group for seniors. Last week, our Staff-Parish Committee invited her to become the Director of Senior Ministries, a part-time staff position which will include not only Primetimer’s activities, but also a homebound and nursing home ministry, and other senior sensitive services such as handicapped accessibility to Rayne events, CD ministry, hearing assistance, and large print curricula. This position and program budget will be funded by the earnings from the very generous Mary Cunningham bequest, as directed by the Trustees of Rayne. Welcome, Jane Stennett, to the staff our church! March 6, 2008 - Gathering the Broken Pieces Palm Sunday 2008 Remnants of the Life We Once Knew brick, tile, glass, hardware, sheetrock, memorabilia, photos Every four years clergy and lay delegates from United Methodist churches across the world gather at a General Conference for worship, prayer, study, and discernment. This quadrennium, the 2008 General Conference will be April 23-May 2 in Ft. Worth, Texas, and our senior pastor will attend as Louisiana’s first alternate delegate. At this conference, The Katrina Report will be received, and a formal request will be made for another global offering to support the continuation of disaster relief in the gulf region. During the entire 2-week conference, a hand crafted cross created from storm debris collected from churches across south Louisiana and Mississippi will stand at the center of the meeting hall. We have been asked to begin this collection of “broken pieces,” remnants of the life we once knew--brick, tile, glass, hardware, sheetrock, shards and shred, faded photographs… Over many years of ministry I have received appeals from the General Conference for money, but never for storm debris! Surely we can make big donation, for we have no shortage of that around here! And you can be sure that some of Rayne’s broken brick, slate, timbers, and glass will be a part of this hand crafted cross. Many of you were given a piece of broken steeple brick to keep until our rebuilding was completed. That day is coming soon, and our plan is to incorporate broken brick into the new landscape. But for the General Conference, you are invited to bring the “broken pieces” from your homes and neighborhoods that they too may become part of this cross--an emblem of hope and new beginnings. On Palm Sunday, we will receive these broken pieces in worship. They will then be delivered to the artisan who will begin crafting the special cross for General Conference. “All things work together for good, for those who love him…” promises Paul. Even broken things! May the construction of this cross be strong reminder of this promise to which we hold fast. See You Sunday, Callie February 28, 2008 - A Place at the Table The kindergarten teacher gave her class a “show and tell” assignment: each student was instructed to bring in an object to share with the class that represented their religion. The first child got up in front of the class and said, “My name is Benjamin and I am Jewish and this is a Star of David.” The second child made her presentation saying, “My name is Mary. I'm a Catholic and this is a rosary.” A third student took his turn and said, “My name is Tommy. I am Methodist, and this is a casserole.” Truly, the “eating meeting” is a long-standing Methodist tradition! Although it may sound simplistic to some, it is deeply rooted perhaps the most authentic tradition we have concerning Jesus himself and what scholars called his revolutionary “table fellowship.” In a culture strictly circumscribed by gender, race, and class distinctions, Jesus was the one who would sit down and eat with anybody: rich or poor, Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female, in-crowd or outcast, clean or unclean. At his table, all were equals, all were honored, all were welcome. This was, indeed, one of the chief reasons for which he was severely criticized by the religious community and ultimately condemned: “This man receives sinners and eats with them!” (Luke 15:2). But for those who had experienced his acceptance and had been transformed by his friendship, the memory of table fellowship with Jesus was unforgettable. Following his death and resurrection, his followers continued this tradition in memory of Jesus with what became known as the Agapé Feast--a simple meal, an ancient “potluck” “covered dish supper,” open to all. Rich and poor, slave and free, male and female, dined side by side, and all the food was placed on a common table so that those who were able to bring little or nothing were neither embarrassed nor judged. It too was a radical and revolutionary departure from the surrounding culture’s prejudices and strict social stratification. At the Lord’s table a new community, unlike any other the world had ever seen before or since, was born--the church. This Sunday we will gather at his table for Holy Communion, and again on each Wednesday night of Lent, and on Maundy Thursday when we remember the Last Supper. In the tradition of bonafide casserole-carrying Methodists, all are welcome, all are equal, no one is turned away, and there is place for you at this table. Won’t you come? See You Sunday! Callie February 21, 2008 - Ask Not Years ago, although I was only a 4th grader, I was inspired by the words of John F. Kennedy, Jr.: “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” It turned my juvenile what’s in it for me? approach to life on its ear, and reminded me of the enormous privilege and responsibility I had as a citizen of this great nation. Years later, I was similarly inspired by the words of Albert Schweitzer: “I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve.” Again, my infantile what’s in it for me? approach to life was challenged by the proposition that true happiness had less to do with getting what I wanted than with giving what was needed. But the first place I ever heard this ideal was at church, in the words of Jesus: “I come not to be served, but to serve,” and “If you want to be great, you must be as one who serves.” These are radical notions for our increasingly narcissistic consumer culture in which daily we are inundated with the seductive Me First! message of a self-serve society which has only become more addicted, violent, and depressed than ever before. To be sure, there is merit in the maxim, “take care of yourself.” Still, the paradoxical and eternal truth remains: it is in giving that we receive. Just a test: When was the last time you asked of your country, your marriage, your job, your church, not “what’s it for me?” but rather “what can I do for another?” “what can I do for my husband, my wife today?” “what can I do for my country, my city today?” “what can I do for my church, my school, my friend today?” “what can I do to make a difference?” “Have this mind among you which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant…” Philippians 2:5-7 See You Sunday, Callie February 14, 2008 - Journey With John and Jesus Have you ever wondered why the Bible is filled with so many hard-to-pronounce Greek and Hebrew names, long lists of tribes, seemingly endless begats, and terribly boring genealogies? How many people have resolved to read the New Testament and have turned to Matthew, Page One, and were stumped in the very first chapter by the long and detailed genealogy of Jesus, 42 generations, detailed by name. Who could possibly care about such Bible trivia? I guess the answer would be: God cares. As Abraham Lincoln, whose birthday was on Tuesday, once said, “The Good Lord likes common people. That’s why he made so many of them.” The Bible, from start to finish, is about people. Common people. People like you and me. And most of them we know—the same way God knows them—by name. This year’s Lenten Lectionary is about people, many of whose names are still remembered by the church. Beginning this Sunday and through Holy Week to Easter, our weekly lessons take us through the Gospel of John to one encounter after another between Jesus and people he knew and loved whose lives were forever transformed by his friendship and companionship. Do you know who these people are? Nicodemus The Samaritan Woman at the Well The Man Born Blind Lazarus Judas Simon Peter Mary Magdalene Join us each Sunday as we walk with him, as we relive these encounters, and as we perhaps recognize ourselves in these ancient stories. For we are not so very different from those who first knew and loved him, whose lives we will never forget. See You Sunday, Callie February 7, 2008 - Danger: Hard Hat Area For over two years, these warning signs decked the doors of our sanctuary and still surround the exterior construction site. I was presented with one as a gift by our site manager, Steve Budde, after the sanctuary restoration was complete, and have ever since proudly displayed it in my office as a memoir of these past two most challenging years: Danger: Hard Hat Area. Week before last, the sign took on new significance when I arrived at my office to discover that an 8’ x 10’ section of the ceiling had cratered, falling to the floor, leaving an impressive, all-too-familiar, pile of debris, tiles, insulation, boards, wires, and miscellaneous hardware. Thank goodness it happened overnight and not during a Bible Study or a Trustees Meeting! Even so, enter at your own risk when you come to see me!--for now my office is yet another “hard hat area.” Is there any area of the City of New Orleans that is not a hard hat area? For that matter, is there any part of life that is not a hard hat area?--that is to say, fraught with danger, difficulty, and adversity? For our congregation, the past two and a half years have been like “a hard hat area for the soul,” with tragic, heart-wrenching losses, daunting dilemmas, tough decisions, and no perfect choices. I had hoped that life would be more like a piece of cake or a tiptoe through the tulips! No, as Harry Emerson Fosdick once wrote, “Life is a series of ambushes.” Thank God for a faith such as ours!--it provides for us so much more than any hard hat ever could--“Our Shield and Defender, Redeemer and Friend,” my Rock and my Refuge, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God!” Not a day passes that I do not exercise my faith, put it to work, practice it, use it, bring it to bear, and never does it fail me. What did Paul say to the Ephesians? “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God… Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace; besides all these, taking the shield of faith, and the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit…” He did not say anything about a “hard hat of faith,” but I think he might have meant it! Every time we gather to worship it is to put on the whole armor of God, that we might be strong in the Lord, to stand together in the strength of his might. See You Sunday, Callie January 31, 2008 - Bella Dancing I will never forget the Sunday we had Bella dancing at church. But wait!--before you call the bishop to file a complaint, let me clarify: not belly dancing, but Bella, one of our beautiful children, 2 years old, bright, inquisitive, spontaneous, adorable. It was on a Youth Sunday when the kids were leading worship. Their band had begun to play, the drum beating, guitars strumming, their youthful voices lifted in joyous song, and irrepressible Bella could not contain herself. Stepping out into the aisle, clapping, swaying, laughing, and spinning to the music, she celebrated the joy of that day, so much so that when her parents tried to take her to Children’s Church, which ordinarily she loves, she refused to leave the sanctuary! She did not want to miss a beat if the band played on! While I am definitely not the type to dance in any aisles anywhere under any circumstances, most especially at church, on that day I was moved to tears by the precious child in our midst, my heart filled with love, to see Bella dancing at church. This Sunday is another one of those worship services in which even the most sedate might be moved to stand, stomp, sway, clap, laugh and second-line. If you have never heard one of New Orleans’ finest jazz bands led by the incomparable trumpeter, Mark Braud, then attendance is absolutely required! If you have ever heard them before, then you know: be there or be square! For there will be dancing in the streets, and maybe in the aisles as well, where all the children of God will celebrate the joy of life and love. Join us for Jazz Sunday, this Sunday, one service in the Sanctuary, come casual, at 10 am. “You shall go out in joy and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands!” Isaiah 55 “Do not look dismal, not even when you fast.” Jesus, in Matthew 6 “Life without festival is a long road without an inn.” Democritus of Abdera See You Sunday! Callie January 24, 2008 - The Church is Moving Last Sunday I mentioned that I had read about a geologist who was studying the strata of rock underneath the foundation of the St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. He discovered that the cathedral is actually moving down Fleet Street at the rate of one inch every 1000 years. Someone who read a copy of his findings commented, “The church ought to move faster than that.” Our church does move faster than that! In fact, engineers and architects have told us that Rayne moves about an inch each year, although not down St. Charles Avenue. The historic 132 year old Rayne sanctuary expands in the summer months and contracts in the winter months, so much so that, I am told, the nails in the structure are sometimes exposed by as much as a full inch in the colder temperatures. In this way the building “breathes” in and out like a living creature. But this is the only kind of church of which I have ever wanted to be a part!--a moving, breathing, living church. Over the past 132 years Rayne has moved through many changes, but never more than over the past 2 years of utterly catastrophic change. And we have had to move at a pace much faster than 1 inch every 1000 years in order to survive! But survive we have, for the church at Rayne is more than a building. We may have a building--one of the most beautiful anywhere. But we--the living, breathing, moving body of Christ--we are the church. Remember the words of St. Teresa of Avila: Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no feet but yours, no hands but yours. Yours are the eyes through which the compassion of Christ is to look out on a hurting world. Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good. Yours are the hands with which he is to bless all now. Christ has no body now on earth but yours! Time to get moving! See You Sunday! Callie January 17, 2008 - Multiply That Times 200 Those of you who were at the 11 am service on January 6 will remember how powerful our worship experience was--alive, electric, joyous. Was it because our Bishop was preaching?--no doubt, for he was brilliant and his sermon superb! Was it the music?--for sure, because the choir was awesome and the musicians inspired! But there was something else as well: seated in the pews in front of the altar were 30 men and women who had been part of the annual Louisiana Methodist Discerners Academy, a spiritual retreat for persons who are exploring the possibility of ordained ministry--30 people who are actively seeking God’s will for their lives, 30 people who think God is calling them to serve. Emanating from their place in the pews, there seemed to me to be a palpable power, a discernible force field, a spirit strong and vibrant. We all know what it is like to be in the presence of a single passionate, committed, energized soul. Multiply that times 30, and you are, as they say, “cookin’ with grease”! What might happen if every Sunday there were 30 people in worship who thought God was calling them to serve? Can you imagine what might happen if every Sunday there were 200 people in worship who thought God was calling them to serve? Why, there would be enough energy in the room to launch a space shuttle! And there would be no stopping us! The truth is that you are: You are called. You are chosen. Your life on earth is not accidental, random, or pointless. You were not made for nothing. You have a reason for being. For the One who made you and brought you into being did so with a purpose in mind. Every time we gather for worship it is as people who believe God is indeed calling us to serve! “I have called you by name, you are mine.” Isaiah 43:1 See You Sunday, Callie January 10, 2008 - Sanctuary Open for Prayer In my prayer and reflection time this weekend, I saw a mental sign that said “sanctuary open for prayer.” My first response was to wonder if we need a literal sign at Rayne and Parker that gives this invitation. Thank God both sanctuaries are renovated and it is possible to literally walk in and be in prayer. But a deeper meaning came to me as a double entendre’ that was also a question: “Is the inner sanctuary open for prayer?” Sometimes we need exterior sanctuaries to remind us that the true sanctuary is inward, in the heart regions. In the frantic American lifestyle, there are few times when, and few places where we are actually invited to “go within” to the literal “dwelling place of the Most High.” You have two special opportunities coming up to experience “sanctuary open for prayer.” One is the pray-while-you-walk opportunity on a labyrinth Sunday evening, January 13 at 5 pm in the Rayne Fellowship Hall. The other is an hour to learn about and practice centering prayer at Parker church on Nashville Avenue on Sunday, January 20, at 3 p.m. Life is precious. Don’t miss your chances to slow down, center, remember what really matters, and know the One Who Loves You So when the “sanctuary is open for prayer.” Call if you have questions. William Thiele January 3, 2008 - This Sunday is Epiphany Sunday The Season for “Shining Forth” A Celebration of the Lord’s Supper on the First Sunday of the New Year 8:45 am in The Hannah Chapel 11:00 am in the Sanctuary Our Guests of Honor in Worship Bishop William W. Hutchinson, Preaching and Celebrating Holy Communion and The Participants of the 2008 Discerner’s Academy led by Carole Cotton Winn a retreat for those exploring the call to ordained Christian Ministry Special Music by The Chancel Choir Joel Bevington, Organ Luke Fleming, Viola Epiphany is the name of the church season which follows Christmas. The word, epiphany, from the Greek word which means “manifestation,” “showing forth,” “shining forth,” or “appearance.” The season is a celebration of the manifestation of God’s nature revealed to humankind in the coming of Christ. Traditionally, the arrival of the Wise Men at the manger in Bethlehem is commemorated on this day. The symbol for the season is the light of the star in the East by which they were guided. The color for Epiphany Sunday and the Sunday following (Baptism of the Lord) is white, while the color for the remaining Sundays of Epiphany is green, symbolizing growth—the growth of the Christ child, the growth of the believer, the growth of the church. This season of green lasts until Ash Wednesday, the day after Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras, the first day in the season of Lent. The observance of Epiphany is also sometimes known as Twelfth Day--the twelfth day after Christmas, the first day of Carnival in New Orleans. The New Orleans King Cake tradition begins on Twelfth Day in memory of “We Three Kings.” Join us at Rayne as we welcome our own Bishop William Hutchinson to our pulpit at both 8:45 am and 11 am, as we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, as we greet the New Year, and as we celebrate Epiphany, and as we commit ourselves anew to “walk in the light as he is in the light.” See You Sunday! Callie December 20, 2007 - Open... Open Hearts, Open Minds, OPEN DOORS! For the First Time in Over Two Years the Front Doors Will Be Open! Join us for Worship this Christmas Eve. December 13, 2007 - But Little Lord Jesus, No Crying He Makes Yeah, right. Some people have a tough time believing in the Immaculate Conception or the Virgin Birth, but I have a much a harder time believing this line from the beloved carol. He may have been the best baby born in the history of the universe, but I bet he cried like one too! Sunday night’s Christmas Pageant provided some evidence that long ago, on that “silent night, holy night,” the evening’s silence surely must have been punctuated by cries from the newborn Christ Child. According to our pageant, it happened only moments after the Angel of the Lord (played by beatific Reid Harris) had placed the Baby Jesus (4-month old, handsome, dimpled, swaddled, utterly adorable, grinning Ford Frischhertz in his first starring role) into the gentle arms of mother Mary (played by lovely Anne Housholder), while Joseph (portrayed by solid, steady Joshua Solomons) protectively hovered, thus completing the annual onstage Living Nativity Scene. The Cherub Choir was, in fact, singing the carol in question, “Away in a Manger,” when suddenly the loud, urgent wailing began. Baby Jesus in distress! Did our stage manager have a Plan B for such an emergency? Yes! Almost immediately, the cool-as-a-cucumber Angel of the Lord returned to smoothly make a swap, handing off a swaddled doll to Mary and whisking the real live sobbing baby boy backstage to his mom, Andrea, by whom he was immediately comforted. (If only heaven were always so quick to the rescue!) The delighted audience responded with sympathetic laughter, appreciative applause--and no small amount of joy. I heard later that Sharon Janssen announced to another choir member, “JESUS HAS LEFT THE BUILDING,” and that Annette Gray told someone that the understudy doll was the “stunt Baby Jesus.” But at the curtain call, when it was time for little Ford to take his bow, he was all smiles, perfectly content to be handed from one happy person to the next, spreading his pixie dust of baby magic to all around. And it was the “Best Christmas Pageant Ever”! Nights like that help me to understand why a God like ours--immortal, invisible, omnipotent--would choose to come to us as a vulnerable baby, into the arms of an ordinary couple, into the humble surroundings of a crude stable, and into our hearts. All my life, this is where I have needed him the most. And this is where I have found him. Here and now and near and within. “Mighty God” is the name of this child. The child in the manger is none other than God. Nothing greater can be said: “God became a child.” Here he is, a person of flesh and blood like us, our brother. And yet he is God! Who among us will celebrate Christmas correctly? ...whosoever looks at the child in the manger and sees the glory of God precisely in his lowliness.” --Dietrich Bonhoeffer See You Sunday! Callie December 6, 2007 - The Alpha and the Omega--and Everything in Between A few years ago when the movie “Four Weddings and a Funeral” came out, I mistakenly thought that surely this was a film about the life of a pastor. Weddings and funerals, baptisms, confirmations, birth, life, death—this is the stuff of which a ministry is made. Over the past couple of weeks we have had three funerals, a wedding, and two baptisms. What a stretch of emotion it has been, stripping our gears from joy to sorrow in a short space of time. But this is the way life is. It’s not flat. It has ups and downs. Babies are born, lovers get married, loved ones die, and sometimes it happens all in one week. How do we survive the rollercoaster?—from the mountain to the valley, from the peaks to the pits and back again? This is why I love the Gospel, for it tells me of a God who is with us through it all--”from the beginning to the end”--“from A to Z” as we say in English, or, as we say in Greek, the “Alpha and Omega.” In Hebrew the letters are “Aleph and Tav.” But I especially love how the ancient Jewish rabbis called upon God not only as the “Aleph and Tav,” but as the “Aleph MEM Tav.” MEM was the letter M, the letter that stands in the middle of the alphabet. It was a way of saying that God is not only at the beginning and at the end of life, but that God is right smack in the middle of it too. That’s what Christmas is all about. Emmanuel–it means: God with us. “The Word became flesh and blood,” says John, “and dwelt [right smack in the middle] among us.” God is with us on the day that we are born, on the day we are baptized, on the day we graduate, on the day we marry, on the day our babies are born and baptized, with us when we walk through the valley of the shadow, with us when our lives come apart at the seams, and with us when everything gleams with goodness and grace. He always has been, always will be. May the God who is Aleph Mem Tav be with you in the middle of all the ups and downs of the sacred season ahead. “For I am convinced that nothing in all creation, not even death itself, can ever separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” from Romans 8 Grace and Peace, Callie November 29, 2007 - words, words, words We live in a babbling world of words, words, words. They jumble our thoughts, bombard our brains, dominate the airwaves, swamp cyberspace. True: we cannot live without them--our primary means of connecting, communicating, controlling. And yet life regularly confronts us with those staggeringly sacred situations in which even our most eloquent words are rendered useless, empty, inadequate--times when our experiences and emotions simply cannot be expressed with words, and we are left helplessly speechless: in the delivery room at the birth of a baby, at the graveside of a loved one, outside an emergency room where precious life hangs in the balance, in a tender embrace with the one for whom we care above all others. Like Cinderella’s clumsy stepsisters trying in vain to squeeze their big feet into her tiny slipper, so do we falteringly grope for language to express the inexpressible. “Actions speak louder than words,” wrote Mark Twain, “but not nearly as often.” And sometimes only silence will do. God so loved the world: 5 words The Pythagorean Theorem: 24 words The Lord’s Prayer: 66 words Archimedes’ Principle: 67 words The Ten Commandments: 179 words The Gettysburg Address: 286 words The Declaration of Independence: 1,300 words Last Sunday’s Sermon: 2,326 words U.S. Government regulation on the sale of cabbage: 26,911 words Christmas is about a “silent night, holy night” in which all that we have ever needed to know, say, do, or be was summed up in one Word. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth,” says John. In the babbling, bustling days ahead, may our lives embody the grace and truth of that Word above all words made known to us in Christ Jesus. Grace and Peace, Callie November 22, 2007 - Happy Thanksliving! In one of my favorite old comic strips, Dagwood and Blondie are walking home from a movie, and Blondie is exuberant with praise. Excitedly she exclaims, “They are calling that movie a masterpiece, maybe even the best film in years! I thought it was wonderful! What did you think?” Dagwood glumly responds, “Not enough butter in the popcorn.” We may laugh at dim-witted Dagwood’s obtuse complaint about something so trivial, but only because we recognize the same inclination within ourselves. Sweating the small stuff, majoring in minors, obsessed with the trivial, blind to the big picture, absorbed with our bottomless appetites, we miss the miracles in our midst. Every morning the greatest show on earth transpires with the soft sunrise shattering the dark and a whole new day dawns that has never before been seen. But because there’s not enough cream in the coffee, not enough gravy on the biscuit, not enough clothes in the closet, not enough money in the bank, not enough butter on the popcorn, we may fail to behold this more-than-enough gift of life. In the midst of enormous significance, we choose that which is superficial. And thus we miss the miracle. Albert Einstein once said "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." Everything! A renowned theologian once lectured at length on the meaning of miracles after which he was asked to give an example of one. “There is only one miracle,” he answered. “It is life.” To live every moment with this sense of sacred significance has the power to fill our cups to overflowing, our popcorn with butter, our hearts with gratitude, our lives with love. That’s what I would call thanksgiving--or should I say thanksliving! May yours be filled with goodness and grace! See You Sunday, Callie November 15, 2007 - THH7D = ??? THH7D = ??? What does this mean? Have you figured it out yet? This is the title of the sermon for Sunday by John Winn on the text Matthew 25:34-40. Come and find out the answer as together we give thanks and offer our pledges and tithes to God! Thanksgiving Sunday November 18 8:45 and 11 am About our guest preacher: John Winn, a pastor for over 5 decades, effectively and creatively serving United Methodist congregations across Louisiana, is the founder and Mentor Emeritus of the pioneering and innovative Center for Pastoral Effectiveness of the Louisiana Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. He is a regular worshiper and preacher at Rayne and helps to provide leadership to the vibrant and growing Wilderness Class. He is married to United Methodist Minister, Carole Cotton Winn, and has two daughters who are alsoministers, Lane and Callie, as well as three sons who are normal people: John, Dan, and Mark. November 8, 2007 - Stained Glass Window Eight: "He Rose Again on the Third Day" Do Not Hold On To Me from Peculiar Treasures, by Frederick Buechner, “It was still dark when she went to the tomb to discover that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance and that, inside, it was empty as a drum. She ran back to wherever the disciples were hiding out to tell them, and Peter and one of the others returned with her to check out her story. They found out that it was true and that there was nothing there except some pieces of cloth the body had been wrapped in. They left then, but Mary stayed on outside the tomb someplace and started to cry. Two angels came and asked her what she was crying about, and she said, “Because they have taken away my lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” She wasn’t thinking in terms of anything miraculous, in other words; she was thinking simply that even in death they wouldn’t let him be and somebody had stolen his body. Then another person came up to her and asked her the same questions. Why was she crying? What was she doing there? She decided it must be somebody in charge, like the gardener maybe, and she said if he was the one who had moved the body somewhere else, would he please tell her where it was so she could go there. Instead of answering her, he spoke her name—Mary—and then she recognized who he was, and though from that instant forward the whole course of human history was changed in so many profound and complex ways, for Mary Magdalene the only thing that had changed was that her old friend and teacher and strong right arm was alive again, and “RABBONI!” she shouted and was about to throw her arms around him for sheer joy and astonishment, when he stopped her… "Do not hold on to me,” he said, thus making her not only the first person in the world to have her heart stop beating for a second to find him alive again but the first person also to have her heart break a little to realize that he couldn’t be touched any more, he wasn’t there as a hand to hold onto, a shoulder to weep on, because the life in him was no longer a life she could know by touching it, but a life she could know only by living it…” November 1, 2007 - The Rayne Steeple is Set! After two years of monumental, painstaking research, planning, drawing, designing, engineering, and reconstruction, the final sections of our remarkably beautiful steeple were set on October 30, 2007. It took a 150 ton crane with a 200 foot reach to lift the first 12,000 lb. section and then, two hours later, the second 9000 lb. section. Before it was lifted, I was able to inscribe at the base of the copper spire this verse: “The Lord is my Light and my Salvation; whom shall I fear?” Psalm 27:1 A 3-dimensional cross will be placed on top of this spire, and then, when this nearly complete structure has been roofed with slate shingles, and the finishing touches on the brick masonry are completed, after the bell has been mounted and the beacon has been installed, we will be able at long last to illumine “the Church of the Lighted Steeple.” What a great day that will be! Let us give thanks to God for this visible, tangible, wondrous, and joyous sign of hope! Not only that, but… The Rayne Organ is Ready! All Saints Sunday This Sunday, November 4 8:45 and 11 am In the Sanctuary A Service of Holy Communion In Memory of Those Who Have Died in the Previous Year The Chancel Choir at Both Services Performing Selections from Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem Joel Bevington, Organ Karen Ray, Cello Voll Gross, Viola 1 Luke Fleming, Viola 2 Burt Callahan, Violin October 25, 2007 - Stained Glass Window Seven "Peace Be Unto You” Each Wednesday night at Vespers, our meditation is upon one of the sanctuary’s eight stained glass windows and the Biblical inscription it bears. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” John 20:21 If you studied the enneagram, an ancient tool for understanding personality traits, you’d know that I am referred to as a mediator, or peace-lover. My style is to seek to meet the needs of others, to say “yes” to most requests, to avoid conflict and try to smooth things over. At my best I can actually experience peace, and can be a vehicle for peace to flow towards others. At my worst, I can try to escape harsh realities by just looking the other way. When Jesus the Christ spoke peace to his followers, he was being a peace-maker, not just a peace-keeper. He did not avoid pain and suffering, or anger and conflict. He stood in the face of the harshest realities. Yet he could say, “Peace be unto you,” because a deep place in him was at peace. He was being peace. The words flowed from the true state of his inner being. Being peace is the Home country I want to live in. I want to sit with Jesus in the inner sanctuary of my own being long enough, and often enough, to be transformed into that same state: being peace. I have visited that country before. Now I want to take up permanent residence. Come be a beginner with me: may true peace be in us in these days! William Thiele Vespers for Fall: An Order for Evening Prayer and Praise 7:00-7:30 pm, Wednesdays In the Sanctuary There will be no Vespers service on Wednesday, October 31. Our final fall service will be held on Wednesday, November 7. October 18, 2007 - Stained Glass Window Six “Not My Will, But Thine” Each Wednesday night at Vespers, our meditation is upon one of the sanctuary’s eight stained glass windows and the Biblical inscription it bears. “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.” Matthew 26:39 One of my favorite children’s books, “Come Play With Me,” by Marie Hall Ets, is a simple story about a little girl who went to play in a meadow. She tried first to catch a grasshopper, saying, “Come play with me,” but he leaped away from her grasp. She tried then to catch a frog, saying “Come play with me,” but he also leaped away. And thus she charged headstrong through the meadow, determined to make some wild creature her playmate. Again and again, frightened by her disturbing invasion of their habitat and her insistent plea, the creatures eluded her eager grasp. Finally, she surrendered her campaign and simply sat beside a pond to watch the water. And there, as she sat without making a sound, all the creatures she sought began to emerge one by one and to draw near to her. A chipmunk jumped up in her lap. A baby fawn crept from the bushes to lick her cheek. It was all that she had longed for and more! It came to her, not because she had forced it to happen, but as a gracious gift—far more than she could have ever imagined. So it is with life. As Parker Palmer once wrote, “The soul is shy”—your soul, all soulful things, the soul of life itself. It is “like a wild animal,” he says, and it does not respond well to force. And yet, how often do we charge through our days pushing our agendas, imposing our wills, forcing our ways? Force: it never works very well, does it? If our lives could have been saved by force, how many times over would they have been saved by now? In the spirit of Luke Skywalker, we might say, “May the Force be with you,” but the unconquerable Force that we have come to know in the Spirit of Christ is one whose only power is that of love. On the last night of Jesus’ life, he went into the Garden of Gethsemane. It was still not too late for him to abort the dangerous mission. If he continued on the course of what he understood to be God’s way of love and God’s will for his life, he would most certainly be arrested and executed. Surely he could have imposed his will by allowing his disciples to wield their swords against his enemies, but instead he said, “Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” Surely, he could have used phenomenal force, summoning “more than twelve legions of angels” to come to his spectacular defense. But as much as he might have been tempted by another will and an easier way, there was only one way, one will to which he remained utterly and ultimately faithful--the way of the One whose will is love. “Nevertheless,” Jesus prayed, “not my will, but thine be done.” What it means is to surrender: stop charging through life, let go of our precious agendas, and put up our swords. What it means is to submit: release our headstrong ways and yield to God’s way. What it means is to trust: that as much as we may think we know, God knows immeasurably better! Can we trust that what God wants for us and for our world is so much more than we could ever imagine? “Fear not, little flock, for it is God’s will to give you the Kingdom!” Luke 12:32 See You Sunday, Callie Vespers: An Order for Evening Prayer and Praise 7:00-7:30 pm, Wednesdays In the Sanctuary October 11, 2007 - Stained Glass Window Five One Thing is Needful Each Wednesday night at Vespers, our meditation is upon one of the sanctuary’s eight stained glass windows and the Biblical inscription it bears. "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things. One thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her." --from Luke 10:38-42 How important it is when reading this story in Luke 10 to keep in mind the status of women in 1st century Palestine. Women could not associate with men in public. Even in the privacy of their own homes women had separate quarters and were totally subservient to the men. And under no circumstances were women ever allowed to study the Word of God. As it was said, “Better to burn the Torah than to teach it to a woman.” One first century rabbi, Eliezer, went so far as to say that “Whoever teaches his daughter the Torah is like one who teaches her lasciviousness." It is in sharp contrast to this prevailing prejudice that we read in the New Testament so many stories about numerous personal encounters and close, compassionate relationships that Jesus had with women, like the story in Luke 10. In the “Court of Two Sisters,” Mary and Martha, Mary sat at Jesus’ feet listening to him teach while Martha busily served his needs. Martha criticized her sister for not being more helpful with the serving, but Jesus came to Mary’s defense and allowed her to remain. Traditionally the church has interpreted these verses as an helpful delineation between the active life, exemplified by Martha, and the contemplative life, exemplified by Mary, DOING for the Lord, BEING with the Lord. The church needs both the do-ers and the be-ers. Some have understood the story to suggest that our being is of primary importance, that all our busy doing is only anxious and frantic hustle if not deeply rooted in our true identity of being a beloved child of God. As it has been so frequently noted, “We are human beings, not human doings.” But there is something more: I cannot help but notice that Jesus did not say a word to Martha about her choice to be so busy—that is, not until she criticized her sister’s choice. Only then did Jesus come to Mary’s defense. But this is what he did for every person he encountered. It was as though he established a safe perimeter everywhere he went, a zone of protection inside of which anyone was safe from attack or condemnation. Remember the day the disciples tried to chase off the children because they were interrupting an important meeting, and how Jesus said, “Let the children come. Do not hinder them!” Remember the day they dragged before him the woman caught in adultery and how they would have stoned her to death had he not established that perimeter? And so when Martha criticized her own little sister for not conforming to widely accepted stereotype for the 1st century woman, he came to her defense. As one writer has put it, “Lepers, prostitutes, tax collectors, sinners, poor people, discarded ones, blind people, debtors, outcasts, children, women, men, elderly people, sick people, Gentiles, Samaritans, Jews, demon-possessed people, outsiders, heretics, Pharisees, lawyers, and even rich people and big deals were…invited, included, affirmed, loved, touched, liberated, held, embraced, healed, cleansed, given dignity, fed, forgiven, made whole, called, reborn, given hope, received, honored, freed.” --Manna and Mercy, by Daniel Erlander There are so many reasons that I love Jesus, “my shield and defender, redeemer and friend,” but perhaps for this more than any other: the safety I have found in his presence, the freedom to be who I most truly am, his unconditional acceptance of me as a beloved child of God. His words on Mary’s behalf are, 2000 years later, words that are dear to me: “It shall not be taken from her…” See You Sunday, Callie Vespers: An Order for Evening Prayer and Praise 7:00-7:30 pm, Wednesdays In the Sanctuary October 4, 2007 - Stained Glass Window Four: “The Good Shepherd” Each Wednesday night at Vespers, our meditation is upon one of the sanctuary’s eight stained glass windows and the Biblical inscription it bears. "The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. He goes before them, and they follow him…for they know his voice… I am the good shepherd.” -from John 10 Whenever we read John 10 and hear Jesus say, “I am the good shepherd,” it is important to remember that in ancient Palestine sheep were not raised primarily for meat, but for wool. Thus, they lived a long full lifetime with the same shepherd as if they were his beloved pets. A shepherd knew each of his sheep the same way you know your dog or cat, and he named each one the same way we name our pets. In contrast to the way a cowboy drives cattle to the slaughterhouse, the shepherds leads the sheep all their lives, going before them, calling them by name, beside the still waters, to the green pastures, to the safety of home. In these same verses we hear him say, “I know my own, and my own know me. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. A stranger they will not follow. They do not know the voice of the stranger...” I love that verse, for I cannot think of anything that I desire more in life than to be able to recognize his voice, to hear him clearly when he calls, to follow him truly where he leads. Sometimes it is confusing, for there are many other voices competing to be heard. How can we know for sure if it is God who is calling or something, someone, else? This is what the whole matter of discernment is about in the life of faith. Among the many voices that ring in our ears--the voices of society, friends, peers, colleagues, critics, parents, children--how do I discern the sound of his voice? And there are so many names by which we are called. I love the cartoon that pictures this big happy faced dog wagging his tail, saying, “Hi! My name is NO, NO! BAD DOG!!! What’s yours?” Somebody must have yelled these words at him so many times that he began to believe that this was who he was. But that was not his name, nor his true identity. Do you hear a voice telling you no, no! calling you bad, bad! You can be sure that this is not the sound of his voice. For his is the voice of acceptance, saying yes, yes, you belong to me. And he calls you by your true name--beloved child of God. Beloved. One must be still and silent and listen closely to hear the sound of this truer, deeper voice. Sometimes the noise of other voices, old tapes and scripts, inner static, outside interference, drowns and garbles the sound of his voice. But it always there—deep within, strong and steady, assuring us again and again: you are mine, you are loved, you belong to me. After many years of listening and following, we learn at last to recognize the voice of this One who loves us so much he would risk his life, even to die for us, that we might be saved. “I am the Good Shepherd... I lay down my life for the sheep. I give them eternal life...they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand.” See You Sunday, Callie Vespers: An Order for Evening Prayer and Praise 7:00-7:30 pm, Wednesdays In the Sanctuary September 27, 2007 - Stained Glass Window Three: “Behold, I Stand at the Door and Knock” From the Wednesday Vespers Revelation 3:20-22 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock…” Watching for the Mystery Mystics have received a bad rap in the Christian tradition. They are often seen as weird, way out, other-worldly, out of touch with reality, having their head in the clouds, navel-gazers, etc. And yet, a mystic is simply one who is “watching for the mystery.” In our vespers service this week we are being mystics: watching for a particular mystery, a particular kind of holy moment. This moment arrives as we realize in a very personal way that our Lord is saying to us, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. And if anyone hears my voice, and opens the door, I will come in to them, and sup with them, and they with me.” Mystics are watching for just this mystery: sacred communion! Sarafina, (not her real name), is becoming this kind of mystic, and what a joy it is to watch and listen during the transformation. She comes from another state for spiritual direction. Despite multiple forms of abuse, neglect, and abandonment by both parents, she has recently been given the direct spiritual experience of God coming into her life in the form of a loving parent. An unexplainable image of being “held in God’s loving arms like a Mother, and sung to without words” has come. She has now “heard” the voice, “opened” the (inner) door, and “supped” with the Lord. Prior to this timeless moment, no amount of intellectual argument could have convinced her God could be like a loving Parent Now, her experience of mystery is uniquely her own. No one can take this mystery away, ever. In the deep of you, there is a place in the soul that is already “watching for the mystery.” This part of you longs not for theories, or mere beliefs, but is a thirst for direct experience. It is saying, “I want to know the Holy!” And lucky for you, there is One who is seeking to find you, “knocking at your door,” looking for just the right way to reach you. Behold, the Lord stands at the door and knocks. Be watching for the mystery. William Vespers: An Order for Evening Prayer and Praise 7:00-7:30 pm, Wednesdays In the Sanctuary September 20, 2007 - Stained Glass Window Two: “Come and Follow Me” From the Wednesday Vespers Mark 1:16-20 And Jesus said to them, “Follow me…… and immediately they left their nets and followed him… Long before Christianity ever became a religion, long before it ever became an institution or an organization, long before there were buildings and budgets, Christianity was a movement. Nowhere in the New Testament do we read about Jesus asking people to ascribe to a certain doctrine, dogma, or creed. Nowhere do we hear him say, “if you believe A, B, and C, then sign on the dotted line to be a card-carrying member.” What we do hear him say, again and again, 22 times in all, is simply, “Follow Me.” Indeed, Luke tells us that the first name ever given to Christianity was “The Way” and that the earliest disciples were known as “people of the Way.” This is what the church is really about--not a club, an institution, an organization, but a movement, a path, a journey, a road, a Way-- his Way of Love. I love Mark’s version of Jesus’ call of the fishermen in which several times he uses the word “immediately”—immediately Jesus called, and immediately the fishermen dropped their nets and left their boats and families behind to follow. In fact, Mark uses this favorite word no less than 40 times in the course of his Gospel! What was his big hurry? Perhaps it was because Mark was writing during a period of intense persecution that he felt the intense urgency of Christ’s call. I believe Mark would want us, 20 centuries later, to feel a similar urgency not to postpone, not to procrastinate, not to equivocate, but to drop our nets and put first things first and place nothing higher as a priority in our lives than the Way. Immediately. The story rings with urgency, but also with possibility. If it was possible for simple fishermen to follow this great man, surely it is possible for me. Don’t I need to take a class, pass a test, get a degree, go to seminary, get ordained, acquire credentials, earn approval achieve certain status? No, today is the day and now is the moment in which it is entirely possible for me to become a disciple. The story rings with urgency and possibility and, perhaps best of all, with proximity. What must it have been like to be “on the road with Jesus”? Someone once said, “Discipleship means living every day of your life as if he were near.” Our faith tells us that he is near! In every moment he is here, with us, within us, his hand upon us, his help available to us, strength beyond our own strength, our closest and dearest friend and companion. We are not alone, and there is nothing we face by ourselves. For we are accompanied always by One who walks this road with us. If “discipleship means living every day of your life as if he were near,” what is there to stop us from living that way right now? Immediately. See you Sunday, Callie Vespers: An Order for Evening Prayer and Praise 7:00-7:30 pm, Wednesdays In the Sanctuary September 13, 2007 - Stained Glass Window One: “I Must Be About My Father’s Business” Luke 2:41-52 In 1915, the stained glass windows of Rayne were blown out by a hurricane. I know the grief the congregation must have felt in the aftermath of such a loss, for we have suffered our own huge hurricane losses. But whenever I see the exquisite windows that Rayne now has, I take heart. For they remind me once again of the wondrous possibility that, by the grace of God, great good can emerge even from awful ruin. At our simple, quiet Vespers services each Wednesday, we will focus upon each of our 8 windows. This week I chose the window which depicts the boy Jesus teaching in the temple in Jerusalem on the day he had been found by his frantic parents after being lost for 3 days. He told Mary and Joseph, “Didn’t you know I would be in my Father’s house?” The inscription on our window, taken from the King James Version, reads. “I must be about my Father’s business.” The last verse of the story found in Luke 2 reads, “and Jesus increased in favor with God and man.” It is a wonderful thing when you can live your life “in favor with God and with man.” But on that day so long ago, Jesus did something that put him in favor with God, but in big trouble with mom! And with dad too. Just what did Joseph think when his 12 year old son told him: “I must be about my Father’s business”? And yet he must have known that for Jesus to be true to God and true to himself, he had to put his Heavenly Father’s business first, above all else—even above his own parents’ business. It may have been the first time, but it would not be the last time that Jesus would discover that you cannot always be in favor with both God and humans. Sometimes in order to please God, you will find yourself displeasing others—especially when others are insisting upon that which you understand to be in direct conflict with what you understand to be God’s way of love and God’s will for your life. How much easier his life might have been Jesus had been more willing please the crowd, to seek their applause, to check the opinion polls. Like the day on which the woman caught in the act of adultery was dragged before the mob. Every one of them had stones in their hands, ready to execute the guilty verdict. Nothing could have pleased them more than if Jesus had also picked up a stone and joined in the act of violence. But he didn’t. Alone he stood with the condemned woman against the mob, her only defense. Alone, and yet not alone: accompanied by the One whose way and will he sought above all else, even when it would finally cost him his own life. Someone once said of our Lord, “He made truth his authority and not authority his truth.” In a world filled with authority figures demanding our allegiance, the children of God have a higher allegiance to God’s ultimate truth above all else. On those inevitable days when I feel torn and tempted between what is pleasing to God, and what is pleasing to me, or what is pleasing to others, I remember Jesus and his unswerving fidelity. And it gives me courage. Vespers: An Order for Evening Prayer and Praise 7:00-7:30 pm, Wednesdays In the Sanctuary See You Sunday (and Wednesday), Callie September 6, 2007 - If You Know How to Worry I read this somewhere: “If you know how to worry, then you know how to pray.” Goodness knows, worry is something I know how to do! Most people, especially in post-Katrina New Orleans, know how to worry: about the future, the community, the politics, the kids, the bills, the taxes, the job, the crime, the deadlines, the pressure, the stress, etc., etc., etc. Round and round spin the wheels of our busy brains working overtime into the night like a caged hamster on a treadmill. But what might happen if we added up all our worries and factored in something more to the equation—the presence of God? Would it make any difference if we took every doubt, fear, anxiety, or question and translated it into a prayer, a request, a supplication, or even an openly honest conversation with the Eternal One? For when we worry, it feels as though the weight of the world is upon us, that everything is up to us, and that if anything is going to happen then we must be the ones to make it happen. But when we pray, we acknowledge that we are not working alone, that, in fact, everything is not up to us, but rather to Another. For when we pray we place ourselves in the presence of One “who by the power at work within us is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think,” (Ephesians 3:20). On the days when I am able to remember to “factor in God,” to translate every worry into a prayer, it changes everything about how I look at life and face tomorrow. I find strength beyond my own strength, and each occasion for worry only brings me closer to One upon whom all life depends, the One who has promised, “Do not be anxious, do not be afraid, let not your hearts be troubled…I will be with you, always.” August 30, 2007 - Love Bears Sounds like the latest thing since Care Bears, Love-a-Lot Bears, and Glow-a-Lot Bears: Love bears. But they are, in fact, two words from scripture to which I have returned again and again in recent weeks. During this “stormy season of anxiety,” as we enter the months of heightened hurricane activity, and the blood pressure of the City of New Orleans spikes, I have found these 2 words to be a source of patience and endurance. “Love bears,” says Paul, “all things.” Not just the good things, but the good, the bad, and the ugly. When the daily overdose of change and challenge outstrips the sum total of stability and security available to our community, “love bears…” When rebuilding efforts continue to progress but at the glacial pace of slow molasses, “love bears…” When tempers frazzle, critics abound, and relationships are under strain, “love bears…” When all our options are less-than-perfect and every choice is laced with difficulty, “love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things…love never ends.” Other things may cease, fail, pass away, run out, drop out, give up, give in. But “love abides,” says Paul. “Abide in my love,” said Jesus. In the uncertain days ahead, whatever comes, even if assaulted by fear, doubt, and disappointment, may the endless reserves of his boundless love be a source of strength to bear all things, to bear with one another, to bear with yourself, to bear with me. And I will bear with you! Take these two strong words to heart: “love bears…” See You Sunday, Callie August 23, 2007 - When the Saints Kick Off Do you feel bad about those Sundays when you wind up at the Superdome instead of at church because the Saints are in town and kick-off is at noon and you don’t want to miss a spell-binding minute of the action? There is no need to go on this regular guilt trip! Remember the early worship service Rayne! Come and meet Dr. William Thiele, one of our new associate pastors, who co-leads this alternate service. Share in the Lord’s Supper which is served each week and meet the wonderful group of early risers who faithfully attend at 8:45 am. If it helps, come casual, dressed for the game, and have cup of coffee or a coke in a cup-to-go afterward. And if you say a few silent prayers for our side to win, you will not be judged! Go Saints! (And go to church! ) 8:45 am, Each Sunday The Hannah Chapel August 16, 2007 - In Honor of Jack Hutton Widely respected in New Orleans music circles and deeply beloved by the congregation at Rayne, John “Jack” Hutton has served as the Organist and Choirmaster for over 42 years. With deep roots in the New Orleans community and in the Methodist tradition, Jack’s distinguished career and long tenure at Rayne have provided a sustained quality, continuity, and stability seldom enjoyed in church music programs. Prior to coming to Rayne, Jack taught at colleges and served in churches in West Virginia, Tennessee and Louisiana for 14 years He has Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the Peabody Conservatory and Master of Music and Master of Sacred Music degrees from Southern Methodist University. Under Jack’s direction, the Rayne Chancel Choir has been responsible for choral worship music 12 months of the year, and has primarily presented music of a classical nature from the last 4 centuries. Extended works, presented during Advent and Christmas, Maundy Thursday, Easter, and All Saints Day have been part of the choir's regular schedule. Over the years they have sung works by Bach, Mozart, Durufle, Poulenc and Distler, among many others. In addition to his responsibilities at Rayne, Jack has served as a substitute faculty member at Dillard University and Loyola University and for 5 years was on the faculty at the University of New Orleans. For 30 years Jack was director of the Concert Choir of New Orleans. For much of this time, it was the only community choir of this nature in the New Orleans area, performing major works by Bach, Mozart, Brahms, Durufle, Williams and many others. Too, Jack has served as Dean of the New Orleans Chapter of the American Guild of Organists on several occasions and has given several organ recitals featuring Rayne’s fine Aeolian-Skinner organ, including one notable concert for the national convention of the Organ Historical Society. Four years ago, Jack retired from full-time service at Rayne, but agreed to continue as part-time Choirmaster. As an expression of our immense appreciation for his many years of service and the profound effect he has had on our spiritual lives, “Jack Hutton Day” was declared on Sunday, May 18, 2003, a joyous celebration of Jack’s music and ministry. Tragedy struck two years later when Hurricane Katrina devastated the Hutton’s neighborhood, flooding the basement of their home, and destroying much of Jack’s music library along with many other family possessions. Despite the losses, the Huttons returned to the city only 3 months after the disaster and have been instrumental in the rebuilding of Rayne, the restoration of the organ, and the reorganization of the Chancel Choir. This Sunday, August 19, Jack will retire as part-time Choirmaster, but will assume the honorary position of Choirmaster Emeritus, one in which he will remain available to our music ministers and choirs as mentor, supportive advisor, and friend. Jack is married to Elizabeth Hutton and they have three children: Richard, Elaine and Gwyneth, and five grandchildren. But they have been “father” and “mother” to many members at Rayne, leaving an imprint of love and unconditional acceptance on the hearts of all who will treasure their friendship in Christ always. This Sunday, on August 19, we will honor Jack even as we welcome his young successor, Joel at the 11 am worship and at a reception in the Friendship Room following the service. Plan to be present as an expression of our undying love and profound gratitude for this special man. You Are Invited to a Reception To Honor Jack – To Welcome Joel This Sunday, August 19 Noon in the Friendship Room See You Sunday, Callie August 9, 2007 - Playing at Work I know ministers are supposed to work hard 24/7, and like most good Americans we should go around saying “I’m stressed all the time because I work so many hours.” But in the church office these days, and all around this place, I am finding a different spirit at work. We’ll call this “playing at work.” Maybe this will sound unprofessional, or irresponsible, in a country that’s all about constant productivity. But we are doing a good bit of laughing, poking fun at each other, saying silly things sometimes, hugging, and showing various signs of endearment. There is a healing factor in all of this. I think our playfulness heals excessive seriousness and can even cure the chronic drive that plagues American culture. Can play even be holy? Hear this Zen parable and see what you think: "The Master in the art of living makes little distinction between her work and her play, her labor and her leisure, her mind and her body, her education and her recreation, her love and her religion. She hardly knows which is which. She simply pursues her vision of excellence in whatever she does, leaving others to decide whether she is working or playing. To her she is always doing both." The Holy One made play, and work, and may’ve even played in the work of creating all that is, resulting in a contented sigh of: “this is good!” Even as we face the hardest of circumstances together, even death and destruction, let it be said of us that we are learning this goodness, this holiness. William August 2, 2007 - Toward A Theology of Pew Cushions They have been delivered and placed on the newly refinished pews of the sanctuary. Fashioned of the same deep red brocade fabric as the padded pews in the Hannah Chapel, the cushions are a lovely addition to the already stunning beauty of our worship space. In all honesty, however, I was somewhat opposed to having pew cushions at all, much preferring the bare wood of the simple wooden bench. True, it may be only because I am standing up through most of our worship service and the chief aching body part in question for me has always been my feet. And while, yes, I do have some sympathy for the pain of those who are pew-side, let us not under-estimate the danger of becoming “comfortable Christians”! May our new, soft, pretty, cushy pads not tempt us into spiritual lethargy or, worse yet, lull us into a spiritual slumber! Let us continue to worship with energy and vitality--awake, alive, and alert to the new day that is dawning in our midst! “For you are children of the light… so then let us not sleep as others do but let us keep awake… since we belong to the day!” 1 Thessalonians 5:5-8 See You Sunday, Callie July 27, 2007 - Easter in July Parker Schneidau was right when he stood up in the midst of the congregation at last Sunday’s sanctuary reopening worship service and announced, “This is like Easter in July!” With people spilling out of the pews, chairs in every aisle, children laughing, excitement in the air, and alleluias everywhere, it certainly did seem like a celebration of the resurrection! And so it was, and always shall be, a resurrection: when new life springs forth out of death, when victory is snatched from the hands of defeat, when something good and beautiful emerges out of the ruins, when a tiny new green shoot finds its way up through the rubble to reach for the sky, when that which has been crushed to the earth rises up invincible and lives again. Thanks be to God that the power of the resurrection is not confined to once a year on Easter Sunday! Thanks be to God that death is only the second strongest power in the world! For there is a another power that is stronger still-- the same power that rolled the stone away from the tomb so long ago still at large in our world today, calling forth new life out of the wreckage of the past even in the middle of a hot and humid July! Last Sunday was just a glimpse of what is yet to be, “unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.” Join us again on this Sunday as we welcome our new associate pastors to our pulpits with William preaching at 8:45 am and Max at 11:00 am. This too is a wonderfully hopeful and happy sign of the new life that is budding, growing, thriving, and taking shape all around us at Rayne! See You Sunday, Callie July 19, 2007 - Love in the Ruins Although I have always been a little high-strung, wired a bit tighter than most, I have been exceptionally nervous about our reopening and re-consecration services on Sunday. Will the air-conditioning be fully functional? Will the carpet arrive in time? Will the sound system squawk? Will they mind not having pew cushions? Why, one would think my daughter was getting married on Sunday, so concerned have I been with every detail of preparation for this most special occasion! We have, in fact, already had a wedding in our restored sanctuary. On a beautiful Saturday in mid-May, we pushed back the drop cloths, swept away the dust, passed out paper fans, and celebrated the lovely wedding of Denny North and Sarah Davis in our still rough-around-the edges sanctuary. We called it “love in the ruins.” How fitting it is that the first worship since the storm in our restored sanctuary would be a wedding! For both scripture and tradition both speak of the church as the bride of Christ: “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” Revelation 21:2 “From heaven he came and sought her to be his holy bride and with his blood he bought her and for her life he died.” The Church’s One Foundation While this bride, our church, will not be perfectly adorned, her veil a little crooked, her hem not quite straight, she will still be radiant with beauty. While it will not be anyone’s wedding day, it will most assuredly be a great celebration of love! And with a big party afterwards! Join us on Sunday for This Day of New Beginnings. See you Sunday, Callie July 12, 2007 - Lest We Forget This is Our Last Week for Sunday Worship in the Fellowship Hall Lest We Forget This week, as we have excitedly ramped up our efforts to complete the countless preparations necessary for the long-awaited reopening of our sanctuary, the words of Moses, found in the 6th chapter of Deuteronomy, unexpectedly came to my mind. They were first spoken to a people who had wandered homeless for 40 years in the wilderness, subsisting on manna, learning to live one-day-at-a-time, trusting God’s providence, forging a community of faith and love. At long last, the wandering was over, and the weary people, poised at the threshold of the Promised Land, were ready to make a new beginning. At that critical moment in their history, recognizing a potentially dangerous temptation, Moses gave them this powerful reminder: “And when the Lord your God brings you into the land and when you live in houses that you did not build and work vineyards that you did not plant and when you eat and are full, then take heed, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” I could not help but hear the voice of Moses ringing down through the ages addressing us as well as we stand at the threshold of our new beginning: “And when the Lord your God brings you home to this next plateau of peace and prosperity and you have a restored sanctuary, with refinished floors and pews, new carpet, and a fine piano, take heed lest you forget that it wasn’t so long ago that you were digging your way from beneath a pile of rubble and ruin, homeless refugees from the storm, wondering whether you would ever see the light the end of the tunnel. Take heed, lest you forget that had it not been for the Lord, who carried you through some mighty deep water, you would not be here today.” “Write these words upon your heart,” said Moses, “and teach them to your children,” that we might never take the gift of life and the promise of our deliverance for granted, but always with gratitude. And as we leave the confining quarters of the Fellowship Hall behind, let us not forget all the lessons of faith we have learned over the last two years of “camping out.” Have we not learned, as the ancient Hebrews did, to live one day at a time, trusting that the manna will be given, believing that the loaves will be multiplied, dwelling secure in the shelter of God’s unfailing love, placing our radical trust in his promise of deliverance? May we never forget the intimacy we have experienced, the new friends we have found, the love we have known, and the strong faith that has been forged, the courage we have summoned, the Spirit that has sustained us day-by-day. Let us carry all these with us as we together we enter our Promised Land! See You Sunday, (Once More With Feeling), in the Fellowship Hall! Callie July 5, 2007 - Monastery Without Walls There are monasteries all over the world where monks and nuns have committed their lives to prayer for the sake of the world. They have taken a gigantic risk, left everything behind, and taken vows to live the Way of their Lord every day. They are contemplatives who seek union with God, and from that place of inner knowing they can offer Christian hospitality to the world outside their monastery walls. I am a monk also. Are you? Thomas Moore, a former monk inside a monastery, says modern day monks often “wear invisible robes.” We live in a monastery without walls. We take vows to live our lives being present to the Presence of God. We also seek union with God, and seek to let Love lead us to show Christian hospitality to the world around us. Like St. Benedict taught us, we believe “all are to be welcomed as Christ.” This intention is risky. It requires us to leave the old way of life behind, to let an inner transformation continue our conversion, and asks us to live vows of radical hospitality, daily practice of spiritual disciplines of prayer and work, and to take the Lord’s message to the world that “the kingdom of God is near!” Our monastery has no walls, but we can be monks nonetheless. Join us this year as we deepen our vows and live as a community of persons vowed to live this Christian life together. William June 28, 2007 - No Place Like Home Connie Richards, who has been living in a FEMA trailer for the last 22 months told me Sunday that she is at last moving back into her rebuilt home this week. “It won’t be perfect,” she told me with a beaming smile, her eyes brimming with tears of joy. “There are still many things that need to be done. But it’s finished enough for me to go home.” So it is for many New Orleanians, their rebuilt homes still “a work-in-progress,” with unfinished counters, cabinets to be delivered, carpets yet to be installed, paint jobs to be completed, and countless other construction projects yet to tackle. Even so, without a doubt, there is “no place like home.” And so it will be when Rayne goes home to its Sanctuary on July 22. Let me warn you now: it will not be perfect! There will still be work to accomplish—the organ, the steeple, the landscape, the playground, and more. But it will be finished enough for us to return for worship each Sunday in the holy, historic place that we call our sacred “home.” As we prepare for our joyous homecoming to a not-quite-ready sanctuary, let us not forget one of the most significant lessons we have learned in the aftermath of the storm: the church is more than a building. It is the Body of Christ, the people of God, the beloved community of faith. May the strong and boundless Spirit of love which no storm could ever destroy continue to give us “strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow”! June 21, 2007 - Check the Tracks The sound is sweet music to my ears: the rumbling of the streetcars down St. Charles Avenue. I have it on good authority that it will not long before we will be hearing, seeing, riding them again! Having also heard this most welcome rumor, many people have expressed a concern that uptown motorists have “gotten out of the habit” of checking their rear view mirrors before making a left turn onto the tracks lest they turn right into the path of an streetcar barreling down upon them. This, as you know, can be dreadfully dangerous. And this is why I have never let myself get out of the habit of checking the tracks, even though I have known since the storm that my rear view mirror would reveal, unfortunately, nothing coming. Now I am glad that I never got out of this very wise and healthful habit. It’s not too late for those of you who have gotten lax. In the weeks of waiting that remain, you can begin once again faithfully to check the tracks. Something similar holds true for re-entering our restored Sanctuary. Many of our members have “gotten out of the habit” of regular weekly worship. “I don’t like the Fellowship Hall.” “It’s too uncomfortable.” “It’s hot.” “It doesn’t look like church.” “I’ll be back when we re-enter the Sanctuary…” With only five weeks left before that blessed day arrives, let’s start practicing now! It’s not too late to get back into the habit, lest we find that we have drifted so far that we have become a little lax, a little lost. “Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy”—it is the command of the Maker and Giver of Life. It is given for a reason. It is, indeed, a wise and healthful habit of the heart! See You Sunday! Callie This is a Day of New Beginnings July 22, 2007 8:45 am and 11 am You Are Invited to Share in a Joyous Celebration of the Rededication of the Restored Sanctuary of the Rayne Memorial United Methodist Church With a Reception in the Fellowship Hall at Noon After 21 months of camping out, join us for this special service as we re-enter and rededicate this holy and historic place of worship which has be consecrated for prayer and praise for over 131 years. At this service of worship, our new piano will be dedicated. June 14, 2007 - Can Men Be Ministers? Not long after I moved to New Orleans from a church where I had served for nine years, I learned that some of the children were having difficulty adjusting to my successor—he was a man. Who had ever heard of a man minister? Can men be ministers? Weren’t ministers supposed to be women? After all, I had been the only pastor that many of these young children, with their limited experience, had ever known. Thus, they were utterly scandalized by a masculine presence in the pulpit, a deep voice in the microphone, a more formidable figure to stump in the children’s message, a pastor who used sports illustrations, who wore ties and suits. I was told that one little boy, accustomed to regular visits to my office where I always kept stickers, storybooks, and treats, stormed out of the new pastor’s study, fuming to his mother, “He doesn’t have any toys!!!” As you might expect, however, it did not take the children very long at all to warm up to their wonderful new pastor. Nor will it take anyone at Rayne, least of all the children, very long to warm up to our wonderful new associates, both of whom--let me warn you in advance--are men. How fitting it is to welcome William and Max on Father’s Day! May the presence of both men and women on our staff and in our pulpits, be a reminder of the way that God has called us all, male and female, clergy and lay, made in God’s own image, to be in ministry. Join me on Father’s Day, this Sunday, at Rayne as we thank God for the special men who have been fathers to us, and as we welcome these two special men into our community of faith and love. June 7, 2007 - If New Orleans Floods Again Each year at the Louisiana Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, those ministers who are retiring are invited to address the hundreds of delegates from across the state to give their farewells. This year, our own beloved Carol Sherer was among the retirees. When she spoke, she was, as always, gracious and articulate, speaking of her huge love for Rayne and the wonderful congregation she served for so many years. In her closing remarks, she asked for continued prayers for the City of New Orleans and then recalled a conversation with Barbara Everett, one of our members, in which she had asked Barbara, “What will you do if New Orleans floods again?” Barbara’s quick and plucky response had been, “The backstroke!” And everyone laughed. For this is precisely what we need as we face the uncertainty of another stressful storm season: a plan, a sense of humor, and faith—the ingredients for which are always 1/4 trust, 3/4 persistence. In a book I bought at the conference Cokesbury display, the author, Sue Monk Kidd, tells about seeing Jack Nicklaus, in the last critical round of a Masters golf tournament, hit his ball right smack into a pond. The whole gallery groaned at what appeared to be dashed hopes and certain defeat. But then Nicklaus marched over to the pond’s edge, took off his shoes and socks, rolled up his trousers, and waded out into the water. Refusing to give up his penalty shot, he was, amazingly, going to try to hit the ball out of the water! The crowd held its breath. His club slashed into the pond. Water sprayed in every direction. And then everyone could see it: the ball hurtling out straight for the green! Nicklaus got a birdie, not only because he was an extraordinarily gifted golfer, but also because of something more—persistence. On that hole, Nicklaus was doing the backstroke! So let us not be fainthearted as we face the season of uncertainty that lies before us. Let us plan and be prepared. And let us be persistent. Take off your shoes, roll up your trousers, and, if necessary…do the backstroke. “Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees… and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith…” Hebrews 12:12, 1-2 May 31, 2007 - Those Who Have Ears As Dave Barry once so wisely said, “What women want is to be listened to, to be loved, to be desired, to be respected, to be needed, to be trusted, and sometimes, just to be held. What men want is tickets for the world series.” This may be true, but I can’t help but think that men want, at the very least, to be listened to as well. Indeed, I believe that it is one of the most precious gifts we can ever give or receive: listening, understanding, hearing-- really hearing. So profound is this universal hunger to be heard that many of us are willing to pay $100 an hour or more to a therapist who will actively, empathetically, and professionally listen. But whenever someone truly listens and hears, even if no answers are given, even if no resolution is reached, it can tip the balance from despair to hope, a powerfully healing thing. What it feels like is a miracle. There is a sense in which this is the miracle of Pentecost. Usually we read this story about the birth of the church in Acts 2 and assume that the miracle of that extraordinary day was that the disciples spoke in tongues. But as one prominent Biblical scholar, Walter Wink, has pointed out, perhaps the real miracle of Pentecost was not so much the miracle of tongues as the miracle of ears. Read closely, for the story says that people heard the disciples speaking in a language they could understand and that the people marveled, saying “How is it that we hear, each of us in our own language?” Whatever happened on that most amazing day, ears were opened, barriers came tumbling down, racial, gender, and class differences were dissolved, and many different people, 3000 all together, became as one. Maybe this is why so many times Jesus would teach a lesson and then say to his audience, “Those who have ears, let them hear!” That’s what the word shema means, the first word of the Hebrew declaration of faith. It means hear: “Hear, Oh Israel…” Maybe that’s why it has been said that God created us with two ears, but only one mouth. Could it be that God wants us to spend twice as much time listening as talking? Could it be that God knows that for human beings listening is twice as hard as talking? In each of our lives there is someone who desperately needs to be heard—a man, a woman, a child, a youth, a neighbor, a friend, a stranger, an enemy. Today, you will sit down to supper with someone who needs to be heard. In the course of this week you will cross paths with someone who needs to be heard. Those who have ears, let them hear! Listen! And may the same Spirit of Love that opened the ears of those who celebrated the birth of the church so long ago, open our ears today to one another, to a world dying to be heard, and to the Word of the Lord. May 24, 2007 - A Celebration of the 300th Anniversary of Charles Wesley’s Birthday This Sunday, Memorial Sunday P E N T E C O S T 8:45 and 11 am The Symbol is Fire, the Meaning is Spirit, the Color is Red What Should You Wear to Church on Sunday?—Wear Red! Join us for this special service on Memorial Sunday Dane Evans, Piano Luke Fleming, Viola “It was a dark and stormy night…” when Charles Wesley was roused from his bed by the sounds of wind, rain, thunder, and lightening. Unable to sleep, he got up, went to the window, and opened it to see the tempest outside. Suddenly a dove, exhausted by the cold, howling wind, flew through the open window right into Charles Wesley's chest. There he held it for protection until the storm had passed. Then he sat down and wrote the lyrics of one of his greatest hymns, “Jesus, Lover of My Soul.” Henry Ward Beecher once said, "I would rather have written this hymn than have the fame of all the kings that ever sat on the earth." “Jesus, lover of my soul, let me to thy bosom fly, while the nearer waters roll, while the tempest still is high. Hide me, O my Savior hide, till the storm of life is past; safe into the haven guide, O receive my soul at last.” Christians of all denominations sing the songs of this prolific hymnwriter, one of the founders of Methodism. “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing,” “Christ the Lord is Risen Today,” and “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling,” are three of the more than 9000 hymns composed by the amazing younger brother of John Wesley. Together they were an indefatigable team, lighting the fire of a spiritual reawakening in 18th century England which would one day span the continents as a church of over 9 million members. Their theology of grace, their “religion of love,” and their emphasis on the “warm heart” of faith in Christ, are reflected in the beautifully composed songs of this “Sacred Poet of Methodism.” Plan to be present on Pentecost, the Day of the Church’s Birth (Acts 2), Memorial Sunday, in a special song celebration incorporating the great hymns of Charles Wesley. See you Sunday, Callie May 17, 2007 - Stands-With-a-Fist This was the Native American name given to the heroine in Dances With Wolves, a strong fiery woman not noted for her carefree, gentle, laid-back nature, but for her “fight,” her fury, her guts, her grit. As the story unfolds, Stands-With-A-Fist mellows considerably, opening her heart, softening her soul, stretching her nature, falling in love with the hero (but who wouldn’t?!), Kevin Costner. By the end of the movie, she has become a new creature, transformed by love. Having wrestled with my own fiery spirit, my somewhat controlling, certainly competitive, often argumentative nature, I have wondered at times whether my middle name shouldn’t also be “Stands-With-a-Fist.” Every single morning without exception, I pray that God will make the fruits of his Spirit more evident in me—peace, love, joy, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, goodness, and self-control--that I might become more like one who “Reaches-With-Hand-Outstretched,” more like Jesus. What use could God possibly have for a bossy lady preacher who Stands-With-A-Fist? But when I open the pages of scripture and read about God’s chosen, I take heart! If God could take a black-belt Pharisee like Paul, a loud-mouth impulsive like Peter, competitive and adversarial brothers like the Sons of Thunder, James and John, a woman-possessed like Mary Magdalene, a doubter like Thomas and transform them into persons of faith, passion, conviction, courage and love, then surely there is hope for me—for anyone! May the same Spirit that so utterly transformed the lives of the first disciples of Jesus, remake and mold us to become all that God has called and created us to be, that those who stand with a fist may one day reach with loving hands outstretched to one another and to a world in need. “And I am sure that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ…” Philippians 1:6 “If anyone is in Christ he [or she] is a new creation…” 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Put off the old nature and put on the new which is being renewed in the image of the Creator… Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience, forbearing one another…forgiving each other… and above all these, put on love…” from Colossians 3 See You Sunday, Callie May 10, 2007 - Roots and Wings Murray Bowen, who is the originator of family systems theory, once wrote that there are two critical tasks in life: one is to become separate—individual, independent, differentiated from those around you; and the other is to become connected—bonded, related, interdependent, capable of loving and being loved. It sounds like two opposites, doesn’t it? It is not unlike the old saying that good parents are those that give their children both roots and wings. We have known children who have roots, but no wings: they are emotionally connected, deeply bonded, but have never left the nest, never really hatched. And we have all know children who have wings, but no roots: they are somewhat disconnected, directionless, without a compass, sometimes even lost. Children need both—roots and wings. Harry Emerson Fosdick once wrote: “In the home where I grew up I was taught to obey something inside me, so that when I left home I took it with me.” Perhaps the greatest gift we can give our children is to help them be true to that something inside—that inner Voice, that inner wisdom, their true calling, their authentic identity as a child of God, their Creator, the One in whose eternal keeping our roots are securely grounded, the One in whose boundless love we discover our freedom to soar the heights. And may our homes be places in which our children are given both roots and wings! See You on Mother’s Day, Callie May 3, 2007 - Suddenly You Will Be Doing That Which is Impossible “Start by doing what is necessary. Then do what is possible. Suddenly you will be doing that which is impossible.” St. Francis of Assisi It was Sunday, August 28, 8:45 am. The mandatory evacuation of the City of New Orleans was underway. The sanctuary was hushed and dark with that eerie yellow pallor that is always the ominous prelude to a hurricane. There was only a handful of us. We gathered in a circle for prayer. I invited everyone to look around one more time. To soak up its beauty. To stamp its image upon their memory. For we did not know what the next 24 hours would hold, or the next week or year for that matter, or even if we would ever see our sanctuary in the same way again. How could we know that two weeks later, we would be standing in the chapel at First United Methodist Church in Baton Rouge, heartbroken, holding crumbled pieces of brick from the rubble of our stricken steeple? That one year later, the sanctuary would still be closed, its windows covered with plyboard, its lofty ceilings scaffolded, the dust settling from long months of a painstaking, complex, multi-faceted restoration? That it would be almost two years before the sanctuary could reopen, and even longer before the organ was restored and the steeple rebuilt? At that point it seemed we might as well try to move a mountain! These were the days when all we could do was, first, that which was necessary and, then, that which was possible… But now, suddenly, we are doing that which is impossible! Every time I stand witness to the massive crane lifting gargantuan sections of steel steeple into place, or watch the meticulous brick artisan replicating the intricate patterns of the tower, I am filled with wonder and awe! I stand in the choir loft and gasp, “How lovely is thy dwelling place!” as I take in the view of a sanctuary that is indeed more beautiful than ever! And thus I am reminded of God’s promise: “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; do you not perceive it? Even now it springs forth!” For ours is a God who is at work in every moment calling us out of death and into life, making all things—most especially broken things—new. How appropriate that our lesson for Sunday is from the Revelation of John writing from the Isle of Patmos. It was his glimpse behind the veil into another unseen kingdom in our midst: “I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the former things had passed away…” May God give us eyes to see this new day dawning! May God help us to hang in there until, at last, we are home! If you are going to Jazz Fest, why not come casual to early church? Hope to see you Sunday! Callie April 26, 2007 - Staff-Parish Committee Announces New Associate Pastors At a called meeting of the Staff-Parish Committee on Wednesday night, our District Superintendent, Ralph Ford, finalized the appointment of two part-time associates to begin work at Rayne in June 2007. It is our joy to welcome Dr. William Thiele (pronounced Tee-lee) who will be serving ¾ time at Rayne and ¼ time at Parker Memorial United Methodist Church on Nashville Avenue, as well as Rev. Max Zehner who will be serving ¼ time at Rayne and ¾ time at the Tulane Wesley Foundation. Both William and Max have preached at Rayne recently and have been enthusiastically received. Too, William has been counseling one day each week at Rayne over the last two years. We are honored and blessed that these two special and gifted men will be serving on our staff and believe that their ministries will widen the reach and deepen the meaning our congregational life together. William Thiele has been a part-time Minister of Pastoral Care at the Aldersgate UMC on the northshore and has had a private practice as a psychotherapist since 1999. He is certified not only as a pastoral counselor and a professional psychotherapist, but also as a spiritual director and has a wide range of experience leading retreats, workshops, and small groups for spiritual formation. Educated at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary where he received both his Masters degree and Ph. D. in Psychology and Counseling, Dr. Thiele is well-acquainted with the New Orleans area. He was ordained as a Southern Baptist minister in 1981, but has been involved in the Religious Society of Friends (Quaker) and the United Methodist Church for many years. Those who know William have experienced him to be a person of unusual depth, insight, intelligence, sensitivity, and compassion. On our staff, he will be assisting in worship, preaching, and pastoral care, and developing small groups for spiritual growth and programs for spiritual direction. He and his wife Carol have one grown son, Ted, and reside on the northshore in Slidell. The funding for William’s position at both Rayne and Parker is provided by contributions made by Methodists across the world to a special Bishop’s Appeal in the aftermath of Katrina. Max Zehner has been the part-time director of the Tulane Wesley Foundation since 2003. Under his direction, the student ministry has thrived and the Freret Street Methodist student center has been updated and improved. A graduate of Duke Divinity School (Master of Divinity) and University of Southern Mississippi (B.A. English), Max has been involved in the New Orleans Mission Zone and the recovery of the United Methodist Church in New Orleans since the storm. Max will be ordained as an elder at Annual Conference this June, and will become a member of the Louisiana Annual Conference in full connection. He is an intelligent, creative, and energetic young minister with a buoyant spirit, a wonderful sense of humor, and a gentle heart. As a member of our staff he will assist with worship, preaching, and pastoral care and will provide leadership and support for our college and young adult ministries. In the weeks ahead, let us keep Max and William in our prayers as they enter this time of transition in their personal and professional lives. And let us pray for Rayne—that as we open this new chapter of ministry together we may be able to clearly discern the will of God for our church and to be faithfully responsive to the Spirit’s guidance into the future. May it be bright with hope and filled with new possibilities! April 19, 2007 - Let Us Pray Let Us Pray for all those who died in the violence at Virginia Tech College in Blacksburg, Virginia on April 17, and for all those who now grieve this unspeakable loss. Our Lord God, who has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, carry your people now through this dark valley of sadness. To all who mourn, grant your comfort; to all who are weary, strength; to the fainthearted, courage; and to all who have sinned, your mercy. As we bind these deep national and personal wounds, may we also renew our firm resolve to establish safe communities solidly built on trust and understanding, where swords are beaten into plowshares and guns into instruments of peace, where all your children may be nurtured with respect and compassion, blessed by non-violence, and held secure in your steadfast love. Amen. April 12, 2007 - I Still Believe... "It’s a wonder I haven’t abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart. It’s utterly impossible for me to build my life on a foundation of chaos, suffering and death. I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness, I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too, I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more." Anne Frank July 15, 1944 April 5, 2007 - Time in the Tomb We know much about the events of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday. But what about Saturday, the day with no special name, the day on which the body of Jesus lay in the cold sealed tomb, the day on which many churches close and seal their sanctuaries in memory of his burial? That Saturday long ago was a Sabbath day for the ancient disciples—commanded by law to be observed as a quiet day of rest. In the stillness of their homes, did they mourn for Jesus? In the silence of their prayers, did they ask for direction in his absence? Did they agonize about how they would go on, what they would do next? Did they struggle to make sense of all they had experienced? Did they grieve? Anyone who has suffered a loss and has waited for healing and rebirth knows what a day like that Saturday is like—the day after the funeral, after the mourners have gone home, after the flowers have wilted, after the casseroles have been reduced to leftovers, and you wander from room to room feeling the palpable emptiness of a loved one’s absence. In many ways, the whole of New Orleans is “living on Saturday”—somewhere on the long span that stretches between the tragedy of Katrina and the triumph of our promised rebirth. Just how long will this Saturday last? We do not know. All we can do is trust the promise that even now there is something unseen to our eyes that is happening during this in-between time in the tomb--something revolutionary, something utterly transformative. All we can do is trust that at the end of this longest day, the sun will rise on an Easter Sunday morning, the day will at last break on anopen empty tomb from which a brand new, resurrected life will emerge. This is the promise to which we must hold fast. Join me on Sunday as we sing of this promise that is ours at Easter: There’s a song in every silence, seeking word and melody; there’s a dawn in every darkness, bringing hope to you and me. From the past will come the future; what it holds, a mystery. In our end is our beginning; in our time, infinity; in our doubt there is believing; in our life, eternity. In our death, a resurrection, at the last, a victory, unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see. “Hymn of Promise” by Natalie Sleeth March 29, 2007 - C R E D O "I Believe" Each week during Lent I have asked a member of our faith community to share with us his or her “credo,” the Latin word for “I believe.” What is it that gets you through the night and makes it possible for you to rise up and face an unknown future with faith and courage? Last Wednesday night, the final in our series, Rich Foster shared his deeply held convictions: I believe in that night, O God, when you gripped me , and shook me, and revealed yourself to me as all knowing and all I had to do was ask and you would answer me in truth, but I found even as I tried to speak that I could not for I did not know what words to ask until finally you had me speak the answer to my unspoken question, and I said aloud "God is". I believe with those two words, "God is", you liberated me, O Father, from being only a philosophical believer, one who looked to the meaning of words to try to define who you are; instead, your living presence taught me that you are the eternal subject who gives your own meaning to the words through which now I must learn to know you. I believe that whenever I speak to others of you, O God, that whatever words I use will always be inadequate for what human words could possibly contain the reality of you; yet still I must speak for you have commanded it so. I believe, O Holy Spirit, that if I remain faithful to the truth you have revealed to me, that no matter what words I may use, you have the power to transform my meager words into your own Word of God in the ears of the one willing to hear. I believe, O God, you heard the prayer your son Jesus spoke upon the cross when he cried out to you, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do". I believe, O Christ, that I am one of them that you prayed for; that in so many countless ways I too have hammered the nails into your cross, yet before I even knew the reality of my sin, you first came to me and made me aware of your eternal love and forgiveness. I believe, Lord Jesus, that we make a lie of your Easter story if we ever dare to speak to others of sin and judgment without first speaking of your love, mercy, and forgiveness; for I know that if you had not first enveloped me within your reconciling love that I would never have found the courage to face the reality of my sin, and if I had not faced the reality of my sin, I would not have known your marvelous grace. I believe, O Holy Spirit, that there are moments in my life when you empower me and liberate me, so that I am able to freely transcend my sinful state and be used by you as a sign of your glory and thereby experience here and now the new creation that I shall become when I am resurrected into your Kingdom. I believe that there are times when you are very near to me, O God, I feel your presence, and in those times I am strong and I walk with the confidence of faith. I believe, my most gracious Heavenly Father, that there are more times in life when you have chosen to be silent, and I had to learn that you never intended to run my life for me, that you desired me to live freely in relationship to you, making my own choices; and it was within your silence that I learned to walk with the confidence of hope. I believe, O God, my Creator, my Savior, my Reconciler, I believe; help my unbelief. Amen. Richard Foster March 28, 2007 A complete copy of the 2007 Lenten Credo series will be available in booklet form on Palm Sunday. March 21, 2007 - C R E D O "I Believe" If you were asked to write in your own words, in “creedal form,” in a series of 5-10 sentences each beginning with the phrase “I believe,” what it is that “gets you through the night,” that makes it possible for you to rise up each day and face whatever it may hold with faith, hope, and courage, what would you write? This is a question that few people ever take time to ask themselves, let alone answer for themselves in any kind of intentional articulate way. And thus we drift through life like rudderless boats! If it is true that beliefs affect attitudes and attitudes affect decisions and critical decisions are made every day, how important must it be that we become aware of our most deeply held convictions, for, in a very real sense, we ARE what we BELIEVE. And so, during this season of self-examination, I have asked five members of our faith community to ponder this question prayerfully and to share with us consecutively on the five Wednesday nights of Lent their answers. On Wednesday night this week, John Winn, Pastor Emeritus of the Center for Pastor Effectiveness, shared his CREDO: I believe that my life is a gift: that it keeps coming and never ends; that more than anything I possess or consume, it is love alone that makes it worth living. I believe that I am loved: by people near and far, young and old; that love can be a memory; love can be a touch; love can be a word spoken in truth; but whenever and however it happens, it, too, comes as a gift and renews my life. I believe that I can love: myself, people who are like me, people who are different from me; I can do it with my whole being---body, mind, and spirit. I believe that is what loving God is all about and that is precisely the way God keeps giving life back to us: God loves us back to life! again and again and again! John Winn Pastor Emeritus The Center for Pastoral Effectiveness Louisana Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church March 21, 2007 March 15, 2007 - CREDO "I Believe" I believe that there are infinite possibilities and truths beyond those that the human mind can conceive and the human tongue express – and these are what I know as God. I believe that if I trust in God, the hard dark lines of my own limits – of self, of knowing, of my body, of place and time – will disappear – this, for me, is the promise of the Resurrection. I believe that facing and working through “the worst that has happened” is never as awful and limiting as worrying about the worst that might happen; working through and coming out on the other side is resurrection. I believe that New Orleans is working through to resurrection. I believe that God is not just an ear for our prayers but an echo chamber, that when we pray aloud together we hear the voice of God speaking to us. I believe in the goodness of God, the goodness of the creation that has life in God: the goodness of you. I believe that someday I may know, but in the meantime, I rest my doubts in the benevolent energy – the grace -- that stirs my heart to wakefulness each day and propels me to do what my mind tells me is impossible or crazy – but necessary and life-giving – how else could I explain my presence before you tonight? I believe that the power of this grace is magnified when I am in the presence of others who seek connection with it and I am grateful to be blessed with that experience tonight. I believe in saying “thank you” when I am grateful. Thank you. Emily Clark Assistant Professor of History Tulane University March 14, 2007 March 8, 2007 - C R E D O "I Believe" Like the psalmist, I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. I believe there is good in all of us, sometimes hidden, sometimes visible. It is up to us to train our hearts to live in grace, and when we fail, to begin again each day. I believe that in time we will look back on this season of destruction and recovery and find the good. I believe that even now, we get glimpses of what good may come from Katrina. I see it in the way families have drawn closer, in the way faith communities have been a source of strength to those who have returned, and in the wave of hope that washes over us each time another group of volunteers shows up to work beside us and share our sorrow. I believe that God’s love has been a constant presence which we experience time and again in ways that heal and bless. Our highe