Reflections from New Orleans

Ahhh, the Big Easy!

We have come for a visit, Anita and I. It is a mixture of work and fun--isn't that what you are supposed to do when you come to New Orleans? The "work" part involves hearing Savannah Flowers preach at St. Charles Avenue Baptist on Sunday. (OK, the fact that she is our daughter is an added reason--but Woody will be at Clemson to hear Ben Guerry on Sunday--sorta divide and conquer. Being the Senior Pastor I got the good straw! I mean, would you rather eat at the Esso Club or K Paul's?)

The trip is also a way of seeing how the city has recovered--or not. It has been 5 years since Hurricane Katrina ripped through the vicinity, and we discovered how our negligence allowed levees to be ripped open and our willingness not to see torn through the heart of a community. Today we wandered through the Garden District, a gorgeous area which is the home to people such as John Goodman, Anne Rice (we didn't see any vampires) and Sandra Bullock. As you can imagine, you barely see any scars of the storm. Instead, as you ride down the St. Charles Streetcar you can see Mardi Gras beads hanging from the live oaks. There is a sense of joy that just permeates the area!

A few miles away however, that sense just gets ripped away. Last summer Savannah spent a month in the Ninth Ward studying and working with a group from Furman. She took us to see where she had worked.

What you see are missing neighborhoods. What you see are vacant lots where families used to live. What you see are shells of homes that even now bear the marks where rescuers came searching for survivors, victims. What you see is a reminder of how our negligence--both before and after Katrina--have scarred this area.

There are signs of recovery. Some families never left--a sign of resilience and perhaps desperation. Other homes are being rebuilt, new homes built. But still...

It is a vivid reminder of a line from a movie we saw at the Aquarium Imax. We watched Hurricane on the Bayou. (You can get it on Netflix, but unless you have a REALLY big TV it will lose a bit!) While it is not a great movie, it does point out the way in which we have consistently looked for short term profit over long term costs. In order to help agriculture now, in order to help ships get a quicker trip to the gulf we built canals and levees that stopped the Mississippi River from doing what she wants to do. The result is that wetlands are disappearing--the buffer that protects from hurricanes, and that also serves as the incubator for so much life.

And now we have that little spill in the gulf. Offshore drilling provides many jobs, and much of the oil that drives our economy--but at what long term cost?

These aren't easy questions nor answers, so too often we just ignore them. Until it is too late.

And Jesus said, "Count the cost." A great lesson for discipleship. Maybe it is a great lesson for our world as well.

Reflections from Preacher Camp

I went to camp last week! Actually, I should say that Anita and I went to camp last week. For several years now a group of pastors from across the country have been getting together for a week of worship/sermon planning. We called it Homipalooza for a while--homi for homiletic (preaching;) palooza after the rock festival that toured a few years ago.

It is always a week of intense work. Each of us takes a section of the church year and bring ideas about the text and what we might do with them in our sermons. At the end of the week my brain is always tired, but my heart is full!

You see, preaching can be a lonely enterprise. You study all week and have the audacity to say, "This just might be what God wants us to hear!" One of the things that I have always liked about the time with colleagues is not only their wisdom (and these folks are smart--really can't understand why I am there except to fix the coffee in the morning!) but even more the knowledge that we are in this enterprise together.

And it is not just a week. We talk on a regular basis. We talk about our sermons, how to approach an issue, what we are reading, how the kids are doing.

It was that last bit that was added last week. We decided to invite our families. That meant that we had children from 19 to 3, and spouses! It was wonderful! It was a wonderful time to get to know the important people in the lives of my important people. But it was also a reminder that we don't do this preaching thing alone--we do it with our colleagues who are in other places, and with our families.

I came away with ideas for sermons for 2011. But even more I got to know Sam and Hannah Butler; Jackson and Bennett Dean; Sidney and Audra Ballenger; Adam Cooper; and Catherine Somerville. That was real gift!

I can't wait till next year! (Now if I can just get something for September 2010--I seem to have lost those notes from last time!)

What Shall We Do in 2011?

For the past few months Providence has been involved in a process to update our structure, how we do things. It took a lot of time and energy and attention from a lot of people--our Long Range Planning Committee, a Restructuring Committee, a By-laws revision Committee, our Coordinating Council, and finally the whole congregation. In the end we have devised a process that places a priority for our whole church to work towards for the coming year.

In the future, this process will be drawn out a bit more, with more time for congregational discussion. But this year, it is a bit compressed. The Coordinating Council spent some time in May discussing what they see as the top priorities for our congregation. Then in June we had several discussions on Wednesday and Sundays. The amazing thing is that pretty much the same priorities kept reappearing.

And so the Coordinating Council voted last week to propose the following priorities to our congregation as our goals for 2011.

1. Congregational Care. We want to strengthen we way we care for members in our congregation. How can we increase our awareness of each other, care for one another, invite more participation from members? We want Providence to be the loving community we strive to become.
2. Outreach. We believe that Providence is a wonderful, unique voice in our community and world, but what can we do to invite others to be a part? We will look for programs and opportunities that will meet the needs of our community and invite them to be a part of what we are seeing to do with God.
3. Children. When we celebrate Baby Dedications we remind ourselves that our children "belong to us"--all of us. In 2011 we will focus on opportunities to remind them and us of that responsibility. How can we help our children grow "in wisdom, stature and favor with God and others?"

In addition, our Ministry Coordination Council will be tasked with the responsibility of exploring our future land and building needs/obligations. What do we do with the opportunity for additional land? How can we finish the 2nd floor of the Education Building?

So what does this mean? On July 11 we will vote on these priorities for 2011. If approved, then the various committees/groups will use these in their planning. For example, what can the Worship Committee do to invite others to Providence? How can we make worship a better experience for our children? Each committee (soon to be groups) will ask those questions as they make their plans.

Of course there will be some things that will happen even if they don't fit under the priorities, for example we do hope that the lights will continue to shine! But as we move forward, these priorities will be what we will be working towards as a congregation. All of us we will see how we can care for one another, how we can invite others to join with us in this great adventure, how we can be a welcoming and caring place for children.

If you have any questions about these priorities, or how they will shape our ministry in 2011 please contact Don or Leigh Burke.