Brown Woodbrook Church's Blog

We're moving

2011-08-02T11:05:00.000-07:00

This will be my last post at this address. The church has revamped our website, and the blog will be part of it.

Warning: It's about 95% finished. In particular the feature that lets you sign up for emails is not live quite yet. Nor is the FaceBook "like" link. But they will be within the next week or two.

So check it out at http://www.bmwpc.org. And then bookmark it!

Thanks - Jamie

Withering Church?

2011-06-20T07:27:00.000-07:00

I got this email from Ann Loar Brooks a few weeks ago. Take a look at the blog and comment.

"Here's some thought-provoking reading about churches in transition.

http://theresaecho.wordpress.com/2011/06/13/ten-observations-of-a-dying-church/

Ann Loar Brooks"

What did you learn? Any 'aha's'? What questions does it raise for you? How does any of the 10 signs apply to Brown Woodbrook? What makes you annoyed or angry, or makes you say, "That doesn't apply to us!"? Who can you think of whom you'd like to see the blog?

Will the real aliens please stand up?

2011-06-17T08:45:00.000-07:00

And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt. Deuteronomy 10:19

We’re a couple of weeks away from July 4 as I write. So I want to offer some thoughts around the topic of our American ideals.

When I lived in France for a year, a friend and I hitchhiked to Paris once. On the freeway somewhere, the police stopped us. They asked for passports. I presented mine first. They assumed I and my friend (who was French) spoke no French. So they just waved us off the highway. An American passport in France turned out to be a convenience.

When I lived in Zaire (now Congo) for a year, some friends invited me on a picnic on an island in the Zaire River. We didn’t realize that Zairian law required us to be off the island by sunset. It was a restricted area, to try to control smuggling.

When we sauntered across the bridge after dark back to the shore, a squad of soldiers met us. Luckily the driver of my car spoke some Kituba. So did the officer, who demanded to know what we were up to. We told him. He finally got disgusted, pointed to an unlit shack off in the woods, and told us he would put us in there and hold us if we didn’t tell the truth. We palavered for an hour or two. It turned out they just wanted to shake us down for whatever food we had left, and some money. They got the food and let us go.

On the drive back into town, we all admitted that the prospect of being held incommunicado was sobering. But we also realized that there were people who knew where we were, and if we didn’t show up, they would ask questions. And if push came to shove, we had American passports. Somebody at the American embassy would come for us if it came to that. In that case an American passport was a God-send.

It can be hard to be a foreigner—even if you have papers.

The truth is there are all kinds of places in the world where the niceties of any passport make little difference. People get killed or jailed or run out of their homes without any legalities at all.

It is an incredible blessing to live in a country of law. It is also a blessing to be able to receive people from places where law is held in less esteem.

I believe that when we are at our best in this country, we do our best to welcome strangers, to make them feel accepted. That among other reasons is why I am so dismayed by the campaign to overturn the recent Dream Act to allow the children of illegal immigrants who qualify to pay in-state tuition at Maryland colleges. The effort to repeal appeals to our fears, resentments, and too often, gross misinformation.

For Christians part of our story is having ancestors (albeit spiritual) who were slaves, foreigners, undocumented aliens in Egypt. Somehow we forget that piece of who we are. It’s time to remember.

Grace and peace, Jamie

Earth Day

2011-04-22T10:34:00.000-07:00

In recognition of Earth Day, take a look at another website: Interfaith Power and Light. http://interfaithpowerandlight.org

It's purpose is environmental education and advocacy from the perspective of faith.

The current effort is to urge Congress to improve deep-water drilling. check it out: http://action.interfaithpowerandlight.org/c.dmJUKgOZJiI8G/b.6744053/k.98F9/No_more_spills/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?auid=8201168

Love your mother! And the God who made her.

Jesus: Anti-Racist? Or Racist?

2011-03-18T13:35:00.000-07:00

On St. Patrick’s Day, I had the privilege of hearing Nick Perrin, a professor of New Testament from Wheaton College. He spoke about the story in Mark 5:1-20 of Jesus healing a demon-possessed man from the “country of the Gerasenes,” most likely on or near the northeastern edge of Lake Galilee. The eye-catching part is that Jesus sends the man’s demon into a herd of pigs, and the pigs all rush into the lake and drown. For some reason the hog farmers were not too excited about having Jesus stick around.

Of course people raise a number of questions. Didn’t the man have a mental illness, not an evil spirit? Where was Gerasa (there are three possibilities)? Why do the demons call themselves “Legion?” What was Jesus doing in that neck of the woods anyway? It was Gentile territory, and the text says nothing about going off for a rest or for prayer.

Dr. Perrin believes the best way to read the story is to take it pretty much at face value as a story about what the historical Jesus actually did. That in itself is a pretty big move, but let’s grant that it’s a reasonable and proper thing to do.

From his lecture it sounds like the key to understanding is linguistic. Jesus calls the demon an “unclean spirit.” That term appears in only ten stories in the Synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), so it’s not very common. It appears once in the Hebrew scriptures, in Zechariah 13:2.

Perrin’s reading is that Jesus consciously uses the term from Zechariah in order to evoke or express the same basic agenda Zechariah had: to oppose false prophets, idolatry, and the unclean spirit in the land. When Jesus calls the demonic presence an “unclean spirit,” he specifically links it with the presence of a larger unclean spirit in the land, the Romans. That’s why the unclean spirit calls itself “Legion.” Get it? As in a Roman legion. Perrin pointed out that the Fourth Legion of Rome had a major garrison in the neighborhood, near the palace Herod had built in northern Galilee, to catch the lake breezes presumably.

The heart of the unclean spirit of Rome (my term, not Perrin’s) lay in its arrogant assumption of ethnic superiority. There’s a lot of evidence, a lot of which Perrin cited, that most Romans believed they were by birth better than non-Romans. By a long shot.

So Jesus performs a “prophetic speech act” (Perrin’s term) against the Roman ideology of ethnic superiority.

It’s a provocative reading, and one I hadn’t come across before. To the degree that it’s true, it means Jesus was more political than we thought. It also means he had no patience with what we would likely call racism (which is largely what Perrin called it) –hatred of another based on ethnic heritage. (I recognize, by the way, that “race” as we think of it is largely a modern concept, created mostly as means for the wealthy to justify exploiting those different from them. The notion that some people are inherently superior, however, is ancient.)

My question, though, is this: doesn’t that leave Jesus open to the charge of being racist? Zechariah, after all, was preaching to Israel. His was a critique from inside the fold. Jesus here criticizes Rome from outside the fold. To a Roman, I think he would appear to be doing nothing more than asserting the superiority of his own faith (Judaism) to the ideology of empire (Caesar worship with it’s attendant notions of ethnic superiority).

That stance, to be quite reductionist, fits the stance of many prophets in Israel when they denounce foreign nations for attacking Israel and not worshipping the one true God. In time, they say, the "nations" ("goyim" in Hebrew; "ethnoi" in Greek) will all come to Zion to worship. The step from there to notions of superiority, be they racial/ethnic or religious or social, is not large.

What do you think? Is Perrin’s reading, or my blundering attempt to summarize it, persuasive?

Thanks for reading this far. Jamie

Guns

2011-01-25T07:18:00.000-08:00

There God broke the flashing arrows, the shields and the swords, the weapons of war. Psalm 76:3

I grew up around guns. My father hunted small game—doves, ducks, squirrels, geese, the occasional rabbit and quail. When I was about 12, my father gave me a single-shot shotgun, with the stock cut down to fit. A couple years later he gave me a “regular” size 12 gauge shotgun. Around that time he also gave me a .22 handgun. And a few years before he died he gave me his prized 20 gauge Browning over-and-under shotgun. I don’t have the small one, but I still have the other three.

For what it’s worth, when our daughter was born, Anne made me store the ammunition (not much) in a different room from the weapons. Now the guns are on our second floor, and the ammunition is in the basement.

I haven’t fired any of them since before I moved from Memphis in 1985. So it’s fair to ask why I still have them. It’s part sentimentality, part pack-rat, and part the thought (or fantasy?) that one of these years I’ll have an opportunity to hunt again.

I enjoyed hunting. It was time with my father, and his friends. It was something of a rite of passage to be allowed to go with them. And in all honesty, it’s a genuine skill to hit a dove 40 yards out flying downwind at 50-60 mph, and darting around to boot. I rarely succeeded.

The best day I ever had, I hit the first four doves in row that came in range. I was feeling great. Then S. O. Thomas, one of my father’s friends and a gentle man who was one of the best shots around, yelled across the field, “Hoo-whee, Jamie! Let one through every now again!” And he laughed. I proceeded to miss the next 22 shots in a row, and went home with four birds.

For me that was what hunting was about. It wasn’t about killing animals. It was about fellowship. I know, I know. How can you separate those things out? Maybe I’ll try to figure that out some other time.

I tell you this in order to say that I don’t hate guns. But I do hate the irresponsible use of them, especially to shoot people. When at 14 you have five grown men, some of them members of the NRA, all staring at you because you forgot to unload before crossing a fence, you tend to remember. “Jamie,” one of them said (not my father), “Don’t you ever do that again.” So it’s heartbreaking when someone uses a gun to kill or wound someone, to destroy the trust in a community.

Guns are dangerous and not to be trifled with, and that’s why I believe they should be regulated. That’s why everyone, from hunters to dealers to police to military, needs to take responsibility—including registration, a significant waiting period before you can buy one, banning the sale of automatic weapons and over-sized magazines, and having merchants adhere to a code of conduct.

Yes, I know most of the arguments against those things. But it’s not the guns that are irresponsible; it’s some people who are.

Grace and peace, Jamie

Israel Trip

2010-12-03T08:20:00.000-08:00

On Monday before Thanksgiving I returned with 24 other pastors and rabbis from 8 fabulous days in Israel. We met with a scholars, politicians, clerics, and others to learn as much as we could about the dilemmas that face Israel and the Palestinians. We visited as well a number of holy sites and archeological sites. To get some flavor of the group and our musings, you can check out the trip blog at http://www.icjs.org/mciblog/ .

In short order, three of my primary take-aways are...

* The politics in Israel are so incredibly complex, it is hard to imagine how anything gets done, much less a peace agreement with the Palestinians. And we did not have the opportunity to explore the intricacies on the Palestinian side.
A number of corollaries flow. Any notions of how to resolve the conflict must come from the two parties. That implies, as Rabbi Ron Shulman observed at a public presentation on Dec. 2, we who do not live there should learn to hold our own opinions lightly.

* A key part of the issue is the differing narratives, Palestinian and Israeli, both of which seem to me to trade in being seen as victims. As soon as any hard questions get asked of either side, the reflexive response is too often to retreat to "my narrative." This reality means that jumping to endorse the narrative of one side is going to make it that much more difficult to have meaningful dialogue with the other side. See Rabbi Shulman above. The challenge for both parties is to begin to listen to the other side, to hear their poetry, as one speaker said.

* Dr. Shlomo Avineri and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, the last two people we met, were in some ways the least encouraging, but at the same time were the most hopeful. Now that I think about it, Rabbi Michael Melchior, the very first person we met, said some similar things. I heard them saying in effect that no grand deal where everyone sits down and signs off on a deal, and says, "That's that," is likely at this stage.

What is possible are incremental changes, and decisions to change behaviors, and in some cases perhaps even to change particular policies. So, for example, PM Fayyad talked about his efforts to create a government of accountability, transparency, and consistency (so, e.g., foreign aid actually gets to its intended target, banks make loans openly and fairly, courts function according to law), and a credible and trained security force which is clear about its mission--to protect the population.
From Fayyad and from others (maybe it was Col. Marom (ret.), former commander of the Lebanese border region) we heard that cooperation between the Israeli army and Palestinian army/police is better now than it has been in years.
It was perhaps a minor point, but we all laughed about having our bus escorted to the meeting wtih Mr. Fayyad by two Palestinian police in a vehicle with siren blaring and blue lights flashing. First time any of us had ever been on the giving end of blocking traffic. But consider the irony: a group including Jews were protected by Palestinian police. It's hard to imagine that happening during the first or second intifadas.

Well, that's it for now. Read the blog http://www.icjs.org/mciblog/.

A Thanksgiving for Independence Day

2010-07-02T06:59:00.000-07:00

A Thanksgiving for Independence Day
by the Rev. James W. Dale

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men* are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

That sentence is the heart of the argument Mr. Jefferson lays out in the founding document of this country, the Declaration of Independence. It is this document whose ratification we celebrate this Sunday.

Now whether Mr. Jefferson was Christian in any orthodox sense is highly debatable. Most historians at my alma mater, the university he founded in Virginia, describe him as a deist. That is, he believed in a God who created the universe, set it in motion, and then sat back, letting things work out as they would. He had a profound problem with the notion that Jesus was God’s Son, or that God intervened in human history in any meaningful way.

So on one hand it is not surprising that he locates his notion of rights in creation, with no hint of redemption. The Creator in his view puts our “unalienable rights” into place, and then leaves humans to work out what they mean in practical terms.

On the other hand it is surprising that he locates his notion of rights in creation. It leaves open the very real possibility that people who were and are more orthodox in their Christian beliefs would understand these rights as a matter of Christian faith, gifts of the Creator we know in Christ.

That is to say, Christians locate our rights not simply in creation, but in God’s revelation through the giving of the law at Sinai, through the history of God’s acts with Israel, through the prophets, and through Jesus Christ, God’s Son.

What that does, in brief, is connect the freedom from sin and death in Jesus Christ, with the political freedom Mr. Jefferson envisions in this document.

Paul in his letter to the Galatians does not connect freedom from the law (5:1) explicitly with political or social "freedom" as such. But he does in 3: 28 understand the thrust of grace to be in the direction of equality for those from different religious and cultural backgrounds, for those with different social and economic situations, and between men and women. It's not a huge leap to see that "freedom in Christ" can carry political freight as well.

So, if you want a church free from politics, you have to deny any connection between the Mr. Jefferson’s Creator and the God of the Bible.

You may already have guessed: I affirm the connection, and thank God for it, as I thank God for the awesome privilege of living in this grand experiment in the equality of all people, made concrete in their “unalienable rights,” which experiment we call the United States of America.

*people

2010-06-08T06:44:00.000-07:00

Below is an email exchange between jamie Dale and Susan Saunders. I suspect her sense of shakiness is felt by some of you, too. Does her idea make sense to you?

To join the discussion, go to the bottom and click on the link that says "Post a Comment."

Thanks, Jamie
+++++++++++++++++++

From: Susan Saunders [mailto:susansaundersaji@covad.net] Sent: Saturday, June 05, 2010 10:44 AMTo: 'Jamie Dale'Subject: RE: Yes

Hi Jamie,

Share away!

S.

From: Jamie Dale [mailto:jdale@bmwpc.org] Sent: Wednesday, June 02, 2010 9:22 AMTo: 'Susan Saunders'; 'Bob Gist'Subject: RE: Yes

That’s an interesting proposal. I’ll have to think about it a bit.

Things may feel shaky in part because the budget we’re using at present was written for the old structure. One thing teams will have to do by about October is redesign their budget areas to fit what they’re up to. It may be that having the treasurer and perhaps session do a first run at that would make sense.

I’m thinking Session should see your ideas, Susan. What about all the teams?

Thanks. Jamie

From: Susan Saunders [mailto:susansaundersaji@covad.net] Sent: Tuesday, June 01, 2010 11:30 AMTo: Bob GistCc: Jamie DaleSubject: Yes

Hi Bob and Jamie,

We were away for the weekend. I tried to call Bob but got no answer or answering machine. Yes, I want the youth to be able to use the money in the CE budget for the trip. What I am writing in the next paragraph does not change that.

I wonder how the line items all disappeared. It seems to me that we have a very shaky way of deciding to spend money. I haven’t found a way to express my confusion or the right people to share it with---but we used to have staff people who had some fiduciary responsibility as the folks who had the final sign-off rights on spending as well as responsibility for keeping track of where we were in our spending with an eye to the entire year’s worth of needs. Now it feels very lose and like we are not even sure the money we want to spend is there---or how to track it once it is spent. Does it seem to you we are in a budget muddle? Jamie sent an e-mail some time ago asking for people in each group (I forget what we are calling them) to sign off on expenses. I didn’t answer that request because I wasn’t sure what to say. I think the signer-offers need to be staff and only staff---not that others are untrustworthy---just that someone needs to have the entire picture of the budget for each team (ah that’s the word) and keep track of how the picture develops.

S.

2009-07-14T07:56:00.000-07:00

Folks, the article you will find if you click the link below sets out where we are as a congregation as clearly and succinctly as any I have seen. I’d love to hear your reactions. Post your comments by clicking the button below.

http://www.alban.org/conversation.aspx?id=8160

The next step for us, I think, is getting really honest about our culture, our unwritten rules, our expectations of each other, our assumptions about how to be a church, and such.

For example, do we have an unwritten dress code? A behavioral code for children in worship (that is, they are best seen and not heard)? We seem to avoid conflict. Why?

What do you think?

Core Values - Complete!

2009-06-02T07:21:00.000-07:00

Core Values

We commit to living out God’s love through:

Compassion
Showing God’s love without judgment by
· Engaging with others
· Standing with others
· Seeking the best for others
· Being changed by the experience

Learning

Living / Wondering / Discovering / Applying God’s Word

A cycle that centers on God’s word and begins in daily living.

Inclusion
Opening
· Hearts to welcome
· Minds to listen
· Voices to speak and be heard
Diversity
· Of people
· Of ideas
· Of participation
Faith
Belief and trust in God - the bedrock of understanding and experience on which we stand.

Core Values: real live definitions!

2009-03-16T12:13:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I'm way late posting the results from January. But here they are:

Core Values
1/17/2009

(text in parentheses has not been agreed by all. It represents J. Dale’s understanding of what he heard.)

We (commit to?) live out God’s love by:

Learning
(A cycle that centers on God’s word and begins in daily living, encounters questions and issues that cause us to wonder, motivates us to discover and learn more about those questions, and leads us to apply them to our lives.)

God’s Word
Living Applying Wondering Discovering

Compassion
Showing God’s love without judgment by
· Engaging with others
· Standing with others
· Seeking the best for others
· Being changed by the experience

Inclusive (sic)
Opening
· Hearts to welcome
· Minds to listen
· Voices to speak and be heard
Diversity
· Of people
· Of ideas
· Of participation

Faith
Belief and trust in God - the bedrock of understanding and experience on which we stand

Core Value 6: Commitment

2009-01-07T14:14:00.000-08:00

And let's go ahead and finish the list as long as I'm on a roll. See the entries below for the background.

The sixth core value is commitment.

The group working on an initial definition came up with this:

"Accountability - a promise made is a promise kept, to hold each other accountable (but it's okay to say no)
Acceptance of a task or engagement in the life of the church is why we hold each other accountable.

Some ideas about what this means for us:

Church becomes a culture of accountability
Say no without defending the decision
Failures are OK, but are acknowledged in appropriate ways & people learn from their failures"

So what do you think. Click "Post a comment" below to join the conversation.

And January 17, 9 AM - noon is Definitions Day. Please come -- Fellowship Hall.

Thanks. Jamie

Core Value 5: Faith

2009-01-07T14:02:00.000-08:00

OK, so on October 25, 2008, about 30 members of Brown Woodbrook spent the day coming up with a list of core values. Number five on the list is faith.

And "faith" for us means???

Ideally we'll be able to summarize our definitions in two or three words. Then we'll be able to say, "When BMWPC says 'faith,' we mean X, Y, and Z." That kind of shorthand will help us stay focused.

The initial definition one work group in October came up with is:

"The umbrella under which we operate - belief & trust in the God we know in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit."

A specific application of the definition:
Baltimore Station Dinner - saying without beating (anyone) over the head "We're bringing dinner on behalf of the community of faith at Brown Woodbrook."

What does do for you? Click "Post a comment" below to join the conversation.

And please come on January 17, 9 AM - noon to Definitions Day. We'll gather in the Fellowship hall and hash out our definitions.

While everyone will be welcome to join in the discussion, that intitial group of 30 will be invited explicitly to do so and share their thinking as we work toward agreed definitions of the six core values. It will be their agreement that will determine the final definitions.

Thanks. Jamie

Core Value 4: Openness/Inclusiveness

2009-01-07T13:47:00.000-08:00

On October 25, 2008, about 30 members of Brown Woodbrook spent the day working to come up with a list of core values. Number four on the list is openness/inclusiveness.

What needs to happen with this one is to decide which word we want to use, and then define that word. For "openness/inclusiveness" here's what the group in October (or the "Gang of 30") as I've started calling them) came up with:

"Open to all people for inclusion in our fellowship and to propose new ideas.

All members will become welcoming every Sunday and will reach out to visitors.

Specific ideas:
Increase visibility by doing something about the pine trees and improve signage.
Listen to and consider with an open mind and respect all ideas presented such as new
forms of worship and times of worship."

Ideally we will be able to summarize our definitions in two or three words. So that we will be able to say, "When BMWPC says 'compassion,' we mean X, Y, and Z." That kind of shorthand will help us stay focused. While anyone is welcome to comment on the values, that intitial group of 30 will be invited explicitly to do so and share their thinking as we work toward agreed definitions of the six core values. It will be their agreement that will determine the final definitions.

Click "Post a comment" below to join the conversation.

And please come on January 17, 9 AM - noon to Definitions Day. We'll gather in the Fellowship hall and hash out our definitions. Thanks. Jamie

Core Value 3: Compassion

2008-12-19T09:53:00.000-08:00

On October 25, 2008, about 30 members of Brown Woodbrook spent the day working to come up with a list of core values. Number three on the list is compassion.

So what is "compassion" by our definition?

Ideally we will be able to summarize our definitions in two or three words. So that we will be able to say, "When BMWPC says 'compassion,' we mean X, Y, and Z." That kind of shorthand will help us stay focused. While anyone is welcome to comment on the values, that intitial group of 30 will be invited explicitly to do so and share their thinking as we work toward agreed definitions of the six core values.

It will be their agreement that will determine the final definitions. In the time we spent doing initial definitions, here is what that work group came up with:

Caring for each other.
Caring for the poor, hungry, etc.
Seeing need without judgement.
Giving out of love, not obligation.
Without borders or boundaries

And here are the concrete ideas that work group listed to put flesh on compassion:

Set personal agendas aside.
Pay attention to the homebound and others in our midst.
Find the next "Kidsake"
Get involved with BIN
Proactively help those in need.
See conflict resolution as compassion.
Share our mission stories/Stephen Ministries

So what do you think?

Click "Post a comment" below to join the conversation.

And remember January 17, 9 AM - noon is Definitions Day, when we'll gather in the Fellowship hall and hash out our definitions.

Thanks. Jamie

Core Value 2: Love

2008-12-03T09:23:00.000-08:00

On October 25, 2008, about 30 members of Brown Woodbrook spent the day working to come up with a list of core values. Number two on the list is love.

But what do we mean by "love?" Ideally we could summarize our definitions in two or three words. So that we will be able to say, "When BMWPC says 'love,' we mean X, Y, and Z." That kind of shorthand will help us stay focused.

While anyone is welcome to comment on the values, that intitial group of 30 will be invited explicitly to do so and share their thinking as we work toward agreed definitions of the six core values. It will be their agreement that will determine the final definitions.

In the time we spent doing initial definitions, here is what that work group came up with:

To touch the face of God
Imitating Christ
By carrying out ones life in Christ-like way
Accepting differences
Respecting Self
Tending God's creation

In addition they brainstormed the following ways to put love into action (remember that our facilitator, Denise Van Eck, urged us to think of concrete ways we could live out the core value):

1) When you see someone sitting by themselves at church, go over and sit with them.
2) Reaching out to those in need, noticing / be intentional of what others need, sick disablility, grief.
3) Meet people where they are instead of where you want them to be by being intentional in reaching out to and interacting with others.

So what do you think? What is love at BMWPC?

Find the button at the bottom and join the conversation.

NOTE: "Definitions Day" is Saturday, January 17, 9 am - noon in the Fellowship Hall at church.

Core Value 1: Learning

2008-11-21T12:31:00.000-08:00

The core value that received the most votes on October 25 at the workshop day with Denise Van Eck was "learning."

The table/small group that worked on a definition came up with a long list of activities that involve learning (see below). However there was not a definition of learning that I could find on the paper they left. If someone has notes from the day that do show a definition, please share them.

Here are the ideas of that table:
Magnifikids
Christian Adult/Child Education
Bible Studies
Ongoing Professional Development/on
Movie Series
Worship-Sermons
Book Ends
Theater - Woodbrook Players
Bible Pres.
Bible School - Summer program primarily for children
Visitor Literature/Outreach
Weekday School
Speaker Series - appealing to universities
Educational w/s - diff.
Art Outreach Education
Contemplative Worship
Alternative Worship Styles
Educational Alternatives/TV
Vocation Fair - expertise congregation
Coffee House - Movies/Music/Poetry
Programming for Families with special needs children
Music Education

So, what is learning?

I think of it as more than acquiring knowledge or a set of facts. Learning for me has to do with formation. It will include relevant facts, or may result from knowing certain facts. But learning has to do with a habit of mind and heart that is always open to fresh understanding.

Learning happens in the interaction of pupils and teachers. Teachers who teach how to learn enter into the questions of their pupils, encourage questions, and learn from their pupils and their questions.

Learning happens when experience and reflection or cognition come together. I was a pupil as long as I read the books of the Bible for information about God. I began to learn when I realized those writings speak to my life, help me see myself in a new light. I began to learn when I understood that they offer not just direction (do this, behave that way), but insight into the way God sees me and the world.

Now what do you think?

The dialogue shifts... to on-line

2008-11-21T11:27:00.000-08:00

So this is my first foray into blogging. My intent for now is to create a place for members of Brown Memorial Woodbrook Presbtyerian Church to engage in conversation about our six core values.

The list on which we will work comes from the day-long workshop with Denise Van Eck of Deep Shift on October 25, 2008, when about 30 members of the church attended.

You who were there will recall that by the end of the day we had whittled a fairly long list down to six. Then we took a bit of a running start at defining them. My understanding is that we want to come up with definitions that are clear, and simple.

Ideally we could summarize our definitions in two or three words. So that we will be able to say, "When BMWPC says 'love,' we mean X, Y, and Z." That kind of shorthand will help us stay focused.

While anyone is welcome to comment on the values, that intitial group will be invited explicitly to do so and share their thinking as we work toward agreed definitions of the six core values. It will be their agreement that will determine the final definitions.

A word about process. Our own Tesserae Project is meeting on Sunday, Nov. 23 to try to pick a date or two after Jan. 1, 2009, for a follow-up meeting. It's hard for me to imagine a great deal of time or energy during the holidays for such a meeting.

The purpose of the meeting will be to come up with our definitions. These on-line discussions will, I hope, help us begn to think through what we mean, and make our face-to-face time more productive.

If there are questions about any of this, please raise them. You can email me directly, but unless they're personal, I hope you'll post them on-line for all to see both questions and answers.

Thus the venture into cyberspace takes another step....

Grace and peace,