My Backyard

What if church had no building, no programs, no pastor, no budget? Would it be church? What if a community of Christians cared for each other, studied together prayed together, and discerned God’s spirit together, would they be church?

I spend my days in churches, thinking about churches, helping churches, starting new churches and closing churches … I preach 2-3 Sundays every month at many different churches … I hear about the programs, the budgets, the pastors, the sessions, the choir, the women’s association … I love churches, and I hate churches. I practically live in churches, but I don’t have one to call “home.”

Actually, in my own life, I’m tired of dressing up, of sitting in pews, of listening to bad choirs (I like the good ones, but I don’t get to hear too many of them). I’m tired of potlucks and picture directories and building campaigns. Yet … I long for church … simply church.

So …. some friends and I are being church together … no frills … just spiritual community. We’re meeting twice a month in my kitchen (maybe someday in my hottub); we’re reading a book together; we’re praying for each other and encouraging each other as we all live the lives to which God calls us out.

There’s a “simple church” movement taking off in the US … church in the workplace, church in bars, church in homes, church in school cafeterias, church in coffee shops and bookstores and dormitories … you name it, wherever two or more are gathered in my name … These are just groups of people loving Christ together and seeking to expand our understanding, our commitment, our prayer life, our compassion, our mission … not much different than the Christ followers of the first century. It’s an organic approach to Christian community rather than a programmatic approach. It’s more about being Christ in the world than gathering on a Sunday morning.

If this sounds intriguing to you, if you think you might like to join us … send me an email, message me, call me, or just leave a comment … I’ll tell you when we’re meeting next.

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We had so much fun last year, we want to do it again. We’re opening the house and backyard for New Year’s Eve … all of our friends are invited to come over. There will be food and drink, hot tub and heated pool (if it’s not too cold) … we’ll have a fire outside, fireworks, the ball drop at midnight, and lot’s of good old-fashioned fun. Email me or call for directions. We’ll begin at 8:00 and continue until the last one has left or gone to sleep.

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1. Does your family send out Christmas cards?: Yup, usually with a Christmas letter. I’m putting off starting ours by taking this survey.
2. How soon do you start shopping?: Hmmm … If I see something good, I have been known to buy things over the summer. But, then, I can’t keep a secret, so I end up giving away the gift well before Christmas.
3. Who do you shop for?: We now have name exchanges in both of our extended families. So, we buy two presents each and it’s different every year. In addition, we buy something for each other, but not always something big. This year Dwayne and I are talking about only sharing gag gifts or something funny, since we’re taking vacation next week to Florida and we’ve recently purchased a bunch of toys.

Decorations

4. Do you put up a Christmas tree?: always
5. If so, is it fake or real?: Fake, I like to have it up too long for a real tree to stay safe.
6. Do you like tinsel?: Not unless it’s on a real tree that I’ll be throwing away … It’s so hard to get off the tree! Oh, and it gets caught in the vacuum. On the other hand, it’s pretty nostalgic.
7. Do you use home made or store bought ornaments?: both
8. Do you put Christmas lights outside your house?: yes! I love it! This year we bought (one of the toys?) a big enough ladder to reach the top of the entryway. We hung (well, actually, I made Dwayne hang) three large stars over the doorway … very pretty.
9. Do you put lights on the tree?: Of course.
10. How about popcorn and cranberries?: uh … no
11. Is there a wreath hanging on your door?: yes, there is.

Christmas Eve

12. Do you celebrate it?: For years, when we lived in Michigan, I’d lead worship at two or three services, then, after the midnight worship, we’d pack up the car and drive all night to arrive at Dwayne’s parents house in western PA by breakfast. Since moving to Texas, we have a Christmas Eve tradition of eating Ginger and Lime Cornish Hens. Since it was just the three of us, it seemed really festive to have a whole hen to ourselves.
13. Do you hang up your stocking?: well, Santa* brings the stockings, we don’t hang them before hand.
14. Does your family read “Twas the night before Christmas?”: sometimes … there were a whole bunch of Christmas books that we read together throughout the advent season.

Favorite

15. Christmas Movie: A Christmas Story, of course.
16. Character from any Christmas Movie: Hmmm … the dentist elf in Rudolf comes to mind.
17. Christmas Song: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
18. Christmas Memory: The advent wreath (?) that my dad made with the baby Jesus inside the cave.

This or That

19. Give or Receive?: give
20. Eggnog or Cider?: hot spiced cider … yum
21. Red or Green?: both
22. Ham or Turkey?: don’t like ham … love turkey … last year I made a beef roast … mmmm good.
23. Star or Angel?: star
24. White Lights or Colored Lights?: used to be colored all the way. This year it’s white lights outside, still colored lights on the tree … next year we might go with a white tree, who knows.
25. Blinking Lights or Still Lights: uh … blinking is tacky.
26. Were you Naughty or Nice this year?: yes

Presents

27. What do you want for Christmas this year?: slippers
28. When do you open your gifts?: Christmas Eve if we’re traveling on Christmas … otherwise, Christmas morning.
29. What’s the best gift you’ve ever gotten?: umm … I have no idea
30. What’s the worst gift you’ve ever gotten?: nope, can’t say
31. Who gives you the most gifts?: umm … hmmm … I don’t know
32. Have you ever had a secret Santa?: yes
33. Do you like wrapping gifts?: not really, sometimes, I guess.

Random

34. Do you put change in those red buckets?: not usually
35. Do you burn a yule log?: “Throw the yule log on Uncle John” … sorry that’s all I could think about …
36. Can you name all the reindeer?: you know dasher and dancer … uh huh
37. Do you bake cookies?: most of the time; Katie and I used to make gingerbread men when she was little … I miss that.
38. Have you ever seen your mommy kissing Santa Clause?: no, we never did much with the whole Santa Claus thing.
39. Have you ever gotten a kiss under the mistletoe: sure.
40. Do you go caroling?: always
41. Do you drive around and look at the Christmas lights?: with hot chocolate? yeah when we lived where it was cold and white … now I take different streets home at night to see the different lights.
42. Have you ever left Santa cookies?: uh huh, and I’ve eaten the ones my daughter left for Santa, too … Santa likes Oreos.
43. Have you ever sat on Santa’s lap?: probably
44. Who do you celebrate Christmas with?: Family mostly.
45. Where do you celebrate Christmas?: depends on the year.
46. Have you ever had a white Christmas?: Sure .. the most fun, though, was watching Bui see snow for the first time on Christmas Eve 2004 … in Baytown!
47. What part of Christmas do you look most foward to?: the advent wreath
48. Have you ever had your picture taken with Santa?: don’t know
49. Does your family always take a picture at Christmas?: no
50. Have you ever heard the song “Thank God For Kids” by The Oakridge Boys?: nope

Twenty-eight years ago … Sunday, August 26, 1979 … it was the middle of the gas crisis; gas wasn’t only expensive (more than a dollar a gallon) but it was hard to find.  On Long Island, rationing was taking place.  We could only fill up the tank on even or odd days depending on our license plate numbers.

Dwayne waited in line at the gas station with the wrong plate number for the day … wearing his mint green tuxedo … trying to convince the gas station attendant to put gas in the car; after all, he was getting married that afternoon. 

We were both not yet 19 years old.  He did get gas in our car, and that afternoon our friends and family gathered in the little white church building … the same one I was baptized in … and we, two kids really, vowed to love and cherish each other for as long as we live.  Well, I don’t think gas ever went back below a dollar a gallon … and we’ve been together ever since.  As I’ve said before: I don’t advise getting married so young … but I wouldn’t trade it for anything!

I thank God for blessing us so generously … with love, a wonderful daughter, friends, family, understanding, forgiveness, great jobs … and so much more.

This afternoon we are going to a party for some friends who are celebrating 50 years … only twenty-two more to go!

HT: Dan Wilt for this …

Caring for your Introvert: the habits and needs of a little-understood group.

I can relate …

Hat tips to QG for this video … I thought you and all the HP fans would enjoy.

This was the view from the conference center I attended last week … thanks to my new Lutheran friend, Lynn, for taking the picture and sending it to me.

A week ago Wednesday Lynn and I drove the 72 miles around the lake. At one point we took a wrong turn and found ourselves in the midst of the burned out houses near South Lake Tahoe, California. It was very disturbing. The fire had crossed the road where we were. Houses were destroyed except for the fireplaces and chimneys. Cars were burned up in the driveways. Yet every so often we’d see a house in the midst of it … not burned at all … with people living there. It’s amazing how fire moves through an area. Everywhere near South Lake Tahoe there were signs, “thank you firefighters!”

Here’s another picture from Zephyr Point. The archway marks the beginning of a stone path that leads to a “prayer portal.” I loved to sit down there, watch the lake, pray, think, and otherwise just be. Ahhhh … my new favorite place.

Thanks again to Lynn for the photograph.

This afternoon we got the call saying that a car had driven through the east wall of the Baytown Little Theater. We’ve been active members of the theater since we moved to Texas nearly nine years ago. Dwayne is cast as Henry Etches, cabin steward, in this summer’s production of Titanic: the Musical. So, of course, we drove over to the theater as soon as we heard.

The driver, while heading west on Baker road, had apparently collapsed at the wheel, hit the accelerator, plowed through the intersection at Bayway Drive and across a vacant lot just missing a number of trees, flew through the parking lot and into the east side of the arena stopping only after smacking the wall at the opposite side of the building. Unbelievable!

The woman was immediately taken to the hospital; we don’t know her condition … but no one else was hurt. The theater was empty; even though the director of the show was supposed to be there. He was late, thank God!

It’s Friday the 13th, and we’re doing a show about a sinking ship …. hmmmm.

See more pictures and links to video clips here.

Nelda’s facebook also has a bunch of pics, though you have to have a facebook account and ask to be a friend of Nelda Haney in order to see them.

Nearly two years ago, we were in production of Brighton Beach Memoirs (Dwayne was directing) when hurricane Rita forced us to postpone our opening.

The theater is still looking for a new venue for The Titanic. Rehearsals will be at Sterling High School tomorrow and Sunday. The opening may be postponed a week, but, as you are well aware, the show must go on!

Thanks to a colleague at a workshop this week, I’ve discovered a new resource for daily devotion.  I really like this … d365.org … a time to pause, to listen/read a short Bible passage, to think about the concepts (a short paragraph about the theme), to pray and then to be sent off for the day.  The music is all original pieces by Ken Medema.  If you register there is a place to check so they will send you a daily email reminder to come to the site.  Thought I’d share it with you.