Outreach: Sharing our Faith

There are numerous voices out there telling congregations what churches should be about. Terms fly about: emergent, missional, outreach, justice ministry, relevant, etc. Recently some members of Reconciler have spoken about wanting others to experience what they have found at Reconciler, yet how to share this in a situation and culture in which gathering together as a community for worship is hardly a priority at times even for many religious or spiritual people. There is a challenge for Reconciler in that our Sunday worship isn't' necessarily the best way to first encounter our faith community or Christianity, unless one is the type to be comfortable participating in something one might not fully understand. Yet since we have considered Eucharistic centered worship essential to Reconciler's work and for the support of Christians in their various callings, we have not been willing to make our main service "seeker" sensitive, or more accessible. This means that there needs to be some other way for people to be introduced to the congregation and even introduced to our worship life. We have attempted somethings like keeping a booth at some of the sumer neighborhood festivals here in Chicago, as well as events intended for people to get to know us and what Christians might do with the Bible, with a potluck themed as Beer, Bread and the Bible. This was somewhat successful in that it was well attended but only had one. We also had a panel discussion on Fair Trade and had planned to have more but the attendance was small and organizing something like that takes a large amount of time and energy.

Church is a complex thing, for although there is certainly something to the claim that congregations don't exist for the members it is also true that a church community is for those who are part of the church community. We gather to worship to be formed into the body of Christ to be spiritually empowered to live out our callings as followers of Christ, we are both gathered and sent, both under care and caring, ministered to and ministers. To be out in the world to let people know about Reconciler both things need to be kept in mind. Also, we need to keep in mind what is our faith? Why would we feel the need or have the desire to invite people into our Community, why is Jesus Christ important? Why, do we seek to make a difference in the world? In this sense any outreach needs to be willing to say that Christ makes a difference, that in some sense what Christianity offers is true in ways that other paths aren't. This truth should be in the life offered in and through the community of the Body of Christ, thus the ways in which knowing Christ brings truth into our own lives and transforms us, both our failings and our successes. In outreach we are telling our own stories of encounter with the truth who is Jesus Christ. If we are not sharing this and offering this opportunity of encounter with others than all our attempts to be relevant or to seek after justice, or be place of healing etc, will seem abstract and lack authenticity. In a world of choices if we believe people should be interested in Christianity and spend there time on church, then what we bring to the conversation should have some weight that other attachments and communities can't or don't bring people. We can offer something beyond relevance, we can offer the spiritual root and stamina to work for justice, we can offer a path of transformation in and through Jesus Christ both personally and corporately.

This requires a willingness to be vulnerable about how Christ has made us truer, how encounter with God in Jesus Christ transforms us and gives us a vision and the spiritual resources to look at a world of injustice and work for justice. It means finding ways to introduce a worship that should support all these things and lead us to encounter God in these ways, so that a complex symbol system can be entered into once someone does actually come to worship.

We need to stop seeing our worship as the place of initial invitation and see ourselves about proclaiming inviting and explaining before someone ever enters into worship with us. Events like Bread Beer and the Bible or sponsoring panel discussions from a Christian POV on current issues of justice and politics and culture I think are good places both for Reconciler and other churches to start, but we also probably need to think of ways to introduce people to the symbol system of the church a sort of pre-catechumenate mystagogy, I suppose.

I am beginning to wonder if the various types of alternative worship services liturgies, coming from variety of denominations and groups,shouldn't be viewed or offered as the worship of the church, but ways to introduce or re-introduce people to the symbol system of Christians worship. In other words are there ways to give people some sense of the meaning of Baptism artistically and symbolically before they undergo baptism or as they are investigating Christianity, the same for Eucharist and other things.

Eat Well Food Tour

This Sunday, June 28th, Many Peoples Church in Rogers Park is hosting the Chicago stop of the Eat Well Food Tour: What do food and faith have to do with one another? Is it enough to pray before our meals? Giving thanks to God is certainly important, but there are also many other ways Christian values can influence our food-related habits. This is a free workshop on how to put faithfulness into practice around the table and beyond. The Eat Well Food Tour is co-sponsored by the Christian Reformed Office of Social Justice and *culture is not optional.

Time: Sunday June 28th
6:00 pm, potluck, 7 pm workshop
Place: Many Peoples Church
1507 W. Morse Ave. Chicago, IL 60626

For more information about the tour, visit them on the web.

Reconciler Update

We are coming to the end of the Season of Easter, summer is nearly upon us, and a week from this Sunday we will celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost, the birthday of the church, the feast that reminds us that the Spirit of God came and filled the church and continues to fill us and empowers us as members of Christ's body. As such Pentecost seems to be a fitting place to begin to see how things have gone and see where the Spirit may be leading us, and is doing in our midst. When Tripp Hudgins and David Gortner gathered people including myself to see if God was in the idea of an ecumenical church start one of the questions was is the Spirit of God in this and how is the Spirit moving. We set out to start Reconciler because the consensus of all those gathered was that the vision was of the Spirit. One of the areas of learning for us early on was being attentive to the ways in which the Spirit moved with and in and around circumstances. We are at another stage where discernment of this is necessary.

Here is some of my reflections on direction the Spirit may be moving us in light of our circumstances. I still feel that some form of team ministry with pastors of other denominations is still part of what God is about at Reconciler. Especially since it seems that denominational structures and identities are currently not flexible enough, perhaps for good reason, to accommodate full affiliation in all three denominations at once. So, any connection to structures outside ourselves may continue to need to happen through the clergy. However, it may also mean re-conceiving how such a team works and may not mean having all three pastors equally involved in the day to day pastoring of the church. Also, we have kind of kept the Community of the Holy Trinity as a somewhat silent partner in the work of Reconciler. However, Holy Trinity is what has allowed Kate and I to continue to be part of Reconciler, and the community has provided space for meetings and potlucks and worship space. Currently, Holy Trinity and Reconciler pray in the same space. as we move forward it seems that it is time to in the least describe to ourselves and others what the relationship between community and congregation exist. In part it seems that the community provides the support and continuity that at least right now the congregation on its own could not provide. I am considering presenting to my denomination that it seek to acknowledge my work as Prior of the Community of the Holy Trinity that includes being pastor of Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler. A closer and more explicit relationship has advantages for Reconciler as the community may take more ownership of what is happening at Reconciler and we at Reconciler can also take some ownership of what is happening with the community. These are some of my current thoughts on how God may be leading, but like when we began and and each juncture in our short life as a congregation discerning the movement of the Spirit is prayerfully considering and planning together and seeing how these things play out as we seek to faithfully follow Christ.

Ascension Vespers with Holy Communion

We are invited to join the the Community of the Holy Trinity in worship for the Feast of the Ascension Vespers with Holy Communion. Thursday, May 21st at 7 PM in Immanuel's Chapel.

Visit this Sunday by Associate Superintendent of the Central Confernece of the ECC‏

A Reminder that this Sunday May 17th Rev. Jolene Bergstrom Carlson, Associate Superintendent of the Central Conference (for you Episcopal types kind of like an associate bishop, but not) will be with us and presiding at Table. A reception will be held following the service for us to meet Jolene. Since being sent to take part in starting Reconciler by then Conference Superintendent Rev. Herb Freedholm, Jolene has been our regular connection to the Covenant and Conference support to me as we have tried to figure out how to keep connections with the three denominations and as we have watched what God has done at Reconciler often very different from what we had planned or thought. Jolene also when we started Reconciler came and installed me as the Covenant Pastor of Reconciler.
So come and worship with us this Sunday and meet Jolenne.

Explorations in the Liturgy

As I found myself the only pastor at Reconciler this past January, one of the challenges I felt we faced was how we would authentically keep an ecumenical witness to our liturgy. To some degree this has always been a challenge. The way we faced this chalenge originally was in creating a liturgy (the form of which coincides with most church's liturgy of word and table) in which each of the three pastors when they lead that portion of the service did so from within their tradition. The clearest way this happened was at the table each of the three pastors followed their tradition. However, attempting to duplicate either the Baptist or Episcopal way of celebrating communion wasn't really an option for me, and I didn't want this to simply become a "high church" Covenant worship service. It was clear early on that this was in our worship the place of challenge to the ecumenical vision.

As I reflected on this I remembered that our liturgy itself was an adaptation of the BCP Eucharist service and the Lima Liturgy of the WCC, along with some Baptist elements (a form of altar call) and what might be called emergent elements (like discussion after the sermon). So, during the Octave of Prayer for Christian unity I used the Lima liturgy unchanged, and it seemed to fit us more or less and the feedback I received on the liturgy was positive (though only a few gave feedback). The challenge of our current situation turned into an opportunity to explore making some changes to our liturgy that may bring about an adaptation of the Lima liturgy to a congregational and weekly used order of worship. Also, on other Sundays I have been adapting the Eucharistic prayer from the Apostolic Constitutions of Hypolotus of Rome. In the past couple of weeks I have been playing in our liturgy and the Lima liturgy, seeing how our liturgy may be more informed by this ecumenical liturgy designed for ecumenical worship and how the Lima liturgy may be adapted to our context.

Our context includes the space we worship in. This has lead me more and more to play with the idea of simply using the "east facing" altar in the chapel, which would mean facing the same direction as the congregation during the Eucharistic liturgy and not facing the congregation. Of course such a posture could communicate many different things, including exclusion and distance. However, the original idea of all including the priest facing towards the altar and not facing the people is that we are all praying together, rather than one person performing for everyone else: priest and people have a singular action which the priest does on behalf of all. Most importantly though we are all praying together facing God as a community. An altar against a wall is called "east facing" because it was the practice to build churches such that the sanctuary of the church where the altar is was on the east side of the building. This all has lead me to think about having our congregation move in our space so that at the liturgy of the word we sit around lectern at the rear of the chapel and then move and stand at the front near the altar all facing the same direction at the Eucharist, maybe even at some point having all process in together at the beginning of the service from outside the chaple.

All of this thought of getting us moving more, with the liturgy becoming something we do with our whole selves and together, presents a difficulty if we are all carrying books and papers, not impossible but certainly more difficult. Which has me rethinking the role of projectors and screens in worship and the liturgy. I am beginning to wonder if we have been thinking too piecemeal when it comes to the use of "media arts" and projections. Liturgical books were to be "media" aids towards the right and orderly performance of the liturgy, and then a means like with the Book of Common Prayer that all could know and understand what the liturgy was and what was going on, but still as a "media" aid to prayer and the work of the people. But now as we look at the liturgy and attempt to delve the depths of Christian worship we are rediscovering that worship and liturgy are more than words, it is an act and action we do with our bodies. There are varieties of way of attempting to live into this: some of which abandons much or all of whatever might be viewed as "tradition" or "traditional", or we attempt to add things and integrate thing into a "traditional" liturgy. But what if "media art" is like books have been? What if we use them to communicate and direct the congregation in the act of worship; that is what if what is projected on the screen using various technologies isn't there to augment or create ambiance but is itself giving direction to the congregation in the way our bulletins and hymnals and worship books do now? Reconciler is a long way from possibly getting rid of paper and books, or so it seems right now, and whether projection would work in the chapel at Immanuel is another question as well. However, the challenges of January have at least for me, your pastor, lead into an opportunity to play with the liturgy and explore how we can both be more ecumenical in our worship but also engage our whole selves in this ecumenical worship.

No Office hours this week

Pastor Larry Kamphausen will not be at his office hours either today at Metropolis coffee or Thursday at Ennui Cafe.

Reconciler Update

We continue to be in a time of transition and change that we began last year when we began to question the necessity of the committee structure as a means to be church together. This has lead to a streamlining of our council and the creation of more fluid forms of being together and working together as a church community. As we have made these changes and have found other challenges to our original vision conversation with the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago and the Central Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church has picked up again. We find ourselves in a good place to continue the conversation of continued relationship with the three denominations even as we are without an Episcopal Priest and have put on hold our search for an American Baptist pastor.
A week ago today I met with the Rev. Cannon Scott Hayashi, Canon to the Ordinary of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago (A Canon is a person who may be lay or ordained who serves on a Bishop’s staff or a cathedral. The Canon to the Ordinary is a person whose ministry is directly answerable to the bishop and who can function as a sort of chief of staff). We had a lively and helpful discussion about Reconciler and the possibilities of a continuing relationship with the Diocese. In the coming months as we reflect together on who we are as a congregation and how we wish to continue to be an ecumenical congregation Rev. Canon Hayashi's thoughts and reflections will be helpful. Though in our conversation it was made very clear that the way I and the founding pastors had conceived of affiliation with the three denominations a little over four years ago is not a possibility. So, as we live into some of the changes of the past year and decide how we want to move forward these changes I think our in line with what the three denominations we have been in conversation with about affiliation will be able to accept and may lead us to a more creative way of connection with Christians of various traditions outside our small congregation.
Also, Rev. Jolene Bergstorm Calrson is planning to visit us and Preside at Table on May 17th. Jolene has attempted to visit us several times in the past year and a half and has ended up have various scheduling conflicts that prevented the visit. The Central Conference remains supportive of Reconciler and we will have an opportunity to meet Jolene and let her get to know us a little better in a couple of weeks.
So in this season of Easter there is life but like when the disciples encountered the living Risen Jesus of Nazareth it is also life that at least I was not expecting. But then Resurrection life is like that, I suppose.
Announcements:
Rev. Jolene Bergstrom Carlson, Associate Superintendent of the Central Conference of the ECC will be visiting us and presiding at Table Sunday May 17th.

This Wednesday May 6th members of Reconciler are providing the meal for the Community meal with Immanuel Lutheran Church. Come and join us at 6 pm.
Following the meal The Community of the Holy Trinity* is leading a Vespers service using Taize music at 7 PM. Holy Trinity will lead the 7 pm Evening prayer service at Immanuel service the months of May and June.

You are invited by The Community of the Holy Trinity*to an Ascension Vespers with Holy Communion on Thursday, May 21st at 7 pm in the side Chapel of Immanuel Lutheran Church.

Our Next Council meeting will be a week from this Thursday, May 14th. 7:30 pm, all are encouraged to attend. Remember if you show up you are a member of council.

* The Community of the Holy Trinity is an intentional community that was founded by Rev. Larry Kamphausen and Kate Setzer Kamphausen in 1993 and another couple. Larry is both the Prior of the community as well as Pastor of Reconciler. While currently only Kate and Larry are both members of Reconciler and of Holy Trinity, over the past 4 years Reconciler and Holy Trinity have shared members from time to time. Holy Trinity has been a partner in ministry with Reconciler in various ways including providing space for our meetings and early on, before Reconciler and Holy Trinity moved to the Immanuel church campus, Reconciler used the community's chapel for its worship space. Currently both Holy Trinity and Reconciler use Immanuel's chapel for their worship space.

The Season of Easter

"Alleluia, Christ is Risen. The Lord is Risen indeed, Alleluia."

It is now the Season of Easter. In the Church year we have 40 days of fasting in Lent, as we prepare for and contemplate the way of the Cross, followed by 50 days of celebrating and contemplating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. We may not all be at this place of rejoicing and experiencing resurrection during this particular season of Easter, but we celebrate not based on our circumstances but based on what God has done. And we celebrate in hope that we will all know and can know now the power of Resurrection in our lives, even in the midst of grief and death and continued struggle. The reality of Easter, of Christ's Resurrection from the Dead, is our hope when things continue to seem dark. So, it is also important in this festive season of Easter to remember our passage through the three Days, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. We need to keep together the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. One is not more crucial than the other. We don't get at the truth by emphasizing one and ignoring the other. The death and Resurrection of Christ is one act of God, to transform the world and bring an end to sin death and all injustice and unrighteousness. The death and Resurrection of Jesus then aren't primarily about human experience, but about God's acts to return all things to God, that all may be found in the source of all life and who is life and light itself.

May this season of Easter be full of God's joy and peace.