For Thousand Oaks (and the world)

My wife, Laura, has a seminary classmate, let’s call him Charlie. Laura and Charlie are both taking an online class on worship. The typical online class follows a routine: watch the professor’s lecture, read the assigned reading, write a brief paper (from one paragraph to two pages) on the assigned topic. For the last three years, this routine has been pretty much unchanged for Laura and, presumably, Charlie. Like the hands on a clock the routine goes round and round and round, virtually without change from week to week to week. Until this week – at least for Charlie.

You see, Charlie lives in Thousand Oaks, California.
Laura told me about Charlie when she came home tonight, “One of my classmates is from Thousand Oaks. Two of his parishioners were among those shot in the bar.” Public tragedies are always affecting, if our hearts remain open to our shared humanity, and when they become more personal the effect is even greater. Our hearts went out to Charlie and the families of those sacrificed.

A couple hours later, having finished our dinner, we both opened our computers, Laura to start homework and me to write. “There’s an email from Charlie,” Laura announced. “Oh, no, there’s a fire in Thousand Oaks. He’s attached a video clip.” Laura and I watched in horror as Charlie, cell phone in hand, videoed his journey through Newberry Park, a neighboring town. “One of my youth group kids lives in Newberry Park,” narrated Charlie. “Her parents aren’t home, and she has two dogs. The police told her the neighborhood is being evacuated, and she’s freaking out.” Charlie was on his way over to the girls’ home to help her.

I hope the professor gave Charlie an extension on this week’s homework.

Charlie is the most proximate example of the need for pastors, elders, deacons, mission co-workers, youth leaders, Sunday School teachers, church administrators, and people with no official position but with a love of Jesus. Thousand Oaks, and the world, needs us. People who care. People who cry. People who cry out! People who blow off their homework to comfort a teenager and her dogs. People who show up.

I’m not sure I have a deep, complex, sophisticated point to make. True confession: I am tired of the news, tired of bad news, tired of the 1,001 Thousand Oaks that seem to spread like the flu. I’m tired but thankful. I’m thankful for you pastors. And I’m thankful for you parishioners. I’m thankful to be a Presbyterian. We’re not always the most demonstrative folk in God’s kingdom but we do our best to love Jesus. We care and we cry. We cry out and we comfort.

And even on our worst days, we show up.

Here’s to showing up,

Brad Munroe

A Tree of Life Lament

Christ, in your mercy, hear our confession…

I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! 

… God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. (Romans 11:1-2)

For complicity in a culture of anger…

I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters… 

all Israel will be saved. (Romans 11:25-26)

For complicity in systems of violence…

As far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, 

 for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. (Romans 11:28-29)

For allowing our salt to lose its saltiness and hiding our light under a bushel…

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!

…For from him and through him and for him are all things.

To him be the glory forever! Amen.  (Romans 11:33, 36)

Lord, have mercy! Christ, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief.

Do justly, now.

Love mercy, now.

Walk humbly, now.

You are not obligated to complete the work,

but neither are you free to abandon it. (Talmud)

Shalom,

Brad Munroe

The Big Event: Mission Formation Workshops

What’s different today? Why is it that our nation, our communities, our congregations, and even our families find it so difficult to have conversations? Has social media made us incapable of nuanced thinking or merely incapable of civil conversation?

I find these questions impacting our congregations: no one wants a knock-down, drag-out fight over Sunday morning coffee. Fear of division often leads us to avoid dialogue. Is it inevitable that our polarized times means the end of meaningful debate regarding the call to social witness?

            Not so fast.

Mack Sigmon, pastor of Trinity Presbyterian in Tucson, has penned some polarities that describe how we as Presbyterians might engage one another even when we disagree. Mack is proposing signage for Trinity’s exterior that says, among other couplets,

We proclaim justice, not politics

We are diverse, not divisive

We believe in interpretation, not conformity

We believe in grace, not judgment.

I am intrigued by these couplets! Can we engage social witness as a search for justice and not devolve into “I hope my team wins” politics? Can we appreciate diversity of argumentation without it necessarily being divisive? Can we frame our answers to the questions, “What, then, shall we do? And what does the Lord require of us?” as good faith efforts at interpretation rather than press the need for conformity of thought or action? Can we do all this as a response to God’s grace, in a spirit of graciousness toward all, without joining the choruses of judgment so common on social media?

The answer to the above questions is, “Yes, we can; therefore, we shall.” To this end, the Big Event will offer eight mission formation workshops:

1.      How Do We Lead Our Congregations Towards Christian Anti-Racism?

2.      Native American Partnerships

3.      Left Behind Immigration Stories: How the Church play a proactive role to support families

4.      Opioid Health Crisis: Equipping our Faith Communities to Respond

5.      Effects of Pornography on Youth and Adults: Connecting Porn to Global Human Trafficking

6.      Are We Really Ending Hunger and Poverty? Strategies for Ministry

7.      Understanding the Doctrine of Discovery: Seeking Reconciliation and Healing

8.      Disaster Preparedness Planning: Out of Chaos - Hope

We offer these mission formation workshops because the world is a chaotic place right now; it needs us to be salt and light, to proclaim the Reign of God, to announce liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

To register for The Big Event, CLICK HERE To register for the Ignite the Spark, which will focus on the Thrive Project and be led by the Rev. Kathryn Threadgill, CLICK HERE.

Register now…well, I’m waiting…come on already 😉,

Brad Munroe

The Big Event- The Three-Legged Stool: Leg One

Lebron James! Kawhi Leonard! Lance Stephenson? As a Lakers fan, these names mean something to me: excitement, interest, and intrigue. They suggest the long-dormant play-off hopes for my favorite team are, officially, revived. For those of you who don’t recognize these names, I am talking about basketball. It’s the off-season and these are some of the players the L.A. Lakers have added – or would like to add – to the team.

Every organization has an off-season: for CPAs it is after April 15^th, for teachers it is the summer, for churches, too, it is the summer. For most people, the off-season is a time to rest, slow one’s pace down a bit, take a vacation. All this is good and necessary, as every organization needs time to breathe in a slower rhythm. However, if this is all one does, the off-season is wasted, for, like the Lakers, the off-season is also the time to get ready to compete, to improve, to prepare to thrive.

For the churches of our presbytery, we have an off-season improvement opportunity: The Big Event. The Big Event is one of our combined presbytery meetings, so there will be some necessary business, but the real action comes through the 26 workshops offered. Each of these workshops is designed to help church leaders prepare their flock for the work of ministry. Each year, we organize around the notion of a three-legged stool: spiritual formation, church formation, and mission formation. Admittedly, the categories overlap and the boundaries between them is blurred in most cases; however, it helps us plan a balanced feast of offerings.

This year, as you might expect, our spiritual formation offerings focus on the Thrive Project:

1.      Overview of Thrive, Rev. Kathryn Threadgill, PC(USA) Program Facilitator

2.      Cultivating Life-Long Discipleship - Rev. Pete Seiferth

3.      How to “Send Us Out” Instead of “How Do We Bring Them In?” - Revs. Kristen and Brandon Willett

4.      Incarnationalism: The Church in the Public Square - Rev. Eric Ledermann

5.      Empowering Servant Leadership - Rev. Carla Williams

6.      Care Model: A Vital Sign of a Healthy Congregation - Rev. Linda Lloyd

7.      Spirit-Inspired Worship: The Heart of a Thriving Congregation - Rev. Rachel Srubas

8.      Improving Church Communication- Doing without Triangles! - Rev. Ed Spence

To register for The Big Event, CLICK HERE.  To register for the Ignite the Spark, which will focus on the Thrive Project and be led by the Rev. Kathryn Threadgill, CLICK HERE. 

In reality, we all know there is no off-season in the Christian life. There are always children to protect, justice to proclaim, future disciples to invite, prayers to lift up, and the Lord’s work to do. So let’s not take the metaphor too far…just far enough that you register yourself for – and invite a friend to – The Big Event!

Grace and peace,

Brad Munroe