The Melheimian Sabbatiblog

Down Time

I just spent the last hour stuck in the freight elevator on the top floor of our new building.

I highly recommend it.

Down time.

Quiet.

Solitude.

Prayer for survival.

Very devotional.

An Interesting Post

Here's an interesting post from my friend Sherwin Schwartzrock on what the church is missing these days:

I'm convinced that the real crisis in the church today is this: the church is hanging onto law while trying to teach grace. Grace is the new wine and it cannot be held in the old wine skin of law. And as long as the church preaches law and doesn't fully embrace the audacity of grace and love, the church will not have any power to transform lives.

The Origins of FINK: A Brief History

I've often been asked for the short story on how and why FINK started. Long story. Here's my short answer:

1. I had a mom who played classical music all day, read scripture daily, read stories daily, said our prayers with us every night and sang us to sleep
2. I had a dad who knocked on doors to build a mission church and still had time to tell me stories every night
3. I was always a bored kid - maybe ADHD or dyslexic without knowing it – and had to go to “special class” for reading, but always liked to draw stories and would narrate my stories for my mom to write down before I could personally write a word
4.  I loved God, but hated sitting listening to people lecture me in church (ie, I was a boy)
5. As a young person I loved Bible camp (I ended up working at one for 5 summers and met my beautiful wife Arlyce there 35 years ago... not a bad connection)
6. When I became a parish pastor, I always wondered why camp worked and confirmation class didn’t
7. I tried to get church to be more like camp (small groups, music, games, skits, servanthood... And a counselor who loves kids... But isn’t gone at the end of the summer)
8. Two suicides of two boys I’d known from 6th – 12th grade in my first youth group changed me from trying to do camp at church alone to experimenting with building a cohesive team of youth workers who loved God, liked kids, and were willing to incubate
9. Replacing a youth pastor who committed suicide at a large church changed me from running parentless programs to trying to do parent-engaged processes
10. Having two children of my own (after 5 years of infertility at the Mayo Clinic) made me want to be a good dad AND THE faith mentors for my own children
11. Writing an article called "Conformation (sic!) is Dead" in 1993 launched me out on a one year, 75 city sabbatical to talk about better educational systems (I'm still on my sabbatical) My mantra then: "We don't need a better workbook. We need a better way."
12. Having 275 churches immediately decide to scrap their confirmation programs and ask how, when and what to teach got me scrambling to figure that out
13. Getting criticized as “confirmation lite” by the seminaries of the church sent me into process systems thinking and brain-based systems designs on an arts-based platform
14. Going personally $250K into debt for the ministry (on credit cards with a double mortgage on the house) made me read a few business books, too
15. And, as I wind up my last It’s our 15th year anniversary at FINK with a 79 city tour in the next two weeks, one more thing has become apparent: Call this the...
    
    Brief History of FINK's FUTURE:
    
    We’ve spend the bulk of the last 15 years trying to change from a “classroom” to a “community” model of learning. From left-brain lecture to whole-brain relationships. From opening the workbook to opening the kid. From filling in the blanks in workbooks to filling in the blanks in lives. We’ll spend the next 15 years trying to bring the church home. Less program. More process. Less parentless-professional ministry. More parent-engaged priesthood.
    
    Every night. Every home.

God Sees All Snacks

 

Susan Mathew at First UMC in Van Wert, OH, is making food out of every Bible Song lesson. Here's "God Sees All" (Elijah and the Ravens) one in mini chocolate chip cookie dough, pretzels, animal crackers, red hots and red licorice, plus a pretty cool raven.

 

Music of the Spheres

Some say the universe is made of particles.

Some say it is made of waves.

Some say it is made of tiny vibrating strings.

What do vibrating strings make?

Music.

What is a voice?

Vibrating strings.

Music.

The very first thing of which you are aware as a sentient being is a drum beat.

Your mother's heart.

Music.

"All nature sings and round me rings the music of the spheres..."

Can you hear it?

Can you feel it?

It is IN you.

It is YOU.

You are wired for music.

You ARE music.

The Home Church

Seems to me that the home IS a church.

Imagine a church that never opened a Bible.

You don’t have to. Most churches are full of them.

Imagine a church that never prayed out loud.

You don’t have to. Most churches are full of them.

Imagine a church that never did an intentional work of loving Christian service for anyone.

You don’t have to.

Imagine a church that never did intentional education.

Never blessed the children.

Never proclaimed the word.

Jesus said, “Where ever two or three are gathered in my name, there I am...”

The home is a church.

And the body – the congregation – can be no healthier than the cells.

Before you spend a nickel on creating artificial small group ministries in the church, why not take care of the ones you’ve already got?

Three Notes and a Horse

 

I came across three notes and a picture scrawled on a crumpled paper in the closet as I was cleaning just now. I vaguely remember the horse as something I once drew with my left hand and my eyes closed... while trying to move my artistic talents from my left brain to my whole brain.

"It can be startling to see someone breathe, let alone the breathing of a crowd. You usually don't believe that people can extend that far."

"When you have been someplace for a while you acquire the ability to be practically invisible. This lets you operate at a minimum of interference."

And, for those of you trying to shift the paradigm of the entire church from an IHS (one hour service) program put on by you FOR the parents into an "every night in every home" faith incubation modelof Christian education:

"It takes a while before you can gather the courage to step over inert bodies and go ahead with what you are trying to do."

I don't know what it all means.

Any psychoanalysts out there care to interpret?