Page 4 - CBFK SUMMER Newsletter 2020 flip

by Kevin Gardner Sinclair, Pastor, Broadway Baptist Church, Louisville
In 1974, Jürgen Moltmann wrote in, The Church in the Power of the Spirit, “The tradition to which the church appeals...is the tradition of the messianic liberation and escha- tological renewal of the world. It is impossible to rest on this tradi- tion.... It is like the following wind that drives us to new shores.... What is required today is not adroit adap- tation to changed social conditions, but the inner renewal of the church by the spirit of Christ, the power of the coming kingdom.”
Meet our volunteer church sound guy, Rudd. When I first met Rudd, he told me 1) he was a polio survi- vor and our church prayed and loved him and his family every step of the way, and 2) he needed an amount for video equipment which, for a pastor in his first week, might as well have been five trillion dollars.
Rudd saw from the sparsely-filled balcony every Sunday morning the need to think beyond the walls of our sanctuary and start asking bigger, bet- ter questions about how to connect with people not in the pews. So, years ago Rudd started planting seeds. He
Rudd does what Rudd does because he loves our church. A few weeks into quarantine, once we moved our services online, Rudd told me, “I al- ways wondered why I survived po- lio...what my purpose is...I think I found it.”
Worship happens across the globe (pandemic or otherwise), not just because the Kevins preach Good News, or the Susans pray words of comfort, or the Kristins speak sa- cred words over Communion, or the Roberts select beautiful music (which they do), but because God is still calling forth laity and clergy alike to pour their gifts each week into a royal celebration of the God of Trinitarian Love and Resurrec- tion Life.
What I am learning about worship is each generation’s exploration as Christ’s Church into unknown wa- ters requires everyone on the ship to search their hearts for the calling Christ places on each of us individ- ually for community. None of us can save or change the world.
Thanks be to God, Christ has already completed that work, so we are free as fellow-pilgrims to press into God’s good future wherever the wind may blow. The temptation is to believe we need better technology (which is a gift, but not the answer).
The reality is we need courageous hearts, curious minds, and constant grace from God for ourselves and es- pecially for each other. The truth is none of us knows what we are doing. There is no map through the pan- demic. We are just opening the sails, swabbing the decks, and praying for God’s Spirit to keep our compass true and our rudder resilient until we reach the farthest shore of God’s love.
What I’m Learning About
Worship
During Our Pandemic
hunted a camera for the church to purchase so we could start recording worship services. He found a multi- DVD burner for sending the service to homebound members. He started running wires all through the building.
What Am I Learning About
Lay Ministry
During Our Pandemic
by Carrie Bearden, Buechel Park Baptist Church, Louisville
True confession: my life has not changed much with the pandemic. I am still as busy as I ever was, but just with more Zoom time and less driving. So when I was asked to write this, I wasn’t sure I had learned anything.
However, a quote from Thomas Merton, written in 1960, keeps coming to mind: There is a pervasive form of contempo- rary violence to which the idealist... most easily succumbs: activism and overwork. The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by the multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to violence... It destroys the fruitfulness of one’s own work, because it kills the root of inner wis- dom which makes work fruitful.
Yikes...Written in 1960.The 21st century has more than quadrupled the busyness factor, and pandemic times have helped to slow us down, but not completely and not thoughtfully. I am learning that I need to actually spend more time WITH God than in the busyness of my work FOR God. I love hanging out with youth and children, singing in choir, playing handbells, being a deacon and member of multiple commit- tees. I love my church and our people and I’ve convinced myself that this is serving God. However, in my busyness, I have not taken time to nurture my relationships WITH these people I love and serve. I miss that connection. So, I’m ready for some deep soul work. I want (and need) to reestablish my deeper connection with God so that I can be a better servant to both God and God’s church.