Gangs, Gaza and the Gospel

I am weary with my moaning;     every night I flood my bed with tears;     I drench my couch with my weeping.

My eyes waste away because of grief;  they grow weak because of all my foes.                                                                                    Psalm 6: 6 & 7

What other response can one have in these days of suffering?  I listen to the news and think of our brothers and sister’s in our companion synods in Palestine and Honduras.

Today, in Gaza a short-lived cease-fire ended, with death and destruction.  I was just in Israel and the West Bank in November eating lunch with Munther and Mona.  I worshipped with Palestinian Christians in our Lutheran congregations, walked the streets of Jerusalem and witnessed the pain, hypocrisy and injustice of a people longing for peace.

Yesterday, as a nation we deported 50 women and children back to Honduras.  The humanitarian crisis on our southern border grows everyday, as children flee the gang violence that is consuming Central America.  It is a violence rooted in drugs and profit.  In 2012, I slept in a humble cabin in the mountains in Honduras near the Nicaraguan border, worshipped with Dagoberto and worked alongside our sisters and brothers to build a church where the Good News of the Prince of Peace is being proclaimed today. 

The New England Synod has a deep relationship with these two parts of the world.  We are in companion relationship with the Lutheran Church in the Holy Land (ELCJHL) and in Honduras with both Lutherans and Episcopalians.  As we watch, read and hear the news about two difficult and complex issues in our society – Immigration and the Middle East, I wonder what can we do?

These issues are riddled with complexities that are not simply distant, but quite connected to our own lives.  The dynamics of the Middle East involve how we invest our money in foreign and domestic companies, how we buy our food in the grocery store, as well as our attitudes toward those who are a part of the Jewish and Islamic faith traditions.  The issues of immigration are tied to our US drug use culture, our desire for products and services to remain inexpensive and our misunderstanding of people whose racial make up may be different than our own.

The complexity of these parts of the world come home in our congregations when we have debates over how to invest our endowment funds, minister to the parents of drug addicted children and enjoy our hotel rooms being cleaned for us on Cape Cod.  The world is not far away, it is here.

What can we do?

-       I invite your congregation to include in your Sunday prayers and petitions, our brothers and sisters in Israel, Palestine and Honduras.  Pray for an end to violence, pray for a fair treatment of all people, pray for understanding, and pray for the reign of God.

-       Educate yourselves on both of these matters by seeking out thoughtful perspectives that deepen your God given compassion.  Avoid the extremes in the media who seek to establish a preconceived agenda.

-       Consider including information in your congregation bulletin or newsletter.  Below are some links to resources.

-       Consider joining me in making a financial contribution to support the Augusta Victoria Hospital in West Jerusalem and the Lutheran Disaster Relief for Unaccompanied Children.

-       Realize that in a global society such as ours, everything is connected to everything.  How we live our lives here in the US impacts the children walking in the streets all over the world.

Let the God whose compassion runs so deep for us, that the tears of an ancient Psalm resulted in the action of the extraordinarily generous gift of Jesus.

About the crisis at the Border

http://www.elca.org/disaster

http://lirs.org/bordercrisis/

About the crisis in Palestine & Israel

http://lwfjerusalem.org/

http://vimeo.com/97561853

 

Sincerely in Christ,

Bishop James Hazelwood

What I read on My Summer Staycation

My administrative assistant, Lyn Wasilewski, informed me earlier this summer that I had too much vacation time accrued.  Yes, she keeps track of everything.  She's the brains behind the bishop.  So this summer, I'm taking a series of staycations.  You know, stay at home, do those things you always say you are going to do when you have more time, but then the staycation comes around and you don't do them.

Anyways.... I'm spending some time reading this summer. Here's a few from the reading list.

I'm about halfway through Rodney Stark's big fat volume on the history of Christianity from a sociological perspective. Mr. Stark was born on the plains of North Dakota and began his life rooted in the cultural Lutheran ethos of the upper midwest. Years ago I read his wonderful account of the early church titled The Rise of Christianity.  In this book, you essentially get Rise plus the rest of the history of Western Christianity to the present.  I'm loving and hating this book as I make my way through it.

First of all, Stark challenges some of the conventional thinking that has dominated the history of the west.  This is a tad bit infuriating, because he is making me rethink some of my assumptions. (Why can't I just have my little petty assumptions to provide comfort and solace in this age of discontent? Sarcasm intended)  One example of the challenges comes through most profoundly in the section on the rise of Islam and the West's response.  Stark makes a rather convincing case that the crusades were not entirely motivated out of religious zeal, and the islamic world did not view the crusades with the intense hostility we have been lead to believe.  I'd love to see Karen Armstrong and Rodney Stark on stage at a Bishop's Convocation discussing their very different views on this subject.

The best part of this book is his explanation of how religious movements grow.  He's making a case that it is primarily through social networks.  When the book of Acts describe the early church's ministry to the orphans, the widows and the infirmed, Stark shows the significance of that ministry on the surrounding villages.  Over time christians lived longer, had better hygiene, less disease, higher quality of life and the impact of that on the local onlookers was significant.  The faith of the Jesus movement grew because people were attracted to a better life in the here and now .i.e., the kingdom of God here on earth.  Those of you who read this blog know that I'm convinced we are in that early church kinda ethos, and it's faith in action that makes all the difference.

This is not a church history nor a history of theology.  You won't find long chapters on the doctrine of the trinity here.  Instead, you'll come away with a greater appreciation for the way culture, inventions and people impacted the west, and the growth of christianity.  It's a big fat book, and at times you'll find yourself skimming, but I think it's one of the better overviews of the development of the faith.  

I do wish he had not titled it the Triumph of Christianity, as that smacks of a successful dominance that I think even Stark himself would question.  

Next up is Real Good Church: How our church came back from the dead, and yours can, too.  Molly Phinney Baskette has written the book, I wished I'd written. So much of what is in this paperback reflects actions that I took in both congregations I served.  I've only skimmed the table of contents and read some bits and pieces, but this looks to be the book I'm going to recommend our churches read.  It will make a good church council study book.  

Molly is pastor of First Church in Somerville, MA and this book is essentially the story of how she worked with 35 people on a sunday to revitalize her congregation.  They went from 6 children to close to 100, just to give you an example.  But, she also weaves in a deep faith focus to this revitalization.  The book is funny, warm, practical and honest.  Honest about the hard work that is required to bring about the needed change to turn a system around.

I'm hoping to sit down with Molly for an interview in our ongoing series on the effective small church - coming to a You Tube channel near you.

Finally, just arrived in the mail, and when I need something completely different from all this church stuff, is Bill Bryson's book One Summer: America 1927.  Glen Ramsay suggested this to me, and I've been waiting for it to come out in paperback, because... well, because, sometimes I get tired of reading on my kindle and just long for the good old days of paper and ink.

1927 was quite a year in America- Babe Ruth, Charles Lindberg, Al Capone and the first talking film "The Jazz Singer".  Bill Bryson's written some good stuff, and the narrative non-fiction genre appeals to me.  I know, I know...I should read more fiction.  I'll work on that, in my spare time.  Maybe in retirement, when I'll get around to all those projects I didn't finish on my staycations.

 

It's like a 2 Day Summer Camp for adults

If you are in ministry, business, education, government you will benefit from 2 Days at the Leadership Summit.  I hope you'll join me and leaders from 19 other Lutheran congregations in New England at the Leadership Summit.  There are sites all over New England, but I'm going to the SE Mass/RI site in Rehoboth, MA site cause it's closest to my home.  The dates are August 14 & 15

 

I've been able to arrange a discount for anyone who is a leader or member of one of our New England Synod congregations.  If you send me an email, I can send you the discount code.  You may have already received it, if you are on our NES email list.

I know of no other place where you can get this kind of leadership education for ministry in the church or in the marketplace.  Yes, there is always one speaker that rubs me the wrong way each year, but the other 8 always make up for it.  Besides, sometimes I rub me the wrong way some time.

I've been attending these almost every year going back into the late 1990's. I can't recommend them enough.

Here's the link 

Bike for Bread

This summer I'm on a multi-part #bikeforbread ride to raise awareness and funds about the good work of the ELCA World Hunger Appeal.  Below is the map of part one.

If you want to join me on parts of the ride, send me an email using the contact form on this web page.

If you'd like to attend an event, here are a few upcoming ones

June 16 at Redeemer Lutheran in Woburn, MA  7:00 p.m.

June 17 at Holy Trinity Lutheran in Newington, NH at 7:00 p.m.

July 7 at Redeemer Lutheran in Bangor, Maine at 7:00 p.m.

Follow along on Twitter @bishophazelwood or #bikeforbread

I'll also be preaching this sunday at Nativity in Rockport, ME, and spending some time a Camp Calumet the first week of July as a Bishop in Residence

Seven Habits of Effective Churches

Thom Rainer wrote the original on this, I've edited for our Lutheran New England context. I also altered # 7, which originally focused on social media, but I include that in #5.

 

Though this list is by no means exhaustive, here are seven of the more common habits.

  1. The church takes time during each worship service to pray for the community. Prayer is powerful; and the church members become more focused about their communities.
  2. A single member leads a team that is accountable for the outreach ministry of the church. If no one has leadership responsibility, it does not get done.
  3. A regular report is provided to church members about outreach and ministry efforts in the community. What gets reported gets done. Have you noticed most churches provide financial reports to the church members? That says the money is important. We need at least equal emphasis on the importance of outreach ministries. 
  4. Churches have regular “mystery” guests come to the worship services. One church leader told me that his church asks someone in the community to be a mystery guest every quarter. Those guests are always first-time guests, and they share their experiences with leaders later that day or week. The church members thus get to see their congregation through the eyes of a community member.
  5. The church gives obsessive attention to their websites & social media. A church website is the new front door for churches. It’s almost always the first place prospective guests go. These websites should be designed in a very guest friendly way.
  6. The churches are intentional about scheduling ministries, events, and activities for reaching the community. One pastor told me that his church always focuses on one key community outreach ministry per month. The church’s attendance is less than 80, but it was under 40 two years ago.
  7. Churches are intentional about connecting with their community leaders - school principals, police, town elected officials, and they report on those conversation to the whole congregation.

183 Done!

Tonight, I completed my 183rd congregational visit.  I've now been to all of the churches of the New England Synod.

During the election process nearly two years ago, I was asked how I would spend the first year.  I said, I'd visit all of the congregations of the synod.  Done!  Mission Accomplished!

But, in actuality, Mission just about to begin!

The Grand Canyon and the Gospel

Last month, Lisa and I took a vacation to Arizona and California.  We rode an RT1200 BMW motorcycle through the hot winds of the southwest.  The expansive landscape alone was healing, but the Grand Canyon took our breath away as it does everytime we visit.

How long did it take for the Grand Canyon to assume it's current form?  Answer: About 17 million years.

I found myself staring at the stars in the evening.  The desert is a great place for astronomy.

How big is the Milky Way?  About 100,000 light years in diameter, containing 100-400 billion stars.

While on our staff retreat with the Deans of conferences, I took the staff for a visit to the Madison boulder near camp Calumet.

The Madison Boulder was deposited about 25,000 years ago, when the glaciers retreated and left it behind.

+

All of this has been a part of a spiritual experience for me in recent months.  The end result, for now as this is an ever unfolding process, is a reminder that we live in vast arenas of time and space.  The ground of all being and life, the God of the Universe, has a perspective on life that in my prayer and meditation I am seeking to enjoy.  Yes, this mystic side of my spirituality is very much rooted in a cosmology that is very expansive and eternal.  Infact, it's giving me a new perspective on eternity.

Yet in our day to day living, it is easy for us to forget the vast scope of time and space.  In many ways, we human beings have been recovering from Copernicus discovery some 500 years ago, that the universe does not revolve around us.  

Knowing that I am a very small part of something much much larger is actually quite helpful when I get wrapped up in the small insignificant problems of life.

 

"I lift you high in praise, my God, and I bless your name into eternity."  Psalm 145

Countdown continues Visit number 180

Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church worships in the Grange Hall in Groton, MA.  Now this congregation knows hospitality!  It took 5 minutes to share the Peace with one another.  This was also the occasion of my 180 church visit.  I now have 3 to go, before completing the goal of visiting every congregation of the New England Synod.  A task that, if all goes as planned, I will complete on May 21.

The Effective Small Church

Join me for this conversation about making the small church more effective
The Effective Small Church
On May 6 at 7 p.m., Bishop Jim Hazelwood will be joined by pastors Anne Deneen (St. Paul - Gloucester, Mass.; right) and Julie Reuning-Scherer (Our Savior's - Newington, Conn.) for a webinar called "The Effective Small Church in New England." 
 
Bishop Hazelwood and Pastors Deneen and Reuning-Scherer will talk about what makes a small congregation (defined as one that worships 70 or fewer people each Sunday) a powerful one, using examples from their experiences. The discussion will include: 
  • The unique aspects of being a small church
  • The challenges and opportunities a small church faces
  • Financing a small church and its ministries
  • Governance in a small church
  • Pastoral care
  • Getting more people involved
Click here to register for the webinar. Bishop Hazelwood will host the talk. If you'd like to ask questions of the panel, you can submit them through the GoToWebinar platform during the talk, and the Bishop will read them!
 
The Synod House in Worcester can also host a limited number of people in its conference room during the talk. If you're interested in attending, please email Andy Merritt atamerritt@nesynod.org.