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Mid-Week Missive |
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| Author: | Brad Miller | Created: | 10/30/2007 2:52 AM |  | | What is happening at BCC? |
| Accountability | |
| By Brad Miller on2/1/2012 1:58 PM | |
| In the last couple of days, I have heard the word accountability used a lot. For a lot of people it is a scary word, conjuring up visions of an overseer or a boss looking over our shoulder to make sure we are doing things correctly. I have heard it in terms of our political process. For example, when someone says that an office holder needs to be accountable to the people. I have heard it in terms of business. Such as when a board of directors or an officer of a company must be held accountable to the stockholders. I have heard it used in legal proceedings. For instance, when a guilty party must be held accountable for their crimes.
It’s an important word, accountability. It implies that there are consequences to our actions, and so, it’s good to have someone holding someone else accountable to make sure that the consequences are not bad ones. I have heard it used as a pejorative when someone says, “Well, they’re accountable to no one but themselves,” implying that they don’t c ... |  | |
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| | A Grateful Life | |
| By Brad Miller on1/23/2012 11:45 AM | |
| A friend of mine once said, “There is nothing quite so OVER, as Christmas!” She was right. We spend all of Advent leading up to Christmas. All around us the anticipation builds and the excitement reaches a fever pitch. The day comes, we celebrate, we praise God, we gather with family and friends, and then it’s over. Really, really, over.
Well, at least that’s what it feels like.
What we too often celebrate as the culmination of a busy season of plans and waiting, really should be celebrated as the beginning of a wondrous time of awe. Because the events of Christmas are nothing short of awe inspiring, but in and of itself, the birth of Christ is simply the start of things. It sends a signal to each and every one of us that God so loved the world that God became incarnate, fully human and fully divine, so that we might come into personal relationship with our creator and live full lives as children of God.
So, the next step is complete ... | | |
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| | Thankful | |
| By Brad Miller on1/12/2012 10:04 AM | |
| My friend Dick Mitchell has been going through a tough time lately. He awoke one day about 2 months ago unable to use his legs. Since that time, he has been tested, undergone major back surgery, been diagnosed with metatstic lung cancer (which had traveled to his back), begun intensive rehabilitation to regain the use of his legs, and prepared to begin raditation treatment and chemotherapy. All of this while he and his wife Linda do their “snowbird” thing in Texas. Dick has been on our prayer list and I hope you will continue to keep both Dick and Linda in your prayers.
But here’s the thing: Dick has kept several of his friends updated via e-mails and in every single one he has found a way to thank God for everything he has been given. As feeling began to return to his legs and slowly but surely it seems that he will walk again, he thanked God for therapists and healing. As he came out of back surgery, he thanked God for the skilled hands of gifted surgeons. As the cancer was dia ... | | |
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| | Sharing Our Gifts | |
| By Brad Miller on12/21/2011 10:56 AM | |
| Without a doubt, the best gifts I have ever been given have not come in a wrapped package or gift bag. This is not to say that good things don’t come in packages or gift bags! It’s just that the best gifts have been intangibles that have been shared with me. And that word “shared” is very important here. A warm smile, a enveloping hug, a strong shoulder to lean on, a kind word, wise advice, the simple presence of someone who cares about me. You see, when those kinds of gifts are given away, it does nothing to diminish the giver, in fact, I think it strengthens the giver as much as it does the receiver. For me, that is the very definition of sharing – when we give of the gifts that we have been given.
One of the ways we at BCC have been gifted beyond measure is through the sharing of the musical talent of so many. All who attend worship at BCC, be it in our sanctuary or in our alternative services in the fellowship hall, have been richly blessed by those gifted singers and musicia ... | | |
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| | Gifting and Re-Gifting | |
| By Brad Miller on12/15/2011 4:47 PM | |
| As we prepare for Christmas, we are acutely aware that this is the gift giving season. We look for the perfect gift for family and friends; we reach out to total strangers by putting money in the red kettle outside Wal-Mart or buying presents for the “Angel Tree” kids. We invite people into our homes, and visit in others homes, always bringing something to share. Lots of us use this time to sit down at the end of the year and decide how much we can contribute to our favorite charities, knowing that they are in the ‘giving’ business all year long.
What sometimes gets overlooked in all this is that fact that the season of Advent is designed to help us to prepare for the celebration of the birth of the Christ child, and to help us focus on what that means. And at the heart of what it means is that we have been given the most wonderful gift we could ever imagine: a savior! And like all good gifts, the gift that God offers us in the form of the baby born in Bethlehem is one that delight ... | | |
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| | In the Spirit | |
| By Brad Miller on12/7/2011 2:28 PM | |
| Oh, the weather outside is frightful…it’s enough to dampen your Christmas spirit!
It is sometimes hard to get into the Christmas spirit and stay there. Just because we are in the anticipatory season of Advent, doesn’t mean that the rest of our obligations stop. In fact, if anything, they ratchet up this time of year. Almost every job out there has some “end of year” component that plops some big task on us and the “end of the year” donation requests fill our mailboxes. Add to the “end of the year” stress is the fact that we are buying Christmas presents, going to Christmas parties, planning Christmas pageants, attending special concerts and plays.
And then, to have to deal with this grey and drizzly weather, well, it’s almost too much! Almost. When we look past the busyness of our calendars, we realize that everything we do during this Christmas season is good stuff. The celebration with friends and family, the support of worthy causes that seek to make ... | | |
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| | Advent | |
| By Brad Miller on11/30/2011 12:51 PM | |
| | Thanksgiving has always been my favorite secular holiday of the year, and this year was a good one. Beginning with a beautiful Thanksgiving Worship service on November 20th and followed by an overwhelming afternoon of celebration on the occasion of 10 years of shared ministry for BCC, Jennifer Heinz and myself, it continued as Carol and I traveled to New England to visit friends and family. Put all of it together, and I could not be in a better place to begin my Advent journey. I simply cannot find words that adequately express my gratitude to this wonderful congregation. You have blessed my life, and I am so glad that we are on this journey together. The week of Thanksgiving ratcheted up those feelings of blessing as I got to spend a relaxing time with the person who has enhanced and brightened my life more than I ever could have imagined or prayed for, my partner, my best friend, my spouse, Carol. During the week we caught up with Carol’s sister and her husband and old friends from when we lived in Bost ... | | |
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| | Anniversary Celebrations | |
| By Brad Miller on11/16/2011 9:32 AM | |
| Yesterday was the anniversary of two important events in my life.
First, my parents were married 64 years ago yesterday, on November 15, 1947. They built a life in Michigan that eventually included my older brother and sister and, finally, me. My father was a school teacher and my mother a secretary. We were not rich, but we never wanted for anything. My father was a great handyman and so I don’t ever remember a repairperson being in our house. My mother could stretch a buck with the best of them. They took us to church, they grounded us in the faith, they emphasized the importance of education in our lives. But the most important lessons I learned from my parents came for just watching them together. They didn’t always agree on everything, but I never saw anything but respect and love between them. They provided us a home that was filled with that same respect and love, and one more thing: fun. I vividly remember a winter night when we were eating dinner. We had a big radio ... | | |
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| Steady On | |
| By Brad Miller on11/2/2011 8:11 AM | |
| Greetings on this beautiful fall day,
The last couple of years have been a roller coaster ride for many of our members, our church, our country, even our world. The economic picture seems to change almost daily. One day the world markets are up because of a rumor, or a jobs report, or maybe because Jupiter was aligned with Pluto…one day the world markets are down because the rumor was false, the report was flawed, or Pluto has ceased to be a planet. It is confusing at best; downright scary at worst. And the biggest source of our worries is that we have absolutely no control over most of it. We do our best to move forward, but if we are honest, many of us find ourselves a bit worried about what is coming next. It has, after all, been three years of uncertainty.
I am, by nature, a worrier. But in the past few years, I have become better at putting some things aside and setting my course forward. I’m still not great at it, but I am getting better. Whatever im ... | | |
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| | Hospitality | |
| By Brad Miller on10/27/2011 8:32 AM | |
| Greetings on the beautiful morning!
This past Sunday was, in some ways, a very special Sunday at BCC, and in other ways, it was a very normal Sunday.
To welcome Fred Craddock to our worship was a thrill and a blessing. I have heard him preach perhaps a dozen times, and never does he miss the mark or disappoint. It helped make our worship special. To welcome so many visitors was a real joy. Some of these visitors were old friends of BCC, some had connections with members of BCC, some were old friends of Dr. Craddock, some saw our sign and knew that this would be a special day. To celebrate with such a special reception following worship was a treat. It gave many people a chance to catch up, meet and greet Fred and Nettie Craddock, a chance to meet some new people, and a chance to simply be together.
All of these things – Dr. Craddock preaching, more than the usual number of visitors, a beautiful reception coordinated by Margie Kinney ... | | |
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