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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? |
| Recycle. Renew. Restore. | |
| By Brad Miller on7/16/2008 2:46 PM | |
| Greetings!
When God created the heavens and the earth, humans were given dominion over all living things. The animals of the ground, the birds of the air, the fish in the seas. The plants that beautify and sustain. All of these things are important to God’s awesome creation. All of these things are under our care. They are under our care because we have the ability to make good use of these things. And because if we don’t take wise care of these things, we will ultimately suffer. How might that be? If we hunt animals to depletion, if we abuse the land through bad planting processes, if we pollute the earth so that plants and birds and animals can’t survive…well, we won’t either. I once heard someone scoff at the idea that if we don’t do something to clean up our environment the earth would not survive. Until I heard their reasoning: “Believe me, we don’t need to clean up the environment to save the earth. The earth will survive. We need clean up the environment to save ourse ... |  | |
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| | We Call Ourselves Disciples | |
| By Brad Miller on7/9/2008 2:43 PM | |
| Greetings on this hazy, lazy summer day,
Yesterday I was talking with someone who had been told I was a minister and he asked what denomination I was affiliated with and I replied, “The Christian Church (Disicples of Christ).” He said he had never heard of it and I went into my explanation of how we are set up, what makes us unique among Christian denominations, what denominations we are most like, etc. It is a conversation that I have with a fairly large number of people. Depending on what kind of day I have had, how I am feeling, what the attitude is like of the person I am talking with, I may answer enthusiastically or not. What I mean by that Is, on most days I am thankful for the opportunity to talk with someone about our church, our denomination, what we believe, what I believe. But there are some days when I just kind of sigh and half-wish I was a Presbyterian or a Methodist or a Baptist or a Lutheran that everyone has heard of! Luckily, those days don’t come very often.& ... | | |
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| | Serious Fun | |
| By Brad Miller on6/25/2008 9:49 AM | |
| Greetings!
This church stuff is serious business.
We do after all deal with a lot of serious issues, and it is something that I do take very seriously. But there is a difference between taking things seriously and always being serious. What I mean by that is that ought to be plenty of room for fun in our faith walk. And this past week, I was part of two examples of just how important having some serious fun can be.
The first was last Friday night in Decatur. By my guess at least a couple of thousand people gathered in the Decatur Square for the city’s annual “Beach Party.” It had an added attraction for some of us here at BCC because the entertainment for the night was “Terry Lee and the G.T.’s” featuring our own Terry Evans as the front man. The night was warm but was perfect for a night out with good friends and great music. The good friends were there: by my count about 40 folks from BCC came to celebrate the end of a work week, da ... | | |
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| | Our Best for God | |
| By Brad Miller on6/19/2008 8:14 AM | |
| Over the course of the 60 year history of Brookhaven Christian Church, there have been several changes in the structures that have housed this great ministry. First, it was the little house on Colonial Drive that got us going. Then, when the membership began to outgrow that location, property was purchased on the corner of Lanier and Peachtree. For awhile the congregation met at Oglethorpe University, utilizing their auditorium as a sanctuary. Then, in 1958, the first building on the church’s present site was built. Twice in the next 30 years the building was expanded and renovated and then, in 2001, the last building expansion effort ended with new offices, classrooms, a youth room, a community room and a beautiful fellowship hall. Why were all these changes undertaken? So that God’s work could continue to flourish and the kingdom of God could grow.
We have done a great job at growing this physical plant to serve our needs, but some are now wondering if it isn’t time to take a l ... | | |
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| | One Church | |
| By Brad Miller on6/11/2008 10:40 AM | |
| Greetings on this beautiful morning!
Earlier this week I received a phone call from my friend and colleague Jonathon Holston, Senior Minister at St. James United Methodist Church. He remembered a conversation we had a while back when we were talking about the different forms of baptism. It had taken place at a meeting of the Brookhaven Ministers group, an ecumenical group made up of Disciple, Presbyterian, Catholic, Episcopalian, United Methodist, Lutheran, and United Church of Christ ministers. Part of the discussion centered around how we all practiced baptism in our different traditions. I let them know that Disciples practiced believers baptism where a conscious decision is made by the person to be baptized. This differs from infant baptism where parents take the baptismal vows on behalf of the child, and then at the age of 12 or 13 the child chooses whether or not they will confirm these vows for themselves through a service of confirmation. I was quick to point out that Disc ... | | |
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| | Camp: Sacred Space | |
| By Brad Miller on6/4/2008 11:17 AM | |
| Greetings on this steamy day,
As many of you know, when I was growing up, I was lucky enough to be able to go to camp every summer, all summer long! How was that possible? My parents ran the camp, Conely Methodist Camp on the St. Mary’s River in Michigan’s beautiful Upper Peninsula. (You’ve heard what they say about the U.P., eh? God created the heavens and the earth and learning from his mistakes, created the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.) That camp holds a very special place in my heart. Besides being a beautiful part of the world where we could spend our time swimming in the river, hiking through the woods, playing baseball or volleyball on the camp grounds, it was also a place where I connected with many, many friends. Year after year, families would return to the camp, and I would get to renew friendships from the previous summers. For years, if I ran into someone and we somehow thought we knew each other, but couldn’t quite figure out from where, I would eventually ask, “Di ... | | |
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| | Reaching Out | |
| By Brad Miller on5/28/2008 3:20 PM | |
| Greetings!
This seems to be the season of natural disasters. From China to Myanmar to Iowa to California we read of stories of destruction and devastation unimaginable. In fact, we don’t have to look too far away to find people who have been devastated by tornadoes and storms. Right here in Georgia people are rebuilding. As close as Cherokee County and downtown Atlanta there are folks still trying to get their lives back. It is a heartbreaking task for those who have lost all their possessions and perhaps family members and friends.
We sometimes feel helpless in the face of such devastating loss. We aren’t sure which way to turn or how we can make sense of it all. But in our helplessness, we can still do something.
One of the ways we can help as members of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is to donate to the Week of Compassion, a ministry of the Christian Church that assists those in the wake of natural disasters and other ... | | |
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| | It's All About Attitude | |
| By Brad Miller on5/21/2008 1:33 PM | |
| Greeetings on this gorgeous day!
I have been thinking a lot about attitude lately. Mainly because I find myself slipping into a bad attitude about some things. I have come to understand that much of the time, it is other people’s bad attitudes that lead to my bad attitude! And who knows what kind of impact my attitude has on the people around me. It is a vicious cycle and one that I would dearly love to break.
I look at our current political situation and realize that all the stuff that swirls around it is fostering much in the way of bad attitudes. Too often candidates do their best to criticize their opponents rather than telling us positive things about their own candidacy. Observers and pundits openly rage against candidates, but offer little, if anything in the way of positive alternatives. A lot of the time, they don’t even have a candidate they want to promote: they just want to stop someone else! This negative attitude does precious little to encou ... | | |
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| | Onward and Upward | |
| By Brad Miller on5/14/2008 3:25 PM | |
| Greetings on this gray morning,
It amazes me that it is graduation time already. First, because it seems like we just got started on the school year! How can it already be time for end of the year final exams, proms, and graduations? Second, because it is hard for me to believe that so many of our young people are actually graduating! Let me make it clear: it’s not that I am surprised that they are graduating, rather, I’m surprised they are old enough to be graduating! It doesn’t seem possible, but the high school Seniors of 2008 were 11 or 12 years old when I arrived at BCC! I can only imagine how this graduation is hitting their parents!
But that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? Children growing up and maturing and striking out to find their way in the world. It is about parents feeling a little trepidation: are they prepared? Have they learned what they need to succeed at the next level? Are they ready for this? Am I ready for this? It is about th ... | | |
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| | A Well Deserved Sabbath | |
| By Brad Miller on5/12/2008 10:34 AM | |
| Greetings!
One of the things that impressed me when I first arrived at BCC was their foresight and their understanding of what Sabbath truly means. Part of my “terms of call” to BCC was the fact that I was to receive a sabbatical every 5 years of service to the congregation. I discovered that our Associate, Jennifer Heinz, also has the same provision in her “terms of call”. It showed me immediately that the congregation wanted to do their best to help keep their ministerial staff fresh and motivated. For that is really what sabbatical is all about: a chance to step back, to alter your routine, to get a fresh perspective on what it is you are involved in, to prepare yourself for the next phase in ministry. My sabbatical last year did just that for me, and I think that it has paid off dividends not only for me, but for the new perspective I continue to bring to my duties.
Jennifer Heinz arrived at BCC more than a year before I did. First, she served as a semin ... | | |
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