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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? |
| Stop! | |
| By Brad Miller on12/18/2008 9:33 AM | |
| Greetings on this lovely Spring day!
For some reason, no matter how hard I try to plan things out during Advent and Christmas, they never quite work out the way I plan. Oh, nothing major, but when I work hard to make sure that I can take some time to relax and enjoy this season, I still reach a point where it seems like all I want to do is get through it. I assure you, THAT is not the way to celebrate Advent and Christmas. Unfortunately, it has become the modus operandi for how we live our lives too much of the time. We get so scheduled that we forget that we the schedule is supposed to serve us, not the other way around. So, what are we to do about it? The short answer: STOP.
Oh, I can hear some of you: “That’s easy for you to say!” Well, no, it is not easy for me to say. In fact, it is terribly difficult for me to say. I love all the activities of Advent. I love the ramping up to the wonderful celebration of Christmas Eve. I love getting together wi ... |  | |
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| | A Sacred Mess | |
| By Brad Miller on12/15/2008 1:47 PM | |
| Greetings!
How does the song go? “Oh, the weather outside is frightful…” Well, that about describes today. Grey, rainy, at times downright frightening with thunder and incredible bursts of drenching downpours. A good day to be inside. But as I sit in my office, I am in the midst of another frightful sight: what a mess! If anyone were to come in and visit for the first time, they would think I am the worst kind of pack rat. But a closer look at what fills up my office at this time of year makes me feel about as good as I have in a long, long time.
Piled in one corner of my office, and spilling out into the main area are bag upon bag of Christmas presents destined for excited boy and girls who, but for your great generosity, would be facing a bleak Christmas. The wish lists of 50 children graced our narthex tree 10 days ago, now there is but a handful. Presents have already started coming in and my office has become the storage area. For those who took ... | | |
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| | Being the Church | |
| By Brad Miller on12/4/2008 10:11 AM | |
| Greetings on this sunny, chilly day,
It was a simple statement. “You know, times are tough. People may not be able to buy Christmas Trees like they have in the past.” And that simple statement by someone as we set up the Christmas Tree lot about 10 days ago got a discussion going. How can we help people out? The discussion became about how everyone is feeling the pinch of the recession, from the poorest of the poor, to the wealthy. In the neighborhood surrounding the church, we see a little bit of everything from stately old homes to shotgun shacks.
The discussion continued off and on about what the church might be able to do and somehow, an idea bubbled to the surface. What if we collected food to help support those who are having trouble putting food on the table AND gave those who donated the food a break on their Christmas Trees, who might appreciate a little break in tough times, too. The idea got thrown around and some folks got pretty excited abou ... | | |
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| | Keeping the Celebration | |
| By Brad Miller on11/19/2008 11:02 AM | |
| Greetings on this crisp, clear day!
Believe it or not, Thanksgiving is a week from tomorrow. Advent begins in about 10 days. And we all know what that means: that Christmas is not far away, either. Sometimes, it seems to me that things come so fast that I don’t have the time to truly celebrate and observe the holidays. The distractions of all the activities, while good and fun, can sometimes pull us away from the spiritual disciplines that the different holidays cry out for. And when we don’t take the time to stop, think, pray and celebrate, we will indeed miss something.
My advice? Plan to take some time every day to be with God, alone, in prayer and conversation. Take a few minutes to read the Bible, to read the Advent books that the Elders have provided for us. Take some time to give thanks, to recommit to following the teachings of Jesus even more closely in the days ahead, to celebrate that God is with us in the person of the baby born in a stable in Be ... | | |
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| | Veteran's Day | |
| By Brad Miller on11/12/2008 3:52 PM | |
| Greetings on this grey day,
As we close in on one of my favorite holidays, Thanksgiving, many of us paused yesterday to give thanks for those who have served this country in war, in peace, in times of great uncertainty, in times of great calm. I am of course talking about the Veterans of our various military branches. And truth be told, we ought to stop far more than once a year to say “thank you” to these dedicated men and women. In this day and time, it is too easy to put aside what they have done for us, and what they continue to do for us, because we don’t see it, up close and persona. Whether they are actively engaged in protecting us, or actively involved in hostilities, they stand ready to do so at a moment’s notice. With our “smart” weapons and long range missiles, it is easy to think that our military folks can somehow keep “distant” from harm’s way. But of course, that is absurd. When wars are carried out, military personnel are in harms way, always. If you know a vete ... | | |
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| | Election Day | |
| By Brad Miller on11/5/2008 9:01 AM | |
| Greetings on this wonderful day,
This morning I went by the dry cleaners before I headed to the church. I passed two different polling places on the way, and what I saw was pretty incredible. It was about 7:15 in the morning and the scene was exactly the same at both places…cars jamming the parking lot, cars lined up down side streets, a huge crowd of people in a thick line snaking around the parking lot and down the sidewalk! I am told that here at BCC, the line snaked from the back fellowship hall doors around the church into the front parking lot, some 200 people long. I’ve seen lines to vote before, but for lots of reasons, this sight was especially moving to me.
First, in my former life as a political appointee and then a professor of Political Science, political participation was a sermon that I preached over and over and over again. The more we participate, the more the government and the policies of that government will reflect our will. If we sit ... | | |
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| | Slow Dance | |
| By Brad Miller on10/29/2008 1:28 PM | |
| Greetings on this beautiful fall day,
When I was a kid, I remember my mother saying, “the hurrieder I go, the behinder I get”. It seemed kind of silly to me, but, now I definitely know what she meant. We live in a world where everything is now, now, now, more, more, more…yet the more we work, the harder we try, we do not find peace, just frayed nerves and less time with our families and friends. And when we find ourselves caught in that trap of immersing ourselves more and more in work and acquisition, we too often find ourselves losing the foundation that sustains us: our faith, our families. We can get so distracted that we forget about what is really important. I’ve done it, and I bet you have, too.
This week, Chuck Daunch forwarded me an e-mail from a friend of his who is battling cancer, yet seeking ways to honor God through his struggle by sharing the light of hope that his relationship with God offers h ... | | |
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| | Downtime | |
| By Brad Miller on10/22/2008 11:25 AM | |
| Greetings on this beautiful fall day,
If you are like me, you need to get away. Oh, I’m not talking about leaving town, or finding some deserted island beach, although, that does sound nice. No, I’m talking about getting away from all the noise of the news…the election, the economy, the endless drumbeat of somber pronouncements concerning so many things: health, crime, natural disasters. And while I truly believe that the news media in this country do us a great service in helping to keep us informed, there are times when I just need to get away from it all. And so, this week, I have tried to do just that. As a wise friend counseled, “Just turn it off, man!”
When I am alone in the car, I usually have the radio on. I try to find music and no talking, but that is almost impossible. So, this week, no radio, no i-pod plugged into my car stereo, no nuthin’. And you know what, it seems to work. I read the newspaper in the morning, but try to put aside the edit ... | | |
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| | Hope | |
| By Brad Miller on10/16/2008 8:28 AM | |
| Greetings on the GORGEOUS day!
It is weeks like this past week that really bring some things into focus for me. It helps me to keep the important things in perspective. It helps me to remember what is truly most important. And it helps me to realize just how important this thing we call church really is.
I don’t need to tell you what a roller coaster the last week has been. When the Dow Jones Industrials closed in such low territory last Friday, the fear was palpable. It wasn’t helped by the fact that every newscast, news update and talk show over the weekend told us what bad shape our retirement funds were in! I even heard one of the announcers on the baseball game on Sunday night talk about it. C’mon, ya knuckleheads, I watching this to escape from the real world! There was very little evidence of a precious commodity that we all were craving: hope. When I realized that Monday was a federal holiday I thought, “Well, at least the stock market will be clo ... | | |
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| | Staying the Course | |
| By Brad Miller on10/9/2008 9:20 AM | |
| Greetings on this gloomy fall morning,
It is easy to feel as gloomy as the skies these days…if we let ourselves. It is easy to let fear and worry overtake our lives…if we give in to it. But that is not who we are: we are the church, and we face things with the hopeful promise of brighter days. Now, this does not mean we can act foolishly or extravagantly in our personal lives, or as the church, especially when it comes to our finances. We must be realistic about who we are, and what God has put in front of us to accomplish. We discern that through prayer and discussion, looking at where we have been, assessing where we are, planning for where we want to go. We do it with our feet firmly on the ground, and our eyes on what God has called us to be. Not always an easy combination, but something that is very important, nonetheless.
All this is important as we sit around our kitchen tables and look at our home finances, and it is important as we sit around our ... | | |
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