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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? |
| Connections | |
| By Brad Miller on8/27/2009 11:09 AM | |
| Greetings on this beautiful day,
So many things running through my mind…I had a meeting concerning regional church business this morning and when I got back to the office, lots of things hit me: a man who came to the church door just a little while ago asking if he could pray in the sanctuary…a video e-mail from a long time friend who reminded me that even though years and miles have kept us from being as close as we would like, with a little work, we can still be close…an update from a friend concerning her brothers illness…news of the death of Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts. I have been surprised at exactly how much each has affected me today.
The young man came and asked if he could pray in the sanctuary, so I showed him in and asked him to come by my office before he left, just so I’d know that he was gone. It is not an everyday occurrence, but it happens fairly regularly, so I had no problem letting him in. When he came to office, he thanked me an ... |  | |
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| | Prayer | |
| By Brad Miller on8/20/2009 12:46 PM | |
| Greetings!
A while back I was talking with a friend who was going through a particularly tough time when he said, “I’m finding it difficult to even pray right now.”
It is a place that I have been, and maybe you have been there, too. Overwhelmed with what is going on around us, we sometimes find this simple act too difficult to contemplate. Sometimes it is because we are angry and we feel that God is not listening. Sometimes just coming up with words to describe our situation is just too much. Sometimes we are not even sure what we need to be praying for. And so, in that time when we need prayer the most, we find it impossible to pray. At the time when we would be most comforted by being alone in conversation with God, we are too discomforted to even begin.
Prayer is an awesome thing. But it can be an intimidating thing, too. When we petition God, how do we know God hears us? When we ask for something to be done in our life, is that ... | | |
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| | Sabbath | |
| By Brad Miller on8/13/2009 8:15 AM | |
| Greetings!
Recently a friend of mine returned from a vacation in Hawaii. When I asked how her trip was, she said, “You know, I told my husband, ‘I really like vacations.”” What made this statement all the more amazing is that my friend is definitely a workaholic, unable to rest if there is something, anything that needs doing. It is a sign of our times that too many people don’t take enough time off, and my friend, while aware of that, is beginning to understand the value of that time off.
During my time away from you I spent some of it at the General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Indianapolis, Indiana. I like the assemblies because they give me a chance to meet up with old friends, to participate in different styles of worship and to simply get a sense of being a part of the “larger” church. But this assembly, while allowing all those things to happen, left me a little concerned and a little baffled. Within the first 24 hours o ... | | |
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| | God of Wonder | |
| By Brad Miller on7/22/2009 3:21 PM | |
| Greetings on this grey morning,
One of the things that seems to fade as we get older is our sense of wonder. I’m not sure why that is. Maybe we have seen too much, understand too much, become too logical, too cynical. Whatever it is, we just seem to not be as surprised or delighted by things like we did when we were younger. Or maybe it’s because we don’t take the time to be in awe of the amazing things that go on around us.
I am willing to bet that for anyone around my age or older, we did share an awe inspiring moment of wonder on July 20, 1969. On that day, 40 years ago Monday, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first two humans on the moon. Very late on that day, they emerged from inside their space capsule and walked on the surface of the moon. I can still remember the day vividly, and I can still remember my feeling of absolute wonder and awe at the scratchy scenes that were unfolding on our black and white television set. After years of study a ... | | |
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| | Do No Harm | |
| By Brad Miller on7/15/2009 12:01 PM | |
| Greetings on this beautiful summer day!
It’s funny how things pop up at just the moment you need them. Yesterday afternoon I broke my rule about listening to talk radio and was bombarded by caustic comments, subtle and not so subtle putdowns, outright questioning of someone’s patriotism and an absolutely obnoxious discussion/rant/argument about the merits of different college football conferences. And I didn’t have the radio on for more than about 5 minutes! I know, I know, it gets me every time! I should know better, and I have promised myself it will be a long, long time before I fall into this trap again.
This morning, I picked up a book off my desk that had been sitting there about a week. It was a little book that I picked up on sale at the Christian bookstore because the title intrigued me: “Three Simple Rules”. It was written by a minister who had done some research on the 18th century theologian John Wesley and found embedded in his theology what he ... | | |
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| | Spreading the Good News | |
| By Brad Miller on7/9/2009 3:00 PM | |
| Greetings!
For those of you who were not in worship this past Sunday, you might not have heard that our partners in the International Christian Church will be leaving us near the end of summer. They have found some property north of Atlanta nearer to a larger Cambodian community and have decided that they need to strike out to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ to that population. I cannot express how sad I am to see them go, but neither can I hide my pride and joy at their decision. They are doing what we are all called to do: move into the world and be witnesses of the grace of God.
We have much to learn from our ICC brothers and sisters: perseverance in overcoming the most dire of situations; faith in the face of great adversity; the ability to continually trust to God’s grace and keep moving forward; the joy that comes from finding peace in the community of faith; the desire to serve others, first, last and always. We may have helped them with a place t ... | | |
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| | Service | |
| By Brad Miller on6/24/2009 3:24 PM | |
| Greetings on this beautiful day!
So, who says things slow down in the summer? You’d never prove it around here! So far this summer we’ve had Family Camping Fun, Pink Flamingo Flocking Season has begun and several of our kids have already had a great time at Camp Christian. Then of course there is the work going on around our building and grounds and the preparation for even more work late in the summer or early in the fall. And in mid July we will welcome Theatre Camp for kids of all ages and grades into our facility. We also will most likely be serving as overnight hosts for a group or two on their way mission trips on the gulf coast. Whew!
But in the midst of all this activity around and in our church, there are always opportunities to make sure we step away from our own place and space in search of what Jesus called the “others”…the widows and orphans, the dispossessed, the lonely, the elderly, the sick and those who simply need to know that someone car ... | | |
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| | Community | |
| By Brad Miller on6/11/2009 1:09 PM | |
| Greetings on this beautiful day,
Community is a wonderful thing. In fact, I think community is crucial to getting through this thing called life. I have known people who believed that they were “self made” but I really don’t think that is entirely possible, and if it is possible, I can’t imagine it feels very good. We need others to help us in the rough patches in our lives, we need others to share our joys and celebrate with, we need each other to balance out our weaknesses and our strengths, we need others to simply have someone to share the ride with.
I learned about community at an early age through the folks in my neighborhood and my church. I continue to revel in the fact that I am part of such a wonderful community as BCC.
Lately I have been thinking about a community that was once very important to me, and if truth be told, still is. I am from Detroit, and every Detroiter will tell you, if we don’t stick together, no one else ... | | |
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| | Catching Up | |
| By Brad Miller on6/3/2009 2:30 PM | |
| Greetings on this beautiful day!
A friend says that I’ve finally joined the 21st century. My niece says it doesn’t surprise her, since I have always been “hip”. (She’s in the will). Another friend wonders why I even bothered. It’s amazing the responses I get when people discover that a few weeks ago I signed up for “Facebook”. I had my concerns, too. I heard people talk about it as a way to keep people informed about what you are doing. I had to think twice about privacy issues. I thought that I could keep up with friends just fine without this new technology. But here’s the thing: I didn’t do a good job of keeping up with distant friends, so maybe I should give this a try.
I have discovered that everything I thought about was true.
It is a good way to keep people informed about what you are doing…although I am amazed at the number of people who seem to post things 4 and 5 times a day along the lines of “I’m just sitting here cont ... | | |
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| | A Godsend | |
| By Brad Miller on5/28/2009 9:19 AM | |
| Greetings on this gray day,
Have you noticed that some of our renovations are already underway? Oh, not the big one in the sanctuary yet, although there are people hard at work to make that happen as soon as possible. But there were some other things on the renovation/refurbishing list that are currently underway or complete. These are the kinds of things that we can do internally without the need of contractors and sub-contractors. For instance, the drainage issue in the courtyard has been taken care of, and the water is rerouted in a better way. Attached to that is the building of a retaining wall that will shore things up in a really beautiful way. On the other side of the church new sidewalk now connects the storage area with the other entrances to the church. Also, the beginnings of a stone path to the back parking lot now starts at the end of that sidewalk. There is a new storage area in the courtyard for the CDC and for BCC. There is a new expanded closet in the choir ro ... | | |
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