|
|
|
Mid-Week Missive |
 |
|
| Author: | Brad Miller | Created: | 10/30/2007 2:52 AM |  | | What is happening at BCC? |
| Ministry | |
| By Brad Miller on1/27/2010 2:17 PM | |
| The process of transforming the sanctuary continues, and trust me, it is an amazing process! While the physical transformation of the sanctuary will be impressive, there are other things that connect to that renovation that continue to amaze me.
I have already shared with you my conversation with the electrician who said he enjoyed working on churches more than most jobs because he felt like he was doing something special in helping to beautify the Lord’s House. Since that time, I have had 3 other conversations with folks from Choate Construction and some other sub-contractors. They have had questions about the church, who we are and what we believe. These are guys who have seen me every day that they have been working here, guys who have greeted me and asked what I thought about the work they were doing. But after a couple of weeks, the conversation got away from the work on the sanctuary to the work of the church. In my experience, this is not that unusual. Folks have to get a ... |  | |
| More... |
| | Good Stewards | |
| By Brad Miller on1/26/2010 2:12 PM | |
| One of the great things about working at the church these days is that I get to watch as the changes in the sanctuary take place. First, the stripping away of everything not needed, or that will be renewed or replaced. Then, the slow buildup of new things, the replacement of worn things, the renewal of things that still have much life in them. And it is very hard for me not to understand that what is happening in the sanctuary at BCC is also what happens in our lives when we set our minds and our hearts on renewal. It is the great gift that we can do that whenever we choose.
I was chatting with one of the electricians the other day about the work he does and he said at one point, “I really like it when we get to work in churches – it makes me feel good to know that I am helping to beautify God’s house. I like that.”
And he’s right: the sanctuary and the rest of the church building may only be bricks and mortar like every other building in town, but it is some ... | | |
| More... |
| | Overcoming Fear | |
| By Brad Miller on1/26/2010 2:11 PM | |
| Well, it seems as if Carol and I got out of town at the right time! We missed all the snow and ice – although the bitter cold did find us everywhere we went! While it was nice to miss all that, the trip itself was without a doubt one of the most moving experiences of my life – cold or not. I am still sorting through all the experiences packed into those four days: the people, the places, the sharing, the learning, and most of all, the incredible feelings of our Civil Rights Tour.
Over the course of the four days, we traveled to sites important to the Civil Rights movement in Charleston, S.C., Johns Island, S.C., Savannah, GA, Albany, GA, Montgomery, AL, and of course, Atlanta. Being at those places – the churches, the meeting houses, the homes that were bombed, the gathering places – was incredible, but what was even more incredible were the people who talked to us at every stop. The leaders of the movement, the ones who did the hard work and put their lives on the line. And here ... | | |
| More... |
| | Adjusting | |
| By Brad Miller on1/26/2010 2:06 PM | |
| Well, things are picking up steam as far as the renovation to our sanctuary goes. Choate Construction has been on-site all week, taking down old lights, getting ready to put up new ones, working on the outside coverings for the stain glass windows on the outside walls, pulling out the pews, getting ready to work on the front wall and the expansion of the chancel area. The new stain glass will be made shortly, and the new front wall cross will arrive in the next week or so….whew, there is a lot of activity going on! Not sure how long it will actually take, but it is exciting to watch what is already going on.
Of course, this activity is what is making it necessary for us to worship in the fellowship hall. We have had 3 services and a Christmas Eve service in the fellowship hall and there is definitely a different feeling when we worship there as opposed to the sanctuary. Not worse, not better, just different. We are doing our best to adapt to our situation, which means changing som ... | | |
| More... |
| | Anticipation | |
| By Brad Miller on12/17/2009 10:57 AM | |
| Greetings on this chilly day,
As I was getting ready this morning, I was ticking off in my head the things that I still need to get done before Christmas. Suddenly a thought occurred to me: I wonder what Mary and Joseph were doing all those years ago a week before Jesus was born? They both had visits from angels – Mary in Nazareth, Joseph in a dream – so they knew something very special was about to happen, but had no clue as to exactly how that would all play out.
Were they planning their trip to Bethlehem to register for the census? Was Joseph finishing up a woodworking project for a client? Was Mary making sure that all was in order for their journey – extra clothes, food to be packed on the mule? Were they talking about what an exciting time it would be when the baby was born? Were they planning? Were they gathering the things they would need to welcome this new addition to their household? Did they dream together of what their child would become? ... | | |
| More... |
| | Remembrance | |
| By Brad Miller on12/9/2009 3:40 PM | |
| Greetings on this beautiful day,
I have reached one of those points in my life where I increasingly find myself saying things that I heard my father say. Things like, “What? That was 30 years ago? That can’t be right – it seems like yesterday.”
What prompted this thought was the first thing that popped into my head when a friend shared that yesterday was the 29th anniversary of John Lennon’s death. What? That can’t be right? It seems like yesterday!
It was, and still is, hard for me to get my head around the fact that someone would want to murder John Lennon. He was a poet of his generation, the conscience of an age, a chronicler of the times through some of the most wonderful music we had ever heard. Listen to a Beatles song today, even one from their first album and it sounds as fresh and new as ever. Listen to some Lennon’s more political songs like “Working Class Hero” and you will quickly realize that so many of the issues he ... | | |
| More... |
| | Thank You to Our Veterans | |
| By Brad Miller on11/17/2009 9:21 AM | |
| Greetings on this blustery day,
91 years ago, at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month, World War I ended. The Armistice that was signed between Germany and the Allied forces designated November 11, 1918 at 11:00 p.m. as the end of hostilities in a war that began in 1914. This war engulfed all of Europe and included combatants from all over the world, including the United States. In the four years of “The Great War”, over 30 million military personnel were either killed, wounded or missing in action. It was designated “The War to End All Wars.” Sadly, that designation has proven not to be true.
In the wake of the peace in Europe, President Wilson declared November 11th an official federal holiday: “Armistice Day”. President Wilson declared the holiday to help us remember those who fought for freedom, and to pledge to move forward so that no one might be called into such sacrificial service again. In the following decades, Americans became involve ... | | |
| More... |
| | Beauty, eh? | |
| By Brad Miller on11/3/2009 2:41 PM | |
| Greetings on this GORGEOUS day!
First, a note of pastoral advice and care: if you are inside and you don’t have to be…GET OUTSIDE NOW! Turn this computer off and go…I’m not kidding!
Okay, now that’s behind me….a dear friend of mine, whom I will call “Sparky” (mainly because that is what I call her – and she calls me “Skippy” – go figure) has started a “Facebook” exercise for her friends. It seems that when she was in college she used to hang out in a bar called “The White Horse.” (I know, I know, it’s hard to believe that a friend of mine would hang out in bars, but you know, my positive influence only goes so far…). Anyway, one of the things that Sparky and her friends used to do at the bar was write questions on napkins and put them in a basket and then pull them out one at a time and all give answers to the questions. Funny questions, thoughtful questions, light questions, and some seriously deep questions. All these many, many, many years later, she ... | | |
| More... |
| | This is the day... | |
| By Brad Miller on10/21/2009 4:34 PM | |
| Greetings!
I woke up this morning with a song in my head. When I got out of bed and looked out the window, I have to admit that my mood did not fit the song that was running through my head. Once again, I woke up to a drippy, drizzly, overcast, dreary morning. Yet the song kept playing:
“This is the day, this is the day that the Lord has made….I will rejoice, I will rejoice and be glad in it…” Bah Humbug!
The streets were no better. People unsure how to drive in the rain are still a mystery to me. The trick is slow down – not speed up! Traffic lights were out. A tree was sticking into one road. An accident made me go a different route. Still, the song kept playing: “This is the day that that the Lord has made…I will rejoice and be glad in it.” Oh pipe down, would ya’?!
As I grew closer to the church, the rain picked up. No longer was it a slight drizzle, but a downpour was beginning…and just as I was going ... | | |
| More... |
| | God's Presence | |
| By Brad Miller on10/21/2009 4:25 PM | |
| Greetings on this gorgeous day!
Just this week someone asked me how I know that God is present in the world. I was suddenly taken back to a place where a similar question was asked and answered about as eloquently as possible.
It was during my time as a visiting professor at the University of Missouri. Columbia, MO, the university’s hometown, sat dead center in the state of Missouri, half way between St. Louis and Kansas City. Three friends of mine and I spent a lot of weekends going to one of those cities or the other, since there wasn’t a lot to do in Columbia! We were very different people, the four of us. There was the dyed in the wool atheist; the disaffected fundamentalist still struggling with the faith of his parents; the struggling Catholic – faithful but questioning of the operation of the church; and me. We were from very different social milieu also. Me from the a big industrial city; one from New Zealand; one from the deep south and one from ... | | |
| More... |
|
|
|
 | |