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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? |
| It's almost here... | |
| By Brad Miller on3/31/2010 3:23 PM | |
| Greetings on this gorgeous day!
It has already happened…but we need it to happen again. It is almost here…but still, it seems a long way off.
That in a nutshell is what Easter seems to be all about. We will gather on Sunday to celebrate the fact that the resurrection did happen, yet we still ache for resurrection in our own lives. We know that it is almost here, but can’t it just hurry up? As much as I love Lent and the buildup to Easter…as much as I love the celebration that will take place on Sunday all over the world…as much as I thankful for what Easter means to us all, I wonder sometimes if we don’t do the celebration a disservice by concentrating so much energy on one particular celebration on one particular day.
Oh, don’t get me wrong: the resurrection of Jesus is the most amazing, miraculous, life changing event I can even imagine. I give thanks every day for the fact that through Jesus, death has been overcome. I revel in each ... |  | |
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| | From the Winter Comes the Spring | |
| By Brad Miller on3/24/2010 9:00 AM | |
| Greetings!
Today is one of those days when winter seems like a distant memory…
Well, okay, not so distant. Monday morning about 8:00 a.m. I sat down at my desk, turned on my computer and waited for it to boot up so I could check my e-mail. As it was coming up, I glanced out the window to see…SNOW! And not just a flake or two that I had to strain to see and wonder if it really was snow…SNOW! Flurries that danced all around in front of me. I was in shock. Of course, it stopped within about 5 minutes, nothing stuck to the ground and it turned out to be a reasonably nice day. But still, I thought, “Please! I can’t take it any more!” I was reminded of a cousin of mine who went to college at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michigan. Marquette is about as far north as you can get in Michigan and is known for long, harsh winters. When he enrolled there he was looking forward to lots of skiing and snow-shoeing and outdoor winter activities. He reveled ... | | |
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| | Healing Sounds | |
| By Brad Miller on3/15/2010 8:08 AM | |
| Greetings on this beautiful day,
(You may be wondering why the Midweek Missive is coming a day early this week…it is because tomorrow I will be at an all day workshop called “Stewardship in the 21st Century: A Day of Theological Discussion” and so not around to send this out! Also, since Wednesday is our office manager’s day off, the office will be closed. If you need to leave a message please do so and I’ll get back with you as soon as possible.)
This past Sunday I was so moved by the service of healing led by Rev. Linda Whitmire. It was a reminder that we all have wounds that need healing and an even bigger reminder that through our relationship with God as revealed in Jesus Christ, healing is available to us. It is not always easy, but when we open up and try and turn our grief and pain over to God, the healing process can begin. Thanks to Rev. Whitmire and to Rev. Carol Mallon, who brought the stirring story of the cup that was not designed to hold liquid ... | | |
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| | Spring Training | |
| By Brad Miller on2/25/2010 9:41 AM | |
| Greetings on this chilly, sunny day,
Yesterday afternoon I heard a familiar sound. A sound that made my heart leap just a little bit. A sound that told me without equivocation that spring is coming. A sound that I heard over and over again. The sound was that of a baseball against a bat at the Oglethorpe University baseball stadium. When I sit at my computer and look out my office window this time of year, I have an almost unobstructed view of the infield of the Oglethorpe diamond. Yesterday they were having batting practice and I could sit and watch ball after ball being hit. After a long winter, it is one of the most wonderful sounds ever. (I know that some of you don’t understand, but that’s okay, because I know Judy Mowrey does, and that’s good enough for me.)
This morning when I got into the office I saw on the calendar that yesterday was the start of spring training. I read a story about the manager of the Detroit Tigers, Jim Leyland, and his excitem ... | | |
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| | Going it alone in Lent | |
| By Brad Miller on2/17/2010 11:42 AM | |
| Greetings on this cold morning,
Today is the beginning of Lent. Over the years, I have seen Lent observed in many different ways, and I have heard many explanations of what Lent it supposed to mean. The thing that has dawned on me recently is that those two issues – how to observe Lent and what Lent means are inextricably connected. Well, duh. But let me explain.
First, last and always, Lent is the most personal of all seasons of the Christian year. The fact that it ends with the most public of all Christian celebrations makes the internal disciplines of Lent all the more important. The fact is that the important thing about Lent is how it works for us, on us, to us. We can read lots of books expounding on what Lent is and how we are to observe it, but all those books are at best, loose guides from someone else’s experience, and at worse, something that sidetracks us from really looking at our experience and our own needs.
For me, Le ... | | |
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| | 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 ... | | |
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| | 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 ... | | |
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| | 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 ... | | |
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| | 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 ... | | |
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| | 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? ... | | |
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