HPIM2009

Originally uploaded by jicarney.

We did not have a church “bonfire” tonight, because we could not get a burn permit. But there is no permit required for “campfires,” so we had a church “campfire.”

It was fun. We had burgers, hot dogs and chicken breasts from the grill, and then roasted marshmallows and had s’mores.

They had encouraged people to bring instruments. I have not picked up my harmonica in months, but I brought it anyway, assuming that someone else would bring a guitar or something. No one did. I did a couple of things on the harmonica, but I’m so out of practice I couldn’t do too much.

Here are the rest of the photos.

The church I attend has been blessed with an unusually smart and nice pastoral spouse. Clare and Lloyd Doyle met in seminary, and although she didn’t follow him into the pulpit she displays her own spiritual leadership. Her latest project is that she wrote all of the November devotions for a new book, 365 Meditations for Mothers by Mothers. If you’re a mother, please check it out. I am certain it will be worth your time.

I forgot to add a link to the rest of my Galilean Service photos.

HPIM1963

Originally uploaded by jicarney.

First UMC has, for years, had a tradition of holding a cookout and worship service on the shores of Normandy Lake. The youth conduct the worship, which usually ends with one of the youth, portraying Jesus, coming ashore on a boat. This year, because of the drought, the levels of the lake are way, way down, and the water is so far from the normal shoreline that there wasn’t any practical way to do Jesus’ arrival the normal way. So they did something different, and it all worked anyway. It was a nice evening all around.

I hadn’t been in our local Christian bookstore in ages, but they’re having a big sale and I needed to buy a birthday present, so I popped in today. I found a suitable present (I’ll tell you about it after it’s been given), but I also bought something for myself: a TNIV / The Message//Remix parallel Bible. Ironically, I had paperback New Testaments of each of those versions, but not the whole Bible.

The TNIV (Today’s New International Version) was somewhat controversial when first released; it had some gender-neutral passages which the translators said were accurate but which critics called revisionist. But I like what I’ve read of the version, and I once heard someone from Cokesbury say that it was our current bishop’s favorite version, in spite of the fact that much of the official United Methodist literature uses the NRSV. (Gavin, maybe you could ask the bishop about this the next time your fly is open.)

The Message is a paraphrase, not a translation, and so I would never rely on it as my only Bible. But it’s powerful and vivid, and my own pastor uses it quite often from the pulpit. The Message//Remix is pretty much identical to the original except that it’s annotated to help you figure out verse numbers.

Unfortunately, this is relatively small volume, and so the print is really small, something that wouldn’t have been as much of a concern five or six years ago.

I am pleased to be able to report that Bishop Dick Wills of the Tennessee and Memphis conferences of the United Methodist Church is a truly helpful spiritual leader. A leader who is not afraid to call our attention to difficult truths. A leader who is willing to give even Gavin some timely advice, as you can see in this gripping, edge-of-your-seat re-creation:

Thanks to St. Phransus. (Go to his site to hear Gavin tell the story himself)

Ever since I’ve been a United Methodist layspeaker, I’ve received an invitation to the ceremony at Annual Conference during which layspeakers are honored. I’ve never gotten the chance to go until this year. It was a fine service. Bishop Sally Dyck of Minnesota was the guest speaker tonight, and her sermon was electrifying. It was based on the definition of the word “go” and about how we should take Jesus’ imperative in the Great Commission to heart as a church in our local communities. She ended with a story about reading a newspaper article about a First Church of God in which there was, at one point, a misprint making it “First Church of Go.” She challenged us to make our churches, and our denomination, the “First Church of Go.” A rousing sermon.

I ran into all kinds of people, including Bill Niles, Don Ladd, David Adams, Gerry Fanning and Mark Ashley. I saw Tom Nankervis and wanted to thank him for all he’s done helping to publicize Mountain T.O.P. in the Tennessee Conference Review, but I never got the chance to speak to him. I know that my own pastor, Lloyd Doyle, had been at conference earlier in the day; if he was there tonight, I didn’t see him. That’s possible, though; Murfreesboro First UMC has quite a large sanctuary.

One person I was delighted to speak to was our songleader for the evening, Tommy Vann. (He goes by “Thomas” now, but I will use the diminutive as a convenience in order to differentiate him from his father.) Tommy and I were friends as children; His father, also named Thomas Vann, was my father’s pastor at the time my father made a commitment to enter the ministry. My youngest brother, Thomas, is named for Thomas Vann. The last time I saw Tommy must have been eight or ten years ago when I was doing a Wednesday night roundtable meeting at Mountain T.O.P. and Tommy had brought a group of youth from his church.

Tommy has an incredible singing voice and is a great songleader, if tonight was any indication.