When preparing for our weekly communications with you, our beloved members & guests, we often discuss how best to connect.  We evaluate all our offerings: hospitality, faith-based classes, groups, and service projects.  Andre House has been a mission partner of Pinnacle Presbyterian for many, many years.  We have a fantastic liaison and each month we promote four volunteer shifts, three days per month (first Tuesday, second Sunday, and fourth Saturday. These reminders are shared in both our weekly OCL (Our Common Life) and our Weekly E-Blast.

So, like you, our staff is used to seeing these requests and often overlooks the need.  But, in June, we decided that as a staff, we would spend an afternoon serving.  We were allowed to reserve 8 spots vs our typical 4, and we carpooled to 11th Ave and Jackson in downtown Phoenix on Tuesday, Aug 2.

We learned so much - and shared so much - and gained so much.  I hope you stop a staff member and gain their perspective as well.  I wanted to be sure to share a few highlights from my experience:

• Did you know 1,400 men and women live on the streets, in tents, in a 4-block radius of Jackson and 11th Ave?

• Did you know that these ‘clients’ use Andre House as their physical address?

• Did you know that Andre House serves one meal each day, the evening meal, and the same menu is served each week, so their guests know what to expect? 

• Did you know that 85% of these homeless are men, (size 30-36) who are in desperate need of shoes, underwear, and socks?

• Did you know that Andre House has a FULL basement of donations that desperately needs sorted and moved to the ‘store’ upstairs so clients can shop for items?

• Did you know that Brophy High School students serve almost every day feeling confident, safe, and with smiles on their faces, even though some of what they see is so hard to understand?

• And finally, did you know that they need you?  Whatever physical means you have, they’ll find a spot for you.  Bring your love and I promise you will gain much more than you share.

Take the time and sign up today.  Email: andrehouse@pinnaclepres.org and Ms. Stephanie will give you all the details.

For the summer of 2022, I’m choosing and reposting some BLOG posts long forgotten, from the first months of Echoes.  I posted this one on October 11, 2011. It was itself an excerpt from a longer article I had written for the publications Reflections in the Fall of 2007.  It reflections on a book written in 1970. All this layer on layer makes a point, that ideas can have lives that last longer than a moment. I’d write the same thing today, so offer it again to you . . . for what it might be worth. 

“We believe that everyone — political figure or commentator, citizen or alien, man or woman, black or white, conservative or radical — who at this particular time says that this people and this nation are in deep, perhaps irremediable political trouble, speaks the truth.” — Will D. Campbell and James Y. Holloway.

Some words come back with haunting relevance. Back in the 1960s, these two southern churchmen, Will Campbell and James Y. Holloway co-edited the journal of the Committee of Southern Churchmen, called Katallagete: Be Reconciled. A collection of their essays from that journal was published in 1970 under the title, Up To Our Steeples in Politics (Paulist Press). The words above led to the essay from which the title of the book was drawn. Wipf and Stock Publishers re-released this book. It’s eerily timely, but not for reasons a quick reading of this lead might have you believe. For these writers go on to unsettle an easy take on their assessment.

“Stated simply, we believe that the fundamental crises in our land rise from the obsession with politics, the faith that the political order is the only source and authority from which we can and ought to seek relief from what ails us as a community and as individuals. Because there is in our land no real challenge to these obsessions, we believe that our crises will deepen, perhaps even beyond a point of no return . . .”  (111)

In 1970, they were calling into question the “political messianism” of Christian liberals. Nearly 40 years later, it would seem that the others have also taken the bait — the belief that we are called to create via political action what the New Testament claims God has already accomplished for us in Christ: reconciliation. Liberals haven’t left it far behind, however, they've just been outflanked. So Campbell’s and Holloway’s message goes both ways, trying to identify an error we share when we trust Caesar over Christ, and confuse politics — a means for an end, which is justice — with the end itself. Despite flowery theological or biblical rhetoric accompanying the political action of the church, to the extent that the church, conservative or liberal, trusts Caesar to do its bidding it falls inside Caesar’s yoke. “Is obedience to Christ exhausted by immersing oneself in Caesar’s definition of politics? Is a witness to Christ’s victory uniting all men [sic] best made by service to what Caesar judges as the urgent issues of our times? Might it not be that Caesar himself is confused, or is lying? There is evidence in the history of Western civilization to support both affirmations” (118). 1970 or today?

What if Christians worked as hard to change the subject as many work to sway opinion within the subjects we are handed by powers that use us more than hear us? Now I realize that in asking that question I’m stretching credulity, for one of our most difficult challenges in the American church is deciding who, at the beginning and end of all of this, is us? Are we Americans, Christians, Christian Americans, or American Christians? Must we begin to think again about the difference, all the while admitting the confusion? I believe so. And Campbell and Holloway have a word worth remembering.

These two write in a great and too often ignored tradition of Christian thinking, refusing to acknowledge any monopoly of means (economics, politics, schooling, development, relentless pursuit of happiness) over holy ends (commonwealth, peace, knowledge, justice, joy). They would remind us that trusting techniques of human invention as primary vehicles for the divine will amount to idolatry, and should be treated as such.

Are Campbell and Holloway calling for a retreat? Are we to hold ourselves up in Christian enclaves, depending on what the world can give us but not making any contribution toward the common good of those who don’t live with us in our enclave? Not at all. We are to engage, to wish peace upon the city, and to work for it as best we can. But we are not to trust it too much, or like it too much, or confine our desires to its standards too much, lest we begin to confuse it with our home.

Campbell and Holloway are working within the kind of distinction Stanley Hauerwas described a few years later, the distinction between the church as a peculiar politics that gives witness to the justice it believes God has already accomplished in Christ (beyond and more powerful than economics and politics, and nonviolent down to its core in Christ), and a political church that seeks to produce something like justice within a world gone off-kilter and irretrievably distant to the ways of God (bound to economics and politics as the primary tools of human freedom). We are called to give witness to what we begin to see, that God has reconciled the world — that reconciled, we need no longer kill each other because we are afraid, or angry, or belittling, or prejudice. We can live reconciled, even before our politics catch up, even before we agree, even before we approve of each other. And by so doing, we will humble the political for the sake of new politics (God’s politics).

This month we conclude our youth group series Faith in an Anxious World by Fuller Youth Institute. As a youth group, we went on an expanded journey studying and reflecting upon New Testament stories where Jesus enters into anxious situations with his disciples. This month we end our series by focusing on a familiar story in the Gospel of Mark. The collection of passages that we will focus on for our concluding lesson is commonly referred to as, “Jesus feeds the 5,000”. I’m sure you know the story well. When we dive into this set of scriptures, it becomes clear that this is not just a story about Jesus feeding the masses on his own, but instead calling on his flawed and tired disciples to help.

For being considered the happiest place on earth, nowhere in my life have I seen a greater concentration of exhausted parents and crying cranky children than at Disney World. Perhaps, that is how these early disciples felt in the story, like exhausted parents at Disney World.

“When it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a deserted place, and the hour is now very late; send them away so that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy something for themselves to eat. But he answered them, ‘You give them something to eat”’. (Mark 6:35-37).

Although these parents at Disney World are tired, they push through their own exhaustion to care for their children because that is what parents do. They balance an overpriced stuffed Mickey and a cold half-eaten churro while making their way through the crowds of Main Street all in hopes of getting a decent view of the nighttime show. This is followed by long lines for the packed, standing-room-only, bus ride back to the hotel as they prepare to do this all again the next day because the parents purchased park hopper tickets.

Even as tired and flawed disciples, Jesus still seeks out our help and calls us to serve our broken word. May we be sustained by the Holy Spirit and renewed by the gift of the sabbath, all while giving God thanks that we are called to such extraordinary work. Praise be to God.

What would you do if Dippy the Dinosaur came to our church? I bet you weren’t expecting that question, were you?

Well, you might want to know who Dippy the Dinosaur is before you can answer the question, right? Well, Dippy isn’t another version of Barney, the beloved-by-children, optimistic, purple T-rex who teaches through songs and dance routines. No, Dippy the Dinosaur is “a plaster cast replica of the fossilized bones of a Diplodocus carnegii skeleton” who normally resides in London. 

Four years ago, Dippy the Dinosaur left his home at the Natural History Museum in London and traveled all about England on a tour of British ‘museums.’  One stop along his journey was not a museum, though. It was church…a very big church: Norwich Cathedral. The eighty-five-foot-long Dippy took up residence for four months in the nave of the 800-year-old cathedral. Over 234,000 people came to visit Dippy in those four months! That’s a lot of visitors to one church in just a third of a year! Can you imagine a quarter of a million people traipsing through Pinnacle’s sanctuary over a three-month period?

Well, you might be wondering why I even know about Dippy’s little sojourn in Norwich (which lies about 100 miles northeast of London)? Well, as it happens, I visited Norwich Cathedral about 25 years ago, to visit an acquaintance who was the organist-choir-director there at that time. It was amazing to explore the cathedral and to realize that Christian worship had been going on in that space for eight centuries!

A couple of weeks ago, I was wondering if that organist, David Dunnett, was still at Norwich Cathedral. So, I searched the internet and found a YouTube video of a recital David was giving in Norwich just one year ago. “Cool!” I thought, “He’s still there.” As I sat watching the video, I noticed (I mean, how could I miss it!) a giant dinosaur in the middle of the church…right where the people are supposed to be sitting. A dinosaur in church?! What’s that all about?

I had to do some research. What I found was a lot about the dinosaur’s draw:

The Dean of Norwich, the Very Rev Jane Hodges, said the popularity of Dippy, its accompanying exhibition, and other events, had been "…truly amazing. Our prehistoric guest has been so incredibly popular and inspired so many people of all ages," she said. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-norfolk-59039396

Inspired so many? To do what? To think about God? What I didn’t find was any theological discussion on the impact of Dippy’s taking up residence in an ancient place of Christian worship.

Did the cathedral see itself as just another of the eight “venues” Dippy visited?

Did the cathedral see Dippy’s popularity as a way to welcome a quarter of a million people who might not otherwise have stepped into the church, creating a place of hospitality for strangers?

Did the cathedral want to show that faith and science were not incompatible?

I am not sure. What I did wonder about was what people at Pinnacle would think of an 85-foot, prehistoric guest taking up residence down our middle aisle for several months.

What is this? It’s just a gimmick! It’s an abomination! It’s an eyesore! How much is this costing us? What do Dinosaurs have to do with Jesus?

On the Monday after preaching a sermon on “distractions” to our devotional and faith life, I would hope that whatever occurs in our sanctuary focuses our attention on God and the love that God has shown us through Jesus.

But if not dinosaurs, what will draw people to church?” someone might ask. My wager, as a pastoral theologian, is that our witness to the world should always be one of hospitality, welcoming the stranger in our midst. As the hymn says, “They will know we are Christian by our love.”  What do you think will draw people in? What do you think about dinosaurs in worship? What best helps you focus on God’s love for us in Jesus?

To learn more about Dippy the Dinosaur (at Norwich Cathedral) watch the video below.

Choir rehearsals finished: √

Summer schedule done: √

Plans for fall on the way: √

Now what?

Summertime is a time to regroup, recoup, and reconnect with those dear to us. For Ilona and me, that included attending the national convention of the American Guild of Organists in Seattle last week. The convention is biennial (this time triennial because of Covid.). Almost 1000 organists gathered for concerts, recitals, worship, workshops, and some time for socializing with our colleagues, peers, students, and friends. It was a stimulating and rewarding time for both of us. In fact, we were both so busy seeing those we can rarely see, we barely saw each other!

We were both involved in parts of the presentations given there as well. I presented a workshop on César Franck, whose 200th birth the convention was celebrating. I showed how some of his easier works can be used as teaching pieces, or in worship, using the principles of French organ performance that Franck used in his larger works.[1]

Ilona is a writer and editor for a large-scope project, The Online Encyclopedia of the Organ. Organized by Dr. Kimberly Marshall, organ professor at Arizona State University, Ilona is writing the entries for Polish and Russian organs. This open source encyclopedia will bring together useful historical research all in one place. [2]

It is a treat for organists to hear one another in live performance. Since we all perform at roughly the same time on Sunday mornings, it is seldom that we hear one another play for worship. We were treated to a wide variety of services: a choral evensong, a Lutheran service of Midday Prayer, an Advent service of Lessons and Carols, and a hymn festival based on the Psalms.

Why am I telling you this? You just might find some elements from these services coming into Pinnacle’s worship in the coming year. Organists and other church musicians learn from each other, mining the best of our own traditions and sharing it with each other. What a blessing it was to be able to gather live, in-person, (always masked at venues) and enjoy sharing our work and friendships together.

[1] For more detail about this workshop, connect here: https://agoseattle2022.com/schedule/category/workshop/day/2022-07-06/

[2] This workshop description, Global Research Perspective and the Organ, is here: https://agoseattle2022.com/schedule/category/workshop/day/2022-07-07/