Day 14 – Mentors and Friends

In Atlanta now with dear mentors and friends. I have known Pastor Rick and Harriett since 1998. Susan and I had just been married, my mother had died just days before, and we showed up on their doorstep to begin the pastoral internship year. One year turned into two and those years were some of the most formative of my/our life. I give thanks to God with deep gratitude for them.

His book tells the story for being a healthy and thriving church today:

Walking the streets of Decatur this morning and landed in their city square where I took this photo of John Lewis. The statue was entitled: Empathy. How fitting for a man who served so faithfully with his life. Our world can always use extra doses of empathy.

This Sunday we worshipped with the good people of Oakhurst Presbyterian. A wonderful spirit led congregation in Decatur, GA. The Pentecost spirit was alive and well on this day. Notice the Rooted and Rising Tree that serves as their logo. God keeps speaking.

Pastor Katie preached a powerful message and shared this Pentecost prayer from Walter Brueggemann: (this theologian and giant of the faith passed away on June 5th – his prophetic imagination has blessed me greatly).

We name you wind, power, force, and then, imaginatively, “Third Person.” We name you and you blow…
blow hard, blow cold, blow hot, blow strong, blow gentle, blow new…
Blowing the world out of nothing to abundance,
blowing the church out of despair to new life,
blowing little David from shepherd boy to messiah,
blowing to make things new that never were.
So blow this day, wind, blow here and there, power, blow even us, force, Rush us beyond ourselves, Rush us beyond our hopes, Rush us beyond our fears, until we enact your newness in the world. Come holy Spirit, come. Amen. 
(From Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth: Prayers of Walter Brueggemann, for Pentecost.)

Walter went on to write:

There are two things parents can give their children—roots and wings.

I wonder if that isn’t true about the Church’s vocation as well: the Spirit works in ways that give us, as both individuals and as congregations, roots and wings. We teach our children the stories of the faith and we ground them in a tradition that goes back not only to the communities we read about today in Jerusalem and in Rome, but back further still to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—back to the very beginnings of God calling a pilgrim people. The Church is a place with very deep roots. But the Holy Spirit—sometimes imagined as a dove—reminds us that discipleship is about learning to fly. Following Jesus is about learning to trust God enough to soar like an eagle, knowing and trusting the wind to blow us where she will, to blow us where we need to go.

Just breathe.

An evening barbecue with Rick and Harriet’s children and their families was a special delight! From high school until now, a whole lot of life and stories have been written.