maybe sometimes man is an island

                   

I was reading an article in Down East magazine about an artist in Maine who paints the same subject over and over.  His name is Tom Curry and he lives in the mid-coast Maine town of Brooklin.  The subject that he continually paints is a small island about a mile from the town’s coastal shoreline, Chatto Island.  And while the subject of each artwork is seemingly the same, each painting looks remarkably different reflecting the various moods of light, clouds, tide, and weather.

Tom’s friends will often say “What? You’re doing another painting of Chatto Island?”  But Tom responds “Its not the island I’m painting.  The island is about one fifteenth of the whole picture.  Less!  What is really happening in these paintings is not the island, it is everything else.”

 This makes me think about the young people that are around us and part of our lives.  I can’t help but make the comparison to the elements in the environments that surround them.  I think of the many things that affect them — parents, friends, teachers, school life, church, sports and activities.  Are those elements bringing sun, or rain, wind or calm? 

 I hope that when you encounter a young person (or anyone for that matter) you will think about what element you are bringing to their environment.  Are you bringing sunshine?  Can you bring a sense of calm if they seem to be experiencing turmoil?  Maybe sometimes man is an island and we can be the element that changes the weather in someones life, even if only for a moment.

Stone Soup Supper Club

Stone soup, I think we’ve all heard the story, right?  It tells the story of the weary traveler or the hungry soldiers who ask for a bit of food from a village that is convinced it is impoverished and have nothing to offer.  So with a little exaggeration and a lot of encouragement, the villagers are coaxed into sharing their small offerings and in doing so they are able to see the abundance of community.  The result is that everyones bellies are filled, but more importantly their souls are nourished too.

 A few folks from the New Connections Sunday School Class have taken a page from the fable and made it their own.  It started last week with an impromptu midweek e-vite by David Roberts to get together for pizza.  A handful of fellows met at Bazbeauxs and enjoyed it so much that David sent out another invitation the following week to just get together at the church and make “stone soup.”

Last night, the church kitchen was filled with a delicious aroma as the huge kettle simmered on the stovetop.  I saw chicken, carrots, potatoes, onions, peas, bubbling in the pot, all brought from different hands.  It was a wonderful way to bring the ideas of the familiar tale literally to life and truly experience the concept of community that is the heart of the story.

These are the sorts of things that I love about Broadway.  People gathering together in ways that are spontaneous, fun, authentic and truly embody the spirit of our mission…living our Life Together with great mutual delight!

Hip Hop Happens!

 October 13^th was our Fall Fest and we had a wonderful afternoon here at church enjoying the crisp fall weather, roasting hot dogs and s’mores, listening to gifted musicians and sharing food and conversations.  In short, it was a feast!  Folks from near and far joined together to share in fun and fellowship. 

For me, one of the highlights of the afternoon was watching our high school youth group in stylish, coordinated outfits display their energy, creativity and talent in exuberant hip-hop dance.  Kyla, Dana, Dede, Talaytha, Tanicia, Ieesha! These six youth have been bringing their energy and ideas to room 312 upstairs in the church since late summer.  They have been meeting faithfully three times a week and working with CTS youth intern Ayanna Garrett doing what brings them joy and excitement…Dancing.   

But how did this energetic group come to be a part of our life together here at Broadway?  This summer, Kyla Gray, a 10^th grader at Decatur High School, worked with JSP director Sholanda Lyons helping with the younger children in the program.  Near the end of the program, DeAmon Hargis invited Kyla to have a conversation with me about ways that we could support what she might be interested in doing.  Kyla brought two friends, Dana and Dede, and we talked about things that interested them…art, fashion, writing … but it turned out that what they really wanted was a place they could dance.  In the previous year, they had performed short dances during breaks in the sporting events at their high school and they wanted to continue to do this.  They needed a place to work toward building routines and a repertoire that they could showcase at different places like their school and in the community.

And so we began to meet here at the church.  Slowly we started to get to know each other a little.  We had relationships to build.  We had bridges to build over chasms of age and current culture.  And we soldiered on. Kyla and Dana and Dede brought more friends.  They began working hard at choreographing routines that were creative and exciting.  The routines began to take shape.  Ayanna Garrett began to meet with them to help and guide them.  And soon they were ready to take their efforts to their school to gain approval to do their routines and show the other students their talent and hard work.  They were excited about this prospect and talked about looking for ways to raise money for some costumes.  They were on a roll!

Now, no good story would be interesting without a little conflict.  Right?  Well, as sometimes happens, situations change, people in charge change, ideas change, you know the story.  The “powers that be” at the school did not seem as open to the hip-hop dancing idea as they had in the past.  The group met twice with school officials and … well, let’s just say it didn’t look promising.

And yet the Spirit of God continued to work.  At this very point in the story, a small card arrived at the church office.  In it was a monetary gift from “a child of this church,” Mrs. Hazel Jane Crosier.  In her card, Mrs. Crosier said the gift was “to be used for your active youth programs.”    Wow!  When I learned about this gift, I knew I had to share this information with the kids!  That evening when they came to practice dancing, Ayanna and I had them take a break to talk about the gift and how this was an example of how God can work.  We thought it would be a little bit of a balm to soothe their disappointment about the struggles with the school.  While we were talking about how God blesses us in unexpected ways, one of the youth blurted out “well, let’s pray that the school will let us dance!”  Not missing a beat, Ayanna said “OK!  Let do that!”  And right then and there we all joined hands and prayed together.  It was a moment of pure grace that I will never forget as I felt the bonds between us strengthen and grow.

I don’t know what the future holds for our dancers.  I don’t know what doors will open or what opportunities are in store.  But I do know that God is at work in all of our lives and if we trust Him, together we can see where we are being led and what great things we are called to do.

Generosity in Action

I was recently looking at the website for the Spirit and Place Festival that will be taking place November 2 – 18 here in Indianapolis.  Broadway is hosting an event on November 10th called Hidden in Plain Sight and I was curious to learn a little more about what other events were being offered around town. 

As I brought up the website’s home page (www.spiritandplace.org/Home,) I was intrigued by the festival’s theme for 2007: Living Generously.  What an interesting topic to tackle.  It made me think about how difficult a concept this is in a time when we seem to be surrounded by rampant consumerism and conspicuous affluence. 

 To help focus this idea, the festival organizers posed these questions:  What constitutes a generous community or neighborhood? How do we welcome the “other” in our midst? What treasures are “hidden in plain sight?” Around Broadway, many answers to these questions quickly come to mind.  This isn’t a new subject around here and I think we have been asking these questions in various forms for a long time. 

Yet, working with our children and youth has given me a new way to see generosity in action.   This past Sunday, we were blessed to see our youth take center stage in our worship service as we welcomed IPS Superintendent, Dr. Eugene White to our pulpit. It was wonderful to see all the young people who took the time to be a part of this wonderful education service.  Between services, I was having a conversation with Kirk Taylor and the subject of the fall confirmation class being that will soon be starting came up.  Kirk, who is now a high school senior offered, “Is there any way I can help with the confirmation class?  Maybe I can help by being someone who’s a little older, between the youth and the adults who are really old!”  My laughter was mingled with amazement at the fact that this young man was willing to share his time and experience so generously.  Kirk took part in the confirmation experience just a few years ago, and now he is ready to start giving back to those following behind in his footstep. Later that morning, I witnessed graciousness and kindness when I had one too many youth ushers on my hands.  My own error had caused the situation and I was struggling to find a way to make the situation right.  As I searched for a solution, Jordan generously said, “that’s OK, I don’t have to do it.”  And miraculously the problem was solved.   

But most of all, I am encouraged to know that the spirit of living generously begins at the youngest of ages.  Our families are encouraging our children to act in selfless ways from the start and our church family provides opportunities to give and share, even for the littlest ones.  At our last Families and Friends pitch-in the children were going through the line at the food table filling their plates.  A fresh fruit platter was a hit with the youngsters.  My daughter, Mari, who was one of the last children in the line got to the fruit, looked up at me sadly and said “there aren’t any more strawberries.”  Without a word or a prompt, 4 year old Andrew reached onto his own plate, removed one of his strawberries, and handed it to Mari.  If that isn’t Living Generously, I don’t know what is.

Courage to Lead

Rachel and I spent a few days this past week in Michigan at a retreat put on by the Center for Courage & Renewal.  The workshop was held at the Fetzer Institue near Kalamazoo – an amazing place of beauty and solace formed by the vision of a man who felt called to create a place that would nurture spiritual wholeness, John Fetzer.  It was a truly singular experience in which we participated in communal and individual activities that were designed to help foster personal and professional renewal and allowed us to expand our ability to listen, be present and build trustworthy relationships. 

The workshop was led by Parker J. Palmer, an author, activist and educator.  Parker is the senior advisor to the Center for Courage and Renewal (which is co-directed by Rick and Marcy Jackson) and has contributed a significant body of knowledge and experience to the understanding of what he calls “soul and role.” The purpose of the workshop was to deepen each individual’s sense of purpose and meaning in a way that allowed them to find the courage to live authentically.  This is how Parker Palmer puts it:

“Is this person the same on the inside as he or she seems to be on the outside?  Children ask this about their parents, students about their teachers, employees about their supervisors, patients about their physicians, and citizens about their political leaders.  When the answer is yes, we relax, believing that we are in the presence of integrity and feeling secure enough to invest ourselves in the relationship and all that surrounds it.”

We’ve had alot of conversations around Broadway about connections and relationships.  We’ve talked about listening to hear each others dreams and passions.  For me these have been tremendously helpful in encourageing me to be present and deliberate in my interaction with others.  But I think my experience at this workshop has opened my eyes to another dimension that I don’t think I had fully explored.  That is the awareness that when I strive to understand myself and trust my inner teacher, I am better equipped to form more genuine and meaningful relationships. 

There are alot of ways of going about this inner examination.  Rachel suggested one last month in her Tower Chimes reflection, Clearness Committees, and there is a link to a description of Clearness Committees written by Parker Palmer on the Broadway website home page.  However, no matter what method one feels comfortable with, I would like to encourage everyone to try to devote some time to a little bit of self reflection.  Besides the sense of peace that usually accompanies this inner journey, I think it also can have a positive impact on how we interact with each other and help us continue to live out our individual callings and mission with a greater degree of authenticity.

“Count your blessings…

…name them one by one.”  Does anyone remember singing that old hymn? I do.  I couldn’t find it in the new red United Methodist Hymnal, nor was it in the old purple one, so it might not have been a standard around UMC circles, but it was certainly sung pretty often in the churches that I attended growing up.  I remember as a youngster in the early ’70s that this hymn, to me, seemed ancient.  Its simple, plodding melody was characteristic of so many of our congregational selections and wasn’t cool like the hip new tunes that were making the rounds in the young folks gatherings — you know, those groovy, guitarry ones that the high school age youth group got to sing like Pass It On, Kum Ba Yah and Let Us Break Bread Together.  I was too young and immature to appreciate the meaning of the words woven into the antique sing-songy tune and I couldn’t get through the familiar refrain pounded out on our church’s warbley, out-of-tune upright piano without just a little eye rolling.

Of course time and maturity change lots of things.  I now understand what the writer was trying to convey.  I also have a greater appreciation for the generation that embraced the song and the hard times they went through — a time in our history when material things were a little more scarce and the reminder to look for unseen blessing may have made the difficult lives of some easier to bear.  And like the antique out-of-tune upright piano that now graces my own home, the familiarity and simplicity of this (and many other) old time favorites has the power to bring  me a measure of comfort and peace.

I thought about the words to this song last Sunday when a group of folks hung out after the worship service to take part in kind of a mini-workshop.  The activity we took part in is called Asset Mapping and its a staple activity for Asset Based Community Development folks.  But I think it could have been called the Count Your Blessings Game because that’s really what it was.   And I call it a game because it was really fun!  How do I know?  Well, because everyone got in on the action!  Kids as young as 6 to folks well past 60!

 

The object of the “game” was to name the assets we have in and around Broadway — our blessings, if you will — and identify them by general categories and keep them accessible.  So we took big sticky post-it notes and wrote down each asset in the category called out to us and stuck them on a bigger sheet of poster sized paper to keep track.  Some of the categories we used were physical assets, individual assets, associations, and economic assets. 

 

The number of assets called out were amazing!  It was fascinating to see how many treasures we could come up with connected to Broadway — gifts, talents, associations, connections, spaces and places!   It was terrific.  But the creative part came next, for we were then charged with taking several disparate gifts from several categories and trying to find ways to put them together — to connect the dots.  As you can imagine, the possible combinations are endless and so the challenge was to find assets that work together and still try to think out of the box for new ideas. 

Putting together all these ideas in creative (and sometimes zany) ways was fun.  But most of all it was eye opening to the innumerable ways we can share in the abundance we are surrounded by.  It was wonderful to be reminded that there are so many gifts and talents among us that are just waiting to be discovered.  What an enjoyable afternoon it was and a fabulous way to celebrate God’s generosity — kind of like counting our blessings and naming them one by one, sung to a hip new tune!

Teaching on the run

One of the things we seem to have an abundance of around Broadway is Teachers!  We have so many terrific people connected with the education community at all levels, from the elementary grades up into the college and graduate ranks.  Teachers, counselors, principals, administrators, board members, professors, active, retired — we seem to have a pretty wide and wonderful sampling.   A couple posts ago, I gave a shout out for Teresa who was featured in my local community magazine.  And so many other of our education folks have been honored in various ways by their communities and institutions in the past.

 Today’s IndyStar features another Broadway member, Alan Burrell.  Alan teaches science at Belzer Middle School in Lawrence Township and was recently a recipient of a prestigious teacher of the year award.  Not one to rest on his laurels (literally or figuratively) Alan is always looking for ways to challenge his students. 

His extraordinary efforts have landed him on the Star’s front page!  Check out what he’s doing to inspire kids to attain their physical and mental potential.   To read the Star Article by Barb Berggoetz click HERE

photo by Danese Kanon/The Star

Goodbye Struggles, Hello Authenticity

Today I said no to my editor. She had suggested that the scope of a story I was writing might expand with the defeat of SJR 7, the constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. (Hurray for that, by the way!) Because I’m covering a public forum to discuss the connection between reproductive rights and gay rights, it would make perfect sense for me to write the main news story on the defeat. It would fit right in. But I’m not going to. Politics are not my interest; I’m embarrassed to admit how little I’ve followed SJR 7’s saga. I would not do the thing justice.  

The fact that I felt free to say so is testament to how far I’ve come. I have spent much of my life swimming against the current of my own creativity. Trying hard to fulfill someone else’s expectations (or the merest suggestion of an expectation – I’m very good at anticipating these things). Thinking that the things that come easy to me must not really count as gifts, precisely because they are so easy.

But what I’m learning at last is that struggling is not necessary. Struggling is not laudable. And it typically doesn’t result in a stellar product.

In my regular employment situations of the past, I often forced myself to jump through hoops that felt deadening to me. But now I’m a freelancer, and there are plenty of things I jump at the chance to write about, things that stir me, that don’t require faked interest. Such as the Zawadi Exchange at Broadway UMC, which embodies the very philosophy I’m talking about here. And from my limited experience with Broadway, I’ve gotten the impression that freeing people to follow their heart’s desires is one of the things this church does best.

It helps that last week I sat around a table with this editor and the other freelancers she uses, and we all shared our passions, the kinds of stories that draw us. She took notes. She talked about our credentials; just by living our lives and being involved in our communities, we have credentials.

I realized that I truly don’t have to pretend to be something I’m not, even when a paycheck is at stake. All people want from me is authenticity.

Class Act

 

One of the things that we try very hard to do around here (Broadway) is to recognize and celebrate the gifts that folks bring to our fellowship.  We are surrounded by so many gifts — after all, we all have them!  And it is wonderful when we can call attention to the talents we see in each other. 

However, my attention was recently drawn to one of our folks, Teresa White, in a place where I was not expecting to see someone I know, Noblesville Magazine.  This feature publication of the Indianapolis Star is one of those glossy periodicals which highlight local places and events.  It often features the faces of “movers and shakers” in the community at charity events and the like.  It also does a nice job recognizing people who are making a difference in the community and that was the category in which Teresa was recently featured.

The spring edition included an article that recognized four area high school educators who were chosen by seniors for making a special impact on them.  Instructors who had asked for just a little bit more from them, and in so doing had inspired them to exceed their own expectations for themselves.   Teresa, who teaches at Noblesville High School, was chosen as “that instructor” by Josh Hall.  This is what Josh had to say about his Honors English teacher:

By Josh Hall, Noblesville High School

Think of any topic and you can be fairly certain that Mrs. Teresa White has talked about it in one of her classes. Impressionist art, transcendentalism, Huck Finn, AIDS - you name it, we probably covered it in Mrs. White’s junior honors English class. This eclecticism is precisely what has profoundly influenced me as her pupil, and it is what makes her one of the most talented educators at Noblesville High School.  

I have been privileged enough to be Mrs. White’s pupil three out of my four years in high school. When I first began in her broadcast journalism class, I was a product of the worksheet method, a slave to the easy, passive homework structure of some unfortunately awful teaching styles. Mrs. White’s classes require no passivity or rote memorization. Students are expected to challenge themselves and pursue their interests.

This method still is not tempting for those many upperclassmen afflicted with “senioritis.” Now I am a senior writer on the staff of the school newspaper, Mill Stream, which Mrs. White oversees. Though my apathetic senior self is drawn to the computer and the enticing world of online Boggle, Mrs. White always sees what it best for me.

“Perhaps you should talk to your state senator about that story of yours. That’d be good journalism, hmmm?” she says, titling her head and arching an eyebrow in that lovably sarcastic way. I hate that sometimes, especially when I know she’s right, but it’s so necessary and you can’t help but smile at Mrs. White’s earnestness.

I hope other students do the same for many years to come.

Around Broadway, we are grateful for the many places Teresa invests her heart and energy.  From tutoring to choir to committees, there always seems to be something that she is working on.  So I am truly pleased to see Teresa recognized in a place like Noblesville Magazine for making a difference in the lives of the students she encounters every day.  We know it is well deserved.  The next time you pass her, maybe you can tell her “thanks” too.

* * * * * * * * * * *

 (I need to thank my friend, IndyStar reporter - John Hughey, for supplying the text from article for me to post here.  John, your star has not faded!  DC)

Making Ripples

 A couple of weeks ago I shared my take on our group’s experience participating in a Flourising Congregations workshop put on by the Indianapolis Center for Congregations.  Yesterday’s mail brought a letter from the Center thanking the participants for taking part and contributing to the event.  It also encouraged us to check out their website to see a few photos from the conference and read their recap of the event. 

I was pretty psyched to see our testimony in pictures in many places on the Center’s site.  It looks like the work going on around Broadway is pretty exciting to others as well.  Check out the pictures of the workshop and other happenings sponsored by the Center for Congregations at http://centerforcongregations.org/default.aspx 

 (Just a hint — let the photos at the top of the home page scroll through, you should see several familiar faces.)