over and around the rainbow

One of the many things I loved about living in North Newton, and so close to Bethel College, was the fact that the chimes on campus accompanied me on my walk to church every day, and sometimes on my way home. These bells became my friends; they helped me mark time and sometimes, they called me into a spirit of worship.

Fortunately, for me, there is a nearby church that has a bell tower, so my days aren’t as lonely as I feared they would be here in Kansas City. I have my chimes so I’m happy, a good part of the time at least.

Speaking of bells and chimes, Ive been doing my own ringing of bells. Pictured here is a bell I received when graduating from seminary. I’ve decided to ring it every time grant money is received for Freedom School. Click here for more information about this amazing program that Rainbow has the privilege to host every summer. Rachel Hostetler, our community service coordinator, works hard at writing grants. Ringing a bell is the least I can do to support her in this important, if not challenging work.  I was happy to ring it last week when a grant in the amount of $10,000 arrived.

Who knows, maybe I’ll also ring it every year if and when we meet our annual budget.

So let’s keep listening for the bells that announce good news, that call us into worship, and that help us mark time!

Every first Wednesday of the month, a group gathers in a circle at the front of the Sanctuary at Rainbow for a simple service of prayer and song, known as Taizé. I was first introduced to Taizé services in seminary, and am glad to be in a community that values this monastic way of centering, praying and worshiping.

Taizé actually refers to a community in France. It is an ecumenical monastic order, which brings together people from around the world. Our very own Rachel Hostetler has visited this community and is one of the leaders of this monthly service at Rainbow.

I find these services to be calming, partly because I love sitting in the Sanctuary at Rainbow with dimmed lights, and candles, and light streaming through the stained glass windows.  I become aware of my shallow breath and breathing, and then find a rhythm and then, after awhile, if I really listen, the community gathered starts to breathe together and you realize that you are part of something much larger and more profound. The songs that we sing are simple and repetitive. And you might think you would get bored singing the same words and melody over and over, but somehow every time through, the song is different. People’s voices and energy fade in and out, and eventually, some will start to hum, or simply sit in silence soaking in the rich sounds and light. The point is not to perform the song or get the notes right, the point is to be Present to the moment, Present to our breath, Present to one another, Present to God.

This is generally what you can expect if you come tonight, and I hope you do come tonight!

Prelude by amazing musicians
2 Songs
Reading (scripture)
2 Songs
Meditation reading (usually not scripture)
Time of silent worship
3 Songs (with the encouragement to light a candle during this time)
Short Closing Prayer (from Taizé website)
Postlude by amazing musicians

I recently participated in a community-wide Thanksgiving Service in the nearby neighborhood of Argentine. Here is my Thanksgiving reflection in case anyone is interested. Argentine thanksgiving

One of the highlights of this service was visiting with members of the Argentine Mennonite Church. In fact, Mennonites had a pretty good showing at this community-wide service! Pictured here starting on the left side of the table: Ruth Harder, Mervin Hershberger (pastor of Argentine Mennonite), Rachel Hostetler and Judy Hershberger (Mervin’s wife). Right side of the table: Marsha and Arlis Diener (from Argentine), Karen and Cliff Hostetler, and Marcia and Phil Rhoads.

Here are a few more photos of Argentine Mennonite Church. Look for more posts about Argentine in the future!

For the past two months, a small group of Rainbow folks have gathered to sing hymns at Freedom Pointe. This is the current residence for Arlie Regier (pictured here on the far left, together with his wife Sue, next to him).

The group changes every week, as do the hymns the group chooses to sing. Today we enjoyed singing some Advent and Christmas carols. We were even called a heavenly chorus by a Freedom Pointe staff person!

While we were there today I served Arlie and Sue communion. Last time I did this, we talked about the leaves on the communion table extending 10 miles to Freedom Pointe. Thank God for large tables, where there is room for All. (Pictured here is my traveling communion kit.)

Arlie and Sue said the songs we sing stay with them all week, or at least until Wednesday! Then, Arlie asked how he could repay us and Mitch Kaufman didn’t skip a beat and said, “keep letting us come.”  Clearly  everyone is enjoying this Sunday afternoon ritual.

I don’t know if Arlie will see this blog post. Still, I feel led to express gratitude for both Arlie and Sue, two remarkable people. My visits with them always leave me feeling grateful that our paths have crossed. We certainly miss their physical presence with us on Sunday mornings, and yet, as we often sing on Sunday afternoons, we are still bound together or as the hymn goes, “Bles’d be the tie that binds us in Christian love.”

As we continue the Advent season, and as we light this beautiful Advent sculpture that Arlie and his son built, let us join in saying prayers of thanks for Arlie and Sue. Photos courtesy of Jan Buerge.

Right above my computer hangs this beautiful, if not confusing, Christian seasons calendar.

This calendar isn’t ordered like most calendars. Not only do the twelve days of Christmas get their own page, this calendar ends November 30, since December 1 marks the first day of the new Christian year. Yes, it is Thanksgiving week, but perhaps more importantly, we are nearing Christian New Year’s Eve. Break out the kazoos and champagne!

At times, I have felt uncertain about the purpose of and meaning behind the liturgical year and all its strange seasons. And yet, at least at this point in my life, I think the church year provides a meaningful framework for thinking about God and especially the life of Jesus. It helps us to think about the story of Jesus as a whole, including the different aspects of his life– from his birth being foretold, his birth taking place, his teachings, his own experiences with temptation, his death, resurrection, ascension,  and his living on in the church today.  It’s a tool for comprehending this grand narrative, still unfolding in our lives and in our world. Plus, it’s a tool for us to understand our own seasons of rising and dying, our own endings and beginnings, our own struggle with temptation, and the way the Spirit is living on in us.

This coming Sunday, December 1, I will say more about why I have grown to appreciate the church year. I will do this primarily during the Sunday school hour. All are invited back to the Sanctuary (after donuts and coffee of course) for a fuller invitation into the Advent season. This will include learning some new Advent songs. I have enjoyed preparing for this hour. Hope you come! (The next quarter of adult Sunday school classes will not begin until December 8.)

Oh, and if you want to learn more about this Christian seasons calendar go to www.TheChristianCalendar.com

Last Sunday we, at Rainbow, considered the many names for God. On Monday, Steve Goeke sent me this image, along with a note saying that this poster hangs in his shop. “A good reminder,” Steve wrote. Indeed. And a great way to begin the season of Advent.

Jesse and I love pizza. In fact, our Friday evening ritual has been the same for six years now: Make pizza. We have turned down a lot of great Friday night offers, just so we could stay home and make our simple margherita pizzas. We are creatures of habit, what can we say?

You can imagine our delight when we showed up to church on Thursday and smelled pizza. Terry Rouse and company turned Fellowship Hall into an amazing pizza and game parlor. Over 60 children and adults showed up and filled Fellowship Hall. Monopoly, Jenga, Dominoes, etc. kept everyone busy for hours. By all accounts, everyone had a great time.

Here are just a few photos from the evening.

The Whitmore Playground was a most welcome site as Jesse and I pulled off the interstate, and, for the first time, took a sharp turn onto Southwest Boulevard. The park and all its vibrant colors and unique shapes immediately made us smile. This park (and church) has character, we thought.

Even though I feared I might be a little late for the first interview/meeting, I insisted that Jesse stop so I could take this picture.

I right away sent this as a text to my aunt Carolyn in Chicago and this is what she sent me in return: “Any church with a playground is a church for me! Pray and play!”

There is a lot one could say about the history and future of this playground. In other words, count on many playground posts in the future. For now, allow me to share some initial photos and impressions (click on each image to enlarge them). And let this serve as a reminder that there will be a Whitmore Playground/Community Garden Workday THIS COMING Saturday, November 23, starting at 8:00 am. It’s a good chance to say thank you to those who regularly maintain and beautify the playground, as well as the garden.

The Playground is the former site of Whitmore School

Thanks to the Park Committee for recently painting everything with fresh, bright colors!

Remembering Amy Fretz, daughter of Tom and Becky Fretz. When Amy died at age seven, her family used memorial money to commission this sculpture. It was dedicated June 2, 1991

All my life’s a circle…God bless our bikers and our bikes

And God bless our sculture artists, including Arlie Regier, who sculpted this beauty, called DaVinci’s Dream. Arlie describes this as “a fantasy machine from the past, a huge tractor-like machine to challenge and stimulate the imaginations of children of all ages.” A neighborhood boy thinks this is a firetruck and affectionally calls this the firetruck park.

Watch out for the bees! The “Be Trail” was a Boy Scout project of David Kaufman. These bees remind us to be trustworthy, be loyal, be helpful, be friendly, be courteous, be kind, be obedient, be cheerful, be thrifty, be brave, be clean, and be reverent.

This Sunday we will consider yet another R word: reconciliation. So naturally, I was drawn to this wood sculpture called Peace. This was given to me as a going away gift from John Gaeddert, an exceptional man and artist of North Newton, KS.

I asked John to send me a description of this piece, and this is what I received:

A number of years ago…we had a wood-burning stove to heat the basement of our house.  Occasionally we would buy a pickup load of wood from a farmer who farmed near the Little Arkansas River. One day as I put the axe to a log I was surprised that it was Black Walnut, and then awestruck when I saw how it had broken out.  It was so amazing that I didn’t work on it for about two years, but keeping it around in the shop all that time. One day one side looked like a  spearhead, and as I  then carved on it noticed that the opposite side just might be shaped as a plowshare. Voila!  Isaiah 2:4 (“They shall beat their swords into plowshares … nation shall not rise up against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”) By then, it was no longer a piece for the wood-burning stove. My search for a peace piece had happened.

What I love about this piece, about John, and about his reflection is that he didn’t give up on this piece or peace for that matter. In fact, he nurtured a spirit of amazement; he saw possibilities.

Our search for peace doesn’t always go like we hope, whether that is internal or external peace. Thank God for people like John, and other artists like him, who remain amazed despite it all, who discover possibilities in objects and situations that many of us would label as ruined or no good.

This is a Bethel College tote bag that was given to me during my final days in North Newton. It was packed with who-knows- what so that might explain the wrinkles.

I saw this out of the corner of my eye this morning. That is probably because I knew that some folks from the Bethel College admission department would be joining us for worship.

No alma mater is perfect. And I’m glad to be in a congregation full of people who have received fine educations from all over the world. Yet I must say that the professors, coaches, administrative staff, fellow students, and volunteers of Bethel are among my own cloud of witnesses-those who day after day make sacrifices, teach with skill and elegance, and model integrity.  I was truly invited to seek, serve and grow in that place and for that,  I will be forever grateful.

I spent part of this evening with Rainbow senior high youth. As I drove home I prayed that each and every one of these youth have and will have their own cloud of witnesses full of teachers, coaches, and friends, who are seeking, serving and growing as Jesus followers. If these youth become Bethel Threshers in the process, hooray. If not, may they become part of a cloud somewhere (and not just in cyberspace) that seeks, serves and grows.