November 2008
Discover your daily missions – the heart of mission
For John Allen, Pastor/Rector of Messiah/Trinity Church (ELCA/TEC), Louisville, KY:
“It brought a lot of clarity to what I am doing in order to know what I need to do.”
Have you discovered your daily missions?
Use Basic Tools 3-3D
This month
STORIES OF QUALITY
• Halloween celebrates neighborhood building
• Jim stands for quality at work and it comes
• A grandmother’s play time
• Churches ride bikes for clean water in Africa
• Adopted?
RESOURCES
• Are you wondering about ordained ministry?
• Keep tabs on Congress!
• Member Mission Workbook to be published by Easter 2000
• Real American Ethics: Taking Responsibility for Our Country
FOR MEDITATION
• Which missionary can really help?
Halloween celebrates neighborhood building
Three years ago, Liz saw the need for her neighbors – especially, the women – to know each other better. She put flyers on 125 doorknobs inviting them to a social and formed a team to host it at her home. Over twenty women came! “I’ve been so isolated; thanks, thanks, thanks,” was said over and over. Two and a half years ago, Liz led the organizing of a Neighborhood Watch and now has all the neighbors on email. Further, she linked the email with two nearby communities. Three bikes were stolen in one of the other communities and dumped in Liz’s community. An email notice of the robbery read in Liz’s community got the bikes back to their rightful owners. Recently, Liz has formed a Bible study group. Again came appreciation for the chance to connect with each other.
This past Halloween the streets of the neighborhood were filled with children and their parents as never before. All were delighted to feel at home with each other. Liz comments: “People need community but don’t know it. A sense of community seems to be a dying thing in America. Community is so essential for people to feel safe and children to grow up. And that’s why this Halloween was so much fun.”
Contact: ElizaHall@aol.com
Jim stands for quality at work and it comes
Jim assembles door openers for trains – something you don’t want to fail. He found a problem with U.S. standards for a tolerance of error of parts he used to be .004 of an inch. Japanese parts usually arrive made exactly to specifications. This meant the U.S.-made door openers would wear out or malfunction much faster than items of Japanese make. Risking his job, Jim complained to his supervisor, “I will not build it.” This caused quite a stir. The parts had been made this way for twenty years. The engineers were called in; the issue was discussed at higher levels with the conclusion that the company’s contract allowed for the lower tolerance; and, therefore, no change would be made. His supervisor did agree to provide an oversupply of the part in question. For a time, Jim put the parts of inferior quality at the bottom of the bin so that he did not have to use them. Recently, the engineers withdrew the tolerance for error and have asked for a recall of all the door openers for correction. Jim’s supervisor has praised him for speaking up. Feedback from the floor had worked.
Where was God in all this? “It was not right. It can’t be God’s will for doors not to work and someone has to get another train he or she does not have the option to do and then have to cope with stress that might lead to anger. And, as a Christian, if you have a job you do it right. What I am doing is much bigger than me.” How did the church help him? “It gives me responsibilities for ushering and reading that both remind me and help me to be responsible in all of life.”
Contact: Anonymous
A grandmother’s play time
[Joanne loves to play with her grandchildren, (left to right) 2-year-old Mila and 3-year-old Mali. For Joanne, it’s not “sitting” or “minding” but playing.]
How did you see God using your play time with your grandchildren?
“I get to teach them sharing, respect for people, and how to care for animals.”
How did you see God helping you to do it?
“God gives me serenity, calm, and peace. God gives us laws to live in peace with one another. When we disobey God’s laws, we get into trouble.”
Churches ride bikes for clean water in Africa
Bob Runkle at St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho tells this story. This summer saw our parish uniting with priests from two other Episcopal churches in Iowa and Missouri working on fund raising for a Millennium Development Goals related project, “Waters of Hope.” The funds are used in African countries for clean water projects such as chlorinators and deep water wells. This registered non-profit raised initial funding with a 1058 mile bike ride around the Diocese of Iowa. The leaders planned a similar ride as part of their training for the Ironman Triathlon in Coeur d'Alene. When they contacted the Rev. Pat Bell, rector of St. Luke's, looking for housing during the Ironman, they found a kindred spirit. Pat, his wife Tina Marie, and Robert Peterson organized a 1,000 mile ride in Idaho that raised over five thousand dollars. “Waters of Hope” has now generated over $62,000 towards a goal of $125,000 for clean water projects in Swaziland and the Sudan.
Contact: Bob Runkle at rrunkle@gmail.com
Adopted?
Teacher Debbie Moon's first graders were discussing a picture of a family. One little Boy in the picture had a different hair color than the other members. One of her students suggested that he was adopted. A little girl said, “I know all about adoption, I was adopted.” “What does it mean to be adopted?” asked another child. “It means,” said the girl, “that you grew in your mommy's heart instead of her tummy!”
RESOURCES
Are you wondering about ordained ministry? Or, do you know someone who is wondering about it? “The Conference on Ministry” at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, VA, February 13-15, 2009 will help. Participants, limited to 75, will be guests of the seminary; transportation from home to Virginia is their responsibility; they will be met on arrival and returned for departure to the appropriate terminals. For a brochure and information: 703-461-1706 or admissions@vts.edu; in late November, see also www.vts.edu > click on Admissions tab at the top.
Keep tabs on Congress! Already there are Web sites that cast light on the machinations of government:
• earmarkwatch.org is a database that tracks kickbacks and boondoggles;
• opencongress.org summarizes bills in simple language and tracks legislators' voting records;
• punchclockmap.sunlightprojects.org tracks the schedules of members of Congress.
There are other possibilities:
• a site like Wikipedia where proposed bills can be uploaded and citizens can suggest their own revisions before the bills go to a vote;
• a site that links politicians with donors and legislation, showing how government really works;
• live-cam coverage of government meetings posted on YouTube.
(Thanks to The Christian Century, 11/18/08)
Member Mission Workbook to be published by Easter 2009. Help to publish it. Every dollar you send – whether $25, $50, $75, or $100 – will help. Send checks or a money order to Member Mission Network, Inc., 10 Jubert Lane, Plattsburgh, NY 12901. If you use PayPal, log on; click on Send Money; use membermissionnet@aol.com as the email address; enter the amount; click on Services/Other; and follow the prompts to complete your donation. Or go to www.membermission.org; click on To Donate; click on the Donate button and follow the instructions. All contributions are tax deductible since MMN, Inc. was granted 501(c)(3) status by the IRS in July 2008.
Real American Ethics: Taking Responsibility for Our Country (University of Chicago Press, 2006) What is the good life? Is it dinner with the family, a walk in the woods, a baseball game at the local park? More importantly, is there an ethic within the contemporary, technologically dominated culture of America that gets us to the good life? These are the questions philosopher Albert Borgmann wrestles with in this most recent book. His answer is yes; all of those occasions – dinner, walking, the shared festivity of a game – are part of the good life. But, he contends, it isn't easy to get there from here in our consumption oriented culture. Getting there will involve, first, the difficult but essential project of revealing the role that technology and its fruits play in everyday life. Secondly, there must also be a willingness to abandon some of the
habits made possible by technology in order to embrace some of the more burdensome activities from which technology has freed the affluent West. In particular, Borgmann wants to see a return to "focal" practices such as the family dinner and the creation of civic space that is given over to festival and celebration. See also Borgmann’s Power Failure (Brazos Press, 2003) where he looks specifically at Christianity and the culture of technology and what resources it might deploy to resist technology’s attenuating impact.
(From Religion and Ethics Newsweekly, 11/30/08; on PBS-TV or free online subscription.)
FOR MEDITATION – Which missionary can really help?
Which missionary can set up a Neighborhood Watch most easily?
Your church’s Outreach Committee
or
a member of your church who lives in the neighborhood?
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God is most interested in how we live from Monday to Saturday.
Sunday – all of church life – helps us to do it better.
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