OVMCblog

Wow, have I been an un-blogger for the last half year at least. Rather than sharing my every waking thought, I have not made so much as a peep.

Well, things are hopping at Oley right now. This weekend is going to be quite a big deal. We’re distributing audio new testaments from a group called Faith Comes By Hearing. They were calling me for half a year at least. I thought they were selling religious chachkas of some kind. But the audio bibles are free. We can raise funds for translating the new testament into another language, but that’s optional. Anyway, good stuff.

We’re also having people share about Kingdom Assignments. They were given $100 to share with someone or some other group — just give it away, or better yet, increase it and then give it away. So we should hear some good stories about that this Sunday.

And then we obviously are getting ready for the Barbecue and Blues Bash on Oct 4 — So come on out for that – absolutely!

Two of our “Lions” (elder statespersons – statesmen in this case) have issued two challenges of sorts:

The one was inspired to meet with the administrator of our local middle school. The “Lion” had up until a few years ago been a school administrator himself. As a result of this contact, we are now gathering food for people in need — our neighbors — not some photographed person thousands of miles away. This food will be gathered over a month’s time, blessed at our monthly communion celebration, and distributed where it is needed.  It’s fantastic. Relationships are being forged even now. Hopefully, this is just the begining of that story.

Our other Lion issued a simple challenge in one of the Sunday school classes a few weeks ago. Each family unit should make it a matter of prayer to see that one person they know is invited to connect with our congregation in the coming year.

These are simple but powerful reminders of what it means to be ministers together. We are members of the body of Christ as it is taking shape in the Oley Valley.  We are participants in God’s plans and purposes right here and now. He’s going to find ways for his will to be done — we might as well join in the fun!

Man, I used to be so into Lent. It really sneaks up on us this year. A week from now is Ash Wednesday. The church where my wife grew up used to have a big pancake dinner on Fat Tuesday. That sounds like a lot of fun. They would bring toppings and have a fabulous time.

 I guess that brings me to why I haven’t been into Lent recently. Lent has an air of somberness and introspection. I guess I’ve done plenty of that up to this point in my life. So Fat Tuesday fits my mood a little bit better right now. Celebrate! Don’t worry about tomorrow. Ash Wednesday will take care of itself.

There’s still a place for introspection, certainly a place for repentence, all that good Lenten journey stuff. But I’ll be whipping up a nice batch of pancakes this Tuesday, and I may just wish people an oxymorinic “happy Lent!”

Lot’s going on in little Oley, PA.

If you have time and the inkling, please pray for us:

• as a new Mininistry Leadership Team begins its work. We just this month are moving from a church council/elders structure to the new MLT. Pray that we would guide all aspects of the congregation to focus on “being formed into Christlikeness to bless this region in Jesus’ name!”
• the “sentness” of the people of our congregation. More and more people are sensing God’s call to really engage with the problems and joys of the community around us. Good things  are happening! Pray for God’s continued leading and tugging on people’s heartstrings.
• Churches in the Oley Valley are gathering in our humble churchly abode for a prayer service this Sunday afternoon. Pray that we would grow in our sense of oneness in Christ, that we would discover together how God is at work in our region, beyond all the church walls, and that we would work together for God’s purposes.
• Pray for the family of Noah Stoltzfus. He was a beloved pastor in this region and well beyond this region. His family roots are in the Oley congregation. Noah will be missed …

This month at OVMC, we’ll be teasing out some of the stuff that Michael Frost was getting at in his talk that’s there for the viewing in the last post. Here’s what we’ll be looking at more specifically:

January 6 Missio Dei — God is always on the move, specifically in our direction. God seeks us. He who created us and has loved us from the beginning, and has sent His Son to redeem us, continues to pursue us — and not just the churchy “us” we’re used to thinking about. God does some of His best work outside the church walls.

January 13 Participatio Christi—Our role, then, is to participate in what He is doing, to make sure our best energies are engaged when and where the love of Jesus is at work. We neither determine our own agenda, nor merely imitate His, but rather participate in His, according to His call and guidance.

January 20 Imago Dei—We recognize that each person — outside and inside the church body — is created in the image of God, and thus possess the inherent dignity and value that accompanies it. We recognize also that God has been, and continues to be, at work within them, leading them on a unique and sacred journey.

January 27 Corpus Christi – The temple’s not on some mountain, or in Jerusalem, or on Memorial Highway in Oley. Our frail bodies are the temple, and collectively we are the Body of Christ, with Jesus himeslf as our head. There is an inherent interconnectedness, and interdependence. In participating with each other, the weak with the strong, the old with the young, the advanced with the beginners, we cooperate with Christ in what He is doing in our midst and beyond. **some of this wording was taken from another web site. I’ll track down the author and give due credit.

The challenge in all this, illustrated so well by Blind Beggar in this post, is putting church into some kind of reverse osmosis process, where, instead of a once a week Sunday gathering being THE entry point, we become more and more a Corpus Christi that engages with the people and culture around us in meaningful ways, showing up where God has been already showing up, in the shopping malls, the coffee shops, the soccer fields, where people are just trying to figure out which end is up, not really caring what’s going on in that weird church building they pass on the way to work.

Not the kind of thing we’ll be able to tackle and wrap up in a month but we’ll get a good start on it!

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