Cover photo taken by Brittain Davis
Pastor Jessica Goad shares her thoughts with us as the featured staff voice for this issue.
A mission to the reservation to bring beauty and food ended in a horrifying realization of polluted water and uranium wells.
the why of Summer Special Music
the wonders of Paul Ferlazzoâ€&#x;s art
Anonymously submitted by an advocate for those struggling with addiction and in need of Godâ€&#x;s welcoming and unconditional love
An interview with Connie Kim, long-time member of Federated, an advocate for the earth
Written by Karen Appleby, former Associate Pastor at Federated, an advocate for the soul
400 W. Aspen Avenue Flagstaff, AZ 86001 www.flagstafffederatdchurch.org
Jessica Goad, Pastor Rachel Davis, Director of Discipleship Ministries & Church Administrator Ryan Biter, Director of Youth Ministries Sammie Biter, Administrative Assistant & Assistant Youth Leader Doug Riddle, Music Director Rebecca Cauthen, Church Accompanist Barb Mendez & Tiffany Onyenagubo, Nursery Attendants Gail Reynolds, Bookkeeper
aleidoscope
is a quarterly p ub l i c a t i on o f F la g s t a f f Federated Community Church which emphasizes discipleship and spiritual formation, featuring the personal experiences of faith and life of our congregants. Federatedâ€&#x;s mission is to gather inclusively, to
be socially and environmentally active, and to transform through study and prayer. Affiliations include the United Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church, (U.S.A.), Interfaith Power and Light, Earth Ministry, Eco-Justice Ministries, More Light Presbyterians, Reconciling Ministries Network (UMC), and United Christian Ministry (NAU Campus). on sacred spaces
confirmation & summer hiking
nside the trauma room, a nurse was cutting the clothes off a motionless man in his fifties on a table; tubes were coming out of his mouth and arms. Doctors started doing things to him not meant for my eyes and sorely misrepresented on TV shows. Another nurse was hooking things up to him while a doctor put on gloves and motioned for paddles, which he then placed into the motionless man‟s freshly cracked-open chest. “A nurse stepped back to where I was standing, and I leaned over to her. „Everyone seems to have a job, but what am I doing here?‟ “She looked at my [chaplain] badge and said, „Your job is to be aware of God‟s presence in the room while we do our jobs. “For the rest of those two-and-a-half months I often found myself in the ER trauma room watching life going in and out of the patients on the table—the doctors and nurses violently attempting to resuscitate them. And in that messy chaos, my job was to just stand there and be aware of God‟s presence in the room. Kind of a weird job description, but there it was…” When I read this passage from Nadia Bolz-Weber‟s book Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner and Saint, the first word that came to my mind was sacred. Nadia was holding a sacred space in the corner of that trauma room as she became aware of God‟s presence within the messy chaos. It is difficult to say exactly what about that space made it sacred. From my own experience in hospital chaplaincy, I can say that space was probably sterile, frantic, emotional, adrenalinedriven, and definitely chaotic—none of these really seem like decent synonyms for sacred. Yet, there is something that sets it apart from ordinary experiences and spaces, someone who is there to dedicate that space to the task of searching for and becoming aware of God‟s presence. Perhaps that is what makes a space sacred. I think we are hard-wired to define sacredness with particular images. Stain-glass windows, organ music, altars, worship, shrines, icons, crosses—these are sacred and anything that lies outside of this category of images is, well, not quite so sacred. But what if we invite a more subjective understanding to our ideas of
sacredness? What if a space becomes sacred when a person begins to search for God‟s presence within it? Sacredness—perhaps it is not about what is in a space, what it looks like or what its purpose is; perhaps it is about how one becomes aware of the Divine within it. With this understanding, we open the realm of possibility for what can be deemed sacred and, at the same time, open the realm of possibility for where God can be present in our lives. A trauma room can be sacred when someone is there to search for God‟s presence within it. A classroom can be sacred. A junkyard. A cubicle. A cave in the wilderness. Your kitchen can become a sacred space as you become aware of God‟s own hand at work within it. The most recent sacred space I entered was bay 17 at the Flagstaff Medical Center‟s Emergency Department. Ken Bean had called the Church Office from that bay; and when I arrived, Ken began to inform me of what was happening and what needed to happen in that fine-tuned, logical way of his. As I was about ready to go to his car to retrieve is phone charger, the doctor came in and so I decided to stay. The doctor had just finished consulting with a physician at the Mayo Hospital in Phoenix and he began with, “Ken, you have a very aggressive form of leukemia.” At that moment, that emergency room bay became a sacred space. As the doctor proceeded to tell Ken that they were not recommending treatment, that with treatment he had less than 10% chance of survival, and that the Mayo physician wouldn‟t even recommend treatment if his own father was in this same situation, I held a sacred space while searching for God‟s presence. I found it. God was the kind, gentle voice of the doctor. God was the silence that followed the doctor‟s recommendation. God was my own presence arriving no more than five minutes before the doctor came to share this news, so that Ken did not have to be alone when he heard it. God was Ken‟s eyes as he looked at me and said, “I am glad you were here.” Not only do we create these sacred spaces, we are affected by them. They touch our hearts, imprinting them with something—it‟s hard to know exactly what—that sets that space apart from any other space.
Kenneth Eugene Bean was born in Alamosa, Colorado in 1928, as the youngest of five children to Luther and Georgia Bean. After graduating from Adams State College with a BA in Chemistry in 1949, he received his MS and Ph.D. (1958) from Stanford University. He was on active duty with the U.S. Army, in 1956-1957, with the Army Ballistic Missile Agency in Huntsville, Alabama working on the team under Wernher von Braun on coatings for the nose-cone for the Explorer 1 satellite which was the first satellite launched by the U.S. in 1958. From 1958-1962, he was a research chemist with Shell Development Company on agricultural chemicals in Modesto, California. Kenneth came to Flagstaff in 1962 as the third faculty member in the Chemistry Department when Arizona State College (which later became Northern Arizona University) had 2800 students and 180 faculty. His research focus was surface chemistry. A bumper sticker on his 1963 VW bug which he drove for over 50 years said, “Honk if you passed p-chem”. In addition to teaching physical chemistry, he also coordinated the chemistry laboratory courses. He served as Chairman of the Faculty and was involved in the formation of the Faculty Senate and many university committees and was honored with an NAU Distinguished Faculty Award. He also was a director and advisor of the Health Pre-professional programs (pre-med, pre-dental, pre-vet, etc). He retired from NAU in 1993 and became a Professor Emeritus. He served in all of the leadership roles with the NAU Retirees Association. He was elected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1967. Kenneth and his wife of 48 years Lois Nadene Proffitt were married in California in 1955 and had two daughters, Susan and Alice. He played the flute, sang in the church choir as well as playing the bells. He helped to establish the Nadene Proffitt Bean Cello Scholarship at NAU as well as the Nadene Bean Endowed Cello chair with the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra. He enjoyed his grandson, Jeremy, numerous nieces and nephews, and daughters. He travelled to many fun places including China (including Tibet), Kenya, extensively in Europe and England, Japan, Iceland, Russia, Turkey, as well as travelling to all 50 states. He was a lay leader and diligent and tireless worker with the Federated Community Church and received the Presbyterian Senior Service Award. Dr. Bean was very active in community affairs including serving as the president of the Flagstaff School Board, member of the Arizona School Board Association, Coconino County Director and member of the Arizona Councils of Government (Community Action Agency), and member of the Coconino County Advisory Council. He was very keen on volunteering whenever and wherever possible. With the NAU Retirees Association, he led the Adopt-a-Highway clean-up effort. He washed dishes regularly for the Flagstaff Family Food Center (Food Bank and Kitchen) and was recognized by the Food Center for his 12 years of service.
8/3 8/3 8/6 8/13 8/13 8/21 8/26 8/30
9/2 9/5 BLAIRE SCHENCK 9/11 JODY PORTER 9/12 REBECCA CAUTHEN 9/12 GAIL BROMGARD 9/15 LOLITA MEDINA 9/16 DOUGLAS RIDDLE 9/17 STELLA TUCHSCHERER 9/21 CINDY PICKETT 9/22 9/23 9/29
10/2 DAISY KOTALIK 10/2 JUANITA GILLIS 10/3 RICH TOMES 10/7 NOLA HAYNES 10/10 SHIRLEY WOOLDRIDGE 10/10 BECKY WEBER 10/12 MEREDY SCHENCK 10/14 JENNIFER KOTALIK 10/20 NINA LUNDY 10/21 FRAN STORER 10/21 IMOGENE WALTER 10/24 ABIGAIL MILLER 10/31
TOM COSNER 11/1 RYAN BITER 11/1 BRIAN GEILS 11/2 JIM KORELTZ 11/5 LYNN BURCH 11/6 IAN FERGASON 11/8 ISAAC TUCHSCHERER11/9 GWEN KORELTZ 11/9 MAGGIE JOBIN 11/14 GENE HILL 11/18 MEAGAN ROCKOW 11/21 GREG HARTMAN 11/23 RYAN STIGMON 11/29
RUTH GRAHAM JOHN WEBER JAN WILSON MADELINE MAYORGA DYLLAN FERGASON REV. JESSICA GOAD SUSAN JOHNSON EUDORA LARSON DUANE BROMGARD DICK JOHNSON TISH BOGAN-OZMUN CARMEN JOHNSON SUSAN MILLER
Thank you for your well-wishes. We are slowly getting settled--its difficult to know what and where to put things even though we downsized before we left Flagstaff. It's quite quiet here--we are in a Dell Web community. Beautifully landscaped and manicured as only California can be--gorgeous variety of trees and vegetation. We've met a couple of neighbors, but otherwise no one's around--all indoors-probably due to the heat--105 degrees. We miss you all, but house and our children keep us busy. Our dog, Jodie, likes it here, and we are exploring the area shops. Name a store, and its here in Roseville. Say hello to all for us and hope you all are well. Lovingly, Gail Bromgard
am a 28-year sober member of a 12-step group that meets in the basement of the Flagstaff Federated Community Church. My long and happy association with the church is one filled with gratitude and love. I want you all to know that the age of miracles is still at hand! I am one of those miracles who should have been dead 28 years ago. Through the love and understanding of our fellowship, the grace and mercy of God, I have been truly blessed to achieve and maintain my sobriety. Many more (too numerous to count) have and continue to find a happy solution to their problems in the basement of Federated. I am truly humbled to participate in and bare witness to our members remarkable recoveries. The letter of James in the New Testament states that “Faith without works is dead”. This is especially true for those of us that suffer from this affliction of mind, body, and spirit. Everything we do to be useful and helpful to one another, our families, and our community is done with great love, for free and for fun. Frequent contact with newcomers and each other is the bright spot of our lives! Today I have the privilege to pass on what was given so freely to me. Although the following prose was written in the early 1930‟s, it still beautifully describes our efforts today. I Stand by the Door By Samuel Shoemaker, Episcopal Rector of Calvary Church, NY, NY
I stand by the door. I neither go too far in, nor stay too far out. The door is the most important door in the world It is the door through which men walk when they find God. There is no use my going way inside and staying there, When so many are still outside and they, as much as I, Crave to know where the door is. And all that so many ever find Is only the wall where the door ought to be. They creep along the wall like blind men, With outstretched, groping hands, Feeling for a door, knowing there must be a door, Yet they never find it. So I stand by the door. The most tremendous thing in the world Is for men to find that door - the door to God. The most important thing that any man can do Is to take hold of one of those blind, groping hands And put it on the latch - the latch that only clicks And opens to the man's own touch. Men die outside the door, as starving beggars die On cold nights in cruel cities in the dead of winter. Die for want of what is within their grasp. They live on the other side of it - live because they have not found it. Nothing else matters compared to helping them find it, And open it, and walk in, and find Him. So I stand by the door.
Go in great saints; go all the way in Go way down into the cavernous cellars, And way up into the spacious attics. It is a vast, roomy house, this house where God is. Go into the deepest of hidden casements, Of withdrawal, of silence, of sainthood. Some must inhabit those inner rooms And know the depths and heights of God, And call outside to the rest of us how wonderful it is. Sometimes I take a deeper look in. Sometimes venture in a little farther, But my place seems closer to the opening. So I stand by the door. There is another reason why I stand there. Some people get part way in and become afraid Lest God and the zeal of His house devour them; For God is so very great and asks all of us. And these people feel a cosmic claustrophobia And want to get out. 'Let me out!' they cry. And the people way inside only terrify them more. Somebody must be by the door to tell them that they are spoiled. For the old life, they have seen too much: One taste of God and nothing but God will do any more. Somebody must be watching for the frightened Who seek to sneak out just where they came in, To tell them how much better it is inside. The people too far in do not see how near these are To leaving - preoccupied with the wonder of it all. Somebody must watch for those who have entered the door But would like to run away. So for them too, I stand by the door.
I admire the people who go way in. But I wish they would not forget how it was Before they got in. Then they would be able to help The people who have not yet even found the door. Or the people who want to run away again from God. You can go in too deeply and stay in too long And forget the people outside the door. As for me, I shall take my old accustomed place, Near enough to God to hear Him and know He is there, But not so far from men as not to hear them,
And remember they are there too. Where? Outside the door Thousands of them. Millions of them. But - more important for me One of them, two of them, ten of them. Whose hands I am intended to put on the latch. So I shall stand by the door and wait For those who seek it. I had rather be a door-keeper So I stand by the door.
Our sacred space, our life-saving space in the humble basement of Federated, is cherished and loved by our members.
Photo taken by Brittain Davis
When Rachel informed me that she had signed us up to do special music in church, I started thinking about what we should play together. She had certain ideas of what the song should be and I had my own, and nothing seemed to fit both of our expectations. So we just started playing and singing different songs until something felt right for us. When we started playing “Across the Universe” by The Beatles we found ourselves repeating it over and over until we looked at each other and said, “I think we‟ve found it.” I have always thought of the song as deeply introspective, with John considering the consequences of all of his actions, and how nothing that is done can ever be truly undone (which is good and bad). And while you could listen to the song and feel the heaviness of the lyrics, the melody has always brought me peace, and I hope that those who heard it felt that peace also.
I sang “And Now My Lifesong Sings” by Casting Crowns. I have always liked this song. It is a reprise of Casting Crown‟s song “Lifesong”. I love the idea of being forgiven for my sins. I love that through God I live the fullest life possible, especially if I trust God with all aspects of my life: Sight, Direction, and Breath. For me, it is a reoccurring theme throughout the song. “I once was Blind, but now I see, I once was lost, but now am found, I once was dead, but now I live…..And, now my lifesong sings.” Because of the slow/ballad nature of the song, plus the familiarity with the hymn, “Amazing Grace,” and the message of trusting God in the many aspects of life (as mentioned above), I believe this song can resonate with many within the worship space. It seems simple enough to give ourselves to God, and receive the Grace of God, but it is always a nice reminder, especially through song.
ore than 60 years ago a brave group of young Lutherans came west from the Dakotas by wagon and horseback to found a school and medical clinic in the Four Corners. By the grace of God, the determination of many Navajos and Whites alike to keep the mission open, today there is a primary school, a daily feeding program, a medical clinic being re-built, and more on the site where those rugged early missionaries first came to live among the native peoples. Now on the red dirt of the far eastern part of the reservation the Navajo Lutheran Mission stands as a promise to the community a promise tested over 60 years. Educating children in the Christian faith while respecting Navajo traditional spirituality matters. Serious social scourges like unemployment, alcoholism, and domestic violence deserve recovery programs. Feeding hungry adults at the back of the church every day is an integral part of Christian witness. Reaching out to the elderly who live in isolation and without basic necessities is very important to the overall mission. For a decade Christ Lutheran Church in Sedona has been involved with work teams at the Mission. This May a group of five women offered to come up and
provide for the isolated grandmas living in Rock Point. “Please bring flowers and vegetable plants for the women” we were asked. “They need to tend pretty flowers and plants that bear food because their lives are so devoid of beauty. Oh, and could you bring food for every woman to receive a Sheepherder‟s Basket?” That was a first for me. I had to ask for some clarification as to the ingredients of a Sheepherder‟s Basket. I soon learned that each basket needed the following ingredients: Crisco (for making fry bread), Bluebird flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, coffee and sugar cookies. Since we were to visit twenty five grandmas we had to buy all the ingredients locally and haul them up to Rock Point along with vegetable plants, geraniums, five gallon pots, and compost for potting everything. As we approached the first house, a ramshackle trailer with five pit bulls running around, my courage drained away. Helping to carry the potted plants and the heavy bag of foodstuffs our Navajo translator and driver, Yvette B. said, “Go on in. The dogs are okay.” We entered a home with four generations of women living together in two rooms. Conditions were primitive and heartbreaking. While the women were not excited about the flowers and vegetable plants because they did not have water to tend them, the
donations of food were greatly appreciated. That was the first place we heard about the wells in Rock Point being contaminated. For two days our small group, all grandmas ourselves, had the unique privilege of visiting with elderly women on the reservation. We heard the same story again and again. “We cannot drink the water. Our wells have uranium sludge in the bottom, and with the drought and low water tables we are afraid to use this bad water for our livestock and definitely not for our families. We drive to Farmington, NM (two hours each way) to buy our water now at Walmart.” Crates of water bottles filled each home we visited. As the reality of what we were seeing came into sharp focus for our group, combined with the sadness of hearing that there is an epidemic of cancer in Rock Point due to toxic contamination in the soil and the water, the justice advocate in me started to find my voice and to question what the Mission is doing to deal with the water problems. It became clear that this is a very complex, multi-faceted, thorny issue that involves the initiative of the local Chapter House and the bureaucracy of the Navajo Nation as well as the Lutheran Mission. Upon our return we made a commitment to follow through with the Mission and the local Chapter House
on advocating for clean water. Just yesterday, I received word that as a result of our small group shining a spotlight on the human right to have clean drinking water, we are being invited to work together with the Mission and with local Navajo leaders who are committed to repairing irrigation ditches, testing local wells, and best of all, digging a deep water well that will bring clean water to the people of Rock Point. Hopefully the children who are being educated at the school there now will not fall victim to life-threatening cancers in their adulthood because clean water was identified as a community priority in their childhoods. To do this work of advocacy and accompaniment our small church in Sedona invites the people of Flagstaff Federated Community Church whom we sincerely love and respect to join us in being “Water Ambassadors” for the Rock Point community. We need as many partners in mission as possible. How wonderful that we might develop a partnership in ministry reaching out, not bringing our answers, but listening to the Navajo decision makers, working together WITH them for the greater good. The sacred community of Navajo peoples in Rock Point, Arizona is waiting for our “Yes, we will!”
Photos provided by Babbie Cameron
hroughout the spring of 2016, the Christian Living class led by Rick Miller and Mick Henry met to discuss Pope Francis‟ Encyclical entitled “Laudato Si,” which translates to “Praise Be Unto You.” This letter is regarded by many as one of the boldest and most influential messages on environmental and social change from a world leader. One of the class participants, long-time Federated member Connie Kim, shared her thoughts with Rachel Davis, Director of Discipleship Ministries, on being part of the class study and relating the messages within it to her own life. Rachel: What were your thoughts and feelings about environmental and social activism before attending the Laudato Si class? Tell me about your personal background and influences. Connie: I spent the first years of my life in the Puget Sound area in Washington, and my family got to know many of the Native Americans who lived and worked in the area. We lived on a farm, and we raised many of our own fruits and vegetables, as well as chicken and pigs. We also spent a lot of time hiking and enjoying the outdoors. Later, while living in Portland, Oregon, one of my high school teachers, Miss Ruth Lee, led a service club called the Junior Oregon Roadside Council, and we focused on limiting development along the Oregon coast and working to protect natural lands and open spaces, many of which have now become state parks. My class went to plant trees with the Forest Service in an area that was known as Tillamook Burn, where there had been a catastrophic fire in the 1930s. I became very appreciative of the environment during this time and felt called to care for and protect it. Rachel: What were some things that you learned from the encyclical and class discussions? Connie: I really loved the Pope‟s emphasis that this message was for all people, not just Catholics and not just Christians. I felt that we were being called to “awareness,” to “It cannot be emphasized enough how everything look into all these environmental and social issues more than we usually do, especially because of our beliefs. Pope Francis wrote is interconnected. Time and space are not that we are all related, and we all have things to learn from each independent of one another, and not even atoms or other. We can be so arrogant sometimes, putting each other subatomic particles can be considered in isolation. down and thinking that we‟ve got the world figured out, but Just as the different aspects of the planet – really, humans have so much common ground. I also like that physical, chemical, and biological – are interrelated, native peoples around the world were recognized for having so too living species are part of a network which knowledge about the stars, planets, natural cycles, and seasons we will never fully explore and understand. A good sometimes more intimately than we do today, despite modern part of our genetic code is shared by many living science.
beings. It follows that the fragmentation of knowledge and the isolation of bits of information can actually become a form of ignorance, unless they are integrated into a broader vision of reality. ”
We‟re not the only people that hear God‟s voice. Why do we think there aren‟t things we can learn from people who are different than us? And how can we ever make excuses for slavery, or keeping people from voting, or not letting certain Chapter 4, Integral Ecology, Paragraph 138 people into the church? Not everyone will grow to understand Christ, or the Christian understanding of God, but Christ still teaches us to care for and respect all people. God did create all of us! Rachel: What were some things that moved you the most during this class? What would you recommend as actions that people could take in our congregation based on your study of Laudato Si? Connie: One of the things that concerns me the most is hearing of big agribusinesses moving into communities in Africa, Asia, and South America for a limited amount of time to make a profit, and, when they leave, the people are then left without jobs. They now have polluted land and water, and they cannot grow food there anymore. This happens in the United States as well. There is no commitment to those communities on the part of those corporations, and I feel we need to hold these businesses accountable and ask them to heal the places they have affected. Rachel: Are there any final thoughts you‟d like to share? Connie: There are so many places in scripture where we read about how people have grown crops and used water and truly cared for and related to their environments, as well as to each other. I don‟t believe that all the things we read in the Bible are just “back then” or “fiction,” but are actually very relevant for us today. If we really read it, we can see our relationship to the world around us. Science and the Bible are not at odds with each other, but instead complement each other and speak to our faith, together. As a Christian, I feel called to help people see the connections of sociology, anthropology, the natural world, and all of life. I urge everyone to think about it, pray about it, and allow themselves to be moved and changed.
Paul Ferlazzo was a happy guy. He possessed what we jokingly referred to as “his sunny Mediterranean disposition,” rarely turning toward melancholy or anger during our fifty plus years together. His sanguine temperament permeated most aspects of his life so it is not surprising that his reliable optimism was expressed through painting. His paintings were positive, uplifting expressions of a gentle, confident man. Creating art, for Paul, was often a problem to be solved. Sometimes I would wake in the middle of the night and find him in his study mixing colors to get just the right combination of light and dark for the shadow on a mesa or the most pleasing ratio for the line separating earth and sky. Or, again, very late and unable to sleep, he might be reviewing an interesting article or photo he had filed and some aspect of it would inform his current project in some small but important way. As Flaubert or perhaps Anonymous once said, “God is in the details.” The Southwestern view depicted in this landscape is not a specific site or location. Paul‟s concern was never about rendering a view exactly as it was created by God. His paintings were a product of a lively, nimble, reflective mind. Attentively observing our environment and creating works of art, Paul conveyed the visceral spirit of connectedness to God which he felt as he looked toward a jaw-dropping vista. His habit was to synthesize a variety of natural forms, colors, perspectives, and placements and compose paintings that viewers might consider ideal so that they, too, would value and respect Yahweh‟s gifts to us. Perhaps the wash draining form the distant mountains was not actually the very same depth of purple nor was the sky quite as bright yellow-green as it is in the painting. Yet, to me, this painting has the “WOW” factor that he felt when he saw the sky, the mountains, and the earth joined so beautifully together. It was this real sense of the Divine that I believe Paul would like us to experience as we see sacred spaces reflected in his paintings. He wanted us all to see his real joy, awe, and knowledge of a God both great and good. In so many ways, I had the incredible pleasure of spending my life with someone who had the freshness of a young boy with all the attendant pleasures of days dawning, as a fresh canvas waiting to be painted. This sparkling enthusiasm was fused with the sophistication, intellect, and thoughtfulness of a scholar whose brain never tired. What a gift he was to us all.
teeped in continuous history is the practice of creating universal, sacred spaces. The majority of people experience spiritual life more effectively through the visual sense. This is especially true in the religious places and spaces. Using the visual sense enhances the experience of God‟s presence, worship, prayer, and overall spiritual formation. Christians have always used the visual to tell and share their stories. What is known as liturgical space theology is how God and we use space for relationship and transformation. But it requires discipline, attention, focus, and presence. I know this from experience and my mystical nature. And I love sharing the experience and practice. In my eight years at Flagstaff Federated Community Church I always tried to include the elements of visual design to my ministry. I did this inspired by what was already around me on the corner of Aspen and Sitgreaves. It was, and is, everywhere we find ourselves… at home, school, travels, work, and church. Since so much of my time was spent at that church, I was intentional about looking for it daily. In the Gospel of Mark 13:33-37, Jesus commands his disciples to “keep awake.” The message is to stay awake to what is around us, discover the holy, see in the little and the grand things showing us that life is full of meaning. We do this by developing our senses to see with eyes of the heart. It became so important to me, that my last eighteen months in Flagstaff, along with my mentor and friend Delia Halverson, I wrote a book entitled “Creating Holy Spaces.” The endeavor was inspired by the sacred spaces I saw around our church and the incredible beauty of Flagstaff and northern Arizona. Ephesians 1:18 states, “May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened.” Yes! Look for them! It‟s a great assignment. As examples of what inspired me I have listed ten: Seeing our beautiful, historical building standing tall on the corner of Aspen and Sitgreaves. I loved the red structure against the blue sky. The bright green walls and décor of the church nursery lovingly painted by our youth group one summer. Our stained glass windows… each and every one of them. Anything created by the children. The cornerstone “First M. E. Church 1906.” Saint Francis in the garden and the peace pole. A simple labyrinth made out of sticky notes on the fellowship hall floor (now I understand you have a permanent one!). The stacks, textures, and colors of yarn bursting out the closet for the prayer shawl ministry team. Candles, crosses, altars, banners ~ my favorite was the Thanksgiving altar. Seasonal art, quilts, and paintings hung and projected on the sanctuary walls. What do you see? What inspires and transforms you? What draws you closer to God? Look for your own sacred images and spaces. Make your own.
Whenever I step out onto my little back porch I feel I am in a sacred place because my view is a microcosm of God's creation. The vast sky is there with ever-changing clouds. There is a rolling hill populated with Ponderosa pines and Aspen trees. Best of all is the little lake, home to all manner of water fowl. Everything from the majestic eagle to the feisty little hummingbird fly there. I, of course, am one of God's human creatures fortunate enough to live in this little Eden.
Most of us, when we think of a sanctuary, envision a place that is permanent and stationary. One of the most important sanctuaries throughout my life has been my tent, something that is impermanent and mobile. As a young adult, I spent three months in the Jemez Mountains meeting my God in my tent each night. More recently, in the fall of 2013, I found myself praying each sunrise and sunset from it overlooking the great canyon complex of the Uncompaghre Plateau. A tent has many practical functions, but for me it also serves as a sacred place, a sanctuary for worship, when I am away from home.
Streams with small waterfalls are sacred places to me. They remind me of God's presence and of the water imagery that permeates the Bible. They exude a peacefulness and a feeling of rejuvenation. In particular, pristine streams in the Grand Tetons where we refilled our water bottles while on the Teton Crest trail come to mind.
s many of you may know, Pentecost is when we celebrate the Holy Spirit descending upon the apostles. For many western churches, this day is when the confirmation of young people into the Church traditionally occurs. This year we had five youth confirmed into the Church on Pentecost Sunday. Of those five youth, four of them were baptized that day. While each youth was being baptized I thought about how special it was to be able to share in such a sacred moment that so many Christians before us have observed. Though each of our personal understandings of baptism and the ways of the Spirit may differ, we all share in the sacred duty to raise up a new generation of Christians. During the baptism ceremony we are asked, as a congregation, if we promise to guide and support new members in their faith journey. I hope we take that as a very solemn and sacred vow. As I see it, by vowing to walk with these young people, the Spirit was present with us that day. Our congregation is indeed challenged to join these new confirmands on their faith journeys and help them fully understand the sacredness of their commitment.