Category

Weekly Update

God’s Nature in Nature

Talk to earth, and it will teach you – Job 12:8

 

Dear Gatherers,

 

Daniel Cooperrider is a United Church of Christ pastor who grew up in the North Woods of Wisconsin and now lives near Madison. Although I’ve never met him, it feels like he’s become a good friend through his wonderful book Speak to the Earth and It Will Teach You: A Field Guide to the Bible. It appears he’s always been fascinated with nature. As the young pastor of a church in Vermont’, he began connecting the dots between natural scenes in scripture and what those texts may be saying about God and us.

 

Especially at this time of year, with nature waking up from winter rest, his book is a gift of joy. Rev. Cooperrider reminds us many rivers flow through biblical narratives. Mountains loom large in the story. Winds and clouds, weather and wonder alert our senses to God’s voice, God’s face, God’s breath.

 

I can think of no finer conversation for this springtime than talking about how God may be seen, imagined, and understood apart from us trifling humans. The earth will teach us if we turn off our phones, leave our cars, move out of our boxed-in spaces to listen. The great American writer Norman Maclean famously said, “Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it.” I share Rev. Cooperrider’s conviction that God is the “one” that results when everything flows together. And the river’s run is God’s life, the river’s music is God’s voice.

 

Join us on Thursdays at 7:30CDT for conversations about the earth and how we can see God’s image in places we may have overlooked.

 

Peace, with much love,

Pastor Tim

JOIN OUR THURSDAY CONVERSATION

A Song of Ascents

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in God’s holy place? Those who have clean hands and pure hearts, who do not lift up their souls to what is false and do not swear deceitfully.Psalm 24:3-4

 

Dear Gatherers,

 

I’m what they call a “manuscript preacher.” I write my sermons word-for-word. At the same time, there are moments when I go “off-book,” as happened last Sunday during our YouTube worship. I found myself comparing Psalm 130’s “song of ascents”—which ancient Israel sang as it climbed the Temple Mount for festival worship—to our own Lenten ascent to Calvary.

 

The parallels never occurred to me before, although I suspect I’m hardly the first person to make the connection. If you’ve not yet caught up with Sunday’s worship, you should, and I’ll take care to avoid any spoilers here. But ever since that moment during the sermon, I’ve been thinking of Lent as less of a desert crossing (everyone’s favorite metaphor) than a hillside pilgrimage. Around the world, millions of believers are making their way to the mountain, getting closer every day, uniting in one final ascent to marvel at the unfathomable love of God made real on the cross of Jesus.

 

In ancient Judaism, a song of ascents anticipated the joy to come when God’s people arose in praise. That’s where we get poetry like “I was glad when they said unto me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.” More often an ascending song focused on what got left behind to enter God’s presence. Faith in God’s forgiveness enables us to climb this final ascent of Lent with clean hands, pure hearts, self-honesty, and truth-talk. As we move through this week connecting Lent’s climb to Holy Week’s struggles, let’s off-load unnecessary baggage and unhealthy thoughts. There is a hilltop before us, where hatred seeks ruin, but fails spectacularly when Love reigns supreme.

 

Blessings,

Pastor Tim

Giving News

Have you tried out Givelify yet? It is a wonderful and easy stewardship app that enables you to set a monthly or weekly donation, keep track of your giving, do special one-off contributions. Use the QR code above to get yourself set up so you’ll be able to give every time the Spirit moves you!

Lenten Prayer Series: Morning Prayer

Pastor Tim gets up early in the morning to lead us in a favorite discipline of his, Morning Prayer—or, as he likes to call it, “Ugly Breakfast Prayer” (and he means it!).

A 40-Day Journey with Madeleine L’Engle

Our Lenten travels with one of the 20th-century’s most beloved authors continues.  Join us each Thursday at 7:30pm CDT as we look over the past week’s readings from her 40-Day Journey (available on Amazon and Kindle) and discuss what spoke to us.

Waiting for Daylight

I cry out to you from the depths, Lord—my Lord, listen to my voice! – Psalm 130:1

 

Dear Gatherers,

 

While we’ve spent Lent in the Psalms, I’ve been preaching for a Disciples of Christ church on Chicago’s North Shore. They’ve been in John’s Gospel, working through very complicated narratives like the Samaritan woman and the man born blind. It’s not surprising that the Psalms and Gospels comment on one another. And digging into these passages has been a special blessing to me.

 

The Gospel stories are all about transformation. The woman at the well is transformed when Jesus gives her living water. The man born blind is transformed when Jesus gives him new sight. In the background to both stories, we find a grumpy group of Pharisees who seem always upset about something Jesus has done.

 

Meanwhile, the Psalms are all about forgiveness from sin—texts that the Pharisees surely knew by heart but somehow lost sight of. (Jesus actually accuses them of blindness in the healing story.) And that’s got me thinking lately about ways we may have become blind to forgiveness. What is that experience like—to be forgiven? The writer of Psalm 130 compares it to be lifted from the darkest depths to watch for morning light. That’s a magnificent image we’ll explore more deeply this Sunday on YouTube. For now, let’s take some time and work with that: God has forgiven us, is forgiving us, will always forgive us. What does that mean for us? How does it feel? Let it lift you!

 

See you on Sunday at 5pm on YouTube!

 

Peace,

Giving News
We’re grateful for everyone who faithfully offered tithes, monthly contributions, and gifts to sustain Gather’s ministry. Together we gave $5,569, enabling us to meet our expenses and put some in reserve to prepare for our move into a settled space. If you’re not a regular Gather supporter, we encourage you to join in.

Lenten Prayer Series: Intercessory Prayer

Join Wilbert Watkins and Katharine Obed as they discuss intercessory prayer—how it works, how it’s done, and why it’s an essential prayer practice.

A 40-Day Journey with Madeleine L’Engle

Our Lenten travels with one of the 20century’s most beloved authors continues. Join us each Thursday at 7:30pm CDT as we look over the past week’s readings from her 40-Day Journey(available on Amazon and Kindle) and discuss what spoke to us.

Young as Spring 2

If only you would listen. – Psalm 95:7

 

Dear Gatherers,

 

During this season of reflection, many of my morning devotions have me playing longtime favorite songs: Carole King’s “I Think I Can Hear You” (https://youtu.be/c49cLWnsei0) or Amy Grant’s “All I Ever Have to Be” (https://youtu.be/JWcU5t0VRw8). Aside from their greatness as musicians (and people), what I love most about Carole and Amy’s music is how honest they are. In both songs, they’re unabashed about letting God know what’s on their minds, and they sit quietly to hear God’s reply. These are not burning bush revelations. They’re not even still, small voice whisperings. What both singers discover comes from deep inside them—something they’ve probably known a long time, but haven’t taken the time or made the space to hear.

 

As I’ve said so many times, prayer is not a customer service line. It’s a conversation and for it to work in a meaningful way, we have to insert some silence to hear what the Spirit wants us to know. Prayer is, in every way, a mystical practice that we habitually try to normalize into something sensical. But prayer is sensory. It’s a way to examine our feelings and enable our Creator to offer truer ways of being. I don’t think either of these music icons would call herself a “prayer warrior” and yet they both have great insight into what praying is for and what it can accomplish. Click on the tunes. Sing along. Pray. Listen. Learn.

 

Peace,

Pastor Tim

 

PS: And watch for a FB link later this evening to our weekly Lenten prayer video. D’Angelo Smith will be leading us in a prayer experience that will bless us all!

Giving News

We’re grateful for everyone who faithfully offered tithes, monthly contributions, and gifts to sustain Gather’s ministry. Together we gave $5,569, enabling us to meet our expenses and put some in reserve to prepare for our move into a settled space. If you’re not a regular Gather supporter, we encourage you to join in. This is a pivotal time for us, and consistent giving will enable us to live into everything God desires for us as a community and individuals.

A Lenten Journey with Madeleine L’Engle

This year we’re traveling Lent with an expert navigator, the famous 20th-century author and religious thinker, Madeleine L’Engle. You can order her book 40-Day Journey with Madeleine L’Engle on Amazon. (It’s also available on Kindle.) Then join us each Thursday as we look over the past week’s readings and discuss what spoke to us.

A 40-Day Journey with Madeleine L’Engle

This year we’re traveling Lent with an expert navigator, the famous 20th-century author and religious thinker, Madeleine L’Engle. You can order her book 40-Day Journey with Madeleine L’Engle on Amazon. (It’s also available on Kindle.) Then join us each Thursday as we look over the past week’s readings and discuss what spoke to us.

Young as Spring

I assure you that whoever doesn’t welcome God’s kingdom like a child will never enter it. – Mark 10:15

 

Dear Gatherers,

 

I believe childhood is to life what spring is to the seasons—a time of warming up to the world, of fresh thoughts coming to life, new feelings and experiences taking root in one’s spirit. Once summer arrives with its heat and fall ushers in the chill, much of that freshness gets lost if we don’t protect it.

 

Jesus loved children because youth enabled them to see clearly. Jesus loved to learn from them because children are natural born teachers. Perhaps that’s why Jesus often speaks of repentance as a return to childhood. Repentance calls us back to the humility and joy that accompany youthfulness. Last week Angela Tarrant gathered a group of young ones for a little call-and-response prayer service. She’s sharing that with us this week as our second Lenten Prayer exercise. Let yourself repent to childhood days of singing and praying. Enjoy!

 

Peace,

Pastor Tim

Giving News

We’re delighted to add a new stewardship channel to Gather. We’re now on Givelify, enabling us to use a church-friendly app for easier giving. This is in response to several folks who were frustrated by not having a third option. Take a moment to scan the Q-R code and register. God is good to all of us, and it’s a blessing to share together in this work!

A Lenten Journey with Madeleine L’Engle

This year we’re traveling Lent with an expert navigator, the famous 20th-century author and religious thinker, Madeleine L’Engle. You can order her book 40-Day Journey with Madeleine L’Engle on Amazon. (It’s also available on Kindle.) Then join us each Thursday as we look over the past week’s readings and discuss what spoke to us.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR THURSDAY CONVERSATIONS

Getting Back into Practice

It is good to give thanks unto the Lord… The Lord is righteous. God is my rock. – Psalm 92

 

Dear Gatherers,

 

Moving into these first weeks of Lent feels a little like returning to school after summer break. We know the drill. We just have to get back into practice. And if we’re lucky, not only will we learn new things; we’ll acquire new and improved skills. That’s what we’re hoping for at Gather. We’re taking time to learn more about prayer from folks who know a thing or two about it.

 

We start with Wilbert Watkins beautifully leading us toward the prayer practice of gratitude. His thoughts on this topic are a true blessing. Carve out 15 minutes to spend with Wilbert. He’s got a special gift for us and we’re grateful that he’s shared it! Click below to access the video.

 

Peace, with much gratitude,

Pastor Tim

Giving News

We’re delighted to add a new stewardship channel to Gather. We’re now on Givelify, enabling us to use a church-friendly app for easier giving. This is in response to several folks who were frustrated by not having a third option. Take a moment to scan the Q-R code and register. God is good to all of us, and it’s a blessing to share together in this work!

A Lenten Journey with Madeleine L’Engle

This year we’re traveling Lent with an expert navigator, the famous 20th-century author and religious thinker, Madeleine L’Engle. You can order her book 40-Day Journey with Madeleine L’Engle on Amazon. (It’s also available on Kindle.) Then join us each Thursday as we look over the past week’s readings and discuss what spoke to us.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR THURSDAY CONVERSATIONS

How Holiness Happens

You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. – Leviticus 19:2

 

Dear Gatherers,

 

Remember Gatorade’s Be Like Mike campaign from the 90s? Maybe not because—although it feels like yesterday—it’s been a minute since it came out. Here’s the premise. A bunch of kids play basketball on the playground, occasionally letting their tongue jut out while they shoot (a trademark Jordan move). Footage of MJ being amazing reveals what’s in their heads while the accompanying song—a junkanoo Caribbean tune—taps into what’s in their hearts: “Sometimes I dream that he is me / You’ve got see that’s how I dream to be / I dream I move / I dream I groove / Like Mike.”

 

In the day, being like Mike was a worthy aspiration for any kid, regardless of age. Multiply that exponentially and you’ll get to sanctification, a quest for the holy that aspires to resemble our Maker as much as we can. “You shall be holy,” God tells Israel, “because I’m holy.” The problem with holiness, unfortunately, is very similar to the problem with the Gatorade ad. The bar is too high for ordinary humans to clear. Be holy like God is holy? Are you kidding? The absurdity of the idea has caused many to lower the standard, moving in more visible direction: dress, act, speak, and show we’re holy and we’ll be holy.

 

The good news is that we don’t have to waste time play-acting holiness. It’s not measured in the way we move or what we wear or how we talk. That’s a type of piety that’s meant to mislead, and it’s often the source of obnoxious self-righteousness. God tells us to be holy, rather than “just do it” (another Jordan campaign). And how does that work? God makes us holy. That’s sanctification in a nutshell. We can be holy because God wills it so.

 

Forget looking “holy”—the spiritual equivalent of taking jump shots with your tongue hanging out. Just be holy, knowing you’re made in the image of a holy God. Once you get the being part down, the behavior will follow. We’ll unpack this liberating take on holiness during Thursday’s discussion. We may not be able to be like Mike, but God is saying, “You are holy like me!” We meet at 7:30pm CST via Zoom.

 

Peace, with much love,

Pastor Tim

Texts of Terror

The other woman said, “If I can’t have him, neither will you. Cut the child in half.” Then the king answered, “Give the first woman the living newborn. Don’t kill him. She is his mother.” – 1 Kings 3:26-27

 

Dear Gatherers,

 

Every time we witness horrific beat-downs of black bodies—like we’ve just seen with Tyre Nichols’ murder in Memphis—there are always pundits who wonder how much more we must endure to put an end to state-sanctioned violence. Then there are others who express valid concerns that abusive authority has become so normalized we’re numb to its harmfulness.

 

As followers of Christ, we can’t submit to either thought stream. It is not by mistake that God chose to enter our story at a time of backbreaking political oppression and violence. It was essential that we see God in those contexts to know that God is present always. It’s never too much for God to be with us, despite the horrors we create for ourselves through our sins of violence and greed and power.

 

It’s also important to remember that Jesus of Nazareth was steeped in a religious tradition that told gruesome stories of nearly unimaginable human depravity. A father takes his only son up a mountain intent on killing the boy in a misguided effort to please God (Genesis 22). Another father makes a vow that if God grants him victory over his enemies, he’ll sacrifice the first person to greet him when he returns home—who turns out to be his daughter (Judges 11). Civil war breaks out after a horde of xenophobic men gang-rapes an outsider’s companion (Judges 19). And in 1 Kings, two sex workers fight over maternity rights to one child. When the king suggests they slice the baby in two, the true mother pleads for her child’s life. It’s a Solomonic maternity test that proves right.

 

We call these stories “Texts of Terror,” because they expose cruelties that a hyper-masculine, nationalistic culture can visit on women, children, and outsiders. It should grieve us that our daily news runs rampant with similar texts of terror. Children are regularly sacrificed in these tales: sons and daughters, classmates, and neighborhood play companions. Not only do we inflict physical violence on their bodies. We inflict tremendous spiritual violence on those who survive. The brutality knows no bounds.

 

As scripture shows, these stories aren’t new. Jesus knew them and no doubt saw them play out in his own community. That may be why he pointed to child wellbeing as a mandate for faithful people. He healed children. He held them close. He warned against misleading and abusing them. And he taught us to value children’s lives (including grown sons and daughters) above all regard for power and control and “law and order.” Child wellbeing is our responsibility. When we make it a cultural norm, what happened in Memphis and so many other places in recent memory will become inconceivable. Let’s make it our cultural norm at Gather.

 

God help us.

 

Peace, with much love,

Pastor Tim

Living the Promise

In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young will see visions. Your elders will dream dreams. — Acts 2:17

Dear Gatherers,

We’ve always prided ourselves on our Pentecostal heritage—not in the denominational sense, but rather in our Early Church roots and their emphatic promise of inclusion. “I will pour out my Spirit on all people,” Peter preaches, quoting the ancestral prophet Joel. “All means all,” we like to say, often adding, “Anything less than all means nothing at all.” That’s what being Pentecostal means in its truest sense.

What interests me is how Peter’s message didn’t come with a process for establishing a community’s intention of being radically hospitable. That was safely assumed. We likewise have no record of policies and procedures. No paperwork—if there was any—has been discovered in clay jars in the desert. No organizational documents exist. Instead, the how-to of ecstatic inclusion is characterized by two behaviors: young folks having visions and older folks dreaming dreams. That, by itself, is unusual. In Peter’s day, the reverse was more typical. Young people were dreamers. Their elders were the visionaries. Right off the bat, the Pentecostal movement in Acts flips the paradigm.

Embracing youthful visions and experience-based dreams is how we live the Pentecostal promise. What is the Spirit urging us to envision? What dreams are being brought to life in our community? If we do our vision work like young people, we’ll believe anything can be done. If we dare to dream like seasoned elders, we’ll recognize commitment and effort make dreams come true.

This Thursday at 7:30pm CST, we’re coming together to do some visioning and dreaming about the next 12 months. There are so many wonderful things coming into focus it’s breathtaking. Please make time to be with us for this conversation. It will take all of us to bring Gather’s 2023 vision to life and turn our dreams into reality. See you on Thursday!

Peace, with much love,

Pastor Tim

Startled Awake

Arise! Shine! Your light has come; the Lord’s glory has shone upon you. Though darkness covers the earth and gloom the nations, the Lord will shine upon you; God’s glory will appear over you. – Isaiah 60:1-2

 

Dear Gatherers,

 

We’re approaching the halfway point in our Advent journey. To get to its true value, we must dive beneath the high-contrast dark/light, waiting/receiving, seeking/finding symbols to locate them in our own contexts. And the journey between Advent’s extremes can be very different for each one of us, depending on when, where, and how we find our way.

 

Isaiah’s wake-up call to Jerusalem—coming out of a 70-year nightmare of foreign captivity—resonates with anyone who loves Christmas hymns about angel choirs rousing a weary world out of its slumber. What Isaiah and the carols don’t mention, however, is how unsettling being awakened by bright light can be. The Advent call to rise and shine is a kind of “glory alarm” that startles. It may take time to adjust our sight and get our minds clear before the promises of hope, love, joy, and peace come into view.

 

One my favorite Advent companions, the 20th-century mystic and pastor Howard Thurman, captures this sensation. “There are times when the light burns, when it is too bright, or when it is too revealing. Somehow I must accustom myself to the light and learn to look with steadiness on all that it discloses. I will not yield to the temptation to regard the light in me as being all the light there is… Even in darkness I will learn to wait for the light, confident that it will come to cast its shaft across my path at the point of my greatest and most tragic need” (“I Seek Truth and Light,” Meditations of the Heart).

 

Advent’s wake-up call is a very specific promise to each of us in our respective contexts. Let us arise to the light, peer into its brilliance, and patiently wait for our eyes adjust to new sights around us, knowing the light we possess is not all the light there is. Light often breaks into our lives from unusual places and unexpected sources in unpredictable ways—kind of like the God of Creation showing up in a borrowed cow crib surrounded by perfectly imperfect strangers. The glory alarm is shining. Our light has come. Time to open our eyes!

 

With much love,

Pastor Tim