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How are you all doing? Have we all emerged from our holiday-induced food comas and piles of wrapping paper? Good! Because I want to talk to you all about our next sermon series: Reclaiming the Words of Faith.
When it comes to language, there are typically two camps of people: 1) those who rely on the dictionary definitions to define words and 2) the people who rely on common usage to define words. A hilarious example of this is the word "nonplussed". The word originates some time in the 16th century and originally meant something close to "perplexed". However, it went out of usage for a while and when people picked up the word again in the early 20th century, people used it to mean unruffled or unconcerned (source). Hilariously, if a person is nonplussed today, they might either be very confused or completely unbothered because the technical and the cultural understanding of the word are opposites. While the change in the meaning of "nonplussed" was largely accidental, there are times when groups of people make a consciences effort to change the meaning of a word. This has happened many times with words that originated as slurs against a marginalized group that the marginalized group then takes and wears as a badge of pride. While there are often still cultural rules as to who can use these terms and when they are acceptable to use, it shows the power we have to name and define our world. It is in the spirit of reclaiming and redefining language that I put our next series together. In order for us - as a congregation - to continue doing the work we need to do in order to build back our strength and vitality, we need to be able to talk about certain topics that make many people squeamish and uncomfortable. We need to be able to talk about what it means to share the Gospel, evangelize, make disciples, and be a missional church. Were you uncomfortable reading that? Because I was uncomfortable writing that. Unfortunately, these words have been defined over the years by a culture that was more interested in their idea of whether or not people were going to heaven and hell than whether or not those people were already existing in a living hell. Evangelism has been shaped by people going door to door with Bibles in hand rather than building relationships that give hope. Making disciples has been more about adding members to the church rolls than about helping people handle difficult questions about life. So, we are going to take the time from now until Lent to talk about these controversial words and what more faithful interpretation of them would be; because, by removing them from our lexicon, we let other people continue to define them poorly and we ignore some key parts of our faith. So, join me as we get uncomfortable talking about words we don’t like and their importance to us today. Blessings, Pastor Chris Happy Christmas Eve, everyone! Whether you are at home, busy cooking a family dinner, traveling to see family or friends, doing some last-minute shopping and/or present wrapping, or preparing for our service tonight, I hope you all are well and find a moment of peace. However this finds you, this is my yearly reminder that, no matter what, Jesus is born to us this night. Jesus comes to us tonight whether you have wrapped all of your presents or not. Jesus comes to us tonight whether you are with your family or celebrating on your own. Jesus comes to us tonight whether you are feeling joyful or whether you need to break down and cry. Jesus comes to us tonight if our service goes without a hitch, and Jesus still comes tonight if everything breaks and we have to sing Silent Night with the power off. Jesus comes to us tonight if your dinner is beautifully laid out on the table, and he also comes if you burnt the bread and forgot to salt the potatoes. Jesus comes to us tonight even if you can’t find that one present that you expertly hid so that you could wrap it later. Jesus comes to us tonight if your guest rooms are all prepared and he still comes if your house is full without spare room on the air mattress. Jesus comes to us tonight whether we are ready or not… because his birth is not about humanity being ready but about God’s overflowing love. And God knows that we can all use more love, more grace, more peace, more joy, and most of all, hope tonight. So, don’t worry too much on the details and don’t fret if everything goes wrong. Jesus will still be born tonight, the shepherds will still come, and the choir of angels will still sing. So - make sure to rest, cut yourself some slack, and have a very merry Christmas. Pastor Chris “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Just like the ones we used to know!” At least as I am writing this (a bit ahead of schedule), snow has covered the ground, and a bitterly cold wind blows in the moment that you open a door. I know that the snow will probably melt by the time you all are reading this, but it feels just a little bit more Christmassy with a layer of white covering the ground. It is difficult to deny that Michigan winters are not what they used to be. No longer are our yards covered in snowpack that has been there for over a month. No, things have been warmer and fewer and fewer snowstorms come our way. Despite all of these changes, the songs that we sing this time of year do not seem to change. If I was to take a guess, when you read that first line, you hear the lulling voice of Bing Crosby singing those words. Okay, okay… many of you may have heard Michael Bublé’s version of that song playing in your head instead. My point still stands: we may re-record old Christmas songs and set them to slightly different backing tracks, but few new Christmas song have been written in recent years. According to this TIMES article, many of our holiday favorites were written in the 1800’s or in the 1940’s but there are exceptions. My theory? When it is cold and blustery, these songs act like warm blankets for our ears. They bring a sense of comfort that some things don’t change: you can hum the tune while you are working without thinking about it too much. The words come easily, at least for the 1st verse and the chorus. To add into the comfort, fun, and good cheer of this holiday season, we are hosting our second Caroling in the Neighborhood fellowship event on December 20th at 7 p.m. You are invited to meet other carolers at the South Entrance of the building dressed in warm clothing. Maps and song sheet will be provided. Once the group has assembled, the carolers will then begin their stroll around the neighborhood sharing their songs and Christmas Spirit. Friends and guests are welcomed! We expect to carol for about 1 hour, weather permitting. Blessings, Pastor Chris There is a particular feeling that comes from the contrast between the expected joy of the season and the looming heaviness and dread. Some of this heaviness might be because of the state of the world and our country. Other people might feel it because of things going on here in our own community or because of things happening in their own lives. I know that, for many of us, this strange feeling is become sadly familiar: I can remember a time when the holidays felt like a break from the struggles of the world; but, in recent years, it has become increasingly difficult to put on holiday blinders: many of the world’s issues are simply too big and too foreboding. If you are feeling these things, no matter the reason why, know that you are not alone. And whether you use cheery holiday music to give temporary relief or if you need a break from the forced cheer of Christmas ads, know that there is not one correct way to deal with these emotions. However - there are helpful and less-helpful ways to deal with difficult emotions. One of my favorite tools to deal with big, unwieldy emotions is this: take your emotions seriously but do not trust what they say.
That idea comes from a TED Talk called The Voices in my Head by Dr Eleanor Longden who talks about what it is like to live with schizophrenia, heal from trauma, and become a psychologist. In this talk, she discusses her discovery that the voices she hears come up when her brain is trying to communicate something to her that she is not fully conscience of yet – often something urgent or anxiety producing. She has learned that the voices are normally correct in identifying situations that need her attention but incorrect in their analysis. For example, she described the overwhelming feeling that her family is in danger from an intruder and she needs to protect them and the voices telling her that if she doesn’t they will die. She goes on to explain that the voices are incorrect that there is an intruder that she needs to protect them from, the voices correctly identified that she is worried about her family members because it is a stressful week for them. While Dr. Longden has a particular neurological condition with some extreme symptoms, I believe most of us have experienced something similar, though to a lesser degree. Some folks are disappointed about the election and feel helpless to change anything, and their inner voice can tell them that society is collapsing, and the world is heading towards a man-made apocalypse. Some are anxious about our job security and our ability to pay for Christmas presents and that inner voice lashes out and lashes out by telling us to fear of immigrants and people who don’t look like us. Some are experiencing change, and that inner voice tells us that things will never be as good as they once were, so we should just give up. Some folks are experiencing setback and dreams that didn’t work out and that inner voice can be cruel telling them that they are a failure. In all of these situations, it is important to take these emotions seriously, but not to trust what that inner voice is saying. The first step is often to acknowledge the base emotion being felt: “Am I angry or sad? Disappointed or grieving? Am I scared? If so, what I am really scared of?” Only after you acknowledge at the center of the issue can you tackle what the voice is saying and analyze how reasonable that response is. So, as we continue on into Advent, if you are feeling weary and heavy laden, check in with yourself and what you are feeling. Give yourself a chance to simply feel the emotions that are bubbling up. It can be scary, but I promise that the sadness and grief will not end you: most often, it will wash over you like a wave. Give yourself permission to feel those things and then, and only then, see if that inner voice is actually being truthful or is speaking out of a place of pain. Despite what the Hallmark company would have you think, the Advent season is not about forced happiness and joy. In the "Christmas movie world", it might be a sin to be unhappy during the holidays, but there is room for sadness, grief, and longing in Advent. So let yourself feel your feelings – but don’t’ always trust that voice. Blessings, Pastor Chris Have you ever noticed that some of the most well-known Christmas scriptures are not in the Gospels? “For to us a child is born, to us a child is given.” “Look! The young woman is with child!” “And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” “And you shall call him Immanuel” “And the wolf will lay down with the lamb.” If these scriptures are not from the Gospels, have you ever wondered where they did come from? What did they mean in their original context? What did the people think of when they first heard them? How do we know that they are talking about Jesus?
Here are some quick answers:
So - join me this Advent season in our worship series Look!: Isaiah’s Prophetic Words for Advent. Blessings, Pastor Chris My apologies for being a day late with the Northminster Notes. Yesterday was a busy day and every time I sat down to write you all my weekly letter, something else would pop up and I would need to attend to it.
When I get to the Northminster building in the mornings, I typically have a routine of sorts: Unlock and lock the east door, unlock my office, flip on the lights, set my bag of things down, turn on my computer, hang up my coat, make myself a cup of tea, log into the computer, check my email, and lay out in my calendar what I am to accomplish that day. I don’t always do things in exactly this order, but this is more or less how things go most morning. But this morning I took the scenic route to my morning routine. Yes, I unlocked doors, turned lights on, and set my stuff down but I left my computer off. I grabbed my holiday Christmas mugs and dropped my favorite cozy tea in it (Harney and Son’s Hot Cinnamon Spice tea for anyone who was wondering. I sound like an internet influencer right now, but seriously… if you want a cozy hug in a mug, it is amazing.) Mug and tea in hand, I strolled down to the kitchenette to brew the tea. I love the hot water tap, but this tea also needs a little extra heat to brew right. So, I popped it in the microwave for a minute. In that minute, I reflected on all the work that has been done and what is still left to do. And my thoughts came to me last night when Session met and voted to approved the lease agreement with the Congregational Church of Birmingham. While we call it a lease, it is written up as a Revocable Licensing Agreement. This is the same language we have with the Discovery Corner Academy and Troy People Concerned. A Revocable License implies shared use of the space rather that a Lease agreement that implies sole usage of the space. I know that some folks were hoping that this agreement would be a voting matter at our last congregational meeting, but I cross-checked it with the Book of Order and by G-3.0201 (c), managing the physical property of the congregation is explicitly the duty of the Session and by G-1.0504, many topics are listed as being appropriate matters for a congregational meeting, including sale or mortgaging of property or creating a “joint congregational witness,” but finalizing a lease/licensing arrangement was not included. As such, the Session acting in its designated roll and approved this arrangement. If you would like to discuss this and their rational with Session members, they will be listed below. The Hot Cinnamon Spice tea is, in my opinion, best when you completely boil the water before pouring it over the tea bag. The tea is a combination of black tea (but there is an herbal version), cinnamon, clove, and orange peel. While there is no added sugar, if you fully boil the water, the orange peel will release a small amount of sugar to the tea and add a slight sweetness that balances the spicy cinnamon. The downside to this method of brewing is that you also have to wait until it cools down to drink it. So, I began meandering around the building waiting for my tea to cool. I found myself sitting in the Sanctuary. Yesterday, the Congregational Church of Birmingham began their move, bringing their essential items to our building. As I peered around the sanctuary, I was amazed at how some of their things fit in our space. Their Baptismal Font is made from a similar wood as is the wood of our sanctuary. It is a similar mid-century design and fits perfectly on the left side of the chancel. They also brought a driftwood Jesus statue with them that fits perfectly in with the greenery in the corner opposite the choir. Yes, we had to shift a few things around and we had to find a best-of-all-options location for a few items, but I felt like there was a sense of cozy harmony in the room: the things added made sense and it still felt like Northminster’s sanctuary. I sat in the sanctuary for a good long time just looking around. As it turns out, cold rooms are great for cooling off tea and I was able to take a drink and feel the warm tea radiate through me. I spent that time talking to God, praying your you all, the community that uses this space to find community and connection with God. I prayed for our future and for the future of the church. I lifted up the struggles I know about in the community and those that I didn’t. Slowly I found stillness in that room and my eyes and heart came to rest on the woven cross tapestry that hangs in the front of the chancel. Many times, I have been told the story about that tapestry: it was made during a Presbyterian Women’s even at First Presbyterian Church of Warren. Many different types of material in many different colors were carefully woven together to make the piece. If you are up close, all you see it the checkered weaving of the cloth. But when you stand back and look from a distance, you can see the cross appear out of undulating colors and fabric. The tapestry is not ours, but it is permanently in our care. And like an answered prayer, I felt a small voice inside me say, “this is what we are doing.” I try to be very intentional with my words when I write these letters to you all and when I preach. Since we don’t speak in upper and lower case, when I talk about the local church, I try to use the word congregation to refer to the local community of people. That is because the Church (notice the upper-case C) is the Church Universal, the Church of Jesus Christ, the whole gathering of God’s people. The congregation and its mission is but a piece of the Church and Church’s mission. We are one piece of very-colorful fabric woven into the tapestry of the Church. This one stripe of fabric cannot make the image of the cross by itself, we have to be woven together with the other congregations to make the Church Universal. We are not the Church by ourselves, but tasked with caring for this segment of the Church and our mission gets woven into the wider mission of the Church. We don’t own the Church; we are stewards of this piece of the Church. As we go forward with our relationship with the Congregational Church of Birmingham, we are weaving our stories together. We are two congregations, but we are a part of one Church. Our mission and ministry have brought us together for a time, but we will have to listen and discern where God is leading us as we step out in faith. Practically, we are also weaving together our worship spaces, our offices, our calendars, and our relationships. With any luck, this weaving will make our part of the Church’s tapestry stronger. With gratitude, Pastor Chris |
AuthorPastor Chris Hallam earned her degree at Princeton Theological Seminary and moved to Michigan to become a pastor. Also trained as a studio artist and graphic designer, with an interest in pop culture and social science, her passion is thinking creatively about the future of the church. Archives
January 2025
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