Reflections on our Consecration
And on where we are as a congregation right
now
See a movie of the Consecration service here
See pictures of the consecration here and here.
Dear Friends:
Events at our church have been unfolding so fast and furiously that there is almost never time to stop and reflect about where we have been and where we are going. Even as we bask in the joy of our Consecration Service just a week ago, we already look forward to Holy Week just a week ahead. Planning for the Consecration was a bit like planning for Easter. And now, we have to plan for Easter! So, it's been busy.
My, my...actually, it's been busy since we first moved in, hasn't it?
From the Move Sunday, back in early November....
...To Advent and Christmas
...To Amahl and the Night Visitors
...To a Celebration of the McElvaney Years
...To a Celebration of the Holmes' Years
...To the Consecration
And now...on to Holy Week and Easter. And then, just a week after Easter, we'll begin our second, planned Capital Campaign to help pay for the wonderful new building that we're all enjoying so much.
Even as busy as it continues to be, I want to take a moment to reflect on Consecration weekend with you all. First off, I am overwhelmed by how well all our volunteers and staff worked together, on the common goal of putting this day together. A very detailed list of volunteers, committees and individuals, can be found here.
As our Leadership Council has been telling us, Northaven is in the midst of a transition from a "Pastor-sized" to a "Program-sized" Church. That means that the work of our committees, and our committed individual volunteers, will continue to become more and more important all the time. I think we saw that in the planning and execution of this special day. As with our transitional year --as with our big "move" last Fall-- it was exciting to see so many folks pulling together in such a good spirit of cooperation, and common purpose.
And what a wonderful confluence of events that our morning worship celebrated the return of Bill and Nancy Holmes to us!! They were so thrilled to be here for the special day, and I hope you've had the chance to read their note of thanks to us. Bill was the very first preacher at Northaven's very first service in its old sanctuary. And so, it was quite fitting for him to return to us, on this day of blessing of our new sanctuary building.
What a blessing our Movement Choir's processional was for us all! What blessing our choir, handbells and children's choir was! How special and perfect-for-the-day was Jane Marshall's anthem!
What a blessing to have all but one of our retired and former clergy as a part of our service. (Jim Sanders was a last minute cancellation and he sent his regrets to us). I hope you noted that all but three of the clergy in the procession are either current staff, retired/former pastors, or our current "beyond the church" clergy...ie, folks within our congregation currently serving the church outside a local church setting. There are a lot of clergy who have, and do, call Northaven home...and that means something.
I don't know about you, but I also appreciated much of what Bishop Moncure said during his time with us. Here are some quotes from his "Meditation":
** "What a wonderful place to model the presence of God...to model the presence of God in a place where the music has gone out of life...God has brought something magnificent here. God has assembled a great congregational here, at a time such as this, to remind a society and a world where the lyrics of hope, and the tunes of inclusive joy, have fallen asleep. It seems to me this evening that the challenge of this church....is to find those ways to awaken the sounds of love within the soul of the human family. Even to dare to re-teach our society a new song."
** "Perhaps the challenge or the mission of this church is to teach songs. Sometimes were have to teach songs even to our denomination when our Judicial Council forgets them. Who will be the song leaders?"
** "There are times when maybe God might be calling (us) together...to remind broken humanity, and to remind fragmented society, and to remind those who feel excluded from the door of grace, that the God of Abraham and Isaac, Miriam and Rachel, is an inclusive God, and all are welcome in the family of grace."
I appreciated these words. I hope you did too.
Three hundred and forty folks came to worship that Sunday morning. And 320 came that afternoon at 4 pm!! What is, of course, astounding about this is that it was in the midst of some of Dallas' most severe weather in years. Between 3 and 4 pm, we fielded about a dozen calls from folks asking if we were canceling our Consecration! Can you imagine?! We know the weather was bad and that all of you who came made a special effort to be there. So, thank you. We also know that many more wanted to come (including one of our retired ministers who got stuck in high water!) and could not get here.
Just imagine the crowd we would have had without rain!
I hope you also noted the great number of visitors from the Dallas community who came to be with us at this service. Dean William Lawrence from Perkins was with us in the morning. So was the head of Dallas' homelessness task force, Tom Dunning (who grew up at Northaven, by the way...) Dallas City Council Member Mitchell Rasansky was with us in the afternoon. The famous composer, Hal Hopson, was also present with us.
And approximately 20 clergy from across the North Texas Conference came to stand with us that afternoon. I don't want you to miss this last part. Many more sent notes to me, regretting that their life made it unable for them to come. I hope you will remember the Bishop asking those clergy to raise their hands and be recognized. And I hope you will remember how many of them raised their hands.
I don't personally go to the consecration services of many other churches. In fact, I cannot recall ever attending a consecration service at any other church. (I have enough to do, working among you all!!) So, for those folks to show up is a powerful reminder of the friends and supporters we have in the great Dallas area, and within the Methodist Church. That's a recognition of the support that many inside the United Methodist Church give to Northaven.
At the same time, we've also been getting much special recognition in media, and from the Dallas community, too. As you surely have heard by now, our church was featured in the Sunday Religion Section of the Dallas Morning News on the day before our consecration. Next week, the consecration will be featured in the North Texas Conference Edition of the United Methodist Reporter...a paper that goes out to Methodist Churches across the conference. (We'll post a link when this story is posted to the web...)
And perhaps the most dramatic recognition for Northaven has come this week, with the naming of the church as a beneficiary of the "Black Tie Dinner." This honor comes from a great organization that is a part of the Dallas Gay and Lesbian Community.
All these recognitions cause me to reflect on the different parts of the Dallas Community and beyond who are now taking note of Northaven Church:
-- People within Methodism
-- People within our city
-- Leaders in the gay and lesbian community
Our challenge, as a church, is to continue to be connected with all these groups, and with the many other interest groups that make Northaven Church unique. Already our building is getting a lot of use from the greater church and the community.
Already, in the past short months, we've:
-- Staged Amahl and the Night Visitors
-- Hosted a District Training Event for the United Methodist Church
-- Hosted the Reconciling Ministries National Board
-- Provided space for a debate among primary candidates for District Attorney
-- Hosted the Dallas Bethlehem Center Auxiliary (A United Methodist Center in South Dallas)
-- Hosted a show by the Echo Theatre (this coming Monday)
Wow. What this tells me is that one of our goals for this new building --to be a witness in United Methodism and the Dallas Community-- is happening. People are paying attention to what we're doing, to who we are, and to the values of inclusion, peace, love, and justice that we stand for.
It's an exciting time to be the church at Northaven and Preston, isn't it?!
Grace and Peace,
Eric Folkerth
See pictures of the consecration here and here.
Dear Friends:
Events at our church have been unfolding so fast and furiously that there is almost never time to stop and reflect about where we have been and where we are going. Even as we bask in the joy of our Consecration Service just a week ago, we already look forward to Holy Week just a week ahead. Planning for the Consecration was a bit like planning for Easter. And now, we have to plan for Easter! So, it's been busy.
My, my...actually, it's been busy since we first moved in, hasn't it?
From the Move Sunday, back in early November....
...To Advent and Christmas
...To Amahl and the Night Visitors
...To a Celebration of the McElvaney Years
...To a Celebration of the Holmes' Years
...To the Consecration
And now...on to Holy Week and Easter. And then, just a week after Easter, we'll begin our second, planned Capital Campaign to help pay for the wonderful new building that we're all enjoying so much.
Even as busy as it continues to be, I want to take a moment to reflect on Consecration weekend with you all. First off, I am overwhelmed by how well all our volunteers and staff worked together, on the common goal of putting this day together. A very detailed list of volunteers, committees and individuals, can be found here.
As our Leadership Council has been telling us, Northaven is in the midst of a transition from a "Pastor-sized" to a "Program-sized" Church. That means that the work of our committees, and our committed individual volunteers, will continue to become more and more important all the time. I think we saw that in the planning and execution of this special day. As with our transitional year --as with our big "move" last Fall-- it was exciting to see so many folks pulling together in such a good spirit of cooperation, and common purpose.
And what a wonderful confluence of events that our morning worship celebrated the return of Bill and Nancy Holmes to us!! They were so thrilled to be here for the special day, and I hope you've had the chance to read their note of thanks to us. Bill was the very first preacher at Northaven's very first service in its old sanctuary. And so, it was quite fitting for him to return to us, on this day of blessing of our new sanctuary building.
What a blessing our Movement Choir's processional was for us all! What blessing our choir, handbells and children's choir was! How special and perfect-for-the-day was Jane Marshall's anthem!
What a blessing to have all but one of our retired and former clergy as a part of our service. (Jim Sanders was a last minute cancellation and he sent his regrets to us). I hope you noted that all but three of the clergy in the procession are either current staff, retired/former pastors, or our current "beyond the church" clergy...ie, folks within our congregation currently serving the church outside a local church setting. There are a lot of clergy who have, and do, call Northaven home...and that means something.
I don't know about you, but I also appreciated much of what Bishop Moncure said during his time with us. Here are some quotes from his "Meditation":
** "What a wonderful place to model the presence of God...to model the presence of God in a place where the music has gone out of life...God has brought something magnificent here. God has assembled a great congregational here, at a time such as this, to remind a society and a world where the lyrics of hope, and the tunes of inclusive joy, have fallen asleep. It seems to me this evening that the challenge of this church....is to find those ways to awaken the sounds of love within the soul of the human family. Even to dare to re-teach our society a new song."
** "Perhaps the challenge or the mission of this church is to teach songs. Sometimes were have to teach songs even to our denomination when our Judicial Council forgets them. Who will be the song leaders?"
** "There are times when maybe God might be calling (us) together...to remind broken humanity, and to remind fragmented society, and to remind those who feel excluded from the door of grace, that the God of Abraham and Isaac, Miriam and Rachel, is an inclusive God, and all are welcome in the family of grace."
I appreciated these words. I hope you did too.
Three hundred and forty folks came to worship that Sunday morning. And 320 came that afternoon at 4 pm!! What is, of course, astounding about this is that it was in the midst of some of Dallas' most severe weather in years. Between 3 and 4 pm, we fielded about a dozen calls from folks asking if we were canceling our Consecration! Can you imagine?! We know the weather was bad and that all of you who came made a special effort to be there. So, thank you. We also know that many more wanted to come (including one of our retired ministers who got stuck in high water!) and could not get here.
Just imagine the crowd we would have had without rain!
I hope you also noted the great number of visitors from the Dallas community who came to be with us at this service. Dean William Lawrence from Perkins was with us in the morning. So was the head of Dallas' homelessness task force, Tom Dunning (who grew up at Northaven, by the way...) Dallas City Council Member Mitchell Rasansky was with us in the afternoon. The famous composer, Hal Hopson, was also present with us.
And approximately 20 clergy from across the North Texas Conference came to stand with us that afternoon. I don't want you to miss this last part. Many more sent notes to me, regretting that their life made it unable for them to come. I hope you will remember the Bishop asking those clergy to raise their hands and be recognized. And I hope you will remember how many of them raised their hands.
I don't personally go to the consecration services of many other churches. In fact, I cannot recall ever attending a consecration service at any other church. (I have enough to do, working among you all!!) So, for those folks to show up is a powerful reminder of the friends and supporters we have in the great Dallas area, and within the Methodist Church. That's a recognition of the support that many inside the United Methodist Church give to Northaven.
At the same time, we've also been getting much special recognition in media, and from the Dallas community, too. As you surely have heard by now, our church was featured in the Sunday Religion Section of the Dallas Morning News on the day before our consecration. Next week, the consecration will be featured in the North Texas Conference Edition of the United Methodist Reporter...a paper that goes out to Methodist Churches across the conference. (We'll post a link when this story is posted to the web...)
And perhaps the most dramatic recognition for Northaven has come this week, with the naming of the church as a beneficiary of the "Black Tie Dinner." This honor comes from a great organization that is a part of the Dallas Gay and Lesbian Community.
All these recognitions cause me to reflect on the different parts of the Dallas Community and beyond who are now taking note of Northaven Church:
-- People within Methodism
-- People within our city
-- Leaders in the gay and lesbian community
Our challenge, as a church, is to continue to be connected with all these groups, and with the many other interest groups that make Northaven Church unique. Already our building is getting a lot of use from the greater church and the community.
Already, in the past short months, we've:
-- Staged Amahl and the Night Visitors
-- Hosted a District Training Event for the United Methodist Church
-- Hosted the Reconciling Ministries National Board
-- Provided space for a debate among primary candidates for District Attorney
-- Hosted the Dallas Bethlehem Center Auxiliary (A United Methodist Center in South Dallas)
-- Hosted a show by the Echo Theatre (this coming Monday)
Wow. What this tells me is that one of our goals for this new building --to be a witness in United Methodism and the Dallas Community-- is happening. People are paying attention to what we're doing, to who we are, and to the values of inclusion, peace, love, and justice that we stand for.
It's an exciting time to be the church at Northaven and Preston, isn't it?!
Grace and Peace,
Eric Folkerth
Posted: Thursday - March 30, 2006 at 12:20 PM |
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Published On: May 05, 2008 04:47 PM
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Published On: May 05, 2008 04:47 PM