Apparently, people have been referring to Platt Park Church as “The Boutique Church.” I’m not sure what that means yet, but I am curious to find out. If you have thoughts on this, please share! Maybe it means that we are housed a block from the boutique shops on S. Pearl street, or that we value aesthetics and art, or perhaps that our space is cozy and quaint. I’m not sure what it means, but I hope that it means this: we value the internal work of God more than the external signs of success. I hope that it means that we aim to embrace greatness through smallness, as Jesus taught. I hope that it means that raw, Jesus-sculpted character beauty is valued over make-up and marketing. I’m not sure what Boutique Church means, but I hope that as our identity in this community develops, we will increasingly become an integral part of the worldwide church that Jesus dreamed of and gave his life to launch.
Turning the Car Around
We had to turn the car around on our way to Frisco the other day because we forgot “White Bear,” one of Russell’s favorite stuffed animal friends. Most child psychologists believe that “lovies” are a very good thing for children developmentally. A treasured “lovie” can provide:
*comfort during sad times
*security in scary situations
*a someone/something that is with you at all times
As adults, we have our own socially accepted version of “White Bear.” We use words like “comfort food” and “financial security,” and we have things like our cell phones that most of us will absolutely turn the car around and go back for, rather than face the day without them.
I think we instinctively know that these “white bears” in our lives aren’t the real deal, but we sometimes still give them a lot of power. We forget, or fail to trust, our first and true love. Jesus said, “Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.”
May we turn to Christ today for rest, for comfort, and for security-and to abide in the One who is with us always.
Stem Cell Blessing
Many of you know Susan Howard who has been a part of our church family for a couple of years now. Susan was diagnosed with Leukemia and she was admitted into Presbyterian / St. Lukes hospital on November 8, 2013 to undergo treatment. On January 28, 2014, Susan received a stem cell transplant and she asked me to come to the hospital and offer a blessing. Susan is at home now, recovering and I am so very grateful to God for the healing work he is doing and for the honor of knowing such a courageous woman! Here is the blessing I shared at the hospital that day…
2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come; the old has gone, the new is here!”
When God gets a hold of our hearts and a mustard seed of faith is born in us, the Scriptures say our lives are grafted into the life of Christ, and we have new life. What is happening here today is a physical picture of this spiritual process. These stem cells from a healthy donor represent the potential for new life. For Susan, the old is gone, and today, the new has come. Let the grafting now begin, and the new life flourish.
The journey to today has been long and costly in every way. Although we never would’ve chosen such a painful stripping away of physical health for you, your story is helping us live more courageously, and we thank you for that gift. Susan, we love you and we are cheering you on.
The psalmist says, “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Let’s pray together.
Most merciful God, Creator and Sustainer of Life, You are the fountain and source of all life. We come before you humbled by your great gift of life. In your infinite love, you comprised us of tiny cells and gave them the power to sustain, heal and renew. For giving scientists, physicians and nurses the knowledge to transplant healthy cells for others’ well being, we give you thanks. For providing Susan’s stem cell donor in Canada, we give you thanks. For the loving support of family and friends, we give you thanks. For having brought us to this special day, we give you thanks.
You are the Great Healer and Physician, and we acknowledge that all healing comes from you. Bless these stems cells; bring your healing and new life to Susan starting today. May Susan trust not only in the power you’ve given these stem cells to heal, but also in your invitation to spiritual rebirth. Give Susan patience and hope as she waits for the restoration of her body, mind and spirit. Please send your Spirit upon these cells, blessing them with your love and healing power so that they bring about full and complete restoration to Susan’s body. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit we pray, AMEN.
Ash Wednesday & Falling in Love
We are entering week 3 of our pre-marital course and I am so inspired by the couples we meet and the stories they share. I long for each couple we meet to keep their first love (in Jesus) while falling in love with each other. One of the realities of marriage is that everyone sets out with great love and affection in their hearts. Most people love their spouse. But we all know that it is not enough to just love people “in our hearts” we must also love them in our calendars, with our time and attention. When we create and commit space in our lives for those we love, we are often surprised by what happens.
This upcoming Wednesday, March 5th is Ash Wednesday, the day that begins our lenten journey as a church. Lent is the 40 day season leading up to Easter where we remember our mortality and prepare ourselves for Easter. There is a tradition in Christian history to give something up during lent. The heart of this habit is not about a self-improvement project; the spirit behind it is intentionally spending time with Jesus – not just in our hearts, but in the real time calendar of our lives – so He can surprise us. So whether you choose to take something up or give something up this season, my prayer is that we might commit and create space in our lives for the One whose love is deepest, widest, strongest and most unimaginable.
Practicing What I Preach
Our message series for Advent this past December was called “Be Present to the Unexpected.” For four weeks leading up to our Christmas Eve services, I spoke about how unexpected it was for God to bring his son into the world as a baby. I taught that part of being present at Christmas time was being present to the unexpected things in our own lives. On Christmas Eve, I had a chance to practice what I preached.
Since Christmas Eve is the 2nd largest event of the church year, I always impose on myself some pressure for the services/message. All December long, I battle voices in my head that say things like, “Don’t mess up this message because there will be lots of visitors that day.” And then I remind myself it’s about God and not about me…, and then I basically repeat this debate 100x over in my head throughout the month.
The week before this Christmas, our nanny Gabby returned to China to visit her family after 2 years here in the U.S. We were so happy and excited for her, but her travel disrupted what had become our normal routines with our 2 ½ year old son Russell.
Our dear friend Charlie heard we needed help and volunteered to watch Russell for us on Christmas Eve morning. At about noon, while in my office putting final touches on the talk for that afternoon, I got a call from Charlie saying, “Russell is sick.” Concerned, I zipped home, a conveniently short commute since we live next door to the church. Russell did not look good. By 2 p.m. my concern had not waned, so I called the nurse hotline to get some advice, and she said, “You need to bring him in right away.” The only appt was at 3 p.m., and our first service was at 3:30 p.m. I was thinking: T minus 90 minutes until the service starts… No pressure here, Susie… 2nd biggest event of the year… and your baby needs to go to the doctor!
I hung up the phone and started crying uncontrollably. Something about that mix of pressure of a big day plus my-baby-needs-me and a little bit of the mother-guilt over having a babysitter on Christmas Eve and the fear of what might be wrong with Russell added up to my feeling so raw, vulnerable, and all alone. So I cried big tears that seemed even to me in the moment a bit disproportionate for the situation, but I couldn’t help it.
Here is how God showed up in that moment and how I got to practice what I had preached: “Be present to the unexpected.” The unexpected sick kid, the unexpected tears, the unexpected timing of it all. God showed up for me in the unexpected presence of Rob and Carol (our medical expert friends & church elder) who came to our home, assessed & treated Russell, and reassured me. The blessedness of their gift of love to me in that moment cannot be overstated. They were hands-down the best Christmas gift I received, and they gave it just by being there and being Jesus-with-skin-on for me that day.
God also showed up for me in the unexpected presence of Curtis, our professional musician friend who canceled his Christmas Eve plans to stay with our son, skipping out on the candlelight service himself. He was away from his family for the first time ever on Christmas, and he chose to be family to us by sitting with our sick toddler. When I walked in our back door after the services were done, weary and grateful that God had gotten us through, Russell was curled up and sleeping on Curtis’ lap on the couch. That image, even to this day, makes me weep.
Of all the plans we made that year for Christmas (the special music, holiday foods, carefully crafted décor, and nostalgic candlelight) God chose to come closest to me in the unexpectedness of that night, which I will not soon forget.
About Crying in the Shower
Apparently, crying in the shower is a common way our bodies tell us that our lives feel overwhelming. I’m not usually a cry-in-the-shower girl. In fact I can only think of twice in my entire life when I’ve done that: 1) When I had to wake up at 4 a.m. for my first job in a bakery as a 16 year old, and 2) After Russell was born and I experienced “baby blues” to be a real phenomenon of out-of-whack hormones. On both of these occasions, I cried out of the overwhelming feelings of new responsibility coupled with a very real fear of inadequacy.
In those vulnerable moments, crazy and extreme ideas can run through your head, like, “Who am I?” or “Surely I am not enough for this task?” or “Of course they will stop accepting me once they really know me.” In looking back over past experiences that overwhelmed me, I see them as gifts in life. If we never do anything beyond ourselves, never do anything that scares the pants off of us, never do anything that feels gut churning , then how will we ever grow? How will we learn what it feels like for God to work through us?
When I read stories about Moses, David, Esther, Ruth and other great heroes of the faith, I wonder if they ever cried in the shower (or the ancient middle-east equivalent)? Like us, they sometimes faced the challenging combination of new responsibility and fear of inadequacy. It’s ironic that we tend to refer to those characters in Scripture as “heroes” of the faith because they really aren’t heroes at all. They are just ordinary people with apprehensions, reservations, complaints and resistance. The real hero in their stories is God. For example, in Moses’ story, God is the one who shows up and leads Israel out of slavery even though Moses is too scared to speak to Pharaoh and say, “Let my people go.”
I don’t know whether Moses cried in the shower, but I am grateful that he and others did not turn away when faced with challenges way beyond their ability or confidence.
And I hope you and I will soon have that sacred combination of new responsibility & the fear of inadequacy in our lives somewhere-because right there is where we become dependent on God, not in an intellectual way, but in an actual way. My prayer for you when you do find yourself in that overwhelming position is that you won’t settle for comfort or convenience, but that you’ll remain and allow God to be courage, power and strength in you and through you.
What’s a Deacon?
If you’ve been a follower of Christ for any length of time perhaps you’ve noticed that in Christian circles there are a whole bunch of words and phrases that are only used in church. These sayings often make very little sense to the population of people who don’t participate in church. Sometimes these phrases are meaningful and at other times they are just flat out weird. We say things like, “hedge of protection” and “God laid it on my heart” and “we’re just going to love on people” (kinda creepy?) or “it just feels like a God-thing” so maybe we can “bathe this in prayer.” Most of the time I am eager to shed “churchy” language from my vocabulary when it pops up. I want to be simple and honest and clear. But at other times a “churchy” word or phrase resonates for our community and when that is true, I don’t want to shy away from it even if it is churchy. After all, we are a church! So, we recently formed a “deacon” team and I am very aware that many people have never heard that word or just have no idea what it means. So, I asked Vaun if she would write up a little description for us and here is what she said:
“I am delighted that Platt Park Church has continued the church tradition of appointing deacons to help care for those in need. The first time we see this occurring in scripture is in Acts 6 when Stephen and six other men were selected by the apostles to help feed the poor and care for the widows. The criteria by which they were chosen was that they be well respected and full of the Spirit and wisdom. Phoebe was the only person actually called a deacon (Romans 16) and presumably the same criteria was used for her selection. A deacon is a servant or minister and the origin of the word means quite literally “through the dust.” These are people willing to get involved in the messiness of life. Platt Park could not have chosen a better founding group of deacons than Bill, Connie, Jan and Carol.”
I too am grateful for this new team!
Children, Youth & Families
Children and youth are not just the “church of tomorrow” they are a vital part of our church today!
Amy Borjas has been leading our family ministry here at Platt Park and I am immensely grateful for her heart and passion in leading this area of our church. Amy and her husband Eddie and their three children are relocating to Spokane, WA for Eddie’s new job. It has truly been a pleasure to serve Christ with Amy at Platt Park Church. She has not only taken the program forward by leaps and bounds but has done it in the power of God’s spirit. I honor the work, both visible and behind the scenes invisible, that she has done here as Family Life Pastor. Amy has impacted many lives and I am grateful for all of her hard work, love & unseen sacrifices. We are going to miss her and her family immensely. I will always thank God for the time in ministry we’ve shared together.
As we look forward, I am absolutely thrilled that Anne Coughlin will be joining our staff team to lead the nursery & preschool ministry among families. Also Ginny Allison (who has been serving alongside Amy in a support role) is going to be stepping up to lead the ministry for kids beyond preschool! I am just thrilled that God has brought such wonderful, competent and fun-to-work with people to our team.
Please join me in appreciating Amy, welcoming Anne, and if you haven’t had the chance to meet Ginny, I hope you will soon.
This Sunday we will be hosting a chili-cook off after 2nd service. This is a chance to “Meet the home team” members of Platt Park Church’s’ leadership team including our staff, elders & brand new deacon board!
I am so very grateful.
I Got Carded
Tonight I got carded! I share that with great enthusiasm because when you’re an almost-40 year old mom of a toddler, and you’re no longer pulling off the Forever 21 wardrobe, getting carded feels like a real compliment! Can I get a witness?
I’m surprised by how happy it made me to think some random stranger (whose job it is to ask for ID’s) may have momentarily thought I was closer to 20 than 40. I do sometimes miss the spontaneity, energy, and adventure of youthfulness. Those days were awfully fun!
Usually, I actually don’t mind that I’m aging. I respect and admire many individuals who truly seem much more grounded and beautiful to me at 50, 60, 70 & 80 than I ever remembering myself or my friends being at 20-something-and-still-finding-the-way.
The lines on my older friends’ faces and the wrinkles on their hands have been earned through living and loving and fighting. Those age markers have been earned through the crucible of life, the hodgepodge of bitter and sweet moments. That kind of earned beauty, born from surviving and thriving, is lovelier to me than skinny jeans and perfect skin any day.
Our recent study on heaven has taught me that, in glory, our bodies will be fully restored. I wonder what that will be like? We won’t be ghosts, bobbing 6 inches off the ground. We will be ourselves, in our own skin, with 2 feet on the ground-walking, dancing, kissing, and hugging other real people. We will be healthy, whole, and filled with joy.
Maybe that flicker of pleasure in being carded tonight points to my soul’s hope that heaven is really true. Maybe I have a subconscious echo in me of a future in eternity where aging and worry and feelings of inadequacy and aching and tears and troubles will be no more. C.S. Lewis said, “Heaven is the music we were born hearing.” Maybe eternity is written in our hearts more than we know. [Or maybe I just like getting carded because… what almost 40 year old woman doesn’t?] Either way, I join the apostle Paul in eagerly awaiting that day when God will make all things, including our aging, failing bodies, new.
Just Jesus Please
Every Fall, our teaching team at church meets to pray and brainstorm about the message series for the upcoming year. This past October, we each wrote down what we thought might be important topics, and then we shared them with each other. One theme emerged this year from all five people around the table: the desire to talk more about Jesus – the historical, radical, confusing and redeeming person we know as Lord and Savior and Friend. So, beginning just before Easter, we are going to spend several weeks on Jesus. As Ruth Bell Graham once said, “Just give me Jesus!”
I’ve begun ruminating and talking with others about Jesus, and I think many people feel confused about Him, and some have decided to throw Him out all together. There are many things that challenge, confuse and even sometimes anger me about Jesus too. Like why did he heal some but not all? Why hasn’t he returned yet? Is he really the only way to God? Why did he so often teach in parables?
On the flip side, I keep returning to some things I like about Jesus:
- Jesus was always a redeemer and healer; his trajectory in relating with others was toward their growth and wellbeing.
- He noticed and cared for the oppressed and/or those who were unrecognized or under-valued (e.g. fisherman, women, tax collectors, children).
- He taught with authority and creativity, and he mentored in close proximity.
- He honored tradition but also breathed fresh air/new life into what had become a system of rules.
- He gave people hope that things could be different – in this life and the next. He then exemplified this with his own death and resurrection. The greatest tragedy and injustice was turned inside out. This gives me hope that even the most terrible circumstances may have surprising ends.
- He is a picture to me of “God with us,” Emmanuel. Because of his life, I have a clearer vision of my own purpose to be an extension of God-with-us to others.
- Scripture tells me I can be clothed in his righteousness and when God looks at me, he actually sees me through the righteousness of Christ.
Whether you are presently angry with Jesus, confused by him, enamored with him, or just plain curious, I hope you will find the upcoming series helpful. Jesus’ invitation is always, “Come,” and the Platt Park teaching team would love to have you come and join us as we study and dialogue together.
Susie Grade 