Douglass Blvd Christian Church

an open and affirming community of faith

2005 Douglass Blvd

(502) 452-2629

n open and affirming community where faith is questioned and formed, as relationships are made and upheld. 

Suicide Prevention Seminar w/ Donald Taylor

December 05, 2012  /  DBCC

Mark your calendars, folks.

On January 26th from 9:30 to 11:30am, Donald Taylor of Louisville Youth Group (LYG) is going to be visiting Douglass Blvd. to educate us and the Highlands Community on suicide prevention.

Think of it as a CPR/First Aid course. The idea is to empower ourselves with tools to save lives in our everyday. If you'd like to know more about the program, check out the Kentucky Suicide Prevention Group website.

The Gift Tree is up!

November 29, 2012  /  DBCC

Want to shop for yet another person this Christmas? Of course you do!

In order to help our friends at the Freedom House, we have a tree full of Christmas Wishes from their children. Just take an ornament, buy the gift, wrap it, and bring it back to the DBCC Church Office with the Ornament attached.

Truly, you all, this is a fantastic partnership we have with these folks and the Volunteers of America. Be sure to pick one up this Sunday.

Merry Christmas!

It's All about Community

November 29, 2012  /  DBCC

At one point the blog, [D]mergent, posed the question: Where is the church's greatest strength? It offered six possible answers: community, worship, personal morality, spirituality, social justice, and other. The poll wasn't intended to be scientific in either its methodology or its conclusions. Nevertheless, I think the results are important to highlight.

With six possible answers one would assume that the leading vote-getter would garner only a plurality, that a majority would be difficult to come by. In this case, however, 'community' received 50% of the vote (or as near a majority as it's possible to get). Tied for second were 'worship' and 'social justice,' followed by 'other,' 'personal morality,' and last, 'spirituality' (which received no votes). Some of the answers included under 'other' could be summarized in this way:

  • Centrality of Christ, Jesus
  • Clear proclamation of the gospel
  • The potential the church enjoys
  • The church's preoccupation with self-preservation (sarcasm, I think)
  • All of the above

In my interactions with people about how the church is changing in these uncertain times, it has become increasingly clear that whatever else the church may be (or fail to be), it has the potential in many people's minds to offer some kind of meaningful place for people to belong. For a variety of reasons (e.g., a more mobile and transient work force, a decreasing sense of being rooted in a particular place, longer work weeks with longer commutes, etc.) finding community gets harder as time passes.

Previous generations (not that far back) in the U.S. could reliably depend on living within rooted frameworks of social interaction--which is to say, you used to be able to count on being born, working, and eventually dying within the same nexus of communal relationships. And while such a life rooted to a particular place is still a possibility, very few people can trust in it as a likely option for themselves anymore.

This social fragmentation has people yearning for human contact within the structural framework of community--whether that's through clubs, sports teams, non-profit volunteerism, or other affinity groups. The church must come to terms with the intense longing, especially among young people, for a place to belong. The church is a community. And rightly ordered, it is a beautiful community.

  • It should both challenge and nurture you.
  • It should provide accountability across a broad spectrum of human endeavors and interests, as well as a place to be free from the expectation that you are somebody's "project," the object of someone else's self-improvement agenda.
  • It should inspire you to be better, refusing to let you off the hook too easily, but also holding your hand when you can't remember why being better is something anyone would want to do.
  • It should both give you a chance to make friends, as well as to help you understand what true friendship looks like.

Community, however, is not a good as such. Communities improperly ordered, like families, can do indescribable damage. Moreover, similar to other communities, Christian community can fail to live up to its highest calling--which is to equip people for the reign of God--wreaking just as much havoc in the process. Consequently, we ought to be careful not to romanticize community--Christian or otherwise.

But rightly conceived, community seems to be very much what the church at its best has to offer. We would do well to reflect more intentionally about just how we can cultivate the kind of space that people seem increasingly to need.

categories / Community
tags / Community, justice, social fragmentation

Sermon Podcast: The Alpha and the Omega ( Revelation 1:4-8)

November 26, 2012  /  DBCC

On Sunday, we were delighted in welcoming Rev. Joseph Pusateri to the pulpit to deliver the sermon in Rev. Penwell's absence. Just in time for the holidays, Rev. Pusateri examines time, tradition, and our service to a God that both encompasses and transcends them.

If you'd like to read more of Rev. Pusateri's stuff, check him out at his blog, Isa 61.

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NYC Organization "Picture the Homeless" Helps Give Voice and Agency to the Homeless

November 15, 2012  /  DBCC  /  Source

Mixing Faith into Public Life?

November 13, 2012  /  DBCC  /  Source

Bob Cornwall writes about the difficulty of the Church, the public sphere, and politics:

... I'm drawn to the Public Church ideal, but I also know that it’s difficult to remain faithful to one’s ideals when stepping into the fray.

As a church, we must be a collective voice for those who need to be heard; a voice remaining beholden to the message of Christ, and not necessarily a political agenda. While they do often align, they nearly as often to not. This is the balance we must continue to manage.

Redefining the "Values Voter"

November 07, 2012  /  DBCC  /  Source

Rev. Debra Haffner:

“These victories did not come easily, and they represent the work of thousands of people of faith across the country. We know that people of faith came together to work for marriage equality and abortion rights in every state where they were debated. We know that the values of compassion, full inclusion and equality for all triumphed. ”

The voices of faith groups across the country in support of inclusion and justice are being heard.

Do I Really Have to Forgive?

November 02, 2012  /  DBCC

I had a conversation with a parishioner one time that still vexes me. At one point some years prior, she and her husband had opposed me on the issue of homosexuality. A wealthy and influential couple, they were convinced that I was leading the flock down the road to perdition. I was a young pastor at the time, so their opposition proved particularly worrisome from a vocational standpoint. But, after a great deal of work, we mended fences--unfortunately, without ever really addressing the hurt I'd experienced.

A few years after the controversy, we were sitting in my office speaking candidly with one another--about what I don't remember. But I do remember feeling like it was important for me to say something out loud about the kerfuffle we'd had. So, apropos of nothing we happened to be discussing at the time, I said, "Gladys, you know that whole big thing we had a few years back over homosexuality?"

I saw her eyes widen. She nodded her head, perhaps more as a warning gesture than an affirmation. "Yes," she said.

Gladys was a true southern woman, one who did not like to engage in direct interpersonal dust-ups. She was the kind of person who preferred never to attack a problem head-on. Instead, she preferred to circle it for a while, sneak up on it, then strike passing blows--hoping, I think, to wear it down and force it to surrender. I, on the other hand, grew up in the North thinking that speaking directly is a virtue. Two different ways of communicating, the conflict between which often trips me up still.

"Well," I said, not picking up on the signs, "I felt very hurt by you and Henry in that whole thing."

I'm not sure what I was expecting. I guess I hoped she would say, "I know, Derek, and we're so sorry about that. I hope you'll forgive us." Or, "Yeah, I've been meaning to talk to you about that. I wished that had never happened." Or maybe even, "Mistakes were made."

Instead, what she said was, "That's behind us now. We don't need to talk about it."

I wanted to object: "No. It's really not behind us. Otherwise, I wouldn't bring it up."

What I said instead, however, was . . . well, not much of anything.

I've been thinking about forgiveness. There are things in my life I need to forgive, things for which I need to be forgiven. But what exactly does that mean? Say, for instance, you've been involved with an addict, who's left a trail of devastation behind. This person has done some work to get clean and work through the process of recovery. What now, though? What does forgiveness look like in this situation? I don't think Gladys' response that "that's behind us now. We don't need to talk about it" is the answer. Forgiveness is not willed forgetfulness.

On the other hand, I realize that forgiveness at some point means taking a chance on getting hurt again. When is it time to take that chance? If I'm the offended party, is it up to me to decide when is the right time? This seems right to me.

But what if I'm content to nurse my wounds, to savor the wrongs? Does the offender ever have a right to say, "I've said I'm sorry every way I know how. I've tried to regain your trust, but you won't let me near?"

I'm torn because I realize that some hurts are so grievous that getting past them seems impossible. The offender has a difficult time regaining the moral high ground in this interchange.

But as someone who follows Jesus, who regularly preaches that forgiveness isn't part of the optional special off-road package upgrade, I think the offended has certain responsibilities to the offender.

(I'm a good liberal, so let me just say, that last sentence scares me--since this sounds eerily like what the powerless are often urged to offer the powerful who've hurt them.)

What does that forgiveness look like? When, and under what circumstances should I offer it? I wish there were an algorithm into which I could plug my experience, the depth of the hurt, the nature of the offender's remorse and recovery, and have it spit out answers to those questions.

But I don't have such an algorithm. All I have is a community. So, let me ask you: What does forgiveness look like? When, and under what circumstances should I offer it? Do I really have to forgive?

This weekend at DBCC!

October 25, 2012  /  DBCC

Just wanted to give everyone a quick reminder of all the stuff coming up this weekend.

Saturday: Trunk r' Treat/Chili Supper -- 4-5:30pm

If you have a trunk, you're welcome to throw some candy in the back and join the circle of trunks. If not, just come out, have some chili, and enjoy the River Sirens caressing your face with their dulcet tones.

Sunday: Movie Club/Youth Group Screening of "The Wise Kids" -- 4-7pm

Bring a snack to share at Youth group, because we'll be sharing our youth meeting with members of the Movie Club. We'll be viewing "The Wise Kids" which is a film that Travis Myles is providing from the Louisville LGBT Film Festival. We'll be starting the movie at 4:30 with some discussion afterward.

Tuesday: Pipes and Pumpkins -- 7:30pm

The American Guild of Organists have a tradition every year of having a night for kids young and old to spend the night before Halloween experiencing some truly AWESOME organ music. I'm sure there will be at least one rendition of Tocata and Fugue by Bach before the night is over. It should be pretty awesome. If you're interested, be sure to email Dennis Blake for more details!

If you can't make it to all of the events, or can only make it for some of the time, you should still totally come out. It's all going to be a blast.

People of Douglass Blvd. Christian Church: WE NEED YOUR TRUNKS! ​

October 15, 2012  /  DBCC

​... with candy in them... 

​... we could also use some chili. 

​

The Trunk r' Treat/Chili Supper is only 13 days away! ​

If you would like to contribute your trunk, candy, or chili to the event, just contact Geoff  or Jennifer  with the info by calling the office, or shooting an email to douglassblvd@gmail.com.

You can also click here for a printable flier to pass out to those you think would be interested in attending. ​

​Thanks, everyone! 

​-- Geoff