an open and affirming community of faith
n open and affirming community where faith is questioned and formed, as relationships are made and upheld.
June 10, 2014 / DBCC / Source
Pentecost Sunday
Paul is arguing here for the appreciation of diversity that makes up the body of Christ, which is a way of arguing from the back side that the purpose of the body is to live and thrive—not merely to satisfy the toe or the elbow, not merely to give me unlimited opportunities to display my gifts, to fine-tune my soul. The body flourishes when the widest possible diversity is welcomed.
Happy Birthday, Church.
LCA last week. JCPS today. School is OUT.
It's summertime, y'all.
For students and teachers, hope has sprung anew. Flowers are more fragrant. The sun warms the soul, for you have seen a new heaven and a new earth.
For local Highlands businesses and neighborhood assocaitions, watching as the oncoming herd of teens top the horizon, perspective changes . . .
And the rest of us will just spend a few months of feeling like our city sits directly inside a closed mouth.
But for tonight, it's BEAUTIFUL out there. Let's all enjoy this one, eh?
By Derek Penwell
I believe because I have to believe. I have to believe because life doesn’t make any sense to me otherwise. To say I believe, however, leaves open the question of the object of my belief. That is to say, what do I believe? I believe that God is behind all of this in some way that makes sense to God, even if it escapes me. I know I’m supposed to have it all together, to have it systematized in some way that will hold up to scrutiny. Yet, I’m secretly afraid, I suppose, that if I interrogate my reasons for belief too vigorously, those reasons will remain just enough beyond my reach to make me wonder, in times of darkness, whether they make sense, or even ought to be considered reasons at all.
Even so, let me venture into the fray with a few things that do make sense to me. These are neither systematic nor exhaustive, merely suggestive:
I believe that the Jesus we encounter in the Gospels has only a passing acquaintance with the Jesus we encounter in popular Christianity.
I believe that much of popular Christianity (mesmerized as it is by the atomic individual) is designed to distract middle-class white Christians from the fact that they drive SUVs, inflict violence on people who happen to be born under different flags, and ignore the cry for justice from the margins.
I believe that, in Christ, God is busy loving people I disapprove of and with whom (sadly) I too often can't be bothered.
I believe that Christianity operates more often than not as a mechanism for affirming what people already believe—before they ever encounter the subversive Jesus of the Gospels.
I believe that the ministry of the Jesus who died abandoned and alone is a terrible model for what most people think of as "church growth."
I believe that heaven is God’s jurisdiction; my responsibilities require me to be present and to work here and now.
I believe that if what you believe doesn’t make somebody mad, you’re not doing it right. Jesus wasn’t killed because he was nice.
I believe that in a world concerned only with saying yes, being taught to say no is the most loving thing that can happen to us.
I believe the church needs to quit clinging to its life as if its life were an end in itself, and needs to start getting comfortable with the notion that the church belongs to God.
I believe that Christian belief is only intelligible, only interesting, if it is embodied in a community of people committed to living and, if necessary, dying like Jesus.
It’s not much, but it helps me hang on.
What do you believe?
June 03, 2014 / DBCC / Source
I think Jesus prays that his disciples will be sanctified in truth, not as a way of “taking them out of the world,” but as a way of embracing the world in which they live—not the world they imagine God should surely want if God were paying attention to the way things are currently situated. The disciples are looking for a world where everything turns out well for the good guys, a world where it doesn’t cost anything to follow Jesus. According to Jesus, however, this world is the one we’ve got to work with—and God wants to bless it, not the one we think is worth blessing. This one … in all its messiness and violence and pettiness, in all of its craven sneaking around and brazen wantonness.
We'll have the audio back shortly. Promise. Until then, Derek's words hold up pretty well on their own.
6pm @ Shenanigans.
Be there (meow).
So, Derek has been on fire on the internets lately. Like, more than usual (!? RIGHT?).
I'm not sure if you know this (unless you're on Facebook where he won't let you forget), but our minister can write most people under the table.
So, in this segment of Dr. Dr. Rev. Derek Penwell's (Esq. [?]) Monthly Wrap-Up, here are (I'm sure) only some of the things Derek has written/what-have-you this month on teh interweb.
But there is another response — the one I (not so) secretly hope you’ll choose: You could take your terminal diagnosis as a new lease on the life you have. Instead of throwing up your hands in bewilderment, you could throw up one of your digits in rebellion and do something interesting. You feel me?
But here’s my beef: Even if Franklin were waxing rhetorical about God hating cowards, the only thing most people hear is, “God hates certain kinds of people.” And that’s troubling on a couple of different levels . . .
Handsome.
Time was you could craft a message, publicize it through traditional media, and have a reasonable chance of having it being heard by your intended audience. If you were quick enough, properly resourced, and sufficiently smart, you might run the table. Boom! Big. Nowadays, however, mass appeals untailored to highly specific audiences have difficulty making connections.
Unrated in the 'Hotness' Category. UNACCEPTABLE, INTERNET.
Lol.
I'm keeping the campaign alive.
May 28, 2014 / DBCC / Source
Way to go, folks. We love you all.
Read MoreA new Drama Group at Douglass Boulevard Christian Church is forming and we are calling any and all interested persons who might want to be involved both on stage and behind the scenes to a general interest meeting on Sunday, June 8th at 12:15 PM (right after our regular morning service) in the in the sanctuary. We will discuss formation of the group and begin planning our first stage production that is tentatively scheduled for later this fall. Hope to see you there!
See Jai Husband for details!
May 19, 2014 / DBCC / Source
Some of our folks were in the news today, participating in a rally and press conference in support of same-sex marriage and fairness for the LGBT community.
Kentucky Faith Leaders for Fairness joined with the Fairness Coalition and Southerners for the Freedom to Marry to call for support of same-gender marriage and statewide anti-discrimination protections in the commonwealth on Monday. The event was co-chaired by Rev. Bojangles Blanchard (Cooperative Baptist Fellowship) and Rev. Derek Penwell (Christian Church, Disciples of Christ).
The discussion has been looming large lately, as states are having to discuss the constitutionality of same-sex marriage bans and the recognition of same sex marriages from other states. German Lopez of Vox lends some insight into the current situation (with a really great infographic you should check out):
As a result, Oregon's same-sex couples will be able to get married starting today. But it's likely that, as with othe same-sex marriage cases, the ruling — and same-sex marriages — will eventually be put on hold until it works through the appeals process. The ruling makes Oregon the 10th state to see its same-sex marriage ban partially or fully repealed. Most recently, judges struck down bans in Idaho and Arkansas.
The River Sirens (including our very own Claire Bridges and Stephanie Mattingly) will be gigging at the Douglass Loop Farmers Market this Saturday, May 17 @ Noon.
Come enjoy their dulcet tones as you peruse the local goodies.
If you'd like to listen to them beforehand, check out some of the tracks on their website.
CALLING ALL MUSICIAN FRIENDS
We're currently in search of an organist to work with us part-time. We have one service per week as well as one rehearsal with choir. Services require organ and occasional piano accompaniment. The position would require outside rehearsal time to prepare service music
But most importantly, we're looking for a bold, passionate musician. We pride ourselves on being a group of people who love what we do and what we stand for.
If you're interested in applying, please send resumes/cover letters/what-have-yous to:
Douglass Blvd. Christian Church 2005 Douglass Blvd. Louisville, KY 40205
-- or --
You can email them to us at douglassblvd@gmail.com. If you choose to send them via the electronic mail, please include "Organist Applicant" and your name the subject line.
We'd love to hear from you.
It's like Cheers, except that it will only be once a week and Ted Danson probably won't be there (but fingers crossed).
This week we'll be posted up at Great Flood Brewery right across the street from the church Tuesday @ 6. We usually stay until around 8, so feel free to drop in whenever you can.
Please come hang with us. We're still looking to fill the rolls of Carla and Cliff. I've got Norm covered.
May 09, 2014 / DBCC / Source
Woodbourne House made Preservation Louisville's list of Top 10 Preservation Successes of 2014!
Broadway Christian Church, later Douglass Boulevard Christian Church, acquired a large part of the original tract in 1936 and built their current place of worship at 2005 Douglass Boulevard in 1940. In 1949, the church rededicated the historic home as Briney Hall. It was in continuous use until 2012. Louisville Nonprofit Developer New Directions Housing Corporation oversaw the restoration of the Greek Revival landmark home and the construction of an annex that together provides 11 units for older persons. New Directions, a Metro Way and NeighborWorks America member agency, will manage the site.
Kudos to all the awesome folks from DBCC and all others involved who had the patience and perseverance to see this project through. If you haven't seen Woodbourne House since the makeover, I can assure you she has never looked better than she does today.
By Derek Penwell
As you may have noticed, a number of things have changed around Douglass Blvd. Christian Church over the past few years. I thought I'd take a moment to help you see the scope of these changes, and to offer you the thinking under which we're currently operating. It's all pretty exciting!
We no longer operate on the Functional Church Model of church organization—that is, an efficiency model of church organization popularized during the industrial revolution. The thinking in the early twentieth century was that businesses were enjoying some success by reorganizing themselves with a board of directors, an executive committee, and a host of standing committees. The Functional Church Model worked pretty well during the salad days of Mainline Protestantism's cultural ascendancy in the middle of the twentieth century. Unfortunately, as churches experienced membership decline beginning in the early 1970s, filling out the organizational flow chart became more and more difficult. [I've written extensively about this here and here and here.]
Moreover, with the increase in the number of families where both partners work, finding time to devote to committee work became increasingly difficult. At some point, young people seemed no longer to be stepping up to take over the often difficult work that had been performed by committees. Consequently, congregations began experience a great deal of stress, wondering how the work that had been getting done, would now be done.
At DBCC we've experienced these same stressors. Beginning in 2006, the congregation underwent the transition from the old Functional Church Model to a new form of organization, where the work is driven no longer by committees "thinking up stuff to do," and then having to figure out how to convince someone to do it, but by people who have a desire to see a particular ministry take shape. We still have a few ministries that cover things like worship, property, and personnel, but almost all of the ministry opportunities in the church have developed because someone saw a need, and asked the church for help in figuring out a way to meet it.
None of these ministry initiatives started in a Leadership meeting, or because of the work of a committee. They all came about as a result of people who saw a need, brought it forward, and then took responsibility for helping to make it happen.
Now, our Leadership Coordination Ministry isn't primarily responsible for thinking up new things to do; it is responsible for seeing that the church meets its obligations and for seeing that potential ministries have the resources they need to thrive. Consequently, we don't have to worry about expending energy on continuing things for which there is no longer any enthusiasm. We invest in ministry where the energy is.
One of the most visible changes in the life of DBCC over the past few years revolves around the use of our campus. We've undergone a philosophical shift in our thinking about the resources over which God has made us responsible. For years there was anxiety about how the church was going to maintain a campus as large as the one we have with a congregation that, for a time, continued to see itself shrinking.
There were several serious discussions about how we should handle such an enormous responsibility, ranging at certain points all the way to whether or not we might be better off selling our building, and finding somewhere more manageable.
A philosophy began to evolve, however: What if we use our building and grounds as tools to be used for ministry, rather than as keepsakes to bequeath to future generations. Of course, we'd still want to care for them as good stewards. Only now, we could feel free to give them away to other groups when we could, and to charge rent for other space where we needed to.
As important as anything about this shift in philosophy is its implications as a theology of stewardship. We've tried to move from an "attractional model" of programming—in which we do programming with an eye to attracting people to membership at DBCC—to a purely ministry-driven model of programming—in which we offer space and programming as a gift, because it's the right thing to do. Of course, we hope people will like us and want to come find out about us, but that's not why we do what we do. We do what we do because we believe it's what God is calling us to do.
This theology of stewardship has allowed us to have our facilities used at almost total capacity every day. With Woodbourne House, we've helped offer low cost senior housing to eleven people. We give our grounds to the community on Saturdays for the Douglass Loop Farmers Market, allowing a neighborhood gathering place every week for people in our community. We donate space to Highland Community Ministries every weekday for a senior adult day center. On weeknights, we donate space to two AA groups, the Humane Society, HCM Water Color and Ball Room Dancing classes, the Louisville Gay Men's Chorus, and an LGBT Film Group.
We offset the costs of ministry by renting space to the HCM day care and to the Louisville Classical Academy. In addition, we rent 28 parking spaces every day to businesses in the Douglass Loop, and lease the front parking lot to the bank.
Our mixed-use formula has allowed us to stabilize our revenue over the foreseeable future, while at the same time giving us an opportunity to serve the community . . . just because.
The change in our organizational philosophy, the way we use our facilities, together with the increasing use of electronic communications is revolutionary enough that it has caused us to rethink the way much of the staff does its job. With the constant use of our facilities, we've had to employ a handy man, Neil, whose primary responsibility is to maintain and repair the building. Neil, in consultation with Gary King, is kept busy trying to look after a heavily used facility.
These changes have probably had more impact on Jennifer Vandiver than anyone else. Jennifer's responsibilities have increased significantly. She still answers the phone and produces the bulletin and newsletter. But now she spends a great deal of her time coordinating the use of the building between so many groups. Recognizing this shift in responsibility, Jennifer has been given a new job title by the Leadership Coordination Ministry: Operations Manager. Because we now must deal with the reality of space limitations, Jennifer is the point person when it comes to the many requests to use our facilities. Moreover, she acts as the "first responder" when a group has a difficulty or complaint.
Our Internet presence, which has grown considerably over the past five years, has become a major area of ministry to people all over the world. A majority of first time visitors when asked how they found us will say they saw our web site. Our sermon podcasts and blog articles are consumed by people all over the world. The realization that our ministry was broadening in this area caused the Leadership Coordination Ministry this year to fund a new position, charged with the responsibility of managing this new frontier for ministry. We're proud to welcome Geoff Wallace back to help us discover the exciting possibilities of ministry done on a global scale.
And of course, Joanna, Brenda, Clare, Ben, and I are also finding new ways to engage in ministry that allows us to equip followers of Jesus for the unfolding reign of God.
As we move forward together, please help us keep our eyes open for new possibilities for ministry at DBCC. The coming years look just as exciting!
It's that time again! Meet us at Hilltop Tavern at 6pm sharp. That's Douglass Standard Time (DST), which is to say you shouldn't feel sheepish about being a few minutes behind.
Libations and conversations shall ensue.
See you then!
If you try to tell me you wouldn't watch the crap out of this, you're a liar.
Happy Friday!
It's Holy Saturday. Before we observe the resurrection of Christ, give last week's sermon another listen.
If you can hear it in his voice, it’s because you’ve heard it in your own voice. There beneath the consonants and vowels, beneath the shock, and outrage—it’s there. Do you hear it? It’s weariness.
We had audio difficulties during the reading of scripture. Feel free to read Isaiah 50:4-9a at Biblia.com.
All day long. In my head.
We live in a world in which, all protestations to the contrary notwithstanding, Good Friday still trumps Easter—a world in which children die in the dry night, and single mothers looking for a way to feed their hungry families are told that they’re only reaping the harvest of their bad choices, and teenage boys in hoodies must walk the suburban streets in fear, and the elderly have to decide whether their medication or having heat is more important the month.
Death too often calls the tune to which, sad to say, so many of us feel compelled to dance.
But I’ve got news for you—regardless of how it looks to you at present, regardless of who you think is calling the shots, Jesus is almost finished with his Lenten journey. And while the path he takes will ultimately lead him to a garbage dump on the edge of town called the “place of the skull,” the truth of the faith we profess is that that dump—which too casually deals in the art of death—is not the final destination.
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What happens when you combine basketball, rain, Balderdash, fresh sausage, Cheetos, beer, an overly enthusiastic grill, and 18 people from a church of self-identifying heathens cooped up in a cabin in Eastern Kentucky?
I still have no idea.
From a tense viewing of the intra-commonwealth hoops showdown, to discussion of what strains of herpes carry across species, the DBCC 'Camping' retreat transcended any semblance of normal.
And it was awesome.
Chickens and cats can contract some strains of the herpes virus across species... probably.
If your partner has the same name as his/her parent, it's advisable to indicate a difference between them in your iPhone contacts.
Grills are hot. Turns out.
Nicomedia is not a psychological disorder in which a person believes him or herself to be Nicodemus from the Gospel according to John.
Balderdash
Loren Powell = Elvis Presley.
Samuel may or may not have packed someone else's bag.
Even if there is enough coffee, there is never enough coffee.
Ben Carter knows from fires.
Donkey Kong isn't actually a bad guy, he's just really mad at Mario.
Burlap underwear
Things not to do from the neck of a giraffe.
Jose Luis Astoreka (don't look it up... (look it up)).
Do NOT throw shade on Cher in the presence of Travis Myles.
"That's a looooot of smoke..." (runs out of cabin)
"Like I'm going to get a Cher question wrong."
"Nothing says Christmas like laxatives."
"Can you repeat the second one, and the fourth from the last one?"
"DO NOT BACK UP. NOBODY BACKS UP."
The cool thing about cool things is that cool things can and will happen again. So, next time we go camping, you should come along. Fo rizzle.
