Church Tomorrow

Been reading several books on church growth and development. Would highly recommend what's listed below, of course beginning with George Hunter's classic, which is writtern from a Celtic perspective. Ed Stetzer writes on some of the challenges facing the church today; Deymaz speaks to the issues of working with multi-ethnic groups and how to reach out to others; and Murray's book is from an English perspective and more theological.

The Celtic Way of Evangelism; How the Church can win the West Again, (2001), George Hunter

"Planting New Churches In A Postmodern Age", (2003); Ed Stetzer

"Building Multi-Ethnic Churches (2007) Mark Deymaz

"Church Planting: Laying Foundations" (2001) by Stuart Murray

Back to blogging

One of my New Year's resolutions was to spend more time in the New Digital World. As you can see, or can't see, I have not found much time to blog, although the desire has been there. That does not mean that things have been standing still. Life moves too fast these days for that. Blogging, like writing, take time and energy and sometimes our busy lives makes it very difficult to do everything we want to. That's OK and part of being an adult is realizing that we often can't do everything we want to. My Dad came to visit for several months over the holidays, and I kind of got out of wack. None the less, it feels great to be back and writing thoughts down and I thank my readers who continue to visit the Celtic Monk to learn something about Celtic Christianity and other topics.

Since my last blog-some four months ago-I have continued my journey on the Digital trail which continues to impress and amaze me. The online avenues, communities, and methods of communicating are both creative and changing the ways we have "traditionally" done things. I am now on Twitter, and "tweet". I am also trying to 'Kindlize" myself on the iPAD. I have always loved having a book in my hands but I must be honest in saying that this Kindle thing may even change an old bookworm like me!

What makes me say this? Well, just this morning, I was able to download several standard Celtic books for free-and what Celt didn't ever like something for free. I just downloaded a few, but some of these books included the "Life of St. Columba, Apostle of Scotland" by F.A. Forbes, and "The Celtic Twilight" by W.B. Yates.  There are also many other free books by Robert Burns, Alexander Carmichael and others. There are even free downloads on the Celtic languages if you wish to take a crack at Gaelic. On the theological/spiritual side there are also hundreds of free downloadable books, and with just a few clicks I was able to download several of Cardinal Newman's classics including "An Essay In Aid Of A Grammar of Ascent" and "An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine".  These are books every serious minded Chrisitan should know.

This ease of access to the classics is a "gamechanger" so that now when you go on a trip you can take nearly all of Newman's (or anyone else for that matter) along with you, all contained within the slim confines of the iPAD. Reading the Greats has never been so easy or convenient!. And in addition, the learning is in a new and fun way. The iPAD can really open new doors and make learning easier. So let me now raise a shout to Kindle for making these texts so easily available for all to read.

Travelled ten thousand miles in the last week on business related stuff. First to Guam, then Saipan, and then to San Francisco. Just got back home today and it feels great to be back in Paradise where its warm and I can sleep in my own bed.

Not complaining at all though! What an incredible trip. Met with an Episcopal priest on Saipan, a professor of Social Work from University of Guam, participated in a town hall on Saipan, and then a planning meeting in San Fran with other homeless coordinators.

This is an amazing time to be working on behalf of homeless veterans and to be involved with so many creative and energetic people who want to solve homelessness amongst veterans by 2015. The will and determination is impressive. We are trying to get veterans off the street and housed all across the Neighbor Islands.

Proud to be part of the VISN 21 Homeless Team!!!

Chaminade University volunteers

Wanted to take a minute to thank the many volunteers who came out from Chaminade on a sunny, Sunday afternoon, to help feed the homeless! Kudo's to you for taking time from your busy schedules.

It was wonderful to see so many young, smiling faces, and to get to speak to a number of you. Several of you expressed how grateful you felt in being able to provide something as simple as food and water for others. Sharing with others in need is a tender and compassionate response, and I hope you each had a similar positive experience, See you again next month and have a great Thanksgiving!

Mental illness and the church

A week ago this past Sunday, we had a rather unsual event take place after our church service. One of our homeless guests decided to climb to the top of one of the buildings across from where we have our afternoon feeding. Not good! I was able to get a picture of our climber as he neared the top of the building which must have been 15 stories of so high. He's a very fortunate young person, and that he didn't kill himself. There are many other sounds that I'd like to hear other than than police sirens and fire trucks!

I don't know this persons name and I have no idea why he did what he did. I can only surmise that he was on drugs (methamphetamine) or had a mental illness or both. I thought about this for several hours that afternoon and the event gave me pause to think about the prominence of mental illness which exists in our community, in the nation, and yes in the church. Moreover, I began asking myself what unique and specific role the church can play in helping the discussion on mental illness.

The facts are that approximately 25% of the general population are going to experience some form of mental illness during their lifetime. Yes that's one in four folks and higher numbers than we typically think. And by mental illness, I mean anxiety, depression, and PTSD just to name a few. And here's the extra rub, that percentage will be reflected in every churches congregation as well as the clergy who reflect the general population.

In our age of "self-disclosure", I think churches can play a signficant role in stepping up and leading the way to help us reframe our national discussion on mental illness. By speaking about mental illnesses publically, faith-based communities can help normalize many of the misconceptions which so often surround mental health issues. By speaking openly about mental illnesses, churches will promote healing and normalization of many people's experiences. And isn't this one of the tasks that  churches are to be doing-being centers of "truth-telling" where people can come and share their stories and struggles. Sounds like the gospel to me!

Two years ago, I had the opportunity to visit several churches and bring along some people who spoke  about what it was like to have children with mental illness. It was heart wrenching to hear their stories of loss when they realized their children would be very different than other children. I was also moved by the additional strength and meaning they found in their efforts to make sense of it all, and from the hope they gained in seeing others-including their own children-get well with professional help and often medication. It's this kind of "truth-telling" that can make churches a special place, a place of love and of total acceptance. And where else can one go?

We who minister to the homeless, to the hungry, and to those with mental illness, witness these simple graces all the time. This past Sunday gave me an opportunity to talk about mental illness and to remind our group not to get any ideas from our building climber. I remarked that if they want to climb something, look at the walls they may have put around others, or from outside professional help. Beginning there, is a great place for anyone to start.

Homeless in Honolulu

This past Wednesday I was part of a panel that discussed the topic of homelessness in Honolulu. The event took place at St. Andrews Episcopal Cathedral and included Connie Mitchell from the Institute of Mental Health Homeless Shelter; Marc Alexander, the State's Homeless Coordinator, and Dorothy Hine from the Waikiki Health Center.

The event provided a wonderful opportunity to address the issues of homeless and some of the discusion looked at the role that the church should play with the homeless. The State of Hawaii has advocated that faith based groups ceased feeding the homeless in parks and instead center their volunteer efforts at shelters such as IHS and the Lighthouse. I commented that St. Aidan's ministry is somewhat different in that we have a service first,  and that the feeding takes place on the grounds of St. Andrews. In addition, it was noted that a growing number of the folks who come to the 2pm feeding (typically around 200) can be described as the "hidden" homeless, that is, those who are on the verge of becoming homeless, and who typically live paycheck to paycheck. I also noted that with now one in six Americans in poverty, and one in five having some kind of mental illness, the church could/should play a significant role in helping people to find their way to healing and wholeness. The Celtic Church historically has always tried to welcome "the stranger" and those who are "searching". Many of us feel that we are providing a meaningful service to a disenfranchised group of people who for the most part are rejected by the cultural mainstream. Our Celtic tradition also reminds us that we find God in the face of the stranger, which is one of the reasons we believe in a ministry of hospitality.

There were approximately 70-75 people in attendance including some homeless people. In conclusion, I felt it was a wonderful forum, a wonderful start to a very difficult and complex social issue. I hope that we could have continued discussions on this topic.

Gaelic Blessing by John Rutter

Been listening to some of John Rutter's music of late. I've identified a few of Rutter's pieces I like best, and one is "Gaelic Blessing" or "Deep Peace".
Here are the words:

Deep peace of the running wave to you
Deep peace of the flowing air to you
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you
Deep peace of the shining stars to you
Deep peace of the gentle night to you
Moon and stars pour their healing light on you
Deep peace of Christ, of Christ
The light to the world to you
Deep peace of Christ to you

And now listen to the music by the Cambridge singers.

Great stuff to start and end the day.

The link is here.