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The News from the Pacific Southwest District
(A message and reflection given during the vesper service at District Conference October 28, 2006 at the Ramada
in Papago Park)
Well it's been a quiet year in the Pacific Southwest District of the Church of the Brethren, my home church
out on the West and Southwest edge of the United States in California and Arizona. The annual district conference
is being held this weekend in Papago Buttes, Arizona. Papago Buttes has the newest church building in the
district, the pink building with the green environmental seal of approval and Laura Miller has made sure the birds
are welcome by putting out food and water. The entire congregation makes all feel welcome with their gracious
and generous hospitality.
The PSWD News this evening is brought to you by Welch's grape juice and communion bread. The recipe for the communion
bread can be found in the Inglenook cookbook and the authentic kind is recognized by the three tonged fork prints.
My, they are tasty and expeditious.
24 of our 30 churches are represented at this meeting. Plus, we have three church plants, one in Tucson, one in
Victorville, and one in Northern Bakersfield and one fellowship: The Latino Brethren Church. We just purchased
translation equipment to be more inclusive of our Spanish and Korean speaking Brethren. We are diverse
in languages, cultures, programs, locations, but we are all centered in Jesus. We have come to the desert
where God has stamped out a beautiful setting of Buttes and Saguro Cactus and we sense we are alone together with
the Spirit of God.
The district conference is held annually but is not to be confused with Annual Conference which is the annual meeting
of all the churches in the denomination. It can be a little confusing because Annual Conference is said in a way
that makes one think the Church of the Brethren is the ONLY organization that has an annual conference. Like it
was original with them. It used to be called the Annual Meeting but that is just as confusing as Annual Conference
especially if you belong to any other organization like a Teacher's Association or the American Medical Association,
or Water Color Artists, which also have Annual conferences or Conferences annually. Mention to any Church of
the Brethren member that you are going to Annual Conference and they will know what you mean. Papago Buttes submitted
a query asking if it is the best use of resources to hold annual conference annually. If we don't meet annually,
what we will call Annual conference?
Come and See was the theme of National Youth Conference. 113 high schoolers from PSWD were part of the 3600 in
Fort Collins, Colorado. the largest gathering of Brethren this year, surpassing Annual conference. The theme song
was just as difficult to sing as the theme song, Temper My Spirit, Oh Lord, in 1964, but by the end of both conferences,
each song was sung with ease.
The district's conference theme this year is "Centered in Jesus" In Him we live and move and have our
being. Hospitality, Diversity, Service, Wellness, Non-Violence, Outreach. It is a good theme, because the Church
of the Brethren has no creed but the New Testament and since much of the New Testament focuses on Jesus, it is
a fit.
Mountain top experiences bring us together to recommit our lives to follow the path Jesus followed. And sometimes
when we return from NYC, Annual Conference, District Conference, or NOAC which stands for National Older Adult
Conference, we are daunted by the reality of everyday life, yet though we may feel alone, we know we are Together
with the Spirit of God. The theme for the 2007 conference is "Alone Together with The Spirit."
Together Conversations were held this year throughout the denomination. It is good to listen and ask questions
and gain insights into other congregations.
Who are these Brethren?
One is most likely to find the Brethren doing justice, loving tenderly, walking humbly with God in India, Africa,
China, Puerto Rico, the United States, or at a committee meeting. They often carry covered casserole dishes to
potlucks. Most have clothes in their closets purchased fifteen or more years ago. They keep their cars for decades,
and only throw out really moldy food. You see it is imperative to use it up, wear it out, and make it do. More
members of the Church of the Brethren also hold membership in the clean plate society than any other organization.
I have towels that are decades old, a few brand new ones, and all of the tea towels are embroidered.
Quilts used to be made to be used as blankets for warmth out of scraps of material. Now they are made to auction
and to hang as works of art.
If you are not the third cousin once removed of someone in the church, you may feel at first like you don't belong,
but don't be discouraged, someone will adopt you. Sometimes visitors and guests to our churches find us clique
ish and feel alone, un-included. But we are working on welcome, and outreach.
Quite a few Rook card games have taken place over the years in Brethren homes. Brethren used to play no card games
at all, but Rook has no face cards – Ace, King, Queen, and Jack, so that seems to make this game OK.
Ice Cream is the fifth food group for Brethren.
The church was founded in August of 1708 – almost 300 years ago and centering on Jesus has kept the church alive
and well all these years. The Church of the Brethren is one of the historic peace churches and includes among
its saints Founder Alexander Mack, Preacher INH Beahm, Pacifist John Nass, Preacher Sarah Majors, Activist Dan
West, and Preacher John Kline. As these men and women who founded churches and made a strong witness to their
faith walked with the Spirit of God, there must have been times they felt alone.
Brothers and Sisters are, for the most part, accepted together as the priesthood of believers and each is expected
to carry forward the mission of the church.
There are a few peculiarities about the church over time, but the work of the church and its core belief in the
New Testament and the life of Jesus have kept it centered.
Brethren churches in the denomination focus on Works and Faith: two significant themes throughout the years. And
we continue to seek the light when we feel alone in the darkness by awakening our spirits to new life in the Spirit
of God who is always with us.
There is a strong camping element in the Church of the Brethren, so, as I was traveling around in my red car (not
very Brethren) listening to Garrison Keeler
(from whom I borrowed this format), I heard him interview the poet Billy
Collins. His poem "The Lanyard" immediately caught my attention and so I share it with you now:
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The other day as I was ricocheting slowly
off the pale blue walls of this room,
bouncing from typewriter to piano,
from bookshelf to an envelope lying on the floor,
I found myself in the L section of the dictionary
where my eyes fell upon the word lanyard.
No cookie nibbled by a French novelist
could send one more suddenly into the past --
a past where I sat at a workbench at a camp
by a deep Adirondack lake
learning how to braid thin plastic strips
into a lanyard, a gift for my mother.
I had never seen anyone use a lanyard
or wear one, if that’s what you did with them,
but that did not keep me from crossing
strand over strand again and again
until I had made a boxy
red and white lanyard for my mother.
She gave me life and milk from her breasts,
and I gave her a lanyard.
She nursed me in many a sickroom,
lifted teaspoons of medicine to my lips,
set cold face-cloths on my forehead,
and then led me out into the airy light
and taught me to walk and swim,
and I, in turn, presented her with a lanyard.
Here are thousands of meals, she said,
and here is clothing and a good education.
And here is your lanyard, I replied,
which I made with a little help from a counselor.
Here is a breathing body and a beating heart,
strong legs, bones and teeth,
and two clear eyes to read the world, she whispered,
and here, I said, is the lanyard I made at camp.
And here, I wish to say to her now,
is a smaller gift--not the archaic truth
that you can never repay your mother,
but the rueful admission that when she took
the two-tone lanyard from my hands,
I was as sure as a boy could be
that this useless, worthless thing I wove
out of boredom would be enough to make us even."
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