The Olivet Blog contains The Reverend Anne Swallow Gillis' regular column from the church's monthly newsletter, The Olivetian.
From Your Interim Minister, August 2010
Near the end of the worship service on Sunday, August 8, the Olivet congregation and I will join in a “Litany of Thanksgiving and Farewell.” We will release one another from our commitment and obligations as pastor and people, offering gratitude, expressing forgiveness and sending each other forth into the unknown future. I will no longer minister among you, serving as your interim pastor and teacher as I have these last two years. The next day, my husband Chris and I will pack our U-Haul and begin our journey to Cambridge, Maryland. There, on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay, I will begin interim ministry with Immanuel United Church of Christ, as they seek to discover what God is calling them to do next.
I am deeply grateful for our ministry together here at Olivet, and have been nurtured, challenged and delighted by my time among you. The beauty of your building, the energy of your community outreach, the depth of your faith discussions, the integrity of your worship, all have been a tremendous gift to me. I have sought to share the truth of the Gospel with you, as I understand it, with honesty and compassion. Your welcome of me, your trust in me and your willingness to try new ways of being church together have been a joy. I have pushed you and you have pushed me; we have each grown in a number of unexpected ways.
While we do not yet know who your new settled minister will be, I am confident that the excitement I see on the faces of the Pastoral Search Committee hints of imminent, new pastoral leadership. Pray for that new pastor and teacher; ask God how you might be more fully involved in his or her first year at Olivet. Then share with this new person about where you see God working in your lives and in this church. Tell your new minister about the ways God seeks to transform and challenge this congregation next. Each of you have insight to share; your new minister will need to hear from all of you. May God bless you as your ministries unfold together!
With gratefulness and in ministry with you, Anne
From Your Interim Minister, July 2010
“But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ…”
(Ephesians 4:15)
The Olivet Transition Team has served us well during these last two years, as they helped guide the interim process of understanding the congregation’s history and clarifying Olivet’s evolving sense of identity and mission. But it has been their ability to both listen and give candid advice that has been particularly helpful for me as your Interim Pastor. My many hours with the Church Council, as well as the Human Resources Committee, have included helpful feedback and constructive critique of my ministry among you. But the Transition Team has provided a unique, confidential, non-evaluative space, and one that is separate from program planning, where I could explore a variety of concerns.
Earlier this year, the Transition Team and I began to discuss the possibility of this type of supportive, listening-ear type group being established to enhance communication with the new settled pastor. The group explored different models from a variety of denominations of what is typically called a Pastoral Relations Committee, and made a proposal to the Church Council in April that one be started at Olivet. After considerable discussion and some revision of the original proposal, the Church Council voted at its May meeting to create a Pastoral Relations Committee. A copy of the final proposal, which outlines the purpose, committee composition and selection, as well as a provision for review of its effectiveness after one year from its formation, is included in this issue of the Olivetian.
The founding group will include two members of the Transition Team, two from the Pastoral Search Committee, two from the congregation at large, and two chosen by the new settled pastor. I urge any of you who would like to be considered for one of the two positions from the congregation at large to tell our Moderator, Jeff Benjamin, of your interest. The Church Council will choose two people from this list of volunteers at the July 13 meeting, and I will meet to help train the new Pastoral Relations Committee at least once before I leave.
One of the most challenging tasks for a congregation and a new pastor is the ongoing clarification of expectations, hopes and concerns in their mutual ministry together. Our hope is that the Pastoral Relations Committee will be able to encourage open communication with, as well as provide focused emotional and spiritual support for, the new pastor. This has certainly been true for me in other congregations I have served which had such a designated committee. I am grateful that the Transition Team, along with the support of the Church Council, has helped make this a new possibility at Olivet.
In ministry with you, Anne
From Your Interim Minister, June 2010
The interim period is one of both sustaining ongoing congregational life together while exploring God’s new ministry directions among you. As I wrote in my first Olivetian message to you in August 2008, we do all this within the rather unusual context of saying “hello” even as we anticipate our saying “goodbye.” Having announced that August 8, 2010 is my upcoming final Sunday as your Interim Minister, we are edging up on the time for “goodbye.”
While I will be debriefing and evaluating our interim work together with the Church Council and various committees in June and July, I also look forward to opportunities to speak individually with many of you. I am interested in learning what has been most meaningful, most challenging or even problematic, for you during our ministry together. Where have you experienced the Holy Spirit moving in you or in the life of this congregation, for these last two years? My story-sermon, told from the Chancel steps during Children and Youth Sunday in May, addresses some of my thoughts for this ongoing time of transition in our life together. The liturgical context was also Ascension Sunday, and we had just read from the Book of Acts and the Gospel of Luke about Jesus’ “ascension into heaven” following his numerous post-Resurrection appearances to his disciples. With a large branch of mugho pine shrub in my hands, I shared these words with those assembled:
A dramatic change happened here at church yesterday. There were a lot of us around the property. A bunch of us grownups and children were inside the Sanctuary practicing to lead today’s service. Other people were working hard taking down our winter storm windows and cleaning classrooms. And another group of people were outside in the Courtyard. Maybe you noticed something different out in the Courtyard when you came to worship this morning. It looks empty! All those pine shrub plants were ripped out. They were mugho pines, planted when the beautiful bronze sculptures, created by Mike Price, were installed back in the 1980’s. Over 20 years ago! The shrubs had gotten pretty scraggly, leggy, and needed to go. But they were hard to remove! Some of the dads hooked a big chain to the back of a pick-up truck and to the mugho pines, and pulled hard. Then some of the moms got in there with shovels and dug and hacked and finally they pulled them all of the shrubs out of the garden beds. Time for those pines to go so something else could be planted! Time for a change; time for something new in the Church Courtyard. Sometimes something has to go for God’s new thing to happen.
It’s a similar story in our Bible readings today. But this time it was Someone who had to go. We remember how after Jesus was killed by the Romans, he was buried; but a few days later no one could find his body. Then Jesus started appearing to his followers in a strange new body, staying with them for brief periods of time, continuing to teach and inspire them: In a garden, during a meal together, on a beach catching fish, reminding them that he was alive in a new way. This was confusing but also exciting for his friends. The Bible says this went on for forty days. At the end of this time, Jesus said to his friends, “look, I am returning to God, my Father, in heaven. But don’t worry; I will be with you in the power of the Holy Spirit. It will bring you peace and courage. You will go out and tell people about my teachings, and that God loves them and that I am still here with you, even if you can’t see me.” And then, say the Bible stories, Jesus disappeared up into the clouds. Just like that!
Sometimes something, or someone, who has been around for a while, has to leave for God’s new thing to happen. Mugho pines get pulled up so we can plant some new beautiful flowering dogwoods. Jesus has to leave in person so his spirit could be here for all people in all times and places. And somewhere in between a mugho pine and our Lord, is your interim pastor, who will need to leave at the end of the summer to make room for the new.
As I wrote in my letter to all of you this week, it is getting close to the time for your new pastor to come, and a church in Maryland is waiting for me to arrive and be their interim pastor. It is difficult to say goodbye to things we have gotten used to and appreciate; like mugho pines in the Courtyard, Jesus there with his friends, and pastors you come to know and love. But Jesus’ loving spirit is with us always, guiding us towards God’s new thing. Thanks be to God. Amen.
In ministry with you,
Anne
From Your Interim Minister, May 2010 “…just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” (Matt. 25:40)
These words of Jesus speak to both the challenge and the joy of helping those in need. In this teaching parable, Jesus indicates that when we give food and drink to the hungry and thirsty, when we welcome the stranger and clothe the naked, and when we visit the sick and those in prison, we are actually ministering to the Risen Jesus himself. Jesus stood firmly within the Jewish tradition’s focus on the needs of the marginalized, the least and the lost among them. And within that sacred tradition, there was always a tension between care for the needy individual and changing the larger, unjust systems that often caused and exacerbated the problem. “But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream,” the prophet Amos roared at Israel’s leaders in the 700 BCE. The implication of these words both inspire and confound Christians today.
Olivet has a long history of outreach work to “the least of these.” We started listing a number of these projects in our Wednesday evening Adult Education series on “Being a Christian in the 21st Century,” this last week. Those who served shared how these experiences brought them feelings of hopefulness, unity, appreciation of diversity, and a sense of God’s grace and incarnated love. We also acknowledged feelings of frustration with how overwhelming the wider, systemic problems seem. We lamented the continued need for homeless shelters, emergency food shelves, services for homeless youth, and safe houses for battered women, and wondered what part a church like Olivet might play in the challenging of these wider social justice issues.
We also discussed the work of Jim Wallis, an evangelical minister who founded Sojourners magazine and is author of numerous books about the Christian call to social justice ministry. A long-time advocate for people who are poor and a challenger of systems that perpetuate poverty, Mr. Wallis also serves on a panel of clergy advisers to our current president. His activism, in addition to his most recent book, Rediscovering Values: On Wall Street, Main Street and Your Street, has recently raised the hackles of talk-radio host Glenn Beck. Mr. Beck has vociferously exclaimed that “social justice” is a perversion of the gospel, is to equated with Communism, Marxism and Nazism and he has called Christians to leave churches that talk about or do “social justice” work.
I think Glenn Beck has it wrong. And I also do not believe this is a question of whether or not we talk about politics in the church. It’s a question about the well-being of our life together as the wider community. The numerous projects brought to us by Olivet’s Community Works Committee are all connected to wider social justice issues that speak to the heart of Gospel.
Which ones stir your concern and your passion? What might the small steps of wider advocacy look like? Study groups around the issues and partnering with other congregations, local non-profits and the wider United Church of Christ could be resources for ideas and joint actions. I invite you to join us through the rest of this Adult Education series on Wednesday nights. How might the very projects that we already do as a congregation lead us towards the wider tasks of social justice?
In ministry with you,
Anne
From Your Interim Minister, April 2010
“God loves the stranger and sojourner…” Deuteronomy 10:18
I received a note in the mail a few weeks ago, and was reminded of the always-changing nature of any congregation’s composition. The card was from a young couple who found us during a time of job loss and transition in their lives. They were part of Olivet for several months this winter, joining in Wednesday evening adult education discussions, Christmas caroling to our homebound, January vesper services and Sunday worship. Having recently relocated to North Carolina, they wrote and asked that I share this with you:
Our journey takes us to North Carolina, but we wanted to convey to you our deepest gratitude for opening your hearts and your homes to us during our short-lived stay at Olivet. Your outstretched arms embraced us in a time when it was most needed, and your unwavering love filled our hearts with much healing.
There aren’t enough “thank yous” to relay our appreciation. We wish God’s richest blessings upon each of your lives as well as the path ahead for Olivet. Loving regards, Adair and David Werner.
Each Sunday, there are strangers and sojourners like Adair and David in our midst. They might be with us only one day, several months or many years. It does feel a bit awkward to approach a new person, and we often worry if we are intruding on their spiritual solitude. But it is clear to me that people like the Werners did not want to be left alone. They showed up at Olivet because they needed the sacred space we offer. This is the sacred space of extravagant welcome and open-minded thinking that is Olivet, where newcomer and long-timer alike are fully engaged in worship, fellowship and service in Christ’s name.
What part do we each play in this kind of Christian hospitality? Perhaps we schedule meetings for a time other than immediately after worship, so we each can be a welcoming presence at Coffee Hour. Perhaps we take a moment to introduce ourselves to the person next to us in the pew; we approach a newcomer who stands alone after worship and invite them for refreshments. Perhaps we continue to bring our coffee pots and doughnut sales out into the Social Hall so anyone can quickly find them.
I invite us to keep our eyes and hearts open to the spiritual strangers and sojourners in our midst. And let us rejoice in the knowledge that we were a blessing to Adair and David, even for the brief time we were together at Olivet!
In ministry with you, Anne
From Your Interim Minister, March 2010
We have begun the Lenten season by once again dedicating “to keep a holy Lent,” in the words of the Invitation from our solemn Ash Wednesday liturgy.
With flickering candles, a sheaf of dried palm fronds and a small bowl of dark ashes set on the table we usually use for Communion, a number of us gathered in the Sanctuary for worship. Around the table, our three young Confirmation students and their adult mentors sat with me in a semi-circle of chairs. Together we shared scripture readings, hymns and reflections with the gathered congregation in this stark and ancient service. One by one, worshippers came forward to have their foreheads gently marked with ashes in the sign of a cross, hearing the words “from dust you have come and to dust you shall return.” We pondered these symbols of our frailty and mortality as humans, of our origins from stardust and our eventual return to the same. Acknowledging the shadowy contours of our lives and confessing our sins, we reaffirmed God’s healing grace and abundant forgiveness.
How might we each spend the coming weeks of Lent, as we move with Jesus towards Jerusalem? I invite us to find the quiet pauses and silent spaces in each of our lives for self-reflection, prayer, and meditating on both the Biblical narrative and other writings where God continues to speak.
In ministry with you, Anne
Sermon Availability Please know that each week Anne e-mails her sermon out to our current Sunday School teachers, as well as anyone else who would like a copy. E-mail her if you want to be included on that list <anne.swallowgillis @comcast.net> for a particular week.
From Your Interim Minister, February 2010
The Reverend Anne Swallow Gillis
"Since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special attention to those who, by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstances, are brought into closer connection with you."
- Augustine of Hippo, 3rd century bishop and theologian
For several weeks now, both the people of Haiti and the relief work being done in their midst has captured our attention as a congregation. I have spoken from the pulpit of our United Church of Christ missionaries to that region, Kim and Patrick Bentrott, who work with our long-time UCC partner organization in Port au Prince, the National Spiritual Council of Churches in Haiti. I have learned that our One Great Hour of Sharing offerings had been going, in part, to fund this young couple from Colorado, as they worked through the Council representing some 6,000 Protestant congregations across the island. The Council has been running a K-12 school, a seminary, medical clinic and nursing school in the capital city for several decades. Kim is a physician, and has been teaching nursing students there and working in the medical clinic; Patrick trains pastors in the seminary and works with local church leaders to address ongoing food and housing needs. While the Bentrotts escaped injury, all of the Council’s buildings were destroyed in the quake and many of the local staff and students were killed. Kim Bentrott’s web blogs have been bringing their world closer to many of us, as the relief and rebuilding challenges unfold (http://www.kimandpatrick. blogspot.com/).
I was concerned about the fear and power-lessness that our children might feel as they heard about the disaster in school and on the news. I decided to share stories of search-and-rescue dogs during the Children’s Story in worship, as I searched for ways for us to connect to this event as a congregation of all ages. Olivet member Pat Koopmans stepped forward the next Sunday to bring the children news of specially trained therapy dogs headed to the region; these dogs will comfort wounded and traumatized survivors. Our own sorrows and sense of helplessness were softened as Pat introduced her own two lively, but well-mannered, therapy dogs to the astounded children during worship. Together, we celebrated this powerful way that God’s transformative love is shared not only by humans but by “all creatures great and small.”
As we moved through the month of January, we continued thinking, praying and talking together about Olivet’s vision and just what God is calling this church to next. Building on Olivet’s long history of community outreach, we explored how this unfolding vision has to do with being aware of the people and events that “are brought into closer connection with you,” as Augustine of Hippo suggested. “Vision” Post-It notes, written by worshippers each Sunday, appeared on the big flipchart in the Fellowship Hall, a few of which are listed below. The visions invite Olivet to be…
Spilling over with compassion – show them Jesus.A place where we come together to learn about God’s enduring love, to thank God and to attempt to share and model that love for others.A place to hear what you need to make it through the tough times.May we become a telling presence of social justice in the community, one that is a central part of the identity and theology of the United Church of Christ.Olivet, serving the Lord with gladness.
By the end of January, we had collected $1,502.00 in a special UCC disaster relief offering, 100% of which will be used for the overwhelming humanitarian needs in Haiti in the months ahead. The people of Haiti, and the UCC missionaries we support there, have certainly come closer to me this last month. I celebrate the long tradition of generosity here at Olivet and the unfolding vision of new people and places that we might serve.
In ministry with you, Anne
From Your Interim Minister, December 2009
The Reverend Anne Swallow Gillis
As we begin the season of Advent, we change the color of our church sanctuary hangings to deep purple. Just as the world around us dives into a riot of holiday red and green, the Christian community sinks into the somber richness of both a different color and a different tenor. The world around us moves into a fallow time, bare and quiet. Might there be moments for each of us, of stillness and reflection, in Advent this year?
Certainly, the lively family traditions of special decorations and recipes, present-preparation, secular holiday music and card writing bring many of us great joy. Even though the early Pilgrims from England disapproved of boisterous Christmas celebrations, the tastes, smells and sounds of this time of year have always delighted me.
Yet, as followers of Jesus, this living in “two worlds” is also true for us. We live among things both seen and unseen. Jesus reminded his disciples before his arrest and death that they were to be in the world but not of the world. During this time of year, I am even more conscious of how our shared values of compassion, peace, and justice differ from our consumer-oriented society at large.
During Advent, our scripture texts lead us both backwards and forwards at the same time. We consider the long-ago events surrounding Jesus’ birth. At the same time, we are confronted by a wider vision of God’s redemptive plans that spread out into an unknown future.
Remembering that the word Advent means “coming to,” I find myself wondering just what Olivet is “coming to” as a people of God here on the corner of Iglehart and Dewey. What new future is being quietly unfolded among us and beyond us? Let us prayerfully hold these wonderings in our hearts, especially as the Pastoral Search Committee begins to review and compile all the responses they have gleaned about the future ministries here at Olivet.
A blessed Advent season, and great joy at Christmas, to each of you! In ministry with you,
Anne
From Your Interim Minister, November, 2009
The Reverend Anne Swallow Gillis
I have served as your Interim Minister for over a year now, and am finding so much to be grateful for in our work together. Both in Sunday worship and the Wednesday evening program, we have felt the renewed energy of gathering together again as a church family this fall. In small groups, committees, within the church staff and on the Council, I have experienced an outpouring of new ideas, offers to help with various projects, and hopefulness about Olivet’s future.
I have also appreciated the way in which the Pastoral Search Committee’s survey questionnaire has stimulated conversation among you about your beliefs, your sense of Olivet’s mission and the future of this church. A number of you have shared with me that many of the survey questions challenged you to think hard about what you do believe, and that it left many of you with more questions than answers!
Thinking and speaking theologically is not always natural for us as Christians. We may feel under-educated in this regard, or perhaps consider it presumptuous to use the language of faith in God with one another. We might wonder if we can really “speak theologically” if we do not know the complicated theological language or scholarly perspective on Bible stories. Worrying that we do not have the “correct” belief, or in not wanting to impose our beliefs on someone else, we may end up keeping our faith private.
This can be a tremendous loss in a church. Others are unable to benefit from hearing how we have faced challenges, experienced God’s love and forgiveness, or found new meaning in our lives. Newcomers may not get a sense of the deep joy, motivation and purpose that comes from our connection with this extravagantly welcoming, God.
I’m convinced that sharing our experiences of God’s transformative presence (and even dispiriting absence) in our lives is crucial to being a follower of Jesus within a church community.
Olivet members Richard Keller, Joy Stoerker and Susan Price have shared poignant personal testimonies in their recent “Stewardship Moments” in Sunday worship. The Adult Education Committee, Deacons, and the Transition Team will be offering a variety of opportunities for learning how to “speak theologically” with one another in the coming months. Let’s explore more ways we can give witness to the varied perspectives, faith and hope that is within each of us!
In ministry with you, Anne
From Your Interim Minister, October, 2009
The Reverend Anne Swallow Gillis
It has been a long-standing tradition for your Church Council and minister to gather for an annual retreat, generously hosted at the St. Croix River home of Nancy and Richard Dana. Once again, a dozen of us gathered in early September to reflect about the ministries and plan for the future of Olivet. In this relaxed setting of delicious meals, personal sharing and soothing river sounds, we spent time reflecting theologically on the meaning of the “Good News” of our Christian faith. Our moderator, Tom Fabel, led us in considering the excitement and dynamism of the tiny but bold Christian community in the Book of Acts. We talked of how Olivet is a place filled with the “Good News” of God’s love and acceptance, expressed through our worship, service to others and affection for one another. We wondered together how the energy of those Spirit-filled first century Christians might inspire us to more fully experience and share the Good News ourselves.
As we reviewed the current Olivet Mission Statement and progress made on the most recent Long-Range Planning goals, various Council members noted that the Mission Statement did not include a specific call to reach out and share the Good News with the unchurched or the de-churched (those who have left institutional religion in frustration or boredom). We also realized that our statement was lengthy and did not include a short, memorable and inspiring phrase that captures Olivet’s emerging identity. This led us to asking each other, “If you encountered someone in the grocery store, and they asked you to briefly describe Olivet, what would you say?” We acknowledged that it was no longer enough to simply say, “Well, we are a friendly church.” What is it, we wondered to ourselves, that is unique and specific about the ministry of Olivet that could be described in a brief phrase? Might such a phrase be useful in spreading the Good News about Olivet to a wider circle?
Since we had been singing hymns together as part of our devotional time on the retreat, several Council members began poring through our Pilgrim Hymnal, and discovered several phrases that seemed to capture the essence of Olivet. It was agreed that this might be an accessible and meaningful way for others in the congregation to be part of this process. Reading through our hymns in a prayerful manner, any of us may be inspired by the Spirit to discover a way to articulate Olivet’s Good News for our surrounding community. What is the “song in your heart,” the specific phrase, that best describes our unique ministries here?
The Transition Team will help collect these phrases we discover throughout October. They invite you to take a few moments before worship on Sunday, or during the week, to read through your favorite hymns. Is there a line or a phrase that captures the Good News about Olivet for you? Details for sharing these ideas will be in upcoming all-church emails and the Sunday bulletins.
In ministry with you, Anne
From Your Interim Minister, September 30 The Reverend Anne Swallow Gillis
These two photos, taken during our recent Vacation Bible School, speak volumes to me: Growing in faith and in a sense of community as God’s children is joy-filled!
Now that school is resuming and vacation time is passing, we all look forward to gathering back together as a wider church family. As we sang in our opening hymn last Sunday, “All Are Welcome.” See you at church!
"Let us build a house where all are named, Their songs and visions heard and loved and treasured, Taught and claimed as words within the Word. Built of tears and cries and laughter, prayers of faith and songs of grace, Let this house proclaim from floor to rafter: All are welcome, all are welcome, All are welcome in this place.
In ministry with you, Anne
Now that school is resuming and vacation time is passing, we all look forward to gathering back together as a wider church family. As we sang in our opening hymn last Sunday, “All Are Welcome.” See you at church!
Let us build a house where all are named,
Their songs and visions heard and loved and treasured,
The Olivet Blog contains The Reverend Anne Swallow Gillis' regular column from the church's monthly newsletter, The Olivetian. 
"Let us build a house where all are named,