Open Arms

Metropolitan Community Church

Rochester, New York

E-Link
The Weekly newsletter of Open Arms Church

Highlights from the July edition's:

     Deacon's Corner:

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     Pastor's Reflection:

On Sunday, 45 people were present for the healing service.  I was rather amazed at that number considering it was a holiday weekend.  We discarded the normal order of service for the day and instead had a teaching from scripture on healing, an anointing with oil and individual prayer time.  Service lasted one hour and fifty minutes.  The heartfelt prayers that were offered were an inspiration. Each person got a chance to pray over others and to be prayed over.  It was an altogether satisfying experience.  A few people were really uncomfortable with the service and felt it stretched them uncomfortably.  Most were caught up in the spirit of the service and many who would never think of praying aloud did so with competence and fervor.  I will confess that I was nervous about having that kind of service, a departure from our norm.  Once again, I was pleasantly surprised at the flexibility and willingness of our congregation.  It seems that the more we let the Spirit of God in, the more amazing the heights to which we rise.  God is good – ALL the time.

Rev. Jim

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     Action Item's:

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     Deacon's Corner:

Yo God...Pride week in Rochester!

God, thank You for the folks who put together this week of celebration.

The picnic was awesome. Starting with morning worship!

What a joy to see our community gather together to praise You.

What a joy to see queer folk from many church communities worship together!

God what a blessing to walk through the ticket gate seeing our name.

Big bold letters Open Arms MCC sponsor of the Gay Picnic.

God what a blessing to walk into the information area and see Open Arms MCC!

The brochures about our church went fast....folks stopped by to check out our pictures.

Seeing a Church in the middle of all this queer stuff...totally cool!

What a blessing to come down the hill and see our gathering tent.

We as a Church spending the day together celebrating our community...

Yo God...Pride week in Rochester what a fabulous start.

See ya at the parade! 

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     Pastor's Reflection:

Good evening, brothers and sisters

As you can see, the weekly e-link is late. We had a deacon’s training class at church last night and I didn’t get home till 10. I was too tired to write it then and this morning wasn’t much better, so I put it off till now.

Deacon Debbie spoke to God about the pride picnic so I don’t need to do that. However, another big treat is in store when the Open Arms float enters the parade on Saturday. The theme is the musical Grease and the artistic talent evident in the construction of the float and costumes is remarkable. I am going to be walking with our gang from Open Arms right in front of the float. We will definitely be noticed!

Let me tell you about deacon’s training. Here are those interested in pursuing the training: Gene V., Terry K., Linda S., Renee E., Paul J., Bonnie d., Sue G. and Karen W.. Debbie Krusemark is there to support and help – as she always is. How cool is that! We will be studying a wide range of theological and scriptural questions as well as doing hand-on practice for ministry. We will meet twice a month for six months and will have a retreat weekend together after the new year. Some may decide to be called as deacons and some may decide to use their talents in other ministries. It’s all good. We will have the installation of our new deacons on January 29.

Thank you for your devoted caring for John W. while he was hospitalized for heart by-pass surgery. He had many visitors. John is mending well and went home on Monday. I know he would appreciate a phone call and a chat. His number is in the directory or you can email me and I’ll send it to you. If you would like to continue your care for John and Bert, you could consider preparing a meal for them. Before you decide to do that, please call John for two reasons: so that they are not overwhelmed with food and so that he can describe his specialized diet: heart-healthy (no/low salt) and low carb diabetic friendly. Thanks for your continuing care.

I will be at church on Sunday and then will leave on Thursday, the 21st for Calgary, Alberta, Canada and our MCC General Conference. Deacon Debbie will preach the Sunday I am away.

That’s it for now

Rev Jim

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     Action Item's:

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     Deacon's Corner:

Yo God, thanks for not raining on our parade.

The pride parade was just unbelievable.

Our Church had such a good time picketers and all.

To see the smiles along the way as our float came into view was just awesome ...well worth the work...well worth the heat...

well worth the music playing over and over and over.

The special time came for me when my sixteen year old godchild, sitting with all her friends came running out into the parade to hug me. God thank you for that gift.

God thank you for all of those courageous people who walked.

God thank you for blessing us as your people.

Piss on the picketers.

 I forgive them, for they really do not know what they do.

 -Amen

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     Pastor's Reflection:

When God’s Spirit takes root, changes happen.  A few year’s ago, our Open Arms MCC presence in the pride parade was pretty minimal.  This year, it was clearly a major community event.  Before the parade started, after the many weeks and untold hours of preparation in building the float and sewing costumes, Anne Tischer said to me, “Even if we get rained out, it was well worth it.”  I knew exactly what she meant.  The coming together that happened in the process was remarkable.  And Sunday morning, when many would have had the excuse to miss church because they were exhausted, we had over 40 in attendance.  The warmth and joy of the service was a sure sign that the Spirit was present and acting.  I think I may have spoken before about the “gift of tears” which is what happens when the heart is touched by God and tears flow.  Well, Sunday, that gift was much in evidence.  I think I may have started first during the praise songs at the beginning of worship.  As I was singing and listening to the words, the chorus of “Shine, Jesus, Shine” brought me a sense of the empowering presence of God and the tears started.  All through the service, I noticed people wiping their eyes.  Now, it’s really important to understand that these were tears of sheer joy that come from knowledge of God’s complete acceptance of and love for us.

We are moving forward in stages.  It seems that we stay steady for a while and then have a surge.  We are poised on the edge of a surge now.  Pride week was the culmination of all we have been through together in the last few years.  It clearly showed the development of a sense of community that has blessed us.  We gave witness to the world in the public celebrations of Pride Week.  People saw what we have and are starting to want some of it for themselves.  Sisters and brothers, it’s all good.

Rev. Jim

     Action Item's:

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     Deacon's Corner:

Yo God,

Elizabeth Cady Stanton said, " Truth is the only safe ground to stand upon."

God, help me be a person of truth.

Let lies not be part of my being...not even the" little white ones" .

Let me be honest with myself, with others and with you.

So many times we hide behind half truths and false statements.

God I pray that my words always hold truth...

God I pray that my words are used for good...

God I pray that my words come from a place of love...

If other words come to mind...Yo God help me to keep my month shut!

Amen

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     Pastor's Reflection:

I am writing this sitting in O’Hare Airport in Chicago (and will send it if we ever get home).  Paul and I know this place all too well.  We spent seven hours here because of missing our connecting flight on our way TO Calgary.  Our flight from Calgary was two hours late so we missed our connection again and can’t leave until we’ve suffered here for 4 hours.  I think I will never willingly fly into Chicago again.  From the time we woke up on the 21st to the time we arrived in our room in Calgary was 22 hours.  Today we had to get up at 3:30 to get to the airport and by the time we get home, we’ll have been up about 20 hours.  So, the beginning and the end were terrible.  The middle was more than FABULOUS.  I wish for you that you get to experience either a regional or general conference of our denomination.  There aren’t adequate words to describe what worship is like with over a thousand people worshipping.  The songs were moving, the sermons were moving, the tears flowed.  Services were between one and two hours long and we had worship morning and evening each day.  We felt wrung out each time we left a service.  The presence of the Holy Spirit of God was so evident that the room moved!

We got to hear Bishop Gene Robinson, the first openly gay Episcopal bishop tell us how much he wanted to preach to our general conference.  He said that his election could NEVER have happened if it wasn’t for our denomination.  He recalled a statue in the place where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was killed.  He said that a long line of people is showed winding upward.  Each is standing on the shoulders of the one who came before.  He said that our denomination were the shoulders he stood on.  Then we had Bishop Steven Charleston, the president of Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  He is Native American and former bishop of Alaska.  I had the privilege of hearing him when I was at the Clergy Intensives last year.  I came home and told Paul that I thought he was the best preacher I have ever heard.  He was even better at our General Conference.  What a powerful man!  How the Spirit flows through him.  And on and on.  We had sermons and workshops and time to chat with old friends and to make new ones.  The business meeting was long and drawn out as those things tend to be.  Gene Ver stood in as Alternate Lay Delegate in John White’s place.  Paul and I got a chance to go to Banff one day to glory in the beauty and majesty of the Canadian Rockies.  We really don’t know what mountains are around here!

I will be talking for weeks about developments in our denomination in the weeks to come.  I bring a refreshed spirit home and a renewed enthusiasm for the progress of Open Arms MCC.

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     Action Item's:

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