Fairlawn-West history

I have begun posting an outline of the Fairlawn-West UCC history to our web site. This began as a project to help our confirmation class, but it is having a broader purpose as well.

The last written history of the church was in 1982. There is a lot of stuff in it that I think make the church look more like a neighborhood club than a church on a mission to reach out to the world, but there is a candor especially in the former Fairlawn portion of the church that is refreshing and helpful. For a long time I have ridiculed this history (a large black notebook which was given to every new member...with the expectation they would read it and be "indoctrinated" into the particular culture of our church. five years ago I suggested we do a burial in the front yard of our church bldg of the history notebook, the constitution and the budget since those were the three major stumbling blocks for us and they were of higher "authority" for us than scripture. its obvious now that we have "buried" them as the identity of our congregation has shifted over the years.)

This time as I am reading the history to post it, I am noticing things that reflect what many of us have learned from the late Rabbi Ed Friedman in his book "Generation to Generation" about how churches, like families, pass on behavior and act out over and over things that are contrary to their purpose and mission. For instance, in a humorous, frank style (the main writer of this history is a woman who is still alive, is in her 90's and recently left her home to move to Texas to be with her family...after 60+ years in the house) it is commented that in 1947 when Fairlawn was just starting there were financial struggles and control fights. The "major giver" to the church left because as they talked about building a building it was said that teens could have dances. He was opposed to that and left the church. The building wasn't built for 10 more years. I remember from previous reads of this history even more conflict in later years over money and property.

Visit the history page periodically to catch up on the new postings which reflect more the emotional and missional view of the congregation than "who is the pastor" and "additions to the building" history. http://www.fairlawnwest.org/fwhistory.htm

Thanksgiving

These quotes from the Plimouth Plantation web site are helpful as we might seek to honor the history of Thanksgiving more than the convenient national holiday it has become for most of us.

Although the gathering which took place between the English colonists and the Wampanoag in the autumn of 1621 in Patuxet/New Plymouth has become known as "The First Thanksgiving," it would not have been considered a thanksgiving by the people involved. Not only was it not a "thanksgiving," but also it was also not a "first!" Native Peoples all over this continent have given daily thanks to their Creator for thousands of years. Likewise, celebrating days of thanksgiving was a familiar tradition for the Europeans who eventually colonized North America.

There are many other aspects of the Thanksgiving holiday as it is celebrated today that are based on misunderstandings and misrepresentations of the 1621 event. From the one long banquet table, to the turkey and cranberry sauce on top of it, the exhibit Thanksgiving: Memory, Myth & Meaning examines popular images and myths of Thanksgiving in greater depth and from multiple perspectives. We encourage you to spend some time there.

Visit Plimouth Plantation and First Nation web sites for more detail

school levy passes!

The Akron Public School levy passed on the third try...which if it lost would have meant gutting the district. It would have meant my 8th grade daughter would have probably gone to a parochial school.

It passed by a thread...
FOR THE TAX LEVY . . . . . . . . 28,372 51.17
AGAINST THE TAX LEVY. . . . . . . 27,070 48.83

1st podcast

Here is the link for my first podcast. It is a combination of a test and a mix of Kidd Rock's "Lonely Road of Faith" with Ps 23 and Mark 13.
http://www.fairlawnwest.org/test.mp3

Haggard, Driscoll, minister, sex &...God

Ok, I threw in Driscoll because Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle is getting a lot of blog play right now around his comments in response to what happened to Ted Haggard. If you want to find it, do a google search for it. I don't agree with any he has to say.

this is what I think...

If Haggard does enter rehab and begin recovery, I wouldn't presume where that will lead him with his life.

Mark Laaser was an ordained UCC minister and pastoral counselor. He became involved with some of his clients. He lost his ordained standing over 20 years ago and it was not restored. Yet, Mark is one of the two most prominent people in the world in working with all sorts of people, but particularly churches and clergy on sex addiction recovery. (the other is Pat Carnes). He and his wife are the two major leaders internationally in Couples Recovery.

Officially Mark is no longer a "minister". Yet, I think God has led him to a ministry that is beyond the church as we know it.
Faithful and True Ministries
www.faithfulandtrueministries.com

I remember when Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky came out and impeachment hearings began, Jeb Magruder from the Watergate crew and spent time in prison, was consulting with our church on a capital campaign. I asked Jeb what chance Clinton had to begin recovery in the White House. He said "none." My wish was for Clinton to resign, not for poltical reasons, but so he could get help.

I don't wish for Haggard a return to church ministry. I wish for him a spiritual, emotional, and physical recovery and then wherever God chooses to use him.
David Loar

"Rain and the rhinoceros" by Thomas Merton

Here is another reading that is much in the vein of my previous post of the poem "There are men too gentle to live among wolves." I post here the first paragraph from Thomas Merton's essay. You can click the link to read the wonderful rest of it:

LET me say this before rain becomes a utility that they can plan and distribute for money. By "they" I mean the people who cannot understand that rain is a festival, who do not appreciate its gratuity, who think that what has no price has no value, that what cannot be sold is not real, so that the only way to make something actual is to place it on the market. The time will come when they will sell you even your rain. At the moment it is still free, and I am in it. I celebrate its gratuity and its meaninglessness. (more)

There are (ones) too gentle to live among wolves

This is a poem I received in a book of the same name back in the early '70's. I find myself returning to it. It is by James Kavanaugh

There are Men Too Gentle to Live Among Wolves
There are men too gentle to live among wolves
Who prey upon them with IBM eyes
And sell their hearts and guts for martinis at noon.
There are men too gentle for a savage world
Who dream instead of snow and children and Halloween
And wonder if the leaves will change their color soon.

There are men too gentle to live among wolves
Who anoint them for burial with greedy claws
And murder them for a merchant's profit and gain.
There are men too gentle for a corporate world
Who dream instead of candied apples and ferris wheels
And pause to hear the distant whistle of a train.

There are men too gentle to live among wolves
Who devour them with eager appetite and search
For other men to prey upon and suck their childhood dry.
There are men too gentle for an accountant's world
Who dream instead of Easter eggs and fragrant grass
And search for beauty in the mystery of the sky.

There are men too gentle to live among wolves
Who toss them like a lost and wounded dove.
Such gentle men are lonely in a merchant's world,
Unless they have a gentle one to love.

Akron Public Schools levy

The Akron Public Schools of Ohio are facing a serious 3rd and last vote on Nov 7. If the levy fails this time, the district educational and extra-curricular programs will be gutted. They were already reduced after the last levy failed in May.

Our 8th grade daughter has taken the entrance exam for a local parochial high school. She may take another. If the levy fails, there will be an exodus of the highest income and best students from the school district. That will leave the APS as an educational reservation for those who can't "get out." I suspect it will lead to the demise of this city. Those who live in it and vote against the levy will find themselves in an empty shell.

Some of those who oppose the levy because they believe that relying on the property tax is unconstitutional are correct. BUT, the place to lobby for that is with the governor and legislature. Once the district is gutted, many families will be leaving Akron. They won't return. And it will take a long time, if ever, to return the programs that are eliminated or reduced.