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04/08
From the Pastor
May is an exciting time at Underwood
Memorial Baptist Church. The campaign to
Render Away From Caesar is in full
swing. Check out the website and blogspot to
see where other folks plan to allocate their
tax rebate checks, and add your own ideas
while you are there.
www.renderawayfromcaesar.org
Choirfest celebrates its 25th
year on Sunday, May 4th. Plan to
attend, sing, and fellowship with your
brother and sister Baptists from around the
region!
Come the day before, Saturday, May 3, from 9
- noon to help tidy up the church grounds
during our clean up day. The work is easier
and more fun, the more folks we have here.
Mark your calendars now!
Don’t miss the opportunity to hear Dr. Ken
Stone lecture at UMBC. He will be here on
Wednesday, May 7, from 9 – 3:15 speaking on
Subversive Books of the Bible for
Subversive People of Faith: Ruth, Esther,
Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, and
Lamentations. Underwood Church people
get more than half off of the registration
fee, so sign up now! More information is on
the bulletin board.
Mid-May, a small crew from UMBC will travel
to Baton Rouge, LA as a part of the American
Baptist collaboration with Habitat for
Humanity home build project. Please pray for
this team, and all who will work on these
homes. Particularly, pray for the people who
will live in these homes, as their
communities are slowly coming back to life.
On Saturday, May 31, Underwood will host a
screening of the documentary, For the
Bible Tells Me So. A number of area
foster parents will be in attendance. This
is an opportunity to see an excellent film,
and to share the ways God leads this
congregation to practice God’s radically
inclusive love. I’ve included a synopsis of
the film below. All are welcome to attend.
Peace,
Pastor
Jamie
02/08
From the Pastor
All my possessions for a moment of time.
~ Last words
of Elizabeth I, 1603
Many may
be feeling worn down by the weather, by
work, by life pressing in from all sides.
You may believe that taking time out for
yourself is a luxury you can’t afford, or
worse, a comfort that you don’t deserve. God
gives us a gift each week in Sabbath,
reminding us that the world continues to
spin without our intervention. The season of
Lent is a time for deeper reflection, of
stepping back. Contrary to what you believe,
taking time to nourish your spirit and body
are some of the best gifts you offer to God
and those you care for. What kind of time
are you taking to refill your well? How are
you nourishing your spirit? When was the
last time that you took the time to be
still, to sing, to dance, to pray?
Perhaps,
this nested meditation by Kevin Anderson can
move you to a place of deeper wholeness and
connection with God.
Do you
have the time?
Do you
have the time of your life?
Do you
have the time of your life
or does
someone else perhaps?
Do you
have the time
of your
life
or does
someone else? Perhaps
it’s
later than you think.
Peace,
Pastor
Jamie
12/07
From the Pastor
This House is God’s House ~ This House is Your House
Who does the church belong to? Who ~ and
what ~ is the church? Who makes the
decisions, who does the work, and how does
that get decided?
We are all the church. No one person or
group calls the shots; direction comes from
the Spirit working through the body, and the
body is every one of us. A lot of people
have keys to the church. A lot of invisible
and overt work goes on to keep the church
afloat.
People contribute in all manner of ways:
some people teach classes, others sing, or
balance the books or fix leaky roofs. Do you
see something that needs to get done? Be the
one to do it! Just like at home, it only
gets done if you do it. Church cannot
function when ten percent of the people pull
ninety percent of the weight. Perhaps you
have skills you would like to share with the
church, or maybe you want to learn new ones.
Speak up, and get busy. This is the way we
remain healthy and strong. No one is served
when only a few know how the boiler works
(do you know where the boiler is?) or when
everyone assumes that things are someone
else’s responsibility. I have this recurring
image in my mind of a truck painting stripes
down the middle of a highway. The workers
come across road kill in the middle of the
road, shrug, and paint over it saying, “It’s
not my job!”
Church is amazing, because it functions by
and for volunteers. We each bring our
particular gifts and vision to the
community, and all are better for it. How do
you plan to share with the Underwood family?
Have you made your pledge for 2008? Church
doesn’t just happen. Church isn’t an
afterthought; we are called to bring our
whole body, mind, and spirit to God, not to
check them at the door. So, congratulations,
church. You are all the deciders-in-chief!
Look around you, and let’s get it done.
Peace,
Pastor
Jamie
10/07
From the Pastor
You Never Miss Your Water,
Until Your Well Runs Dry
It is easy to take things for granted when
they work well. When things hum smoothly
along, we can forget to be grateful for
ordinary graces. When things get out of
whack we become painfully aware of the
fragile balance of everyday life.
Typically, I enjoy excellent health, but
for the past few weeks, a nameless malady
knocked me flat out. For a person always on
the go, being a patient patient has been a
challenge. I’ve had a lot of time to lie
still and reflect. I used many of these
hours to offer prayers of thanksgiving: for
the compassionate people in my life, for the
self-giving love of this community, for
peace and cooperation in the wider world.
There has been ample time to appreciate the
crew who participated in the Crop Walk on a
dismal gray and rainy Sunday afternoon, and
to pray for those who would reap the benefit
of their efforts. I’ve had time to
appreciate the small and large things that
usually take no effort, and time to give
thanks for people willing to step up and
fill in the gaps.
Beginning
my day in grateful awareness affects every
aspect of my day. We are so quick to go to
God with our needs; how often do we turn to
God in prayer with our gratitude? Give
thanks not only for what happens, but also
for your near-misses. Thank God for all the
could-have-beens that never came to pass.
Suffuse your day with appreciation, and live
in grateful awareness of the abundant
blessings in your life. Don’t wait until you
are flat on your back to look up and around
at the everyday miracles in your life.
Peace,
Pastor
Jamie
06&07/07
From the Pastor
Construir Sueños de la Paz en
El Salvador
Stamped
in concrete corners, hanging from banners at
El Puente Baptist Church:
Construir sueños de la paz en El Salvador
Constructing dreams of peace in El Salvador
During our recent sojourn in El Salvador,
we met the Coop Mujeres Bautistas Puente
Cuscatlan, the women’s cooperative sharing
space with the future Peace Park we worked
to build. These women are a cooperative in
every sense of the word. They work and
cooperate together, sharing the labor,
decision-making, and proceeds. This work is
their income, and the women tithe 10% of
their earnings to the building project.
From raw corn husk,
pistolas del silicón,
(hot glue guns), and local dyes, they craft
colorful dolls and delicate flowers.
They’ve honed an assembly line that would
make Henry Ford proud. Very little is
wasted. Small bags are fastened with the
original twist-ties – strips of ribbed corn
husk. They were patient with us as we helped
in small ways.
All keep an eye out for the little children
playing underfoot, swinging and snoozing in
hammocks, anticipating the day when the
parameters of their peace and playground
expand.
This is how we build dreams of
peace ~ in El Puente, in El Salvador, in
each of us who pray for and participate in
constructing peace anywhere. Nothing is
wasted. No act is too small. When making
dreams concrete, you build with heart and
hand.
Peace,
Pastor
Jamie
05/07
From the Pastor
cleave 1 to
divide along natural lines; split; divide
forcibly; cut through; sunder
2 to make one’s
way; pass through
3 to stick
fast; cling; adhere
How can one word have
such disparate meanings? How can one cleave
(divide) while cleaving (holding on)? How
can Jerry Falwell, Queen Latifa, Martin
Luther King, Helen Barrett Montgomery,
Johnny Cash, Booker T. Washington, Edwin
Dahlberg, Bill Moyers, Nelson Rockefeller,
Frank Rice, Jimmy Carter, Dora Kneen, Gene
Autry, Marian Wright Edelman, Aretha
Franklin, and Bill Clinton all be Baptists?
If they will know we are Christians by our
love, too often they may also know we are
Baptist by our schism. Historically,
Baptists cleave apart, not together.
This summer, Baptists
from around the globe will gather in
Washington DC.
2007 marks the one
hundredth year of American Baptist Churches
coming together in mission and ministry. On
Thursday and Friday, May 16-17, 1907,
delegates assembled at Calvary Baptist
Church in Washington, DC and created a
general organization to integrate,
coordinate and communicate the common
ministries of the new denomination – the
Northern Baptist Convention. That day in
1907 officially separated Baptists in the
United States. This summer Baptists plan to
cleave together. Friday, June 29,
Cooperative Baptists, Progressive Baptists,
Lott Carey Baptists, and American Baptists
will gather and worship together in
Washington.
In preparation for these
coming days, please pray for all who will
travel, come together, and participate in
this historic gathering.
May a spirit of kinship
and cooperation prevail.
Peace,
Pastor
Jamie
04/22/07
The Peace Park and the Bridge of Salvation
Parque de la Paz y
Puente de Salvación
This summer, friends and
members of the Underwood Church community
will travel to El Salvador to help build a
Peace Park.
Work has
already begun to create a place where
children can safely play, women from the
local cooperative can work together on their
crafts, and church people can gather to
worship.
The people living in the community mainly
work in agriculture and fish in the nearby
Lempa River. The community wants to create a
space that fosters peace for children,
adults, and nature. They purchased land in
2002 to build the first space of its kind in
the area.
People of the community hope this will be
the beginning of a revitalization of the
area.
The area around the park
suffered through the
earthquakes of the 2001, Hurricane Mitch in
1998, and civil war from 1980-1992. Serving
as a silent witness beyond the site, stand
the remains of a bridge (Puente de
Salvación)
destroyed in 1989. Its replacement was
shattered by Hurricane Mitch in 1998.
If you are
unable to join with us this summer, there
are other ways to participate. Join us for a
Salvadoran meal and fundraiser, Saturday,
May 5th, where you can learn more
about the country, the trip, and make
contributions to offset trip costs.
Peace,
Pastor
Jamie
01/14/07
Pastor
Jamie's message on Sunday, 1/14/07 was
derived from Martin Luther King Jr's speech
entitled
BEYOND VIETNAM: A TIME TO BREAK SILENCE.
This speech was given by Dr. King exactly 1
year to the date prior to his assassination
and has prophetic parallels with things
occurring in our world at this time.
Please click on either file below to see the
speech
MLK Speech (PDF Format)
MLK Speech (Word Format)
10/29/06
WHAT’S IN A
NAME?
The way we
refer to God shapes the way we think of God.
The Hebrews historically avoided referring
to the Divine by name, preferring instead,
to describe attributes, such as Healer
(Jehovah-Ropheka), Provider (Jehovah-Jireh),
God Who is Sufficient for the Needs of God’s
People (El-Shaddai), Our Peace
(Jehovah-Shalom), or the Lord is Present
(Jehovah-Shammah). Such reverence was given
to the actual name, that it was neither
spoken, nor written.
Jesus came,
and referred to God in shockingly intimate
ways, saying Abba, my Papa, Daddy. We are so
accustomed to this, we may not actually hear
it. Jesus used the words that would first
come to a child, Abba, Amma, Papa, Mama. The
prayer that Jesus taught his followers
begins this way. Some churches begin this
prayer saying, Our father-mother God, to
reflect the truer nature of the Creator.
Clearly, God is neither male nor female, but
inclusive of and greater than both. In the
first Genesis account of creation, scripture
tells us that God created people in God’s
own image; patterned after God’s own self,
male and female, God created them (Genesis
1:27).
For
centuries, the public face of the church has
been male, and conceptions of the Divine
reflect this. History books refer to
mankind’s achievements, the equality of all
men, and so forth, and women are expected to
understand that they are a part of that. I
am not calling for oppositional stance,
where we begin referring to all people as
womankind (although, that might be
interesting), but I am calling for a broader
understanding of this God we worship and
follow. A disservice is done to all people
when we ignore the feminine aspects of the
Divine. We ought to be able to freely refer
to God as he or she or
that-which-defies-all-categorization. The
risk in insisting upon a particular name or
definition of God comes in the limitations
they impose. We think we know what a mother
or father is; we don’t ever really know the
nature of God. If we could manage to neatly
name and categorize the Ground of our Being,
it would cease to be God. God will always be
larger and more complicated and mysterious
than our greatest imaginings. If we could
contain it, it would not be God.
When Moses asked the name of God, he was
told,
"I-AM- WHO-I-AM, or
I-WILL-BE-WHAT-I-WILL-BE (Exodus 3:14). I-AM
makes it clear that ourdescriptions are just
that, attempts to understand the ineffable.
God will be God, (or YHWH or Allah, or
regardless of the sounds we utter. However,
these sounds and names profoundly affect the
way we understand God, God’s nature,
and God’s love. If you habitually use
one name or referent for the Divine, I
challenge you to experiment with another
name in your prayer life and conversations.
How does it feel to refer to Her
Mysterious Ways? Broaden your possibilities
of Who and What our God might be. Allow
yourself to be surprised by God.
Peace,
Pastor
Jamie
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