Pastor Phil Wyman looks back at 2015 at The Gathering

2015 joins the previous couple years as part of our crazy years of transition. We have taken an epic wilderness journey into becoming a gathering of house (and pub) churches. This year (perhaps) has been even more of a wandering than any previous year of our existence. Then again, having mapped territory no one before us had ever mapped in our work in the city of Salem, maybe it was just another crazy year, but we keep following the Shepherd who leads us on.

2015 started off with a surprise. At the end of January, I (Pastor Phil) ended up with a sudden attack of back pains, which could have been measured on the Richter Scale. By February, this turned into an extended hospital stay and the discovery that the pains had nothing to do with pulled muscles or slipped discs. Rather, a strep infection was found in my blood stream, and pockets of that infection had settled inside my spinal column, and scarier yet, inside my heart. I was effectively down and out from late January until May, and although I was home for much of that time, I was connected to antibiotic drip systems six hours a day, which looked like a medical version of the “Holy Hand-Grenade of Antioch.” And, fortunately, like the Holy Hand-Grenade of Antioch it worked and wiped out the infection.

The church, and our local friends were wonderful during this time. They brought me food, lots of probiotics, and reminders of love. Boxes of nerds arrived from our geek friends, balloons from bartenders, and meals that made a hospital visit seem less of a drudgery. One of our home-groups even held a service in the hospital room one Saturday morning. I did not feel as badly, as my critical condition, and so I became a bit squirrely, and wandered the hallways playing my guitar and singing to people. This turned out to be enough of a hit, that some of the night crew cheered when I returned for a second visit, and then apologized for being excited to see me back in the hospital again.

Somewhere in this time, our now weekly home and pub groups gathered together for a grand meeting of eating and sharing and I was hooked to my Holy Hand Grenade, and they made it all happen, while I sat like a happy papa and looked on.

The Holy Hand Grenade worked just in the nick of time, and while the church had been meeting and doing its weekly activities without me, there had also been a UK Festival Outreach, which had been in the planning for 6 months. Two days before I was to fly to the UK, and meet Dennis there, I received the doctor’s clearance. So, off I flew to Wales with oral antibiotics in hand. There we built an art project at BurningNest; we worked the doors and debates at a philosophy festival; and we ministered to the 23,000 hippies, hipsters and all around seekers at Stonehenge during the Summer Solstice.

Of course, as October rolled around, we were back on the streets of Salem during our one million visitor month with live music every weekend, and hundreds of friends from around the country joining us for ministry. We bought pizza for some of the homeless youth and elders who like to hang around our stage, we interpreted dreams, we shared the love of our Lord Jesus with locals and visitors alike, and we simply created a presence of acceptance and love during a weird and wild holiday season in our unique city.

Between the time in the hospital and the frenetic pace of Festival outreach from Summer through Fall, this year has seemed like a blur, and does even now as I look back in the rearview mirror.

The hospital stay and prolonged downtime was perhaps a forced sabbatical of sorts. I was able to complete a book I had been working on for a few years, and Burning Religion is now self-published and online at Amazon.com.

Despite all this, we bought ice cream for the kids at the park on the Point in Salem during the summer, and we joined the World’s Largest Eye Contact Experiment in October.

Please keep us in your prayers. Getting back into a regular pattern of spiritual life as a body of people has not been easy, but we continue our ride into Bethlehem and appreciate every person who remembers our labors.

If you would like to help support the mission of the The Gathering, which has moved from a local expression of innovative mission, to something beyond the boundaries of our own country, you can do so at our website --> salemgathering.org. May your Christmas, your Solstiee, your Hannukah, and your New Year be blessed.

Solstice, Advent and New Year all offer hope

As the end of the year nears, once again I look back at and consider the things which have happened here at The Gathering.

This year has been most trying, and without a question the single most difficult year of my life, which is saying a lot for those who have walked with us through the last 5 years.  Yet on the other hand, it has proved itself to be a fruitful, and faithful year as well.  How these elements of opposite value can trend together I am not sure, but this is not the first year I have seen struggle and blessing go hand in hand.

The fact that the Winter Solstice, the Advent and the coming of a New Year are positioned so close to one another is the perfect alignment for rethinking life.  The Winter Solstice marks the ending of shortening days and lengthening darkness.  This night points us toward Spring, new life, and dawning of longer periods of light.  It is a birth of hope.  The Advent calls us to consider the place of God in our hearts, and reveals the deepest place of God's interaction with humanity.  It is a second birth of hope.  The New Year completes the passage of a season of life, and enlivens our hearts with the potential for new things.  It is a third birth of hope in this short period of only a handful of days.

How will you re-position your life in order to take full advantage of the grace afforded us in changing seasons?  This is a question I ask myself for this coming year.  May the Lord bless us both with the proper response to this season of transition.

To learn more about The Gathering you may visit us on our website.

Advent - Day 25 - Merry Christmas

This painting by Cambiaso of the Virgin and Child with John the Baptist has the young John with a Lamb. When they both came to the time of their ministry, John would declare Jesus to be the Lamb of God, and here this is prefigured by this painting.

Consider the concept of God presenting Himself as a Lamb to the world, as you view this oil painting from 1550 on this Christmas Day.

Advent - Day 24

Raphael's Alba Madonna shows Mary, the infant Jesus, and John the Baptist at a young age. John is handing Jesus a cross, which Jesus is accepting. Though the moment is not a real scriptural event, but rather a fantasy piece, it gives us a picture of the John's ministry, which will prepare the way for the Lord, and of Jesus acceptance of His ministry, which includes His sacrifice upon the cross.

Consider these aspects of the the Advent today: Christ was born to become our sacrifice and Savior.

Click on image for a larger picture.

Advent - Day 23

The humble beginnings of our Savior are illustrated well by this 16th century work entitled The Nativity by Corregio.

Can you recognize your need for humility in this season remembering the humble birth of our Savior? As you consider the humble surroundings of this painting recall your own need for humility.

Click on the image for a larger picture.

Advent - Day 22

In 1259 Pisano sculpted the marble pulpit at the baptistery at Pisa, and it includes the adoration of the magi giving their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. These gifts are said to symbolically and prophetically represent kingship, divinity and death. Perhaps more importantly for us to consider is the fact that they represent giving our best to God.

Consider this sculpting, and ask yourself if you have given your best to God. In a season of giving, we can easily forget giving to the One Who has given His all for us.

Click on the picture for a larger image.

Advent - Day 21

The Adoration of the Magi:

"Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him." (Matthew 2:1-2)

His birth was prophesied even by the heavens themselves, and recognized by wise men who came from distant lands. There should be no distance too far, or mystery too deep which can hinder our search for God. The magi from far away lands model the search for God we should be willing to embark upon if necessary.

Consider this work of art by Gentile de Fabriano a 15th century Italian Gothic painter.

Click upon the picture for a larger image.

Advent - Day 20

Following the movement of art rather than that of scripture, I want to look at the Adoration of the Shepherds, a 15th century Flemish painting by Hugo Van Der Groes. Take some time to meditate on this moment of worship as it appears in this massive old painting.

The person of Jesus, Who is the Messianic promise, Who has come to save us is revealed to common shepherds. These same shepherds go to see the babe lying in the feeding trough. Each of us are the common people of this earth who have had the Messiah come to us as well. Contemplate this art and consider your place in worshiping Christ the Lord.

The painting comes in three panels and links to the three parts are listed below.

left panel
center panel
right panel

Advent - Day 19

"And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good will to men." (Luke 2:9ff)

We, as people living in a materialistic world, often struggle with the concept of hearing, or experiencing God. The story of the Advent of Christ returns us to the primary place where God and man meet one another in intimate interaction. Heaven bursts upon the scene of this earthly drudgery to shine it's light upon us. Then the great treasure store of divine repository is revealed in a baby lying in a feeding trough.

Could it be that the angels sing about simple things, apparently mundane things in your life? In Christ is the greatest treasure of divinity revealed to humans, but within ourselves we are told that there is this "treasure in earthen vessels." Perhaps the angels sing about this too.

Consider this work of art by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, and meditate upon the vast goodness of the God found in Jesus, and deposited by faith in you as well - "Christ in you the hope of Glory." Click on the image for a larger picture.

18th Day of the Advent

In this last week as we come to Christmas I will be sending out a short devotional thought, and a link to devotional art each day. For Tuesday the 18th of December the verse for our consideration and meditation is this:

"And it came about that while they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her first-born son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn." (Luke 2: 6-7)

Consider the birth of our Savior. It was not easy, or convenient. Laid in a feeding trough, because there was no other place for him, the Savior of mankind came to this earth in humble means. Later the struggle would increase as Herod would seek His death. The path of following God is not an easy path, but our way has been laid out before us by One who modeled living through the hard way for us. Our way certainly can not be as difficult as His.

This work of art by Boticelli is worth a long meditative look. At first glance it might appear peaceful, but as you look deeper into the painting you will find spiritual struggle all around the manger scene. Consider this aspect of our Lord's birth this 18 Day of Advent. Click on the photo for a larger image.