The Vault in The Vault

Yes, we call our meeting place The Vault. But we call it that because the big old vault is the main piece of furniture in the room. That room is now completely empty, and ready for painting.

Thanks to Mike Pelletier and his hard work, and for that old forklift he owns. Thanks to his hired help. Thanks to the guys from church who helped out. Glenn is a beast of a worker. Tom has been there for some good old dirty work, and yep that's me with with the crew. Jeff Menasco is not pictured, but he helped Glenn level the floor.

These pictures were taken by Kirsten who was visiting Tom and Mary. Thanks Kirsten.

I sure am looking forward to what this old vault space will become.

Service - Sunday, August 16th

This morning Carl lead worship. We began with a recitation of the Apostle's Creed (the Lutheran Version), and the Celtic Prayer "Come I This Day."

Carl and Melissa ended the worship music with the song "Continue." Oh my gosh they are good together, and this was one of the sweetest worship songs I've heard done in quite some time.

I preached my portion of the message first (Pastor Phil writing here). We have been talking about Knowing God for the month of August, and this week we are talking about that very Christian word "sanctification."

I outlined a history of sanctification very briefly, and hopefully with a minor degree of accuracy. I will outline that later, as Ryan is preaching now, and I want to capture his thoughts.

Ryan started with an illustration from the movie "The Mission." If you are familiar with the moment the pack off armor is cut off "the missionary" you will know the illustration.

After this beginning Ryan takes us to the story of The Good Samaritan, and has told that Jesus will turn the idea of sanctification upside down. The religious leaders pass the guy who has been beat up, and Ryan ties this into the laws of sanctification - the fact that you can not touch the dead or you will be unclean, and so there is this complication with helping the guy who might be dead on the side of the road. But the "syncretist," outsider comes along and helps the guy left for dead.

So the Samaritan is more an instrument of reconciliation and the ways of God than the religious leaders.

So, in conclusion Ryan asks, "what does this say about how we live?"

The religious leaders tried to serve God in sanctification from unclean things. He loved God, but did not love His neighbor, and therefore served God in a faulty, broken way.

Reaching out across barriers to serve people with mercy is part of being set apart for God - sanctified.


Now 6 hours later I am completing the part of the message I promised earlier:

A quick breakdown of the some thoughts about sanctification in different Christian traditions:

Roman Catholicism: Sanctification is received as a divine gift. This shows itself clearly in Augustine's confession. The idea of suffering as part of the path of our drawing close to God also plays a part in the Catholic concept of sanctification.

Orthodoxy: (I know a bit too generic to place it all in one big box, but hey, I'm a Pentecostal boy. This will be the best I can do.) Theosis (partaking of the Divine nature in oneness with God is the dynamic reality of our sanctification. There is an impartation of divine life into the human being.

Lutheranism: Luther spoke of the work of the Spirit through the power of God's Word as being the transforming element.

Reformed: Jesus is our Sanctification, and our union with Him is what creates dynamic character change in movement toward honoring, loving, serving God more fully.

Methodism and John Wesley: Wesley's thinking sparked the transition toward what become the Holiness and Pentecostal movements. Sanctification was viewed by many proponents of his theology as a second work of grace. This occurs instantaneously and is an experience happening to believers after their salvation. Others view the work as ongoing through life with moments of seeking God and receiving transformation in sudden releases of grace.

These views of sanctification were shared with the approach that none were wrong, none were the full picture, but that each presented elements we can value and incorporate into our belief system, and spiritual practice.

Join us in Prayer, Service and Giving this October

Here in Salem Massachusetts the coming months are our most active. With the onset of a revival in alternative spirituality, and the increased commercial success of the Halloween holiday Salem has become perhaps the world's most visited place for people interested in the occult and Witchcraft. This fact also places our small Christian church front and center in providing guidance to spiritual seekers in this new age of postmodern spirituality.

Our location on the Heritage Trial - the red line running through Salem's downtown, ensures that most of the million people who visit Salem each year walk by our front doors. While the tourism increases from the beginning of the summer, and peaks throughout October our location becomes more dynamic as an outreach center. This is why we are here - to touch our world with grace as it searches for meaning.

Our mission has expanded each year, and we now minister to thousands of people. Of course the cost of maintaining this ministry is significant, but our small group has done remarkable things in the ten years of ministry in Salem. We have accomplished outreach goals unheard of for churches much larger.

Below are highlights of our halloween events are discussed below in this YouTube clip:



People from all over the US, Canada, and even the UK have been participants in the our outreach programs. We have become a small church with a global impact.

Christians from across the globe come to learn new ways of impacting our rapidly changing society, and visitors from around the globe stop in to experience God in ways they have never before known.

Of course this comes with a great price. Time, energy, and money are sacrificed year after year by our small and committed group who hold fast to the belief that there is a God Who cares for all people, and wants to touch them with His love.

This is the time of year when the outreach expands beyond the capacity for us to carry by ourselves: a Children's Day with 2,000 to 3,000 locals in attendance, a stage with 10 days of live music, ministry tents with free spiritual counseling touching thousands of people who will stand in line, free hot cocoa to chilly visitors, and lessons with dramatic social commentary are all part of our upcoming Fall Outreach. In terms of time, energy and money we are stretched beyond ourselves.

And so it is at this time that we reach out to our friends and ask for your prayer, your consideration to join us in these labors of love during the month of October, and in financial support. Our small faithful group continues to hold a unique and significant place of prominence in a time, and in a place often thought to be devoid of Christian influence, and thousands of Christians and non-Christians from outside our four walls are influenced for the better by our outreach.

Like most of our nation during this current season, we too have been crunched by the financially challenging times. Your prayer, your words of support, the rolling up of your sleeves for those who can join us this October, and your generous giving continue to be the things which get us over the hump each year.

Will you join us in concern for our world, which passes by our doors in these coming months?

If you would like to be part of this October's Prayer Team simply e-mail me at pastorphil (at) salemgathering.com request to be added to the list.

If you would like to join us in October as we touch the world, which comes to our door, you can e-mail me at pastorphil (at) salemgathering.com asking for more information about joining the outreach this Fall.

If you would like to give toward this grand project and help fund these endeavors you can go to our website at www.salemgathering.com and click on the make a donation button to reach the secure Paypal giving page.

May the Lord be Your Peace and Your Strength. Thank you for being part of our strength in Him.


Gwyn Eich Byd (A Welsh Blessing),
Pastor Phil

Last Night at Pub Theology

Slade, Matt the Pirate and Mary the Goth Theologian, James (who had the ultimate statement on entropic spirituality for the evening), Mary the posh bathroom model/salesperson, Tom the chess-king, Elizabeth the violist who keeps us on track, The Prof. Carlos Z. who is heading to Spain tomorrow with 15 students for three months , and myself were the crew for Pub Theology last night.

We started by asking whether our philosophies dictated our actions, or whether it is possible that our experiences and actions informed and transformed our philosophies and theology. Of course, the answer was yes, but to varying degrees with each person. The discussion then migrated to the subject of entropy - I gave the 2nd law of thermodynamics definition of it, to which Slade my fellow anarchist (a title I only half jokingly apply to myself, but that's another long post to be sure, and it is tied to the idea of Christian Freedom, and the activities of God) added his retort on increasing disorder. This then moved to a discussion of spiritual entropy. James kicked this off by stating that unless we worked on serving others spiritual entropy was inevitable. I asked if he would either like to share that at church, or if I could steal it. I prefer the former.

James asked us why we were Christians at one point. That was a rather cool exchange. So often that discussion can be rather canned, but in a Pub it takes on a new life. We were loud, we were animated, we had fun, and we hung out for about 2 and a half hours - Nice.

Pub Theology with The Gathering occurs once a month on the last Tuesday of the month at The Old Spot in Salem.

10 Years of Service in Salem, MA

As of June this year we began celebrating our 10th year living and ministering in Salem, Massachusetts. It has been a wild adventure at times, and we are thankful to the people who have blessed us during this season. The following is a press release which has been sent out, and we would love to have you join us as we do celebration 2.0 on Sunday, July 26th. (We will be doing a celebration in honor of some various aspect of our community life once a month for a number of months.)


The Gathering: Celebrating 10 Years of Service in Salem

On July 26th at 10am The Gathering will be celebrating 10 years of service in the community of Salem. The celebration will occur at the church's 10am Sunday service at The Vault - 217 Essex Street in Salem.

The Gathering began in the summer of 1999 with two families from Southern California. From the first year this new church had established itself as an organization dedicated to serving the city of Salem.

In their first October, they provided free live music on the streets of Salem, began to give away free hot cocoa, and offered free spiritual counsel to visitors and locals alike.

From this simple beginning the outreach of The Gathering has grown to include 40 to 50 hours of live music at The Fountain stage on Essex Street each October, organizing and sponsoring the Annual Salem Halloween Children's Day on the Common, serving up to 10,000 cups of free hot cocoa each October, offering free dream interpretation and spiritual counsel to thousands each year, painting children's faces during the city's 4th of July celebration, serving the crowds during the Christmas Tree Burning each January, supplying sound for community events, and collecting and distributing warm clothing to those in need each winter.

The story of this service has appeared on the front page of The Wall Street Journal, the Dallas Morning News, on syndicated radio programs, and across the nation and in the Caribbean in local newspapers.

Pastor Phil Wyman has estimated that The Gathering has contributed $750,000 to the city of Salem and its visitors in the last 10 years in donations, and volunteer labor. "I have been a pastor for 24 years, and I am constantly amazed by the dedication of our church members and the constant hospitality we have extended through them and through our extended Gathering family far and near in service to our community." says Pastor Phil.

The celebration will relive the stories of this service to the community. For more information, you can call The Gathering at 978-744-8444, or e-mail at pastorphil@salemgathering.com.

Face Painting on the Fourth of July

For the last 5 years (I think) The Gathering has been painting faces for free for the children of Salem on the 4th of July. Down on Derby Wharf during the day, before the fireworks happen there is a kids fair, asnd we paint faces. Fortunately there are some of us (well, "us" in not an accurate term, because I am not one of the "us") who are professional artists. Jeff, Brian, Kay, and Adam were our professionals this year. A high school girl from Ipswich named Rea spontaneously joined us this year, and she was good too.

Below are pictures from the day. Thanks to all who helped out: Jeff M, Jeff G, Carlos, Jodi, Brian, Diane, Mike, Kay, Adam, and Rea. They made a great team. As you can tell by the pictures below there were quite a few faces wanting to be painted. The size of the line is not at its peak, and it looked like this non-stop for 3 and a half hours.

Free is just too good to pass up.

Salem Living Green Fair

The Salem Living Green and Renewable Energy Fair has begun. We are the location for the speaker series, and it will begin at 11am.

Rinus Oestrook from the Salem Chamber of Commerce began by declaring this Salem Green Day.

I introduced the first speaker, and before doing so I highlighted the Free Washington DC Conference on June 25-26, Convergence on Zero, and mentioned that if we get a good Boston area turnout that Paul Allen the leader of the Centre for Alternative Technology wants to meet with us.

The Green House Doctor

Paul Marquis is the first speaker. He is the "Green House Doctor," and was voted "Best Green Consultant" by Boston Magazine in 2007. He is talking about Green materials for your home - especially dealing with historic restorations.

Paul is talking about recycled content and is considering other issues - such as using wood may require treatment, and that treatment may be harmful. Products need to be considered for being made from recycled products, if they can be recycled later, how long lasting they are, whether they need treatment during their life. In such considerations materials made from recycled plastics may be better than wood, because of the need for regular harsh treatment.

Now he is talking about the standards for historic homes. Everything on the outside of the home is subject to the historic commission's jurisdiction, unless hardship can be declared in that restoration to historic levels. So if you have clapboard siding, and need to replace it you may not be able to change it to something else, but you can make sure to use FSC certified lumber.

When you are choosing green Products there is no Gold Standard: General criteria though:

Lumber: FSC certified, torrified wood (in New England there is a company called Cambia Lumber which makes torrified lumber), another product Pure Wood.

Paints: Hey, I paint my house with C2 - it is on his list! Yeah. Then he mentioned milk paint. Rinus sitting next to me here has used it, and says it is the best thing for furniture refinishing.

Raw Food Discussion

Kristen Overlook and Anna Forkan from Revitalive Health and Wellness, LLC are talking about Eating Green, and they are raw food people. They both studied under the mother of the raw food movement Dr. Ann Wigmore.

This discussion has none of the "Don't kill animals!" type of guilt inducing perspective. They are talking about the fun side of Raw food! that's how they put it.

American's eat 8oz. of beef a day. Hmmmm...you could power a house off that kind of energy - that is their point.

Now - to "unfired foods." Reference to "The China Study". Also a reference to the Pottenger Cat Study. Now there was some debate about Pottenger's Cats on NPR this week, and it seems that not everyone thinks the study has accuracy, and applicability to this issue.

Protein? From where? Greens - Juiced Greens - Wheat Grass is high on the list. 75% of their diet is greens.

They are talking about good bacteria now. Quote from Louis Pasteur "The microbe is nothing, the terrain is everything." Kristin says this was a late in life quote from Mr. Pasteurization. Otherwise, if we had listened to him, we may not have pasteurized everything, because there are positive healing enzymes in "living food." It is not getting rid of them, but using them properly.

Now Kristin is giving testimonies of people who have been healed through a raw food diet in Central American missions they have been on.

Now - contrasting thee digestive tracts of carnivors and and humans. 33ft of GI tract or us. 6ft for a big cat. Carnivors have other enzymes we do not.

The FDA allows milk to have a certain number "puss sacks." Yummmmmmm.

Now there is a discussion of coffee - heavy metal, cadmium is in coffee. Steak: vacuum sealed left on the counter for three days --> it had worms! from where? they were already living in it.

Now they are talking about poop! Colon discussion. Jeff Cox asked if they believe in enemas. Yes they doo, uhm I mean do. They like to talk about poo, because the colon is so important to our health.


Solar Energy Incentives by Sunlight Solar

Nick and Ryan from Sunlight Solar are talking about incentives for solar panels. In MA, there are great incentive programs for both commercial, as well as private homes.

The basics is that the sun rays received by the panels is converted in an inverter and thus connected to the home. Helps roll back the meter saving monetary levels.

PPA(Power Purchasing Agreements) or third parties are involved with no up front costs with 10 or 15 year buy out options. The rationale is both environmental and financial. For example the installation of a 5kW system would amount to planting 30 acres of trees or not driving 237,000 miles. The end result is the removal OF 190,000 lbs of CO2 gases.

In MA, 4 rebates that individuals can qualify for

1. $ per $ subtract from the invoice
2. $5 per watt(performance based)
3. Maximum, about $50,000
4. Adjusted for orientation, shade and tilt angle

Federally, $2000 max for residence systems and operating prior to Dec 31, 2008

Ysbrydnos 2009 - an Eisteddfod coming this October!

We will be looking for musicians, poets, and storytellers for the October Spirit Night 2009 bardic Competition. Ysbrydnos (euhs-bruhd-nos) is one of the Welsh words for Halloween Night. It means Spirit-Night, and this October the the Fountain Stage sponsored by The Gathering will be hosting an Eisteddfod (a Bardic Competition). There will be a Children's Competition in a couple age groups, and an adult competition. The winning adult will be crowned the Bard of Salem for the year. More information to come later. For now, keep your calendar clear enough to compete!


Today Jeff Menasco and I created the logo for the event. Well, actually, I simply came up with the idea of the first letter as a harp, and sketched it out, then took it to Jeff, and he banged out this cool logo in a little over an hour of work with me looking over his shoulder, and giving my two cents here and there. I am pretty darn happy with it.

Salem Summer Solstice Fair - sponsored by The Gathering - Looking for Dancers, Jugglers, Spinners, Drummers...

Click on the flyer below for a full size image. Come join the party on June 21st!

Tonight - Halloween Prep Meeting

It is time already to prep for Halloween. Okay that's not accurate, we've been talking for over a month now. Tonight at 6pm the group of outreach preparers will gathering at The Vault to plan for the month of October.

Sunday, June 7th Morning Service

10:10 - Small churches usually start late. Lyle Schaller said so back in the 70's with his book The Small Church is Different. It is still true for us in Salem today. But, now here I go to pull this talkative crew together.

10:17 - He says that but we still didn't start church until now. The Gathering starts really late. This is Gentry by the way.

10:20 - There is a pretty full house here today and a good energy is pervading the place. Maybe that energy is the Holy Spirit. Hopefully it is.

Phil invited everyone to participate in the service today in the way that they feel led. Usually that just means that a couple of extra people play drums or something and maybe a few extra prayers are prayed. But with this crew, you never really know what an invitation to contribution will bring.

10:25 - After a few community recitations - "Come I This Day" and "The Beatitudes" - we are going to sing one of Phil's original songs, "Fall From Heaven." I am glad to be a part of a church where we have so many musicians and artists who bless us with their creative contributions. Carl writes great songs too, btw, and Phil's scripture chants are available for use in your church or community worship.

10:31 - I just ran into a family of tourists who were taking pictures of the outside of our building. Since the doors were open and we welcome interruptions, I invited them in to take pics. They politely refused, but we always welcome that sort of thing.

10:37 - Teaching time. We'll see what Phil has to bring today. The bulletin text is I Corinthians 15:12-19.

We're starting with a Scripture chant. Thank God. Sing along at home: God be merciful unto us and bless us. And cause His face to shine upon us..."

Today really is one of those days where it feels like anything can happen.

Phil is interspersing the chant above with the prayers of the people. People are asking for the end to war in Iraq and Afghanistan; parenting two year olds (namely mine); for a member's parents who are going to work with the Mennonite Mission in Indonesia for four years.

10:47 - Now Phil is starting teaching. Sorry for the false alarm.

Phil is starting by contrasting times of worship that try to replicate heaven on earth - extremely high church, beautiful cathedrals, professionally produced evangelistic/healing services, the mormon tabernacle - with worship gatherings which welcome the chaos of ordinary life - where we don't necessarily try to control people's weaknesses, awkward social interactions, the banging and clanging of real life interactions. Phil says that he prefers churches where anarchy, hopefully God's, breaks out and faith is worked out in the context of the mess.

Carlos quickly asked: "how do you know when the anarchy is God's or Satan's?"

Jeff M responded: "look at the outcomes." James S responded: um, actually I was typing, not listening.

Took a bathroom break. Who knows what I missed.

Phil: "When we get together in these moments, we should experience real life. Praying for two year olds in the midst of our frustration is real life. That's the way it ought to be."

A lot of joking about children, "spiritual warfare," murphy's law, etc.

Phil: "Through stories I want to give some philosophical background to who we are and what we do." Phil then identified a guest and asked if we could pray for his pain. The man said yes, he has a broken shoulder. We stopped and prayed.

The first story I'm going to tell...Phil is telling his story about God slapping him, which is also his conversion story.

"I want to explain how my story has influenced my view on this idea or concept that we call evangelism.

* Evangelism has become one of these terms that is loathed. According to recent studies, Evangelicals, who take their name from this emphases on the proclamation of the good news, are trusted by others about as much as prostitutes or lawyers

* One of the things that makes evangelism so hard, that makes it feel forced on people, is that Christians think they are solely responsible for the work of proclamation or evangelism. But, as my story suggests, God is already working in people's lives. We should never judge people based on what we think God is doing in their lives. We don't know what God is doing. So one of my assumptions in our work in Salem is that God is already working in their lives and we just need to trust his work and accompany people. Maybe we can help people interpret their experience or help them in other ways

* When I was younger I had the strong sense that God was more interested in my hereafter than in the here and now. I think that is true in a sense, though every single moment has the capacity to be an eternal moment. By opening myself to these eternal moments I am making my way to the great eternal moment in his presence. However, by focusing too much on people's hereafter we can put too much pressure on them to make choices in keeping with our hope for their eternal life

* James S - "When we went on mission trips to Utah we were always asked this really awkward question on our return: 'How many people did you convert.' That's an extremely awkward question, because I was out to sow seeds, to produce or reap the harvest is not something I can make happen."

Aside: there is the sound of a trumpet wafting through the streets. I don't know if it is recorded or not. Is this the weekend of the jazz festival. Btw - this aside was interrupted by someone asking for the men's room. There is always a lot of traffic around here to and from the johns.

Aside, Aside: More people are just wandering in and sitting down. That's cool.

* Sometimes in caring for the world here and now, we can lose sight of the eternal implications of what we are doing. We tend to have this pendulum swing as believers between coming too focused on there hereafter or, on the other side, of becoming too focused on the here and now. We need to find the terrible tension and balance between the here and now and the hereafter. Phil gives the illustration of a tightrope walker, who is balancing between his right and his left. As evangelistic Christians we have to be able to balance on that line.

* Reading of the scripture: "If Christ is not risen, your faith is future; you are still in your sins...If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable." Phil - If we believe in the resurrection and it did not, in fact, of occur, we are following an empty hope. I Cor 9:23 - "I have become all things to all men that I might by all means save some." In my case, I study witchcraft and other religions in order that I might serve and know people well.

11:38 - Turn to Eucharist.

12:01 - this is Phil typing after the service now. Wow, I went really long compared to usual. I like the service to be about an hour and fifteen minutes, including fellowshipping and starting late. We started on small church time - 15 minutes late, and then went about an hour and a half, and so it was a really long service for us.

10 Years!

The Gathering has been in Salem, Massachusetts for 10 years now. On June 21st, we will be hosting a Summer Solstice Fair on the streets near the church with a drum circle, and British Rock from Brittanica. We will tell our story on that Sunday morning service as well.

Then more to come in July, August, September, and... as well.

Come hang out with us on June 21st!

10am - service
noon to 5pm - Summer Solstice Fair
6pm - An evening of thankful reflection

Sunday, May 31st at The Gathering - evening service

Just as we have been splitting the messages into two parts with two preachers in the morning service, we repeat this pattern in the evening as well. So once again Jeff Gentry and myself (Pastor Phil) are doing the teaching. Jeff is teaching on the first half of James 5, and I and teaching on the last half.

It is slowly growing darker now at 7:05 after we sang together, and prayed about needs. Only the smallest lights in the room are on, and candles are lit. At the communion table there are four candles on candlesticks, and a black box with with an orthodox icon and a candle in it, and a Celtic cross about 16 inches tall.

The evening service is a very small group often, and tonight there are about 10 of us.

One guy, who is a part of the church is sleeping in the back. He's sleeping off a drinking session. It's probably safer here than out on the street.

There is a pile of books on the floor in the middle of the room. It represents our attempt to find answers to life in black and white. A small beautifully carved wooden cross sits atop it.

Jeff is teaching again on patience and gossiping from the text of James 5.

"Patience in suffering" is a part of the text being developed here. Job, Moses in the desert, Abraham, Joseph imprisoned.... Now we are discussing personal models. Jeff suggests Mother Theresa, and James Shewey mentions a professor he had who told his students to prepare for the last days by taking the garbage out for mom when she asks - otherwise live our life now in preparation for the future. The guy in the back mentions Bev and I. He says that from time to time, and Bev an get embarrassed a little but love him a lot.

Now at 8:15 - I taught and connected Pentecost, and the openness of sharing the gifts of the spirit as discussed in ! Cor. 14:26-33 with James 5. The Carlos (the Prof. Carlos Z.) presented communion. Our sleeping friend woke up, and was a little trouble during communion because he was "sauced."

The service was a nice open service with good discussion times, and a little male heavy tonight, which is unique for Sunday evenings.

Sunday, May 31st at The Gathering

This morning it is a nice day. Our doors to the street are open wide, and a few people wandered in while Carl Nystedt led the worship. Carl is good, and people like to stop and listen to him. So if we can open the doors (which face to the walking mall) everyone likes to visit in downtown Salem.

Jeff is preaching now, and started by saying that "eschatology" is a $5 theological word that you don't need to spend $30,000 at seminary to learn.

I teaching through the first part of the 5th chapter of James, Jeff tells about living at Larche, and learning to cultivate life and spirituality by cleaning toilets, and putting away his Merton.

Attendance at service this morning is smaller than typical. Are you a member of a small church? How does it effect you when the numbers are smaller on a Sunday morning? Does it effect you?

Now Jeff is on the subject of gossiping - now he's meddlin'! James meddles. I guess we need to meddle like he does as well. So Jeff is calling us to repentance on the subject of grumbling and gossiping. "Nothing about us without us," is a quote he brought up as a good rule of talking about others - say nothing about them with out them present.

Okay, now Jeff is talking about gopher wood, and wondering how gophers make wood. Hmmmm, what happened to that $30,000 seminary education.

Hey there, it's Jeff now. Phil started finishing up James by pointing us back to the openness and power that is evidenced in Acts 2:41-47 and encouraged in passages like I Corinthians 14. Phil noted that for all his tough talk and assumed heavy handedness, in passages like I Cor. 14 Paul encourages the church to a radical mutuality in which more than one prophet speaks, praises and tongues are encouraged and interpreted and the church shares all good things with one another.

In closing (a phrase that preachers use at their peril, btw), Phil reminded us that James has commissioned us to do what he was attempting to do. Namely, to turn one another from sin and death and so save one another. Hmmm...saving one another...it sounds like Martin Luther had more than one reason to hate this book that he both wanted to strip from the canon and effectively commended in his writing and preaching on a number of occasions.

Paul Drake anchored the service by leading our celebration of Eucharist. In a reading of Mark that I have never thought up myself, Paul reminded us that the first Eucharist was kept among a community that was broken and disintegrating as the disciples worried that they would be the one to betray their Lord. Paul mentioned that his reading of the text was influenced by the relationality that was emphasized in the two former sermons that were preached this day. Maybe we have multiple prophets speaking during our services after all. I wish more of these prophets were women. We've got enough white male middle-class prophets around here.

Another Great Pub Theology

Tonight - May 27, 2009 a group of us met at The Old Spot, just like we do once a month for Pub Theology night.

Topic: Faith and Works how they fit together, and how they determine true spirituality.

Attending: Tom and Mary, Erin and Jim, The Prof. Carlos Z., Slade, Jeff C #3 (he's only the #3 Jeff because it rhymes with C), Mike C, and me (Phil).

Some random thoughts for the evening:

1) Mary and Tom capsized their canoe and lost their phones and wallets, and piles of other stuff, which is now on the bottom of the Atlantic. Somehow the canoe story became an illustration of faith and works. You know - storms of life, how we respond to them....

2) Mary's story about a relative who went to church all the time, but was as mean and cruel as anyone you ever met was a bit chilling.

3) Jim and Erin gave an illustration from personal life which was beautiful, on point, and you can ask them more. :-)

4) Slade called up James 2 first - "faith without works is dead."

5) Tom did not mention Obama until nearly the end of the evening! Wow, now that was restraint.

6) Jeff did not fall asleep. He wanted to I think, but he played the man, and actually was coherent.

7) Mike connected faith without much in works as a type of predeterminism, or fatalism; and works without much in faith as a type of legalism. This made the discussion take a robust turn for the good.

8) We ended by having everyone in a short phrase describe their idea of God's Government: The answers were Federalist Republic, Monarchy, Tyranny (actually something like a Kingdom Monarchy was meant I think), a Government to help the Weak, Anarchy (2 times), a Government run by the Military (Jeff called this a Hunta and laughed), and Socialism (of course this was the Prof Carlos Z., but you knew that didn't you?). So, if this was a democracy then Anarchy was the winner. Hmmmmm...

But, assuming that the government of God fulfills all the deep needs of humanity, and has all the best dynamics of any government we can imagine, then all the good things of all the kinds of government are a part of God's Kingdom, and all the bad elements of all the styles of government are lacking in God's leadership. Somehow that all tied into the topic of faith and works, and we all walked away feeling like the evening rocked.

Okay, I guess you had to be there to understand the Anarchy thing, but trust me it was cool. Peter Rollins gets it, I know that. Thumbs up Pete.

Strange Things on Easter Sunday

Oh my Gosh! Ben wore a tie - no way! Yes it's true, and here is the evidence. Look how surprised everyone is!

Other things happened of course. Glen led the communion service at the end - that's him sitting with the pirate there. Does your church have a pirate? Every church should have a pirate.

After the service was over, a young guy who played the guitar, and was busking on the streets outside the church came in, and we asked him to play. He played, everyone clapped, and we had a good time overall.

Yes, of course there was a message, and it was centered on the story of Jesus walking the Emmaus road with His disciples. The focus was that Jesus rose for the purpose of relatioship, and this desire to relate with us on an intimate level was expressed in the Emmaus Road story.

We also decorated thee place up - banners, Easter Lilies, eggs all over the floor for the kids.

Pine Sunday at The Gathering

I've struggled with Palm Sunday since moving to Massachusetts almost 10 years ago. (June will mark 10 years, and the church will be having a 10 year celebration.) The reason for my struggle was based upon the lack of palm trees in Salem.

It is true that each year the Catholic, Episcopal and sundry other higher church traditions celebrate this holyday with far more specificity, and liturgical preparation than any of my fellow Californians ever did, but they bring in wimpy little leaf segments, which they call palms, and make crosses out of them. Then they typically save the those crosses to burn and make ashes for the following year.

Now this is all fine and dandy, but when we celebrated Palm Sunday in California it was that time of year when the large Mexican fan palms, which decorate the dry landscape of San Diego County are pruned. We would either precede the landscapers, and follow closely behind them, and make sure to gather up dozens of palm fronds. These fronds were often 5 feet across. We would carefully shave the large thorns off the branches, and children and adults would be waving them in the service. Now that's a Palm Sunday!

So this year I thought to myself, "Self." I asked, "If Jesus were to ride into to Salem on Palm Sunday what would we be doing to prepare the road for the triumphal entry of the King into our city?"

I walked through our neighborhood. I looked around as I drove through town practicing hypermiling I noticed that only green trees are the evergreens. I concluded that if Jesus were to ride humbly in on a donkey that we would probably keep our coats on, because it has been so cold, and we would cut down pine branches, because they are the only greenery we have for another month or so.

Well, it might seem a bit silly, but this is an example of contextualizing the Gospel to the times and places we live, and this last Sunday we celebrated Pine Sunday (NOT Palm Sunday!), because we ain't got no outdoor palms here in Salem, and I've not felt so good about celebrating this day for at least ten years.

Snow and Forgiveness in Witch City

Well, here I am down at the church a few minutes before 8am, and wondering if anyone will be coming today. A parking snowban is on, and it's still snowing away out side, but it was a nice walk from home (about 12-15 minutes).

It sure is pretty outside, and resembles comments from scripture about sins being forgiven and being made white as snow.

Bev: Post Surgery

This morning Bev (Pastor Phil's wife) had hand surgery. After an hour and half of surgery in Boston, we were home before noon. It is early evening now. Bev is sleeping and has been doing fine all day. Her thumb (where the work was done) looks good, and she's snoozing with a little smile. Venus and Jupiter are bright in the early evening sky and everything in the world is alright - okay, not everything is alright. In fact the world is a mess, but things are good at the Wyman house.

Pete Rollins - Sunday, December 7th

We're just a week and half away from our Sunday evening visit with author, pastor of the Ikon community in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and Doctor of Postmodern Philosophy Pete Rollins.

So here's the deal. He will be with us at 6pm on Sunday evening at The Vault - 217 Essex Street in downtown Salem. This is our standard Sunday evening service time. We will have a smidgeon of music (that means a little bit, smidgeon is not a relative of the pidgeon), and then Pete will do the Pete thing and speak to us. Then following the service it will become a food and drink event. We call it the "Pete Rollins End of the Book Tour Party!"

We'd love to see you. It will be a great time to hang with friends, maybe meet Pete (if you're interested in that kind of thing), maybe hobnob with some seminary professors, or just learn some good stuff about the Christian faith.