Update: Switch Book Study begins January 2010

Friends, Join me in reading Switch.  Here is what you need to know...

Reading Schedule for “Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard” by Chip and Dan Heath

January 10: start reading.  Read Chapter 1, introductory article appears on blogspot

January 17: Blogspot article posted on reflection on Chapter 1.  We are to read chapters 2-4

January 24: Blogspot article posted on reflection of chapters 2-4.  We are to read 5-7.

January 31: Blogspot article posted on reflection of chapters  5-7.  We are to read 8-10

February 7: Blogspot article posted on reflection of chapters 8-10.  We are to read chapter 11 plus, How to Make a Switch, Overcoming Obstacles.

February 14, Blogspot article posted on reflection of chapter 11, How to Make A Switch and Overcoming Obstacles.

Study formally ends February 28, 2011

Next Study Set for October 2010

Hi All, We will start our next book study on November 1, 2010.  We will be reading "Switch" - a very practical leadership and change book.

Check it out here: http://www.usatoday.com/money/books/reviews/2010-05-17-switch17_ST_N.htm

If you'd be willing to write one of the blogs (you'd pick a chapter and write on it), let me know at RevNicole@aol.com

--See you at the BCD event in October ( http://www.santamargaritaunitedmethodistchurch.com/events/cal-pac-bcd/2010-10.php)

Rev. Nicole Reilley

17. Loving without Strings

A couple quotes I loved from this chapter:
"learning to receive God's free, no-strings-attached offer and then graciously living a life to extend blessing to others without charge and without expectation is different.  When we become comfortable with unconditional love, I think we will find that it does witness correctly to who God is.  And it's a power that naturally draws people in."

This quote caused me to think about my mother-in-law who one time said to me, "I could just feel the love in church this morning, couldn't you?"  I had to admit I had sensed it too--a love of people for each other, living out the way of Jesus and welcoming people to be part.  It is a powerful and life changing thing to encounter.

Today is July 1.  Some of us are moving, some of us are getting a new pastor, some of us are returning and being welcomed back.  Regardless of where we are and where we worship I think we are all looking to experience and share God's unconditional love found in Jesus.

How have you or your church done this lately?  How has someone done this for you?

Rev. Nicole
Photo: SMUMC youth on mission trip--they return tomorrow!

16. Living Among

I commute to my church--an hour--each way.  It was a family decision two years after we moved down to Rancho Santa Margarita.  So in 4 years we had moved down here and then moved back (we moved back onto the same street we had moved from--). It was a lot of stress and chaos and not too fun for anyone (me, my husband and son, our church, his job). So while I have thought about this topic a lot, I really think about it even more now.  Sometimes I feel bad, but mostly I offer myself grace and recognize that life is complex and as much as we wanted to stay, it didn't end up that way.

What does it mean to be incarnational in a community of people, a community of the church?  The authors says this,"The third habit of incarnational people: the habit of living among, means participating in the natural activities of the culture around you, with whimsical holiness."  and  "What if whimsical holiness is simply 'being like Jesus...with those Jesus would have been with.'?"

For me, even as a commuter it means going to various special occasions, sitting with families in surgery waiting rooms, taking my turn planting or painting on Saturdays at the church.  Also Facebook helps me feel I am part of various lives, present even when I may be hanging out with local friends.

One time I went to visit someone who had attended the church I served- he had come for about a month and then stopped showing up.  I went to his home and he showed me his motorcycle.  I could not help but noticed that wallpapered on all four walls and the ceiling were posters of nude women.  As he handed me a beer, he talked about what God meant to him in the midst of his changing life.  Certainly this was one of the most memorable pastoral calls I have made, but what I really loved about it was just how comfortable he was with me/the church in his life/home.

This weekend I will spend my Saturday planting around the church (we have a Memorial Labyrinth going in).  It will give me a chance to meet some new folks (community people are part) and get to know others more casually.  And Saturday's experience will make Sunday worship just that much more real.

How are you incarnational in your local church--do you practice whimsy and holiness?    - Rev. Nicole Reilley

Chapter 15: “Listening”

It’s funny that I ended up writing about this chapter because it’s the place that I most need to work on in my own pastoral skills.  I am a talker by trade, and often, I find myself working on just staying present in pastoral conversations: to not jump to the predictable conclusion that the person I’m listening to will get to; to not mentally review my list of errands for the day; to not fret about whether I slathered Lucie with the right sunscreen that morning.

But, in some ways, I found this chapter redemptive because it spoke to another kind of listening that I do all the time but never really considered as a listening skill: listening as observing.  Our church planting authors write: “our kind of listening is really more about what you do with your eyes instead of your ears.”  (and sorry folks, I am reading this on my iPhone kindle and can’t figure out how to find the actual hardcopy page number for you.)  No doubt this listening-as-observing is an important and somewhat under-celebrated skill in our spiritual care handbooks.  It really does help to watch sensitively and carefully to our communities before we start the path to response, or maybe while we are responding?

As we approach our time annual together for holy conferencing, I wonder if this form of listening couldn’t benefit us all?  What if we worked to ask more questions of one another as the ending reflection suggests?  What if we worked to be more in prayerful listening, consideration and discernment in the times of difficult, long, and hot plenaries?  I know that conference asks us to make decisions, but I wonder if we all wouldn’t be better served if we listened more and talked less about these decisions?  If we listened and observed more before and as we respond to the matters at hand?  Starting with me.

-Melinda Dodge

13. The Hello Experiment

This chapter is a short transition as we turn to exploring the four practices of leaving, living among, listening to, and love with no strings attached.  Living out of these ways enables us to be in the right posture as we seek to share the gospel with others.

I turned to chapter 14 to remind myself what "leaving" was and was hit with guilt--  how far I have to go here--I will be the first to admit it, I spend too much time in the office.  What about you?  How do you deal with the demands of life and work while still being out in the culture making friendships?  How have you found the time and focus to do so?

-Rev. Nicole

12. Tip It Over

How do we do church if start with the idea of where we want to end?  If the purpose of the church is to be the opening act for God's kingdom among us what does that mean to our Sunday gatherings?

I enjoyed this chapter--I found it challenged me to think about not only leadership and structure but also discipleship.  Much of what was said made sense but I found myself feeling anxious about translating this into an already existing church.

What experience have you had with discipleship that grew fruit and moved a church forward in being the church in the world?                                            -Nicole