Madison Ave. Church of The Brethren

Trying something new… you can view today’s worship service live at: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/madison-ave-church-of-the-brethren

Update: so.. yeah, it looks like it didn’t record, but that link will be good when we try again next week.

From the Pastor’s Desk

I recently read an article put out by the Alban Institute. It was part of an article written by Lutheran pastor, Rick Barger. I think it’s a sobering commentary on the modern Church. In part it reads:

Folks enter the Church’s doors today shopping for faith. They unashamedly admit that they are ‘church shopping.’ They are searching for something. They seem to know what they want, or at least intuitively believe that when they stumble upon that for which they are searching, they will know it. They have no trouble mixing traditions. That is, one person might join a Presbyterian Church because he likes the pastor and yet still clings to some of his Roman Catholic upbringing, or another person might affiliate with a Lutheran Church because she is drawn to a particular contemporary worship service and its close proximity to her home, yet she reframes all of the ‘grace alone’ preaching through the filters of her Southern Baptist upbringing and the conservative Bible study group she attends weekly. Yet another might worship in an Episcopal Church because of a love of the liturgy and at the same time practice some of the spiritual disciplines of Zen Buddhism. The point here is that they all have deep perceived spiritual and personal needs, and they are determined to get their needs met. If they do not, they are going to go someplace else. They are going to have it their way. And it seems that there are an infinite number of choices. After all, if you can go into Starbucks and choose from countless permutations and combinations on how to have a cup of coffee, why can you not do the same when it comes to being affiliated with a faith community?

A New and Right Spirit: Creating an Authentic Church in a Consumer Culture – 2005  p 15

Some real food for thought there, me thinks.

Then there was the business executive who went to a business convention where they were offered a variety of workshops to help them in their business. One of the workshops was entitled “Jesus as CEO: Lessons from the Bible that Can Help You in Your Leadership.”  He said, “I didn’t sign up for that workshop. I’m a Presbyterian and have already heard most of Jesus’ ideas. Besides, who wants to end his career nailed to a cross?”

Me thinks we have a lot of work to do…… continue reading…

From the Pastor’s Desk

Perspective. It all has to do with perspective.  An interoffice softball game was held every year between the marketing department and the support staff of one company. On the day of the game, as hard as the marketing folks tried, the support staff whipped the marketers quite soundly.In their finest tradition, the marketing department decided to find the best “spin” they could to salvage some respect in spite of the dismal outcome of the game. They showed how they earn their keep by posting the following memo on the bulletin board the day after the game:

continue reading…

Madison Avenue Church of The Brethren is how hosting 3 nodes of the My Y-FI Community Free Internet project. This lets us share our existing internet connection with the surrounding area, and once we connect with the larger mesh network, it can provide use with a more robust connection to use through our building. If you’re a neighbor who can see our Y-FI signal and want to help spread the connection through your house and to your neighbors, low cost repeaters are available.