Montclair

June 19, 2007

First Congregational UCC of Montclair is like a huge medieval castle akin to Westminster Presbyterian in DE. It is also the original home of “The Outpost in the ‘Burbs” where I gravitated to as a young adult in the late 1980s for an alternative to ‘the bar scene’. Though it was hot and humid that afternoon, the weather in the early evening turned quite cool with a balmy zephyr every now and then. Downtown had changed and was changing with lots of construction going on. Some places along Bloomfield Ave had declined into dinjgyness, while Church Street still had its boutiques. The health food store/restaurant had morphed into an upscale establishment which is an improvement I suppose. So much for progress…

The pastor at First Congregational is Rev Scott Howell, congenial and warm in welcoming me and very enthusiastic about his church. There had been a recent write-up in the UCC national newsletter about the collegial atmosphere between the UCC congregations of Glen Rock, Upper Montclair and this church. There was a great showing of pastors that evening, even from as far away as Westfield (about 15 miles away), but I was disappointed that there were not more lay folks in attendance. One particular lay person, though, made me do a double take – John Thomas’s brother, that is to say, his twin brother goes to First Congregational and they do look alike! Representing the local churches, there were some wonderful, talented singers and a musician ensemble on hand, and this really made for a nice evening. Scott had designed the event as a worship service and this was very effective in creating that ‘sacred space’ that is so important especially for Biblical storytelling.

After the program, I began to hear the kind of complement I would hear in other places I visited, to this effect – “We didn’t know what to expect, but it was great.” A young man who was one of the musicians is also a youth leader at one of the churches and he gave me a wonderful insight about the story of Jesus confronting the man with the “Legion” of demons (which I called “Division”). He pointed out that the demons’ power was deflected when Jesus was brave enough to talk with them. This particular story brought out more insights by others, which I will share later on.

Afterwards, a group of us went out for a drink including Pastor Scott, Steve Cutaia, Joyce Mauer, Bob McParland. Steve is still the program director for “The Outpost”, reviewing and contracting with the musicians and singers. This coffeehouse ministry began circa 1987 and was the inspiration of then-associate pastor, Rev Rich Pfeiffer (which he based on “The Potter’s House” in Washington, DC). This program has survived its original cadre by forming a board of trustees and operating as a secular activity (nevertheless, still a ‘ministry of hospitality’) in order to receive state funds for the arts.

Joyce is a psychotherapist who continues to maintain an office at First Congregational Church. She is an expert witness in the courts regarding mental illness and is an advocate for the poor. She was part of the regular volunteers who helped set up, clean up, and generally support Outpost activities. Originally, there were folk music concerts twice a month and a monthly newsletter. In time, this was expanded to include retreats, dinner at restaurants, movies, square dancing, Habitat For Humanity workdays, and play productions – even an arts & spirituality festival!

Bob McParland is a musician, singer, playwright, author, and college professor
who was the “Spanky McFarland” of The Outpost – as in ‘Hey, kids! Let’s do a show!’ Bob engineered a musical production of three stories by Oscar Wilde as well as several “murder mysteries”. The first time I tried community theater was when Bob called me up and over the phone, he described my character and gave me a line to work into whatever I imagined to say in a spontaneous (and unrehearsed) dialogue with another actor! It was fun and it was a hit! These wonderful people were an important part of a ‘young adult ministry’ that kept me going through a period of loneliness and uncertainty.

Plainfield

June 18, 2007

My favorite book growing up was H.G. Well’s The Time Machine. I was enchanted by the idea of returning to a place and being amazed at how it had changed, for good or ill. That is about how I felt when I returned to NJ and spent the morning driving around Plainfield and the neighborhoods where I grew up. The weather was fairly cool for late-June, more like early spring as I recall. Many of the houses there are two or three stories high, along arbored streets. What had been Irish, Jewish, and Italian neighborhoods had given way to African-American and gay communities and now, Latinos of several Hispanic cultures. Even familiar places seemed different with some showing age and disrepair, but otherwise everything looked green and thriving.

I got to Plainfield Congregational UCC in the early evening and was met by Ruth Sykes who joyfully recalled the dramas we put on there in the mid-1990s when Rev George Blair was the pastor. Ruth was still very much involved in community theater doing backstage support. I was seeing this beautiful place with it’s A-frame sanctuary, so familiar, yet as if for the first time. My presentation included the Prologue and Sabbath, followed by refreshments in the fellowship hall where we talked.

The pastor, Rev James Colvin and his wife Sarah were there along with about ten or so people. The original Daphne Willard in my life was an English woman (she pronounced her name something like “Doff-neh Wi-lahd”). She and her longtime companion Betty Willey were members of that church as far back as when I was a child there. Wes Day had been a young adult who helped Loretta Roberts with our youth group. For many years since, Wes had been a youth worker active with the Boy Scouts and athletic teams as well as a member of the local rescue squad. Kathy DeLucca has been the Christian Education director there since at least the mid-1980s. When I told her about Andrei’s drawing, she showed me a worksheet she had just received that day –
with a line drawing illustration of Jesus’ stilling the storm. Hmm… coincidence? Not in my line of work, right?

There was also a young man named Jeff who worked at the public library as an archivist and whom they were all quite grateful to have as a member of the congregation. He must have been the sextant, too, because he locked up at the close of the evening. This fellow Jeff, Wes, and I realized we were all “homeys” as white young men having grown up in predominantly black Plainfield – the struggles and joys of that. There was a deep pain, even anger that Jeff and I shared having gone through the Plainfield school system – but also the conviction that prejudice against anyone for any reason was intolerable to us.

One thing that sticks with me about the coffee and conversation that followed my presentation, was when I mentioned that Plainfield Congregational UCC had been a sacred place to me, Pastor Colvin spoke up and affirmed, “It still is a sacred place!” And he spoke of the programs of outreach they were now doing and it was reassuring to know that this would always be a special place to the people gathered that night and others yet to come.

Fathers' Day

June 17, 2007 – Evening

It was Fathers’ Day and my mom & dad were visiting my brother Jeff in NJ which was my next stop. The Benner-Smiths wanted me to stay longer, but reluctantly let me go – such dear friends.

Jeff & Elaine Willard, daughter Emily and puppy Sparky live in a beautiful home in the wooded suburbs of western NJ. The cool weather had followed me north from DE and we had a nice steak dinner in their enclosed patio. And we were treated to glimpses of deer – a doe and her fawns, from time to time.
After a quiet evening of catching up, my parents headed back to PA and as Elaine and Em went to bed, Jeff and I watched the new James Bond movie – in ‘the land of the women’, Jeff has to grab those opportunities for male bonding when he can! Da-duh-dee-dah-doh-da-dah (007 theme)!

Potluck in PA

July 16, 2007

Just an hour or so north into PA just outside Philadelphia, I headed to my next stop: Al & Angelee Benner-Smith’s church. This was to be a double-header for me: telling “Prologue” and “Love-song” after a potluck dinner Saturday night, then “Sabbath” as part of Sunday services the next day. The worship theme Sunday was a celebration of the arts, including a men’s quartet featuring Al.

The Benner-Smiths and I were classmates at Lancaster Theological Seminary – as well as co-conspirators for art & spirituality! We would do a ‘coffeehouse’ open-mike each semester, featuring our classmates’ talents for music, singing, skits, stories, etc. Over the years since graduation, we have taken turns ‘being there’ for each other with the scale of loving-kindness bending heavily to the Benner-Smiths. They invited me out to preach and do storytelling during that period after seminary and before my ordination (about 8 years), keeping me ‘in the game’ of ministry. Angelee preached at my ordination in 1996 and she was the celebrant for Daphni & me at our wedding in 2003.

There were a couple of surprises – gifts of grace, if you will. Out there in the audience on Saturday, was a young man who slipped in as I was starting my presentation. Afterwards, he came up to me and said, “You don’t remember me, do you? I’m Jack Kelleher!” Oh, wow! Jack was a classmate from West Point, Class of 1977. We were in the same regiment and did Recondo training together in a sawdust pit one lovely, hot summer’s day at Camp Buckner! I had recently reconnected with him on our class’s internet forum. He was one of the saner voices amidst the ranting and raving over the war and politics in general. I especially admired his references to literature and thoughtful responses. What a delight to catch up with him again.

June 17, 2007 – Morning

The next surprise was perhaps the most important thing that happened on my journey. The Benner-Smiths have a son named Ritter, who for many years was an only child. Now 13 years old, he is a more mature version of the little boy he was with a cherubic smile and golden hair. Ritt enjoys being a big brother now to 9 year old, Andrei, and 1 year + Cole. Al & Angelee adopted Andrei from Russia, a very difficult process that involved flying over there to bring him home. Soon after arrival, they began to learn of the formidable trauma that this little boy had suffered from physical abuse and neglect. Needless to say that there were some behavioral and health issues that proved challenging.

After completing my presentation on Sunday morning, I happened to sit next to Andrei. I noticed he was drawing on the bulletin and asked to see it. It was a small picture of a boat on the water with swirling winds – Jesus calming the storm at sea! I told him I loved it and wanted a copy. As I was leaving the sanctuary, Andrei presented me with a larger copy he had redrawn of his first picture! One of the stories I told inspired this image for him of Jesus Christ, who was able to silence dangerous powers. Thank God! That is exactly what I have hoped to accomplish for anyone who hears these stories of good news.

Wilmington

July 15, 2007

I have almost always gotten temporarily mis-oriented (ie, ‘lost’) in Wilmington, DE and despite Mapquest, I still had to ask for directions. Westminster Presbyterian Church is an immense, urban church in the heart of Wilmington.
They completed an addition in the mid-1990s and were currently restoring one of their stained glass windows in the transept of their sanctuary. It had the feeling of a medieval castle and with its raised altar space, would be a wonderful venue for storytelling!

This was to be my second scheduled stop and my hosts were Shelley and Mary Beth Howard – known to everyone associated with NOBS (the Network of Biblical Storytellers) as “By Heart”. They are sexy and funny, enhancing without distracting from their wonderful ‘tandem’ telling of Biblical stories, spiced with comic ingenuity (how about that for a promotion – and it’s true!).

Shelley and Mary Beth took material I had sent for “The Prologue” and found fledgling Biblical storytellers in their church (including a woman who had never ‘told’ before) and assigned them stories. I followed with “The Love-song” and we did the Beatitudes from Matthew 5 as our closing. What a wonderful evening – and a good boost for their local NOBS chapter and for doing Biblical storytelling at Westminster Presby! Cynthia Pollard is another expert NOBS teller in the area, but her father had been very sick and recently passed on. Though prevented from participating, she was still on hand to attend our performance. Back at Shelley & husband Mike’s home, we enjoyed some wine and snacked while catching up about NOBS, our churches, etc.

[Let me take a moment to re-define what I mean when I mention my program titles: “The Prologue”, “The Sabbath”, and “The Love-song”. The following is a listing of those scripture references for the stories I have been telling…]

The PROLOGUE

The Jordan Mark 1:1-11
The Wasteland Luke 4:1-15 [Matt. 4:4b]
The Galilee John 1:43-51
Nazareth Luke 4:16-30
Cana John 2:1-11
Capernaum Mark 2:1-12
The Kingdom Matthew 5:1-16

The SABBATH: Mark 2:23-5:43

Sunrise The Synagogue
Morning The Mountain
Noon The Street
Afternoon The Beach
Sunset The Sea
Midnight The Other Side
First Light The Return

a LOVESONG to GOD

The Woman
The Woman Caught in Adultery John 7:53-8:11
The Anointing and Mary Magdalene Luke 7:36-8:2
Mary and Martha Luke 10:38-42
The Son of God
The Turning Point Matthew 14:1-33
The Samaritans
The Decision Luke 9:51-62
The Journey to Jerusalem Luke 10:1-16
The Return of the 72 Luke 10:17-24
The Samaritan Luke 10:25-37
The Son of Man
Lazarus John 11:1-57
The Crucifixion John 19:25-30
The Resurrection John 20:1-2a,11-18

Bethany Beach Folk Arts Festival 1971

Just another word about Bethany Beach…

The summer before my senior year in high school, I went to the Bethany Beach Folk Arts Festival which was a camp sponsored by the United Church of Christ and the Disciples of Christ. The theme was “Butterflies & Cocoons” and this was evident in the decorations and some of the activities we did. We were encouraged as individuals to come out of our shell to be who we are. What ‘being saved’ means to me is ‘being yourself’.

That first night we were led in a guided meditation. The lights were turned down, except for one on a fluorescent chicken-wire butterfly and we were all asked to curl up on the floor as if in a cocoon and when we were ready to come out. There was one rule – we couldn’t touch anyone else or otherwise help them out. At the end of the week, we would do this again and the trust would be there to help others out if they chose.

The week included big and small group activities, individual art projects, watching the sun come up on the beach, ‘coffeehouse’ open-mikes, and communion with ‘real’ bread & a bottle of wine (couldn’t do that these days), and celebrations of anyone who shared something of themselves – their “true selves”, the ‘Christ within’…

Bethany Beach

June 14, 2007


The weather had been cloudy, but turned decidedly cold as I arrived at Bethany Beach, DE in the afternoon…
[I take pen in hand – well, uh, keyboard in hand to recount my travels up to now which happens to find me in Washington, DC, our nation’s capital on the 4th of July! But I digress. Meanwhile back in mid-June…]

The Bethany Beach Conference Center is owned and managed by the Disciples of Christ (no, not The Disciples of Christ, but a sibling denomination to the United Church of Christ). I had originally contacted the regional office to do my program there, but I could tell they really didn’t want to commit to hosting an unknown performer. I had decided I was going to Bethany Beach anyway, so I called the town manager to get permission to do Biblical storytelling on the boardwalk. They offered me their Bandshell, instead! Though I was encouraged to get a news release to the local papers (which I submitted), there had been no promotion of my presentation.

After checking in with the town clerk (“Be happy, be authorized”), I went out to the boardwalk to pass out what info I had and invite folks to hear me that afternoon. It didn’t rain, but threatened to and I was very concerned about getting my djembe drum wet (which would tear the drum head). When I did my stories, the wind and the ocean were competing with me for people’s attention. Even so, I had a modest audience – there was a woman with two pre-teens and two smaller children, six teenage girls who stayed for a couple stories and went, and a woman who arrived later. Both the women stayed to talk and let me know they appreciated my presentation. Like it says in the Bible, ’where two or three are gathered…’, it’s enough, because that’s who God sent to be there that day.

It has been a personal tradition to see the sun come up at Bethany Beach whenever I visit. They don’t let anyone on the beach before 6:00 am (and back that up with police patrols during tourist season). I was out there on time, but all I saw was a glimmering hint of red where the horizon met cloud cover and sea. I still did a little dance on the beach (actually a slow carioca that anyone watching would hardly think of as “dancing”). Then I was off to explore the town. There is no coffee in town before 8:00 am, so I got my exercise walking to a gas station just outside of town.

Later that morning, I visited the DOC Conference Center and was invited to stay for lunch. A lovely couple, Sue & Wayne Fuller, were the interim managers and along with the camp cook, Claudia McClenny, they gave me an update about this wonderful place so important to me in my youth (and even now). The Rev Arlene Franks would soon be taking over as the new director and when they mentioned the name of the outgoing director as Walter Scott, I said, “Sir Walter Scott?” describing him as an African-American chaplain in the US Army. The very same person! And they gave him a call to come over for lunch, too. I met Sir Walter at the UCC General Synod held in Kansas City, MO when he was still in the service. We have a mutual friend, Elvernice “Sonny” Davis who had been the senior chaplain for Ft Monmouth’s post chapel (and he is the model for my ‘John the Baptist’ voice).

After catching up about the conference center, Sir Walter walked with me to my car to see me off. I had gotten a $10 ticket for not putting something in the meter. Like a true knight-errant, he picked up the tab and I gave him two copies of my DVD. We bid our fond adieus and off I went for Wilmington…