National Avenue Christian Church

Springfield, Missouri

08 Nov 2012
1 Comment

“I Can See The Resemblance” by Steve Flower

Of all the topics in our recent series on Celtic Christianity, I really looked forward to Pastor Laura’s message on “The Image of God.” My own understanding of who I am, who others are in relation to me, and how I wish the church could be are all tied to this idea of how I image and understand God to be.

You and I could sit and chat over coffee for days on this topic, easy – so I won’t get it done in one blog post. It’s enough to say that over the years, I have seen how many different communities’ images and understandings of God can color and flavor how they believe – and how they behave.

A friend told me that in the Bible , humankind was made in God’s image – which meant that you,  me, and Aretha Franklin and Richard Nixon and Richard Simmons were all “created in God’s image.” So I am pretty much past the whole idea of the phrase “in God’s image” meaning just “God must look just like us.”

I see God as Spirit….and I see God as Love. So if we are “created in God’s image,” I believe we are created as spirits who love.

When we do that–when we live and act as loving, caring, committed people–my experience is that others can see the resemblance to the One in whose image we were created. I believe it’s what our community at National Avenue does best.

Chris and I saw this in action the first Sunday we walked through the door at National Avenue. Louise Jackson saw us come in, hand-in-hand and before we could slip quietly by the greeter-lady, she just reached right out to us. (Anyone who knows Louise can picture the scene…) In her typically-subtle way, Louise roped us both in, smiled and said, “Hi fellas! We’re just SO glad to have you here!”

And we saw that resemblance–the resemblance to a loving and welcoming God.  We both knew God’s love had spoken through Louise. We were “home” in that instant. (We never visited another church.)

Maybe a week later, we heard Pastor Laura telling how different churches have tried to limit and control access to Communion over the years–and we also heard how it grieved her. (Chris and I both have had experience with folks trying to keep us from sharing Communion–and it was not pleasant for either of us.)

As Laura walked down the center aisle in the sanctuary, and talked about how this was God’s table and how this table was open to all (especially to anyone who had been told it was only open to some)… we saw the resemblance. We saw and heard the spirit of a loving God in this tiny dynamo of a lady.

When I’ve seen Susan Wheeler and others preparing to serve food with loving care for people who have no home and no food, it’s not hard to see the resemblance to the God she serves. When I read Terry Heitman’s Facebook comments about how serving meals at Bill’s Place has touched him each time he’s been there, I see the resemblance, too. When I see the service results of National Avenue’s youth, selling blankets or washing cars or sleeping in a makeshift shack to raise funds and awareness for Nicaragua, I  see that resemblance … and I weep with joy.

When the choir, or the bell choir, or the talented soloists and musicians of our church begin to sing or play, I am again moved to tears of joy (and a wee bit of envy)–and I hear the message of a loving God within me. When people go out of their way to reach out to Chris and me … to include us, to welcome or encourage us… once again, we feel the arms of a loving God surrounding us.

It’s not hard to see God’s hands and feet–at the end of the arms and legs of so many members of National Avenue Christian Church. We are not without flaws (no church is)–but this church works real hard to be a community that points-with-its-actions to a loving, caring, welcoming and accepting God.

My prayer is that others who come will see that resemblance –as we have.

Posted by matthewgallion in The Church and tagged
07 Nov 2012
1 Comment

Community by Conor Wadle

An anonymous person once said, “Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is a progress, and working together is success.” This quote and this idea explain exactly what happens at National Avenue Christian Church. Not only have we kept together as a community, through easy and hard times, we’ve stuck together. Furthermore, as we can see, we’ve worked together to do amazing things recently.

Keeping together is one of the biggest parts of this. Not only have we kept together, we’ve been able to value every part of our community equally. Every Sunday for a little while now, we’ve begun service with a younger member of the community speaking in front of us. As a part of the youth, I’ve seen how much this church allows its younger members to contribute. Many of the youth as well as me have been the Worship Leader on Sundays. Many of the High Schoolers are deacons as well. And those are just ways that our youth are a part of the community. Our church stands out in more than just letting our youth be involved. Our church also welcomes gays and lesbians, something that most churches don’t. This community has grown into a huge collection of people, who, while we may not all believe the exact same thing, all come together to help others.

Just look at what we’re doing in Nicaragua. Our church has raised the money to build 25 homes in Nicaragua. We raised the money to do this. Something that is as big as this was only successful because we are a community. Without the entire church working together, we couldn’t have done it. The youth’s sleepouts and car washes were almost completely successful because of the backing of the rest of the community.

It’s amazing to see what we as a church can do, when we keep together, and when we work together. We’ve seen that this church has the ability to achieve amazing things. But we have to make sure that we don’t stop here, because we shouldn’t be asking what we’ve done. But instead, what we can do.  Because as we learned from Laura’s sermon on Sunday, that’s what can make the difference between a good community, and a great community.

Posted by matthewgallion in The Church and tagged
06 Nov 2012
1 Comment

“It Doesn’t Matter What You Look or Smell Like” by Emma

The people of National Avenue Christian church are very kind, loving and giving. They help underprivileged countries like Nicaragua by raising money and participating in mission trips to help build houses and schools. The church family also helps local causes such as shelters, food pantries and meals for underprivileged people. My church community supports our youth with fund raising and by encouraging us to take part in church activities like worship services. My favorite part of our church community is that everyone is welcome. It doesn’t matter what you look or sound like, who you love or what your beliefs may be we will welcome you with open arms. I can’t imagine having a better church family than I do at National Avenue!

Posted by matthewgallion in The Church and tagged
05 Nov 2012

Community by our Kids

Here’s our some of our kids “picture” the idea of Community:

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Posted by matthewgallion in The Church and tagged | Leave a Comment
03 Nov 2012
2 Comments

Walking the Labyrinth by Tina Moore

Although National Avenue has had labyrinth events in the past, this Sunday will mark the first event using our very own labyrinth (one that we have not had to borrow).  I have been drawn to the idea of using labyrinths as a spiritual tool for a couple of years and a few months ago I overheard Pastor Laura talking to someone about her interest in having a labyrinth here at NACC.  And now, IT IS SO FOR US!

Labyrinths are a subset of the mandala and are ancient spiritual tools.  They have been found in some form on every continent in the world and date back as far as 2000 BCE.  Although we do not have confirmation of how they were actually used, we do know that they were in considerable use by the Franco-Christian community in the late 12th century.  Some say they were used to simulate the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, a Christian experience that became too dangerous during the Crusades.  When used as a symbolic “journey”, the walk into the center of these labyrinths found in cathedrals became a ritual ending of the journey to the Holy Land.

It is quite interesting to me that now, in the 21st century, we are seeing an incredible resurgence as labyrinths are springing up all over the world!  If you want to see for yourself, check out the World Wide Labyrinth Locator website, where you can type in a city and up will come information regarding all the labyrinths in that location.  I was in Santa Fe last weekend and decided to check out the website and found 34 labyrinths in the Santa Fe area alone!  The website lists 3 here in Springfield and there are at least 2 others I know of, including ours.

Labyrinths can be used in a variety of ways for a variety of purposes, all relating to “mindfulness” and meditation.  They are seen as tools to awaken our intuition regarding spiritual health, physical health and emotional well-being.  Those walking the path may feel an opening in the ability to listen for God as they find a calmness in the quieted mind.  In contemporary Western society, the quieted mind can be something we don’t experience often enough, and I believe it is something that our bodies inherently crave and even require for spiritual wholeness.

Please join us on Sunday between 5:00 and 6:30 pm for the All Saints/Remembrance service and walk the labyrinth with a mindful intention to honor someone special in your life that is no longer here.  As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, we can take this time to create a newfound sense of gratitude for these souls who have enriched our lives.  The labyrinth journey can be a profound way to purposefully experience that gratitude.

And look for many more labyrinth events at National Avenue in the future!

Posted by matthewgallion in The Church and tagged
30 Oct 2012
4 Comments

Stillness by Kim Zimmerman

“And when he came to the place where the wild things are, they roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws till Max said, ‘Be still’ and tamed them with the magic trick of staring into all their yellow eyes without blinking once.”

– Maurice Sendak

If only we could tame the wild beasts of our minds so easily. We race through life leaving the present moment in our wake. Spinning in a whirlwind of thoughts and schedules, we neglect to take inventory of our selves, or enjoy what lies along our path.

In The River, Thich Nhat Hanh describes a river who spent her days chasing clouds. She wanted to possess the clouds, but could never capture one, as clouds are impermanent. One day, a strong wind blew all the clouds from the sky. The river didn’t know what to do with herself and deemed life not worth living, with no clouds to chase. That night, as she cried, and sat with herself, she realized that clouds are made of water. What she was looking for and wanting to possess was already in herself. The next day, she was able to notice the beauty of the blue sky behind the clouds and all of nature that surrounded her as she flowed along. She was finally at peace and happy. “There is nothing to chase after. We can go back to ourselves, enjoy our breathing, our smiling, ourselves, and our beautiful environment.”

Can you relate to the river?

I have been practicing Yoga for 11 years. Yes, Yoga has helped me to gain strength, balance and flexibility, but, most of all, it has taught me how cultivate stillness in my mind. I know now that I previously used physical exercise in times of need – graduate school, college, even high school – to still my mind. As I ran or cycled, I subconsciously focused on the rhythm of my breath integrated with my footsteps or pedal strokes. I would often find myself in a beautiful state of calm and effortlessness that is often referred to as the “zone,” and felt as if I could go on forever. I would return home with a great sense of mental clarity and calm.

In fact, Yoga was originally practiced as a way to open the body and calm the mind in preparation for a seated meditation practice. As I move through a series of poses designed to strengthen and stretch my body, integrating breath with movement, I find myself to be present in the sensations of my body and breath. I finish my practice with a renewed sense of clarity and stillness.

Stillness might be described as fully participating and engaged in your present activity. A still mind isn’t void of thought. Nurturing a still mind involves clearing the chatter, the clutter, the worries, so that we may experience our authentic self and, often, allow insight and creativity to bubble to the surface. A still mind allows us to reflect, to visit our intentions, to cultivate gratitude, and to enjoy the present moment.

When I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer, my ability to tame the wild beasts in my mind was put to the test. In stillness, I was able to accept and soften to my new reality. I couldn’t rush through this one. I walked alongside cancer and found so many gifts and blessings along the way.

We don’t all have to practice Yoga to find stillness. We can enjoy quiet moments without the distraction of the computer or the television. Or notice the path under our feet on our journey through life, the rhythm of the breath, or the clear blue sky. Or, perhaps, even rest after accomplishing something great.

“We can make our minds so like still water that beings gather about us,
that they may see their own images, and so live for a moment with a clearer,
perhaps even a fiercer life,
because of our quiet.”

― W.B. Yeats

Posted by matthewgallion in Afterthought and tagged
26 Oct 2012

Alternative Gift Market

This holiday season honor friends and loved ones with alternative gifts that make a lasting difference for people in our community and around the world  by shopping at the third annual Alternative Gift Markethosted by National Avenue Christian Church on  December 1st between 9:00 A.M. and 3 P.M. and December  2nd between 8:30 A.M. and 12:30 P.M.   Alternative Gift Markets are shopping events that provide life-saving resources to others in need through the coordinated and charitable inspiration of individuals and communities.  The Gift Market, which will take place at The Gallery at National Avenue, will feature alternative gift opportunities from eighteen nonprofit organizations.

Shoppers may also purchase baked goods offered by the church’s CWF, fair trade items from Global Crafts, and cookbooks from the Jr. League.  Lunch will be available from 11 A.M. until 1 P.M. for $5 per person on Saturday and from 11 A.M. until 12:30 on Sunday.

There’s something for everyone at the Alternative Gift Market:

  • Children can find valuable gifts that fit their budget and provide children in need with nourishing food and education.
  • Families can choose gifts that create lasting change by improving the health and economic well-being of impoverished families.
  • Groups can come together to purchase gifts that go beyond giving by providing entire communities with the essentials they need.

One hundred percent of the amount shoppers pay for holiday gifts will go directly to the nonprofit organizations.  Gift opportunities will range in price from $1 to $2,000.  They vary from providing formula to an infant at Isabel’s House or a set of books for a student studying for the GED exam to donating the rent for a resident at the Rare Breed Youth Center or providing a micro loan to help a family in Nicaragua start a business.  With each purchase, shoppers will receive a small ornament and a certificate of acknowledgment which may be wrapped and presented to the recipient.

The Alternative Gift opportunities at this year’s Market at National Avenue Christian Church will support the following humanitarian causes: Aids Project of the Ozarks, Bill’s Place, Bread of the World, Care to Learn, Child Advocacy Center, Council of Churches of the Ozarks, Discovery Garden Montessori School, Drury University Office of the Chaplain, Friends Against Hunger, The GED Center at The Kitchen, GLO, GYNCA, Habitat for Humanity, Harvest on Wheels, Heifer International, Isabel’s House, The Kitchen, Lost and Found, Lend-A-Hand, Newborns in Need, Ozarks Food Harvest, Rainbow Network, United Ministries of Higher Education at the Monroe – MSU

Come shop at the Market for Christmas this year and know that you are showing compassion through the purchase of Alternative Gifts and making a difference in people’s lives, both here and around the world.

Additional information is available by calling National Avenue Christian Church, 869-9176.

Posted by matthewgallion in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
23 Oct 2012
2 Comments

“I am man; hear me roar” by Jennifer Klein

Commercials both fascinate and horrify me; they are microcosms of popular culture, and they often grossly stereotype people and personalities. We are constantly surrounded by the definitions that society has created for us. The sheer repetition of certain gender roles (among other things) performs us as a culture and society. This dated Burger King commercial is one example. It is telling us what it means to be a man, to be macho (this commercial aired in 2006 and became so popular that the jingle is now known as the “manthem”). One of the things that it takes to be a man is to eat big, disgusting burgers from Burger King. Other things include yelling loudly with fists in the air, objectifying women, and pushing minivans (a vehicle of emasculation) over highway overpasses.

Jacques Lacan (some of you just checked out, but I promise I don’t really understand Lacan and so we will spend only a quick moment on French psychology) expanded his mirror stage of infant development to include adulthood. We make the mistake of thinking we are a unified and individual self (what we see in the mirror), when actually we are constructed of the symbolic structures that surround us. These structures include expectations that existed before our birth and also include the mirror we look into every day of media, language, society, and yes, perhaps religion.

Being created in God’s image, or having the divine woven into us like a thread (I much prefer that phrase), might seem problematic to someone like me, someone who barely believes at all but certainly doesn’t believe in a God with a certain, human-like countenance. But this divine thread (yes, I’m sticking with it) is one of the countless images swirling around and bouncing up against us, peering out of the mirror Lacan is holding up in front of us. I find it reassuring to think we each have this thread to hold on to, to form an anchor of sorts against the cacophony of the world as mirror.

We have to resist the definitions society wants us to fit into. Commercials may seem like harmless fun until you accept the constant, numbing background they have become to our lives, and our children’s lives. We think of commercials as being on television, but the images and ideas that appear during our sit-coms and football games appear countless times throughout a day, on billboards, on the sides of city buses, in magazines and newspapers, on internet pages, ahead of youtube videos, on a banner at the top of email, on retail bags, on food and beverage containers, on the back of tickets to sporting events, on napkins and coasters at the neighborhood bar, and so forth and so on. How do we know what thoughts are original to us and which have simply implanted themselves due to the overreaching hand of advertising? The repercussions are much more sinister than kids begging for Happy Meals or Disney vacations, I assure you.

So I love that the Newell book says, “to believe that we are born in God’s likeness is to believe that what is deepest in us is mystery . . . We can be ‘contained within no definition’” (Eriugena, qtd. in Newell pg. 85). The Burger King commercial enforces an extremely rigid definition of what it means to be manly. All genders should be insulted by such a definition. By the implications of this commercial, men can’t be vegetarians or even enjoy diverse and healthy foods; they can’t be shackled to emasculating family responsibilities; and they definitely can’t let a woman influence a decision as important as what to eat (and this analysis, focused on machismo, ignores even more disturbing analyses focused on race and sexuality). Some might think I’m reading a little much into a simple commercial, but I think the real danger is that most of us don’t deconstruct the rhetoric that surrounds us.

We can be contained within no definition. Thank God.

Posted by matthewgallion in Uncategorized
16 Oct 2012
1 Comment

The Fifth Day: The Creatureliness of God by Scott Zimmerman

I love nature.  As a child my nature was the ski slopes of northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Colorado.  Later, it became the rock outcroppings of Wyoming and the mountains of the Rockies and Sierra Nevada.  And now, in my middle years, it is the leafy, shady trails of southern Missouri and Northern Arkansas.  Whether on skis, bike, or boots I have spent countless hours immersed in nature.

And it never scared me, not once.  Not the time we were caught, exposed, on the side of Mt Elbert in a lightening storm; or on Long’s Peak holding on to an ice axe as Dan dangled at the end of our climbing rope and my dislocated shoulder was the thing keeping us from falling; and not when I sailed off the trail into the woods on my mountain bike and had to replace most of the front end of the bike.  It never scared me.  Because nature has no malice.

Malice is only present where people are present.  Malice is the desire to inflict harm on someone.  Nature does not have desires nor intent.  Weather happens because of fluctuations in atmospheric energy and moisture.  In dangerous situations, the trees, rocks and animals don’t take sides.

Malicious people scare me.  And my fear manifests itself as anger and a desire to fight back.  I abhor bullies and have found myself in the principal’s office on more than one occasion because of it. My loathing of bullies extends to Nicaragua, where an American landowner has finally allowed us to purchase some land on which to build homes for the plantation workers that pick his coffee beans.

This time though, I won’t end up in a principal’s office.  This time I have a chance to celebrate a group that made this a reality.  National Avenue Christian Church has a long history of finding ways to make the world a better place for others less fortunate.  This remarkable group has also opened its arms to me and my family, supporting us through these trying months as Kim fights to rid her body of cancer.  Your love envelops people no matter where they are, whether part of the congregation or in a tin shack on the slopes of a mountain in a poverty-stricken part of Latin America.

What I am slowly, stubbornly, learning is that bullies don’t have to be fought with fists; that the response to a cancer diagnosis doesn’t have to be anger.  What I am learning is that malice can be tempered with love.  Nature may not care whether dear friends die in an avalanche or that a mountain biker is injured crashing into a tree.  But people do.

I have a chance to see the village of Hilapo Dos next month when four of us will travel to Nicaragua to try an help with some of the construction going on in the village on the new property that you purchased.  I am excited to see Hilapo Dos, the mountain it sits on and the jungle that surrounds it.  I won’t be scared.  And I won’t be angry at the injustice (at least not as angry) but I will be awed by your generosity and your need to make the world better.

Posted by matthewgallion in Afterthought
09 Oct 2012

The Fourth Day: The Harmony of God by Brian Hom

As a songwriter, I often struggle to find balance between the competing notions that constantly pop out of my brain. I have tainted many good musical ideas by trying to pair several Right elements together into one Wrong song. I’ll have a big, complex story (or one that I insist on telling with complexity), and I’ll try to cram too many syllables into a simple, flowing melody line. Or I’ll have a funky, syncopated beat in my head, but the Chord Muse is taking her coffee break, so I get stuck in the old I-IV-V blues-shuffle-rut… AGAIN.

But there is one thing that always works for me – Harmony. Even the most atonal, grating melody can be transformed by a parallel song thread sung 1/3 up. Even when it’s not fancy, harmony works in any musical genre, from jazz to opera to pop. In fact, many of the most emotive songs ever written, the ones that move people to tears, take advantage of our ears’ natural desire for harmony.

The phenomenon is called an appoggiatura [AH-poh-gee-ah-too-rah], from the Italian word to lean. Thanks to NPR, I learned about the science behind this after Adele cleaned up at this past year’s Grammy Awards with her mega-hit Someone Like You. In short, our ears “expect” dissonant or competing notes to resolve themselves into a pleasing sound – so much so that when that resolution comes, the release can trigger an emotional reaction. It’s the reason that certain songs move some people to tears.

I am one of those people. There are many songs that will always make me sniffle. Either through an uplifting key change, a lyrical twist or even an appoggiatura, I am overcome. This is both a blessing and a curse, depending on my surroundings.

This same concept can apply to the things in this world that are seen instead of heard. Certain stories of joy, hope or sadness… often the deepest beauty is rooted in the transformation of something ugly. Something twisted becomes straight, a wrong is righted, despair gives way to hope.

I don’t know about you, but I joined National Avenue Christian Church because we make a difference – in many ways, in many places and in many lives. If you are here for the same reason, you’re in the right place. Go forth and seek out injustice, then find a way to change it. Offer a small comfort to someone in distress. When you discover dissonance in our world, add your own note to create a new, beautiful sound.

Find your voice, and sing out strong.

Be an appoggiatura. Become God’s Harmony.

Posted by matthewgallion in Afterthought | Leave a Comment

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