It is hard for me to believe that the first month of 2021 over! I still feel as though I have a foot in the season of Advent, but here we are

halfway through Epiphany and I am preparing for Lent. Yours truly is gaining an even deeper respect for my pastoral mentors who have been preaching for a lifetime. Through this month of January, we have journeyed through the lectionary texts for Epiphany – the season observing Christ made manifest to the world. Each Sunday I’ve attempted to bring a word from the texts that discloses a different facet of God’s movement in the world and Christ’s love for it. This Sunday will be a unique challenge: Mark 1:21-28 is a brief story recounting how Jesus casts an ‘unclean spirit’ out of a man in the midst of teaching in the temple at Capernaum.

Now, you may have learned already that your new minister enjoys the past-times of comic-book reading and video-game playing; these are mediums in which demon-slaying is an expected trope. When we think of mainline Protestant Christianity in the 21st century, stories of Jesus casting out demons are a bit challenging to deal with intellectually. How are we to read them? I don’t think we treat the Bible as a comic book – it is more than a series of tropes. However, does this story of confrontation with unclean spirits have any connection with the same world we live in?

For me, as I get ready for Sunday, this story is raising the question: how are love and power related? The life, teaching, and ministry of Jesus is about love – love for each other, love for God, and God’s love for the world. Stories like these about casting out demons remind the contemporary Christian that much of Jesus’ story is also about power – the power to dramatically (one can’t get much more dramatic than confronting demons!) change lives. How are these – love and power – related? As I work toward a sermon from this question, I celebrate the ways I see love empowered in this congregation – detailed in the various pieces in this newsletter. I hope this message finds you well and safe.

Grace and peace,

Michael Yandell

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What a privilege it is to have this medium through which to speak to you! With this weekly update, I have a rare and precious gift: an opportunity to be heard. There are many human beings who will rarely, if ever, have the opportunity to speak and be heard – but every human being has something to say.

I admit that I struggle with this update: what should I say to you? What makes the cut of going into this update, when so many cry out to the world – desperate to be heard? This feels very different to me from preaching. I certainly feel the gravity of the preaching task, but I have a clear mission there: to go into the world of the text and to bring a word to you. What sort of word shall I bring to you here?

Perhaps I am overthinking it. I’ve been known to do that from time to time. My mind and my heart turns to the women in prison with whom I used to teach and discuss theology. They are hungry students – hungry to find a meaningful word in their lives; and, they have so much to say to the world. The world, for the most part, is not ready and not willing to hear them. It seems important to remember them as I struggle to find the right tone, the right genre, the right form, the right words through which to bring a meaningful word to you in these weekly updates. They would rightly tell me to get to the point.

The point is: I do not want to waste your time. I do not want to be the voice of one more crying out in the wilderness of your inbox. So tell me, what sort of word do you want from your new minister here? Do you want to talk church? Bible? Spirituality? Theology? Ethics? Literature? Current Events? Life experiences?

Answer me this:

What sort of word will make the time spent reading this life-giving to you?

I’ve wracked my brain with this question, but now I put it to you because we are a community of faith. I don’t ask it rhetorically, I invite you to respond to me directly at pastor@fccgreensboro.org.

I look forward to hearing you.

Grace and peace,

Michael Yandell

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Greetings FCC Greensboro family,
It was a joy to worship with you, in-person and virtually, this past Sunday. I feel like I have come home. Saying the Lord’s Prayer with my new church family reminded me that we simply ask God to provide our daily bread; tomorrow will have worries of its own. God’s mercy is new for us each morning, love never ceases. This is a helpful reminder to me in my first week among you.
I am a fan of making lists, and scratching things off lists. I think the Army had a hand in seating a “task-oriented” approach firmly within me. A priority for me as your new minister is getting to know each one of you – wherever you might be! This is not a task I can simply scratch off a list – it is fellowship that must be built and made strong over the entire span of a ministry. Our circumstances in 2020 make it more difficult for me to reach out and visit with you in the way I would like; nevertheless, I want to hear you, see you, and get to know you through whatever method of communication you are comfortable with.
As I take this ministry one day at a time, I will be reaching out to you as quickly as I can. In the meantime, please do not hesitate to reach out to me via email (pastor@fccgreensboro.org).

I hope that your week is life-giving, and that you are able to feel the steadfast love and mercies of God each morning.
Grace and peace,
Rev. Michael Yandell

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So, before the pandemic, I had a check up with a local Ear-Nose-Throat specialist, who diagnosed my problem as atrophy. I’m glad to report there were no nodules or other problems found. The surgeon postponed this procedure for five months due to Covid-19, but his office called last week to say they had me scheduled. I was glad to hear this, and I found it convenient that the surgery would take place when I would be “off duty” and on vacation the following Sunday.

However, I was not so happy when the hospital called to say they scheduled me for a pre-op Covid test tomorrow (Thursday), after which I must promise not to leave home until I show up for Monday’s surgery. “But I have to conduct worship and preach,” I protested. “No, you cannot and you must not,” came the firm reply.

So, I won’t see you for two Sundays; or, as things have been, I should probably say you won’t see me. Nevertheless I’ll be with you again on August 30 and through the four Sundays of September before (presumably) I step away from my role as your Transitional Pastor, a role, I’ll be telling you again, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed.

—Phil Miller

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This past Sunday, our church Board approved a plan for Outdoor Worship (weather permitting) to begin August 2. The location will be the sidewalk and lawn between the sanctuary and the playground. Physical distancing must be

observed; if it isn’t, this will jeopardize the opportunity for future gatherings. The plan projects holding two shorter services at times still to be determined. One of these will be “broadcast” online via Facebook.

Those who attend may wear casual clothes, such as shorts and T-shirts. They must bring their own chairs and sit at least six feet apart in all directions from any other family unit.

Each family unit must bring its own bread and cup for communion; none will be provided by the church. One stationary offering box will be available since we will not pass plates. No singing will be allowed. Each person must wear a mask (which may be lowered when partaking of the bread and cup).

The two restrooms near the gathering area will be available, and any person using one of these will be asked to clean all contact surfaces before exiting.

A maximum of 25 persons may attend each service. No childcare will be offered, and children will be counted as individuals within the guideline of 25. Participants will be required to sign up in advance using an online method you’ll soon hear more about.

Whew—when I was speed-reading these guidelines, I thought they said, “No children will be offered.” I knew our liability policy wouldn’t allow that! Then I read more carefully, as I hope you will before you decide whether to sign up to outdoor worship in person.

–Phil Miller

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Even so, they don’t have the “extraordinary” sense of the flashier seasons which start with Advent and rehearse the story of the gospels from John the Baptist to the Nativity to the Epiphany to Lent to Easter to Pentecost. Instead, Ordinary Time provides an opportunity to explore the pathways of Christian discipleship as we strive to be faithful disciples in our own time.

In any given year, as a preacher and worship planner, I feel my way into Ordinary Time because it offers plenty of options. I’m not required to use the Common Lectionary (calendar of scripture readings widely shared among many denominations). But as one who values Biblical preaching (which doesn’t always equate to spending most of the sermon explaining a passage of scripture), I prefer starting my planning with a sacred text to starting with a topic (or “an ax to grind”).

So, this year, I’ve glided into the gospel passages in Matthew, which is where I think we’ll stay for a while. We’ve read (and I’ve preached) from Matthew 10 and 11. Now we’ll get into a chapter of parables. You will recognize these stories, I predict. The disciples found them hard to understand; sometimes they asked Jesus to make sense of the parables. Ever since, the church has been reaching in to these stories to probe their meaning. I look forward to resuming that task and sharing the journey with you during these coming weeks of “Ordinary Time.”

—Phil Miller

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Meanwhile, from a corner of the country where churches have begun meeting, we hear what it is like from the congregation I served in my 30s:

· Limited numbers allowed to come to the building

· One-way traffic into and out of the sanctuary

· Physical distance planned by assigned seating

· No passing plates for offering or communion

· Every worshiper wearing a mask

· No singing whatsoever

These conditions come as no surprise when seen as a list on paper (or screen), but they must feel strange to experience. Our day will come, but not until conditions warrant taking the risk. For now, the forewarned resurgence says we should stay sheltered. Woody Faulkner and I hope you are able to tune in to our Sunday services, whether at 10 a.m. (when so many exchange greetings in the chat bubbles) or later in the day or week.

Thank you for your ongoing support of the church and its ministries. Please keep First Christian Church, both the institution and the membership, in your daily prayers.

– Phil Miller

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This week shows how important that conversation is. The worldwide alarm at what’s happening in our nation should impress us all with the urgency of real change. By “real change,” I don’t mean simply being more courteous or friendly in our transactions with people of color. I’m talking about something much stronger, deeper, and long-lasting than good manners. I’m talking about the vision of our General Minister and President, Rev. Teresa Hord Owens, who wrote on May 26th:

“I want a church that loves so courageously that we will stand up and insist that the killing of black and brown people must stop, and will work to remove those in office who fail to enact laws and policy accordingly.

I want a church that loves so radically that we are always putting up chairs to make room for more, always leaving empty chairs at the table, expecting that many more will come, turning no one away.

I want a church that loves so generously that our priority will be the elimination of poverty, to ensure that everyone has enough to eat, safe and decent housing, healthcare, a living wage and quality education that is not based on your zip code.

I want a church that loves so creatively that we are willing to dismantle structures, traditions, and processes that dishonor humanity and marginalize any among us.

I want a church that loves so completely that we are not satisfied until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I want a church that follows Jesus, and is therefore committed to work for all of this. Let’s get to work, church!”

I want that kind of church, too, and I hope you share much, if not all, of this vision. Thank you for the honor of serving as your pastor for the past year. I’ll stand with you until whenever!

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