The topic of job loss and economic hardship is beginning to become real for me, though I am blessed that it still remains at a comfortable distance.  I currently have a secure job, a and my income is sufficient to provide me a comfortable lifestyle, healthy savings, and manage down my debt.  Most of my immediate friends in the area seem to be in a similar situation as I am.

This came as no surprise when I checked out this map: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/03/03/us/20090303_LEONHARDT.html?ref=business and learned that Arlington County, Virginia has an unemployment rate of only 3.7%.

My economics professor in college taught us that the unemployment rate is the percentage of people able to and actively seeking a job, but not having one at the moment.

Here in Arlington County, 3.7% = nearly 4,500 people out of work.  Over the total population of the county, that’s 1 in every 45 people unable to find a job.  Job loss and economic hardship is simply someone else’s problem, right?

So I began to listen more closely.  I caught a Today Show seminar one morning about how to prepare for being unemployed.  The financial advisor recommended having “6 – 9 months or more of income in savings to pay for expenses while seeking new employment…..”6-9 months savings?!  Now my “healthy savings” and “manageable debt” took on a whole new meaning.  What would I do if I came to work tomorrow and found out I had been laid off?  How long would unemployment last? How would I pay the rent? Find another job?

Yes, it would be tough but not impossible.  After all, it wasn’t that long ago I routinely went online to job search pages, e-mailed off a few or 50 copies of my resume to places of interest, and sat back and waited for the cell phone to ring.  But that’s me, a Millennial who was lucky enough to have someone train me on how to search for a job, write a resume, and handle an interview.  What do you tell someone who has worked a job for 30+ years and finds themselves with a pink slip and a pension account worth less than a Wall Street hot dog?

Then I read the newspaper from my hometown and came across this: http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/may/29/300754/more-churches-are-offering-career-ministries/.  Hillsborough County, Florida.  9.1% unemployed. 56,000 people.  1 in every 24.

I hope to use this post as a lunching point for further discussion on how our church community can serve others in our community by aiding them in many of the things we take for granted.  Job loss can be an extraordinarily stressful time in one’s life, especially if one feels helpless in overcoming such a seemingly routine obstacle.  How can we serve our community and share God’s love with our neighbors in a way that truly helps their lives?

My title is intended only as a pun on recent campaign slogans, and not intended to make light of a significant change for our church happening very soon.  Below is the letter of resignation that Pastor Alan made public earlier this week following his acceptance of a new position with Leesburg Community Church.  If you have questions or concerns about what is next for our community, please feel free to email either David (david@1bc.org) or myself (haley@1bc.org).

June 1, 2009

Dear Friends at Clarendon,

It is with sadness, but also with a sense of God’s call that I write to let you know that on May 31, 2009 Leesburg Community Church voted to call me as their pastor and I have accepted that call. I, therefore, will be resigning as the pastor of The Church of Clarendon effective July 11, 2009 to go back to Leesburg Community Church as their pastor—it was the church I was leading before going to the Baptist World Alliance and coming to this church as pastor. Please know that I do not take this action lightly. It is only after much prayer and reflection that I have come to this decision, believing it is God’s hand that is guiding the entire process.

My seven years as the pastor of this church have been very rewarding and exciting years. They have been years that Elaine and I have built friendships that will last all our lives. They have been good years in which the church has grown and overcome many of the obstacles that faced it. I believe the building program will go forward and that the congregation will continue to grow so that by God’s grace there will be a strong church in this location for many years to come. Although my time at the church seems brief, only four of the church’s ten pastors have had a longer tenure—and few have had the privilege of serving the church at a more exciting and strategic time. For all of this and for each of you I am very grateful.

Now I ask for your prayers just as Elaine and I will be praying for all of you. The Leesburg Church is losing $33,000 per month and the weekly attendance has dropped from 1,000 to only 400. The church still has a monthly loan payment that must be met for some of the buildings we built while I was the pastor there. It is not going to be an easy task to rebuild that church’s congregation, ministries and finances—just as I know that being out of the building will be challenging for this church. But God is faithful and I believe that God can be counted on to work in both churches to continue their important ministries.

Please know that I consider all of you my friends and that I will do whatever I can to assist you whenever I can. God has a plan and that plan always is best for all. Keep the faith, love one another and serve God will all your hearts and the future is secure. May God richly bless you all!

Your fellow servant of Christ,

Alan Stanford

]]> http://blog.1bc.org/?feed=rss2&p=176 0 http://blog.1bc.org/?p=164 http://blog.1bc.org/?p=164#comments Fri, 22 May 2009 00:43:49 +0000 haleyw http://blog.1bc.org/?p=164 Guest Post by Susan ~

When I headed to the movie theater to see the Liam Neeson thriller “Taken” I expected an action filled afternoon with a Jack Bauer-like character on the hunt for his kidnapped daughter. What shocked me were the graphic scenes depicting young girls in an international sex trafficking ring. Sex trafficking plays such a large role in the story (don’t think I am giving anything away for you, as it is clear from early on the reason for the girl’s capture) that I wondered why no one warned me about it. Had I been prepared, maybe I would not have burst into tears every five seconds, or at least I could have brought tissues.

It might be that the topic is just so unpleasant that no one wants to talk about it, or maybe my friends that recommended the film to me forgot to mention it. In the worst case, it is because we are so used to violence and terror in movies that it almost seems normal. There are plenty of instances where I am unaffected by something when I should be, but this is not one of them.

I have been exploring lately why it is that this issue breaks my heart like it does, and have not come up with any one answer. In book Captivating, John and Stasi Eldridge suggest one of the core desires of women is to offer and find beauty in this world. It is sometimes said that twists on the truth are much worse than outright lies. Sex trafficking is the worst twist on this truth imaginable. The message these women and children hear is, “This [sex] is the only worth you have and the only thing you have to offer.”

My own lack of faith is also involved. Learning about women and children in these situations, I cannot help but think, “That is not a life worth living.” Despite the healing I have seen in my own life, it is hard to see Jesus as the ultimate healer, the ultimate restorer that He is. Nothing is impossible for Him.

I wanted to tell you a little bit about how this issue is pressing on my heart, and now I want to tell you about an organization that is committed to rescuing and restoring women and children in crisis. The organization is Shared Hope International. They are launching a nationwide focus on sex trafficking in the United States, and are holding vigils around the country to start it off. The Church at Clarendon is partnering with them to host a vigil in the sanctuary Wednesday, May 27^th at 7:30 pm. I hope you will participate with me in an evening of learning, praying, and keeping watch for women and children in this country.

Here’s an excerpt from one girl’s story:

“That’s the way it seemed to me when I was 12, and when I realized that my boyfriend was a pimp, I thought, well, I guess that’s just the way it is and I did what he told me. I thought I was making the choice, and that was pretty much what I would have to do to get along in life. Nobody ever told me–I didn’t understand–what a choice really was.”

Click here (http://www.sharedhope.org/what/storiesofhope_tanya.asp) to read the rest on the Shared Hope International website.

I hope to see you there!

The Brick
Author Unknown

A young and successful executive was traveling down a neighborhood street, going a bit too fast in his new Jaguar. He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no children appeared. Instead, a brick smashed into the Jag’s side door! He slammed on the brakes and backed the Jag back to the spot where the brick had been thrown. The angry driver then jumped out of the car, grabbed the nearest kid and pushed him up against a parked car shouting, “What was that all about and who are you? Just what the heck are you doing? That’s a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money. Why did you do it?”

The young boy was apologetic. “Please, mister….please, I’m sorry but I didn’t
know what else to do,” He pleaded. “I threw the brick because no one else would stop…” With tears dripping down his face and off his chin, the youth pointed to a spot just around a parked car. “It’s my brother,” he said, “He rolled off the and fell out of his wheelchair and I can’t lift him up.”

Now sobbing, the boy asked the stunned executive, “Would you please help
me get him back into his wheelchair? He’s hurt and he’s too heavy for me.”

Moved beyond words, the driver tried to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. He hurriedly lifted the handicapped boy back into the wheelchair, then took out a linen handkerchief and dabbed at the fresh scrapes and cuts. A quick look told him everything was going to be okay. “Thank you and may God bless you,” the grateful child told the stranger. Too shook up for words, the man simply watched the boy push his wheelchair-bound brother down the sidewalk
toward their home.

It was a long, slow walk back to the Jaguar. The damage was very noticeable, but the driver never bothered to repair the dented side door. He kept the dent there to remind him of this message – Don’t go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your attention!

God whispers in our souls and speaks to our hearts. Sometimes when we don’t have time to listen, He has to throw a brick at us. It’s our choice to listen or not.

Betsy made the comment Sunday morning that we spend 40 days focused on the devastating events that led up to Easter, but then only spend one day on the celebration of what actually happened on Easter. This thought struck a chord in me. Why don’t we spend 40 days praising the Father for victory over death?!

This week has seemed like one giant blah so far and now I wonder if it is because I have already forgotten what Sunday means to us as Christians. It is obviously hard to be mindful of the glorious act of the resurrection moment by moment…at least it is for me. I think, though, that we should make a greater effort to realize what joy we should know and feel because of Christ’s selfless act. There is a line in one song I love that says, “Your joy is mine…yet why am I fine.” This is exactly the point! I don’t want to walk through life being fine, but instead constantly in awe.

However, have you ever tried to go through a single day filled with awe at life and the world around you? It is not an easy task. The second that one too many drivers cuts you off in DC traffic, admiration and praise fly out the window. But even if every day I can’t remember the resurrection and live life in awe and thank God for the peace that passes all understanding, I can try. So I would love for you all to join with me in this challenge. As hard as it is to give things up during Lent, now is the time to relish what He gives us in the end…

Our time of fasting and feasting during Lent culminates this week as we remember the last days of Christ’s journey to the cross and then, finally, the awesome joy of Easter morning.

The following is a reflection from God Calling to help you prepare for Easter:
“I lay my loving hands on you in blessing. Wait in love and longing to feel their tender pressure and, as you wait, courage and hope will flow into your being, irradiating all your lives with the warm sun of my presence.
Let all go this Eastertide. Loosen your hold on earth, its care, its worries, even its joys. Unclasp your hands, relax, and then the tide of Easter joy will come. Put aside all thought of the future, of the past. Relinquish all to get the Easter Sacrament of spiritual life.
So often man, crying our for some blessing, has yet such tight hold on some earth-treasure that he has no hand to receive mine, as I hold it out in love. Easter is the wonder-time of all the year. A blessing is yours to take. Sacrifice all to that.”

Here are the scripture passages for this week, which I hope can remind us that Jesus, the Man of Sorrows, is also our God of comfort and healing:
Isaiah 53
2 Corinthians 1:3-11
1 Peter 2:21-25
Hebrews 4:14-16
Mark 14:32-42

A quick reminder: don’t forget about the Good Friday service this week at 7PM in the sanctuary. It is a great opportunity to prepare your heart for Easter. Whether or not you can make it for the Good Friday and Easter services, I pray that you find time during this Holy Week to stop and draw near to God, and that your faith will be strengthened and deepened.

Thanks for journeying with me,
Betsy

It is hard to believe that this coming Sunday is already Palm Sunday, the day when we remember Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. As I read through this story recently in Luke 19, I was struck by the fact that many of the same people in the crowd shouting “Hosanna!” on Palm Sunday are shouting “Crucify him!” only days later. I would like to think that I wouldn’t be so fickle in my faith, but I can’t be certain. It shows how easy it is to change our minds when circumstances change. When things are going well, we are all too ready to praise God and invite him to enter triumphantly into our lives…
When things get hard though, we end up hiding in fear, or worse, complaining that God has not met our expectations for him as a Savior.

Here’s something to think about: “Too many pilgrims would get in behind Jesus on the road to the throne, but they would not follow him on the way to the cross. They would wave palms before the coming king, but they would not obey the Suffering Servant.” I pray that God would help us as a community to grow in faithfulness to our Faithful God, through thick and thin, even when it doesn’t make life happier or easier.

I read somewhere that Hudson Taylor, pioneer missionary to China, thought Jesus’ words in Mark 11:22, “Have faith in God,” might be translated, “Hold on to the faithfulness of God.” The scriptures for feasting on this week are about faithfulness, both God’s unfailing faithfulness to us and the importance of our faithfulness to God:

Deuteronomy 11:13-21
Psalm 91:1-4
Matthew 25:14-21
2 Timothy 2:8-13
Hebrews 3:1-6

Your sister in Christ,
Betsy

* * * * * * * * * * * * *
“The will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you.” (passed on from a friend on the email list)

One of my favorite things about the weeks leading up to Easter is all the joyful music of thanks and praise that we sing together on Sunday mornings. I would love to continue that attitude of praise through the rest of the week– my day looks very different when I start out with a “thank you” to God instead of focusing first on all my needs and wants.

Charles Swindoll says, “Let me encourage you to start singing again. Yes, even when you’re alone. Add it to your time with God. Get up with a song. Before anything in the day has a chance to squeeze it out of you, express your praise in a song.”

The scriptures this week are full of prayers of adoration, of thanksgiving and praise:
Psalm 100
Luke 17:11-19
Hebrews 13:15-16
John 12:1-8
Psalm 34:1-8

Your sister in Christ,
Betsy

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“Like the proud mother who is thrilled to receive a wilted bouquet of dandelions from her child, so God celebrates our feeble expressions of gratitude.”        ~Richard Foster, Prayer

Don’t get me wrong, as I read scripture, I do enjoy certain books or passages, or a particular verse will speak to something I am feeling or struggling with…but on an average day my response to my bible reading or devotional is more like: shoulder shrug, big sigh, “I guess I’ll go do my reading now…if I HAVE to…” Basically, I feel a lot more ambivalence, resignation or sense of duty than I do excitement. I began thinking about the reasons I feel that way and realized that sometimes I think I just get into a rut; feeling like I am re-reading the same things I have before without getting much out of it.

As usual, it seems like God realized before I did that something needed to change and so He provided a unique opportunity to break out of the same patterns and experience my devotions in a different and refreshing way. (There are lots of different ways and ideas for getting out of spiritual melancholy, but I am just going to describe one that has recently helped me).

I recently took a vacation with my mother (who I consider one of my best friends) and the trip roughly coincided with the beginning of Lent. She brought with her a Lent devotional book that was created by her church in Dallas (my home church growing up). The book has a scripture reading, a devotional written by a member of the congregation, and a short list of individuals to pray for each day. Without much discussion or planning, my mother and I began reading the scripture and devotional each day on vacation and praying together for our churches. Immediately, it was obvious how much we were both enjoying the consistency of doing the devotion each day and that more than that we enjoyed the fellowship of doing a Lent devotional together.

Although we both returned home from our vacation after a week traveling together, it quickly became obvious that neither of us wanted to give up our partnership in our daily devotional despite the long distance. The first couple of nights back from the trip we would be talking on the phone and invariable one of us would say, “Hey you want to do our devotional?” And then we would do the readings together over the phone.

In so many ways, the idea of doing a daily devotional with someone else has been refreshing and spiritually beneficial (for those of you out there with spouses you may have already experienced this). The accountability of someone else expecting to do a daily devotional with me has helped to keep me consistently in the word each day, whereas on my own, scripture reading can be sporadic depending on how busy my days and weeks become. I am also enjoying getting the thoughts and perspective of another person on the scripture and devotional passages that are assigned each day. God reveals different things through my mother’s wisdom and experiences in her own walk with the Lord that I might not see in my own life. In addition to my mother’s discernment and wisdom, she is also an awesome prayer warrior who has provided an amazing example in the spiritual discipline of prayer and whose prayers have been refreshing and uplifting to my own.

I realized from this experience that changing up my devotional practice, doing things a little differently and experiencing devotions in fellowship with another person has been a refreshing and spiritually uplifting change of pace. It has helped me break out of the spiritual “rut” I was in, held me accountable to reading and praying every day and has resulted in me being excited and looking forward to reading scripture. So if you ever start to feel like you just can’t seem to stay committed to reading your bible or just don’t feel like you are getting as much out of it as usual, consider trying something a little different and get a close friend or trusted acquaintance to join you in your devotions for a period of time (this is not to suggest this as a substitute for personal quiet time with God). It may give you the slight change in perspective you need to refresh your spirit and rediscover the joy of spending time in prayer and the word. God bless!

You’ve probably heard the expression, “too busy not to pray.” As cliche as it sounds, it’s an important reminder. I recently stumbled upon the following simple prayer that seems particularly appropriate for the stress of Monday mornings:

“Dear Lord,
be good to me…
The sea is so wide
And my boat is so small.”
~ Irish Fisherman’s Prayer

Interestingly, as I tried to pray this short prayer this morning and look for verses to send to you all, I was drawn to the following verse: “Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.” (Psalm 116:7)

As I prayed for the Lord to be good to me, my eyes began to open to the ways that God has already been good to me, is good to me, and will continue to be good to me. I pray that you would also see the ways that God is good to you as you pray this week.

The scripture passages for feasting on this week are all about faith in prayer:
Psalm 116:1-7
Luke 18:9-14
2 Chronicles 6:12-40 (this one is a bit longer, but it’s a great
example of prayer from Solomon)
Philippians 4:4-9
Mark 11:22-25