The Elders heard and discussed the report at their June 14 meeting, and recommended that we implement all proposed changes. What does this mean?

When we began The Journey process, it soon became clear that we wanted to take a close look at our worship services. In the story that draws us into what we have identified as God’s future for  Vine Street (the story we commonly refer to as our future story), we call for worship services that “each have a clear profile. Each has its own unique format, but all of them are also clearly us.”

We will continue to look at our Sunday morning worship services as events that give focus to our community’s Sunday morning gatherings (in addition, of course, to the rest of our week): God’s hospitality to all at the Table implies that we show hospitality to all, and not only after they have crossed the threshold to the chapel or the sanctuary. This, of course, has significant consequences for what we do before and after worship – but more about that soon.

What will change? We will continue to have two services on Sunday morning, a service at 8:30am in the chapel and a service at 10:45am in the sanctuary.

In the chapel service, we will build on the sense of intimacy and informality it has developed over time. We will remove the remaining pews to allow worshipers to see each other face to face, and encourage a more conversational style “in the round.” We will explore new ways of preaching, praying, and sharing the meal around the table. These changes will be introduced in the near future, but not in the summer.

In the sanctuary service, we will follow an order that maintains the current overall structure (gathering, listening, giving thanks, and being sent), while improving flow and disrupting patterns of too much predictability. Many of the recommended changes will be introduced beginning July 4:

We replace the Passing of the Peace with an informal greeting at the very beginning of the service.

We move the Scripture reading that is the basis for the Children’s Conversation, so the children can hear it with the rest of the congregation. Occasionally, we use a very child-friendly translation or story-telling instead of reading from the New Revised Standard Version (which is our standard version).

Service leaders occasionally introduce elements of the service (“this is why we do this, this is what we are doing here”) without becoming overly didactic.

We continue to select music of various styles that support the flow and fit the thematic structure of the service, and we include as much special music (sometimes harp, sometimes trumpet or viola or guitar or…) as we can.

We will begin to introduce these changes on July 4, and we invite your comments in person and at www.vinestreet.org/worship-feedback

No more exams for a while. No more tests. No more papers overdue or homework turned in late. School’s out. Summertime. It’s Meet-you-at-the-pool season. It’s “Off to camp, to the mountains, to the beach, to Italy and France” season. Summertime.

I don’t know if you noticed, but this year, after the final half-day of school was over and after the commencement speeches were delivered, the cry of relief wasn’t quite as euphoric and loud as in the past. Some of that lack of enthusiasm can be explained as post-flood soberness: we’re still working, still cleaning up, still trying to figure out what’s next, and we’re just not quite ready yet to go party or do our usual lazy-summer-stuff. Then there is the economic uncertainty where too many are still looking for work and too many are still worried they might lose their job if the markets don’t start humming again soon. And there is the hole in the bottom of the gulf with millions of gallons of crude spewing into the water – and who knows what this means for life in the ocean and on the coast, and for our demand for energy or our standard of living? It’s summertime, and we wish we could sing, ‘…and the living is easy,’ but we can’t because it isn’t.

My mom and my brother have been with us for a few precious days. Sometime last week, I took my mom to Green Hills Mall; she wanted to do some shopping. I dropped her off between Panera and Davis-Kidd, told her that Panera would be a good place for lunch, and off she went. She had a great morning; she loved Pottery Barn and Williams Sonoma, and especially Coldwater Creek.

When she got hungry, she started looking for a place to eat. More specifically, she started looking for the food court. Now, you all probably know that there is no food court at Green Hills Mall, but she kept looking for a while, wondering if she was on the right level or at the wrong end of the building. Eventually she decided to ask a couple for directions.

She could have said, “Excuse me, where is the food court?” or “Pardon me, can you recommend a restaurant in this mall?” Instead she began by telling them the reason for her quest. She said, “I am hungry.”

She meant to add, “Where can I get a sandwich here?” but never got there, because the lady immediately took a step back. When my mom told us the story, I started laughing and said, “Did she offer you a couple of dollars or a cookie from her purse?” No, she didn’t. With both hands raised in a defensive gesture she sought protection behind her husband’s back. She was afraid.

She wasn’t afraid of my mom, a slender woman without any of the traits you expect to see in the large women in a Wagner opera – No, the lady was afraid that real human need had intruded what was for her a safe place, a place where she could look at pretty things and forget the world for a while.

It’s summertime, and we wish we could sing, ‘… and the living is easy,’ but we can’t because it isn’t. Whether we care to admit it or not, there’s uncertainty in the air, even fear.

Don’t you wish Jesus were here? Don’t you wish he simply appeared in all the places where fear threatens to overwhelm hope? Don’t you wish he had sneaked into a commencement celebration somewhere and given the speech the whole world needed to hear right now?

We have these fantasies of God having created the world just a little different or of intervening now with one decisive action from on high to set things right. We have dreams of God sending a strong leader who won’t get corrupted by power or crushed between the wheels of interest groups. We wish Jesus were here.

Beginning with chapter 13, John tells the story of Jesus’ last night with his friends. They didn’t know it would be there last hours together. They didn’t know that he would be arrested, convicted, and crucified the very next day. They didn’t know what was coming next, but Jesus did [for this view of the “farewell discourse,” I follow Eugene Peterson, The Story Behind the Story, Journal for Preachers Vol. 26, No. 4, Pentecost 2003, pp. 4-8].

And so he spent that last night with them preparing them for what they couldn’t even begin to imagine: how to follow him without seeing him; how to do his works without him there to teach and admonish them; how to hear his voice in the noise of the world.

During supper, Jesus got up from the table, got a towel, poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet. And after he had washed their feet, he asked, “Do you know what I have done to you?”

And then he began to talk, and he talked for a long time – it’s more than three chapters, the longest conversation we know of between Jesus and his friends. It’s actually not much of a conversation, because the disciples listened the whole time, only occasionally did they throw in a comment or a question.

And after he had spoken, he prayed. He gathered up the life they had lived together and the life they would continue to live without him. He prayed his life and work and their life and work together into one – one life, one mission, one movement of God’s love to the world and in the world.

That is how he prepared them for the difficult transition. That is how he helped them move from seeing in his life who God is to letting others see in their own lives who God is.

He washed their feet, down on his knees before each of them, teaching them to do to each other what he had done to them, choosing the lowly task of a servant.

He prayed to the one he called Father that their mission and his would be one.

He worked and he prayed, and between those focal points of service and worship, he created a tapestry of images, promises, and commandments. Two things he said over and over again.

I am with you only a little longer (13:33).

Now I am going to him who sent me (16:5).

I am leaving the world and am going to the Father (16:28).

Fifteen times in this conversation, Jesus told his disciples, in one way or another, that he would be leaving them.

The second thing he said, and this also over and over again, was that he would send them the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth (14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7).

Two things he said over and over again, “I am leaving…, I am sending…; I am leaving…, I am sending.” Jesus would leave, but he wouldn’t abandon them. He would no longer be with them, but the Holy Spirit would be in them and continue to connect their life and work with his.

The repetitions in these chapters may seem reduntant, but this speech isn’t just information about God, Jesus, the Spirit, and the church. The rhythms and patterns are themselves formative, and listening attentively and reading receptively become the very gates through which the Spirit comes and speaks.

We wish Jesus were here, but he isn’t. But in continuing to live the Jesus way, we are not left to our own strength and imagination. Jesus is sending the Spirit. “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now,” Jesus said. “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.” Jesus’ words are not locked in the past, restricted to a particular period in history. The Spirit allows all generations to receive the word of Jesus in the changing circumstances of our lives, and not just to recall the life of Jesus but continue to live it.

There are words of Jesus that we need to hear to make sense of the church’s role in the current messes of the world, and it is the Spirit who helps us to remember faithfully what Jesus has said and receive obediently what Jesus is saying. We believe that the Spirit has been poured out on all flesh – men and women, young and old, poor and wealthy – and to me that means that we who long to hear the word of God for this day must be attentive to all flesh. Women and men, old and young, poor and rich, trust fund babies and undocumented immigrants. We must listen for the word of God not just in the reading of Scripture or the proclamation of the word, but in every word spoken, whispered, sung or censored among us. We must listen very carefully.

I keep thinking about the two women at the mall. One says, “I am hungry,” and the other is afraid. Of course it is just a simple misunderstanding. Of course it is one that can be easily resolved. And it is soo funny. But it is also true. There is much hunger among God’s children; hunger for bread, for justice, for meaning, hunger for community. And there is much fear; fear of strangers, of the unknown, of losing control, fear of moving down the ladder. I can hear the Spirit speaking: There is hunger and fear, and God wants to make us partners in addressing both, in the name of Jesus.

God is in the midst of the city. The line is from Psalm 46.

God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble with its tumult.
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;
God will help it when the morning dawns.

The Cumberland River is a river of blessing for the city of Nashville, but in the last few days it has brought devastation and loss. The Cumberland and its many smaller tributaries, every river, brook, and creek, bring gladness to our city, but in the last few days they brought fear and suffering.

The Cumberland has crested, and the waters are receding, and in many places the destruction is only now becoming visible. But there is another river flowing through this city: it's a river of healing mercy, a river of neighborliness, a river of compassion and generosity, a river inspiring service, prayers, and songs. May its waters continue to rise, and may it wash the muddy places and heal the broken hearts.

God is in the midst of the city.

Hands on Nashville - volunteer coordination

Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee - donations for flood relief

Will you be a part of the river?

Little words of power, you know them. Words like please (there’s a reason that parents and teachers refer to it as the magic word), or no (a small child’s discovery of self-assertion infuses this little word with considerable physical and emotional energy), or yes (it opens arms and doors). Nothing, however, is more powerful than why – since every why begets another why.

Moms and dads (and children) know that sometimes the only way to stop the next why from popping up like the next pearl on an endless string is the ancient parental reply, “Because I said so.”

Quite often the only good response to why is, “I don’t know,” and occasionally the best reply is to hand it back, “Good question. What do you think the answer might be?”

Why quickly takes us to the heart of things. Why is the sky blue? Why do the stars only shine at night? Why does skin get wrinkly?

And why takes us to the places where we find ourselves completely surrounded by deep mystery. Why do some people suffer more than others? Why does love end? Why is there something rather than nothing?

A couple of weeks ago, one of our children raised a beautiful question in Sunday school, “Why did God make us?”

What do you think? Is it because God loves stories? Is it because God needs company? Is it because people are more interesting than other creatures? Are we? Is it because God delights in creatures that ask questions?

Sometime this summer, I will preach a sermon in response to this fine question. I decided to do that the moment Sarah Ligon told me how the question emerged in her group of children one Sunday morning. Later I wondered if there were other questions that hang around the corners of the hallways, waiting to be asked.

Do you have a question you would like me to address one Sunday morning? Would you share it with me? We may have a lovely little series of sermons triggered by when, why, what, who, where and how. Please send me an email or simply leave a comment below, will you?

“Worship at Vine Street is home. I come for the message. I get to sit and listen to something. It slows me down. It’s not about me. It gets me outside of my world; reminds me of the world outside of my own.”

Vine Street's worship task group met on Maundy Thursday for a meal and conversation.  We talked about what is, for us personally, at the heart of worship at Vine Street, and how other Vine Streeters name that heart, that soul of worship. The text with quotation marks aren’t exact quotations, but snippets of conversation.

“For me, at the heart of worship at Vine Street is the focus on social justice, social issues. A connection with outreach in our city, not just “the world” in a global sense. I come to be inspired to action. Sometimes it’s the music, sometimes a story, etc.”

“For me, it’s about centering, learning, focusing on God. I get to cut out all the noise and get my priorities straight. I remember there’s something outside of my life that is bigger, it helps me make sense of the world, and the world is often crazy. I love communion. Worship keeps me going in the direction I need to go, and just being there is comforting.”

“For me, word and table are at the heart of worship. Centering and being called to respond outwardly. God’s kingdom through social justice. It’s very “Disciple” in the intentionality of the table and the connection to mission.”

• Music can be powerful, and we desire more opportunities for being touched deeply by images, clips, stories, moments, etc. We want to make room to include creative and memorable elements that break the mold of predictability, room for a little playfulness within the pattern/flow of the service. 

• We want to find ways for worship leaders to introduce elements of the service in a way similar to the invitation to the table (“this is why  we do this, this is what we are doing here” without becoming overly didactic).

At our next gathering, we will discuss how we will include the characteristics mentioned in the previous two paragraphs into the current order of our 10:45 worship.

The sweater I’m wearing today was made in China. My socks in South Korea, pants in Lesotho, shirt in Hong Kong, underwear in Honduras, shoes in Slovenia.

For breakfast I had coffee from Sumatra/Indonesia, milk from Middle Tennessee, cereal from somewhere in the United States, and an apple from New York State. Before I left for work (in a car from Japan), I filled my thermos (made in Nashville!) with tea from India. I’m typing this on a laptop made in Malaysia while listening to music from Italy on a device designed in California and assembled in China.

I’m amazed at how connected my life is with people in so many other places around the world, and how most of the time I’m not aware of that reality.

As part of our hunger:360 ministry project, we invite you to do a little domestic geography and economy research. We call it Mapping the Pantry in phase one, and Mapping a Meal in phase two.

Phase one. Between now and the end of March, take a moment (ideally in the company of all members of your household, especially the children),find a pencil and a piece of paper, and pick up all the food items in your pantry and/or your refrigerator and/or your cupboard, and write down where they came from. List their place of origin as accurately as possible – countries, states, and cities.

Phase two. This is a very similar research project.  Between now and the end of March, choose a meal and write down where all its ingredients came from, again, as accurately as possible (the honey in my tea is from Goodlettsville, depending on how far Mr. Johnson takes his beehives around Middle Tennessee).

On two Sundays (March 21 and 28) and on the days in between, we will transfer all the results to a couple of maps in our sanctuary, one of the U.S. and one of the world. We want to get a visual impression of just how connected we are with people all over the whole world in the things we eat. We want to create opportunities for questions and wonder.

You can use the form below to report your results, or return one of the “grocery lists” from the hunger:360 bulletin board (these lists will also be available in the Sunday bulletins). Better yet, bring your list to worship on March 21 or 28, and transfer the results to the maps yourself!

On Saturday, March 6, from 5-7pm, we have the opening reception for muddy hymnal, a photography exhibit in our sanctuary. The artist, Tallu Schuyler will be present and give a gallery talk at 6pm about her experience in Nicaragua.

Also on Saturday, March 6, the Vine Street youth group will host another fantastic Fair Trade Coffee House.

On Sunday morning, March 7, at 9:30 a.m. we look forward to welcoming Prof. Douglas Heimburger, the Associate Director for Education and Training at the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health. Prof. Heimburger will help us understand what happens to our bodies when we don't get proper nutrition, and what the impact is on an individual's as well as the larger community's development.

There is hunger in Nashville. Food security is a term from the dictionary of bureaucrats. Hunger is a human experience that impacts body, mind, and spirit. There is hunger in Nashville, and there are people who help us see and understand and address it.

Following the 10:45am worship service on Sunday, February 28 (approximately at 12:30pm), Tallu Schuyler will be at Vine Street to talk about food security, food deserts, and hunger. She is the Executive Director of Mobile Loaves and Fishes, a ministry named after a miracle. We will eat a simple, nutritious meal (rice, beans, and cornbread) and we will learn together - statistics, terms, facts, numbers, and the human experiences that so easily get lost behind them. Come and join us for this Sunday afternoon opportunity to eat and learn together!

This lunch & learn is part of our hunger:360 ministry project, and more events and programs are coming up soon. Check the calendar for details, and watch for more information early next week.

Friday I had the pleasure of spending a couple of hours in the kitchen with friends. We browned turkey breast, cooked rice, chopped  and sauteed onions, sweet peppers, broccoli, sweet potatoes, and celery. And when we were finished - the last ingredient we added was a handful of fresh oregano - there were several trays of delicious lunch, ready to be served.

It all began with the lovely fragrance of garlic from the marinade that had infused the turkey. With the magic of heat and olive oil, all the other flavors emerged and blended, sweet and salty, meaty, malty, musty, hot and mmmh. Cooking a meal is alchemy, beautiful magic.

We loaded the food on a truck - a great truck equipped with heated compartments - and then the miracle continued in the streets of Nashville. We had made lunch for men and women who spend the night in shelters and tents, under bridges, or just walking until morning. We had cooked a good meal for people who spend the better part of the day hoping for better days.

There is hunger in Nashville. Food security is a term from the dictionary of bureaucrats. Hunger is a human experience.

There are food deserts in Nashville. And there are people who help us see and understand and address those realities.

Next Sunday, February 28, following the 10:45 worship service, Tallu Schuyler will talk to us about hunger in Nashville. Tallu is the Executive Director of Mobile Loaves and Fishes, a ministry named after a miracle. We will eat lunch together (rice, beans, and cornbread) and we will learn together - statistics, terms, facts, and the human experiences that so easily get lost behind them.

On Saturday, February 27, you have an opportunity to be part of a little kitchen magic. There will be rice, black beans, onions, peppers, garlic, corn meal, eggs, salt, milk, water and fire. Would you like to be part of turning all that into a meal for many? The cooks will meet in the Vine Street kitchen sometime on Saturday. Just complete the form at the bottom of this post.

Before you scroll down: on Friday, February 26, a group will gather at 9am in the kitchen at Woodmont Christian Church's South Hall to prepare lunch for the homeless. Contact Caitlin Dally caitlin.m.dally@vanderbilt.edu or Tallu Schuyler talluschuyler@gmail.com for details.

At Vine Street, we want to integrate what we do in those areas: the life of faith is not a pizza, but more like a circle where all points are defined by a common center. Our work, our worship, our family life, our study, our hopes, our fellowship – they all share, we all share a common center in the God who meets us in Jesus Christ.

360 is the sum of all angles. 360 is our way of saying, “We want to look at this from as many angles as possible. We want to experience this as completely as possible. We want to bring together what we know belongs together.”

hunger:360 is our second 360 project. Why hunger? That’s the question. Our gardens, fields and farms produce more than enough food for all, and yet there is persistent, deadly hunger on every inhabited continent. In November, the Department of Agriculture reported that here in the United States the number of Americans who lacked consistent access to adequate food soared last year, to 49 million. The government began tracking what is now commonly called “food security” 14 years ago, and the number of men, women, and children lacking “food security” has never been higher.

During Lent this year, beginning with Ash Wednesday on February 17, we will bring hunger and faith together to see how and where they touch.

We will study, we will fast, we will prepare and serve meals, we will pray, we will map our pantries, we will walk, we will read, we will trust the God of abundance in the deserts of scarcity.

hunger:360 offers us opportunities to

• talk with Tallu Schuyler, Executive Director of Mobile Loaves and Fishes, about hunger in Nashville, and how we can address it
• hear Kevin McCoy, Coordinator of the Nashville CROP Walk, who is passionate about the work of Church World Service and its fight against hunger
• prepare meals and serve them in unfamiliar places in our city
• walk through a photography exhibit in our sanctuary
• pray with Jesus, the bread of life
• watch a movie about a community garden project in L.A.
• tour Second Harvest Foodbank
• ask ourselves what hunger drives our insatiable consumerism
• talk with Prof. Douglas Heimburger from the Vanderbilt Institute of Global Health about the effects of hunger and malnutrition on the human body
• read Sara Miles, Take This Bread and discuss it in a small group
• participate in the Nashville CROP Walk
• map our pantries and refrigerators and find out where all this food comes from
• worship God with our whole being

Watch for updates on individual events on this website.

The calendar below looks best in Agenda view.