Flying high—with wings and without them

I have two current favorites on television these days – one commercial and one half-hour program. The commercial, surprisingly enough, is for the Washing­ton State Lottery.

In it a group of men with hang gliders goes flying with some flightless birds, penguins, chickens and an emu. As the birds dangle from their bird-sized riggings, both men and birds all seem to be enjoying the experience. The penguin even flaps his little wings. The tag line is “Every bird should get to fly”—a true stretch of the imagination if you are a penguin.

The program, on Home and Garden Television, is called “Hidden Po­tential.” It features families who want to buy a house but have budget constraints. They look at three houses that are well within their price range, but all of them seem unappealing with features like hideous floor plans, small kitchens, ugly exteriors or dreary basements.

Enter a young architect with a laptop computer who looks at the ugly spaces with new eyes and offers a fresh design, brought to life with computer­ized illustrations. The trans­formations are amazing. Best of all, the remodeled houses are still within the budget.

What do these flight­less birds and ugly houses have in common? Both invite opportunities for cre­ative thinking. If a penguin can’t fly, why not use a hang glider to get him airborne? If a floor plan is horrible, why not move a wall?

Most of us do not think that way most of the time. Often it takes a new pair of eyes to see something from a new angle and offer a suggestion that seems “out of the box.”

In the last month or so I’ve heard about several churches that have moved ahead in their missions with some “out of the box” thinking and doing. I visited a church in Oregon, for instance, that started out as a small group of Episcopa­lians who wanted to worship together in their retirement/recreation community. Later they joined with some Lutherans in the area.

Eventually folks from other Prot­estant denominations wanted to join in, so they found a way to include them with a special kind of membership that had the blessing of the Episcopal and Lutheran bishops. Now they’ve grown to 300 members and share space with the Roman Catholic Church. The small community where they live is unique and their own story of growth and develop­ment is unique as they’ve responded to the needs and challenges of their setting. They practice ecumenicity at a level that wouldn’t work everywhere, but it works well for them and what they do is, well, out of the box.

At a national conference early in October I heard two other “out of the box” Episcopal stories. One congrega­tion has formed itself into a collection of house churches that worships weekly in homes. The priest spends some time with each and they come together every few weeks to share in a community Eucha­rist. That very different worship struc­ture serves this church well.

Yet another church sold its build­ing in order to pour resources into a min­istry that is part of their local mission. The congregation is strong and vital, but chooses to worship in rented space in order to focus their ministry.

Clearly these are choices that aren’t for everyone. But they are creative and bold responses to local opportunities. I’d like to think it is the Spirit is at work, leading them into creative kinds of mis­sion and ministry. These churches were able to ask the question, “What if…?” and then move ahead in faith.

Sometimes a creative and bold response is a lot less radical. At a recent Diocesan Council meeting the Rev. Stana Wright of Omak described how they invited members and visitors to a back-to-school party and then followed up with the folks who came. The bot­tom line: attendance has improved! St. Paul’s, Cheney, a church whose building is not easily identified as a church, added bolder signs and a cross that leave no doubt that it is an Episcopal Church.

What are the creative challenges for us? What are the compelling min­istries that nudge us to think and work creatively, even if that means finding a daring new way of being? What are the bold choices that have made your con­gregation stronger? If you have a story to share, please contact me at kristip@spo­kanediocese.org and I will pass it along.

After all, every bird (or every con­gregation) should get to fly!