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For you and for me, a place at the table,
though wounded and sore, with need to forgive,
in anger, in hurt, a mindset of mercy,
for you and for me, a new way to live,

And God Will Delight When We Are Creators
Of Justice And Joy, Compassion And Peace:
Yes, God Will Delight When We Are Creators
Of Justice, Justice And Joy!(1)

This song has followed me around. I’ve heard it and sung it several times since Regional Assembly ’26. Like the song a workshop group created with Carrie Newcomer’s help at RA ’26, it captures our desire to describe the kind of hosts Disciples strive to be as followers of Jesus. This month, First Christian Church in Stillwater is expanding their table by partnering with other congregations to participate in The Longest Table, a community meal in a public setting.

Our congregations are mobilizing their banquet tables through food pantries, giving away backpacks and school supplies, serving at soup kitchens, community clothing closets, listening, learning, and standing with and up for the marginalized in our communities. The Commission on Faith in Action is lending a hand by providing ten (10) congregations with a reconciliation grant to assist their ministries. The October 21st Regional RoundUp will have a list of those congregations and their activities.

We are passing a lot around the table this month.

The Christian Church Commission will meet to consider grant requests to support congregations in these counties: Oklahoma, Kingfisher, Logan, Lincoln, Pottawatomie, Cleveland, McClain, Grady, and Canadian.  Congregations can apply for grants up to $4,000 to help address their strategic challenges unique to each context.

Seventy-five (75) women attended the Oklahoma Disciples Women’s Retreat (Oct. 2–3) at Camp Christian to celebrate the ways each one is a new person in Christ. Keynotes, campfire, worship, meals, and more filled this 36-hour retreat. We are grateful for Marilyn Bohlender and her planning team for their good work and leadership.

The Commission on Laity and Commission on Worship and Spirituality are sponsoring Theological Table Talk: Praying at the Lord’s Table, on October 11th (3:30 pm). This free Zoom webinar welcomes Rev. Dr. Lisa Barnett and Dr. Warren Carter, Phillips Theological Seminary Faculty, as they lead elders, clergy and laity in sessions to encourage us to express a variety of understandings of this meal.  Click the link above to learn more and register.

East 6th Street Christian Church celebrates the 30th anniversary of Rev. Jesse Jackson’s ministry with the congregation on October 4th.  First Christian Church in Chickasha celebrates 100 years of worship in their sanctuary on October 25th. These anniversaries are examples of staying: physical and spiritual commitments to journey with one another as a community of faith through grief and joy, in hard times and abundance. 

This is a season of creating banquets through budgets that will welcome and sustain ministry in 2027. Budgets tell a theological story about what we value. We don’t think of it this way, but a budget is one way Disciples renew their covenant each year to do ministry.  Budgets are more than dollars.  Your attention, participation, and service are part of the covenant, too.  Your commitment to your congregation, your congregation’s commitment to participating in Regional life, and your giving to the Disciples Mission Fund and the Christmas offering renew the covenant of ministry we do together, locally, with the Region, and with the denomination.  Thank you.

One more thing.  Our clergy manage and handle so much that we don’t see.  October is Pastor Appreciation month.  Sometime this month, pause and pray for your minister.  Write a note of thanks.  Find a way to let your minister know that their work, vocation, and service as a prophetic pastor, preacher, and teacher matter.

Disciples, don’t forget that God delights in the ways you host banquets in your community, and through the covenant we share as the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Oklahoma. We are co-creators of justice, joy, compassion, and peace, following the ways of Jesus.  Thank you for being a voice of gospel, and stay centered in God’s shalom.

Disciples, you are a blessing.

Note
1. Shirley Erena Murray, For Everyone Born (Hope Publishing) 1998.

The kingdom of love is coming, because:
somewhere someone is kind when others are unkind,
somewhere someone shares with another in need,
somewhere someone refuses to hate, while others hate,
somewhere someone is patient — and waits in love,
somewhere someone returns good for evil,
somewhere someone serves another, in love,
somewhere someone is calm in a storm,
somewhere someone is loving everybody.
Is that person you?(1)

In Romans 12, the Greek phrase translated as “spiritual worship” can also be translated “reasonable service.”(2) To be a living sacrifice is reasonable service.  That is compelling, because it challenges the current version of our extraordinary, most-valuable-player, me-and-my-tribe, scarcity-driven, red-and-blue, unreasonable culture.   New Testament scholar Marcus Borg calls this part of Romans the “so what”(3) section.  Here, Paul turns from theology about God and Christ to what that theology means in practice—his words are counsel about relationships, community, discipleship, and what it means to be Christian. And it begins with being a living sacrifice: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds.”

As the old joke goes, when you put five Disciples in a room to discuss just about anything, there are eight opinions and eleven ideas.   That can be a weakness — when we decide it means we don’t have to be accountable to one another, or our Disciples identity and ethos. It is a strength — when we respect the boundaries of covenantal community and hold ourselves accountable to our history, our congregation’s structures, our denominational structure, the broader Christian community, and our common life in the world.  The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) celebrates the spirituality of service and study — whether we are painting a house, discussing how the way of Jesus is lived here in the 21st century, studying a story from the Bible or Church tradition, providing a meal for a grieving family, or helping a neighbor.  Disciples Mission Week and Hub celebrate, encourage, and connect us to what our siblings in faith are doing across the denomination.

Service and study strengthen faith and make life meaningful. As I have grown up in our little movement, I have come to believe that service and study are a compass, a winnowing stick, and a Geiger counter. Sometimes it takes more than one of those tools to help us reorient, separate noise from truth — even capital “T” Truth — and measure passion and commitment as we balance individual and communal need, staying grounded in the good news of God.  Service and study reflect our old ideal of unity, liberty, and graciousness.

I think Christian unity means holding all who profess the Christian faith to the highest standards of service in the world. Unity, not uniformity, is the commentary that embraces curiosity about our differences of belief, about our reasonable service, even our reasonable oneness, as we follow Jesus and proclaim the good news of God.

As hard as it is to imagine, it is reasonable that firefighters and first responders — and nurses and doctors — ran toward the Murrah Building after the explosion in 1995. Because that is what firefighters and first responders do, on behalf of neighbors they have never met. You have witnessed it, time after time, with your own eyes. What do you suppose non-believers, the nones, and the dones would say Christians do? I wonder, what do you suppose your neighbors find hard to imagine about your congregation’s reasonable service in your community?

That’s what Shannon and I see and experience as we travel around the Region and work with volunteers.  The banquets our congregations host are diverse: welcoming, expanding, celebrating, creating, mobilizing, and staying connected as we equip and empower one another for our reasonable service in our communities and through this covenant we share and claim as the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Oklahoma.  See you around the Region.

Thank you for being a voice of gospel. Stay centered in God’s shalom.

Disciples, you are a blessing.

______

Notes

1. Carruth, Thomas. “Somewhere—Someone.” Faith Formation UUCM, weebly.com. Accessed 29 Aug. 2026.
2. Harrelson, Walter J, General Editor, The New Interpreter’s Study Bible. Abingdon Press (Nashville) 2003. p 2028.
3. Borg, Marcus. Evolution of the Word: The New Testament in the Order the Books Were Written. Harper One (New York) 2012. p 124.

As I begin year 2 as Regional Minister, there are joys, concerns, and always ministry to do and gospel to be.

525,600 Minutes. 21,095 Miles.

Looking back through my calendar and my journal, these are some of the joys this past year:

• Working with the planning team for Regional Assembly ’26
• NWA Clergy Retreat
• Oklahoma Disciples Women’s Retreat
• Oklahoma Clergy Women’s Retreat
• Chi Rho/CYF Fall Retreat
• Commission & Ministry Partner Reports to the Regional Board & 2026 Budget
• Generosity of Donors to the Annual Fund

Advent & Christmas Around the Region

• Ministerial Practices Retreat
• Chi Rho/CYF MidWinter Retreat
• Pastoral Relations Committee
• Installation of our new Regional Board
• Regional Assembly ’26

Easter Around the Region

• Rev. Shannon Cook joined Regional staff
• Northeast Area Clergy Retreat
• General Board Meeting of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
• Successful Church Camp Season
• Digital General Assembly
• Congregations who are thriving
• First 2026-2028 Regional Board Mtg
• Generosity of Congregations supporting our common mission fund (DMF) and other special offerings.
• Installations of Congregational Ministers
• Ordinations

And in those pages and my calendar, some of the concerns and sadness of this past year:

• Congregations searching for a minister
• Colleagues who claimed the promises of their baptism
• Clergy and their families with health challenges or crisis
• Congregations who are struggling
• Conflict and violence around the world
• Economic, political, and theological divisions
• Care and concern for our immigrant, migrant, and refugee neighbors
• And always, “What kind of ancestors do we want to be?”

I’ve referenced grateful.org before.  The Daily Question[1] arrives in my inbox each morning. As we settle into this new biennium (which began in March with the installation of the new Regional Board), I’m pondering the Region’s mission, “To connect, equip, and empower Oklahoma disciples to love and serve like Jesus,” and three recent questions.

What opportunity is beckoning for my attention right now? (July 23)

In September, the Commission on Clergy embraces six new Incare candidates joining seven other candidates on the journey to either commissioned or ordained ministry.  If you are keeping count, that is thirteen candidates on the journey to serve in Christian ministry.

During this biennium, Rev. Susan Payne (Moderator-elect) will lead a task group to review and revise the Region’s Constitution and Bylaws as we embrace the changes to The Design of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and adjust our governance, where appropriate, for 2028 and beyond.

Assist congregations and clergy in the search process to be attentive to what God is calling them to be and do.

Expanding the Region’s mission to connect, equip, and empower Oklahoma disciples (no matter their age)[2] to love and serve like Jesus.

In the face of the unknown, what helps me stay present? (July 22)

¹I waited urgently for the Holy
And the Divine leaned close to me and heard my cry.
²The Holy brought me up from the roaring pit, from the deep mire
And set my feet on firm ground, the Holy made my steps firm.

³The Holy put a new song in my mouth –Praise to our Divine One
Many will see and fear, then they will trust in the Holy.

⁴Happy is the one who puts their trust in the Holy
And does not turn to the proud
To those who follow after lies.

⁵O Holy, my Divine One, you have done so much – Your wondrous acts and thoughts for us.
Nothing compares to you.
Were I to declare and speak about them they would be too numerous
Without number

⁶Sacrifice & Offering you do not take delight in
Ears you dig out for me (unclog my ears)
Burnt offering and sin offering you do not require.

⁷Then I said, “Behold! I bring a book scroll written about me.”
⁸In doing your will, my Divine One, I delight
Your teaching is within my gut.

⁹I have preached your righteousness in the great congregation.
Behold, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, Holy One

¹⁰Your righteousness I have not hidden within my heart
Your fidelity and your deliverance I have declared.
I have not concealed your hesed nor your faithfulness
From the great congregation.

¹¹You, Holy One, will not withhold your compassion from me.
Your hesed and truth (stability) will preserve me forever.[3]

Time for prayer and meditation.

The stories of ministry from our congregations and the denomination.

Which core principles guide the way I live? (July 21)

Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.[4]  Those two commandments that followers of Jesus are invited (called) to dance with or wrestle with, depending on the day. 

Servant leadership.

Proclaim the good news of God that the ways of Jesus lead to Truth about God, and that those ways and that Truth lead to meaningful life and eternal life.[5]

Be curious, not judgmental.[6]

Oklahoma disciples, there is ministry to do and gospel to be. Some days, it’s a dance. Some days, it’s a wrestling match.
Our congregations and region continue…
Expanding
Mobilizing
Staying
Creating
Welcoming
Celebrating
our banquet tables.

Thank you for being a voice of gospel. Stay centered in God’s shalom.

Disciples, you are a blessing.

______

Notes

1. The Daily Question, grateful.org.  https://grateful.org/practice/daily-questions/
2.  My personal addition to the mission of the Region.
3.  Rev. Dr. Lisa W. Davison’s translation of Psalm 40.
4.  Mark 12:28-34, Matthew 22:34-40, Luke 10:25-28.  Mark is my favorite gospel.
5. Following Jesus, whom we proclaim as Christ, is a faith in action; a way of being in the world, but not of it.  It is a way of grace, hospitality, teaching, pastoral care, and preaching that is always prophetic.  My parents would say, “Do your best to walk the talk.”
6. Often misattributed to Walt Whitman, the idea is from an advice column by Marguerite and Marshall Shearer in The Charlotte Observer, January 1986. [https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/be-curious-not-judgmental-walt-whitman/]

One.  This month, our expression of faith gathers for our first online (digital) General Assembly (July 10-11).  If you can stream your favorite show on your TV, computer, phone, or tablet, you can attend General Assembly.  If you want to experience the diversity of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), this is an opportunity.  Technology is amazing.  It can also be isolating, and the temptation will be to join from home alone.  A radio show(1) I listen to talks about how little we mingle with people unlike us.  Church, places of worship, is one of the places where people from different social classes, educational levels, political perspectives, and priorities meet to experience the mystery of God together.  I believe that is the strength of our movement for wholeness in our fragmented world.  Bring your congregation together either in your building or have watch parties in homes.  Get together with another congregation to experience General Assembly and be strengthened for the work of being good news.

Six congregations have graciously opened their doors to Oklahoma disciples to come together for digital General Assembly. If you or your congregation goes to one of these sites (hubs), please, please RSVP so they can plan for your presence.

Edmond, First Christian Church
Saturday Only, 9:30 am–6:30 pm.
Lunch on your own.
Website: fccedmond.org / Contact Rev. John Regan.

El Reno, First Christian Church
Friday: 3:30–6:15 pm
Saturday: 9:30 am–5:00 pm.
Lunch on your own.
Website: fccelreno.org / Contact Rev. Susan Payne or the church office.

Enid, Central Christian Church
Friday: 1:30–6:15 pm
Saturday: 9:30 am–5:30 pm.
Snacks and maybe a lunch on Saturday, depending on the number of people.
Website: centralenid.org / Contact Rev. Ronnie Hopkins.

Norman, First Christian Church
Saturday Only, 9:30 am–6:30 pm.
Lunch on your own.
Website: fccnorman.org / Contact Jeff Champeau or the Church office.

Ponca City, First Christian Church
Friday: 3:00–6:00 pm
Saturday: 9:30 am–5:30 pm.
Lunch can be provided, but please RSVP.
Website: fccponcacity.com / Contact Karen at the Church office.

Tulsa, Harvard Ave. Christian Church
Friday: 1:30–6:45 pm
Saturday: 9:30 am–5:30 pm.
Lunch on your own.
Website: hacctulsa.org / Contact Rev. Whitney Waller Garcia or the Church office.

Two. Our church camp season wrapped up on June 26th. The camp curriculum didn’t cover the flood story, but Junior campers and staff must have thought of it as it rained almost every day of camp. Everyone was safe and adapted to the weather conditions. At CYF Conference, one evening during worship, campers and staff recognized two Regional Youth Council members who graduated (Jonah and Tabitha) and installed six new RYC members who, along with the six returning members, began their service at the end of CYF Conference. And, Water Weekend, sponsored by Texoma Camp Board, was a splashing, tubing, prayerful success (June 26-28).  Read Shannon’s post about camp and visit the Families and Youth page to find links to photos from all the camps.

Three. Mission Trips and Vacation Bible School. Many of our congregations offered VBS or Mission Trips in June. Many more congregations are offering VBS, Mission Trips, or other service learning opportunities this month.  With funding from a Silver Chalice grant, East Sixth Street Christian Church took a group to the First Americans museum in June and will visit the Greenwood Rising museum this month.  The work, service, and learning opportunities our congregations offer are an invitation, though we don’t often think of it that way — an invitation to a different way of living in the world.

Oklahoma Disciples are taking the connections of community out into our fragmented world.

Oklahoma Disciples are practicing ways to equip ourselves and our neighbors for the journey of faith.

Oklahoma Disciples are empowering people through our work and witness along life’s meandering path, nurturing and growing a sustainable faith as we follow the ways of Jesus and proclaim the good news of God.

Your turn.  Email me 3 good things about your congregation’s ministry or your journey in faith.  I’ll pray for you.  Please pray for me.

Thank you for being a voice of gospel. Disciples, you are a blessing.

And one more thing.

Our Nation celebrates 250 years this month.

250 years seems like a long time, and it is, but compared with other Nations, the United States of America is at the edge of adolescence. Do you remember the angst of your pre-teen and teenage years?  As you celebrate July 4th, remember, we, the people inhabiting this land, are striving to be a more perfect union.  History tells the stories of exploitation and compassion that are part of the successes and failures in our striving.  We are old enough to know, discuss, and learn from all the stories.  Not just the ones that make us feel good about ourselves.  There will always be work to do expanding freedom, opportunity, and living peaceably, and that begins with me within my three feet of influence.  When I put on the Ichthus I wear, it reminds me that followers of Jesus do Jesus-like things.  That’s how I want to be known as a Christian living in a secular, multi-ethnic, pluralistic culture with the freedom to worship, or not, without government preference of one faith over another, but a government that maintains and expands equality for all in this land, this Nation that is 250 years young.

I invite you to read the document that set the American experiment in motion.

Declaration of Independence, National Archives, July 4, 1776

Notes

1. Michael Smerconish is on the POTUS channel on SiriusXM and on CNN at 8 am Saturday morning. His, The Mingle Project, is an example of what I think congregational life provides.  Invite someone to church this week and share a pew with them.

Once there was a man who filmed his vacation.
He went flying down the river in his boat
with his video camera to his eye, making
a moving picture of the moving river
upon which his sleek boat moved swiftly
toward the end of his vacation. He showed
his vacation to his camera, which pictured it,
preserving it forever: the river, the trees,
the sky, the light, the bow of his rushing boat
behind which he stood with his camera
preserving his vacation even as he was having it
so that after he had had it he would still
have it. It would be there. With a flick
of a switch there it would be. But he
would not be in it. He would never be in it.

The Vacation
Wendell Berry, New Collected Poems. Counterpoint, 2012.

One of my favorite film philosophers, Ferris Bueller, observed, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”¹   Do you remember a time when the summer felt less scheduled, slower?  Maybe even casual.  The pace of life in our culture has compressed the experience of summer. Congregational life has adapted and sometimes stood against this change.  We, disciples, continue to work the problem of being in the world, but not of the world.  It’s hard to maintain that balance right now.  Maybe it has always been hard.

From Advent to Pentecost, Christians interact with the official story about the life and times of Jesus of Nazareth.  We get equipped, we retool, are energized, formed, and educated for liturgical “ordinary time” when the story about the good news of God continues through Jesus’ followers, believers in Christ, seekers of the Holy, and the religious institutions that represent us.  The Pentecost story reminds us that the Spirit of God descends on humanity and that the good news of God is multilingual and multisensory.

Our congregations are busy during the summer.

• VBS
• Mission Trips
• Church Camp
• Movie Nights
• Day Trips for Sr. Adults, Children, or Youth
• Fellowship Trips
• Summer Study Series
• Backpack Snacks for Kids or Adults

And so much more.

These additional summer experiences build on the journey and lessons from Advent to Pentecost.  They help us remember and reorient our priorities so we don’t miss life and what a life of faith, following Jesus, can mean in a world currently organized by the antagonist industries’² profit margins.  We can be an example of an alternative way of being, what we give our attention, and how we interact with one another and our neighbors.  For me, my alternative way this summer includes:

Listen more.
Talk less.
Mute the political ads on TV and social media.
Continue to limit my social media consumption.
Get away from device screens for 2 hrs each day.
Spend time outdoors.
Handwrite letters to friends and family.
Finish reading two books I began in the spring.

The Substack, Tell Me 3 Good Things, sends an email each evening reflecting on the day.  The reflection and 3 good things always end with, “Now you?”

Oklahoma Disciples, you are a blessing.

P.S.

This summer, our expression of faith will gather for our first digital (online) General Assembly (July 10-11).  It is easier than ever before to register and connect with our siblings in faith in the United States and Canada.  If you can stream your favorite show on your TV, computer, phone, or tablet, you can attend General Assembly.  If you want to see and experience the diversity of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), plan to attend.  Technology is amazing.  It can also be isolating, and the temptation will be to join from home or the car, alone.  A radio show³ I listen to talks about how little we mingle with people unlike us.  Church was one of the places where people from different social classes, educational levels, political perspectives, and priorities met to experience the mystery of God together.  I still believe that is the strength of our movement for wholeness in our fragmented world.  Bring your congregation together either in your building or have watch parties in homes.  Get together with another congregation for General Assembly.  Right now, five congregations are hosting Oklahoma Disciples in their buildings for GA.  We are recruiting more.  Get in touch with one of these congregations, go experience General Assembly together, and be strengthened for the work of being good news in ordinary time.

First Christian Church, El Reno
Central Christian Church, Enid
First Christian Church, Edmond
First Christian Church, Norman
First Christian Church, Ponca City

Notes

1. John Hughes, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” Paramount Pictures, 1986.

2. The Apostle Paul called this “powers and principalities.”  In reporting, it is often referred to as the “rage industry,” which profits from meme culture, blogs, and siloed media across political and theological spectrums set on keeping people frightened, divided, and angry.

3. Michael Smerconish is on the POTUS channel on SiriusXM and on CNN at 8 am Saturday morning. His, The Mingle Project, is an example of what I think congregational life provides.