Michael Davison, Author at Christian Church in Oklahoma

Make a list. Start early.

The Regional Youth Council invites you to join them on a journey to Bethlehem this Advent season by reading along with the Advent devotion they created. Click here to visit the Families & Youth webpage to download a copy.

As Thanksgiving gives way to the Advent season and Christmas I imagine that, like me, you have people to whom you want to offer a word of: gratitude, encouragement, grace, or vision.

Make a list. Start early. This time of year it seems like time speeds up and the calendar fills quickly. Set aside a time of day, each day, to do a card, note, video note, FB messenger, Instagram, whatever works best for you and those with whom you want to connect. And just begin. That fifteen or thirty minutes each day could be significant as you journey to see what God has made known to you.

I look forward to the ministry that is ours to do and gospel to be in 2020. May God continue to bless you.

Michael Davison2019-11-30T07:55:48-06:00Nov 30, 2019|Michael Davison Blog|Comments Off

Finding Your Way – An Advent Devotional

The story says that the shepherds went with haste to see what God had made known to them. What did they talk about on the way?

What is your favorite Christmas Carol, hymn, or song? Why is it meaningful for you?

The Regional Youth Council invites you on a journey through Advent as we take time to ponder, wonder, and experience the meaning of Christmas. This devotional is written by members of the Regional Youth Council and appropriate for all ages.

This year the devotional is in two formats, PDF and ePub. Yes, you can print it as well so you can use the coloring opportunities as a part of your Advent journey.

This year, slow down during Advent. Say “yes” to opportunities that will bless others and make space for silence so you can hear the echo of the angels and go see what God is making known to you.

The links below will take you to a Dropbox file that you can download to your device.

Click here to download the devotional in PDF format.

Click here to download the devotional in ePub format.

Michael Davison2019-11-25T13:07:14-06:00Nov 25, 2019|Youth|Comments Off

Complex, Useful, Thoughtful Things

If we only forward the easy, short and funny things we read online, why are we surprised that our inbox is filled with nothing we’ll remember tomorrow?

What would happened if instead, we shared the most complex, useful and thoughtful things we discovered instead? (Seth Godin, “Short and funny.” Oct 26, 2019)

One of my favorite movie quotes is, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it.” Ferris Bueller uttered that philosophical musing in the “pager culture” long before cell phones, the Internet, and smart phones existed. Having an answering machine at home was a statement about one’s affluence and “fad culture” as much as not wanting to miss a call. Thus began analogue FOMO: fear of missing out. Some things in our culture and the institutions that have helped us form an identity, worldview, and social relationships have changed, are changing, rapidly, almost without thought or as a reaction to external forces beyond our control (maybe even our understanding). It can be exciting, necessary, frightening, confusing, and disappointing

The Church universal and your congregation is caught up in, and effected by, all this speedy change. Some of this change is long overdue as Christianity expands its theology and structures to be more than undergirding the Empire of the day, or doing the charity work that maintains the systems that distress and oppress. Much of the change as needed. Some change is reactionary, rightly or wrongly, to the speed of #hashtag culture and the consumerism that is driving participating in congregational life deeper into the “if it feels good do it” chant from the 1960’s. Just like when you grew up and I grew up, the children and youth in our care are caught up in this web. We had different distractions, rebellions, dangers, safety nets, and role models. But, when you listen past the noise I don’t think the foundational needs of adolescents, children, and families haven’t changed that much. Please pardon the generalization, but belonging, love, compassion, shelter, clothing, water, self determination, developing a moral compass, education, and identity remain central to humanity in every context.

What is the good news of God that you or your congregation can be a witness of or bring into existence for the complex lives of families or kids today?

How is the way of Jesus a path less traveled, counter-cultural, and relevant in the religious consumerism of “if it feels good do it” time such as ours?

One of the best stories I know about the complex, useful, and thoughtful things that I’ve discovered during my time serving in Christian ministry is from Tales of a Magic Monastery (1994).

I had just one desire–to give myself completely to God. So I headed for the monastery. An old monk asked me, “What is it you want?”

I said, “I just want to give myself to God.” I expected him to be gentle, fatherly, but he shouted at me, “NOW!” I was stunned. He shouted again, “NOW!” Then he reached for a club and came after me. I turned and ran. He kept coming after me, brandishing his club and shouting, “Now, Now.”

That was years ago. He still follows me, wherever I go. Always that stick and always the “NOW!”

Maybe, the very best we can do right now, if ever, is to continue to plant the “NOW!” memories that somewhere, out there, bloom.

Michael Davison2019-11-02T19:40:50-05:00Nov 2, 2019|Michael Davison Blog|Comments Off

Good To Be Still

The CYF Koinonia Campout was a fantastic overnight (Oct 18-19) during fall break. The event, planned and led by the Regional Youth Council, welcomed ten congregations that sent high school youth to Red Rock Canyon Adventure Park. Yes, it was a campout: tents, meals prepared over the fire, hiking, games, and just slowing down. For some of the group it was their first tent camping experience and they were treated to thunderstorms during the overnight.

Did our phones work? Yes, but being outdoors made phone life less interesting or necessary. Several youth and adults commented that is was “good to be still.”

Rev. John Wheeler, FCC Arnett, keynoted the event offering words about the year’s theme, Live in Me, focusing on John 15:4. Friday night worship included a labyrinth walk.

In 2020 the RYC plans to offer weekends focused on spirituality, slowing down, listening, and screen free. The Regional Youth Council will host Qahal/Koinonia Campout during fall break 2020. Plan now to get a tent and bring your Chi Rho and CYF groups.

Click here to see all the photos.

Michael Davison2019-10-31T14:38:24-05:00Oct 31, 2019|Youth|Comments Off

2020 Summer Camp Dates

This is Our Prayer

The Commission for Children, Youth, and Young Adults is EXCITED to announce 2020 Summer Camp Dates and other opportunities during the first half of 2020.

Summer Camp

June 8-12: Chi Rho Camp @ Oakridge Camp
June 15-19: Junior Camp @ Central Oklahoma Camp
June 19-21: Discovery Camp @ Central Oklahoma Camp
June 22-26: CYF Conference @ Central Oklahoma Camp
July 19-25: Mission Camp Road Show: Albuquerque
September 5-7: Family Camp @ Camp Christian
September 5-12: Intersections (NY & DC) [tentative]

Listening is a skill

The heat index confirms that summer is still with us even though children, youth, teachers, and administrators have returned to school. Family schedules are adjusting. My neighborhood’s morning schedule has changed as commuters remind themselves to watch for kids crossing streets and waiting on the bus.

The last season of my sabbatical (July 15-August 16) was filled with travel, family, continuing education, and a bit of rest. But before that, June and July were a whirlwind of activity focused around the campers and volunteers of our summer camp program. This year, campers and counselors learned how peace works in their lives and the communities in which they live and move. The summer season ended with Mission Camp Road Show which visited Texas City, TX to help with ongoing Hurricane Harvey recovery. Oklahomans uniquely understand the longterm work of recovering from a natural disaster. Learn more about what the group did and how they represented the “Oklahoma standard” by visiting the Region’s website.

During my last season of sabbatical, I was reminded of the difference between listening to get through a conversation or situation, and listening to hear. That may seem like an odd description. It is the difference between thinking of your next reply in a conversation versus listening and absorbing what you are hearing from a person. Listen, thoughtful pause to organize a thought or two, and then respond. Listening is a skill.

When we begin to act by listening, the rest follows naturally. It’s not so easy, of course—it requires us to give up preconceived ideas, judgments, and desires in order to allow space to hear what is being said. True listening requires a deep respect and a genuine curiosity about situations as well as a willingness just to be there and share stories. Listening opens the space, allows us to hear what needs to be done in that moment. It also allows us to hear when it is better not to act, which is sometimes a hard message to receive.(1)

All the technology that is a part of life these days makes listening harder and sometimes easier. Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook (just name dropping a few) give users the ability to share emotion and information faster, but does that mean we are listening to one another. Sometimes we simply use the latest tech megaphone to shout, shout, shout about . . . (fill in the blank). Complaining or throwing shade is easy via a device. How often do you compliment via a device?

How is your “FOMO” today? Do you have a fear of missing out? Is the idea of your favorite social media platform being offline a day or a week a gift or does it induce your favorite unconscious stress activity? Listen to yourself. Listen to yourself for a day or a week. What themes are you hearing in the posts you share or actual words you say out loud?

An experiment. Don’t post in your social media platforms for a week. Rather, listen to and through the words of people in the stream of your social media platforms. Keep a journal of those words, ideas, and feelings. What thoughtfully challenges your assumptions? What is intended to play on your emotion? What affirms your humanity and that of others? What is marketed to you?

I don’t think to be counter-cultural means “drop out.” We can, like Jesus did, take time away to recalibrate and rediscover how to be “hard on issues and soft, compassionate on people.”(2) . The tough part is to disassociate the issue from the person.

Note

1. Mirabai Bush, “When Listening is the Most Radical Act.” gratefulness.org (August 29, 2019) [https://gratefulness.org/resource/why-listening-is-the-most-radical-act/]
2. A phrase used at the Mediation Training that I attended sponsored by the Lombard Mennonite Peace Center. “Hard on issues and soft on people” has been lost in our culture.

Michael Davison2019-09-05T07:22:35-05:00Sep 5, 2019|Michael Davison Blog|Comments Off

Mission Camp Road Show: Thank You

We were all uncomfortable at some point of the trip. Mission Camp Road Show returned to Oklahoma July 13, with sore muscles, stories, some skills we didn’t have before the trip, and a different understanding of what it means to care for creation. We were able to take the Oklahoma standard to Texas City, TX, through the generous support of our financial sponsors without whom this trip would not have been possible. Thank you!

Charter Bus Seat Sponsors

Adult Bible Study Class, Central CC Enid
Anonymous Donor (2 seats)
FCC Durant
Genesis Class, Central CC Enid
Rev. John & Sally Wheeler
Ken & Phyllis Hambrick (3 seats)
Linda & Rev. Pat Sutherlin
Lois Tilley
Max Johnson
Michael Allen
Patricia Swann
Rev. Dr. Lisa Davison
Rev. Geoff Brewster
Rev. Paul Ragle
Ruth Moore
Thom & Laurie Bushman (2 seats)
Travis Carlson Family

Trip Sponsors

Central Area Ministries
Central Christian Church Enid
Children, Youth, & Young Adult Commission
First Christian Church El Reno
First Christian Church Moore (overnight host for groups arriving on Saturday before the entire group left Sunday morning at 7am).
Leadership Training School Offering
New Covenant Christian Church
Northeast Area Ministries
Oklahoma Disciples Foundation Grant
Oklahoma Disciples Women

MCRS participants discovered neighbors in south Texas. The gracious smiles, offer of pizza or water, and “thank you” from home owners are imprinted on our group. We went to serve, and in some instances, received more than we gave. You probably know that feeling. Working with Reach Beyond Mission and Disciples Volunteering, ten (10) Oklahoma congregations sent youth and adults on this first Mission Camp Road Show. The people our group met and stories they heard were heart breaking and inspiring. Some of our group were frustrated for home owners who, three years after the Tax Day flood and Hurricane Harvey, are still trying to get their homes and lives rebuilt or restored. Only a few sites were near the water. The majority of the homes our group worked on are inland where the days of rain from Hurricane Harvey overwhelmed storm drains, drainage ditches, and people’s lives.

Houses our group worked in, or just passed each day, still had water line markings on the outside. Some of the sites were homes stripped to the studs and concrete. In neighborhoods concrete slabs are markers where a home once stood. One work team spent three days carefully putting down floating flooring that they had to pull up first. Portable air conditioners worked hard to cool the inside air to 87 degrees not counting the humidity. When they left Wednesday, bedrooms, bathrooms, the living room, and part of the kitchen were no longer bare concrete. There is still a long way to go for this home to be a living space.

One group worked for a family living in a home with sheet rock walls ready for paint. Towels or sheets hung in place of inside doors. Concrete floors are stacked with belongings creating paths to navigate from room to room. A mom, kids, and pets are doing their best to cope and live. They embrace the help of unknown neighbors, like our group, who are in and out of their house daily, if they are lucky, putting together a home flooded twice in the same year. “Hard as it is, you get over being to proud to ask for or accept help.” On Thursday, the hallway is no longer bare concrete. It led the way to bedrooms where our work group moved furniture onto new flooring they had laid. A bit of normalcy.

Some groups worked on several projects during the week. One worked at First Christian Church in Texas City helping paint two walls in the fellowship hall, and repainted the lines in the parking lot. That same group laid flooring, baseboards, mowed the lawn, and painted at a woman’s house the rest of the week.

Another group helped repair a fence, added a door to a shed, put up guttering, painted, and many more smaller projects to complete her house and take it off the list. Another worked at one house all week trying to get it finished, but a plumbing issue created by another well meaning group prevented them from completing that project. That group did finishing work, put up cabinets in the kitchen, painted and installed baseboards and molding, and mowed the yard.

Two groups visited Seeding Galveston, a community garden in Galveston complete with chickens, turkeys, and goats. There they helped weed beds, clean pens, and some learned about composting. Yes, that was a smelly morning. A few took a turn at milking a goat. Another group helped at the Regional Food Bank in Texas City, creating bags of food for children, learning about hunger in Galveston County, and then helping clients who receive a selected basket of food each week.

Both of these groups also spent thirty minutes picking up trash at the Texas City Dike. They went from the recycling and reuse of the community garden to picking up after consumer culture. In just an hour the two groups picked up an estimated 80 pounds of trash from an area about 30 yards by 300 yards. The dike is an access point to the Gulf of Mexico where people fish, earn a living, and play. It protects the oil refineries and Texas City. It was different from the beach in Galveston on Thursday evening.

We give thanks for the adults on this mission trip. Without their time, talent, and willingness to accompany their youth this trip would not have happened. We also give thanks for the Co-Directors of MCRS: Pastor Eula Hledik, Rev. Colton Lott, and Pastor Tara Dew. These three worked alongside me, Rev. Michael Davison, as their congregations New Covenant CC Oklahoma City and First Christian El Reno, co-sponsored MCRS with the Region. Click here to see a selection of photos from the week. More added soon.

Thank you, Christian Church in Oklahoma, for the ways you are a voice of gospel in your communities and through the covenant we call the Region. Summer Camp happens because you are involved. Stay centered.

Congregations @ Mission Camp Road Show

Southern Hills Christian Church Edmond
First Christian Church El Reno
Central Christian Church Enid
Christian Church of the Covenant Enid
New Covenant Christian Church Oklahoma City
Western Oaks Christian Church Oklahoma City
Putnam City Christian Church
First Christian Church Stroud
Forest Park Christian Church Tulsa
First Christian Church Woodward

Michael Davison2019-08-19T17:10:36-05:00Jul 16, 2019|Regional News, Youth|Comments Off

Making things better

When has collaborating with others made something better?

The Daily Question. gratefulness.org (June 30, 2019)

Outdoor ministry (summer camp / church camp) is a collaborative ministry in our Region. No one person does it all. This is a unique characteristic of the intentional Christian community that our brand of Christian witness offers and celebrates here in Oklahoma and in the other Regions of our little frontier movement. There are no celebrities. Everyone is a celebrity. Some have more responsibility than others, but all are obligated to nurture play, prayer, worship, study, and service which are the foundational ingredients that are blended together each day at church camp. It’s not easy and you have to want it even when that means putting others before oneself. Especially, when it means putting others before oneself.

On Sunday, July 7th, youth and adults from ten of our congregations will take a mission adventure together. They are listed next to the VW Micro Bus. After a ten hour bus ride the group will arrive at First Christian Church in Texas City, TX. It is from this congregation’s doorstep that our group of fifty-three (53) will be present and lend a hand in ongoing Hurricane Harvey recovery. That recovery looks different now almost two years since Harvey blew 130 mph winds across portions of south Texas and rained down more than 40 inches of rain in four days. One of the things that Oklahomans know is that disaster recovery takes a long, long time and it manifests in many forms. It is the details of small things and acts of kindness that no camera will capture and no dollar amount can sustain. So, we take your blessings and prayers (and lots of sunscreen and bug spray) with us July 7-13. You can follow along on the Region’s Facebook page as well as our Twitter (@CCOKDOC) and Instagram (ccokdoc).

And . . . my final season of sabbatical is July 15 – August 16. Thank you for the time away.

Michael Davison2019-07-01T20:05:14-05:00Jul 1, 2019|Michael Davison Blog|Comments Off

IAS Poetry and Prose

The last two years our International Affairs Seminar groups have had the opportunity to study with a poet for 90 minutes during the second seminar day in Washington DC as a way of processing what they have learned and seen so far. Participants create their own poetry and prose then share those words with the group. Some have offered their words for publication.

new year new me

by Tabitha Phillips (First Christian Church Sulphur)

how can you say new year new me when it’s only a new year but a same year.

how can you go into a new year while are sons and daughters are being sold and our brothers and sisters of different backgrounds are being put down.

how can you say new year new me.

how can you help ruin the lives of others and let it slide or go undetected, how can you beat those who frees you and leave those who need you.

how can you say new year new me.

how can you be apart of groups who hate instead of groups who love, how can you treat people so poorly yet say you need them, you love them.

how can you say new year new me.

maybe you say it to be like everyone else, maybe it’s only lust of greed, maybe you crave that change, the thought of a new person. but how can you say you’ll do better by only saying new year new me.

I am a Christian
by Beth Felkner (First Christian Church Norman)

I am a Christian
“Oh so you hate me?” they say
I question why
Then I see the pain in their eyes

Years of rejection
Painful reflection
“You’re going to hell”
Say, “you’ll never live well”
And that rages my soul
In my heart puts a hole
That is not Christian

But I am a Christian
God calls me to justice
I see this, I must this
Still so much work to be done, so much love to be

Looking for love
So the Bible we hold
But it’s hate we read of
Til we say “we’re done”

There’s Amnons among us
Try to bring down and shun us
But I am a Christian
I am not
Til God’s love has won

She is Someone
by Rev. Shannon Cook (First Christian Church Norman)

She is someone.
She is someone’s daughter, sister, niece, friend, beloved.

She is someone.
She is not an object, commodity, product, punching bag, receptacle, pin cushion.

She is someone.
She is someone’s hope, light, joy, hero, inspiration, love.

She is someone.
She is not forgotten, blamed, irreparably broken, dismissible.

She is someone.
She is created by God in God’s image, loved and accepted beyond measure, a vital part of creation, worthy of respect.

She is someone.
Who was she to you?
Who is she to you?
Who will she be to you?

Brothers and Sisters
by Bart Hanna (First Christian Church Norman)

I, don’t know what to write.
My brain has been opened for a fight.
With knowledge comes anger, and the urge to smite.
Because what we do to our brothers and sisters is not right.

Their struggles and toils go mostly unseen,
We benefit from their labor and think them disgusting and unclean.
Because what we do to our brothers and sisters is obscene.

What can I do, I am just one man?
How can I help other see this isn’t God’s plan?
I will speak up and out, I will make changes grand,
Because what we do to our brother and sisters is such a sham.

These Christians
R. Kayeen Thomas (poet)
A poem created from Mr. Thomas’ listening to all the poetry and prose read by IAS participants, March 19, 2019

These Christians, these Christians dodge hate birthed on misunderstanding.
These Christians, these Christians stand on new ground during New Year’s and declare themselves different.
These 38 feet seem so far away looking behind at the you you’ve outgrown,
Hearing cries that you can’t answer and questions you can’t answer.
When being you is its own rebellion you just smile.
You swing punches with your grin and your love may hurt but you keep on.
You stop for no one.
When five minutes equals a lifetime, and you wear your guilt like sackcloth, sometimes there are no words and heroes hide away.
But these sisters are people. They are somebody despite the despair the traffic brings.
When will we be fed up enough to be stoplights, to break apart the traffic piece by piece?
When will we see God’s image in their tears and know our friends are falling and catch them?

Michael Davison2019-04-30T15:49:10-05:00Apr 30, 2019|Youth|Comments Off

Sabbatical: Season 2

The invisible limits

Words like חמץ and kx’āhã don’t appear in English. These words, like thousands of others, include sounds that aren’t part of the normal spoken range of the language. We don’t have difficulty saying or hearing these sounds, they’re simply sounds we have rules against.

The question is: Is the alphabet we use missing those sounds because we don’t use them, or is it that we don’t use those sounds because we don’t have letters for them?

If you can’t see it, you can’t say it. And that goes for more than words. (Seth Godin, 3/18/19)

Sabbatical: Season 2, has begun. When the Intersection arrives to your inbox I will be a week into the Second Season. This 37 days will be filled with reading, outdoor activity, and two thought projects: generic Christianity and moralistic therapeutic deism. Both of these has had an effect on our denomination and how we choose to blend in or stand out in our communities.

I have a reading list that I will probably not complete, but I’m starting with the books below.

My companion and I will be cruising during holy week and, weather permitting, I’ll watch the Easter sunrise over the horizon of the Atlantic ocean. I will also return to blogging and create a writing ritual that I can sustain into the rest of the year. I’m trusting that I’ll have a better grasp of the invisible limits, our systems and my own, when May 1 arrives.

Michael Davison2019-04-02T12:48:28-05:00Apr 2, 2019|Michael Davison Blog|Comments Off

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