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My New Year’s Resolutions 2022

by Rebekah Simon-Peter | Dec 7, 2021

As I look toward 2022, I have mixed feelings of excitement and trepidation. Will the pandemic finally be over, life returning to a semblance of normal? Will we, as a nation and as individuals, take on the big issues of gun violence, homophobia, and racism, and start treating one another more as a beloved community? Will the United Methodist church split? What will my own ministry look like? Uncertainty aside and focusing on the positive, I sat down to write my New Year’s Resolutions for 2022.

I’ve been in ministry for 27 years. The first 12 years as a pastor, then 15 years as support for pastors and other church leaders. My ministry has been about empowering church leaders to create shifts in their congregations and move towards greater health and vitality, personally and corporately. It’s deeply satisfying work and my life’s passion.

When the pandemic hit, I was busy traveling around the country, leading retreats and workshops, delivering keynote addresses. Much as I loved my work, the pace of travel was hard to keep up.

When the coronavirus slowed travel to a halt, my commute shrunk to the one mile between my home and office. I was relieved. My ministry moved online, though I realized there were others whose lives and work couldn’t simply adapt. Those who worked with and fed the homeless, the immigrants who worked in our fields, the healthcare workers struggling to save lives with little sleep and full hospitals, police, firefighters, nursing home caregivers. So many people risking their lives to help others live.

My team and I stayed active in our various ways, practicing reconciliation by listening to people with views other than our own, donning masks and distancing for Black Lives Matter marches, walking in solidarity with our LGBT brothers and sisters, donating gift cards and clothing, sending funds where we thought they’d be put to the best use. Helping others, outside of my ministry, took more creativity, but we stayed as “active” as possible within our communities.

Through my ministry, we helped lead the wave of adaptation by hosting innovative online retreats, webinars, and classes. We added free workshop options to make the ministry accessible to others, isolated in their homes as we were. And our Creating a Culture of Renewal® participants told us that they fared far better than their colleagues who didn’t have the level of support that our groups offer.

happy people together

All that notwithstanding, I really missed BEING with people. There’s no substitute for the immediacy and energy that happens in a live setting. That kind of energy fuels my creativity and my spirit.

So this year, while recognizing the suffering and lives lost, I also want to embrace all the good that the pandemic has brought our way and the options it’s given me to reach out in faith to an even wider audience. Thus, I share my New Year’s resolutions for my life’s ministry.

Be it resolved that in the service of church leaders everywhere in 2022, in partnership with God I will be creative, daring myself to think outside the box, and taking on things that scare me.

Be it resolved that I will deepen my commitment to authentic Christian community by empowering my ministry team to lead powerfully.

Be it resolved that I will envision and give voice to new futures and not let the fear of failure or rejection hold me back. Like other leaders, I worry about what others think of me. To hell with that. With a high percentage of Protestant senior pastors getting burned out and , this work is more important than ever.

Out of these New Year’s resolutions, my ministry goals include hosting a live event: A Celebration of Renewal; publishing a book: Growing the Post-Pandemic Church (Market Square 2022); doubling the number of visions that come to life through Creating a Culture of Renewal®; laying the foundation for the Creating a Culture of Renewal® Fellowship for Clergy of Color; and creating new offerings.

In a previous blog, How My Faith Has Changed, I reported on a recent risky conversation with my bishop. Rather than being dismissive or uninterested in how my beliefs had changed, she leaned in. She wanted to hear more. I told her that I believe discipleship is the first step in the Christian journey, not the destination. That Jesus calls us to step into the faith and practices of apostleship. That apostleship requires a higher consciousness and a deeper faith. That we need apostleship pathway systems to follow up on discipleship pathway systems. She asked me if I had that sort of system mapped out yet. I told her no. “Let me know when you do,” she said. That is my dream project for 2022.

Will I fulfill all my New Year’s resolutions? Will I hit every goal? If last year and the year before are any indication, probably not. However, life will present unexpected opportunities and new goals will take the place of old ones. This coming year is a fresh opportunity to trust God, partner in faith, and set out on a vigorous course of action. With the guidance of the Holy Spirit, all things are possible. Even the Beloved Community in a nation rife with unrest.

Do you want support to set new resolutions and to envision new goals? To partner in faith with God in an unknown future? Then I invite you to join me in the new year to explore Platinum Rule Leadership for Changing Times.

Renew Your Advent Through Time-Honored Prayer

by Rebekah Simon-Peter | Dec 1, 2021

Advent. Waiting. “Come, Lord Jesus, come.” Waiting.

The season of Advent is one of hope, as we, not only wait for the coming of the Christ child, but wait for Jesus’ second coming.

If I’m being honest, I’m tired of waiting. As a nation, as a world, we’ve been waiting since the start of the pandemic. When will it end? When can we visit friends and loved ones again? When can we return to work, restaurants, stores, events, etc.? We were, in essence, forced into a period of waiting.

What were we waiting for? You could sum it up in one word: normal. When can we go back to normal? Thankfully, it seems the veil covering normal has started to fall. Many traveled for the Thanksgiving holiday. Restaurants and businesses are open, just in time for the Christmas transformation of lights, wreaths, Christmas trees, and shopping frenzy.

We’ve arrived at Advent, again called to a time of waiting.

What are we waiting for? We all know Jesus has already come. While he was here, incarnate on earth, he already showed people how to do what he did. How to bring health to illness. How to bring light into darkness. How to bring truth to an empire of crushing power.

Maybe, instead of waiting on Jesus to work through some heavenly redemption, perhaps Jesus is waiting on us to work some earthly miracles.

During Jesus’ life, he was very clear about sharing his power with his disciples and apostles. He wanted them to be able to do the very things he did. To heal the sick. To cast out demons. To feed the hungry. To proclaim the Kingdom. To expand the ranks with new apostles of peace.

We wait with anticipation of the fulfilment of the Kingdom. In our waiting, we turn to prayer, often praying “Come, Lord Jesus, come,” which, truly, only Jesus can do. I wonder, though, are we praying for Jesus to do something he has already taught us how to do? If so, it’s time to shift our focus to one that will allow us to faithfully and actively celebrate this Advent season.

candles burning in darkness

I’d like to suggest the following three prayers this Advent:

Pray the Apostle’s Prayer. “Lord, increase our faith.” (Luke 17:5) When the apostles prayed this, they weren’t asking to have more faith in Jesus, but to have more of the faith of Jesus. Having that sort of faith is what it takes to do the things he did. And to go beyond it.

Pray the Prayer of St. Francis. I love this prayer because it instructs me in exactly how to be an apostle of peace, a force for good in the world.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace
Where there is hatred, let me sow love
Where there is injury, pardon
Where there is doubt, faith
Where there is despair, hope
Where there is darkness, light
And where there is sadness, joy

O Divine Master, grant that I may
Not so much seek to be consoled as to console
To be understood, as to understand
To be loved, as to love
For it is in giving that we receive
And it’s in pardoning that we are pardoned
And it’s in dying that we are born to Eternal Life

Amen

Pray “I believe; help Thou my unbelief.” (Mark 9:24) I pray this prayer when I find myself wavering in my ability to be courageous in the face of evil, or hopeful in the face of darkness.

Praying these prayers will align your life, thoughts, actions, and soul with Jesus’ call to us: to be apostles of peace, healing, comfort, and Kingdom. These prayers can renew your journey through Advent, bringing new life to your time of waiting.

Interested in renewal after Advent? I invite you to join my upcoming workshop, Platinum Rule Leadership for Changing Times. This interactive workshop teaches self-awareness, forgiveness, compassion, understanding, and your ability to lead and love challenging people.

Believe in Your Superpowers

by Rebekah Simon-Peter | Mar 8, 2021

It’s no coincidence that these 40 Days of Apostleship overlap with some pretty scary times in our nation and world. As the world battles the coronavirus and we learn more about the attack on our nation’s capital, fear can threaten to engulf us. There has never been a better time to believe like Jesus—to develop the kind of faith he had—so you can perform the type of miracles he did. This is a great time to embrace your superpower.

This week we explore the third of Jesus’ core beliefs. Jesus not only believed in his partnership with God and that his prayers had power, Jesus believed in his superpower. No, I’m not talking about spidery web-making, speed, strength, shapeshifting, time travel, elasticity, invisibility, freezing, or flight. As impressive as these superpowers are, Jesus’ superpower makes these look like child’s play.

Jesus Believed in His Superpower

It’s easy to think that Jesus’ leading superpower was miracle-making. After all, he walked on water, calmed wind and waves, and rose from the dead. But I think those miracles were the result of his superpower, not the superpower itself.

Instead, I believe Jesus’ superpower was his ability to choose a miracle-making mindset. When faced with the worst of conditions—temptation by Satan, crucifixion by Pilate, disavowal by family—Jesus opted for faith. He wasn’t swayed by group-think or done in by peer pressure. Nor was he intimidated by personalities or daunted by principalities. Time and again, he chose God’s future over fear. Using this superpower means he stayed calm amid conflict, present under pressure, and mindful amid the madness. All of this allowed him to tune in to God’s prompting.

Soulful Step

Jesus isn’t the only one to possess this superpower. God has given it to you as well (Romans 12:2, Ephesians 2:8, 2 Timothy 1:7). Like Jesus, you too, have the capacity in every moment to choose your mindset. Don’t get me wrong. You’re probably not going to walk on water the first time out. Using this superpower requires a great deal of practice. Think Jedi Masters. It took Luke and Rey a long time to work well with the Force. The scriptures remind us that even Jesus himself had to grow up into the wisdom and stature of the Lord (Luke 2:52).

Choosing your thought-life begins not in your head but in your heart. To take this soulful step, tune in to your heart through quiet meditation, mindful breathing, reflection on scripture, or time in nature. It is from this grounded place that you can begin to notice the pattern of your thoughts. Ask yourself: Do my thoughts build my faith? Or do they tear me down?

Embrace the Belief that You Have This Superpower

The world is battered and wounded. At this writing, the pandemic has cost the lives of over 500,000 Americans and crippled families across the nation. The January 6attack still echoes in our minds, as we wonder if/when the next horrific display of white supremacy and racism will occur. Fear rises to the surface.

When fear threatens to set up camp in your heart, remember this: apostles don’t panic. Instead, like Jesus, they know they have a partnership with God. They know their prayers have power. They know they possess a superpower. Buoyed by these divine beliefs, apostles can hold a high vibration and invite others to it.

You can deliberately resist being hijacked by fear and harness your own superpowers. Apostles are spiritual badasses in the making.

Through prayer, I was reminded that God called me to this ministry in the early days of the 2007-2008 crash and God has been by my side ever since. I realized that I didn’t have to cede my faith or surrender my spiritual authority to any wind or waves back then, and I certainly don’t now. I remembered I could choose my mindset.

Apostolic Action

How can you contribute to the miracle-making mindset the world needs? May I suggest the Prayer of St. Francis as a starting point?

And remember, if you long to be a shapeshifter or a time traveler, that the miracle-making mindset is the biggest superpower there is. Because when you decide to choose your thoughts, uplift your consciousness, and up-level your faith, everything becomes possible.

As a next step in learning to use your individual superpowers for the good of the nation and the world, I invite you to join me for my next free “How to Create a Culture of Renewal” webinar.

5 Ways to Revitalize During a Pandemic

by Rebekah Simon-Peter | Jan 26, 2021

With increased vaccine distribution in sight, people are looking toward life returning to pre-pandemic normal again. But why settle for normal when something even greater is possible?

In this article I am going to share with you five ways to revitalize congregations during a pandemic. Employing these best practices now sets you up for better-than-normal ministry once the virus begins to recede.

Best Practices for Revitalization

In Creating a Culture of Renewal coaching groups, we teach church leaders the best practices of congregational revitalization. I’m excited to share some of them with you here, as many of our participants report steady or increased participation, giving and worship attendance in the midst of the pandemic.

Options Attract People

Keep digital worship alongside live worship. Just as it is rare to boost overall worship attendance by combining live services, the same is true here. When you shut one down, you will likely lose people.

Instead of thinking about how to get people “back” or “in” to the church, think about how the worshiping community can reach “out” to include new people. Experiment here. Try creating a hybrid experience by recording and posting in person worship services. Alternatively, email orders of worship to people who choose not to participate online. Or you may supplement in person worship with an online Bible Study, book study, or an ethical study such as dismantling racism or ending food insecurity.

Make Worship Worthwhile

Revitalize worship by creating opportunities to experience the sacred, not simply talk or sing about it. These days an experience of the divine Presence of God, as well as a sense of community, is replacing a focus on entertainment. And not a moment too soon.

While watching entertainment is ubiquitous–available with every swipe, scroll, and push of a button—it’s rare to be invited into an interactive experience of the Holy. Who wouldn’t want to have an experience of the presence of God? Or the miraculous touch of Jesus? Or the movement of the Spirit?

Here are some specific practices you can incorporate into worship: quiet reflection, centering prayer, or lectio divina. Additionally, you can invite worshipers to light a candle in their homes, or to share an object that has sacred meaning for them. The sharing of testimonies can also be inspiring.

Dream Like Jesus

Lead with a vision. In Creating a Culture of Renewal, we distinguish between church improvement plans—where the church is the recipient of the vision—and kingdom-oriented plans where the church is the agent of the vision. The best practice is the church being the agent of the vision. This takes guts and faith.

It helps to know that the world wants more of churches, not less. More vision, more hope, more miracles, more kindness, and more demonstrations of faith. Your community will respond positively when your vision is big enough—and inclusive enough—to reflect a God of unconditional love.

Innovate During Hard Times

Pandemics push us to make progress. The Black Plagues of the 14^th-16^th centuries led to better working and living conditions for the very poor. The rise of the middle class can be traced back to that time. Shakespeare did some of his best work when the theaters closed down. Isaac Newton, driven into the countryside, worked on his theories of optics, physics and gravity.

In 18^th century Philadelphia, in the midst of a yellow fever epidemic, the founding fathers developed the idea that they had to bear responsibility for the health of the citizenry. Public health in the US was born.

In the 1918 pandemic, the idea of childhood vaccines was born. Social distancing was built into multi-family dwellings leading to 3-foot wide hallways, fire escapes, and private bathrooms for each family.

Practice Emotional intelligence

Choose your words carefully. President Biden’s inaugural speech was an example of practicing emotional intelligence to meet the challenges of the day. While he addressed hard problems and named tough challenges, he also adopted an overall optimistic tone and employed visionary language. His speech was relevant, deeply personal, and contained spiritual motifs. Finally, he used his platform to call people to transcend barriers to work together.

When you speak to your people, try using the same approach. First, name the challenges and problems before you. Second, lay out an optimistic vision for the future that calls people to work together for the common good. Third, reveal something about yourself, and your faith, as you ground it in spiritual and biblical themes. Fourth, show how your vision is relevant to your time and place.

These best practices withstand the test of time, even as you adapt them for your setting. The need for options, to experience the sacred, to be inspired by vision, to innovate through hard times, and to practice emotional intelligence is greater than ever. Your time to shine is now. Let me know how it goes for you!

How to Have the Best Christmas Ever

by Rebekah Simon-Peter | Dec 15, 2020

There’s nothing quite as special as Christmas Eve services. A darkened sanctuary lit with candles and the singing of Silent Night. The sacred anticipation of “Lessons and Carols.” The joy of a live nativity. The fun of a Christmas pageant. Worship centers crowded with families you see once a year. A festive feeling everywhere you look. No matter how you have celebrated Christmas in the past, Christmas 2020 won’t be the same. Instead, a socially distanced, mask-wearing or livestreaming experience is likely on your docket. With the losses and stresses of the year, it may even be a blue Christmas for you and your people.

Even with all the changes 2020 has wrought, you can still enjoy Christmas. In fact, this Christmas Eve may be your most memorable one yet.

When it comes to tradition, it’s the exception that proves the rule. This year will be the year to launch new traditions. Just as families and communities are figuring out how to get into the Christmas spirit in brand new ways, churches will be doing the same.

As you approach the fourth Sunday of Advent, and Christmas Eve draws closer, I’d like to share with you what we teach in Creating a Culture of Renewal when it comes to charting a new course. We call it connecting the dots. That includes a Christmas Eve you’ll always remember.

Customs and Traditions

First, connect customs and traditions of the past with the present. For instance, if Christmas Eve has meant candlelight services in your setting, invite people to supply their own candlelight during Zoom or livestreamed services. If the singing of Silent Night has been a staple during your Christmas Eve services, but group singing is not currently allowed in your setting, teach a set of simple movements to accompany a soloist that will allow people to participate without opening their mouths. Maybe you’ve conducted an annual service of Lessons and Carols but won’t be meeting in person or virtually. If so, an order of worship distributed to homes can give families the opportunity to bring the tradition home, and sanctify their own living spaces with these sacred scriptures and songs.

Spiritual Values

Second, identify the spiritual values that have guided your traditions. Perhaps spending time as a community in worship, putting children first, or being in ministry with the community have been your guiding principles. How do you find new ways to lift up these time honored practices? Look for new ways to share your connection.

My home church, which is not meeting face to face these days, is delivering simple origami projects each week of Advent to each household. While the project is delivered in a brown paper bag, the fact that it’s accompanied by a spontaneous porch visit makes it truly special. In this season of social distancing, these kinds of visits are a welcome break from the forced isolation of the pandemic.

Get Others On Board

Third, get other people on board with the new traditions you are starting. No one likes unnecessary change when it means ditching time-honored traditions. But these days, change is a given. Make it more fun, and more doable by gathering a team who can work on this together. Then, with unified voice, remind your congregants of the traditions you have practiced in the past. Be clear how they will need to be adapted this year. Finally, talk about how you’d like to create new traditions that capture your congregation’s values, connecting the past and the present.

Christmas Through Jewish Eyes

To help you appreciate the times we are in, join me for a spiritual retreat this week: Christmas through Jewish Eyes. We’ll be looking at the themes of the season—light, family, and salvation—from a brand new angle. I developed this retreat to encourage your heart, deepen your spiritual grounding, and gently expand the ways you approach familiar topics. I hope you’ll join me for this brief retreat.

Best Christmas Ever

This year will be different than Christmases past, no doubt. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be the best Christmas ever. In fact, next year, when you look back on Christmas 2020, it will be with a new perspective, and a new appreciation for whatever passes as normal next year. Who knows, but the ways you celebrate the holidays this year may become your best traditions yet. In the end, opening your hearts to Jesus, and your lives to the Holy Spirit, is what it’s all about anyway.

In Praise of Christmas Lights

by Rebekah Simon-Peter | Dec 8, 2020

Almost overnight, enchantment stole through my neighborhood and city. Here and there, dotting homes and yards, Christmas lights appeared. A mismatched string of blue and white draped over the fence across the street. A twinkling porch two doors down. A riot of color in the park across from the hospital. Signs of irrepressible hope emerging from a dark night of the soul.

Christmas Lights and the Pandemic

The same thing is happening in cities and towns across the globe. In the midst of the pandemic, hope is showing up in the most mundane and innocent of ways: in Christmas lights. Whether in low wattage hope flung across a window or in a dazzling display that illuminates an entire yard, Christmas lights say it all: death, disorientation, denial will not have the last word.

I write in praise of Christmas lights: echo of the star of Bethlehem, reminder of the light of the world, symbol of childlike joy. If the world ever needed these simple reminders of light, of family, of salvation, we need them now.

In fact, the pandemic has caused us to long for the normal, unassuming things we once took for granted: a hug, a handshake, a smile. How we miss the unselfconscious gathering of people and sharing the same air as others. Not to mention worship and song, even sporting events. We miss visiting the sick in the hospital, and bedside goodbyes when death is near. Oh, to sit close to someone, to snuggle a grandchild, to pass the peace! The sheer normalcy of going to work. Yes, all of these things have changed dramatically in 2020. Christmas lights remind us of enduring hope.

We want normal, but it’s still a long way off. At least not until a vaccine becomes widespread, and maybe not even then. That means Christmas this year won’t be easy or normal for many people. Loved ones will be missing around the tables. Festive celebrations will take on a decidedly different tone. Christmas Eve services will likely be on Zoom. Probably Santa and the elves will even be wearing masks.

Spiritual Grounding

Maybe that’s why I found the Christmas lights in my neighborhood strangely grounding. Twinkling reminders that someday it would all be okay again. And that in the meantime, it was okay to let out my breath, and to relax a little.

We can all use some spiritual grounding at this time of year. To help you get through this season, I am offering an online spiritual retreat to prepare you: Christmas through Jewish Eyes. In this three-part experience, you’ll have the chance to explore the connection between Chanukah, Christmas and the light of Christ (session one), the connection between the Holy Family and your family (session two), and new and ancient meanings of salvation (session three). All shared through a Jewish reading of Christmas texts, carols, and stories. I hope you’ll join me for a soulful journey this Advent.

If ever we needed Christmas, 2020 is the year. So as Advent unfolds and gives way to Christmas proper, may your hearts be as bright and illumined as simple Christmas lights.

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