Transcript

Pastor RAE · Aired Out

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Speaker 1: Extreme structing step instructing strict distrest structing step constructing strict
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Speaker 1: history history step strict.
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Speaker 2: That's Thursday morning. Already here we go, Flying the Wall
1:26
Speaker 2: Productions bringing you the Aired Out Podcast. We've we've got
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Speaker 2: a pretty good day today ahead. We've got about sixty
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Speaker 2: two degrees right now in the Granite City. A great
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Speaker 2: day for a hike. Get outside if again, mostly cloudy,
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Speaker 2: around seventy six thunder road. Tonight, cloudy and fifty so
1:45
Speaker 2: pack a sweatshirt. Looks like Friday Tomorrow, mostly sunny, around
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Speaker 2: seventy seven. Saturday looks good, mostly cloudy seventy five and
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Speaker 2: Sunday cloudy skies, afternoon rain and thunderstorms moving in and
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Speaker 2: around seventy seven degrees. The Facebook question of the day,
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Speaker 2: and I put it up there a little while. Actually
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Speaker 2: I've got several, and I can't help myself. There's just
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Speaker 2: so many questions I have this morning. But one of
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Speaker 2: the ones that I posted up earlier about this Colchester
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Speaker 2: guy that was just cited for DUI after from monts
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Speaker 2: Day police clockdam going one hundred and two miles per
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Speaker 2: hour on eighty nine South earlier this week. So I'm
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Speaker 2: asking you how and this is something that I've had
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Speaker 2: conversations with my wife about how vigilant are you? How
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Speaker 2: much attention are you paying to driving these days, to
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Speaker 2: the road in front of you, the road behind you,
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Speaker 2: in the rear view, are you driving with the right
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Speaker 2: amount of awareness and heightened sense of alert and admittedly,
2:59
Speaker 2: and this is what I kind of alluded to this morning,
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Speaker 2: are you paying more attention and to the music and
3:05
Speaker 2: rocking out to China Grove, which is something that I
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Speaker 2: was doing yesterday. But if you're on the big road, especially,
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Speaker 2: how much attention are you paying to your surroundings? Kind
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Speaker 2: of an alarming story this morning about that. Also alarming
3:25
Speaker 2: Vermonors buying insurance through the Affordable Care Act looking at
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Speaker 2: a premium increase of between one and six percent next year.
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Speaker 2: We're talking about almost seventy thousand Vermonors that are covered
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Speaker 2: through the ACA plans. Vermont's premiums already among the nation's highest,
3:46
Speaker 2: So here we go buckle up for that. We have
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Speaker 2: some set news this morning. Fourteen year old girl killed
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Speaker 2: Wednesday evening last night in an ATV crash in Weston.
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Speaker 2: It's one of the top trending stories this morning. Vermont
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Speaker 2: State police obviously investigating the crash which happened around seven
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Speaker 2: o'clock last night. We have a federal judge that is
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Speaker 2: putting a temporary hold on the planned closure of that
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Speaker 2: dairy plant in Saint Albans. These stories, I'm going to
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Speaker 2: be posting up the links to all of them, but
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Speaker 2: that one is picking up some steam today and this
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Speaker 2: one too. This god administration experimenting with an unusual tactic
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Speaker 2: at the Vermont State Capitol Complex in Montfiliar And I
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Speaker 2: don't know if you heard about this yesterday. Sought last
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Speaker 2: night on social media recorded bird noises designed to discourage loitering.
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Speaker 2: Now we've got folks that are up in arms about
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Speaker 2: this because of the effect that it's having on the homeless.
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Speaker 2: So big discussion on that, you bet, and something that
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Speaker 2: I will have I'm sure on the air to federal
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Speaker 2: immigration enforcement continues to generate a lot of attention across Vermont.
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Speaker 2: At least nine people have recently been arrested by ice
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Speaker 2: right here in Vermont, with reported arrests in places including Londonderry,
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Speaker 2: the Upper Valley, and Cornwall. Questions still being raised about
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Speaker 2: the role that local municipal police will have in assisting
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Speaker 2: federal immigration authorities. Lots of chat about that, for sure.
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Speaker 2: Residents in Vermont communities raising concerns about flock license plate
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Speaker 2: reader technology and how police departments can use and retain
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Speaker 2: the information. Again, I'll have that story up in just
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Speaker 2: a little bit as well. The state is proposing changes
5:49
Speaker 2: to its primitive camping regulations for the first time in
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Speaker 2: thirty three years. Proposed rules would tighten requirements involvment campfires,
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Speaker 2: how close camps can be, two bodies of water, and
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Speaker 2: other environmental considerations. Links to these and more are going
6:07
Speaker 2: to be on the aired out page. National News. Some
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Speaker 2: of the headlines this morning. Trump threatens economic d day
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Speaker 2: against Iran. Oil prices jumping as Iran tensions continue. The
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Speaker 2: US national debt has just hit forty trillion dollars. Taylor
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Speaker 2: Farms at the center of some major food safety investigation
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Speaker 2: stuff that's happening this week and is likely going to
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Speaker 2: be picking up some steam next week, so be on
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Speaker 2: the lookout for that story. Along with meta's federal child
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Speaker 2: safety trial opening statements are underway this morning. There is
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Speaker 2: a lot to be said about that.
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Speaker 1: I know.
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Speaker 2: I'm unpacking a lot of stuff for you this morning.
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Speaker 2: Walmart is taking a hit on the market. We'll have
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Speaker 2: that for you, and federal government is going to be
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Speaker 2: moving on consumer surveillance pricing. On a lighter note, talking
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Speaker 2: about sports, the AP Top twenty five pre season College
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Speaker 2: football poll is back, kicking off the countdown to the
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Speaker 2: twenty twenty six college football season. Logan's going to be
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Speaker 2: in a little bit later on this morning. I know
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Speaker 2: he's going to be talking about that. World headlines Russia
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Speaker 2: launches major attack on Kiev last night I think it
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Speaker 2: was last I read around fourteen people killed from that,
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Speaker 2: and again President Trump threatening an economic d day against
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Speaker 2: countries that provide Iran with an economic lifeline. These are
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Speaker 2: just some of the stories of what's going on. Pastor
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Speaker 2: Ray is sitting right next to me from the heading
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Speaker 2: United Church right here in the great city of Berry, Vermont.
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Speaker 2: Very good morning to you, bit have you in here.
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Speaker 3: It's good to be here.
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Speaker 2: What did you think of all those news headlines?
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Speaker 3: Was that like I would like to take a deep breath?
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Speaker 2: Yeah, same same here, right, I mean, the same story.
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Speaker 3: It's it's rough, man.
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Speaker 2: I just just just before we went on the air,
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Speaker 2: I said to you, uh, it's like every day, come
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Speaker 2: in and I see the news. You know, all we
8:27
Speaker 2: have to do, I mean to talk about We're going
8:29
Speaker 2: to talk about a lot of stuff this morning, but
8:31
Speaker 2: to just talk about mental health alone. I mean, all
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Speaker 2: you have to do, and I say this all the time,
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Speaker 2: all you have to do is have a cell phone
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Speaker 2: and you wake up in the morning. We're all pre
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Speaker 2: programmed into our algorithms. We wake up before we've even
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Speaker 2: gotten out of bed, where phone's on and we're scrolling headlines.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, and I recommend you not do that. I recommend
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Speaker 3: everybody not do that. Give yourself a breath first, get
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Speaker 3: up in the morning. If you're a if you're a
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Speaker 3: praying person, say a prayer. If you're you know, if
9:01
Speaker 3: you just you know, you can just sit outside and
9:04
Speaker 3: listen to the birds for a minute, get some bring
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Speaker 3: the anxiety down. You don't want to start the day
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Speaker 3: with your anxiety up here. It doesn't help us function
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Speaker 3: through the day. We start functioning out of that anxiety
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Speaker 3: and it's not going to be at our best.
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Speaker 2: So you know, to turn different.
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Speaker 3: Phones off a little more.
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Speaker 2: It's so difficult, though it is. Oh, we're all curious,
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Speaker 2: we want it, we're adicted to we want to know
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Speaker 2: what's going on.
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Speaker 3: We sure do. And it's so it's I understand that
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Speaker 3: the impetus to be informed, we should be informed, right,
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Speaker 3: But there's a difference between informed and being completely subsumed
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Speaker 3: by everything that's going on that we have no control over, right,
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Speaker 3: I mean, So for me, I'll catch up on the
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Speaker 3: news truly, like a couple times a week. Now, I'm
9:47
Speaker 3: not I'm not interested in being on at every moment.
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Speaker 3: I can't do much about that. What I have influence
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Speaker 3: over is here in this community and how we can
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Speaker 3: take care of each other here, and if I can
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Speaker 3: keep my own ans levels down, I can do so
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Speaker 3: much more. If I can, if I can avoid all
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Speaker 3: the vitril that's out there, I'm not going to be
10:08
Speaker 3: tempted to hate my neighbor. I'm it's much easier for
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Speaker 3: me in a place of like of centeredness of you know,
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Speaker 3: knowing the potential goodness of our world and all the
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Speaker 3: good things in our world. It's easier for me to
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Speaker 3: love my neighbor. And that's for me, I mean, that's
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Speaker 3: my highest calling. Right, We're called to love our neighbors.
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Speaker 3: So don't pick up your phone first thing in the
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Speaker 3: morning and look at the news.
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Speaker 2: We're spinning before we've even made our first phone call,
10:41
Speaker 2: before we've even left the house, before we've even had
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Speaker 2: our first cup coffee. Yep, we're spinning.
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Speaker 3: And that's going to that's going to screw your whole
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Speaker 3: day up.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, well it sets you off. And you know, you
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Speaker 2: talk about it's interesting that I heard you just say
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Speaker 2: what we can control? So many of us we want
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Speaker 2: to have our hands on the wheel. We want to
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Speaker 2: be able to control what's happening, or at least.
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Speaker 3: Think that we're in control at least.
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Speaker 2: Of course, of course, and you're absolutely right, there's just
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Speaker 2: nothing we can do about it.
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Speaker 3: I mean, there's very little. Are Our influence here is
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Speaker 3: far greater on what we can do for one another. Yeah,
11:26
Speaker 3: we can vote, that's important, do that right, and donate
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Speaker 3: to organizations that are helping Those are things we can do.
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Speaker 3: Those are the little pieces that we can do. But
11:39
Speaker 3: other than that, our biggest influence is with people who
11:43
Speaker 3: are right next door to us. Are people are who
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Speaker 3: are driving down the road each morning. That's where our
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Speaker 3: influence to create a better world really exists. And when
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Speaker 3: we do that, it has a ripple effect.
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Speaker 2: The goal here at aired out is to have conversations
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Speaker 2: that connect us to find some commonality. Yesterday we took
12:04
Speaker 2: a really deep dive into just suicide awareness, but also
12:11
Speaker 2: just being the international Brotherhood of the Electrical Alignment and
12:22
Speaker 2: brother and we kind of split away for a little
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Speaker 2: wit and talked about brotherhood just that one sure I
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Speaker 2: B e W just the B being the capital letter,
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Speaker 2: you know, and how brotherhood is so important. We all
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Speaker 2: need to just keep an eye out for each other.
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Speaker 3: We're kin, right, We're kin. We need to we need
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Speaker 3: to another by family, right, and and sure there's dysfunction
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Speaker 3: in families, but you're still We're still supposed to love,
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Speaker 3: even if even if that love isn't warm and fuzzy.
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Speaker 3: I mean, when we're called to love our neighbors, that
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Speaker 3: doesn't mean we have to have a warm and fuzzy Yeah,
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Speaker 3: it means we're we are holding our neighbor as a
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Speaker 3: child of God, as someone else who is also deserving
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Speaker 3: of love and acceptance and respect in our world, and
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Speaker 3: it is incumbent upon us to do the best we
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Speaker 3: can for them.
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Speaker 2: And I'm guessing that this has been part of your sermon,
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Speaker 2: maybe assuming on a regular basis, Oh yeah, how much
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Speaker 2: do you think that's reverberating around here your congregation.
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Speaker 3: At that in church, our congregation is all about taking
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Speaker 3: care of our community. Every week at the end of
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Speaker 3: our service, my benediction begins with we don't go to church,
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Speaker 3: and the congregation responds with, we are the church. And
13:47
Speaker 3: that means, you know, it's not about going to the
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Speaker 3: church building. That's not what that's not what it means
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Speaker 3: to be a follower of Jesus.
13:54
Speaker 2: Right.
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Speaker 3: We go to the church building to get refueled, refilled, inspired,
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Speaker 3: so that so that we go out into the world
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Speaker 3: to help transform the world into the kind of place
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Speaker 3: that Jesus taught us. Is what God's vision for the
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Speaker 3: world is. That's what it means to be the church,
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Speaker 3: and our congregation is all about that. In everything we do.
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Speaker 3: We can do a lot collectively, and there's a lot
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Speaker 3: of people who do stuff individually. We've got loads of
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Speaker 3: people who are out in the community is as great
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Speaker 3: teachers and as you know, good business people taking care
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Speaker 3: for one another. We've got folks who in their retirement
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Speaker 3: are volunteering at a whole bunch of different places. There's
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Speaker 3: so much that people do individually, and then there's a
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Speaker 3: lot that we are able to do collectively as the church,
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Speaker 3: as the body of Christ, taking care of our neighbors,
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Speaker 3: those were most called to care for.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, well this so well said. Let's talk about some
14:51
Speaker 2: of the things that the heading church does. And I
14:55
Speaker 2: know there's like, there's a laundry list.
14:57
Speaker 3: Here a mile a mile including laundry.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, including laundry, so well said. You guys have, like
15:07
Speaker 2: you said, it's so much more than just a church,
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Speaker 2: a building, a structure inside a whole lot of love
15:16
Speaker 2: and ways that you exercise your concern for folks that
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Speaker 2: are in our community, whether they're a member of your
15:24
Speaker 2: church or not.
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Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I mean, yeah, we'll take care of each other,
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Speaker 3: but we're really about taking care of the community. Our
15:33
Speaker 3: tagline is feeding the community body and soul. So how
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Speaker 3: do we take care of folks? Because in the Book
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Speaker 3: of James we hear you know, faith without works is dead.
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Speaker 3: You know, what good is it to say to someone
15:47
Speaker 3: who's hungry, go be blessed, have a great day if
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Speaker 3: you don't give them food. Yeah, what's the good of that? Right?
15:54
Speaker 3: We need to feed people literally with food. There shouldn't
15:58
Speaker 3: be empty bellies, right, and with empty bellies or within
16:02
Speaker 3: full bellies, then someone's spirit can also be nurtured. And
16:06
Speaker 3: so we were really about doing both.
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Speaker 2: I had to I had to make a decision years ago.
16:16
Speaker 2: I started this podcast eight years ago, and in the beginning,
16:20
Speaker 2: I said to myself and to others, I'm going to
16:27
Speaker 2: do everything I can to stay away from the two
16:30
Speaker 2: big buzzwords politics and religion.
16:35
Speaker 3: Sorry, I'm screwing it up for you, man, this is
16:37
Speaker 3: what you get for bringing a pastor in well, you know.
16:41
Speaker 2: And here's the thing, you know. And then I became
16:45
Speaker 2: very good friends with a fellow pastor who was just
16:50
Speaker 2: the messaging that he had for people. I'm like, this
16:54
Speaker 2: has got to I've got to find a way to
16:56
Speaker 2: get this on the microphone.
16:57
Speaker 4: I don't care.
16:58
Speaker 2: I don't care anymore to kind of say this is
17:02
Speaker 2: for the better good of people, right, Well, we all
17:05
Speaker 2: need to hear this stuff totally.
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Speaker 3: And it it isn't it isn't exclusive to Christianity by anyone.
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Speaker 3: Well that's right, I mean our siblings and faith in
17:16
Speaker 3: other denominations and then ecumenically, folks, who are you know,
17:20
Speaker 3: everything from Buddhist to Jewish to in Islam and all
17:24
Speaker 3: of these different religions that wicken. I mean, I don't
17:28
Speaker 3: all of these different places. This is about finding your
17:33
Speaker 3: centeredness in a world, at least those of us who
17:38
Speaker 3: believe in a divinity greater than ourselves, that was created
17:42
Speaker 3: to be good, that was created to have enough for everybody,
17:46
Speaker 3: and that we're called to care for one another. Those
17:49
Speaker 3: are pretty you know, those are pretty standard basics amongst religions,
17:55
Speaker 3: And even those that don't believe in a higher power
17:58
Speaker 3: have a centeredness in values that you know, in a
18:03
Speaker 3: universe that is going in the direction of goodness, right,
18:08
Speaker 3: And so all of those things they call us, they
18:11
Speaker 3: send us, they inspire us take care of one another,
18:15
Speaker 3: and if we can work together on it, we can
18:17
Speaker 3: do so much more.
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Speaker 2: We talk about love, we talk about hope, and we
18:22
Speaker 2: talk about belief frequently here. But isn't it remarkable how
18:29
Speaker 2: it's like the word belief or believe can be at
18:36
Speaker 2: least I say, it can be kind of a dangerous word,
18:40
Speaker 2: because if you don't believe how I believe. Politically, whatever's
18:46
Speaker 2: what's better, what's best for Vermont, We're going to have
18:52
Speaker 2: super conflict. Where but I've had so many people sit
18:56
Speaker 2: on this couch that I don't share the same beliefs.
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Speaker 1: That I do.
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Speaker 2: Sure, but politically or whatever. But man, it's like we've connected.
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Speaker 3: There's values, values. We connect on values. And you know,
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Speaker 3: those of us who've been in any faith tradition for
19:13
Speaker 3: long enough know that humility is a big piece of
19:16
Speaker 3: our teachings. Belief can be really divisive if it's not
19:25
Speaker 3: in if it's not embedded in humility. If I can't
19:29
Speaker 3: acknowledge that I don't know all the answers, my belief
19:33
Speaker 3: becomes an idol by itself. I have to be humble,
19:38
Speaker 3: right because I'm human. Man, I'm human. I do not
19:44
Speaker 3: have the big picture that God has. I'm going to
19:51
Speaker 3: get it wrong. I'm going to get it wrong a lot, right,
19:55
Speaker 3: And if I can come to a table with someone
19:58
Speaker 3: who might disagree with me on stuff with that humility,
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Speaker 3: I bet we can find common values.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, and maybe, just maybe.
20:07
Speaker 3: Then we can work towards those common values together.
20:10
Speaker 2: I'm thinking of And I just had to pull it
20:12
Speaker 2: up here in front of me the Beatles song. We
20:15
Speaker 2: can work it out, Okay, try to see it my way?
20:17
Speaker 2: Do I have to keep on talking until I get
20:19
Speaker 2: it on? You know? It's like that, That's it. It's
20:24
Speaker 2: you know, if you don't see it my way, then
20:28
Speaker 2: we're just not gonna get along. But we have to
20:31
Speaker 2: stop like pushing our our belief system or our agenda
20:37
Speaker 2: whatever it may be political or otherwise.
20:39
Speaker 3: On others and just say, hey, what are the shared
20:43
Speaker 3: values and we all yeah.
20:46
Speaker 2: Plead red blood, come on, let's just all take care
20:50
Speaker 2: of one another.
20:50
Speaker 3: Absolutely, absolutely, there is a distinction between faith and belief.
20:59
Speaker 3: Belief is a cognitive, intellectual understanding of a thing. Faith
21:04
Speaker 3: is trust. Faith is action. Faith is what is how
21:09
Speaker 3: your beliefs are translating into your life. You can believe
21:14
Speaker 3: something and be wrong, very wrong, right, if your faith
21:19
Speaker 3: practice is one through humility, that wrongness won't necessarily harm
21:23
Speaker 3: your neighbor, because you can you can step back for
21:27
Speaker 3: a second and be like, Okay, is what I believe
21:33
Speaker 3: going to cause pain if I act on it that way?
21:37
Speaker 3: Or is what I believe calling me to work through love?
21:41
Speaker 3: And then working through love with humility, we can see
21:46
Speaker 3: the human in front of us instead of seeing a
21:49
Speaker 3: billboard of labels, labels that yeah we've put on people.
21:55
Speaker 3: How can we shift that? How we shift that?
21:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, I have a friend who I I have a
22:02
Speaker 2: friend who hears me say I can't understand. I just
22:08
Speaker 2: can't understand. Why would they do that? Why would this
22:14
Speaker 2: be that way? And this friend Paul says to me,
22:21
Speaker 2: it's it's not a for you to understand. Sometimes you
22:25
Speaker 2: just don't stop trying to understand everybody's rationale, logic, the
22:32
Speaker 2: way they think, the way they feel, what they believe.
22:35
Speaker 2: You don't need to understand it.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, you just need to respect people. Yeah, respect, act
22:41
Speaker 3: with love.
22:42
Speaker 2: Yeah.
22:42
Speaker 3: If we want to change somebody's mind, it never happens
22:45
Speaker 3: through vitual and argument. It happens through relationship. Yeah, it
22:49
Speaker 3: happens through knowing somebody. You know, folks you don't know
22:52
Speaker 3: who are a different, whatever label you want to put
22:55
Speaker 3: on them, Sure they feel other to you because they're different.
22:59
Speaker 3: Of course you as soon as you get to know
23:01
Speaker 3: somebody and you build a relationship, the stamp has gone. Yeah,
23:05
Speaker 3: you find there's love there.
23:06
Speaker 2: Yeah.
23:07
Speaker 3: This is another human being who's you know, got humor
23:10
Speaker 3: and pain and joy and hopes and and and trauma
23:14
Speaker 3: that might inform some of the ways that they're functioning
23:16
Speaker 3: in the world. How do we look with compassion upon
23:21
Speaker 3: our fellow humans.
23:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, big kudos this morning to Gino, who is a
23:31
Speaker 2: just a monster member of your church.
23:36
Speaker 3: And it's just we love Geno. He's wonderful.
23:39
Speaker 2: Gina's doing so so much. Yeah, yeah, what a massive heart.
23:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's he really does and I I and has
23:50
Speaker 3: worked so hard on his own life and we love
23:54
Speaker 3: him very much. So and you know, like so many others,
23:58
Speaker 3: Finding Heading has been a community of hope and love
24:02
Speaker 3: and support and acceptance that I mean, that's part of
24:06
Speaker 3: feeding the spirit, right, is you need a place where
24:10
Speaker 3: you can be you're fully yourself, idiosyncrasies and foibles, strengths
24:17
Speaker 3: and gifts, and be loved because of in spite of
24:21
Speaker 3: in addition to just be loved as you are. What
24:25
Speaker 3: a joy it is to walk into some place and
24:28
Speaker 3: just be welcome, I loved and empowered to serve. And
24:33
Speaker 3: that's something that we really try to do, is that
24:35
Speaker 3: anybody who comes in, you know, we're we want you
24:38
Speaker 3: to come in and feel empowered to do your part
24:41
Speaker 3: in transforming this world into one that is a little
24:45
Speaker 3: bit more like Heaven.
24:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, your doors are wide open over there. I want
24:51
Speaker 2: to talk about what happens on Friday nights over at
24:54
Speaker 2: the Heading Church.
24:55
Speaker 3: Yeah, Friday Nights is Oh, that's our that's our busiest
24:57
Speaker 3: day of the week. So Friday, Friday afternoon, some of
25:01
Speaker 3: our volunteers will come together and they'll start cooking in
25:03
Speaker 3: the kitchen downstairs. They're gonna, you know, put together a
25:07
Speaker 3: good meal for the folks who are coming in later.
25:11
Speaker 3: You know, by about four point thirty, the doors are open,
25:14
Speaker 3: folks are starting to come in. We have sort of
25:16
Speaker 3: an ad hoc band. Whoever shows up will play on stage.
25:19
Speaker 3: I'm often up there with my guitar and tambourine and
25:22
Speaker 3: singing with you know whatever. Other folks will show up,
25:25
Speaker 3: so we've got some live music. It's always fun our
25:31
Speaker 3: volunteers and Phyllis Phyllis Asta is our outreach coordinator and
25:36
Speaker 3: she is just I don't know how we would do
25:38
Speaker 3: it without Phyllis. She is leading the charge on our
25:40
Speaker 3: outreach efforts and just amazing. And we work hard to
25:44
Speaker 3: create a really welcoming community for folks. Folks will come
25:48
Speaker 3: in and listen to the music, say hi to one another.
25:51
Speaker 3: There's a lot of people who know each other in there,
25:53
Speaker 3: so it's a community in there. This isn't not like
25:55
Speaker 3: This isn't like a soup kitchen where you got to
25:57
Speaker 3: wait at the door and come in, get your bowl
25:59
Speaker 3: and go right and this is come in, have your
26:02
Speaker 3: spirit and your body nourished, and so yeah, so we've
26:06
Speaker 3: will have often, depending upon the time of the month
26:09
Speaker 3: and when people might be running out of funds, anywhere
26:12
Speaker 3: from fifty to one hundred people come in and then
26:15
Speaker 3: we're we also send out meals every Friday night to
26:19
Speaker 3: two of the Good Smart and shelters, so we're feeding
26:22
Speaker 3: a lot of folks on Friday nights. And plus our
26:26
Speaker 3: food shelf is open at the same time. It's opened
26:28
Speaker 3: two other days of the week as well, but it's
26:30
Speaker 3: open during our Friday suppers. Folks can come in and
26:34
Speaker 3: you know, get I think it's about a week's worth
26:36
Speaker 3: of food that you can get for your family, depending
26:39
Speaker 3: upon how many folks are in your family, and you know,
26:43
Speaker 3: get so not only are getting fed Friday night there,
26:46
Speaker 3: you can take home food, you know, so you've got
26:48
Speaker 3: some food for the upcoming week. We have a diaper
26:51
Speaker 3: depot that'll be open at the same time. It's also
26:53
Speaker 3: open the rest of the week whenever staff are in
26:55
Speaker 3: the building. Folks can come and get diapers, no questions asked,
26:58
Speaker 3: come in and get some diapers, make sure your babies
27:01
Speaker 3: have have you know, dry bottoms. Diapers are expensive. Everything
27:04
Speaker 3: is expensive, yeah, and so trying to help round.
27:07
Speaker 2: That's from nine until three, so.
27:09
Speaker 3: Our staff are there Tuesday through Friday, nine through three.
27:13
Speaker 3: Our food shelf hours are three on Wednesday and Thursday
27:17
Speaker 3: are from three until four thirty. So on on Wednesday
27:20
Speaker 3: and Thursday they are open until four thirty and the
27:23
Speaker 3: food shelf will help with diaper depot for sure. And
27:25
Speaker 3: then on Fridays as well. You know, come in anytime
27:27
Speaker 3: during the during the day, during the supper and you
27:31
Speaker 3: can pick up some diapers for your kiddos and some
27:33
Speaker 3: wipes and we've got from free clothes Gino who you
27:37
Speaker 3: mentioned sorts out Oliver are the free closed donations. Don't,
27:41
Speaker 3: by the way, bring us bags and bags of clothes.
27:43
Speaker 3: Please call us first. We don't have a huge space.
27:45
Speaker 3: We're grateful. We will always take socks because socks are
27:49
Speaker 3: always necessary, and warm clothes for the winter. As you know,
27:54
Speaker 3: We're got to hate to admit it, but I've seen
27:57
Speaker 3: some tree color changes all oh, I have I have
28:01
Speaker 3: two getting there, so we'll need some warm clothes coming up.
28:03
Speaker 3: But don't please don't bring Please don't empty your closets
28:07
Speaker 3: of really nice formal wear or whatever that's not gonna
28:10
Speaker 3: help us. And call first. We have a limited space,
28:14
Speaker 3: but you know, you know, she sho starts out all
28:16
Speaker 3: those stuff for us and and he'll put it out
28:17
Speaker 3: for our Friday sepperate guests. And so we take care
28:21
Speaker 3: a lot of people. We also have h we mentioned before,
28:24
Speaker 3: laundry and a shower. So we've got a shower, We've
28:26
Speaker 3: got one laundry uh, washer dryer uh. And so you
28:30
Speaker 3: folks can arrange with Phyllis to come in take a shower,
28:33
Speaker 3: get their clothes cleaned. Especially folks who are living on
28:35
Speaker 3: the streets. They need a place where they can, you know,
28:38
Speaker 3: come in and have the opportunity for a little bit
28:41
Speaker 3: of dignity and you know, feeling a little bit better
28:44
Speaker 3: about themselves. So we really try to take care of
28:46
Speaker 3: those folks as well.
28:47
Speaker 2: You all have done some great back to school efforts
28:51
Speaker 2: in the past.
28:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, happening. So last summer I think was the
28:56
Speaker 3: first time that Phyllis led this. When we're doing it
28:57
Speaker 3: again this summer, we're folks will come to us, you know,
29:03
Speaker 3: folks low income I don't want to send their kids
29:06
Speaker 3: back to school and clothes that's too small or too
29:08
Speaker 3: torn up or whatever.
29:09
Speaker 1: You know.
29:10
Speaker 3: You know, I don't know about you, but I remember
29:12
Speaker 3: when I was a kid, before you went back to school,
29:13
Speaker 3: you got a new pair of sneakers, you got a
29:15
Speaker 3: couple of new sets of clothes, so you felt a
29:16
Speaker 3: little bit fresh for the year. And so last summer
29:20
Speaker 3: Phyllis started coordinating an effort and this the donations just
29:23
Speaker 3: came in from the community. We clothed forty eight kids
29:27
Speaker 3: last summer and on our well, on our way this
29:30
Speaker 3: summer as well, try to get them four outfits and
29:34
Speaker 3: a pair of sneakers for school. Sometimes there's a couple
29:37
Speaker 3: other like you know, might get a cash of pencils
29:40
Speaker 3: or something to go with it. But it's really it's
29:42
Speaker 3: the clothing and the shoes that we're we're trying to
29:44
Speaker 3: make sure, you know, kids who are in local low
29:46
Speaker 3: income families can afford to go to school and some
29:49
Speaker 3: new clothes. So Phyllis and another one of our volunteers, Donna,
29:54
Speaker 3: will go shopping and boy, they can make a dollar
29:57
Speaker 3: stretch like it's nobody's business that crazy, and uh so
30:00
Speaker 3: they're they're terrific at it, and they'll they'll really try
30:03
Speaker 3: and you know, they'll try to match what the kids
30:06
Speaker 3: are looking for so they might get some ideas from
30:08
Speaker 3: a family or whatever. Last year, one of my favorite
30:11
Speaker 3: stories from last summer, it's still just it just makes
30:15
Speaker 3: my heart warm. A little boy came in to to,
30:18
Speaker 3: you know, get with his mom to get their clothes.
30:21
Speaker 3: And I was looking through the bag and and there
30:24
Speaker 3: was there was Spider Man underwear in there. And that
30:29
Speaker 3: little boy was so excited. He was just squealing with
30:33
Speaker 3: delight just to have something so so special for him,
30:38
Speaker 3: you know, Spider Man underwear. Oh my gosh, I just love.
30:42
Speaker 2: Well, there's underwear and then there's Spider Man.
30:44
Speaker 4: Yeah.
30:44
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, my underwear is not that cool.
30:50
Speaker 3: I love stuff like this so great, right, right, It's wonderful.
30:54
Speaker 3: So yeah, you know, how do you how do you
30:57
Speaker 3: love on your neighbors? This is a way to love
30:58
Speaker 3: on our neighbors?
30:59
Speaker 2: Yeah? Wow, Sunday mornings. What happens at ten am on Sundays?
31:06
Speaker 3: Yeah, So, I mean even before that, folks are coming in.
31:08
Speaker 3: Folks are usually starting to come in around nine point thirty,
31:11
Speaker 3: and you know, are a choir WALLI practicing at least
31:13
Speaker 3: during the well from like September to June or choir's practicing,
31:17
Speaker 3: and folks are setting up our hospitality time. In the back,
31:20
Speaker 3: people start to gather, they're chatting, they're laughing. I love
31:23
Speaker 3: as I you know, I'm getting ready to go out.
31:27
Speaker 3: I have this little stool I sit on just outside
31:29
Speaker 3: of the chancel area, and I can hear folks in
31:32
Speaker 3: the sanctuary. You can hear the laughter, you can hear
31:34
Speaker 3: the love. You can hear people greeting one another in
31:36
Speaker 3: the back. And then yeah, we get started at ten
31:39
Speaker 3: and our service is we're really a congregation of love
31:44
Speaker 3: and laughter, so we do laugh a lot. People will
31:46
Speaker 3: come to our worship service and be like, I didn't
31:48
Speaker 3: know church could be like that. I mean, I didn't
31:50
Speaker 3: realize that there could be, you know, so much just
31:54
Speaker 3: joy and laughter. And of course there can be, right,
31:56
Speaker 3: I mean, of course there can be. I certain I'll
31:59
Speaker 3: tease people from a pulpit and uh, you know, you
32:02
Speaker 3: know that's great. Oh we have a blast. It's just
32:05
Speaker 3: it's there's always even in the even our most somber moments,
32:09
Speaker 3: like you Got, joy and sorrow are often intermingled. I mean,
32:13
Speaker 3: if you can't fully experienced joy, you can't well, if
32:17
Speaker 3: you can't fully experience sorrow, you can't fully experience joy.
32:20
Speaker 3: They are two sides of the same coin, right, there's
32:22
Speaker 3: the depth of humanity when I'm when I do funerals,
32:26
Speaker 3: I say to folks, you know, laugh through your tears,
32:28
Speaker 3: and and you're gonna cry through your laughter. That is
32:30
Speaker 3: part of our experience of of of death and dying.
32:33
Speaker 3: As you tell these stories, wonderful stories about the people
32:36
Speaker 3: who've passed, and even as you're crying, you're laughing about
32:39
Speaker 3: some of their idiosyncrasies and the hilarious things that they did.
32:42
Speaker 3: And sure so even our most somber moments can be
32:45
Speaker 3: infused and should be infused with with joy because that's
32:51
Speaker 3: that's that's the fullness of our human experience, and it's beautiful.
32:56
Speaker 3: So our services are often just joy filled and yeah,
33:01
Speaker 3: i'd like to think that they're pretty engaging and we
33:05
Speaker 3: have a good time. Services last between an hour hour
33:08
Speaker 3: and fifteen aren twenty if the pastor runs a little long.
33:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, where did you grow up? What's your story?
33:16
Speaker 3: Well, so I was born upstate New York, halfway between
33:20
Speaker 3: Rochester and Buffalo, right in the middle of cow Country's
33:24
Speaker 3: snow Country and Snow Country. My dad's retired press Terian pastor,
33:28
Speaker 3: so a preacher's kid. That was his first church, tiny
33:31
Speaker 3: little church in the middle of cow Country. But we
33:34
Speaker 3: moved down to New Jersey when I was about three,
33:38
Speaker 3: and my dad was at the same church for forty years,
33:40
Speaker 3: retiring from there, and so that was my home church
33:43
Speaker 3: in Ringwood, New Jersey. Beautiful area to grow up in.
33:47
Speaker 3: Nothing like what people envision when they think about New Jersey.
33:50
Speaker 3: I was in the hills.
33:50
Speaker 2: I just drove through New Jersey, was stunned. How beautiful.
33:55
Speaker 3: Oh, I mean, it's not the Garden State for nothing, right, right,
33:58
Speaker 3: I mean there's a lot of congestion, and especially on
34:01
Speaker 3: the inside of two eighty seven, like that's a packed,
34:04
Speaker 3: packed area.
34:05
Speaker 2: The Garden State Parkway.
34:06
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
34:07
Speaker 3: But I grew up in the real north of the state,
34:09
Speaker 3: right on the New York state border. Gorgeous. We had
34:11
Speaker 3: botanical gardens there, state park sixty three percent protected land,
34:16
Speaker 3: so I group running around in the forests. Coming to
34:18
Speaker 3: Vermont was just like coming home, yea, you know, And
34:23
Speaker 3: I've been in Vermont now since two thousand and seven.
34:27
Speaker 3: I was in Burlington for fifteen years. The last church
34:29
Speaker 3: I served was First United Methodist in Burlington, and then
34:33
Speaker 3: I came here. I started started at Heading in twenty nineteen,
34:38
Speaker 3: so I've been here just over seven years. But yeah,
34:42
Speaker 3: Vermont is Vermont feels like home. Yeah, and as soon
34:46
Speaker 3: as I got here it felt like home. I'm like,
34:47
Speaker 3: these are my people, these are my people.
34:51
Speaker 2: So I think that's sentiments shared from what I've heard.
34:54
Speaker 2: People really really love you.
34:56
Speaker 3: Oh well, it's mutual. This church is my dream job. Like,
35:01
Speaker 3: this is exactly where I want to be is exactly
35:03
Speaker 3: the community I want to be in. I love being
35:06
Speaker 3: in Barry. Barry is so real. When we first got here,
35:11
Speaker 3: my spouse Kurt and I we joke a lot about
35:13
Speaker 3: how you know, there's everybody in Barry is a character
35:17
Speaker 3: and there's not like secondary characters. They're all primary characters.
35:20
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I mean every person here like they're just interesting,
35:26
Speaker 3: real people, not pretending to be something they're not. And
35:31
Speaker 3: I really appreciate that about it. And yeah, a lot
35:35
Speaker 3: of fun and just god, I love this church. I
35:38
Speaker 3: love being part of this church family. It's amazing. It's
35:41
Speaker 3: just amazing.
35:41
Speaker 2: How do folks, I mean, we've also talked about or
35:46
Speaker 2: we also need to talk about with regard to Phyllis
35:50
Speaker 2: here that she helps out with she helps folks out
35:54
Speaker 2: with financial assistans.
35:55
Speaker 3: Yeah, we have a financial assistance program as well. And
35:57
Speaker 3: Phyllis is in Wednesday through Friday mentioned nine to three.
36:01
Speaker 3: That's those are Phyllis's hours, and and folks will come
36:03
Speaker 3: in and ask for help with utilities or you know,
36:07
Speaker 3: maybe they need their car to be fixed, maybe they're
36:12
Speaker 3: you know, they need need help, you know, just making
36:15
Speaker 3: ends meet on a on a rent payment or whatever.
36:18
Speaker 3: Phyllis will negotiate with the utility companies to try to
36:21
Speaker 3: get you know, phil folks are behind to try to
36:22
Speaker 3: get things down so that what we're adding to that, well,
36:25
Speaker 3: we'll go a little further. Like I said, Phyllis can
36:27
Speaker 3: make a dollar stretch like nobody I've ever met.
36:29
Speaker 4: Wow.
36:31
Speaker 3: But you know, we can't do a lot for everybody,
36:34
Speaker 3: but we can do a little bit for as many
36:37
Speaker 3: people as possible. Every once in a while, we'll get
36:39
Speaker 3: somebody who comes in and ask for something that's like, no,
36:42
Speaker 3: we're not going to buy you a big screen TV.
36:44
Speaker 3: I'm so sorry, dear, but you know, the basic necessities
36:47
Speaker 3: we want to help you with that.
36:49
Speaker 2: You know, that's so funny. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I really
36:55
Speaker 2: need a new motorcycle.
36:56
Speaker 3: No, sorry, you're gonna but well, we'll feed you, try
37:01
Speaker 3: to help you keep the roof over your head, my lights.
37:03
Speaker 2: On which food, financial assistance, diapers, clothing. I mean this
37:09
Speaker 2: is really something else.
37:11
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're you're doing. We really have a heart for
37:12
Speaker 3: our community and this church has for really, i think
37:16
Speaker 3: since the beginning, and it's been around for a long time.
37:18
Speaker 3: Methodism started in and Bury in seventeen ninety seven, and
37:23
Speaker 3: Methodism itself is an outward focused faith tradition. We're are
37:30
Speaker 3: you know, our Methodism's founder, well founders John and Charles Wesley,
37:35
Speaker 3: especially in a couple of their friends, created our personal
37:39
Speaker 3: and social holiness understanding. So we take care of ourselves,
37:44
Speaker 3: connecting with God. We take care of our neighbors. That's
37:47
Speaker 3: our so personal so personal holiness and social holiness. How
37:51
Speaker 3: are we taking care of one another? And both of
37:53
Speaker 3: those are how we understand ourselves to be fully in
37:57
Speaker 3: line with what Christ is calling us to be.
38:00
Speaker 2: Are you working with other area agencies? Yeah, in and
38:05
Speaker 2: around the Granite City absolutely.
38:07
Speaker 3: I mean, we really were really about collaborating I mentioned,
38:09
Speaker 3: you know, we we bring meals every Friday to a
38:13
Speaker 3: couple of the Good sam Good Smart and Haven locations.
38:16
Speaker 3: Also on Friday nights, the Turning Point Recovery coaches will
38:20
Speaker 3: be with us, and so they'll help us. We have
38:22
Speaker 3: folks come in in various states of sobriety, and we
38:27
Speaker 3: love them whatever state of sobriety they're in. We even
38:30
Speaker 3: love them when they're belligerent, but we do have to
38:32
Speaker 3: ask them to leave when they're belligerent. So, you know,
38:35
Speaker 3: but the recovery coaches really help us with all of
38:38
Speaker 3: those pieces. And so if we've got someone coming in
38:40
Speaker 3: who's strung out and needs a little extra you know, counseling.
38:45
Speaker 3: I mean, Kristen and Jason and Seth, I don't know
38:48
Speaker 3: what we do without them. They're fantastic. They even have
38:52
Speaker 3: a recovery meeting that happens right after the Friday supper.
38:55
Speaker 3: So the meals we gather at four thirty, meals served
38:58
Speaker 3: at five thirty, recovery meeting at six, and so they're
39:01
Speaker 3: really there to kind of help us take care of
39:04
Speaker 3: of those in our community, especially those who are, uh
39:09
Speaker 3: you know, in the throes of addiction. And trying to
39:11
Speaker 3: recover from addiction.
39:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's some this this community has really some amazing
39:18
Speaker 2: churches really do and I know you all work together too.
39:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, We've got we've got great relationships with especially the
39:28
Speaker 3: downtown churches right around us, and so you know, we'll
39:31
Speaker 3: work with the with the Good Shepherd Episcopalians, the very
39:38
Speaker 3: congregational across the street, the Unitarians, uh, and almost next
39:44
Speaker 3: door to us enough ministries, uh, and then the Presbyterian
39:49
Speaker 3: Church isn't far away. We'll collaborate with them as well.
39:51
Speaker 3: And sometimes the Roman Catholic Church, and you know, we
39:53
Speaker 3: really try to do a lot in Phyllis in her
39:56
Speaker 3: work will often connect with these different churches as well
39:59
Speaker 3: because there's different ways that that folks can uh will
40:02
Speaker 3: help serve UH. And we'll collaborate with Capstone and UH.
40:08
Speaker 3: You know, we've definitely reached out to to Washington County
40:11
Speaker 3: Mental Health. UH, people's health and wellness is a great partner.
40:17
Speaker 3: So yeah, there's there's a lot of different things that
40:19
Speaker 3: you know, if we're all talking together, we can do more.
40:24
Speaker 3: I mean, we participate in the homelessness summits that that
40:28
Speaker 3: UH test tailor leads UH, and we meet over at
40:31
Speaker 3: the library, uh month, every month or two to talk about,
40:35
Speaker 3: you know, how are we helping our our unhoused neighbors
40:39
Speaker 3: and our housing and secure neighbors. Yeah, so there's a
40:42
Speaker 3: lot of different ways. I mean, collaboration is a huge
40:45
Speaker 3: part of it. We don't want to be in a
40:46
Speaker 3: silo where we're just doing our thing and not paying
40:48
Speaker 3: attention to what other people are doing.
40:51
Speaker 2: I want to thank you for what you've done in
40:55
Speaker 2: the past for with all of this, but Washington County
41:01
Speaker 2: Mental Health, just a big thank you for what the
41:05
Speaker 2: Heading Church did for the learning collaborative Friends, helping friends,
41:11
Speaker 2: a group of folks who were not able to use
41:15
Speaker 2: their regular space because it was under renovation, and Heading
41:19
Speaker 2: Church you said, please use our space.
41:24
Speaker 3: It was joyful to share space with those guys. Yeah.
41:27
Speaker 3: We had them in for a long time, eight or
41:29
Speaker 3: nine months and got to know some of the folks
41:32
Speaker 3: and it was delightful to have some of these, you know,
41:36
Speaker 3: the adults with learning disabilities coming through and you could
41:40
Speaker 3: see that, you know, they had some of their craft stuff.
41:42
Speaker 2: And there was so many the plenty of room you
41:44
Speaker 2: get the kitchen down there. Every time, it was terrific.
41:46
Speaker 3: It was a really good It was a great sharing
41:49
Speaker 3: of space, and we hope to share space again. We
41:52
Speaker 3: have a front room. I mean we're utilizing at the moment,
41:55
Speaker 3: but we would love to rent it out or you know,
41:58
Speaker 3: share space somehow with another agency kind of like that
42:01
Speaker 3: where where you know we're we have similar values and
42:06
Speaker 3: outreach efforts and you know, so folks want to have
42:09
Speaker 3: a conversation about it. We've got the space.
42:11
Speaker 2: We encourage folks if they haven't yet explored or learned
42:16
Speaker 2: about the Heading Church. And that's why you're here to
42:21
Speaker 2: to do that, to walk through the doors. Please, whether
42:25
Speaker 2: you need help or whether you want to help, or
42:28
Speaker 2: whether both, or whether exactly absolute exactly or whether you
42:35
Speaker 2: just you need a kick in the pants with regard
42:39
Speaker 2: to faith and hope.
42:41
Speaker 3: Hopefully not a kick in the pants, but let's go
42:42
Speaker 3: for inspiration, you know exactly exactly a loving kick in
42:48
Speaker 3: the pants, I suppose.
42:50
Speaker 2: On Sunday mornings at a uh, it's great stuff, it's great, tough.
42:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're a loving community.
42:59
Speaker 2: I am.
43:00
Speaker 3: I am so blessed and grateful to be here, truly, truly, truly.
43:06
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for coming in here, Thanks for
43:08
Speaker 2: having me on I'm paying attention to what you guys
43:11
Speaker 2: are doing. Of course Gino has always letting me know, yeah,
43:15
Speaker 2: what's happening over at Heading Church, but always welcome in here.
43:19
Speaker 2: Anything you got going on.
43:20
Speaker 3: You thank you.
43:21
Speaker 2: You got a microphone for.
43:22
Speaker 3: You, appreciate it.
43:23
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Pastor, thank you, pleasure.
43:25
Speaker 4: Thanks strapstrstrittrat
45:00
Speaker 1: Stock stand stand, strip stand stock stand