Thoughts from a Clay Pot

No More Checks?

2009-09-30T13:36:00.002-05:00

Walletpop.com this week includes a post about the end of checks at the supermarket.

Let me just say, I've never payed a grocery bill with a paper check. I know there are plenty of folks who do--and there are a few places I do use paper checks (tithes to church, bills where a company charges extra for some kind of electronic payment, certain personal services, the IRS, etc...), but for the most part, I'm a part of the "post-check" generation.

If your friendly local supermarket stopped accepting personal checks, would this cause you personal anxiety, make your life more difficult, or have vitually no impact on you?

Being Church--First Thoughts

2009-09-26T08:41:00.001-05:00

There's currently a lot of conversation in the blogosphere about what it means to be church. This week at Elm Street, we have been engaging in some live conversation about being church together, and about being church into the future.

Earlier today, as I checked my email, I received links to the following blog posts by Dan Dick. After some time reflecting on them, I want to offer them to you.

The first post should sound fairly familiar to anyone who has been a part of our conversations at Elm Street--Church Without Churches. Much as we have done this week, Dan Dick opens a thought experiment about what might happen if tomorrow, every United Methodist congregation found itself without a building. Dan informs his readers that "Approximately 60% of our current membership defines church as attending worship on Sunday morning. “Going to church” describes the fundamental experience for the majority of United Methodists — especially inactives."

How do you primarily define "church?" Is it more about "Going to..." or "Being..." church for you? I'd encourage you to read Dan's blog post and spend some more time thinking about these questions--his insights are powerful and insightful!

The second post I recieved hit home as well. In Irresponsibly Unresponsive, Dan asks us to answer the question "What responsibility does the individual have for her or his own spiritual growth and development?" In it, Dan talks about people who leave United Methodist congregations and their stated reasons, while raising questions about our personal responsibility for Christian discipleship and development. One of my favorite parts of this post is the following:

The majority of people attend church hoping to receive something, but very few express any responsibility to bring anything to worship. (In fact, the question was confusing to many people. We asked two questions: “How do you prepare yourself for worship?” and “What are your regular practices to grow spiritually?” In both cases, “what do you mean?” and “Nothing/None” are the top answers.)

I'd really love for you all to check out Dan's post--I don't want to give too much away, but I can't resist offering the following thoughts for you:

One interesting reaction from 4-out-of-every-5 people who left the church was a sense of indignation, and often outrage, that “the church” would expect anything from them. Various people expressed resentment that they were instructed to pray, read the Bible, regularly attend church, give money, give time, or support congregational projects. The overwhelming opinion is that all these things should be up to the individual.

Again, these thoughts make me want to ask, how do you primarily define "church?" Is it more about "Going to..." or "Being..." church for you?

I'm currently in the midst of a sermon series on "Being Church" that will continue until Christ the King Sunday (the last one before Advent). For those of you who will not hear those live, but who would like to know more, you can listen to the Elm Street UMC Podcasts here.

Time for a North American Dollar zone?

2008-04-22T15:21:00.002-05:00

I've wondered about NAFTA and the EuroZone for some time now, but I caught a bit of the North American Summit news reports this afternoon, and it got me thinking again. There are parallels, but significant differences as well.

The key difference (at least the most obvious, not to get into the EU parliament connected to the EuroZone), of course, is multiple currencies in the US, Canada, and Mexico. I'd argue that we need to move toward a single super-national North American community (that would include eliminating inernal boarder crossings between the three North American nations and simplify transnational residence), but that's a complex matter. Simpler, and perhaps more mannageable in the short run, is the creation of a single, North American Dollar zone. No, I'm not dissing the Peso, but with two Dollars already, it's the easier way to go. In fact, if we developed a "Dollar/Peso" zone, with total equivalency (essentially printing three currencies without exchange rates, so 1$US = 1$CAD = 1 Peso), we could all keep our familiar currencies in our wallets, but use whatever we happen to have while traveling between the three states. This would have immediate positive impact, especially in boarder communities.

Even better, now's the time. With virtual equivalence between the US and Canadian Dollars, only Mexico would have to reissue the Peso, which could be subsidized by the other two states to facilitate trade.

I know it's not likely, but hey, we could be smarter than we are! Why compete with one another in North America (with only 3 official languages), when we can cooperate to compete with Europe. If the polyglot EU can do it, why can't we?

A Prayer for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year A

2008-04-07T11:59:00.002-05:00

Loving Father,
when we knew the presence of God in Jesus, he promised God would always be present for us, as you would send another Comforter.
Grant that we who know the presence of that Comforter, the Holy Spirit,
will be empowered to live as Disciples who know the Risen Christ;
Through that same Jesus Christ, who with you and the Holy Spirit is worshipped and glorified, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Inspired by John 14:15-21.

Thoughts on Worship this Easter Season

2008-03-31T13:13:00.001-05:00

I've been thinking hard about worship as we have entered this Easter season. I spend a lot of time thinking about worship for each Sunday we are together, but I've been thinking a bit more out-of-the-box, or beyond-the-bulletin lately. What does it mean to be worshippers of the Risen Christ? How do we worship as Christians in a 21st centuray world? What does our United Methodist heritage and the Christian tradition have to tell us about worship, praise, prayer, and Christian community as we gather to celebrate Jesus' Resurrection?

These are heavy questions! I don't have all the answers for our context today, but I do know that what we think is "proper worship," or "the way things have always been," aren't quite so set in stone. I do know that if we have met the risen Jesus, our lives shouldn't be like they used to be. I also know that to worship him means we need to be open to the presence of Christ in our lives, and in our church, and that if the Lord is present, we cannot be in complete control. A traditional way to open worship in Black Methodism is to sing "The Lord is in His Holy Temple, Let all the Earth Keep Silence Before Him." I want to propose, if we think of our lives and our places of worship as The Lord's Holy Temple, and if we believe the Lord is in the house with us, we might find ourselves keeping silence like our brothers and sisters at Green Memorial AME-Zion on Munjoy Hill, where the silence quickly moves to singing, dancing, shouting and praise!

I love old hymns, and I believe that many of the old ways still have power to lead worship well today, but I'm convinced that to be authentic worshippers of the Risen Christ in the 21st century, we need to find ways of communicating the Gospel that are indigenous to the communities around us. For some, that might mean praise music, for others Southern Gospel, for yet others, traditional hymns might work. Whatever music, method, and means we use to communicate with our communities, our worship needs to be truly Spirit-filled. Again, if we really believe the Lord is in the house, if we let the Spirit take the lead, we cannot expect to remain in complete control!

Our United Methodist history has a great deal to teach us about the variety of forms authentic worship can take. Methodists have never worshipped in only one way, and many of those ways might look strange to us today. John and Charles Wesley were high-church Anglicans: They were deeply Sacramental and by all accounts comfortable with formality, vestments, and the kinds of reverence and propriety demanded by 18th century Anglican worship. The Wesley's were also more concerned with helping the people of their society meet Jesus than with preserving worship the way they understand it, and when they found preaching in parish churches a challenge, took to other locations, lining songs without instruments, praying in the Spirit in the moment, and calling for people to give their lives to Christ right where they were. In prayer meetings and some of the early Methodist chapels, some folks found themselves so overcome by the Holy Spirit that they shouted, wept, cried out for God's mercy, fell to their knees and faces, and even shouted with joy, all with little respect for proper order and deference! When the Lord is in His Holy Temple, when the Lord is in the house, there's no telling what might happen!

Over our history, Methodists have sometimes followed John Wesley's admonition to Constant Communion, celebrating at least every Sunday, and often have followed formal orders of worship, with scheduled prayer, singing and silence; we have also followed the Wesley's example, chartering Camp Meetings, Revivals, and other kinds of services, where prayers flow unscheduled, preaching often becomes empassioned, and singing and shouting both in joy and conviction cannot easily be controlled; today, United Methodists worship in more languages and styles than ever before, but at our best, we are always open to the Lord's leadership as we worship together.

I point out our diverse heritage and current practices to suggest that there isn't one right way to worship, but I do want to make two points: there is one thing that all right worship has in common, and there is one thing which we should never let happen to worship. The one thing all right worship has in common is an openness to the work and power of the Holy Spirit, making what we do passionate, exciting, electric, and live! Like all living things, Spirit-driven worship is at least a little unpredictable and open to adapting to its immediate circumstances. The one thing that we should never let happen to our worship is to let it become a dead, dry activity that we try to do without the power of the Holy Spirit. If we are to worship the Living God who made Heaven and Earth, who in Christ lived, died, and rose for us, then we cannot do it without the Holy Spirit, the presence of God with us!

Yes, worship of the Risen Christ is a risky business--but the Church of Jesus Christ is called to take risks in his name, including in our worship! So if the Spirit moves you this Easter season, shout "AMEN!" or "HALLELUJAH!" like those Methodists of old! Raise your hands in the air, in praise or prayer! If the time is right, shout and praise the Lord in the Sanctuary! Dance, shout, jump, and have JOY in the Holy Spirit, like King David and all God's holy people across time!

The Lord IS in His Holy Temple, Let All the Earth Keep Silence Before Him, and Let the Church of Christ praise as the Spirit leads us!

September has come... and the boy's fun...

2007-09-12T06:43:00.000-05:00

Well,

I'm back from Paternity Leave, and glad to be getting back into a routine with the folks at my two churches.

My son is well, and my wife is doing alright. She's had a hard transition back to her church, with a number of roadblocks beyond her control in the process. It's been tough at times, but we're getting through this and focusing on the task of planning a major revival/music festival/day of intentional outreach and evangelism in its first (and hopefully not final) iteration.

Our son learned to roll over some time ago, but just over a week ago he decided that after he first stirred at night, he'd prefer to sleep on his front. I must say, he is cuteness personified! He's starting to play with things he can grab (and to grab anything that comes close to him), but he's just as happy to manipulate his world with his feet (I recognize "manipulate" is a rather ironic word choice, coming from the Latin mano for "hand").

Well, I have a Bible Study to lead in an hour, and I need to get ready. Off we go!

Long time coming...

2007-07-20T16:30:00.000-05:00

It's been a long time coming. The past year has been complicated and often challenging. My wife has been pregnant, struggling with her church to deal with dangerous lead levels in the parsonage, and finally, we've ended up moving (temporarily) and then our son was born!

He's doing well and my Paternity Leave has started (with a 2 week overlap with Kate's Maternity Leave). We're trying to figure out how to return to our charges, to be effective pastors, and to be good parents too.

Anyway... I should post. This space has helped me think since I started the process. And here's a post. At least one.

I'm not making any promises today. We'll see what tomorrow might bring, but my hope is that I'll keep with it this time.

Yeah.

Saturday Night Musings

2007-03-03T20:14:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking about the fact that I haven't consistently posted on this blog in months. Last time I saw Adrienne, she shamed me into considering my failure to keep up. Today, I discovered Bill Chaney's blog, Making Disciples in an Emerging Church. I found this post, which argued that blogging was a valuable tool for church growth. Once again...it got me thinking.

I find myself keeping very busy 'doing' church, maintaining and repairing church structures, and trying to get to know my congregations after spending last fall when I tried to be a full-time pastor and also finish my last two seminary classes. I can't seem to find time to do a number of things I believe could begin to reach the world around me with the Gospel, because I spend a great deal of time trying to solve structural problems in church life that keep us from effectively ministering to the world around us.

We haven't made much progress, but I believe revitalization is possible. Both churches I serve can grow and can become dynamic centers of disciple-making in their communities, and I think that at least some folks in both places want their church to grow and serve their communities in new ways. I think that there are impediments to overcome, but increasingly, my personal prayer-time, my conversation with trusted colleagues, and my conversation with folks at both churches have led me to believe that any impediments that might exist to disciple-making, growth, and service can be overcome by God's grace and work in the community.

I think I'll do my part by trying to find time to blog a bit more often, and by helping envision what both of these churches might look like as we continue to grow into Christian communities that can minister in the name of Jesus to a 21st century world.

Why I wonder about American culture

2007-02-24T10:19:00.000-05:00

The world is a confusing place! According to this article in Slate, even the venerable phrase "my baby-daddy" is subject to linguistic drift. Apparently, this term that has carried the last vestiges of western culture's disapproval of extra-marital procreation no longer does in much of the tabloid media!

What has Western culture come to!

Disturbing Results

2006-08-31T15:49:00.000-05:00

In an increasingly pluralistic America, where we value diversity and individual rights above all else, or at least that is our rhetoric, some ideas are less acceptable than others.

After logging-off a popular free email service, I found a link to this story about healthcare providers who both come from and cater to a particular audience whose faith commitments prevent them from using contraceptives. I was impressed. The truth is, I think having medical practices, colleges, and financial institutions that cater to the moral needs of people of faith is a great thing. Fine, I'm a pastor, but I'm also a person of faith who would prefer to invest his money in a way that would support enterprizes I find desirable, not just whatever an investment firm finds profitable, whether it's selling Christian books, gambling, pyotechnics, organic coffee, prostitution or pornography.

Generally, Americans support the right of others to make choices. Not only is it important to our Capitalist system, it is also the primary way we exercize our personal freedom. However, in contemporary America, there is a growing sense that choices motivated by religion, especially traditional Christianity, shouldn't be acceptable.

At the time I read the article and took the poll, only 26% of people who responded to the question answered "I support them and hope they take off," to the question "What do you think of medical practices that blend health and faith?" What was worse, out of 21987 responses, 38% responded "I do not support them at all." Amazingly, a plurality of respondents would prefer to prevent individuals from having the choice to seek religiously informed health-care.

I guess this shouldn't surprise me. Catholic hospitals have been on the receiving end of attacks for years for refusing to provide abortions, and Massachusetts required Wal-Mart to sell morning-after pill earlier this year (in a reading of state law that would seem to require all pharmacies to dispense the drug, regardless of their religious objections).

I guess many Americans believe that free practice of religion should end when we enter the public sphere, whether that is in our own medical practice, while looking for a doctor, or choosing a pharmacy. I wonder if these folks think Christians should have a right to choose what books to sell in Christian bookstores, or if Christian counsellors and psychologists should be allowed to practice their trades in light of their faith?

Some of us seem to have confused living according to particular values with imposing them on others. This is truly a sad day.

Life Changes and the Life of Faith

2006-08-11T08:45:00.000-05:00

I haven't been blogging much lately, largely because I've intended this site as a place for me to offer Christian commentary on the world I encounter. While I feel alright about posting personal stories if I think they have something interesting to say, I've avoided the "everyday life" journal stuff. So, while I've been living, I haven't necessarily had anything all that interesting to say lately.

Now that my wife and I are both pastors, our time is harder to manage. We have a wonderful situation on many levels, we can usually schedule to have lunch together, but we frequently have to eat dinner on the run to make evening meetings and events. Hey, I have lots of friends who never see their spouses during the day, but who generally get to have some evening time together... ours is just a different schedule. Still, many people ask me how we handle it, and older folks especially tend to comment how sad it is that we can't go to church together on Sunday. Changes in expectations can be hard to accomodate.

We're living in a great little city now. I guess on many levels it's nice to have curbside trash and recycling pickup and the services of urban life again, but we've traded the independence of a transfer station for the convenience of once-a-week fixed time collection. Yeah, I know trash pickup isn't exciting, but it's one of the changes that comes with moving. The truth is, changes in life circumstances are always a challenge for us, whether they involve moving to a new city, beginning a new excercize regimen, or coming into relationship with Jesus.

We in the Church often fail to recognize how dramatic a life-changing encounter with Christ can be. After we have been Christians for awhile, we have a tendency to see faith in God as normal, if not universal. We tend to tak for granted our relationship with God, to assume this must be what life is like.

Moving to a new culture, or even a new city can help remind us how radically life-changing Christian faith can be for those who are not comitted and practicing Christians. For many of us, singing the words of the old hymn "what a wonderful change in my life has been wrought, since Jesus came into my heart..." is an excercize in communal memory that carries little meaning for us personally. Yes, Jesus has changed our lives, but for those of us who grew up in the Church, what does that change look like?

New belivers whose life has been lived apart from an active, two way relationship with God have a great deal to teach us. Yes, God's grace may be reaching for everyone at all times, but not everyone is willing to engage with God in Christ, and many people in our "Christan" west don't even know how. Can we in the Church who have forgotten how different Christian life is from life apart from Christ learn how to help others experience a life-transforming relationship with God? Are we willing to learn?

Food Allergies

2006-08-02T06:11:00.000-05:00

I was reading an online Slate article this morning, and it got me thinking. I've had a similar reaction to overcautious parents for quite some time now. Several years ago, while working in a coffee shop, the new "in" thing for parents with too much money to spend seemed to be reading all labels for any evidence of peanuts or treenuts. I guess we've gone farther, now hickory trees are apparently high enough risk for a kid with a nut allergy that a town sufficiently fears litigation to cut down several of them.

What has the world come to when a commentator has to ask:

Who is crazy here—the family that wants the trees felled or the residents who seem willing to put a child at risk? It's hard to tell. That's the dilemma of nut allergies. There are cases of real danger and real death. And then there's the huge circle of caution that often gets drawn around children when, rationally speaking, more modest precautions might do.

Sadly, that's the world we live in today -- a world where irrational parents can make normal life cease for fear of something that might happen to a child who has never evidenced risk before.

I understand food allergies -- I really do. My wife's best-friend is seriously allergic to peanuts, and moderately allergic to a host of other legumes. However, she's an adult, and has never evidenced airborne risk, so while she'd prefer you not eat a peanut-butter sandwich in front of her because she finds the smell unpleasant, she hasn't tried to ban all foods that might have made contact with peanuts from her worksite.

Some of you might be saying "so you know someone..." Well, I know several people, a shellfish (crustacea, not bivalves... yes, I know it's hard to imagine, but clams are not closely related to crabs) allergy in my family, a banana allergy in my wife's, a blueberry allergy in mine, and a serious cashew allergy in mine that leads to minor issues with other drupes (including mango and poison ivy).

The problem with too many parents is that they seem to assume, "my kid's friend is allergic to peanuts, so my kid must be allergic to peanuts too, and cashews because they look like peanuts, and probably all nuts -- we must make the world a NUT FREE ZONE!!!" Even without intensive allergy testing, parents should be able to do better -- when you find an allergy through contact, learn what's really closely related, and don't feed a kid with peanut allergies lentils without asking if it makes them itchy, but dry roasted almonds or chashews, not processed in a plant that processes peanuts, are probably alright. Better yet, make the kid go through the whole battery of tests, and then avoid what actually comes up -- not everything. Finally, try to find out how serious the allergy really is -- if it's airborne, freak out, you're one of the few with a hypersensitive case, otherwise, take reasonable and sensible precautions. If your child has a mild peanut allergy, don't quiz every potential playmate's parents to discover if there's peanut butter in the house and ban contact with all kids who might occasionally eat some, just inform your kid's friend's parents' and ask for reasonable support.

If more of us were treated as reasonable people, then perhaps we'll all be able to live in a more sane world again. If parents had done that while I worked at the cafe, I wouldn't have responded like I did a few times, telling one hypercautious mother who'd just told her friend that while her kid hadn't been tested "you can't be too cautious," not to bother with any of our food, because I couldn't give her a 100% guarantee of peanut/treenut-freeness about anything.

Moving Day Part 1

2006-06-26T05:11:00.000-05:00

Today is the first day of our move... The truck will be packed with almost all of our worldly belongings and we'll be off to new environs tomorrow.... Between new appointments and a move, we've been busy, and I've been a very meagre blogger.

My last night here was almost sleepless -- no good reason, so I'm chocking it up to nerves. I'm sure with the beginning of a pastoral appointment at the end of this week, I'll have more to say here -- at least I hope that will be the case.

If anyone's still occasionally checking in, I hope I'll be better about posting in the weeks and months to come.

New Beginnings

2006-04-27T06:24:00.000-05:00

Well, the long semester is almost over. I've survived CPE and I'm just a few days from the end of a semester. That's a very good thing!

Along with the euphoria that follows work completed comes something less thrilling this year, though. My wife and I are considering moving from our home conference, seeking appointments elsewhere. Mind you, we don't really want to go -- but there are no full-time appointments for commissioners here in New England, and that'll be an issue. We need to have at least one full-time job, and I'll be finished with seminary, one way or another by Christmas, which we might spend somewhere very different from where we are now.

It's bitter-sweet. We've done good work where we are, and hoped to do more in this conference, but maybe we have other things we need to do for now. If God calls, we will go -- even if that's sometimes a little scary.

Qualified Participation?

2006-03-23T10:00:00.000-05:00

You Passed the US Citizenship Test

Congratulations - you got 10 out of 10 correct!

Could You Pass the US Citizenship Test?

I couldn't resist... How well would you do?

If you couldn't pass the U.S. citizenship test, but you're a citizen by default, why do you think your opinions on politics should matter?

I've often wondered about informed participation among the American people. We encourage high-school students to register to vote, and the media always bemoans the lack of turnout by "qualified" American voters. If Americans choose not to vote because they don't know what's going on, is that really a bad thing?

The truth is, I'm not sure high turnout would be good for American elections. I'm not suggesting we go back to the property test -- only allowing property owners to vote, as we did in the early days of the American Republic -- but maybe we do need some kind of test.

Literacy wouldn't do it -- and not simply because illiterate Americans are sometimes well-informed. No, the real issue is civic and historical illiteracy. If we expect immigrants to pass an exam to become citizens, perhaps it would be appropriate to ask citizens to pass an exam to earn the right to participate in determining the shape of our collective future.

Question of the day -- should there be a basline of knowledge required before we allow people to participate in the American political process?

Addendum part 1

2006-03-13T10:37:00.000-05:00

There'll probably be more late entries to add... but hey, we'll keep at it.

None of the 3 blogs in the Numeric through C's that I've already reviewed are new -- just new to the MBR -- but that'll do...

I found 32 Flavors by Tammy Jo some time ago -- I think through the Blogging Methodist Webring, but it could have been through a search for blogs about Romania. Either way, Tammy Jo's been blogging for some time, and is approaching graduation from Seminary! Tammy Jo's blog is eclectic and generally quite personal. Her insight can be quite interesting.

A Thing with Feathers, by Ciona, is another recent addition to the MBR. Ciona's a freelance writer, and the quality of writing on her blog suggests she should be able to make a living doing that. I particularly liked her posts Beautiful History! and "Can't exactly tell the church choir".

I think I may have passed over Bruce Alderman's blog, It Seems to Me... thinking it was a longer-term part of the MBR, but I'm not sure. If you've been around, Bruce, my apologies... Especially if you're a Marcus Borg fan (I'm not, but that's OK), check out Bruce's blog...

And Now Methodist Blogroll New C's!

2006-03-11T11:55:00.000-05:00

Basically, this is a continuation of my post The Exploding Methoblogosphere... I've resolved to review new blogs on the Methodist Blogroll, and to offer a bit of commentary. I don't know how long this will take, nor if I'll have to go back frequently to get to earlier posts, but I hope this will further conversation in the Methoblogosphere.

Today we're on to the C's... and there are quite a few!

Craig, of canaan is calling may be fairly new to blogging, but so far, he's both reflective and interesting to read. Sandwiched between posts with original poetry, Craig has offered some Biblical reflection, including an interesting post on being an evangelical pacifist.

I've never noticed Chris Iddon's blog The best of all until recently -- but he's been writing for awhile and it may have been on the MBR longer than I've noticed. Chris is a British Methodist who blogs about Church stuff, music, movies, and other stuff... He posts regularly, and the variety of content keeps the site interesting...

Churchonomics represents truth-in-advertizing, offering "revolutionary ideas and solutions for the local church." Most of the content seems to focus on mega-church stuff, but it made me think about how we might do ministry in any church (even if I just can't see building a 45' rock climbing gym, cage basketball, arcade gaming or a BMX park in any church I've ever experienced).

Corey Mann offers another mega-church perspective. Most of his posts are short but pithy and offer insight into a variety of material. Corey does High School ministry and shouldn't lose attention if his work is like his blog.

WCharles of Cosmic Wheel is a Red Sox fan from Texas. Sorry, as a New Englander and lifelong Sox fan, I missed the rest of his sports-related profile... Check it out for yourself... Recently, WCharles has been writing Katrina related posts, but with almost two full years of content, there's alot to see! Check him out, and if I've just missed him for all this time, I'm sorry, because he strikes me as a smart guy (and he's a Sox fan, after all, so he must be OK)...

Well, that's the C's! That's all I've got time to do for now... Next time, on to the D's!

The Exploding Methoblogosphere...

2006-03-10T12:20:00.000-05:00

Yes, that's acoined neologism if I've ever heard one, but at least it makes the subject line pithy.

I've been exceptionally busy in the last couple months, blogging far less than I might like, and reading other blogs less than I might like as well. As long as I'm trying to squeeze in a bit too much of everything, that can't be helped, but that's not my point today. Over the last several weeks I have noticed a trend in Methodist blogging that Shane and others have also mentioned -- the list of Methodist bloggers has exploded. It seems every time I visit the bloggers I've known for some time now, I find new Methobloggers on the Methodist Blogroll.

I applaud Shane's decision to begin publishing Welsey Daily, and hope that that will be one place we can find some of the best Methodist blogging, but with an almost endless supply, I'm sure we'll all begin to feel overwhelmed with the options of new, fresh Methodist reading we can do! I hope John can manage the MBWR despite the added work -- because your distillation will become even more valuable to all of us with the growing number of possible reads... but who knows what the explosion might mean for that institution of Methodist Blogging (other than the all-knowing John the Methodist, of course)!

I've been trying to dig through all the various new blogs as I go, but I've decided I need to get Methodic about reading new bloggers -- otherwise I'll fall back on my old favorites and ignore any new folk without even giving them a chance. So, for the next however-long-it-takes, I'll be reading new blogs on the Methodist Blogroll alphabetically and making a few personal comments on a post or two from each, or the general tenor of the blog. While this is for my own personal benefit, I hope any of you interested in Methodist Blogging will find these reviews worthwhile. Just as a note, all opinions expressed by me are my own, and if you've been on the Blogroll for more than a couple of weeks and I mention you, please don't take offense, I've tried to read everyone as they've been added, but it's not always easy, and I may have missed some of you with no intention of doing so.

For today, Numeric through B!

With one of the most creative new names, Stephen D's blog, 2Theo 2, is still very young. With only two posts so far, we'll await much more from Stephen D. If you have any interest in Young Adult ministries, as I do, check out his first post... it should be a reminder of how most churches need to do more to reach young adults.

Allan R. Bevere's eponymous blog made me laugh with this post about French Canadians consuming (I assume) unconsecrated Hosts as snacks. Good stuff...

Andy Stoddard's blog, ’Mid Toil and Tribulation, has what seems to be the unique role among Methodist Blogs of commenting on the Daily Lectionary. Perhaps he'll inspire others to do the same -- we can hope, as this Biblical Journaling could enrich both individuals and our communities!

Bad Methodist takes her name from her disagreement with the official United Methodist position on homosexuality. While much of the content on Bad Methodist focuses on LGBT issues, she has commented on reading The Message by Eugene Peterson.

As a side note, I'm also glad to see the return of Valtteri Mujunen's aMethodistBlog to the Methodist Blogroll, and hope he continues to publish posts regularly!

Tune in next time for C through... well, we'll see how far I can get.

Moving General Conference over Paul Revere

2006-02-20T14:11:00.000-05:00

Essentially, that's what's happening with this move.

In making the change, the United Methodist Commission on the General Conference cited a church policy regarding meeting in cities that are home to professional sports teams with Native American names.

The 2012 General Conference will be held April 25 to May 4 in the 600,000-square-foot Tampa Convention Center.

At the time of the initial selection, commission members were unaware that Richmond is home to the Richmond Braves, a minor league baseball team affiliated with the Atlanta Braves.

The General Conference meets every four years to set policy for the church and adopt or renew resolutions on hundreds of issues and concerns. It draws nearly 1,000 delegates from around the world. The 2004 conference was held in Pittsburgh, and the 2008 gathering will be in Fort Worth, Texas.

A resolution passed by the 2004 General Conference called for United Methodist agencies and organizations to avoid holding meetings and events in cities that sponsor sport teams using Native America names and symbols. "The United Methodist Church rejects the use of Native American names and symbols for sport teams, and considers the practice a blatant expression of racism," the assembly stated.

The United Methodist Commission on the General Conference may be doing something they interperet to be in accord with a GC Resolution, but they're historically wrong on this one. In this case, the name "Braves" derives from the original Boston Braves francise that was named after the "Braves" who took part in the Boston Tea Party... While I'm sure that the actions of the Sons of Liberty could be interpreted as racist, that's a different issue. In this case, we're moving General Conference over Paul Revere....

Fear and Trembling in New England...

2006-02-01T09:37:00.000-05:00

Sitting in the computer lab at the School of Theology, I realized I might not have completed a vital assignment for today. At that moment, my life, the universe, and everything flashed before my eyes and all I could think was "maybe it's really 41!" Odds are, this is just the kind of thought that comes to most sleep-deprived graduate students taking more than a full courseload and trying to work as well... but I can't know unless I'm told.

The truth is, CPE is both more practical and more fulfilling than I had expected -- not because I think it's a bad thing, mind you, but because I had hoped to take it after finishing Seminary and knowing exactly what issues I needed to address in a clinical setting. Our Board of Ordained Ministry has determined that won't work, so I've decided to cram it in now, lose sleep, become a less effective student near the end of my time at school, and try to cram in the experience without having to give up my income to boot... and I'm almost enjoying it.

In my "spare time" I've been contemplating the value of formal seminary education, and I've concluded that at least where I've been a student it is neither academic or practical, but a broken amalgamation of the two, approximating a very poorly organized baccalaureat program. I'm not entirely sure how to do it better, though requiring all our clergy to get an M.A. in either Theology, Biblical Studies, or a related field, and spending an intensive year or two as an associate to a compitent experienced pastor might work as well. I don't know -- but that's more or less what the Wesley's did, and it didn't seem to be any worse than the current system.

I'm in favor of an educated clergy, but I fear the current system creates people without any real expertise, but with substantial sense that they should be experts -- and that might make us all more dangerous, not less.

What do you think? How could we improve on the system most churches use to train clergy?

The Guilt of Failed Writing

2006-01-16T12:45:00.000-05:00

Over the past months, I have attempted to read other bloggers posts daily, and to write at least two posts each week myself. Recently, I haven't kept up with that schedule. I enjoy blogging, especially when I have particular ideas I want to refine, but I've been overwhelmingly busy with youth work trying to prepare for the spring, and I'm beginning a quarter of CPE while taking several classes and working this spring. All told, I fear I might not post frequently.

Two weeks ago, a friend of mine asked for my input on a post she had written on her blog. Check if you want, but my comment never appeared. I started it -- I really did. In fact, it's still a text file on my computer's desktop. Life just got crazy, and a good thing never materialized.

The fact is, I've felt kind of guilty about it. Adrienne's post was about Christian pacifism, and I feel strongly about the issue (as I've said on this very blog), but beyond personal interest, Adrienne was the person who both inspired me to blog, and encouraged me to get started. Yeah, Chris contributed too, but it was mostly Adrienne.

Maybe it'll appear as a full-fleged post here -- since Adrienne has moved on from the issue and continued to post about other interesting topics. Maybe not, but either way, thanks dear readers for bearing with me as I unburdened myself of the guilt of failed writing.

Bibles as Tools and Spiritual Sustenance

2006-01-04T16:00:00.000-05:00

Bible translations are always a touchy subject. When I was very young, my parents gave me an NIV, later, my home church gave me a Good News Bible, and in High school, my parents gave me a NKJV which I read several times. I used the NIV and NKJV extensively, and for me, those Bibles shaped my early Christian faith.

In college, and then later in seminary, I have had to use the NRSV, and while I appreciate the gender-neutral translation when the clear meaning of the Hebrew and Greek is gender neutral, the language is not modern English as anyone (aside from some academics) speaks it, and the poetry isn't as good as in most older translations. The church where I work now uses NIV's in the pews, and I've been glad for that, it's an improvement over the churches that use NRSV's in the pews -- but there are an odd mix of Bibles in the youth room.

Over my time doing youth work, I've found myself resorting to The Message: Remix as a suplement to the NIV to get the teens to think about biblical passages in a more "contemporary" way, but it's far from perfect (and as a rule, I'd never use a paraphrase in worship, and some of Peterson's choices, such as the use of "death valley" in the 23 psalm are more misleading than enlightening). I have found that The Message: Remix can speak to teens if used sparingly, so I'll probably continue to do so, but I've been looking for an everyday Bible that will work for my devotional use, be effective as a tool for communicating the Gospel, and will do so in contemporary English while faithfully translating the Hebrew and Greek text.

Both my wife and I have ordered TNIV's and I've begun using a desk-copy we purchased to read through the whole Bible this year. Check it out -- while it's not perfect (no translation is), it's smooth, and basically contemporary English, as well as an accurate translation. Shane was right -- the TNIV is good stuff. (And even more exciting than a great new translation, for youth workers anyway, there's a parallel TNIV/The Message:Remix edition that could be great as a discussion leader for teen Sunday School classes.)

Preparing for Christmas

2005-12-22T13:00:00.000-05:00

Sweeping, mopping, tidying, cleaning, vacuuming, and preparing the halls for decking -- hours of labor! Making cookies, fudge, cakes, and pies... preparing for Christmas dinner (be it ham or lamb or goose or roast beef, with whatever vegetables and such seem right this year). Finding the floor in my office space after what seems like an endless fall semester, as life at the church becomes even busier than in November!

However hectic, "these are a few of my favorite things...." I can't complain -- much -- or at least I shouldn't. I love much of the Christmas bustle, and even enjoy the excitement at church. Our churches are often filled with wonderful carols, and at least at this time of year, we create festively decorated worship space (though I wish we could do more of that for other seasons of the year). Christmas day comes, and the wonderful texts from John and Hebrews proclaim the real meaning of Christmas -- "And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth."

It might surprise you to discover, after all these affirmations, that Christmas isn't my favorite holiday. I'm really more of an Easter person. Not only is it the central feast of the Christian faith, nativity without resurrection would be utterly pointless. Despite the "uncertainty" of why Christmas is when it is that many moderns accept as gospel truth, or the suggestion that December 25 was simply a date that derived from its proximity to pagan festivals, the fact is that the early church probably selected the date of Christmas (or Epiphany, in the East: December 25/January 6) based on their relative dating of Easter (Thomas J. Talley is the best source for this information -- but this site has a good review of his work).

So let's really remember "the reason for the season," this year. Christmas is the feast of the Incarnation, and if God had not become Flesh, Jesus' crucifixion would be no more salvific than the execution of anyone else. Let's not cheapen the Nativity of our Lord by reducing Christmas to a "Happy Birthday Jesus," or a festival of "oh, the meek little baby Jesus..."

Instead of singing "Away in a Manger," and leaving it at that (as fun as that is), let's all listen to "Of the Father's Love Begotten," at least once (though HymnSite.com doesn't have the text, it's #184 in the UMH), and remember that the author of Hebrews has it right:

In these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

Merry Christmas, one and all!

A limited invitation for Coffee -- if you're ever in Boston...

2005-12-14T12:01:00.000-05:00

Shane Raynor has ruffled a few feathers this week with his post about sin. I've spent enough time with both theological liberals and conservatives to know that many on both sides believe the others will never listen to reason or change their minds -- and some of the comments evidence just that.

Heated discussion can be great... it proves we're not dead -- but not everyone is good at it. I'm sad to say, many of the ad hominem attacks came from conservatives, but perhaps something good can come from reading all the vitriol. I believe it has for me.

I'll leave the critcism oblique -- for those of you who comment on Wesley Blog, and who probably don't care what I think, being socially and theologically conservative doesn't excuse acting gracelessly toward Joel Thomas, Josh Tinley, or anyone else. That doesn't excuse anyone who is socially and theologically liberal acting gracelessly toward anyone else -- but at least in this tread I haven't witnessed much of that. I'll grant that Joel's rhetoric was pretty thick at times, as was some of Shane's original post, but neither was graceless -- just pushing the envelope. If we can't do that, we'll lose all the benefits of heated discussion, so that we can all feel good all the time. Isn't that what's wrong with our current denominational conversation (or lack of conversation) about sin?

Shane's right, "Many of us don't know how to deal with sin, our own or anyone else's." The problem is, that's very un-Methodist of us. In fact, as Wesleyan Christians, we've always believed in the possibility of sinless living through the power of the Holy Spirit working within us to perfect us -- because Jesus' sacrifice has saved us from sin, not just the consequences of sin. That's why Shane's post is so valuable.

God ordained Jesus to deal with sin. He doesn't handle it by encouraging it, condoning it or ignoring it. He takes it away. He wipes it out. He destroys it. We are no longer forced to wallow in our own brokenness and shame. "Christ carried our sins in his body on the cross so that freed from our sins, we could live a life that has God's approval. His wounds have healed you" (1 Peter 2:24). Let's stop preaching an anemic gospel that accepts everyone but leaves them powerless against the destructiveness of sin.

Whatever our disagreements about the particularities of sin might be, sexual and otherwise, I see Josh Tinley and Joel Thomas wrestling with the seriousness of human sinfulness, and trusting in the power of Christ to help us overcome it. Similarly, I see that in the grace and wisdom expressed by John the Methodist and John Wilks.

As United Methodists we need to struggle with the issues of personal and communal sin, and try to overcome both. Personal sin makes each of us anemic ministers of Christ to a broken world. Our failure to deal with the communal sins of slavery and racism have left the Methodist movement racially divided -- a scandal before a watching world. I am convinced that the United Methodist Church cannot be truly United, until it includes those churches who left the Methodist Episcopal Church over slavery and racism -- the AME, AME-Zion, CME, and Free Methodists especially. Later, our rejection of "enthusiasts" drove a wedge between some Wesleyans and others, providing a driving force for creating the Holiness denominations. Is this a communal sin for which we need to repent? Especially in the post-charismatic renewal era?

Some of us (liberal and conservative alike)want to address communal sins of the United States. We need to confront a world that exploits the weak, wounded, oppressed and impressoinable, that finds the use of violence an easy solution to almost any problem, that continues to employ capital punnishment, that entices us to licentiousness, drunkenness, addictions of all kinds, dependence on the state and charity, and an endless list of other evils that drive both communal and personal sinfulness.

Christ is strong enough to overcome all our sins, and the sin of the whole world, but I don't know if the UMC is. We, I fear, are very broken, very weak, and can only overcome in Christ's strength (2 Cor 12:9-10). For the sake of our communal witness, I propose we deal with the sins of our own community first -- both because it would improve our witness to the world as we prophetically confront corruption and sin, and also because we might be more able to reach agreement about the importance of confronting a wide variety of societal issues. Truly United Methodism might have confronted slavery and effected a powerful change in our history -- even fairly United Methodism made great strides to confront the evils of alcohol abuse in the 19th century -- but today, we have become less effective because of our divided witness.

Joel, Josh, John, and John (and Shane too) -- if any of you are ever in Boston, please accept my invitation for coffee. I respect your passion and commitment to the Gospel, at least as exhibited in this comment thread. If the United Methodist Church is to remain "United," we need more people willing to engage in heated conversation, with the help of God's grace, to discern the will of God for our life togehter, and to help us confront all of the sins that oppress us. Perhaps the worst of these is evident in the way we treat each other -- not as imperfect siblings who disagree, but as minions of demonic forces trying to destroy Christ's Church -- or should I say "OUR Church" -- from the inside?

Mongolian UM's Celebrate!

2005-12-13T18:24:00.000-05:00

My conference might be losing net-membership, but the UMC is growing in Mongolia! In my opinion, this is the best news to hit the United Methodist wires this week!

New York, NY, December 8, 2005-More than 300 people gathered in late November in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia to celebrate the fin that ancient Asian land immediately north of China.

One step at a time. Perhaps one day a "missionary" from the Mongolia Annual Conference will bring the Good News to Noarth Americans, in gratitude for the UMC bringing the Good News of Jesus Christ to Mongolia.

If Jesus isn't God, why bother?

2005-12-07T09:39:00.000-05:00

I've wanted to ask that question several times to colleagues at seminary, but why would someone want to continue to be a pastor if she doesn't believe Jesus is God Incarnate? Maybe to "preach faith until you have it," but that doesn't seem to be the goal... at least from this story.

I'm all for diversity of ideas, as long as we agree on the core tenents of Christianity -- and I don't think you can get much more core than the Divinity of Christ -- without that, why aren't we just Reform Jews?

In terms of what our clergy should teach -- when is publicized disagreement with the Discipline or Judicial Council acceptable while acting as an ordained or licensed United Methodist? Maybe this Rocky Mountain Protest is All About the Spin... maybe we just "spin" the Judicial Council decision differently -- but I'm not convinced it's that simple.

What doctrinal assent, if any, do you think we should expect from United Methodist clergy? Laity? Should we accept that anyone who calls herself or himself a Christian is, or are there limits to Christianity? Any thoughts?

Thanks, Shane, Parbar West, and Mike Barker, it's hard for all of us to keep up-to-date all the time, especially for news beyond our own conferences.

Go figure... a cult classic

2005-12-01T20:13:00.000-05:00

I guess I can't complain about being compared to Office Space and The Big Lebowski -- on some level I've always admired the way The Dude could be so laid back about the insanity of his life.

The Movie Of Your Life Is A Cult Classic

Quirky, offbeat, and even a little campy - your life appeals to a select few.
But if someone's obsessed with you, look out! Your fans are downright freaky.

Your best movie matches: Office Space, Showgirls, The Big Lebowski

If Your Life Was a Movie, What Genre Would It Be?

The Advent of my dreams -- or something like it...

2005-11-30T14:18:00.000-05:00

For years now, I've looked forward to the time where I could spend an entire liturgical season in one place -- yes you heard me right, a whole liturgical season... Just Advent to Christmas, or Lent to Easter -- I'll even cede the second half of the cycle (Christmastide or the paschal pentecost)! These are central times of the Christian year -- the two "penitent" seasons leading up to the two great feasts -- times I'm convinced should be spent with a local community for the sake of mutual support...

Alas, since I went to college, I've rarely been able to spend the entire cycle in one place -- let alone in a community that takes these seasons as seriously as I'd like. I keep looking forward to a time when that will be possible....

This year, in some sense anyway, I'll be spending all of Advent in one place -- the church where I work -- straight through until Christmas Eve services! So far, so good! Christmas day, because my commute to work is as long as it is, I'll spend the time with my wife and attend her church, but the time is finally here!

Somehow, the pressures of the ordination process, the crunch of the end of the semester, and too little time to spend with my wife in the midst of everything drags on the idyllic nature of my ideal Advent, but I'm still thrilled to be so close! Now, when Lent and Easter come (and I can do Ash Wednesday all the way to Easter -- or better yet Pentecost in one place...), then I'll be truly extatic!

If I told you about the last few weeks you'd understand...

2005-11-30T14:15:00.000-05:00

I've been keeping extremely busy with coursework, youthwork, and a preaching date while spending time with family over Thanksgiving. No, that's not an excuse for not blogging at all, but it's something, I think.

The next week or so is crunchtime at BU, so there'll probably be a lack for another couple of weeks, too... Sorry, dear readers (whoever's still out there!)...

Holy Conversation

2005-11-18T12:15:00.000-05:00

I've started writing a post several times over the last two weeks, but it's never gotten more than a sentence before I've given up. Over that time, there's been family stuff, charge-conference stuff, ordination stuff, school stuff, and continued talk about the recent Judicial Council decisions flying around me. I guess if I'm going to get back to blogging, I'll need to "data-dump" some of that.

Yesterday, Bishop Peter Weaver visited the School of Theology at BU for "Holy Conversation" about the recent decisions. Those students who are deeply committed to changing the position of the UMC in relation to ordination of sexually active homosexuals didn't seem happy with Bishop Weaver's rather moderate response. One said in my hearing, "He didn't have to bring charges against Beth Stroud -- there were other options -- if he really believed in justice he would have risked his job to defend her ministry!"

I'd expect that from students who are deeply committed to advocacy, but the former Dean of the School, who is now Dean of the Chapel told Bishop Weaver he thinks that the paragraph saying that "homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching" is "bad theology." The Bishop disagreed, I think clearly, citing the New Testament sexual ethic that emphasizes the importance of celibacy, the proper role of marriage, and the persistent reference to only heterosexual marriage in the New Testament. Our Dean countered with the statement that "all of that is in the context of polygamous heterosexual relationships," which made the following discussion a bit convoluted...

Over all, the Bishop's call for conversation among all United Methodists were dismissed by the pro-gay students as impossible, inappropriate, and insincere "as long as some people are prevented from being ordained by Church law." Apparently, we can only have conversation if we first agree to ordain "self-avowed, practicing homosexuals."

I'm not convinced that would further discussion. If the UMC agreed to ordain "self-avowed, practicing homsexuals," would the more conservative members/clergy stay with the UMC long enough to have a conversation? Would the conversation be more fruitful, since any change at that point would be "introducing discrimination," to the Church? If we cannot have a conversation, unless one side gets its way first, why should we try?

For me, there's another issue in this conversation that doesn't come up much: Can we have a church without discrimination? I think not. We might want to determine what kind of discrimination is appropriate, but if the United Methodist Church is to remain a distinctive Christian denomination, and not just become a social club, we need to expect our members to consent to our doctrine, or at least to be willing to be shaped by it, and grow into believing it. Also, we need to be able to say that our clergy should meet some standards of educational competency, doctrinal integrity, and that they will live exemplary lives of Christian holiness. We might not agree what that looks like, but it will require to discriminate between candidates for ministry.

I want the conversation. I can admit I might be wrong, and I'd be willing to listen to biblical reasons why we should think differently about homosexual behavior than the vast majority of church tradition has. I'll even listen to insights from human experience and modern science to help us understand what the Bible has to say to us, but we can't have the conversation unless everyone is willing to admit that they could be misreading Scripture and the insights of the contemporary world.

That's basically what Bishop Weaver said, and it was rejected by some as insensitive. I think it's the best way to save the UMC. It would require putting agendas on-hold, though perhaps as a good-faith measure and not formally, waiting for long-term careful reflection, and an end to the unfair rhetoric by both sides that conflate homosexual orientation and homosexual behavior.

Insights from Anthony Gittins

2005-11-03T08:15:00.000-05:00

This particular post grew out of a paper I submitted for a seminary class. I'm posting excerpts from it because I've been looking for a new, creative way to talk about the Christian responsibility not just to offer, but also to accept hospitality in the way of Jesus. For what it's worth, here it is:

Over the course of his book, Ministry at the Margins, Anthony J. Gittins deals with a series of significant issues for cross-cultural Christian mission. Over the first four chapters, Gittins discusses a series of issues for Christian mission that deal with the powerful forces surrounding and contained in language and culture. Over the course of the second half of his book, Gittins deals with particular issues involved in mission: making the Gospel meaningful in the language and culture of particular people; the problems Western missionaries might encounter by failing to understand gift-exchange, and how to learn to live in indebted ways to be part of a group; and learning how to be understanding and hospitable to strangers, as well as the virtue in learning how to be a “missionary as stranger.” I believe this final insight is key – to be a Christian in mission we need to learn how to be good strangers and guests.

Gittins inspired me to think of mission, both abroad and at home, in new and different ways. I found in his descriptions of gift giving, gift-exchange, hospitality and strangers a world I know, but I am not sure if I know it well enough. I grew up in a Western, middle class world, defined by its values and goals. While my parents tried to instill in us a sense of “Christian differentness,” and our responsibility to serve others in the name of Christ, the world around us reinforced its values whenever it could: Call before you arrive on someone’s doorstep, pray quietly and inwardly – most people do not want to see your religious life, make sure you are dressed right, and always think about the risks of accepting any kind of “charity” from others!

For me, Gittins emphasis on accepting hospitality helped give words to thoughts that have been growing within me over the last year. Gittins suggests that part of the missionary life requires learning to be a stranger and a guest: “If we are to be as Jesus was, we cannot be content to help strangers: we must become strangers ourselves (145).” Only by becoming strangers who can let others fulfill our needs can we truly learn to be like Jesus. Accepting gifts of eggs, tomatoes, honey, zucchini and other produce from members of a rural church is fairly easy (and vital for building good-will), for any pastor. These may be simple gifts, but accepting them allows a relationship to begin. Rejecting them, for anything but a clearly defined, mutually understood reason, could jeopardize the relationship between that person and the pastor, and in some cases, the whole church or community and the pastor. My wife currently serves a small, rural church – the eggs, honey and vegetables members of her congregation have offered us have enriched our table, but accepting them has enriched her ministry and made our offers of hospitality more appealing to members of her community – they know the relationship is not merely one-way.

More difficult for me, however, has been finding ways to commute to seminary the last three semesters. When my wife was appointed a significant distance from school, and I had to give up my job to make the move possible, and we knew we could not afford for me to pay for housing while attending classes. The long days of classes, the need to do work in the libraries, and the price of gasoline, parking, and public transportation, made daily commuting impractical. I stayed with a long-time family friend for awhile, as well as with my wife during the time she kept her job as a hotel desk-clerk, but most often, I stayed with one of my wife’s friends from seminary and her husband. I had met Adrienne and Peter, but I didn’t know them. Their hospitality, and my financially-mandated humility that compelled me to accept it, has allowed us to develop friendships. Without learning to be a stranger/guest accepting hospitality, these relationships would never have developed.

If we are not willing to become strangers and guests, I am convinced we will never be effective hosts or communicators of the Gospel. Marginal ministry requires us to cross boundaries into new and exciting worlds, and while we can offer the Good News of Jesus Christ to others, if we are to be taken seriously, we first need to learn to walk as Jesus walked, which means not only feeding the poor, oppressed, and sinners, but eating and living with them in their worlds, their homes, and their circumstances – that is where Jesus built relationships that became transformational, and that is where we will too.

I guess the carrots are off until next week...

2005-10-29T09:00:00.000-05:00

While flossing last night, a piece of a new filling came out onto my tongue. No, I wasn't impressed! I have a pretty good dentist, but apparently the "contact" with the neighboring tooth was so close that the filling came with the floss, like so much plaque and food refuse. So today, I have a hole in my tooth that's slightly cold sensitive.

I'm writing a sermon today -- don't do it every week right now, it's an occasional part of my current job (5th Sunday of the month and when needed), and it's harder to do well when you don't do it all the time (in my limited experience). Anyway, I'll tackle this issue too, as God gives me grace to do it -- but first, I think it's time to see if this thing's heat sensitive... I need coffee.

Phoebe Palmer

2005-10-26T23:45:00.000-05:00

In a course on the Holy Spirit, we're currently being required to read both John Wesley and Phoebe Palmer for a weeks discussion on Pentecostalism. We United Methodists often forget that the thinking of John Wesley and Phoebe Palmer (along with some notable others, like Fletcher, Asbury, and Charles and Susanna Wesley) were extremely significant in shaping both 19th century Methodism and both the Holiness Movement and American revivalism. Later, these two movements, with deep and abiding ties to Methodism gave birth not only to Wesleyan-Holiness churches (like the Free Methodist Church, the Church of the Nazarene, the Salvation Army, the Church of God (Anderson), and others), but also to Pentecostalism (especially in its Holiness form exemplified by the Pentecostal Holiness Church, the Church of God in Christ, and the Church of the Foursquare Gospel). In the later part of the Twentieth century, Pentecostalism reintroduced enthusiasm (though now modified from its early 19th century campmeeting days) to other Christians in the Charismatic movement.

All of these forces to affect American and global Christianity began as movements seeking the power of the Holy Spirit for abundant Christian living. Phoebe Palmer's Tuesday Meetings were extremely significant in shaping 19th century Methodism, and the Holiness movement declined in Methodism only shortly before the Methodist Church in North America began its statistical decline in percentage of the American population identifying as Methodist as well.

I'll lay out my cards: I'm not a "good" Holiness person, but I definitely identify with that part of the United Methodist tradition in many ways. Re-reading Phoebe Palmer's work for class this week, I realized how much my own reading and my education had caused me to speak about Christian faith and life in the language of Phoebe Palmer and the Wesleys -- not just John and Charles Wesley, but Phoebe Palmer means Methodism for me in a very important way! I agree with her exegetical argument for the ordination of women, I basically agree with her explanation of Christian perfection, and I've even been known to use the language of baptism by the Holy Spirit and to talk of Fire-baptized life in much the way she would. I've also learned to speak of the Cleansing Flood of Jesus' blood, largely from Phoebe Palmer and her family and friends (Phoebe Palmer Knapp and Fanny Crosby, especially).

I am convinced that rediscovering the vitality that made 19th century Methodism the most influential movement for evangelizing the United States needs to begin with a renewed focus on the distinctives of our Wesleyan heritage, both as exemplified in John and Charles Wesley's writings, and in Phoebe Palmer's work as well. If we want to live like Methodists, I'm convinced that first we need to learn how to talk like Methodists, and the seminal Methodist language derives from John and Charles, Phoebe Palmer, and their friends and students in what it means to be Methodist.

GBCS -- Why should we leave?

2005-10-20T11:30:00.000-05:00

Apparently, the General Board of Church and Society has decided that withdrawal of American troops from Iraq is a good idea. Don't get me wrong -- I'm an eschatological pacifist, I'm never in favor of war, but as a trained historian, I'm not sure the GBCS's reasoning is entirely appropriate. Politically expedient? Sure. In keeping with American patriotic ideals? Certainly. Cognizant of the real, long term implications for Iraqis? I'm not so sure.

This particular proposal is not so bad -- and grows out of a sense that the Iraqi people both can and should be trusted with increased responsibility for their own stability. However, the GBCS's reasoning for the withdrawal -- the tired list of inaccurate reasons for entering the war in the first place, defies what I learned about the use of just war criterion. It seems that because American intelligence proved wrong, and the primary reasons presented to the American people for removing the Ba'athist regime proved unsubstantiated, that proves that the war is unjust and should be ended for that reason.

Hold on -- isn't just war theory supposed to critique the prosecution and resolution of war, just as much as determining the criterion for going to war in the first place? Aren't the methods of warfare used, and the long-term benefits to be measured as well? As John at Locusts and Honey cited James Lileks:

On one level, you can’t be in favor of the Iraqi vote and opposed to the war. On another level, you can, but it’s a happy chocolate land where the fountains spout fudge and the bunnies are edible and Saddam relinquishes power, ashamed, because Kofi Annan drafted a stern letter promising Serious Consequences, and some Iraqi Gandhi not only showed he was morally superior to the Tikriti gang, but had a titanium-hulled body that made him impervious to torture shredders. And then the Baathists devolved and the Rotarians took over.

I'd like to offer an alternative -- you can be in favor of Iraqi voting, and be against this war as well -- if you're against all war and simply see this as one of the not-so-bad things that comes out of all the coercion, oppression, and force used by government. This applies to what good comes out of any government -- all of which coercively extract taxes from their citizens, all of which coercively restrict freedom for the maintenance of civil society, and all of which inflict punnishments on the guilty (and too often on the innocent) to control people.

The GBCS wants American troops to leave Iraq because according to a certain set of criteria the war should never have happened. Simultaneously, they're using that reasoning to support a good proposal for withdrawal (in geopolitical terms), that recognizes the time has come to begin withdrawal because it would increase Iraqi responsibility without destabilizing the country and thus threatening its citizens. Maybe the GBCS needs to hire some new ethicists to write their position papers -- Congress has made a better just-war argument for withdrawal than they have... and they're stuck complaining about the sins now banished to the irreperable past.

Slugs

2005-10-17T15:00:00.000-05:00

The slugs have been getting to our garden. First it was the summer squash -- that started early this summer, then the cabbage -- and finally, the tomatoes that hang too close to the ground and the summer squash and butternut squash vines.

Yes, the growing season is almost over -- this is the last hurrah of the harvest before the cold of winter really begins to set in here. I've grown to hate slugs with a passion -- the little vermin will destroy all my hard labor in short order if I let them. They're not all that bad one at a time -- but in swarms just after torrential rains like the last couple of weeks have brought, they'll do their damage rapidly. Really, they've taken a toll on the summer harvest as well -- if much more slowly.

Garden slugs are a lot like sin. One at a time they'll blend in to the soil that nourishes the garden, almost invisible except on close inspection, all the while wreaking havoc, if slowly, almost imperceptively, on the final harvest to come! "One little slug isn't so bad -- nothing will come of ignoring it..." we might be tempted to say.

Similarly to slugs, sins sneak into our lives because one at a time they seem so insignificant. Ignoring the homeless woman selling flowers isn't so bad -- she'll find the shelter again tonight; yelling at the receptionist isn't much of a sin -- he'll recover from this berating; one more pack of smokes won't be the one that kills me, one more visit to the adult theatre, one more binge at the local dive, one more gluttonous evening of aimless gorging on potato chips, just a couple candybars on five-finger discount, or two or three DVD's, one more week without going to worship, one more joint, one more hit, one more trip to a prostitute...

Did the prostitute get your attention? The drugs? That visit to the prostitute, that hit's just another slug, just after all the earlier ones, the garden's not looking so great anymore... If I neglect my garden, I won't have a harvest, but if I neglect my fidelity to Christ, if I let all of those little sins creap in, to overtake me, to turn me away from the Gospel and toward sin -- then He will be without a harvest, at least in my case. Not only will my life not bear fruit, the shoot will wither, dry, die, and rot -- and only the most amazing grace will be able to do anything about it.

My Peanuts Alter Ego

2005-10-12T23:38:00.000-05:00

Thanks Gavin... Accurate? Maybe, maybe not. Entertaining? Absolutely!

You are Franklin!

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Catching Fire....

2005-10-10T08:15:00.000-05:00

Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. Exodus 3:1-2

It's that time again in central New England. I haven't really seen the signs in Boston yet, but out to the west where we live, the signs are clear that the harvest is just about past, and the season of burning bushes, maple, oak, and poplar trees is upon us. My tomato plants have begun to die -- not the heartier heirlooms yet, just the early producing hybrids that fed us in late July and early August. The cabbage are about ready to be picked, and the butternut squash are reaching their potential as a result of their late planting.

The next big event is coming quickly -- fully colored foliage. Exodus records that Moses said, "I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up." Exodus 3:3. Soon, many people who know why the trees burn with vibrant colors will turn aside to see them, stopping to look at the briliant patchwork of reds, yellows, oranges and passing greens as the trees give up the verdant splendor of summer for their bare, hardened winter appearance. We know they will only feign death -- that in the spring the buds and flowers will display once again the colors of autumn, only in softened pastels -- the appearance of death will give way to vibrant signs of new life.

Before spring must come winter, as New England finds itself once again blanketed in snow, at first appearing pure and comforting, but winter is a harsh mistress, who will make sure some of the trees will not stand until spring, despite their hardening to survive her assault. Some will crack, snap, and fall under the weight of frozen snow and ice -- others may be uprooted by cruel nor'easters bringing seemingly endless biting-cold winds.

Maybe the trees know what's coming. Maybe they display their colorful, vibrant splendor each fall as a defiant challenge to the winter to come: "Do your worst! I have emblasoned myself in the minds-eye of many! I have made myself immortal by moving the human spirit to tears! Do your worst, Icy-One, your time is but short, fleeting, but the child I have inspired will carry that firey passion for a long time to come! Through her paintbrush, I will live forever!"

Go Habs!

2005-10-10T07:15:00.000-05:00

My fantasy hockey team (Yeay! Hockey's back!) is made up of 3/4 Montreal Canadiennes... Go Habs, carry my mediocre fantasy squad to victory!

Reaching Young Adults

2005-10-07T10:25:00.000-05:00

I'm sorry to say, if we want to make disciples of Jesus Christ, inviting young adults to join us in social work probably won't do it. I think about these issues occasionally, I work with youth, and I have a passion for reaching young adults with the Gospel, even though I'm not always entirely sure how to do it. After reading Shane Raynor's post So Many Agencies, So Little Time: The Challenge of Reaching Teenagers and Young Adults, I decided I'd take the risk and weigh in on the issue of reaching young adults.

I'm sure many of you are interested in how to reach teens -- well, it's not that different from reaching young adults, and here's where churches either need to learn how to live differently with young people, or it won't work. Apparently, with tail-end babyboomers a few things worked fairly well: telling them God loved them, and whatever they were or were not doing wasn't a big deal because God loved everyone; contemporary worship and either praise choruses or new hymnody with sappy, Seals&Crofts or Cat Stevens style melodies; and the opportunity to "come back" to Church where they could be involved with working for a variety of good causes.

Sorry, I guess my agenda is pretty transparent. I don't understand why those methods worked before, why my mother (who never left the church) found the sappy hymnody so wonderful, or why anyone thinks that young adults now will continue to find these things so great. Young adults want and need many things, but no-cost discipleship, wimpy music, and yet another opportunity to volunteer time and money to change the world aren't major winners.

Before you get too upset about my concern for what young adults want -- remember, worrying what babyboomers wanted is what created the stuff we're supposed to want. Besides, it's not just about wants, but also about needs -- we don't need any of those things. Our culture tells us God loves everyone, and in the end, everyone finds "their own path" to God. Take the evangelism opportunity people, if they already believe God loves everyone, tell them why you know that's true, and that Jesus lived, died, and rose again to give us the path to God. I know, it's not very open to truth in every path to say you've got one that works (and to imply that you can't find the way to God by buying more stuff), but hey, it might just appeal to young adults... if you also tell them what being a disciple of Jesus Christ will cost them.

That brings me to my next issue -- asking for more social activists isn't going to bring young adults to the church. Most young adults who want to be socially involved already are. Don't get me wrong, the church should do a lot of good in the community -- but asking people to participate isn't a very effective evangelism tool unless the time is spent witnessing to the transforming power of Christ in our lives (and even then, there's probably more effective ways). When we invite young adults to work for a good cause, without asking them to commit their lives to the discipline of Christian discipleship, we make the church into another socially-active non-profit, and if that's all we are, then we're less efficient and less effective than the United Way... and they don't even use religious language all that much. If the Church is being the Church it will be involved in good works, but good works don't prove that the Church is being the Church.

Finally, changing our worship will bring in young adults, right? Yeah, but only if we make it less like Oprah and more like worship. Any style of music can work, formal or informal order, and almost any design of worship space. Some might work better than others, but the style of worship isn't the key, it's the content. Young adults want to hear about God's love, but we also want substance. Tell me what it means to be a Christian, tell me about the cost of discipleship, don't hide the Cross, don't hide my cross, and be honest about what the non-negotiables are for Christian faith. Worry less about inclusive language in our hymn selections, and more about whether or not they teach an intellectually, spiritually, and lifestyle challenging faith. Have open discussions about ethics, make good arguments based on Christian norms, but admit which issues are non-essentials and then "think and let think," as Wesley suggested Methodists do with other kinds of Christians: maybe some of the young adults we reach will quit smoking, but can their lives bear fruit even if they don't?

Worship needs to challenge us to come before the Living God, to offer praise and honor to the Maker of Everything in the midst of the community. One more sappy hymn, self-help sermon or political rant isn't going to help. Yes, some of you might believe your political agendas are prophetic -- on both sides of the divide -- but they're not. To reach young adults, the Church needs to be the Church -- a new community, bound together by love, taking care of each one's needs (spiritual, physical and emotional), challenging us to further discipleship, and reminding us that through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, we can be brought into this embryonic Kingdom of God, and transformed by grace into new, different, refocused people. Whatever you do, do it well, with substance, and you'll reach more young adults.

The Book

2005-10-01T09:00:00.000-05:00

My wife and I visited friends last night. Their young son was mezmerized by the dancing images of "Crash-Bash" creatures on the PS1 when his father and I played a few rounds, but his youthful energy wasn't the only hallmark of the night.

My friend, who I have known for years (and who, apparently, called to talk to my wife about doctrine this last week), had checked out a book on science and religion from his local library. The title and the author both escape me, but as this is not a review, let's not get caught up in technicalities. First, dear readers, you need some useful details: My friend grew up in mainline churches (Presbyterian in California, Congretationalist(UCC) in Massachusetts, though he and his wife and son now attend a UMC), and is a well educated engineer who understands the intricacies of research and speculative science; Recently, he has been searching for greater knowledge of the Christian faith, especially core doctrines, so he's been reading what he can find in terms of theology from his local library.

The book in question claimed to be a Christian theology that would allow people to continue to believe in God in the face of evolution. So far, so good. There are plenty of orthodox theologians who have made solid arguments for belief in God and evolution, but from my friend's response, he hadn't found one. He asked my wife and me a couple of questions about doctrine, then showed us the book (which recieved a stellar review from John Cobb), and then we looked at each other and the alarms sounded -- process thought.

Now, my friend didn't know process thought from a marmot, but he knew something about this book didn't seem right, so he asked what process thought was. I tried to explain: process thought tends to suggest that God/the Universe are co-eternal, that God shapes but does not create the universe in the classical sense ex nihilo, and that while this produces a God in relationship to the world, it usually means there is no afterlife, either in terms of resurrection of the body on the last day, or in heaven now. "So, that's what all of this talk about God's memory was about... so what's the point of Christ's death if you believe that?" he asked. I told him process had never made sense to me, so I couldn't tell him what the appeal was. I also admitted that if the Christian doctrine of God actually began from a Trinitarian position (instead of trying to say "God is Creator," or "God is 'isness without limitations,'" or "God is The Ground of our Being," saying "God is a Trinity of three persons), like our worship does, then we might be able to resolve the issue of God's essential relationality, and even talk about theodicy without resorting to the easiest solution -- that we've all been wrong for most of Christian history, that God is not all-powerful, but that God is actually weak. "That's heresy," my friend insightfully said... but I didn't have the heart to tell him that it's also very popular in mainline seminaries.

Here the conversation turned to other topics -- like the use of parsnips in beef stew... At times like this I always give thanks to God for things like parsnips and other food for thought...

Famous Leaders... Well, at least it's not Augustine again!

2005-09-27T15:15:00.000-05:00

Thanks, Gavin...

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Self-Watching

2005-09-26T18:30:00.000-05:00

It seems over the last few weeks as I have returned from my Father-in-law's funeral (after spending a great deal of time with him, my wife, etc...), and the subsequent revival in my blogging, I've only been able to muster one really interesting, theological or social post each week. Now, that realization has driven me to seek inspiration for a great post.

Alas! I've been reduced to navel-gazing about how interesting I haven't been...the worst kind of narcissistic introspection! It's probably just exaustion from a combination of candidacy work, a day of youth work, and theological study, but maybe not.

My favorite season has returned to New England! Summer/growing season is necessary, but I'm neither a fan of heat or humidity, and New England summers tend to exibit both. The large oak in the parsonage side-yard is just beginning to burst into orange flame, and the butternut squash in our garden are nearing harvest.

We had the first round of fall food the over the last week -- a beef and lamb stew with Maine potatoes, local parsnips, carrots, onions, and our own tomatoes from the garden; a few days later we ate roasted chicken breasts with honeyed root vegetables (carrots and parsnips), roasted potatoes with onions, and one of the last few summer sqash. Soon the time of butternut squash and roasts of all sorts will return, when the heat from the oven seems a pleasant addition, not a summer annoyance!

Today we removed the air-conditioners from the windows, after weeks of idleness on their part. Any night now the residual heat from the day will fail to keep us warm until morning, and soon enough it will once again be sweater-weather! When we returned home this evening, in the drizzle of an autumn rain, I smelled wood smoke from the neighbor's chimnee for the first time in months...this is truly a blessed time of the year.

Maybe I'm alone, but it's Autumn/Harvest again and I couldn't be happier.

Deus Absconditus

2005-09-23T08:15:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, we discussed the doctrine of the Trinity in doctrine of the Holy Spirit (because you can't have one without the others -- or can you?)... Some people in class suggested that the Holy Spirit is the least understood person of the Trinity, with the least clear function for most people's lives. (As Wesleyans pursuing Holiness, we should be ashamed that our people don't know the work of the Holy Spirit, but that's another post) I respectfully disagree. In much mainline protestand worship, at least in New England, the person of the Trinity most likely to disappear is not the Son or the Holy Spirit, but actually the Father, the first person of the Trinity.

I have some theories about why the Father has become a hidden person of the Trinity -- they involve a combination of feminist critiques of masculine imagery for God; continued use of "God" as a synonym for "Father" in public prayer in Western Christianity despite the Augustinian/post-Augustinian insistence that "God" means the whole of the Trinity all at once, not just one person; and the filioque in the creed which obviates any unique and necessary role for the Father relative to the Son and Holy Spirit. We have gone from being truly Trinitarian to Binitarian -- and lest we offer ourselves false-congratulation for returning to the Binitarian state of ante-Nicaean theology, it's a different Binity!

In the United Methodist Hymnal, we have a new doxology set to beautiful music, filled with "alleluia's" but which never mentions the first-person of the Trinity (UMH, 94). I know the intent of most people singing "Praise God. the source of all our gifts! Praise Jesus Christ who power uplifts! Praise the Spirit, Holy Spirit!" is to give praise to all three persons of the Trinity, but functionally, it either elevates only the first person to the level of God (Arianism), or totally removes the first person of the Trinity from God (the new Binitarianism)...read the text with your "outsider to Christianity" goggles on, it's pretty obvious.

In her book, God for Us: The Trinity and Christian Life, Catherine Mowry LaCugna asserted that the Trinity was a "dead doctrine," maybe she's right. How can we have a Trinitarian understanding of God when one of the three persons has disappeared?

It had to be Augustine...

2005-09-19T14:00:00.000-05:00

You are Augustine! You are a great thinker, but be
careful not to let your past immoderation freak
you out about good times. It's really ok to
take some pleasure in material things.

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6% of people had this result.

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Jean at Grandma Jean's Opinions got Athanasius... but I'll admit it's hard to be a pacifist and as pugnacious as Athanasius. I guess Augustine's pretty accurate on a number of levels, but then there's the fact that with a bit of stretching Augustine becomes a TULIP Calvinist, and that I can never be!

What do you expect from a native son?

2005-09-19T07:46:00.000-05:00

I recieved this link in an email this morning. I have to admit I was tempted, but a combination of the pricetag and the Holy Spirit kept me from ordering anything.

Retreat from the retreat...

2005-09-17T16:15:00.000-05:00

I've just returned from some great times at an all-church retreat. What a joy to be in a place filled with the Holy Spirit, focused on Jesus Christ, and building dynamic Christian community! Oh, and the soccer and touch football were fun too! Now I need a nap -- a retreat from the retreat, if you will.

Fruit, the Spirit, self-control, and spiritual impotence

2005-09-16T12:00:00.000-05:00

I'm a member of a mainline denomination (the UMC), and attend a denominationally affiliated seminary (Boston University School of Theology). I attended an evangelical/Holiness Christian college, and I have friends from many sides of the Christian divide. Over time, I've begun to notice some significant differences between so-called "conservative" protestants (who might call themselves evangelical, orthodox, traditional, or a variety of other things), and self-proclaimed liberal and progressive protestants. As far as I can tell, the biggest differences concern what it means to be Christian and to live a Christian life, and who God is.

Currently, I'm taking a class on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Now, depending on your background, you'll have different images/ideas come to mind when you think of the Holy Spirit (we discussed this in class recently). Our readings suggested a variety of things about the Holy Spirit -- being connected to music, expression, release, love, justice... and from around the room people mentioned the image of a dove, or the wind, breath (so far, so good... though I'd never connected the Holy Spirit with justice -- then again, as I've learned, for liberal protestants EVERYTHING is about justice). Then it hit me -- we're not even thinking in the same categories.

For me, a Wesleyan charismatic/evangelical, the first though was of the Trinity (after all, GOD refers to the whole of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- I can't address God and then Jesus comfortably, as I've already addressed Jesus if I address "God," I can, however, address the Father and then invoke Jesus and the Holy Spirit... but that's another rant); after thinking of the Trinity, God whose inward nature is Love, I thought of tongues of fire (Acts 2 anyone?), holiness, power, and self-control. I can't help but connect those three images to Phoebe Palmer, Charles Finney, and John Wesley, but when I said that, my professor asked for help understanding why "self-control" made my list... It's in Galatians 5:22-23, right?

Paul wrote "...the friut of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and slef control." I guess for me, especially after being surrounded by Holiness folk, 5:24 helps make sense of "the fruit of the Spirit..." as Paul wrote, "And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." After all, Paul wrote about the fruit of the Spirit in contrast to "the works of the flesh (5:19-21)," right?

Here's the crux of the issue, I think: conservatives think of holiness first in personal terms (hence, self-control being a mark of sanctification), and then spilling over into transformation of the world. Whatever our lobbying power, electoral clout, or well-intentioned abdication of Christian duty to the State, our real power comes from on high, and from the indwelling Holy Spirit working through us, to make us an effective part of the Body of Christ at work in the world. If we recognize that the Holy Spirit comes upon us like fire, cleansing and transforming us, then we might get out of the way and let the Spirit work through us, but before we can be effective instruments of the Spirit's power, we need to let the Holy Spirit transform us.

For conservatives, it's all about God's mercy, as demonstrated in the death and resurrection of Jesus, which allows us to be grafted in to God's Holy People; for liberals, it's all about God's justice, as demonstrated by the way Jesus and the Church care for the poor. While the former might too easily become individualistic and overly focused on eschatological rewards, the latter is deficient, even in terms of Jesus' quotation from Isaiah... After all, Jesus didn't read "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor," and then stop. Jesus continued, "He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor (Lk 4:18-19)." Sounds like mercy to me (unless all captivity is somehow unjustifiable).

Until we rediscover conversion and personal holiness (and especially self-control), we should expect our churches to continue to decline, as we cannot offer hope to individuals as they struggle with personal demons of addiction, gambling, sexual promiscuity seeking gratification, and an American consumerist and therepeutic obsession with the self. Until we can invite people to put on Christ Jesus, be transformed from who they have been into who they should be (and only can be in Christ), then we should expect not only that our church rolls will decline, but that our social and political influence with non-members will continue to decline as well. Then, the UMC and other mainline denominations will become in the social and political realm what too many of our congregations already are in the spiritual lives of their communities -- impotent and powerless to combat the forces of Evil in the world.

A little rain...

2005-09-15T09:45:00.000-05:00

I'm back at Adrienne and Peter's apartment between classes -- it seemed like a good idea at the time to leave a few things here and carry less with me to my first class today. Key words: "it seemed."

Boston is in the midst of a bit of rain -- and the requisite thunder and lightning. Apparently, this is the first contact of the current tropical storm off our coast. Comm Ave is running over with water, and many walkways on the Boston University campus are following suit. I said a prayer for the victims of Katrina living as refugees around the United States and the world, and the victims of natural disasters generally. I hope it inspires more prayers than complaints, this rain pouring down on the streets of this Puritan City on a Hill, but I fear our Puritan roots, and their Christian humility has so faded from Boston's consciousness that Yankee discontent will win out over humble gratitude for our place int he world and concern for other souls.

Well, off I go, into the torrential downpour, to the library, that pilgrimage of learning and preserved knowledge. Pneumatological inquiry could be a way to seek the face of God, but the longer I'm here, the more I'm convinced that a School of Theology is no place to find God -- if there is any Christian institution where heart-holiness and true divotion is less likely to be encouraged, I haven't found it, and hope I never have to.

Back to...

2005-09-12T08:30:00.000-05:00

My father-in-law died 10 days ago. For the wake/funeral services I missed two days of class and my first weekend at a new job. So far, this semester's going just peachy.

I hate starting from behind, and I'm not really in the mood to cram-in stuff either. I have a method for keeping on top of everything already planned for this coming semester, and already it's off kilter. Well, I guess for now I can focus on the overwhelming number of tomatoes sitting on the counter, and focus on what to do with them.

No guarantees, but I'll do what I can to post more frequently than this summer, and to get back to the kind of semi-serious blog content that marked the first phase of posts. Or I'll just fill the internet with dry whitticisms... whatever comes.

Travel Day

2005-09-07T06:45:00.000-05:00

It's been too long between posts, dear readers! Blogging just hasn't seemed that important. Over the course of two months this summer my father-in-law's cancer returned, ravished his body, and killed him Friday. Yesterday was the first day of classes, so back I went to the School of Theology, and now I'm off with my wife for the wake and funeral.

I appreciate all the prayers that have been prayed for us, and continue to be, and I hope to resume blogging with more intention very soon. In this as in all things I am comforted by the fact that "I can do all things through him who strengthens me (Phil 4:13)."

A deep breath...

2005-08-20T08:00:00.000-05:00

This last week I helped my wife with Vacation Bible School at her church -- and I'm thrilled it's over.

Don't get me wrong, I like kids, but a week of 30 small children (and the majority were closer to 3 than 13) is about all I can handle in one go. I have great respect for kindergarten teachers, believe me! Teaching about Judaism and Jerusalem in Jesus' time was fun, and I'm sure interesting for the older ones (and maybe even good for the younger ones), but I'm not cut out for protracted lessons with groups of small children. For example, I learned this week that while most 3-5 year olds will be glad to sit and listen if asked, their attention span means that this request will be honored for anything from 1 to 4 minutes before a small voice breaks through your next point with a jarring "EXCUSE ME, BUT..." as the small body leaps from its pew onto the floor, hand extended to full body length for best visibility.

Like I said, it was great, but I'm glad it's over -- and I don't think I want to try to do it again, at leat for a year. I'd be glad to take a break, slow down for a few days, but there's a church supper tonight that will need more helpers, and then next week my wife and I will be leaving for her parent's as soon as possible. My father-in-law has been released to home-hospice care and probably doesn't have long to live. My inlaws are not church-folk, and they're having a hard time depending on God in their time of intense need, since they don't really know who it is they should be seeking (at least not very well). Well, in advance you have my excuse for further sparse posting.

So what's my excuse been for the last two weeks? Well, in addition to VBS, a trip to see the inlaws, prep for VBS, candidacy studies (well, not enough, but what I could fit in), my garden (oh, the glory of fresh vegetables... HELP!!! THEY'VE CONQUERED THE COUNTER AND THEY'RE MOVING TO THE WINDOW SILL!!!), and an attempt to get some much needed sleep before classes and work begin in September. I've taken a job doing Youth Ministry, so pray for me and the teenagers as we seek to follow Christ together!

Travel and Travail

2005-08-01T16:21:00.000-05:00

The last several weeks have been challenging. My father-in-law is suffering from a fairly rare and extremely virulent form of cancer. Medically, the odds aren't great. About a month ago he had a 3 cm spherical tumor removed from his brain, and is currently in the midst of radiation treatment targeting lesions on his lung and spine. My wife and I spent 8 days with my mother-in-law in their new home (they moved the day after his surgery), and just returned yesterday. Some wonderful people from her church helped us spend that time by making sure the mail didn't explode from the mailbox, and by watering my garden -- it's exploded.

Yesterday, we found a wonderful church not far from where my inlaws live. The people and pastoral staff at the United Methodist Church of Webster welcomed my wife and I and were interested in ministering to my inlaws. That's great! A week earlier we visited another UMC in the area and recieved a less enthusiastic response, so we were exceptionally happy about this experience. Additionally, the associate pastor graduated from ENC (and is a former Nazarene) -- talk about instant connections! The pastors have agreed to visit my father-in-law who actually wants to talk to a pastor... I just wish that his interest in faith had come without the pressures of his disease.

Now, having returned home, I'm tired from a week away, and still waiting to hear about a one of two jobs I'm exploring. I'm convinced God will provide the right ministry opportunities for me. Pray for me, dear readers, that I may live a slightly less exciting life in the weeks to come.

More Gardening

2005-07-20T08:07:00.000-05:00

Nothing too profound here. I dug out the area between three beds at right angles, trying to make more room for vegetables, and I'll be doing some more digging later today. This growing season in New England has been exceptional -- in other words, everything has survived, and all the plants are producing! Yes, I'm excited, but the fact that everything is thriving has endangered the harvest (paradoxically), because if I don't thin what's there it'll grow together, risking rot and making harvesting the vegetables nearly impossible.

How could I have known it would ALL produce? Anyway, I'll be back to the garden later today -- it'll be a good change of pace from job interviews and candidacy work. Nothing like slow, backbreaking labor in good clean soil to cleanse the mind of other distractions!

Gardening

2005-07-14T16:00:00.000-05:00

I had a first-stage telephone interview this morning, and then spent a fair amount of time working in my gardens. I moved some large cilantro, and growing genovese basil from a large pot to a bed, and then planted more basil seed. I have over 20 tomato plants growing, and some already producing fruit, so I need lots of fresh basil to make sauce...

What was I thinking??? How could any two people use so many tomatoes?! Don't get me wrong, I'll be giving them away -- I'll have to sneak onto porches in the middle of the night and leave them with a little note "courtesy of your local UMC... please come visit us, and please, PLEASE, DO NOT TRY TO RETURN THESE VEGETABLES! Perhaps even worse, I planted summer squash and zucchini... What was I thinking?!

Despite the apparent hardships associated with the work, gardening (especially growing vegetables) is a truly wonderful thing. Not only does digging in the dirt fulfill long-abandoned childhood desires to get dirty, but if viewed carefully, gardening teaches important lessons about living the Christian life.

Jesus talked about farm-labor pretty often (sometimes in ways modern westerners miss because we live so far from the land), and not just (I believe) because many, if not the vast majority of his listeners worked the soil. I'm convinced that tending a garden, and doing it well, reqires discipline and hard work that can help us hone the skills we need to be effective disciples. Just as weeds, slugs, grubs and other pests get into our gardens, so sin gets into our lives. If we neglect our gardens, they will be overrun with weeds, which will choke our productive plants, and they will bear little or no fruit. However, if we attend to our gardens dilligently, weeding and fertilizing them regularly, they will grow and produce copious fruit (oh, the zucchini, summer squash and tomatoes!). The same is true of Christian discipleship -- if we are lax about our spiritual disciplines, pray rarely, read scripture inconsistently, and neglect the renewing fellowship of the Body of Christ in worship, work and sacrament, then sin will grow into our lives, attack the core of our being, and we will produce little or no fruit -- but if we tend to our spiritual gardens, oh what glorious growth for Christ's Kingdom!

Anyone want some tomatoes? basil?? summer squash???

The Prayers of the Righteous

2005-07-07T23:10:00.000-05:00

I coudn't sleep, so it seemed like time to actually post to my blog. The last couple of weeks have been crazy. I've spent much of the time helping my inlaws move into a new home, because my father-in-law has recurrent cancer, and needed surgery. No great joy there! However, the prognosis is as good as we could have expected. Countless people have been praying for him, and I'm convinced that has played a positive role. The prayers of the righteous avail much... right?

I guess what gets to me is the fact that I'm often reminded of just how unrighteous I really am (sometimes through self-righteousness, other times through outright sin). So I know, that amidst the chorus of righteous voices, among the prayers of the saints, ascends to God an imperfect, even seriously flawed voice -- and probably many of them. I have to be honest, I don't know what to make of that realization.

I know I need to be repentant and to accept God's grace moving me toward perfection, but I just don't feel much movement. The paradoxical solution is to pray more fervently -- despite the fact that the prayers of the righteous, not the unrighteous, are effective. Short of platitude, my only reason to hope is what I know about God's grace. Imperfect? Yes I am. A sinner? Certainly. Saved by grace and moving toward perfection? With the work of Christ, I'm sure. Now maybe I can get to sleep!

Scientology Meme: Fun with New Religious Movements

2005-06-27T23:30:00.000-05:00

My friend Adrienne insisted I do this meme, and made it so easy by linking to my blog, that I decided I'd do it. That, and I need the stress release. For those of you who don't know, my father-in-law is having neurosurgery for a cancerous lesion on Wednesday morning, and then my inlaws are moving... Pray for him, dear readers...

And now, from the sublime to the rediculous...
I present to you: 20 Questions they ask you when joining the (cult) Church of Scientology.

Have you driven anyone insane?
Other than my mother? Umm... probably my wife, and maybe a few other people, but so far they've all recovered...

Have you ever killed the wrong person?
As I haven't killed anyone, uh... no. What kind of question is that? The wrong person? As a pacifist I can't say as I think there is a right person to kill...

Is anybody looking for you?

Shhh... hide and seek isn't as much fun when someone like you keeps trying to help the seeker!

Have you ever set a poor example?
More often than I'd care to admit.

Did you come to Earth for evil purposes?
Didn't everyone???

Are you in hiding?
You're really making this game of hide and seek less fun than it was before you got here!

Have you systematically set up mysteries?
Yes, I keep a blog with minimal personal information.

Have you ever made a practice of confusing people?
Yes -- there have been times when I believed the most effective way for me to follow Paul's advice to be "all things to all people," was to avoid stating my position on controversial matters.

Have you ever philosophized when you should have acted instead?
Yes... philosophy causes far less sweat and back strain!

Have you ever gone crazy?
There was this one time when I was working on the supply train for the French army and caught something that gave me an awful fever, so I crawled into a brick oven... oh, wait, that was Descartes! I always get confused by that sort of thing...

Have you ever sought to persuade someone of your insanity?
Umm... please see the previous question.

Have you ever deserted, or betrayed, a great leader?
Only by imitating Peter in the courtyard of the high-priest's house... but that's more than enough for a resounding Yes.

Have you ever smothered a baby?
What is wrong with you people? Have you ever considered that questions like this might be why people don't trust you?

Do you deserve to have any friends?
Why don't you ask the ones I have? My guess is their answer would be "on the whole, yeah."

Have you ever castrated anyone?
No, no, no, no, no... And eeww!

Do you deserve to be enslaved?
Please see the answer to the question about smothering babies -- OK, I'm convinced, you people are nuts.

Is there any question on this list I had better not ask you again?
That one about castration... Eeww!

Have you ever tried to make the physical universe less real?
Never permanently.

Have you ever zapped anyone?
Frequently in childhood -- I'll admit it, I was a sci-fi geek once... well, maybe I still am from time to time.

Have you ever had a body with a venereal disease? If so, did you spread it?
Darnit! You heard about the gerbil! I could've sworn the hamsters would've kept their mouths shut! Who would believe a bunch of rodents who claim to have syphillis anyway? You people have issues!

Result of Quiz :: What's your theological worldview?

2005-06-16T16:00:00.000-05:00

Thanks to John Wilks who blogs at A Preacher's Journey for taking this quiz. After seeing it on his site, I just couldn't resist...

The only problem with this quiz is that it completely ignores Eastern Orthodoxy... I have a feeling that if it was recalibrated to include Orthodox Christians I'd score pretty high in that category.

You scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan. You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavly by John Wesley and the Methodists.

Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan

93%

Neo orthodox

79%

Charismatic/Pentecostal

71%

Emergent/Postmodern

68%

Roman Catholic

68%

Reformed Evangelical

57%

Classical Liberal

50%

Fundamentalist

32%

Modern Liberal

32%

What's your theological worldview?
created with QuizFarm.com

The Hope for the UMC -- its roots as a movement

2005-06-16T10:20:00.000-05:00

Shane Raynor at Wesley Blog recently had some interesting things to say about the UMC as an institution and a movement in a post entitled "Making Methodism a Movement Again." Shane draws on an article in the United Methodist Reporter, and draws the conclusion that we need to focus on reinvigorating the Methodist Movement and focus less on saving the institution. According to Shane: "Of course, no one says we can't do both, but I have a feeling that the UMC will take care of itself if we simply recapture the power of 18th Century Wesleyanism."

The string of comments that follow Shane's analysis are also worth reading, but I want to focus on Shane's post and the New England Annual Conference session that met a week ago in this post. I wrote earlier about being reinvigorated after Annual Conference, and one reason for that was Bishop Peter Weaver's repeated insistence that what we should be doing was focusing on the United Methodist Movement, not the institutions of the UMC. The movement has been reaching individuals with the good news of Jesus Christ long before there was a UMC or even a Methodist Episcopal Church. The movement has been bringing together the best of personal and social holiness longer than the church has existed, to transform both individuals and the world. In the end, it is the movement that is the real church (in the sense of the Body of Christ), and the institutional church and its boards and agencies are just the tools that the real church sometimes finds the ability to use.

Unfortunately, when any institution becomes focused on maintaining its place in the world, its power and authority, then the institution often eclipses the movement and stifle's the Holy Spirit at work in the Body. Institutions try to transform society without first focusing on the work of Jesus to transform lives -- Christian movements, at least in the case of Methodism in Wesley's day, focus on making disciples of Jesus Christ, and because lives are transformed by God's Grace, society changes with them.

Monday and Tuesday my wife and I babysat our friend's one-year-old son. He's never spent 24 hours away from his parents before, because their family isn't nearby -- but for Christians that should never be true! When the church is the real church, when Methodism is a movement, it's not about the building, or the worship program, or any of the institutional focus, but primarily about being part of the Body of Christ, a new people transformed by Grace and interested in each others needs -- a new family united by Jesus Christ. Instead of focusing on the institutions of the UMC let's focus on making our local churches movement centers where we make disciples of Jesus Christ and follow the new commandment to love one another... by giving an exhausted mother a day off, visiting a shut-in elder of the community, praying for each other, and spending time together as Christian people in holy conversation. Don't wait for the pastor, just start doing it, and invite others to do the same.

Conference

2005-06-12T14:55:00.000-05:00

Sorry, dear readers, for my continued sparse postings... I've just returned from a blessed and refreshing few days at the New England Annual Conference. I'll say more later, but for now I just want to confess Jesus was central and the Holy Spirit was moving. Thank God for giving us a Bishop who pushes us to keep personal and social holiness together, and to keep our eyes on Jesus Christ!

Holiness: How the corporate actions of the Body of Christ can transform the world... And why the goal for Wesleyans can't be social justice.

2005-06-08T10:45:00.000-05:00

My friend at Theologygirl recently called me out in a post entitled,
"The post in which she actually mentions theology (but imagines she'll live to regret it)." Adrienne raises an important set of issues about what it means to be a Wesleyan Christian, and while she never uses the term, spends a great deal of time talking about the implications of holy-living in the contemporary world. While the source of her angst is a bit foreign to me, the content should be familiar to all of us who take seriously the call to live Christian lives in this fallen order. Better yet, we have a rare instance of Adrienne admitting that she is actually Wesleyan -- welcome to the fold, sister!

See now, as much as I try to tell Kate and David I'm not Wesleyan (mostly because I think it is fun to annoy Kate), here is where my boy John Wesley had it right. He was all about moving on to perfection in this life, all about social justice in this life. Oh sure, there was talk of hell and such. But was that really the point? No. No it wasn't.

How do I say this... for the most part I agree with you. Wesleyan Christianity is very much now-focused (just for the record, I think most critiques of pie-in-the-sky Christianity are attacks on straw-men, but I digress). However, regardless of how now-focused Wesleyan Christians might be, focusing on going on to perfection in this life, and personal and social holiness in this life, Wesley spent significant time talking about justice anjudgmentnt -- and usually used them as calls for people to "flee from the wrath to come."

Don't get me wrong, much of the work done in the name of social justice is both good and right -- but it's mislocated. For Wesleyan Christians, and Christians in general, trying to make the world just is the ultimate act of hubris: Justice, judgment, and the New Creation are God's business. However, much of what we call social justice might be slightly refocused and fit into the category of social holiness -- living lives according to God's ways and God's will, as Christians are both called and empowered to do. As one of my former professors often said -- it's ALL about Grace.

When we try to make the world just, we might depend on God's Grace to help us, but it's about systems and structures, and about judgment (justice, after all, is about how well things fit right and wrong ideals), not primarily about grace and mercy. Holiness, however, is a way of life, dependent on God's Grace and mercy, to allow broken sinners (who are every bit as much responsible for the sin in the world as everyone else) to live as God calls us to live. It's not about making the world right, but about being God's holy, set apart, priestly people in the midst of the old creation while awaiting the consummation of the New Creation. Practically speaking, the issues are similar, whether we use the term holiness or justice, but I'm convinced holiness is far more appropriate (especially for Wesleyan Christians).

Adrienne raised some important practical considerations as well:

However, all affirmations of my Methodism aside (I can't believe I'm doing that. Clearly I got too much sun over the weekend), this leaves me with a few practical ethical dilemmas. Unless I decide to buy land, build an environmentally-friendly bio-dome, raise non-oppressed animals, produce non-oppressing food, weave non-oppressing clothing, consume only what I can live on, recycle everything and somehow produce an income to support others less fortunate than myself, then I am very much a part of the web of sin that keeps everyone captive. ...Oh sure, there are little changes I can make, better habits to hold. I could probably buy only second hand clothing, which several people in my "Theology of John Wesley" assured me was socially just. I could buy organic food (which is unfortunately expensive). These ways of living would cease to be even inconveniences after a while, I imagine.

But, would that really do any good? I mean, really. The whole thing seems too big. So should I buy the books that kill the trees, even if I keep them for the rest of my life? Do I just go on happily consuming oil based energy with wild abandon?

If anyone has any good ideas how to, say, exist and not hurt at least half the world's population, I'd be open to hearing your suggestions.

That's the part of Wesley we rarely discuss, largely, I think, because it's overwhelming. He would say you should live as simply as possible in the world (so the biosphere's out), trying to do what you can to make the lives of those around you better. Regardless, you ARE captive to the web of sin that holds us all captive, we all are... and we all will be until the eschatological consummation of All Things and the completion of the New Creation -- at least that's the classic Christian response. Focusing on what we can't do to fix the created order turns us inward and away from God -- focusing on God's Grace at work within us and through us in the world allows us to do what we can, without being oppressed by the guilt of our inadequacies. My father likes to remind me that none of us can minister to everyone in all situations -- the only One who can do that is in heaven. While the Church might be the Body of Christ at work in the world, we need to remember we are NOT messiahs, but only called to live within the community of faith dependent for our existence and power to live holy lives upon the messiah's power.

What I learned from my time among the Nazarenes was that holiness isn't about following all the rules -- though rules can sometimes be helpful -- but about becoming dependent on God's transforming Grace to live differently than we can without it. If we all follow God's calling to be the best we can in the circumstances where we live, and if we are willing to be trasformed continually into Christ's image and likeness, then we are going on to perfection. If you have options, don't shop at Walmart, buy organic food (or better yet, anything grown within your community), live simply, and give abundantly -- but if you have no other choices, live in God's Grace, and know that that Grace is sufficient to make up for our deficiencieses. In a consumer culture like ours, we should all be more conscientious about reading labels, and making the best choices we can afford -- but we need to remember that if we live in Grace, and we are willing to live for Christ, and not for ourselves, then almost anything is possible, and our small, local decisions can cause tremendous collective effects.

Home again...

2005-06-06T16:56:00.000-05:00

Sorry, dear readers... Last week my wife and I celebrated our third anniversary by taking a trip to Florida. The weather was great, and a good time was had by both of us. We returned yesterday -- truly exhausted, but also refreshed.

In other news, we went to see Star Wars: Episode III, Revenge of the Sith. Definitely worth the price of admission (especially for the midday matinee). This was definitely the best of the new trilogy -- and I think it helps redeem Episodes I and II by resolving most of the issues they raised and connecting them to the original trilogy.

The moment Anakin Skywalker's transformation into Darth Vader -- complete with the familiar black body/suit, and James Earle Jones' voice speaks through it for the first time gave me the chills. Well, looks like lightning, beter quit for now, dear readers!

Quizzes

2005-05-27T12:00:00.000-05:00

I don't usually find quizzes all that useful, but these two seemed apt. I found the first at bethquick -- thanks Elizabeth. The other I found on the same website. Both results seem accurate, as far as they go. For those of you who know me, the revelation that I'm a Postmodern Christian isn't much of a revelation... I'm curious about their definition of "idealist." It must be philosophical, not common usage... If that's the case, that's probably pretty accurate.

Postmodernist

69%

Cultural Creative

69%

Fundamentalist

50%

Romanticist

50%

Existentialist

31%

Modernist

25%

Materialist

19%

Idealist

What is Your World View? (updated)
created with QuizFarm.com

Christianity

79%

Judaism

46%

Buddhism

38%

Islam

29%

Paganism

29%

agnosticism

29%

Satanism

29%

atheism

17%

Hinduism

13%

Which religion is the right one for you? (new version)
created with QuizFarm.com

Jaywalking

2005-05-27T11:15:00.000-05:00

I was up late last night, trying to sleep while my wife was away with a friend in Boston (our friend blogs at Theologygirl). After two episodes of Good Eats on the Food Network, I switched to latenight comedy/talk whatever Letterman and Leno are. Letterman was a rerun, so it had to be Jay Leno and the Tonight Show, at least because it was a Jaywalking night. Don't get me wrong, I find that stuff funny, but this time it was a bit disturbing.

Jay's goal was (allegedly) to discover whether men or women knew more about U.S. history, but as you know if you've ever caught Jaywalking, Jay's real point is to tell us just how little our fellow citizens know about the subject. My fellow historians, from the inexperienced first-year history major, to the emeritus professor at an ancient and venerable University -- where did we go wrong?

Don't get me wrong, I can understand Americans not remembering there was a War of 1812, or details about the Spanish-American War, or even who assassinated Lincoln, but some of the things people said last night were beyond funny -- they were downright scary. Jay asked who was Supreme Allied Commander during WWII, who later became president, and one man said George Washington... He asked what side Japan was on during WWII, the United States' or the Nazi's, and another man said the U.S.... He asked true or false (TRUE OR FALSE DEAR READERS), whether jet aircraft were first used during the American Revolution -- you've got it SOMEONE SAID TRUE!

I guess it wouldn't be so bad, but we let these people vote. We actually encourage them to vote. To be fair, democracy scares me (slightly less than most other forms of government), but this kind of ignorance is why. How can we expect people to make informed judgments about government when they don't know anything about the past -- it's not like we have another equally valuable source to consult to determine what might be best to do in the present. It's enough to make me wish for the Second Coming.

Home Alone

2005-05-25T22:59:00.000-05:00

Remember the Home Alone movies? Yeah -- apparently that's not me. I HATE being home alone. Unfortunately, that's exactly my state right now, and whenever my wife has to work in Boston.

You see, I've never really lived alone, and I don't like doing it, even in short stints. When I was in college, I lived in the dorms, and once I graduated I moved into a 3 bedroom apartment with friends, and had roommates until I married my wife. Since then, thankfully, I have lived with her. Tonight, however, I can predict less than excellent sleep, as she's far away, and I'll probably be watching Food Network or reading American Jesus (which is an interesting cultural history, if you're interested in that sort of thing).

I get deeply introspective when I'm home alone -- thinking about my sins and shortcomings, and wondering why my life is the way it is -- home alone things. At my best moments these thoughts lead to prayer, confession, and a sense of reconciliation with God, after at least a brief alienation in the midst of my introspection.

Maybe that's why I don't like to be alone -- it reminds me of my most important relationship, and how weak that relationship with God can be. I might be odd for a 21st century American, but I think I'd prefer my guilt and shame in the company of other Christians, rather than in solitude and silence -- early Methodist Class Meetings appeal to me because of their spiritual accountability.

I guess even at these times when I'm alone with God because I can't be anything else, I fear that spiritual apathy might overtake me even in the midst of the silence. At my worst moments I feel like I'm still "Shackled by a heavy burden..." but at my best I can shout with the saints most dedicated to Christ that "He touched me and made me whole!" The thing is, there are days I probably couldn't tell you which was more true.

It's not that I don't want the deepest relationship with God possible, but that I'm too often either too scared or disinterested to take my own spiritual pulse. I think I'm probably scared more than disinterested, because I really do care, but the result is essentially the same. Not that I don't pray, dear readers, but sometimes I don't really pray with the intent of listening for clear and audible answers.

Right now, I'm thinking of a song I remember from my childhood: "Into the fiery furnace, they were there for fast... Nebuchadnezzer thought they'd never last... but God was there, he'd never let them go... Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego!" I think I'll go take my vitals, and see how things are... Whatever else I find, I know I'll find I'm not really home alone.

Proof that Miracles Still Happen...

2005-05-24T17:35:00.000-05:00

Today, against all odds, the District Committee on Ordained Ministry (DCOM) agreed to make my wife a certified candidate and approve her for a Local Pastor's License, despite the some unresolvable issues that I mentioned in a previous post. Dear readers, none but the Almighty could overcome the weight of UMC bureaucracy to make such things happen!

For the last year, after finishing seminary, she has been serving a small, part-time church as... uh, I guess she's "officially" been a lay-speaker with pastoral care and administrative responsibilities. According to the Discipline, she hasn't been the "Pastor," or "Minister," per se, but try explaining that to the ordinary congregation (she preaches every week and runs meetings, they have a hard enough time understanding why they can't call her "Reverend"). The first Sunday of each month, a retired UMC elder has lead the congregation in communion... Soon enough, she will be able to lead the people of her church in the celebration of the sacraments, just as she has lead them in worship, prayer, evangelism, outreach, service and the business of the church over the last year.

So far, that's all the good news we have... I still hope that the District Superintendent and the Bishop's Cabinet will find a use for me, even while I'm still a student... but the truth is, I'm not overly optimistic. God may provide an opportunity for me to serve, but the time might not yet be right. In the meantime, I'll pray, hope, and wait...

I know, dear readers, patience is a virtue... but the truth is, it's not exactly a virtue I have in particularly great quantities. I tell you the truth, if patience were the sole measure of faith, I'd be far from the Kingdom of God (as only part of the equation, I'm probably not as far from the Kingdom).

Just if you're wondering if my late-night tummy trouble has turned me off of pork, tonight we'll be having pork sirloin chops with cole slaw and perhaps mashed potatoes with feta. Mmmm... pork and cheese...

Sleepless in the sticks

2005-05-23T13:10:00.000-05:00

Last night I slept, well, poorly... I'm not sure if it was because of the practical crisis in my wife's ordination process, or the more mundane possibility that a combination of sausage and manicotti for lunch and grilled ham and cheese was actually more pork and dairy products than any one human being should consume in a day (I'm sure it must be the former, as the latter is clearly an absurdity -- too much ham, cheese and sausage is self-contradictory for people with functional gall-bladders)...

It must be my dear wife's ordination woes -- today she has talked to the pastor of our home church, consulted with two District Superintendents, and done everything but call the Bishop to resolve an unfortunate matter of confusion at the local church level that could stymie the ordination process for her... Some things just don't seem right (like being held responsible for other people's failures -- wasn't Calvary supposed to do something about setting that right?), and far too often, those are things we cannot seem to fix.

We talked to our now-retired former pastor, who told me a story about United Methodist polity: One of the General Boards comissioned a study. When the report came back from the company conducting the study, the representatives of the company told the general board that in all the years they had spent analyzing major corporations, non-profits, and other large corporations they had never seen anything so complicated and complex as the United Methodist Church. The corporate reps had only one question for the general board... "Who's in charge?" Fellow Methodists, how many times have we asked that very question! I bet you know what the General Board staffers said... "Well, no one really runs it, it just sort of runs itself..." Yes, that seems true; yet sometimes, I think I hear a still, small voice trying to speak through all of the beaurocratic clutter that seems to want to silence it, and I know that the One who formed all things, and who commanded the sea to be still is still at work, even in this hyperorganized part of the Body of Christ.

If you're willing to look, there are signs of hope that the Spirit is at work all over the place. Today, I went to help move the leftovers from a church supper fundraiser -- a New England church tradition -- to be served at a free meal for those in the community who can't afford to feed their families without help. The woman who heads up the project in my wife's church has been widowed for just over a week, but was gladly busy with the work she does after every church supper. Christ is active in His Body, leading the saints in building His Kingdom, even when the darkness seems to be closing in on us.

Why Kristof is right -- and Spong doesn't cut it...

2005-05-20T08:20:00.000-05:00

In a recent New York Times Op-Ed piece, entitled Liberal Bible-Thumping, Nicholas Kristof reviews a recent book by Bishop Spong, and argues that Spong's approach shows liberals how to confront conservative Christians on their own terms. Kristof seems to be calling for a more civil response to conservatives by liberals, and in itself, that would be good. Espeically among Christians, we need more civil dialogue and less unprovoked animus. As Kristof reminds liberal readers: "It's entirely possible to honor Christian conservatives for their first-rate humanitarian work treating the sick in Africa or fighting sex trafficking in Asia, and still do battle with them over issues like gay rights."

Nicholas Kristof is right -- not only as a working strategy for liberal politics, but also for liberal/conservative Christian dialogue. In fairness to Bishop Spong, I have only read Kristof's review of his work. I'm sure it would appeal to a particular kind of Christian, but I'm probably not one of them. Based on what I know of Spong's earlier work, and on Kristof's account, Spong doesn't cut it. Insinuating that Jesus had an affair with Mary Magdalene, and that Paul was a self-hating homosexual doesn't help dialogue, but Spong isn't really the issue, he's just a symptom. The larger issue is that liberal Christians usually cannot acknowledge the "first-rate humanitarian work..." of conservative Christians, let alone honor it (at least in my experience), and when confronted with the socially positive results of conservative Christianity, many liberal Christians try to find ways to dismiss even social improvement as "naive focus on individuals," at the expense of "the systemic evils that cause these problems." If it's not pie-in-the-sky Christianity, its worse -- it's self-help Christianity!

Until we, as Christians, can find a way to talk to each other over the great divide, we will be ineffectual in our mission to speak to the world about issues where the majority of both sides agree -- like the importance of human dignity, love, compassion, and the centrality of God for a fulfilling human life; or like the degrading power of poverty, addiction, disease, and inaction by those who have the power to change things. In the end, despite our differences, we claim to have faith in the same God revealed in the flesh in Jesus Christ -- if we cannot model how disagree, often from across vast chasms, and do it without unneccessary vitriol, we have failed to hear Christ's call to be peacemakers.

Yes, we do have a mission....

2005-05-19T09:16:00.000-05:00

After decades of numerical decline, the bishops of the UMC have discovered that the United Methodist Church has a mission, and that mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ. That might not seem like a big deal, but apparenly, the people of the UMC don't know how to make disciples, at least according to Bishop Peter Weaver of the Boston Area, and current President of the Council of Bishops. Is it just me, or is there something wrong when Christians don't know how to make more Christians?

I know plenty of United Methodists who could organize your bakesale, petition your state senator, picket your city hall, and be extremely nice to you if you happened to darken the doorstep of their local church -- but far too few of my fellow United Methodists seem to have the desire or the wherewithall to tell you why you should join them in their local church. Maybe I'm crazy, but if our mission is to make disciples who can then transform the world, we need to be a bit more effective at making disciples!

For some time now, in many of our conferences, we have closed churches in areas where the population isn't falling (and often where it is growing), and we have had decreasing church attendance in other places as well. Anecdotally, in the city of Boston, one of the old men in my home church can remember attending Boston District Methodist Youth events with the youth from our church and the youth from over 30 other Methodist churches in Boston -- today, there are no youth in our church, and usually only about 20 people on a Sunday morning, and only 7 other UMC's in Boston... The district now stretches well into the suburbs, and while it contains more churches than the Boston District did when Jimmy was young, it's almost impossible to develop the same fellowship with youth from a 50 square mile area, as a 7 square mile area with good public transportation, and even with all the churches now connected, I would guess there are fewer youth than in Jimmy's day.

I don't know when things went wrong, but it must have been during or after World War II, judging from the older generations who continue to teach Sunday School and who remember how things used to be. Yes, there might be some cultural factors involved, but the primary one is that most of the church members I know who are much younger than Jimmy know how to talk about "God," but don't seem to know all that much about following Jesus or how to make disciples of Jesus. Worse yet, for the life of the church, many of these church members have defended to me their own children's lack of involvement in the church because "they pray and have a relationship with God... they just don't come to church all the time."

The problem with this thinking is that for a disciple, "Church" isn't a place where you go, but who you are. Unlike being a Sous Chef, or a Biologist, or an M.D., you can't be "Church" alone, and Christian disciples are both formed and find their identity within the Church. Can we be Christian without much involvement in the local church? Perhaps -- but we cannot have the kind of rich and fulfilling Christian life that makes being a Christian so wonderful without the Church. Yes, Jesus can be our Best Friend without the Church, but it's hard to hear the voice of our Lord without spending time in his Body, the Church.

I'll have to stop here, if I keep going, I might never finish... but, hey, this is what I've got -- it worked for me,and it's what inspires me to live the way I do... when I don't get in the way.

Ordination Blues...

2005-05-17T18:27:00.000-05:00

Last night I filled out the IRAI, one of the series of tests I will be taking over the next months (and perhaps years) of the pre-ordination process in the UMC. I call it the "pre-ordination" process, because I cannot be licensed until I have completed a sufficient number of steps in the process. Currently, I am waiting on an understaffed office in Nashville and the U.S. Postal Service so that I can plow through the multiple sessions of the candidacy guidebook. After several stages of the candidacy guidebook, I will be allowed to talk to my local church about God's call on my life, and hopefully they too will believe it has happened -- thus catapulting me back to the District Committee who has already met me once, who will then hear the pleas of my local church that I be made a certified candidate, and if my (by then) five semesters of seminary education pay off... I'll be a certified candidate for ordination. That is what I "fondly" (and irreverently) call the "pre-ordination" process.

My mentor seems like my kind of person -- a self-described evangelical United Methodist with an academic background -- and I'm sure he will help me do what I need to do to be ready for the District Committee and the Board of Ordained Ministry at the Conference level. Perhaps, both my wife and I might get through the process in this conference... that'd be nice, as we believe we have been called to do the work of the Kingdom here, in the UMC, despite occasional bouts of uncertainty about the UMC part. I love my church, most of the time, but sometimes I wonder why the UMC does when its mission "to make disciples of Jesus Christ" seems so clear and obvious to me.

Pray for me in the process, dear readers, and for my wife (she has a memorial service she's working on this week, with some family difficulties involved). Pastoral work isn't always easy, but for those God calls and equips, it is fulfilling, even when it's frustrating...

Faith and Politics

2005-05-16T18:03:00.000-05:00

This is a repost from my previous blogsite -- this was too good for someone to miss...

My friend, Chris raised an interesting question on his blog, and I needed to respond… Here’s an excerpt of the relevant material from his post – you can read the rest at this location.

And now for something that has vexed me for quite sometime--the relationship between faith and public policy. WHAT? Yeah, I'm serious. Lemme put it this way: What impact should my faith in Christ, which I strongly believe to be right, have on my analysis of public policies? …
…First of all, the United States, as a government, is a secular institution. Yes, at its founding, the framers of the constitution did invoke the name of God and ask his blessing. Yet they also, shortly after ratifying it, passed the Bill of Rights, which states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or promoting the free exercise thereof". This phrase was meant to make sure no religion was made the state religion, as the Church of England is in Great Britain. It also allows people here to worship as they see fit. The government is here taken out of the religious realm. How can I use my faith, then, as a basis for my opinions about public issues, when from the get-go the government has said they don't respect one faith above another? Why should they respect my faith-based reasoning any more than a Muslim's or Buddhist's or Mormon's?

I have thought about this issue a lot, too. I could argue, as Augustine did, that the Christian not only has the right, but the responsibility to compel others to live in accordance with Christian teaching, and even to make them attend the services of the universal Church. Of course, on this issue the venerable saint was wrong.

Along with my opinion about Augustine's reasoning, Chris both misquoted the first amendment, and forgot his colonial history. The first amendment reads: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." Let's not deal with issues of congress abridging freedom of speech, the press, peaceable assembly or petition of government at this point -- let's just deal with the relevant two clauses.

In terms of the first clause, members of the Constitutional Convention knew what established religion was -- it was, in many of the colonies, and still is, in much of Europe, an official religion sanctioned and funded (at least in part) by the state. Let us remember that the 14th amendment did not apply the Federal Bill of Rights to the States until AFTER the Civil War... because several of the States maintained their established churches for some time after the ratification of the Constitution, and presumably, until the passage of the 14th amendment, the States had the right to establish or disestablish religion as they saw fit. That is the real problem with strict-separationist arguments...they fail in the face of the historical realities.

So, the real issue (in light of the first clause), is what the second clause means. Nothing whatsoever is said in the first amendment about promoting religion. However, there is some question as to what the Constitution means by "prohibiting the free practice thereof..." May Congress limit the practice of religion, by banning it from the public sphere, or limiting the rites religious organizations might practice, or by compelling people to behave in ways that defy their religious convictions, or by compelling religious organizations (or their duly-appointed clergy) to provide taxes to the state to use in ways contrary to the teaching of those bodies (thus forcing those institutions and their representatives to behave in ways that violate their fundamental teachings)? That might not prohibit religion, per se, but does it prohibit the free practice of religion? I think so... The real issue isn't whether religion should influence government or government policy, but whether government should be able to interfere with religion (in a positive or negative way), and the first amendment seems abundantly clear -- Congress has no right to do so (and after the 14th amendment, neither do the States).

Should your religion influence your politics? Well, there are really two questions involved in that question: first, should Christians participate in politics (let’s leave that for another blog); and second, can people separate something central to who they are, how they think, and how they live – in short, can people separate a major portion of their worldviews – from their politics? I’d hope asking the question would be sufficient, but just in case someone reading this far missed the point: Nobody can, nor should anyone try – to do so would cause existential crisis!

As a great fictional anarchist philosopher once said: “never whistle while you’re pissing because your mind would be in two places at once,” which is to say, if you were to attempt to separate your fundamental worldview from your political positions, you would (at least temporarily) be suffering from self-induced schizophrenia. So Chris, if you can (in good conscience) continue to participate in politics as a Christian, you must participate in politics as a Christian…

The Switch

2005-05-14T16:45:00.000-05:00

I've decided to change blog sites... not that the server I was using is all bad, but it made it difficult for other people to comment on my blog, and I wasn't really impressed with the interface, so I've decided to try again.