Books are not an obsolete technology. Despite the ubiquity of cell phones, tablets, and computers, books maintain distinct advantages as a technological medium. Here are a few reasons why:
Books do not need to be charged. You cannot lose or break a book's charger because books don't have them.
A book cannot get a virus.
Books have no pop-up ads.
If you find yourself lost in a book and realize you've lost hours in its pages, you will walk away enriched and informed, whereas the same experience with a computer or cell phone will leave you with the empty sense that you have thrown away part of your life scrolling nothingness.
Books don't need to load. They come up right away as soon as you open them.
Books cannot crash.
Books require no monthly fees. No subscriptions, no access, no data, no provider. No hotspot, no codes, no passwords. No overages, no plans. No settings to set up, no platforms to learn. No upgrades to download. No need to elicit help from online forums or teenagers or Far Eastern call centers.
A book can stay in a carry-on bag through airport security.
Books are almost never stolen (except from libraries). Well, actually friends steal books under the guise of "borrowing." Still, if someone steals your book, your life is not in a shambles until you get to a bookstore and buy another book and reload your life into the new book. If your friend steals your book, you can still be friends, and, in fact, have something new and interesting to talk about.
Books are cheap enough that they need no insurance and durable enough that nothing cracks or scratches or breaks on them. Books don't need expensive protective cases.
No one has ever gotten in hot water with a spouse, significant other, parent or child because he/she got into his/her book.
The cost of books never creeps up on you bit-by-bit, month-by-month. A book costs what it costs with no confusing or hidden fees. You don't have to be careful about the creative ways booksellers might be ripping you off, because, unlike your cell phone company or your internet provider, booksellers don't use nickel-and-dime subtle scams.
You can never have your book shut off because you forgot to pay the bill. There are no late fees in the world of books. Except possibly when you return a book to a library, but hey, they let you use it for free.
A book is a physical object that keeps some value and can be resold, given away as a valuable gift, or displayed as an attractive part of a room. It does not become a piece of junk to be upgraded. It does not end up in a landfill. If it does end up in a landfill, it biodegrades and does not harm the environment. Books stay beautiful and even get more beautiful as they age. There's a reason almost no one collects old cell phones or computers.
A book is also a physical object that persists and says something about its owner. Marginal notes, even receipts or lists or business cards stuffed between its pages will one day be precious or at least interesting to the owner's children and grandchildren.
It is dangerous and foolhardy but not illegal to operate a book while operating a motor vehicle. I'm fairly certain I've never known anyone to be ticketed for reading a book while driving a car. Come to think of it, few people are tempted to place the lives of other motorists at mortal risk by operating a book while operating a motor vehicle.
Addiction to books is, at best, a healthy thing, and at worst, perhaps the most tame addiction possible. Few marriages or careers have been destroyed by book addiction.
Everything written in a book has been edited by someone else whose job it is to let the author know if something in the book is objectively false, absurd, logically incoherent, or grammatically disastrous. Many books are full of nothing but garbage, of course, but at least with a book someone had an opportunity to say, "Are you sure you want to publish this?" I'm grateful that books have a filter. You will not find books full of pictures of what your friends ate at Waffle House.
Call me a Luddite, but I'm increasingly returning to the old-fashioned tried-and-true codex for its technological merits.
Saturday, November 28, 2015
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Advice to a Troubled Soul (adapted from George MacDonald)
I’ve heard about George MacDonald’s influence on CS Lewis since I first read Lewis’s corpus in my teen years. I’ve never read anything from him until just recently when a pastor friend, Al Harbour, gave me a copy of Lewis’s MacDonald anthology. Each line is rich and powerful. It’s clear how and why MacDonald influenced Lewis so profoundly. Here’s a passage which offers especially helpful advice to troubled souls [I’ve taken the liberty to modernize the language and use italics for emphasis]:
“Troubled soul, you do not have to feel anything, but you do have to get up. God loves you whether you feel anything or not. You cannot love whenever you want to, but you must fight the hatred within you to the very end.
“Don’t try to feel good when are aren’t good, but cry out to God who alone is good. God hasn’t changed just because you have changed.
“No. In fact, God has a special tenderness of love toward you who are in the dark and have no light, and God’s heart is glad when you get up and say (like the Prodigal Son), ‘I will go to my Father...’
“Fold your arms and give up on your own faith; wait in quietness until the light dawns upon your darkness.
“Fold up your arms for your own faith, but not for your action:
“Think of something you ought to do, and DO IT, even if it’s sweeping a room, or preparing a meal, or visiting a friend.
“Pay no attention to your feelings. DO YOUR WORK.”
Sunday, July 5, 2015
Review of "Why Men Hate Going to Church" by David Murrow
A very fine Christian man in my congregation asked me to read over this book because he wants to teach on it. His concern is the author's concern--he sees more women in church than men (though the "gap," using Murrow's terminology, is far less pronounced in our church than most), and he wants our church to reach all people, including men. I'm sure he sees women coming to church alone and would like to see the husbands there, too. These are important concerns. They come from a heart for people and a heart for the Gospel. Murrow's concern is a good one. He went looking for a book that would help him understand why more women come to church than men and when he couldn't find one he wrote one himself. I'm grateful to him for being courageous enough to begin the conversation.
The root of my concern with Murrow's book is that it begins very well and veers from the right path immediately. Murrow says that the de facto religion of men is "masculinity." It encompasses sports, hunting, aggression, leisure, TV, beer drinking, and a myriad of activities, traits, and values that men use to define themselves as men. He recognizes that a man steeped in the culture of the religion of masculinity will find the church uncomfortable and will feel out of place.
Murrow then describes the church as steeped in a culture of femininity, one determined by the values and preferences of women, a culture dominated by women and effeminate men. He describes how uncomfortable men find a culture of feelings, reading, and relationships. He urges churches to use the language of adventure, prefer men over women for visible leadership positions, and shape ministry toward the heart values of men. He thinks if the church gets more manly, than the women will be fine and go along because they will be happy that their men are in church.
From time to time, this book made me wonder if Ron Burgundy from the film "Anchorman" had been dragged to church by Veronica Corningstone and then written a book about how the church could change to fit guys like him. He uses bad theology, bad anthropology, bad psychology, bad exegesis. In a bit reminiscent of the scene in "Anchorman" when Ron explains that women have smaller brains than men ("It's science."), Murrow says that men's brains are functionally not as well suited to reading, and so all the reading out of books at church make men uncomfortable, and so churches ought to have fewer books and less reading and churches need less bookish pastors. This is but one example of laughably wrong and potentially dangerous ideas in the book.
And still, Murrow has approached a real problem, and there's something to what he's saying. He seems to know that his explanations and solutions are flawed. He doubles back on himself constantly. He continuously qualifies himself.
The church is, indeed, confused about masculinity. Men are confused about masculinity. Being male is a matter of biology. But men feel that they somehow need to live up to who they are. Men are born men, and yet they most certainly need to learn how to be men. The culture is hugely confused about masculinity. And so the "religion of masculinity," as Murrow puts it, becomes a popular false religion for men. But it makes men into a caricature of true masculinity. A man who is a good, strong, Christian man has no need to prove his masculinity to himself, other men, or anyone else through strutting, posturing, womanizing, shooting guns, driving big trucks, hunting and fishing, talking sports, or anything else. Don't get me wrong--shooting guns, sports, big trucks and all that are fine and for guys who enjoy them they are fantastic. But real men can take or leave cultural trappings of masculinity because they have developed character deeply grounded in the image of God that make them perfectly comfortable in their own skin as men.
Murrow's problem is that he thinks we need to syncretize the culture of the Church with the "religion of masculinity." I'm grateful for Murrow's book, not because I agree with him, but because he helps me see that what the church really needs to do is a better job of teaching men how to be disciples who have turned from a caricature of masculinity to a true masculinity based on the person of Jesus Christ.
Murrow's most useful material comes from his practical reflections of how men can serve as men following Jesus. In a culture desperate for fathers, Christian men can offer mentoring and serve as father figures, thereby discovering a masculine calling and offering a gift only men can give. Murrow says that men need relationships with each other (as do women), that these relationships will necessarily be purposeful and different than relationships with women in some ways, that men should gather together for prayer and accountability. The people of God have always gathered in groups, and have often and successfully developed strong disciples when genders segregated for small group interaction. These reflections in no way minimize the importance of women in the congregation or turn the church into a boys club with men dominating everyone else.
Men discover real masculinity in caring for their families. Being a husband and father upon whom my wife and children can place their trust makes me more of a man, not less. When we say in a the midst of a disagreement, "Be the bigger man," we are not urging conflict or teaching men to be passive. We are recognizing that it takes more courage to love than it does to fight. Men find what true masculinity means not by shaping their faith to cultural standards of masculinity, but by becoming more like Jesus. Just as the Gospel teaches us that we gain life by losing our lives, men can only discover true masculinity by abandoning the culture's charade of masculinity. Perhaps the most dangerous suggestion in the book is Murrow's admonition that churches should talk less about having a relationship with Jesus because it makes men uncomfortable to talk about having a relationship with a man. No man can find out what it means to be the man he was made to be without learning it in relationship with Jesus Christ.
Perhaps the central inconsistency of the book's message (and there are many) is the assertion that women seek comfort and men seek challenge, so the church should make men more comfortable. The church must challenge men to be men according to God's definition. Churches should be more missional, more adventurous, more challenging, less devoted to personal comfort. But these things are true because of the Gospel, not because of gender stereotypes. They are a challenge to men and women alike. Murrow describes an early Church that attracted men. That Church attracted men not because it was trying to be masculine, but because it was devoted to the Gospel and to one man, Jesus Christ.
The root of my concern with Murrow's book is that it begins very well and veers from the right path immediately. Murrow says that the de facto religion of men is "masculinity." It encompasses sports, hunting, aggression, leisure, TV, beer drinking, and a myriad of activities, traits, and values that men use to define themselves as men. He recognizes that a man steeped in the culture of the religion of masculinity will find the church uncomfortable and will feel out of place.
Murrow then describes the church as steeped in a culture of femininity, one determined by the values and preferences of women, a culture dominated by women and effeminate men. He describes how uncomfortable men find a culture of feelings, reading, and relationships. He urges churches to use the language of adventure, prefer men over women for visible leadership positions, and shape ministry toward the heart values of men. He thinks if the church gets more manly, than the women will be fine and go along because they will be happy that their men are in church.
From time to time, this book made me wonder if Ron Burgundy from the film "Anchorman" had been dragged to church by Veronica Corningstone and then written a book about how the church could change to fit guys like him. He uses bad theology, bad anthropology, bad psychology, bad exegesis. In a bit reminiscent of the scene in "Anchorman" when Ron explains that women have smaller brains than men ("It's science."), Murrow says that men's brains are functionally not as well suited to reading, and so all the reading out of books at church make men uncomfortable, and so churches ought to have fewer books and less reading and churches need less bookish pastors. This is but one example of laughably wrong and potentially dangerous ideas in the book.
And still, Murrow has approached a real problem, and there's something to what he's saying. He seems to know that his explanations and solutions are flawed. He doubles back on himself constantly. He continuously qualifies himself.
The church is, indeed, confused about masculinity. Men are confused about masculinity. Being male is a matter of biology. But men feel that they somehow need to live up to who they are. Men are born men, and yet they most certainly need to learn how to be men. The culture is hugely confused about masculinity. And so the "religion of masculinity," as Murrow puts it, becomes a popular false religion for men. But it makes men into a caricature of true masculinity. A man who is a good, strong, Christian man has no need to prove his masculinity to himself, other men, or anyone else through strutting, posturing, womanizing, shooting guns, driving big trucks, hunting and fishing, talking sports, or anything else. Don't get me wrong--shooting guns, sports, big trucks and all that are fine and for guys who enjoy them they are fantastic. But real men can take or leave cultural trappings of masculinity because they have developed character deeply grounded in the image of God that make them perfectly comfortable in their own skin as men.
Murrow's problem is that he thinks we need to syncretize the culture of the Church with the "religion of masculinity." I'm grateful for Murrow's book, not because I agree with him, but because he helps me see that what the church really needs to do is a better job of teaching men how to be disciples who have turned from a caricature of masculinity to a true masculinity based on the person of Jesus Christ.
Murrow's most useful material comes from his practical reflections of how men can serve as men following Jesus. In a culture desperate for fathers, Christian men can offer mentoring and serve as father figures, thereby discovering a masculine calling and offering a gift only men can give. Murrow says that men need relationships with each other (as do women), that these relationships will necessarily be purposeful and different than relationships with women in some ways, that men should gather together for prayer and accountability. The people of God have always gathered in groups, and have often and successfully developed strong disciples when genders segregated for small group interaction. These reflections in no way minimize the importance of women in the congregation or turn the church into a boys club with men dominating everyone else.
Men discover real masculinity in caring for their families. Being a husband and father upon whom my wife and children can place their trust makes me more of a man, not less. When we say in a the midst of a disagreement, "Be the bigger man," we are not urging conflict or teaching men to be passive. We are recognizing that it takes more courage to love than it does to fight. Men find what true masculinity means not by shaping their faith to cultural standards of masculinity, but by becoming more like Jesus. Just as the Gospel teaches us that we gain life by losing our lives, men can only discover true masculinity by abandoning the culture's charade of masculinity. Perhaps the most dangerous suggestion in the book is Murrow's admonition that churches should talk less about having a relationship with Jesus because it makes men uncomfortable to talk about having a relationship with a man. No man can find out what it means to be the man he was made to be without learning it in relationship with Jesus Christ.
Perhaps the central inconsistency of the book's message (and there are many) is the assertion that women seek comfort and men seek challenge, so the church should make men more comfortable. The church must challenge men to be men according to God's definition. Churches should be more missional, more adventurous, more challenging, less devoted to personal comfort. But these things are true because of the Gospel, not because of gender stereotypes. They are a challenge to men and women alike. Murrow describes an early Church that attracted men. That Church attracted men not because it was trying to be masculine, but because it was devoted to the Gospel and to one man, Jesus Christ.
Sunday, June 21, 2015
Pastoral Prayer inspired by 2 Cor. 6:1-13 (Father's Day; Sunday following the church massacre in Charleston, SC)
Holy God:
We thank you on this day that you have given us the great grace and high privilege of naming you as our Father. At great price to yourself, you loved us when unlovable, you made peace with us through the blood of your Son, you humbled yourself to stoop low enough to meet us where we are. You gave us your name, an eternal inheritance, new life, and gave us the gift of this, your family. Our Father, we are grateful.
We are grateful to you, also, for our earthly fathers. We thank you for those who gave us life, for those who have mentored and guided us, for those who have been spiritual fathers and taught us the faith. We thank you for those who have been fathers to the fatherless. For all who have a father’s love and have shown us a father’s love, we are eternally grateful.
Help our Fathers to love their children well. Help our father to know our gratitude. Strengthen families. So often, fathers feel overlooked and underappreciated. Help them to keep an open heart, to always love, support, care for, and teach their children well, to demonstrate the faithfulness that can be learned best from you alone.
As our nation reels from a horrific crime committed against our sister church and its people, we pray that you would comfort the families of the slain. We pray that the people of Mother Emanuel AME in Charleston would feel your embrace and the prayers of the nation and world as they gather for worship even now. Use this horrendous crime to allow the witness of the martyrs to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Use even this horrific crime as an opportunity to heal the woundedness and division in our nation, for our only hope is in you, great God of love.
Amen.
Monday, June 15, 2015
Who Remembers Peninnah?
If you were on Jeopardy and the category was Bible, and the answer was "Peninnah," would you buzz in? Probably not. If the answer was "Hannah," you probably would.
The Book of 1 Samuel tells the tale of Elkanah, a good man married to two wives. The first wife, Peninnah, has able to have children. The second wife, Hannah, like many Biblical heroines, was not. Peninnah was unkind to Hannah about their differing fortunes and made her feel terrible. Elkanah was kind to Hannah and, in fact, preferred her, but it was no consolation. Hannah was so distraught with her desire for a child that she cried out to God so desperately in prayer that the priest nearly threw her out of the Temple thinking she was drunk in the house of God. How often have you prayed so hard that the the preacher thought you had showed up to church drunk and tried to throw you out? Hannah knew something about praying from the heart that few of us know.
Still, I think more of us relate to Hannah than to Peninnah. More of us know how it feels to be passed over than those of us who know what it's like to be chosen. More of us know what it's like to be jealous of another person who has what we most deeply and rightly desire than those of us who know what it's like to look down in condescension upon those who want what we have. Most of us know what it's like to cry out in desperation for our heart's desire. Fewer of us know what it's like to have the self-satisfaction of having been granted our desires.
Perhaps the good news is that Hannah is remembered and Penninah is not. As I write this, my computer recognizes "Hannah" and puts red squiggles under "Penninah." I know many people named Hannah. I've never met a Penninah.
The story of the heaven-kissed chosen one who gets things easily and looks down on the others is a boring, quickly forgotten story. The golden children of the world are rarely remembered.
It's the rest of us who lead lives that are more heartfelt, more interesting, perhaps more painful. We are the ones whose stories are compelling--those of us who must labor for the fulfillment of God's promises, those of us who have wept in prayer for longing, those of us who have daily knelt before God and opened the dark corners of our hearts in order to keep from being eaten up with jealousy, those of us who don't understand why it must be so more difficult for us and seemingly so easy for others. Why does God always seem to point us toward the headwind when it looks like the calling of so many others lets them sail on with the wind at their back?
The soul comes alive when the wind is in the face. Intimacy with God is found in desperation. Hannah found more joy in Samuel than Penninah ever found in her children (whose names are not remembered at all).
The Book of 1 Samuel tells the tale of Elkanah, a good man married to two wives. The first wife, Peninnah, has able to have children. The second wife, Hannah, like many Biblical heroines, was not. Peninnah was unkind to Hannah about their differing fortunes and made her feel terrible. Elkanah was kind to Hannah and, in fact, preferred her, but it was no consolation. Hannah was so distraught with her desire for a child that she cried out to God so desperately in prayer that the priest nearly threw her out of the Temple thinking she was drunk in the house of God. How often have you prayed so hard that the the preacher thought you had showed up to church drunk and tried to throw you out? Hannah knew something about praying from the heart that few of us know.
Still, I think more of us relate to Hannah than to Peninnah. More of us know how it feels to be passed over than those of us who know what it's like to be chosen. More of us know what it's like to be jealous of another person who has what we most deeply and rightly desire than those of us who know what it's like to look down in condescension upon those who want what we have. Most of us know what it's like to cry out in desperation for our heart's desire. Fewer of us know what it's like to have the self-satisfaction of having been granted our desires.
Perhaps the good news is that Hannah is remembered and Penninah is not. As I write this, my computer recognizes "Hannah" and puts red squiggles under "Penninah." I know many people named Hannah. I've never met a Penninah.
The story of the heaven-kissed chosen one who gets things easily and looks down on the others is a boring, quickly forgotten story. The golden children of the world are rarely remembered.
It's the rest of us who lead lives that are more heartfelt, more interesting, perhaps more painful. We are the ones whose stories are compelling--those of us who must labor for the fulfillment of God's promises, those of us who have wept in prayer for longing, those of us who have daily knelt before God and opened the dark corners of our hearts in order to keep from being eaten up with jealousy, those of us who don't understand why it must be so more difficult for us and seemingly so easy for others. Why does God always seem to point us toward the headwind when it looks like the calling of so many others lets them sail on with the wind at their back?
The soul comes alive when the wind is in the face. Intimacy with God is found in desperation. Hannah found more joy in Samuel than Penninah ever found in her children (whose names are not remembered at all).
Thursday, June 11, 2015
A Word to Moving Pastors: Love Your Predecessors
In United Methodists congregations, it's move time. We are appointed year to year and, with rare exceptions, we all move at the same time. Right now, around the country, pastors are saying goodbye to one congregation and saying hello to another.
The first few weeks and months in a new congregation are precious time to make a good match. If a pastor and congregation mishandle first impressions with each other, it can be difficult to recover. There are many books, videos, and other resources available to help pastors and congregations navigate transition time. Lovett Weems has fantastic material on this subject.
Out of the many things that might be said, one word of advice I would add is this one: Love your predecessor(s). Every pastor who has come before you has offered something to the people and their collective life and discipleship. Every one has connected with them in some way and helped people to experience grace and know Jesus better.
Pastors can be as egotistical as anyone. Inexplicably, many pastors feel that the congregation's love, fondness, and respect for former pastors is a hindrance to their own ability to be seen as the pastor now. They somehow feel that if the congregation talks all the time about what happened when a former pastor served there, that the congregation will be unable to move forward and embrace new leadership. Pastors should understand that when a congregation talks about a former pastor and what happened during a predecessors stay, they are offering the precious gift of the story of the congregation's faith journey. There is nothing to be lost and everything to be gained by embracing these conversations and encouraging and celebrating them, listening closely and affirming the good work of those who have come before us.
If a congregation loves a former pastor, isn't that a good indication that the congregation might love the current pastor? If a congregation embraced a former pastor's leadership, wouldn't the congregation be more likely to embrace the leadership of the current pastor?
The biggest threat to the love of respect of former pastors being shared with current pastors is the current pastor's jealousy of predecessors. When a congregation can sense that a current pastor wants the congregation to forget the former pastor, or that the current pastor resents the mention of a former pastor, they understandably question the maturity and spiritual health of the pastor. It creates a bad dynamic within the congregation too--one of comparison, self-interest, rather than servanthood and desire to honor one another above ourselves.
I believe one of the most practically helpful things a pastor can do is to invite back former pastors as often as possible. When I arrived at my current appointment, I made a list of all living, active and retired former senior and associate pastors and invited every one of them to return in the first year. I got them all back for one reason or another within two years.
Of course, people have different opinions about different former pastors. Some are beloved by certain congregants and less revered by others. Bringing them all back helps to bring some reconciliation and resolution over past hurts. Inviting them all back models grace and trains the congregation to be gracious with itself and each other and its history so that it will act more graciously in its present and future.
Many pastors feel that they must compete with the legend of the superstar former pastor or join in criticism of a former pastor whose legacy is mixed. I believe this is a huge mistake. When a pastor resists the praise of a former pastor, it sets the current pastor at odds with the congregation. If a pastor appreciates criticism because she or he interprets it as praise in comparison, the current pastor sets him or herself up to be the victim of similar criticism down the road. If the current pastor can join the fan club and celebrate the former pastor from the heart, then the current pastor becomes one with the congregation. I believe that when we ground our ministry in humility, grace, and preference for others, God blesses our work and the people recognize and appreciate our spirit.
The first few weeks and months in a new congregation are precious time to make a good match. If a pastor and congregation mishandle first impressions with each other, it can be difficult to recover. There are many books, videos, and other resources available to help pastors and congregations navigate transition time. Lovett Weems has fantastic material on this subject.
Out of the many things that might be said, one word of advice I would add is this one: Love your predecessor(s). Every pastor who has come before you has offered something to the people and their collective life and discipleship. Every one has connected with them in some way and helped people to experience grace and know Jesus better.
Pastors can be as egotistical as anyone. Inexplicably, many pastors feel that the congregation's love, fondness, and respect for former pastors is a hindrance to their own ability to be seen as the pastor now. They somehow feel that if the congregation talks all the time about what happened when a former pastor served there, that the congregation will be unable to move forward and embrace new leadership. Pastors should understand that when a congregation talks about a former pastor and what happened during a predecessors stay, they are offering the precious gift of the story of the congregation's faith journey. There is nothing to be lost and everything to be gained by embracing these conversations and encouraging and celebrating them, listening closely and affirming the good work of those who have come before us.
If a congregation loves a former pastor, isn't that a good indication that the congregation might love the current pastor? If a congregation embraced a former pastor's leadership, wouldn't the congregation be more likely to embrace the leadership of the current pastor?
The biggest threat to the love of respect of former pastors being shared with current pastors is the current pastor's jealousy of predecessors. When a congregation can sense that a current pastor wants the congregation to forget the former pastor, or that the current pastor resents the mention of a former pastor, they understandably question the maturity and spiritual health of the pastor. It creates a bad dynamic within the congregation too--one of comparison, self-interest, rather than servanthood and desire to honor one another above ourselves.
I believe one of the most practically helpful things a pastor can do is to invite back former pastors as often as possible. When I arrived at my current appointment, I made a list of all living, active and retired former senior and associate pastors and invited every one of them to return in the first year. I got them all back for one reason or another within two years.
Of course, people have different opinions about different former pastors. Some are beloved by certain congregants and less revered by others. Bringing them all back helps to bring some reconciliation and resolution over past hurts. Inviting them all back models grace and trains the congregation to be gracious with itself and each other and its history so that it will act more graciously in its present and future.
Many pastors feel that they must compete with the legend of the superstar former pastor or join in criticism of a former pastor whose legacy is mixed. I believe this is a huge mistake. When a pastor resists the praise of a former pastor, it sets the current pastor at odds with the congregation. If a pastor appreciates criticism because she or he interprets it as praise in comparison, the current pastor sets him or herself up to be the victim of similar criticism down the road. If the current pastor can join the fan club and celebrate the former pastor from the heart, then the current pastor becomes one with the congregation. I believe that when we ground our ministry in humility, grace, and preference for others, God blesses our work and the people recognize and appreciate our spirit.
Sunday, June 7, 2015
Prayer for Clergy Election of Representatives to General/Jurisdictional Conference
I was honored to be asked to pray over one of the ballots during recent voting for clergy representatives to General and Jurisdictional Conference. Here is that prayer.
Holy God, Father of us all:
Who has called all creation into relationship with yourself,
All of your followers into ministry through baptism,
And each of us into particular areas of service according to the will of your Spirit,
for the purpose of building up the whole body in love in Jesus Christ,
Guide us to discern best those called to serve in leading and representing us,
That the bond of peace between us be strengthened,
the Gospel be propagated,
disciples be made,
To the glory of God and the building up of the Church,
Through Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Church,
Through the Spirit who makes us the Church,
Who live and reign with you, Eternal Father,
One God, forever and ever, Amen.
Holy God, Father of us all:
Who has called all creation into relationship with yourself,
All of your followers into ministry through baptism,
And each of us into particular areas of service according to the will of your Spirit,
for the purpose of building up the whole body in love in Jesus Christ,
Guide us to discern best those called to serve in leading and representing us,
That the bond of peace between us be strengthened,
the Gospel be propagated,
disciples be made,
To the glory of God and the building up of the Church,
Through Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Church,
Through the Spirit who makes us the Church,
Who live and reign with you, Eternal Father,
One God, forever and ever, Amen.
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Reflections on Life Together: The Presence of Christ is Physical, not a Disembodied Spiritual Reality
This the second reflection I'm writing on the wonderful insights I've been able to discover with others through Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Life Together. In the first, I shared the important insight that to be with other Christians is an incomparable gift of God, a privilege never to be taken for granted, and a holy anticipation of the final day in which we will gather with all of God's saints in the eternal kingdom.
The Bible teaches us that the Church is the Body of Christ. We very easily take this to be wholly metaphor and have become so used to using this terminology that we fail to take into account how literal and powerful a reality this is. I remember my seminary professor Dr. Bill Mallard asking the question in a Church history class, "After the ascension, where did the body of Christ go?" Everyone was a bit puzzled. He swung his arms toward all of us and said, "Look around. It's right here."
Jesus came not as a disembodied spiritual presence. He was not a metaphor. He truly came in the flesh. And so, Jesus is experienced in the flesh in the physical presence of his people. When we look into the eyes of a Christian brother or sister, we are looking into Christ's eyes. When we embrace a fellow Christian, we are embracing Christ's physical body in a physical way.
Bonhoeffer says that we should never be ashamed to long for the physical presence of other believers. It's one thing to stay in touch with people we love in the Christian community through electronic means--Facebook, phone calls, emails, text messages are good and important and we need to connect with each other and offer Christ's love through these means. But they do not take the place of offering each other the physical presence of Jesus Christ through gathering with one another in the flesh.
We live in an electronic age. Bonhoeffer could never have anticipated a day in which Christians would stay at home and watch church on television, or listen to sermons through podcasts, or sing along with videos on Youtube, and feel as if they had been nourished in the faith. Jesus is present in the physical presence of other believers in a way we simply cannot find any other way.
For this reason, Bonhoeffer tells us that we should meet one another as we would meet Jesus--with "reverence, humility, and joy" This is a fantastic spiritual discipline. It's one that can help us to get over feeling burdened by each other, or becoming dismissive of each other, or subtly communicating arrogance or even contempt of each other. If we see Jesus in each other in a very physical way, we will honor each other and find time for each other. We will learn to listen and attend to each other. This is not an imaginative exercise. Seeing Jesus in each other is learning to recognize reality.
The other day I was thinking about my bills and got sick of my own thoughts. I was in my car, and a prayed as a pulled out of a parking lot into traffic, "God, help me not to waste my life thinking about money. Help me to see Jesus." Just then, a car pulled up beside me driven by a member of my church. I honked the horn and rolled down my window and said hello. I knew that God was speaking to me--showing me that the way I see Jesus is to see him in others.
The old fashioned practices of community life are always relevant no matter how technologically savvy we become. "The Christian in exile"--the homebound, imprisoned, missionary, hospitalized, or wandering Christian--are strengthened by physical presence or whatever we can offer to approximate it as best as we can. He describes brief visits, prayer with each other, hand written letters, worship together, fellowship at home in a Christian family (Bonhoeffer himself did not have this gift as his family were not practicing believers), and shared life of seminarians as examples of how we offer that presence. I've experiences all these forms of physical, bodily, shared fellowship and they have been the way Christ has presented himself to me in a manner impossible otherwise.
Once, I was very sick and hospitalized. My pastor friend, David Warren, drove all the way from Panama City to see me in the hospital. He could only stay fifteen minutes before he had to return to officiate a wedding. Recently, I was able to spend a day with him as he is fighting a terrible disease. I will always treasure that day. David told his wife Dian in my presence that my visit was "a gift, a wonderful gift."
The gift of our shared presence, our physical, bodily being together, is the gift of the very physical presence of Jesus himself to each other, whether we recognize it or not. May God grant us grace to recognize this gift and to offer it to each other.
The Bible teaches us that the Church is the Body of Christ. We very easily take this to be wholly metaphor and have become so used to using this terminology that we fail to take into account how literal and powerful a reality this is. I remember my seminary professor Dr. Bill Mallard asking the question in a Church history class, "After the ascension, where did the body of Christ go?" Everyone was a bit puzzled. He swung his arms toward all of us and said, "Look around. It's right here."
Jesus came not as a disembodied spiritual presence. He was not a metaphor. He truly came in the flesh. And so, Jesus is experienced in the flesh in the physical presence of his people. When we look into the eyes of a Christian brother or sister, we are looking into Christ's eyes. When we embrace a fellow Christian, we are embracing Christ's physical body in a physical way.
Bonhoeffer says that we should never be ashamed to long for the physical presence of other believers. It's one thing to stay in touch with people we love in the Christian community through electronic means--Facebook, phone calls, emails, text messages are good and important and we need to connect with each other and offer Christ's love through these means. But they do not take the place of offering each other the physical presence of Jesus Christ through gathering with one another in the flesh.
We live in an electronic age. Bonhoeffer could never have anticipated a day in which Christians would stay at home and watch church on television, or listen to sermons through podcasts, or sing along with videos on Youtube, and feel as if they had been nourished in the faith. Jesus is present in the physical presence of other believers in a way we simply cannot find any other way.
For this reason, Bonhoeffer tells us that we should meet one another as we would meet Jesus--with "reverence, humility, and joy" This is a fantastic spiritual discipline. It's one that can help us to get over feeling burdened by each other, or becoming dismissive of each other, or subtly communicating arrogance or even contempt of each other. If we see Jesus in each other in a very physical way, we will honor each other and find time for each other. We will learn to listen and attend to each other. This is not an imaginative exercise. Seeing Jesus in each other is learning to recognize reality.
The other day I was thinking about my bills and got sick of my own thoughts. I was in my car, and a prayed as a pulled out of a parking lot into traffic, "God, help me not to waste my life thinking about money. Help me to see Jesus." Just then, a car pulled up beside me driven by a member of my church. I honked the horn and rolled down my window and said hello. I knew that God was speaking to me--showing me that the way I see Jesus is to see him in others.
The old fashioned practices of community life are always relevant no matter how technologically savvy we become. "The Christian in exile"--the homebound, imprisoned, missionary, hospitalized, or wandering Christian--are strengthened by physical presence or whatever we can offer to approximate it as best as we can. He describes brief visits, prayer with each other, hand written letters, worship together, fellowship at home in a Christian family (Bonhoeffer himself did not have this gift as his family were not practicing believers), and shared life of seminarians as examples of how we offer that presence. I've experiences all these forms of physical, bodily, shared fellowship and they have been the way Christ has presented himself to me in a manner impossible otherwise.
Once, I was very sick and hospitalized. My pastor friend, David Warren, drove all the way from Panama City to see me in the hospital. He could only stay fifteen minutes before he had to return to officiate a wedding. Recently, I was able to spend a day with him as he is fighting a terrible disease. I will always treasure that day. David told his wife Dian in my presence that my visit was "a gift, a wonderful gift."
The gift of our shared presence, our physical, bodily being together, is the gift of the very physical presence of Jesus himself to each other, whether we recognize it or not. May God grant us grace to recognize this gift and to offer it to each other.
Monday, May 11, 2015
Reflections on Life Together: The Privilege of Being Among Other Christians
Dietrich Bonhoeffer's little book on Christian community, Life Together, has served as a source of inspiration to Christian congregations and leaders for many years. I have used it as a reflection tool in a number of settings and always found it helpful in creating new life in myself and in others.
Most recently, I have had all the pastors who go through licensing school read the book and then I spend a day of licensing school unpacking and discussing it with them. Each year, the students seem to struggle with the book, but they come alive when we discuss it. I've found that the book is rich, profound, and extraordinarily practical. But it needs some unpacking and applying for many folks.
I've decided to blog about some of the insights that serve to constantly refresh and reorient me. Life Together is increasingly becoming a constant teacher to me. I want others to learn what it teaches me.
Let me begin where Bonhoeffer begins: "It is not simply to be taken for granted that the Christian has the privilege of living among other Christians." We assume that being with other Christians is the norm, something we have always had, something that is a basic part of life, something that we have a duty to participate in. Not so.
Here's why. Jesus was on a mission. He was sent from the Father, alone, to be among those who were hostile to him: "His own received him not." As Bonhoeffer says, Jesus lived his life among enemies. So we, his followers, live our lives as Christians "in the thick of foes," for no servant is greater than the master. Bonhoeffer, who lived much of his later life under Nazi threat, knew that the fellowship of other Christians could be taken away at any time, and in fact, it was taken away when he was arrested and confined and eventually killed.
We, God's people, are the seeds of the Kingdom of God. We cannot be fruitful as long as we are bunched up together. We grow the kingdom when we are scattered. And so, God scatters us. We wait for the end of all things when he will gather us together and we will be with all the saints with Christ in glory. But for now, the fall-back position is to be separated from one another.
Many Christians only truly appreciate being with others when they can no longer gather with the fellowship. This is why we are so grateful when someone visits us and prays with us in the hospital. It's why people in the nursing home are so grateful when we bring communion to them--they can no longer come to the Lord's table and they feel its preciousness when they can only have it if it is brought to them. Missionaries, students away from home, many others know what it is to want to be with Christians but to be unable.
Many times we look back on times we were with Christians we love in fellowship long ago with longing and appreciation. I think often of the great times I've enjoyed serving on fantastic church staffs and miss my friends and the wonderful dynamics of our community of servants. Once I taught Life Together to a group of forty amazing college students. I was keenly aware that it was unlikely I would ever have the chance to have a group like that again. I knew I would never have that particular group of wonderful young people again. What I would give to visit my high school youth group again, to play some old songs with the guys in the praise team, or to pray in the early morning with the guys who I prayed with when I was in college. The challenges of each church fellowship I've encountered fade with time, but the memory of being with wonderful saints and friends seems so much more rich in retrospect.
So, why not appreciate it now? Why not look around at the other Christians with whom we are gathered at any time and say, "Thank you God, for these people who are gathered in this way at this moment. We will never be together quite like this again, and some of us may never see each other's face again until we gather at the wedding supper of the Lamb. What a joy it is to be together like this! Thank you!"
I know the day will come when I will find myself at another church, and I will look back at my time at my current church with longing and fondness. So I've decided to experience each time I am with the people now with the kind of view I once had only in hindsight. It's given me amazing joy and sustained me through troubles. Every Bible study, every cup of coffee with a friend, every staff meeting, every conversation in the hall is a great gift and a divine privilege, an anticipation of our final gathering in heaven. We might as well get the joy of those moments as they are given to us.
Most recently, I have had all the pastors who go through licensing school read the book and then I spend a day of licensing school unpacking and discussing it with them. Each year, the students seem to struggle with the book, but they come alive when we discuss it. I've found that the book is rich, profound, and extraordinarily practical. But it needs some unpacking and applying for many folks.
I've decided to blog about some of the insights that serve to constantly refresh and reorient me. Life Together is increasingly becoming a constant teacher to me. I want others to learn what it teaches me.
Let me begin where Bonhoeffer begins: "It is not simply to be taken for granted that the Christian has the privilege of living among other Christians." We assume that being with other Christians is the norm, something we have always had, something that is a basic part of life, something that we have a duty to participate in. Not so.
Here's why. Jesus was on a mission. He was sent from the Father, alone, to be among those who were hostile to him: "His own received him not." As Bonhoeffer says, Jesus lived his life among enemies. So we, his followers, live our lives as Christians "in the thick of foes," for no servant is greater than the master. Bonhoeffer, who lived much of his later life under Nazi threat, knew that the fellowship of other Christians could be taken away at any time, and in fact, it was taken away when he was arrested and confined and eventually killed.
We, God's people, are the seeds of the Kingdom of God. We cannot be fruitful as long as we are bunched up together. We grow the kingdom when we are scattered. And so, God scatters us. We wait for the end of all things when he will gather us together and we will be with all the saints with Christ in glory. But for now, the fall-back position is to be separated from one another.
Many Christians only truly appreciate being with others when they can no longer gather with the fellowship. This is why we are so grateful when someone visits us and prays with us in the hospital. It's why people in the nursing home are so grateful when we bring communion to them--they can no longer come to the Lord's table and they feel its preciousness when they can only have it if it is brought to them. Missionaries, students away from home, many others know what it is to want to be with Christians but to be unable.
Many times we look back on times we were with Christians we love in fellowship long ago with longing and appreciation. I think often of the great times I've enjoyed serving on fantastic church staffs and miss my friends and the wonderful dynamics of our community of servants. Once I taught Life Together to a group of forty amazing college students. I was keenly aware that it was unlikely I would ever have the chance to have a group like that again. I knew I would never have that particular group of wonderful young people again. What I would give to visit my high school youth group again, to play some old songs with the guys in the praise team, or to pray in the early morning with the guys who I prayed with when I was in college. The challenges of each church fellowship I've encountered fade with time, but the memory of being with wonderful saints and friends seems so much more rich in retrospect.
So, why not appreciate it now? Why not look around at the other Christians with whom we are gathered at any time and say, "Thank you God, for these people who are gathered in this way at this moment. We will never be together quite like this again, and some of us may never see each other's face again until we gather at the wedding supper of the Lamb. What a joy it is to be together like this! Thank you!"
I know the day will come when I will find myself at another church, and I will look back at my time at my current church with longing and fondness. So I've decided to experience each time I am with the people now with the kind of view I once had only in hindsight. It's given me amazing joy and sustained me through troubles. Every Bible study, every cup of coffee with a friend, every staff meeting, every conversation in the hall is a great gift and a divine privilege, an anticipation of our final gathering in heaven. We might as well get the joy of those moments as they are given to us.
Sunday, May 10, 2015
Pastoral Prayer for Mother's Day (also Graduate Recognition Sunday)
God of our mothers and our fathers:
We remember that you said that you would love us like your own children. Your Son, Jesus Christ, said that he longed to gather his people under his wings as a hen gathers its chicks. The prophets told us that you loved your people as a mother who gives birth to her children, nourishes them, helps them to grow, and looks to them with incomparable affection.
And so, we ask that you would let these mothers know that you know how profound a price they have paid for their love for their children. As Mary learned from the angel who announced she would bear the Savior that “a sword will pierce your heart,” the mothers who we celebrate know what it means to have their hearts pierced. They know what it means to worry after the safety of their children, they know sleepless nights due to feedings and sicknesses and nights out, they know private joys and concerns that words cannot describe. Let these mothers know that you understand, that you who are our Father also have the heart of a mother. May these mothers know that they are loved, honored, cherished, appreciated by us, and that you share a deep and abiding bond and understanding with them.
We ask also for your mercy and comfort upon all who find this day difficult for any reason. Someone is celebrating Mother’s Day today and painfully feeling the loss of a mother. Someone else is yearning to conceive and has been unable. Someone else always wanted children and life turned out in such a way that biological children were not possible. Someone is estranged from a mother or a child and this day opens up a wound afresh. Someone has lost a child and is remembering that she is still a mother to the child who is now with you. O God, who knows our griefs, comfort these.
You have loved us with a perfect mother’s love, and so you have shown us that all the love we received from our mothers is a reflection of your perfect love; any grief we have felt can be perfectly soothed through your perfect love.
So we ask you to bless all the mothers in the flesh, and all the mothers in the faith. Give back to them many fold the blessing they have given us. May they be truly honored, appreciated, celebrated this day. May they feel your embrace and may you fill their hearts to overflowing.
And may we go from this day committed to parent the parentless, to honor those who have cared for us, to go in the strength of your love and the affirmation of the love of our mothers in family and in faith, offering that eternal love of you who made us so that all people may find themselves in your family and enfolded in your grace.
We ask also that these graduates and all others would be affirmed in the good work they have done, that you would bless them as they seek the next step in their lives, and that you would help them to serve you with the gifts and graces you have given them. May they always know that no matter where they go and how far they go from us, we are always their family and that this place is always home.
We ask these things through the power of the Spirit who has adopted us into the family of you, our Father, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray, saying...
Saturday, April 11, 2015
"If you forgive..." John 20:23
Jesus says a thing that strikes Protestants the wrong way when he visits his disciples for the first time after the Resurrection: "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."
The Roman Catholic sacrament of penance is based, at least in part, upon this text. The priest has the power of absolution, the capacity to apply the merits of God's forgiveness or withhold them.
Protestants tend to focus on the power of Christ alone to forgive. We tend to believe Jesus is in the business of forgiving sins and not in the business of using middle men or allowing redemption to be withheld.
So what does Jesus mean?
Let me offer a possibility.
The world is full of hurts and slights, remembrances of wrongs committed, sins past. As a pastor, my first impression of a new congregation is always of a smiling group of caring people who love each other. It takes time to learn who has done wrong to whom, who remembers being embarrassed at some point in the past, who took which side in some churchwide disagreement long ago.
Churches have these remembrances. Families have them, too. When couples bicker, often the real issue is not the issue being discussed. Behind the hard feelings over some minor problem lies years of unresolved conflict over all kinds of issues. The fight is rarely about the fight. Old wounds may be found in city governments, in political feuds, in corporate board rooms, in staff dynamics in every workplace. Grown adults hold secret grudges against each other because foolish actions from childhood. Siblings hold resentment against each other, often into old age. Even preachers hold grudges against each other, and sometimes even carry on the feuds of their fathers in ministry long after they are gone. Nations and nationalities, ethnicities and regions, every kind of people group on earth has its file cabinet of wrongs committed against it by the others.
These memories cripple us. They make us stupid. They make cooperation impossible. They poison us. They perpetuate human hatred and cruelty unnecessarily. They teach us that we are free to take revenge, to harm others in an attempt at self-preservation.
How can we ever be free?
Jesus teaches us that we, his people, have been given the power to offer forgiveness. We have been offered the power to offer this world, its people, its groupings, the possibility that all the wrongs of the past might finally be let go.
The wrongs themselves no longer exist--they are in the past and the past no longer exists. Sometimes, the memories themselves are misguided--sometimes people spend years full of hatred over a perceived wrong based on a misunderstanding. But the memories of the wrongs are in the present and they are very real, and the power they hold to keep us stuck in cycles of recrimination is very very real.
Jesus took the wrongs of the world upon himself. He held nothing against anyone. He made us a people who would offer his message of reconciliation and forgiveness.
If we don't let it go, then who will? Maybe what Jesus meant by "if you retain the sins of any, they are retained," was this--if we who are called to the ministry of forgiveness and reconciliation refuse to forgive, then what hope is there in the world that it will ever be free? If we who have been given the power of the Spirit to forgive, we who have been forgiven, choose to hold onto grudges and remember wrongs, than how will the world ever know the possibility of redemption?
"If you forgive...they will be forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." I think Jesus is saying, "If you will offer forgiveness in this world, that the hope of forgiveness can set the whole world free. If you who are forgiven will not offer forgiveness, then who will? How will anyone ever know that there can be a different way to live?"
The Roman Catholic sacrament of penance is based, at least in part, upon this text. The priest has the power of absolution, the capacity to apply the merits of God's forgiveness or withhold them.
Protestants tend to focus on the power of Christ alone to forgive. We tend to believe Jesus is in the business of forgiving sins and not in the business of using middle men or allowing redemption to be withheld.
So what does Jesus mean?
Let me offer a possibility.
The world is full of hurts and slights, remembrances of wrongs committed, sins past. As a pastor, my first impression of a new congregation is always of a smiling group of caring people who love each other. It takes time to learn who has done wrong to whom, who remembers being embarrassed at some point in the past, who took which side in some churchwide disagreement long ago.
Churches have these remembrances. Families have them, too. When couples bicker, often the real issue is not the issue being discussed. Behind the hard feelings over some minor problem lies years of unresolved conflict over all kinds of issues. The fight is rarely about the fight. Old wounds may be found in city governments, in political feuds, in corporate board rooms, in staff dynamics in every workplace. Grown adults hold secret grudges against each other because foolish actions from childhood. Siblings hold resentment against each other, often into old age. Even preachers hold grudges against each other, and sometimes even carry on the feuds of their fathers in ministry long after they are gone. Nations and nationalities, ethnicities and regions, every kind of people group on earth has its file cabinet of wrongs committed against it by the others.
These memories cripple us. They make us stupid. They make cooperation impossible. They poison us. They perpetuate human hatred and cruelty unnecessarily. They teach us that we are free to take revenge, to harm others in an attempt at self-preservation.
How can we ever be free?
Jesus teaches us that we, his people, have been given the power to offer forgiveness. We have been offered the power to offer this world, its people, its groupings, the possibility that all the wrongs of the past might finally be let go.
The wrongs themselves no longer exist--they are in the past and the past no longer exists. Sometimes, the memories themselves are misguided--sometimes people spend years full of hatred over a perceived wrong based on a misunderstanding. But the memories of the wrongs are in the present and they are very real, and the power they hold to keep us stuck in cycles of recrimination is very very real.
Jesus took the wrongs of the world upon himself. He held nothing against anyone. He made us a people who would offer his message of reconciliation and forgiveness.
If we don't let it go, then who will? Maybe what Jesus meant by "if you retain the sins of any, they are retained," was this--if we who are called to the ministry of forgiveness and reconciliation refuse to forgive, then what hope is there in the world that it will ever be free? If we who have been given the power of the Spirit to forgive, we who have been forgiven, choose to hold onto grudges and remember wrongs, than how will the world ever know the possibility of redemption?
"If you forgive...they will be forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." I think Jesus is saying, "If you will offer forgiveness in this world, that the hope of forgiveness can set the whole world free. If you who are forgiven will not offer forgiveness, then who will? How will anyone ever know that there can be a different way to live?"
Monday, April 6, 2015
Prayer for Easter
oly God:
We give you thanks for this day, the one day that brings hope and light to every other day.
All year long, we wrestle with the challenges of life. We fail, make mistakes, fall upon your grace, get back up and start again. We deal with disappointments, setbacks, unexpected challenges. We worry about the state of our world, of our nation, our state, our town. We worry about the state of our families, our loved ones, our health, and sometimes, we worry about how much we worry.
But each year, we come to this day of Resurrection, this day of celebration, this day of victory, and everything else comes into perspective.
This day, we remember that the world’s greatest tragedy was followed by the world’s greatest miracle, and together the cross and open grave have become the fount of everything good this world has ever known. And so, no matter what difficulties and heartaches we face, we can face them unafraid and look forward to the dawning of a new day. Because you have shown us that nothing is impossible and that you can work great wonders out of the greatest defeats.
This day, we remember that you swallowed up sin and destroyed its power, that Jesus Christ was raised again imperishable. So, even though we struggle against our own nature and we often fail, we are never lost in shame. We can die to ourselves and live anew through the power of the same Spirit who raised Christ from the dead.
This day, we proclaim that the forces that tear the people of our world apart will not have final say. Forces of division, and war, poverty, famine, political corruption and polarization, every societal ill is part of an old and dying way of being in the world. Today, we worship the true king, the Messiah who has been enthroned over every nation through you act of raising him from the dead. We bow our knees before you and we give ourselves wholly to the one and only Lord of all.
This day, this resurrection day, we ask that the same Spirit who raised Christ from the dead would bring new life to us. O God, make us Easter people every day. Let us live in the power of the Resurrection and live with the confidence of a people who serve a God who can do all things. O God, let us build your everlasting Kingdom and not our own kingdoms of the dead and dying world that is passing away. Let us never forget who your resurrection has made us, what it has made possible for us, what it requires of us.
Give us new life. May today be a resurrection for your people, for us, for the world you have loved so much.
Amen
Friday, March 20, 2015
Matthew 25 in Alabama
This is from Ruth Autrey Gwynther. Her point of view on several controversial issues is absolutely in line with the United Methodist Social Principals and, in my opinion, with a Jesus-shaped view of public policy. Ruth is an active layperson at Auburn First United Methodist Church
Matthew 25 in Alabama
For I was hungry, and you charged me tax on all the food that I bought.
(Alabama is one of only a few states that fully tax groceries, a tax that hits the poor the hardest.)
You also said that food stamps make me dependent.
(All but one of Alabama's Congressional delegates voted to cut funding for food stamps.)
I was thirsty, but you didn't approve of burdening business by regulating what they dumped into my water supply.
(e.g. Public Service Commission members tout eliminating EPA regulations, especially on coal.)
I was a stranger, but you didn't want immigrants in your state.
(HR 56.)
I was in prison, but you ignored me, even when I was being abused.
(The Tutwiler scandal is just the most obvious. Check with the Equal Justice Initiative.)
I was sick, but you refused to expand Medicaid so that I could get medical care.
(Alabama leaders did not want to go with any plan supported by the man in the White House.)
What does the Church have to say?
Matthew 25 in Alabama
For I was hungry, and you charged me tax on all the food that I bought.
(Alabama is one of only a few states that fully tax groceries, a tax that hits the poor the hardest.)
You also said that food stamps make me dependent.
(All but one of Alabama's Congressional delegates voted to cut funding for food stamps.)
I was thirsty, but you didn't approve of burdening business by regulating what they dumped into my water supply.
(e.g. Public Service Commission members tout eliminating EPA regulations, especially on coal.)
I was a stranger, but you didn't want immigrants in your state.
(HR 56.)
I was in prison, but you ignored me, even when I was being abused.
(The Tutwiler scandal is just the most obvious. Check with the Equal Justice Initiative.)
I was sick, but you refused to expand Medicaid so that I could get medical care.
(Alabama leaders did not want to go with any plan supported by the man in the White House.)
What does the Church have to say?
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