General Conference

 Starting today, I'll be at General Conference.  I am a Reserve Delegate with no vote or voice, but I am interested to experience the event.  I am positive there will be highs and lows.

If you are a person who prays, this is the prayer our delegation is asking people to pray for us:

“Almighty and gracious God, we, the people of the West Virginia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, ask that you have mercy on your church. Once again, pour out your Holy Spirit upon us; renew and restore your church until we are made new. Instill within these delegates humble hearts and discerning minds that hunger and thirst for your righteousness and your vision for our future. Through the decisions of the General Conference, return to this church a passionate longing for the coming of your kingdom, and unite us in one mission: to reach and make new disciples of Jesus for the transformation of the world. Amen.

I will probably post ahead during General Conference. If I have anything that I think should appear right away, I'll add it to the blog.

Perspectives: To each his own, I guess

 

Waiting Upon the Lord

 

But those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,

they shall mount up with wings like eagles,

they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint

-Isaiah 40:31

Walter Breuggemann wrote, "It is such an intellectual travesty, such an act of chutzpah, such a subversive poetic utterance that dumps a poem in the midst of resignation." 

How does this poem fit into our world? Into our lives? Is it an intellectual travesty - a misplacement of hope - a strange optimism when compared to what surrounds us? War, political unrest, religious division, addiction, hate, horror?  In other words, can we even imagine mounting up with wings like eagles?

It is a beautiful image, a lovely poem, but is the hope real? I'm not asking you if God is real; I'm asking if the hope is imaginable?

I think when you experience it, when you are in the midst of grief or pain, and you call upon the Lord, and find God, then the hope is real. The experience reminds us of the truth of the hope.

I live in a world where political candidates are literally declaring in television ads that it is our "God-given right to own a gun."  It's the worst kind of religious nationalism.  I can't imagine how people or beliefs can be reconciled. And yet, there is this hope that when we wait upon the Lord, unimagined things happen.

Book Review: A Way Other than Our Own

 Information about the book

A Way Other than our Own: Devotions for Lent by Walter Brueggemann.  Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, Kentucky, 2016. (Amazon)

Summary

From Amazon: Lent recalls times of wilderness and wandering, from newly freed Hebrew slaves in exile to Jesus' temptation in the desert. God has always called people out of their safe, walled cities into uncomfortable places, revealing paths they would never have chosen. Despite our culture of self-indulgence, we too are called to walk an alternative path - one of humility, justice, and peace. Walter Brueggemann's thought-provoking reflections for the season of Lent invite us to consider the challenging, beautiful life that comes with walking the way of grace.

Impressions

I read this book as a Lenten devotional practice. It is easily managed as a devotion a day, and it written in a way that it will work for any year. 

I found Brueggemann's writing to be interesting and engaging. He is a skilled word craftsman. More than that, though, the devotions were thought-provoking.  I found myself highlighting sentences and re-reading passages in order to soak in every detail.  It is an excellent Lenten resource.

Can the world be different than our own selfish ways would have it to be?

Posts about book

Posts that reference this book (and there are many) have this tag --> Brueggermann Way

Changed?

 

I preached last Sunday.  The lectionary readings for John 20:19-31 and Acts 4:32-35.

The John passage tells of Jesus coming to the room where the disciples are, then doing the same thing when Thomas is in the room.  The Acts passage tells of the early church, sharing all they had so that no one was in need.

It struck me that for the people of the early church to have such a fearless and generous spirit, there must have been something transforming about the resurrection of Jesus.  

It reminds me of something someone's father once said - you can't help but be changed when you see Jesus.

Where have you seen Jesus lately? Were you changed?

Not Easy News

 

Take a look at Luke 24:44-53:

Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised, so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

The Ascension of Jesus Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually in the temple blessing God.

As I read this passage, I was struck that at the end, they returned to Jerusalem with great joy.  Of course they did; they had just seen Jesus ascend into heaven.  Even so, though, my selfish self so so many reasons the disciples would not be happy as they listened to Jesus (first paragraph).

1. The Messiah is to suffer and die - this is their friend, their rabbi, their leader. He is going to suffer and die? It seems as if in this passage, they are remembering that he has told him this before, but still - it must bring with it grief and sadness.
2. Repentance and forgiveness will be proclaimed to all nations?  Did they want that? Did they hope for the grace of forgiveness to be offered to everyone? And before you say, "Of course they did," ask yourself if you always want everyone, everywhere to be forgiven? And repentance? Everyone? Even you and me?
3. You are witnesses to these things - Me? I have to go and tell people this? Ask everyone to repent? Offer forgiveness to all? Is anyone going to believe that the son of God came to earth, lived as a human, was killed, and then rose from the dead? The Messiah? Good news, yes, but unbelievable, right?
4. And then he ascended. He left again.

It's all good news. But it's not easy news. 

Perspectives: Lightbulb

 A lightbulb with water in it - some things are just not the way they should be.

Born Again

Can you tell my thoughts and writing are lately influenced by Walter Breuggemann's book, A Way other than our Own?  In one of the devotions I read, he used the John 3 passage about Jesus's meeting with Nicodemus to inspire the writing.  He compares the experience of being born again to the characteristics of a baby: innocent, vulnerable, dependent.

I don't know about you, but those aren't words I want to be used to describe me as an adult.  We strive to not be dependent, to not show vulnerability, and to be cynical rather than innocent (or naive). And yet, I think Breuggemann would say that when we think about our relationships with God and with others, our goals are backwards. 

Serving God and serving others in love means stepping out in vulnerability, doesn't it? God wants us to depend on God and to not depend on ourselves. And sometimes cynicism gets in the way of relationship.

Honestly, sometimes I struggle with the phrase "born again" because (in my opinion) it has been corrupted by the conservative church to have a particular meaning or to be a particular gateway. Being born again has come to mean a lightning experience of a particular moment. Your born again experience can be judged against these standards to see if it measures up.  (my cynicism is showing - sorry).

I think being born again means recreation. It means a transformation.  I think it can happen in a moment, but I also think it can happen through time.  I think it also means that God can recreate us every day.  Our journey through sacntification means that we are changed from yesterday, but that we will be different tomorrow.  I know that justification and sanctification aren't the same in Wesley's language, but grace is grace. But of my sanctification means that I am invited to say "yes" to God every day. I am invited to experience "born again" every morning. I can open myself up to vulnerability fresh with the new day; to be naive and to once again depend on God for my daily bread.

May you be born again today.

 

Generally ...

 

At our annual conference this past summer, I was nominated and elected to serve as a reserve delegate to General Conference and a delegate to Jurisdictional Conference.  General Conference is the legislative arm of the United Methodist Church.  Jurisdictional Conference is where bishops are elected. 

A few thoughts I have so far:

1. My status is uncertain.  Without going into a lot of detail that I don't really understand, I was elected, but I'm not sure if I am actually a reserve delegate or not.  I'm going to attend General Conference, and do the role that a reserve from my AC would normally do, but I'm not sure about the rest.  Uncertain status is unsettling.
2. I have been assigned a legislative committee to observe and report about to my delegation, so I've read the legislation assigned to the committee.  If you read my blog regularly, you may remember that I just completed a course on UM History and one on UM Beliefs.  These are coming in very handy as I read Faith and Order legislation.
3. Reading legislation from across the denomination has been eye opening in some ways.  I travel around West Virginia, and i know that WV UMs all have different theologies, and I suspected the same was true around our country.  Now I know it is.
4. Much is asked of a delegation.  We are traveling to five sites in Maryland and West Virginia in the next few weeks to meet with United Methodists in our Annual Conference for worship and conversation.  There is much legislation to read. There are many pressures (not for me, really - I don't even have a vote or a certain status (see above)).
5. I want to read more than I will probably have time for.  You should see the stack of books I have on the desk next to me. 

Lent Photo-a-day Week 7

 

Dark

Removed

Loved

Following

Reached

Why

Celebrate

Happy Easter!

A Witness, Part 2

 Continued from Wednesday...

As we were meeting with Sue Nelson Kibbey, she asked us, “What is it that you are looking forward to about General Conference?” There were lots of answers, but one of them from a delegate (who was not me) was something like, “I have so much hope for the church and for a fresh start.”  Those words have brought hope to me about a General Conference around which there is usually such worry, fear, and frankly, hopelessness.

Each year, I ask my studnts to talk about a liminal time in the church.

In a book I’m reading, Walter Brueggeman says liminality is an unsettling feeling at the threshold of something new, when life is gathered into a wholly new configuration.  It most often is experienced when the church doesn’t offer unambiguous answers and certitudes, when we are in a nighttime of the church – when there is bewilderment and confusion – he says these are holy time.  Liminal times. 

Does this feel like a liminal time to you:

The author of the book of Esther would say we are here “for such a time as this.”  In this holy time, when God is waiting for us to let go of fear and bring light in the darkness, I hope you will join me in examining whether we are building a church of fear or a beacon of hope. I pray God takes us by the shoulders, turns us away from fear, and uses us to build a church of hope.  This is a holy time – a time for hope-bringers.  

A Witness, Part 1

 I'm a member of our Annual Conference's delegation to General Conference - I'm a reserve delegate.  Our delegation traveled around the state (and Garrett County, Maryland) to worship with the people of the district and to offer a time to ask quesitons and share concerns.  At each of these meetings, during worshiip, two members of the delegation shared a witness about how we have experienced God in our breathprayer: Return, Renew, Restore.  

Below (and tomorrow) is what I shared yesterday as my witness.

______

Jeff read a passage earlier today that the delegation found helpful when we spoke to Sue Nelson Kibbey about prayer.  Listen to versus 16 and 17 again (from Acts 15):

After this I will return,
and I will rebuild the dwelling of David, which has fallen;
    from its ruins I will rebuild it,
        and I will restore it,
so that all other peoples may seek the Lord—
    even all the gentiles over whom my name has been called.
Thus says the Lord, who has been making these things known from long ago.’

I have to admit that I was not enamored with the passage at first.  To me, the idea of God returning implies that God has left.  I’m much more willing to believe that we have left God, and that we need to return.  Or turn around.

Have you ever had God nag you so much that you eventually had to turn and go a different direction – the direction in which God was leading you?

I volunteer as the AC Director of Lay Servant Ministries.  In late 2020, there was a need for a Conference wide Certified Lay Ministry class.  The courses to become a CLM are intensive, and they take some time.  Some districts had been able to hold the classes, but not most of them, so the need for a Conference class was real.  So I said I would see what I could do about it.

Truthfully, I didn’t want to do anything about it.  I knew it would be hard work, and that it would take a large amount of time to develop the course and to figure out how to make it accessible in a pandemic and to students all across the Annual Conference.  For a couple of months, I kept trying to think up ways to get out of my commitment.  To find someone else to do it.  But God kept taking me by the shoulders and turning me back to the idea that I needed to do it.

Well, you can procrastinate enough that the only solution to a problem is to do what you don’t really want to do.  I turned to the path I thought God wanted me take, designed the course using a model from the Greenbrier district, read the books I needed to read to teach the course, and opened up registration. 

Lots of students signed up.  As of today, three cohorts of students have completed the 10 month course, and another cohort has just started.  I can’t tell you how much of a blessing the students have been to me. They come to this class with an awareness of their call, even if they don’t know everything about it yet. They know their gifts, and they are willing to do hard work.  I’m so grateful God led me to this, turned me to this, because the students have been such hope-bringers for me, and I’m certain for those with whom they minister.  I thank God I turned, and I thank God for what God has built.  I thank God for the hope.

Lent Photo-a-day Week 6

 

Given

Sustain

Weary

Wakens

Gave

Together

Celebrate

New Life

 A prayer of Confession inspired by Psalm 51:1-3, 8-12

O God, I am in need of you.

Your love and mercy are abundant

Unimaginable.

Miraculous.

Remove my sin, please, o God.

Make me clean as you created me to be

Wash me from my wrongdoings.

Only you can remove the stain.

All I can see if what I've done wrong.

It fills my vision, my heart, my life.

I have sinned against you,

I have done what is evil.

I cast down my eyes because

you are justified in not seeing me at all.

In ignoring my plea.

Open my eyes to hear your joy.

Open my heart to know your forgiveness.

Open my bones to be healed by your love.

Let me know gladness again.

Hide my sins from your sight.

Convince me that it is so.

Remove the stain of sin that has darkened my life.

Help me to start again.

Create in me a new heart,

a fresh start,

a new and right life.

Recreate me so that I am worthy

to be near you,

so that I am a righteous place

for your Holy Spirit to dwell,

so that I am not alone.

O, God,

Restore in my the assurance of salvation,

return to me the conviction of your action in my life,

so that I know you again.

Rebuild in my a willing spirit

to start new life with you.