This blog post from Out of Ur hits the nail on the head, at least from my perspective. It’s called “Great Is Thy Effectiveness: There’s danger in rooting our identity in ministry rather than in Christ.” It is especially true when one realizes that it is more than church members expecting membership increases, but indeed entire denominational systems unconsciously bent on it. Especially striking in the article are the examples from Jesus’ ministry. Check it out.

http://blog.christianitytoday.com/outofur/archives/2008/08/great_is_thy_ef.html

My grandpa was from Canton and I used to tease him endlessly about it.  I only wish he were here to see this.

Actually, it’s probably a wonderful little community.

Why we are losing ground with young adults…

I have to admit that when I saw the title of the article I almost didn’t read it simply because I’ve been hurt too many times by such articles. After it was over I could literally feel my spirits going from high to low– I still don’t see any way the United Methodist denomination can actually change its culture in any reasonable amount of time, if at all. But I have to say I really really needed those five seconds of hope.

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Let me add my “thanks” to the chorus for those who helped out with the Trinity Work Nights.  It never ceases to amaze me what is possible when enough hands are helping.  In what was really just a few short hours spread out over a month, we did a significant amount of work from weeding to painting several rooms.

It’s also a perfect example of how some people are living a generous life.  Not everyone has the same gifts to give.  There are some of you, I am sure, who would not be able to bend down to pull weeds on a hot summer evening.  But we also have folks who come in and prepare these Tower newsletters for mailing!  What about those who offer music in the choir, praise team, or in many other ways?  What about those who bring treats for Sunday School classes or who make food for funerals or for the sick?  The list could go on and on.

Christ calls us to a life of generosity.  It’s about so much more than giving money (though as one of the wealthiest nations in history, can we really be generous without giving money too?)  It’s about orienting yourself in such a way giving is of more value to you than having.

Let me add a little post script here about a different kind of giving opportunity that you’ll be hearing about in another week or two…  New Beginnings is preparing to open new transitional housing units and they are in need of used furniture in good condition.  This would be a great opportunity for anyone who is moving this summer or anyone who has been thinking about getting some new furniture.  There will be more details to come, but I thought I would give you a “head’s up.”

How do you give?  I hope you’ll share your thoughts on my blog, http://ministrygeek.net.

Last Sunday and this Sunday my sermon is on the two creation stories in Genesis 1-3.  Specifically, both are true (in that we live them every day), but one has to be primary for us.  Just as you cannot serve two gods, one of the stories will always take prevalence in how you live your life.  Will you focus on your sin and “the fall?”  Or will you instead focus on the fact that when God created you he didn’t say you were “good,” but rather that you were “VERY good?”  My point is basically that sin is very real, but it’s not powerful enough to remove God’s image from you.  Sin isn’t the point; don’t focus on it.  Instead, focus on who you really are underneath it and let the sin fall away on its own.

Ok, I digress…  The sermon seemed to resonate with a lot of people, many saying that had a lot to think about as they were leaving.  I don’t know how many of you read my blog, but I ran across a blog post this morning that isn’t precisely on the same topic, but seemed to add something really interesting to the conversation.  So, I offer it here as fuel for whatever fires I have started.  Enjoy!

Here is the post.

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Ok, remember the days of closed book tests (some of you are in school now; I’m sure you remember them!)  Well I’ve got one for you: How would you tell the creation story without opening your Bible?  Not just the “seven days” part, but also the “Adam and Eve” part?

Now here’s the real kicker…  If you had to pick the most important part of the story, the part that has most affected human history and your life in particular, which part would you choose?  Would you choose the part where man is made caretaker of the earth?  Would you choose the part where man and woman were created for each other?  Would you choose the bit with the snake and the fruit as most pivotal for human history?

How you answer this question makes a tremendous difference in how you live and how you relate to God, to your fellow human beings, and to yourself.  Frankly, the parts you choose to focus on can change the meaning of the entire story.  Let me give you an example: if you don’t think much of the “caretaker” part, I’m guessing you’re also someone who doesn’t recycle.  I’m also guessing farmers and ranchers think of that section more often than the rest of us.

The biggest difference, though, comes with my last suggestion above.  If you think Adam and Eve eating the apple makes the most difference in your life, then it means you view the world entirely differently than if you instead focus on God creating us and saying “It is very good.”

This Sunday in Higher Ground and next Sunday in the traditional services I am going to tell several creation stories (or shades of creation stories) and ask which story you identify with.  I hope you’ll consider it between now and then, though.  What you think of our beginning makes a huge difference in who we are now and in who we will be in the future!

I also hope you’ll share your thoughts on my blog, http://ministrygeek.net.

Of course there are other schools of thought…  I have come to the point where I cringe every time I hear the word “effectiveness” used in a United Methodist setting these days.  It’s not that I’m against pastoral/church effectiveness, of course, it’s that those who use such terms generally have a very narrow range of what they consider “effective.”  Have we really fallen so far that one of our most respected Bishops can talk so freely about numbers without even giving the standard, half-hearted, United Methodist disclaimer that, “Oh yeah, of course God can work in ways that aren’t numbers, too”?

With statements like the second link forming the very fabric of who we are as a system these days, is there any hope of minority voices like the first link dong any good at all beyond a localized setting (that might then be declared “ineffective” and duly punished)?

I love my tradition, not just the Wesley part, but specifically the United Methodist part.  But there are days I weap for it.  It’s a darn good thing church leadership isn’t up to us in the end.  Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow.

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I’ve noticed that a few farmers in the area have already started to burn their fields.  I always love watching it…  I love the smell and the meteorologist in me likes watching how the smoke rises.  Now I should remind you that I am a true “city boy” and know hardly anything about farming, so forgive me if I speak beyond my knowledge here.  But, while driving by a burning field the other day it struck me that it was a good metaphor for sin and grace.

Think of it this way: if you were to remove from our lives that which is good and right and true, we’d still be left with a little “stubble” at the bottom: our sin.  Our sin, put softly, is that part of us which is unusable, not worth anything.  For most of us it’s not the focal point or the biggest portion, but for all of us sin is present.

Every now and then we take stock of ourselves and identify the sin for what it is.  In those times, if we’re faithful, what we need is a sort of “controlled burn” to singe that sin out of our lives.  It’s painful giving up things like pride or greed sometimes, isn’t it?

But here’s the amazing part– the sin doesn’t just burn off into nothingness.  Instead, the cleansing fire transforms it into rich nutrients that can be tilled back in to make us a better, more fertile person.  That’s God’s grace at its finest!

It’s not a perfect metaphor, and I don’t know if it can be taken much further.  But perhaps it will give you food for thought next time you see smoke in the distant Kansas sky.  As always, I welcome comments on my blog at http://ministrygeek.net.

We heart you too, Tony; we heart you too.

Seriously guys, great show.  It’s nice to actually meet the people who have so influenced my own journey.  Besides, I got my coveted Trucker Frank for President t-shirt– that’s all I was really after.

Keep up the good work, and for God’s sake write more!

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I had the privilege of studying the Hebrew language during my last year at seminary, which is the language in which the Old Testament is written.  It is not an easy task to learn a language whose roots are so different than one’s own, but the reward is that an incredible new richness of understanding is opened.  For the Hebrew people, their faith was intimately tied to their language in a way that is foreign to us today.

Last Sunday Pat preached in part on Matthew 22:37, where Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:5, calling it the greatest commandment: “…love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.”  I couldn’t help but steal a moment during the morning to look it up in Hebrew, and what I found adds even more depth.

“Heart” to the Hebrews is only a little different than our modern understanding.  They didn’t think of the “heart” as the center of emotion as we do, but rather the center of a person in a larger sense.  Image a cross between our modern idea of “heart” and our modern idea of “gut,” as in a gut feeling.  Soul has a much different connotation than what we often think.  We tend to have this idea of a soul as being separate from our physical bodies– no such thought to the ancient Hebrews.  Many have argued that a better translation would be “with all your being.”

But the one that caught my attention was “might.”  I can’t think of a better single word to translate the Hebrew, but the shades of meaning are significant.  One of the translation dictionaries describes the Hebrew word as “muchness, force, abundance.”  It does mean “might” as in “force,” but what depth of meaning comes from loving God with our “muchness,” with our “abundance!”

What does this mean for you?  For our church?  For our people?  I’ll leave that for you do decide.  I say only “Love the LORD your God with your very core, with your very being, and with all your ‘muchness.’”  Because remember: that’s how God loves you.

As always, I welcome comments on my blog at http://ministrygeek.net.

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As many of you already know, as of July 1 I am full time at Trinity!  It has been a long time in the coming as I finished up school, but we are finally here.  Thank you for walking with me for the last part of my seminary journey!

What you may not know, however, is what exactly I will be doing.  Of course I will continue to do the things I have done up to this point: helping with worship leadership and planning, pre-marital counseling and weddings, relating to our Youth Fellowship, leading occasional classes, etc.  But now I will also join in providing leadership for adult education, community and global ministries, and young adult ministries.  I will also get to join with Pat and members of our congregation and staff in visiting those at the hospital (finally!)

So many transitions are happening this summer!  You’ve not doubt already heard about the other transitions in Trinity’s staff: Lynn Borchardt’s retirement and Jim Rhaesa’s moving into the role of Pastor of Congregational Care.  July 1 is also the date transitions happen in the United Methodist Church in our area, which is, of course, part of our larger church family– my wife Amy is a perfect example of this as she prepares for her first Sunday at Stafford UMC.

I hope you will join me this week in praying not only for our own staff but for those of all churches.  May we all be faithful together!

As always, I welcome comments on my blog at http://ministrygeek.net.

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As many of you know, my wife has been appointed as the pastor of Stafford UMC.  She and I will be living in the parsonage there; I will drive into Hutch each day to continue serving Trinity.  By the time this reaches you the movers will be here– that means my life as I write this is all about packing.

In the United Methodist system pastors are itinerant.  It’s a tradition that goes back to the early preachers on the frontier, riding from town to town on horseback with no permanent roof to their name.  These days pastors tend to change churches and towns every few years on average, but there is still the atmosphere that change is always on the horizon.  It keeps fresh faces in front of congregations and it keeps pastors fresh by always giving them new challenges.

It’s not a bad metaphor for how God works in the world and in our lives…  We all say we don’t like change, but the truth is that the Holy Spirit is all about change.  God’s Spirit is often compared to wind: impossible to see but easy to feel– and always on the move.

When we move from one house to another, it forces us to throw out the garbage we’ve collected and look at our lives with fresh eyes.  To some extent it’s a chance to start over, a chance to re-arrange things to fit the world as it currently looks, not how it used to.

When was the last time you “moved” your faith?

As always, I welcome comments on my blog at http://ministrygeek.net.

There is quite a bit of talk about the appropriateness of enculturalization of the gospel.  In other words, is it right to take the gospel and “clothe” it with the culture of a people or does that cheapen it?  The other option is to let the gospel stand “pure,” whatever that means.  Neibhur famously called these options “Christ in culture” and “Christ against culture,” adding a third category, “Christ transforming culture.”  I have read emergent type blogs debate this furiously, often going into meticulous detail on passages from Acts to support their claim.

Well today I had a “duh” moment and realized how obvious the bigger picture is on this one.  The gospel as presented in Christ and by Christ is itself intimately enculturated in first-century Jewish culture, even to the point of interacting with the ancient Jewish sacrificial system.  Jesus was a Jew, period.  True, he threw out the unhealthy portions of Jewish culture, but he remained a fully enculturated Jew.

But here’s the “duh” moment: Jesus wanted the gentiles included, too.  As Paul makes abundantly clear, the gentiles are to be included without the need to “convert” to Jewish culture first.  The result is that the work Paul and Co. did is to take the gospel and re-contextualize it for gentiles as well, trying to hold together a body of believers that was diverse yet united in Christ.

So there you have it, my contribution to the enculturalization argument.  Jesus himself embodied not only God incarnated, but also the gospel enculturated with intent for it to be spread to ALL cultures without forcing them to change the parts that were already good and true.

A bit of a digression here…  So what would Paul, who is in this understanding a master of re-enculturalization, say to the Moderns and Postmoderns in the Church today?  Perhaps he would say that just as there is no longer Jew nor gentile, slave nor free– so there is neither Modern nor Postmodern in Christ Jesus.  We should respect each other’s culture and build one another up, realizing that neither worldview “gets in the way” of the gospel or cheapens it more than any other.  NO culture can stop the unimagineable love of God from transforming the world.

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This is wedding season at Trinity.  We typically do six or eight weddings each year, but most of them happen in May and June.  This year we have weddings three weeks in a row– this Saturday is the last of a long chain!  I preside over all of these weddings (with the help of fantastic staff, of course), and also do 3-4 premarital counseling sessions with each couple.

What a blessing it is to see so much young love (and I include older couples in that)!  Sometimes I wonder how much I can really say to them, having only experienced a year of marriage myself.  But the principles of living in a loving relationship are universal whether you’ve been married many years or called instead to singleness: love like God loves.  I always remind the couples that since God IS love (1 John 4:7-8), what they see in each other is a little piece of God living in them.

I also remind them that their marriage will not always be as rosy as on their wedding day– they will annoy one another and even hurt one another, it’s just a part of life.  Sadly, there are some offences (like abuse) that can damage a marriage beyond repair.  But for everything else, I tell them they would do well to follow the example of God’s grace and forgive each other as freely as God forgives.  We would do well to focus more on the good than on the bad that is part of every person and every relationship (Philippians 4:8-9).

Now I know many of you have been married long enough to have gained more wisdom than I.  But I thought I would share these ideas since we all need a little “refresher” now and then.  What is your secret to a healthy, happy marriage for you?  I hope you’ll let me know in person or by sharing a comment on my blog, http://ministrygeek.net.

Below is the e-mail I sent to the restaurant, telling the whole story.

For any family that read this, a quick note…  I was following the storm closely with radar data and storm reports on my phone and strongly doubt the tornado sighting you will see in the following e-mail.  I was also watching the sky very, very closely.  If I had thought there were any real danger I would have spoken up and would not have left the restaurant (this will make more sense once you read the account below.)

Still, this does not change the fact that Yard House did a truly negligent job with the data they had to work with.  I would recommend avoiding them just for their demonstrated ethics…

I wanted to share an experience my friends and I had at your restaurant in Kansas City yesterday (12 June 2008).

As we were eating a tornado warning was issued for the area and the tornado sirens sounded outside.  Rather than taking us to shelter, since a tornado warning means either a tornado has been sighted nearby or one may develop at any instant, our waitress came by saying she had instructions from the manager to secure our payment for the meal.

After some table discussion about Yard House’s poor priorities and our plans for never eating there again, things got worse.  A man whom I assume is the manager announced on the far side of the room (we couldn’t hear, but a waitress told us a couple of minutes later what he had said) that a funnel cloud had been sighted “directly overhead” and began ushering the patrons out the door suggesting a long walk to the other side of the Legends complex to take shelter in the basement of the movie theater– a long, outside walk.

I recently changed careers, but I used to be (and technically still am) a meteorologist.  However, it doesn’t take a four-year college degree to know that if a funnel cloud has been sighted outside the restaurant, to send people outside is not only ignorant, but negligent.  Possibly even criminally negligent.  We weren’t given the option of taking shelter immediately in the restaurant, but were pushed out the door (after our payment was secured, of course…  Priorities…)

Fortunately, some kind employees of a sports apparel store saw the exodus of people coming from Yard House and hurriedly ushered us through their store into an access hallway with an interior stairwell (good, sound shelter, clearly part of a pre-determined plan) where we waited out the storm.  While there we received word from an officer that a tornado had indeed been sighted from the complex– by all reports, our lives had indeed been placed in grave danger when we were sent outside by your manager.

You should know that I will also be posting this on my blog in hopes that others may know the priorities and policies of Yard House.

Thank you,

Jeff Slater.

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My office looks out on the edge of the courtyard on the south side of the sanctuary.  As I write this, Trinity Treasures, our after school program, is having a party out there.  No special occasion, but why you do you need one to have a party?  There are two of those big, blow-up “bouncy” things…  One of them is a huge obstacle course for kids to quite literally bounce through– complete with tunnels, giant bowling pins, and a slide.  They are running and screaming and having such a good time!

I love watching kids play, totally oblivious to the cares of the world.  It’s not that they don’t have problems in their lives, of course, it’s that they’re able to set them aside so easily and so completely to simply enjoy life.

When do we loose that ability, do you suppose?  I know I have to work hard just to escape the things I think are important for a even a few precious moments.  Personally I don’t think we loose the ability, we just get “rusty.”

When was the last time you set aside your cares and just played?  Children help, and I’ll bet grandchildren help even more.  It’s a beautiful gift God’s given us to be able to play.  We can play with each other, but I think we can also play with God.  What could be more wonderful than just setting aside everything around us to simply laugh and run with God?

Take a moment this week to laugh and run and scream– it’s good for the soul!

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”  He called a child, whom he put among them, and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
- Matthew 18:1-4

As always I welcome your comments at http://ministrygeek.net.

One of the true hallmarks of the postmodern church (indeed of the church of any age) is true, authentic community.  The term I like is common in the emergent conversation: generative friendship.  (I vaguely remember hearing that Tim Keel coined the term???)  In other words, friendship that generates, that naturally works to create life within and outside of the individuals and the community.

One of the great things about Annual Conference is the “family reunion” aspect of it.  Most of the people here haven’t seen their closest friends/colleagues in a year, and so the bond of friendship is incredibly strong and very, very apparent.  It doesn’t spread much beyond the clergy into the laity (probably because of the “colleague” nature of it), but there is at least the beginning of this communal friendship spilling over into others.

But here’s the issue as I see it– most of it is not generative.  It is a very, very supportive friendship, but I see little “generated” from it.  Sure there are pockets of generative-ness, but as a whole it is more sustaining than life-giving, at least from my admittedly limited perspective.

If I am to fulfill what I see as a call to help postmodernity emerge from this Conference, one thing I don’t question is that it cannot be a “top down” leadership thing.  That puts me, who is much closer to the bottom, in the perfect place to effect positive change.  The idea I am playing with is, “How can I help move this wonderful, beautiful community to a place that is more generative?”  That in itself would be a tremendous force to move the Conference toward postmodernity.

I don’t quite know how to answer that yet, but perhaps the best way is simply to move “hallway conversations” away from the superficial, “catching up” nature they usually take, and instead instigate informal conversations about deeper matters, like for instance theological ways to think about whatever happens to be going on.

Just a few thoughts.  All I really know is that this community means a great deal to me, and nothing would make me happier than to see it move to the next level of being a truly creative force for the hundreds of churches that make it up– and to see it become a creative, life-giving force for the transitioning culture of our time.

I have lots of other thoughts from Annual Conference that will probably never make it to my blog (such as the incredible disconnect between a denomination crying out in pain from decline and an Annual Conference that spends it’s time celebrating– denial, anyone?), but here’s some food for thought.

I love Annual Conference.

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I can’t tell you how many graduation ceremonies I’ve been to where I’ve been bored to tears by the long reading of names of the people who are graduating.  I know that sounds a little brash of me to admit, but who among us hasn’t been there?  At most graduation ceremonies we are there to support someone (or perhaps a few someones) we know, but the rest of the names fall on deaf (and bored) ears.

At my own graduation ceremony from Seminary last week, it struck me how the long reading of names was NOT boring– it was because I knew each one of the people well.  Have you ever read Romans 16:1-16?  I mean really read it; not just skimmed over it?  It is a list of Paul’s friends to whom he sends greetings.  I often think this passage is terribly boring because I don’t know these people from two thousand years ago, but in truth Paul drops just enough hints about them that we get a little peek into just how special these friends are to him.

At the end of the day, the truth is that God knows every person on every list, and he knows and loves them more than any human ever could.  I know this much: the next time I’m at a graduation ceremony and the next time I run across a list of names in the Bible, I’m going to try to read it with God’s eyes– all the while remembering that he loves me just as much as he loves each and every person on each and every list.

I welcome your thoughts at http://ministrygeek.net.

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By the time this reaches you I will be just about to walk across the stage, receiving the hood that signifies my Master of Divinity degree from Saint Paul School of Theology.  (Technically I still have to take an intensive class in June to make up for the one I had to drop after my accident, but they’re letting me walk at Commencement anyway).

For those that are curious, the Master of Divinity degree, usually referred to as M.Div., is more or less the “standard” degree one gets to become a fully ordained pastor, or Elder, in the United Methodist Church.  It’s what Pat has and, I would assume, what most of Trinity’s previous pastors have had as well.  It requires more credit hours than most Master’s degree programs (most require 60, M.Divs require 90), and most people take twice as long to do it.  Pat helped me put into words why– it’s also change in identity.  When one challenges one’s faith and theology– the very root of their being that got them to seminary in the first place– you can’t help but emerge as something different on the other side.  This is especially true for those who left careers to become pastors.

So have I grown?  Unquestionably yes.  Am I “better” for all the formal education?  I am better suited to certain tasks maybe, but I am constantly amazed when I talk to all of you and realize how much I can still learn from every person I meet.

May none of us ever forget that.

I welcome your thoughts at http://ministrygeek.net.

Anyway, I saw this article in the NY Times just now.  Obviously this would be terrible if it actually happened.  Still, some demented part of my mind thinks you might be able to have fun with it…  No comment on the unnamed man about halfway down the first page.

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I thought I would give you update on my hair.  You may remember that about a year ago I decided to grow it out for the Locks of Love charity, or perhaps for another charity like it (I have a while to make up my mind!)  The donated hair goes to make wigs for children who have lost their hair due to disease– can you even imagine the dignity, the hope, and the simple sense of “normalcy” such a gift gives?  It seems a simple way to give a gift more precious than I can imagine.

To donate, the hair needs to be in a pony tail, ten inches long.  Right now I have about 3, but the hair from the front isn’t quite long enough to reach the pony tail yet (so I can’t pull it back day-to-day just yet).  It will probably be at least a year before I can donate, but it will be valuable when I do…  The retail cost of such a hairpiece is $3,500 to $6,000!

Many of you will laugh at this (I know I am), but I made a fascinating discovery about a week ago.  Until recently, I had been using a comb– a trusted comb I had used for ages.  One day my wife saw me laboriously combing through the tangles, and asks me why I don’t use a brush.  I stared at her dumbfounded.  After she showed me the right type of brush for my hair, it was amazing!  I couldn’t even feel the tangles any more– the brush just goes right through, and the hair looks better, too!

Naturally, it made me think about faith.  When we pray, read the Bible, etc., there are times when the way we’ve always don’t work any more.  Sometimes life has gotten too long and tangled, and we’re in need of a new spiritual practice, or a new way of going about life.  Maybe it’s silence, maybe it’s a service like Evensong, maybe it’s focusing on a different part of the Bible than we usually do, maybe it’s finding a new way to be generous.

Any workman or cook or craftsperson of any type can tell you that much depends on using the right tool for the job.  Why should our faith be any different?

I welcome your thoughts at http://ministrygeek.net.

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Are there any Christians in your life you disagree with?  In my experience, Christians who think differently from one another have a tendency either to avoid one another or to try to “convert” one another.

But doesn’t Christ call us to love one another?

The United Methodist Church is a truly interesting group of people.  There are conservative evangelicals and far-left liberals who all call themselves “United Methodists.”  (Did you know that George W. Bush and Hillary Clinton are both United Methodists?)  We don’t always get along like we should, but at the end of the day we all love God and claim the amazing act of Christ’s death and resurrection for our faith.

I think we all find ourselves around a Christian we disagree with from time to time– maybe a family member or a coworker or other friend.  What do you do in a case like that?  Do you avoid the topic of religion?  Do you assume a superior attitude?  Or do you simply love them?

This topic is nothing new…  Christians have thought differently from one another since the beginning of religion itself.  But that doesn’t change God’s love– I don’t believe God cares nearly as much about the details of our belief as he does about how much we love God and neighbor.

This Sunday I am going to preach my own version of one of John Wesley’s (our denomination’s founder) most famous sermons on this very topic.  If you’d like to check out Wesley’s version ahead of time, you’ll find a web link on my blog, http://ministrygeek.net.  Your thoughts and questions are always welcome.

Here is the link to Wesley’s “Catholic Spirit” (remeber that he’s using the word “catholic” to mean “universal,” not to refer to the Roman Catholic Church.)

http://www.7villages.com/post.asp?p=42977&i=1353

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Pat has talked about the upcoming international gathering of United Methodists known as General Conference.  It happens only every four years, and it is where we as a denomination set our course, determine our priorities, and take care of our business.  Of the eight delegates from the western two thirds of Kansas, two are from our church, Pat Ault-Duell and Kim Moore.  By the time you read this, they will be in Forth Worth, TX engaged in this important work.

Many people have attended United Methodists churches for some time, yet have never heard the term we use to describe how our churches and people relate to one another: connectionalism.  We don’t see ourselves as individual churches minding our own business.  Instead, we strive to have a rich connection between every church and among all our denominational organizations.  The result is that many diverse resources and viewpoints are brought together and we all end up being closer to God for it.

I think this is a wonderful concept, and a good example for how we should live our lives.  For the next two Sundays while Kim and Pat are away doing this work on the national level, we are going to explore what it means for our “everyday lives” here.

I also plan to bring up any major issues from General Conference and talk about anything that makes the national news—it’s part of who we are as a church, and it’s important to be informed.  If you want to stay updated through the week, visit http://umc.org.  As always, I would love to hear your thoughts on my blog, http://ministrygeek.net.

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The past few weeks, Pat and I have been joining some incoming members of our church in conversation about who we are as United Methodists.  In the past decade or two there has been a resurgence of interest in John Wesley and in what makes the United Methodist tradition different from others.

So what makes a United Methodist?  That’s way too big of a topic to go into here…  We agree with most Christians on most of what we believe, things like Jesus and the resurrection or how God works in the world.  The differences are in what we choose to emphasize.  For instance, we emphasize the fact that God is working in people’s hearts and lives even before they are aware of it.  We also emphasize that it is God’s grace that saves us—but that grace continues to work in us afterwards, too, making us a better person.

We also emphasize that faith isn’t just something that happens in a church building—faith is something we live out in every day of our lives.  John Wesley wasn’t happy just preaching to the people who came to church every Sunday; he realized that the people that really needed to feel God’s love were the ones who weren’t there.  And so he took the gospel out to the coal miners and the field workers.  Talking about this made me wonder if maybe that isn’t a lesson we need to learn again today.

If you’re interested in learning more about Methodism; I’d be happy to talk your ear off sometime.  Or, there are some great resources on the internet.   It’s hard to print long web links in the newsletter, so if you find this article on my blog, http://ministrygeek.net, I will add some good links there.  May you experience ALL types of God’s grace this week!

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Here are the links:

For more on United Methodists beliefs…

For more on United Methodist history…

For more on how we are organized…

If you’re not used to IM conversations, know that sometimes thoughts appear slightly out of order (they make more sense in the moment). Bear with it, though; you’ll figure it out.

Amy: here’s food for thought: Emergent Church for country music fans.
me: Absolutely! What brings this on?
Amy: [name taken out] was in the mood for some music and put in Dolly Parton singing some gospel. For this group that is contextual music.
me: Yup. Get used to it.
Amy: I wonder if that’s an area we tend to ignore.
what if we’re already doing emergent with rural churches, but don’t call it that because it’s not “our” culture.
me: Yup. They always loved it in [my old, rural churches] when I’d pick something country-like for a hymn.
me: I think that’s a big element, at least in the worship style sense. Their culture in terms of TV/newspaper/etc. is still becoming increasingly postmodern, though, and we still need to adapt our theology.
Amy: good point, emergent isn’t just style, there’s theology too.
me: “Praise and Worship” would not be contextual in [my old churches].
Amy: But the theology of my congregation is still VERY modern.
me: For me and my high thinking mind, theology is the starting point. Worship style flows out of that.
Is there a disconnect between their theology and their culture outside the church? Maybe not for older folks…
Around here, especially in the contemporary church, I get the feeling that many “check their postmodernism at the door” so they can do church.
Amy: if you stick with [the area I’m in] then no, it’s not different, but if you consider the wider area, then perhaps yes.
me: That whole “check your culture at the door” thing is what I used to do. I think it explains a lot of the disconnect between secular and sacred– and it explains why many reject it simply because they “get nothing out of church”
Amy: yeah, but what about the people who go to church b/c it IS the culture they identify with as is? How do you meet both groups? Can you?
me: There are emergenty-type folks who would give you an adament NO and then stop listening. I give an adament I HOPE SO.
I think postmodernism needs to respect it’s “father and mother” more.
But how to do it? Beats me…
I’m still working on how to be postmodern in a modern pulpit my own self.
What do you think? Respect for father and mother, or emergence can’t happen unless you “move out of the house” for a while?
Amy: quite a challenge for both of us. too often my postmodern theology is interpreted through modernity and they hear something completely different.
me: Wow, that was a very modern/two-choice question I just asked…
Amy: hmmm… it’s a good metaphor, though.
I think most adult children in that situation would say “both”.
of course, do postmoderns have any affection for moderns?
me: It is hard either way, but somehow it turns out ok either way, too.
Do most teenagers have any visible affection for their parents?
(I like this metaphor… It may end up a blog )
Amy: good point. Maybe we’re in that rebellious teenager part and in another 200 years or so we’ll have emerged as mature adults at peace with our parents.
me: I hope so; we need to.
Amy: this is a fun conversation!
me: Very much… I needed it.
…plus it helps me procrastinate writing a sermon I haven’t done enough thinking on yet.
Amy: he he

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A short while before Easter, my wife got the call from our District Superintendent, Rick Saylor, saying he had found a church for her to serve in the Hutchinson District. Since we are both graduating from Seminary this Spring, we knew she would be moving, but now we know where: she will be the pastor of Stafford United Methodist Church, about 40 miles to our west. I will of course be continuing here at Trinity, but changing to full time status once I graduate (I can’t wait!)

The life of a United Methodist pastor is a bit nomadic—we expect to move every several years, but are always aware that we COULD be moved even when we don’t expect it. It can be a bit of a nail biter for “clergy couples” especially, for fear that the two churches might be far apart.

I love Trinity, and will be glad to have more energy to devote to it. Stafford seems like a wonderful community, and Amy and the church fit each other well. We will be living in the parsonage in Stafford and I will drive into Hutch daily—I was wondering what I would do with myself once my weekly commutes to Kansas City were over!
Officially it’s the Bishop and District Superintendents who make the decisions about appointments, but there is no doubt in my mind that God is ultimately behind which pastor ends up where!

I welcome your comments on http://ministrygeek.net.

I’ll admit to a little bias here: I’m always apprehensive when a (respectfully said) old guy tries to define young people today. However, I also respect wisdom and know that those voices are important, too. A few of his observations are indeed insightful, especially in the UM Portal interview link above. But I can’t help but wonder if there isn’t a fundamental assumption he’s making that’s flawed: what if God isn’t calling the UM clergy base to look like it did in decades past?

It seems a given to me that the denomination will look drastically different in twenty years than it does now. The change isn’t coming from the church’s failure but from systems much larger than us. I can’t help but notice that the old age skewing in our clergy mirrors the old age skewing in our membership quite well. Bluntly put, once our congregations are so much smaller and fewer due to the natural death of members, why will we need such a large supply of clergy?

What I’m really doing here is stepping on one of the big assumptions of our denomination right now– that God’s call for us is to remain a large, mammoth of a church. Is it really so bad of a thing if God calls us to be a smaller group? Does that make us somehow less blessed?

Anyway, there’s my “pre-review” revealing my prejudices. I look forward to reading it (among all the other books I have/want to read! )

Here’s my thought, though.  I know many, MANY people who have wonderful ministries which they do clearly in the name of God (and in partnership with God) that happen outside the walls of the church.  They probably wouldn’t use the word “mission” for what they do, but there is no question that’s what it is. What’s more, most of them look like their ministry is a natural response to their faith and ecclesial life.  BUT, their ministries aren’t part of an organized program at the church, and so their ministries aren’t a quantified part of our churches’ systems.

Are we asking the wrong question here?  Just because we can’t put our fingers on the ministry that’s flowing out of our faith communities, why do we just assume there isn’t any?  Perhaps instead of moaning about why we’re losing members, we should instead help people to see the connections between their ministries and their church life.

The church needs to have organized missions to lead by example if nothing else, but let’s not assume that if our logo isn’t stamped on it God isn’t working.

Wow.  I’m a bit jaded today.

Vending Machine Jesus

Originally uploaded by jslater316

Check this out… (sorry for the blurry phone picture)

So I’m walking through Hastings, a video/games/music/book store, yesterday, I walk by the kid’s vending machines (you know, the type where stuff comes out in plastic eggs?), and I saw one that immediately demanded two of my quarters. For the low, low price of only 50 cents, I could have a small likeness of my favorite saint!

So I put in my money, turn the crank, hear the satisfying “clunk” of the egg falling, and– lo and behold– I got Jesus! Jackpot!

This is SO going to be a sermon in the very near future…

(This actually sounds like a semi-decent way to communicate the faith to kids– don’t think I’m totally dissing it here… Still, this is just crying out to be a sermon. I can’t wait.)

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Happy Easter– again! This is about the time we start to “move on” in our minds, allowing Easter to become only a day to us. The truth is that Easter is not a day—it’s a lifestyle. As Christians we are called to be God’s “Easter people,” bringing God’s kingdom into the world and living our lives empowered God’s amazing love. How can we sit still and watch suffering, for instance, when we know God has already overcome it? It moves us to do something about it! How can we stand around while we see people whose lives are so very disconnected from God? Easter empowers us to do something about it!

There is a hymn which says it very well. Here are a few lines from it, find #304 in our hymnal if you’d like to read the entire thing (the words are by William M. James in 1979).

Easter people, raise your voices,
sounds of heaven in earth should ring…

Fear of death can no more stop us
from our pressing here below.
For our Lord empowered us
to triumph over every foe…

Every day to us Easter,
with its resurrection song…
Alleluia! Alleluia!
See the power of heavenly throngs.

I welcome your comments on http://ministrygeek.net.

Andrew Jones wrote a post today with a provocative idea about this (I especially like the part about missionaries bringing pipe organs to Africa so that the natives could “worship God properly.”) The case he makes (I hope I’m summarizing well) is that one of the reasons colonialization happened through missionaries was that they were unaware of how much their own Christianity was impacted by their own culture. Now THERE is an idea the resonates with the current Postmodern shift– one of the main tasks of emergence as I see it is to figure out how Modernity has impacted our faith and decide what to do with that. Is this a glaring example of our culture blindly impacting faith from our not-so-distant past?

Here’s more: Is this true, or is the idea so provocative to my emerging soul because I am projecting our own shifting cultural problems on another generation of missionaries?

Interesting thoughts for a sleep deprived Tuesday. I’m telling you, the motivation to write papers for classes REALLY goes out the window once “senioritus” sets in.

http://emergingrural.com/blog/

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Preaching in postmodernity… That’s a topic that seems to be all over the charts as far as differing opinions go. Some say that the very concept of one person standing and talking while others face forward and listen is bad– but I disagree rather strongly with that.

One common theme is letting the people shape the sermon through dialog, etc. My gut tells me there is a way to make sermons more interactive and dialogical, but I have yet to see it done well. Jacob’s Well here in KC is one of the first and perhaps one of the “most emergent” congregations in the nation. Tim Keel, the pastor, usually throws out a question at one point in the sermon (often, “What is your impression of the scripture?”), but it’s done in a way that invites only the outgoing folks to speak, and they usually only give trite answers. Plus, it has no influence on the content of the sermon itself, which to me makes it less dialogical, thus defeating the purpose. (I say that with great respect, by the way… Tim is one of the best preachers I know– if only I could preach like he does!)

Doug Paggitt at Solomon’s Porch in Minneapolis is said to have good dialogical sermons, but since they don’t put them online I have never heard one. I have heard their seating is in a circle and there are microphones hanging above the congregation so everyone can be heard. He has a book on preaching out that is spoken well of, though I haven’t read it yet…

If you ask me, the true difference between preaching in modernity vs. postmodernity is the same as in the rest of ministry: the theology and the philosophy with which you approach it. If you have all this wonderful dialog, but in the end cling to modern-resonating stuff, then it’s a modern sermon. But if one person talks to a bunch of other people all facing forward, but bravely explores something that theologically resonates with postmodernity, like say using John 1 to explore Jesus as Creator (just read that one today in Tony Jones’ new book, The New Christians), then that sounds like emergence to me. One of my sermons which I consider the “most emergent” I’ve preached was, at its heart, an attempt to develop a theology of human creativity.

I also think good use of story can be very postmodern– Fred Craddock resonates with this for me (story is/was also key in modernity, of course, but I think of “illustration” for modernity and more along the lines of “shared experience” for postmodernity). Another good preaching moment I’ve had was my first week back in the pulpit after my hip stuff. I told a story of when I was in the ER, with the intention of people either experiencing it along with me or being taken back to when they were in a similar situation. It was even more experiential than I had planned– you could hear a pin drop in that sanctuary before I brought it around to rebirth. The comments I got afterwards were about the peoples’ own experiences, not the one I actually talked about– experiential success!

http://cometothewaters.wordpress.com/2008/03/30/it-appears-they-nevered-liked-his-church/

I’ve always suspected young adults have always been a weak demographic in the church, and researching numbers for that has been on my to-do list for years. The above blog post is short and contains no real hard numbers, but it is provocative.

It’s not that the church should give up trying to reach young adults, but it probably should get real about how it understands that stage of life.  By the way, I do NOT think this has anything to do with postmodernism.  In fact, it makes its emergence in the church all the more important for me.  When young adults do age and re-discover the church as in the past, THIS generation is not going to be happy with a church set in its Modern ways.

Anyway, interesting thoughts for a Monday morning.

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Happy Easter!

It’s so hard to grasp exactly what that phrase means!  Easter is nothing less than the turning point of all history.  Not only did the God of all creation intervene directly and personally to put us on the “right track–” he overcame evil itself so that we are enabled to live in God’s glorious reality.  It’s not just that our sins are forgiven; it’s that sin itself was defeated.  It’s not just that we can look forward to heaven when we die; it’s that we can live in heaven now.

The meaning of most of our symbols of Easter symbols has faded over the years.  Eggs, chicks, Springtime—all of these are symbols of new life.  Butterflies remind us of the beauty of being transformed from crawly caterpillars to beautiful, colorful, flying creatures.  The empty cross (not the cross with Jesus hanging on it, to be precise) reminds us that it is not Jesus’ death we celebrate, it’s his resurrection.

You have new life.  I have new life.  Everyone has new life.  It’s spring time—chicks are being born, butterflies are coming out of their cocoons, those long winter days of cold ice and snow that we never thought would end are turning into the most gorgeous days of the year– and the cross is empty.

Easter is all around us—HAPPY EASTER!

I welcome your comments on http://ministrygeek.net.

Today is silent Saturday.  Nearly 2,000 years ago, this day was the day that our Lord’s body occupied the tomb.  The crucifixion was then history and the disciples hid in fear and confusion.  Yes, this is the day of the entombed Christ.  Silent Saturday…

Thank God the story wasn’t over.

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Holy Week is here already– and so early this year!  This is the week where we remember Jesus’ final days in Jerusalem and the events ranging from his triumphal entry on Palm Sunday to his resurrection on Easter Sunday.  On Thursday we remember his last Passover meal he shared with his disciples, and on Friday we remember his death on the cross.  That begins “the three days” as we mourn and await the celebration of his rising from the grave on Easter.

Where in this story do you spend the most time in your life of faith?  It seems to me that many of us appreciate all the events through Good Friday, and then get stuck somewhere around Saturday.  In plainer terms, we appreciate Christ’s life and our failing, and we are grateful that Jesus died for our sins.  But then we ground out, wallowing in our sin and Christ’s death, and we miss (or at least underplay) the fact that the resurrection changes all of it.  Want an example?  Look at the newer Christian music around—so much of it is about Christ’s death and so little about his resurrection.  It’s easy to do; it’s much easier to wrap our heads around sin and death than to try to truly comprehend the resurrection!

Mourn our Lord this Holy Week.  Remember Jesus’ death and what he did for us.  But for God’s sake, when Sunday comes rejoice that not only is our sin forgiven, but the whole system of sin and death has been overturned—and so much more!

I welcome your comments on http://ministrygeek.net.

Well said. If you read the whole post from which it comes, there is a good mix of wisdom and pointlessness, I think. I haven’t gotten to the section of Tony Jones’ book referred to here (I just started it), but the whole “third way” concept seems a bit anti-emergent to me. This quote, however, resonates well for me.

The Wichita Eagle ran this article this morning.  What an interesting theory!  The idea is that the amount of moisture present in the winter wheat crops contributes to dry line evolution– the dry line being a major factor in thunderstorm development.  In other words, if a wet winter makes winter wheat crops extra moist, thunderstorms and thus tornadoes will be more focused in certain areas.

This is a wonderfully fascinating idea.  I would like to see more data and it should be pointed out that this would be one factor of many…  There are many other factors that could blow this one out of the water on any given day.  It would also serve to focus the locations of storms, not to significantly affect the number or severity of them.  I can already hear the TV media blowing this out of proportion.

Still, it’s interesting.  Nice to stretch those “meteorology muscles” a bit so they don’t atrophy.

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A while back I read the most wonderful description of how to listen for God’s call.  It said that God’s call is like a gentle breeze.  If you fuss too much or live in too much commotion, you probably won’t even notice it’s there.  But if you calm yourself and rest in stillness, then you not only notice the gentle breeze, but you are refreshed by it and you find that it’s strong enough to fill your sails and to help you drift in the direction of God’s calling.

Last week we read the story of Saul on the road to Damascus where God calls him with a blinding light and booming voice (Acts 9).  True, God does speak to people like that sometimes, but far more often, I think, God’s Spirit comes more like the gentle breeze.

Our culture is full of so much stimulus, from loud TV commercials to busy visuals in magazines to advertisements on the sound systems in stores.  We’re so conditioned to the noise that many leave the TV on even when they’re not watching it just because the noise is comforting.  But if all that noise becomes the only world we live in, what’s to become of God’s “gentle breeze?”  What’s to become of us if we don’t listen to it (or even notice it’s there?)

As we refocus ourselves on God during this Lenten season, take time out to quiet yourself.  Take time out for silence.  Take time out to listen, to feel, and to be gently guided.

I welcome your comments on http://ministrygeek.net.

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A major theme during the season