REVIVE US AGAIN!

Photo from: JuicyEcumenism.com

As a former student of Asbury Theological Seminary, I have been asked to weigh-in on the event taking place at Asbury College that is being framed as a revival. Especially now that it has been repeated at other colleges. I had planned to post the list, however, it changes frequently, and I can't find a news source that I fully feel I can trust in regards to accuracy. Just Google.

First, I will explain a very important distinction. Asbury Theological Seminary (ATS) and Asbury College (AC), while literally, across the street from each other, are not connected by the same structural organizations that run them. Now, that is not to say there is a total separation. Many students at ATS are graduates of AC and some of the faculty are as well. Both schools are non-denominational, evangelical Christian schools affiliated with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. The desire for revival is in their DNA.

Second, I will explain why I attended ATS as a NON evangelical Christian. First of all, I do respect the holiness side of my Wesleyan understanding as a United Methodist. It was less expensive, it had more access to online courses. When I began seminary, I was a mother of four children, ages 5, 6, 16 and 18. I was there from the '04/'06 school year through the '07/'08 year. I graduated in 2008 after completing one last course that summer. Like many perspective, United Methodist people on the ordination track, we either attend, Asbury, Memphis Theological (Presbyterian) or Vanderbilt (Interdenominational) for seminary to obtain the required Mdiv degree. In my conference the majority take this route for various reasons. I would have preferred Duke or Perkins but it was not a possibility for our family.

A little revival history regarding AC: They claim to have had similar revivals in 1905, 1908, 1921, 1950, 1958, 1970, 1992 and 2006. I was on campus in 2006 and really don't remember anything very exciting taking place. The 1970 revival is one that is spoken of often and honestly we were encouraged at ATS to enter into a prayer life that would re-create a similar event. There was slight pressure.

What is a revival? Practically, it is what happens AFTER an event takes place that revives those that follow Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. The effects of the revival are seen in the movement of those revived following this time of prayer, worship and transformation by the Holy Spirit. The time of intense prayer, worship and transformation if just the beginning. It isn't a true revival if people are not sent forth in ministry, mission and discipleship in the hurting world.

Do I believe that the Holy Spirit can inspire, transform or heal people? ABSOLUTELY. Romans 8:11 basically tells us that believers have the same Spirit within us that raise Jesus Christ from the dead. So yes, I believe these Asbury students can receive many wonderful attributes, much needed for ministry and life, during this time. I believe that ALL believers have this same access to the Holy Spirit that reads within them. A large event is not needed for this Holy Spirit moment for people.

I also believe that God IS science. So if someone feels, during this time of prayer, that their pain is gone, or they are euphoric, I know that hyper-emotionalism can cause adrenaline to manifest within a person creating pain relief and exhilaration. Is it God? I believe it can be God, using the way we are made to reach God's created.

Is there danger in revival? There can be, in this case, there are people that are trying and will co-opt this moment for political and denominational agendas. I applaud both the college and the seminary in Wilmore for attempting to keep these students safe from predators and charlatans. However, I have-not heard what is happening in that regard in all the "pop-up" revivals across the US.

But here is my official weigh-in: Will there be fruit? John 15:5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing." YOU WILL PRODUCE MUCH FRUIT. Let's see the fruit that blooms over the next days, weeks, months...even years. The only fruit cannot just be passionate worship, prayer and a personal "filling of the Holy Spirit" or then is is for their own personal satisfaction, not for the mission of Christ, a call to action to be a healing presence of transformation in the lives of others.

So we must wait, watch and see.

A New Beginning (With a Little Organization)

 This blog was started a long time ago for me to have a place to put my thoughts; a safe place where I could hopefully "say" things, that were bothering me, or ideas I have without bothering those around me. Growing up with ADHD, it is common for us to speak without a filter, knowing we will suffer the repercussions of speaking our mind. Not that everything I have said, needs to be said aloud. But with age comes wisdom, and I find that sometimes, people have learned form my thoughts. So I will be back to posting thoughts here. 

Feel free to join in, discuss, debate or just read.

This Autism Mama is Finally Speaking Out About Autism Awareness

This autism mama is finally speaking up for Autism in the midst of what seems to be the worst live Jumanji game of all time (tornados, pandemic, dam broke, earthquakes) I have hesitated because I have very strong opinions about Autism Awareness and sometimes my opinions are not in line with the cool kids. 

Today I slowed down enough to really observe how this crazy time actually effects people with Autism and how reducing Autism to awareness and a blue washing of the world is not helpful. At all. 

First, let's talk blue. Blue is the color the organization called Autism Speaks co-opted for Autism. Autism Speaks is not an advocacy group for Autism. Most autistic people or people with autism (some autistic people are not fans of person first language) feel that Autism Speaks is a hate group. The money they raise is to eradicate and has a poor track record of showing respect for autistic people. Check out their commercial called "I am Autism." It shows an eerie focus on  neuro-diversity as well as using fear to scare parents into treatments and tactics to "cure" autism in children, all the while using none of their funds to find a cure but to show autism as a devastating disability. The founders of AS compares the "3 million children" in the United States with autism - one of which is MY SON - to a crisis on the level of 3 million children suddenly going missing or 3 million children waking up all on the same day, gravely ill.

When you support BLUE - you aren't supporting autism - you are supporting Autism Speaks.

Awareness is not enough. I actually have a shirt that says Autism Acceptance not Awareness. Awareness is not even sort of enough. That is like saying you notice that people with autism exist. If in this day and age if you haven't noticed autism exists we need to make a shirt and an advocacy group for obtuse people. The logo would be:

Acceptance for autistic people is critical. It is who they are! They are not abnormal or weird. They are neuro-diverse. The rest of us are supposedly neuro-typical. I guess we are but as a former teacher and now a teacher of The Good News of Jesus Christ, I am here to tell you, everyone learns and functions differently. It is just that the majority of us can be lumped into a group that can function as a herd... typical.

Autism also know as ASD is a spectrum of pervasive developmental disorders. It is a spectrum that includes what USED to be be compartmentalized as either, Autistic Disorder, Asperger's Disorder, Rett's Disorder, Childhood Disintegrative disorder and Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified/PDD-NOS (our former diagnosis.)   Understanding that Autism is really a diagnosis arrived at by finding some of a group of dis-ordered functions of a person's cognition and development gave the need to erase the other labels. Why? Because if you know one person with autism - you know one person with autism. But honestly, how many people do you know that are EXACTLY alike?

Autism effects land differently on different people, but for a majority of people with autism, all the change we are currently facing can be very trying. For some people with autism this time of distancing and extreme change in routine can mean a huge stressor. Please don't assume that ALL people with autism are loners and love the isolation. Yes people with autism isolate but schedules are critical. Change is anxiety producing and depending on the level of understanding, either due to age or cognitive ability, you may not be able to explain enough why we aren't still going to school or can' have their specific chicken nuggets anymore for a while. My son is currently obsessed with people not following the distance rules. It may be different for everyone. Just as it is for us neurotypical people. Hmmm

So what can you do?

Colors - Maybe choose rainbow colors since it signifies that we are all different

Instead of Lightbulbs - think puzzle pieces so we can all fit together

Instead of Autism Speaks - look for organizations that advocate for families for education and therapies. Check out this link click here 

The Season of Weighing In

One time in my mid twenties I decided I wanted...I needed bangs. I was good with hair. I could do a lot with hair average people could not do. I spent a lot of time learning how to fix my own hair. Why in the world should I pay $15.00 to have someone cut a few strands of hair. I mean really. I had watched my stylist do it many times. I had this! So I cut my bangs. (Use the word “butchered”) I had to wait a couple of weeks to get in to have them fixed so they could grow enough to shape and be repaired. I tried to pretend it didn’t happen. She knew. What she said to me was this, “I won’t ever step into your pulpit and try to preach if you promise me you will never try to cut your own hair again. A deal was struck. 

I learned a valuable lesson. There is common knowledge, opinions, somewhat experienced or educated opinions and actual learned education. I have a Masters of Divinity which is a professional degree much like a law degree or a medical degree but I can’t serve as an attorney for someone in a court of law and I don’t think anyone would want me to do surgery on them and I am certain that my hairdresser would NOT want me to cut my own hair. But I can help someone understand theology and depth of knowledge of The Trinity. 

It’s ok and natural to form opinions about issues. It is even ok to read up and form somewhat educated opinions about issues but that doesn’t make you an expert in that field. 

Let’s use this season of heightened health anxieties to learn three things:

1. Opinions are like armpits. Everyone has them and sometimes they stink. 
2. Opinions, even educated ones are not always fact and most usually are not completely accurate. 
3. You DON’T have to share your opinions. At least not in public. They cause so fusion where clarity by experts is needed. 

If you have that much to weigh in on that is not grounded in formal education consider starting a blog 😉 so that those that want to hear what you have to say can find all your brilliant thoughts. A blog also serves as a way to remove your opinions from a platform that needs facts to be clear and educated. 

See you in blogger. 

I am missing Jesus!!!

In reading  Luke 2:41-49  in my devotional time I was left with an interesting parallel and some questions that come to mind. The passage is the one when Jesus as a young boy travels with his parents to the Temple for Passover worship and on the return home Mom and Dad (Mary and Joseph) realize they are missing their little boy. They were missing Jesus! 

How many of you, in this time of a virus that has separated us, from church, work and even each other feel like we are missing Jesus? Sometimes I feel closer to Jesus than ever. Some of the noise has been blocked out and I have more time on my hands to reset my priorities toward reading and even just sitting with Jesus. Yet, not being with people, YOU, I feel I am missing the part of my relationship with Jesus that comes from being with the people of this church, the people in the community and others I have come to love and serve (and serve me.)

Mary, I know, was frantic, looking and looking for her son. When they found Jesus he was back at the Temple, impressing all the learned rabbi’s with his depth of knowledge of God. And here is where my pondering began. I remembered the passage containing Jesus’ remark.“Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” In the translation I was reading the verse said, “Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?” There was a big enough difference between the two, I felt compelled to go back to the original Greek text to see what Luke really wrote. 

What Luke said was intriguing. Luke wrote, Had you not known  that in the things of the Father it is necessary for me to be?” Excusing the sentence structure, I read this to be that Jesus is supposed to be in all things, “God.” 

What a beautiful and comforting thought for these days and the days that lie ahead. It may still be a while before we can assemble, together, in the same building. Ministry looks very different. Pastoral care is almost weird and disconnected feeling. There are days when I am left thinking, “Where is Jesus? I am wondering if he is hiding, has run off or if I am not looking hard enough for him. I have become just like Mary.

But here is the beauty, when I find him, he was never hiding. He is always where he was suppose to be, in the things of God. Jesus is with those that are afraid. Jesus is with those that need to hear his words and his life. He is with those that are suffering. And yes, Jesus is with those that have yet to understand why we are being asked to do the things we are doing. 

Like Mary, I never needed to be worried. Jesus is always right where he belongs and I can always find him there and you can too. Go to God. Go in prayer. Go in tears. Go in fear. God will melt away the troubles, brighten the hope and reveal Jesus to us to sustain us.

As we wander the next few days, stay “in tune” with us. That is how is will have to be for a bit.

We are still a body, together, apart

Label Maker

Phew! It has been a whirlwind of crazy social media, news media and even listening to people in crowds. Let’s be honest, listening to crowds of people conversing is it’s own form of media.  Between the political race, highly publicized religion growth and church growing pains and even the weather’s devastation of late, opinions are flying high.  

Once upon a time conversation was a bit more flowery...detailed, filled with rich descriptors, lush adjectives and expansive explainations. Much like this: “She seemed mush older than I, of course, being a girl, and beautiful and self-possessed; and she was as scornful of me as if she had been one-and-twenty, and a queen."Or this:
“She had not quite finished dressing, for she had but one shoe on--the other was on the table near her hand-- her veil was but half arranged, her watch and chain were not put on...”

Today those sentences would take on an abreviated style. Dickens’ beautifully written descriptors would be condensed to, “That girl is boojy.” And the second sentence could be transformed in the 21st century as, “Whoa, she is a train wreck.”
We have devolved in to an abbreviated speech replacing our expressive language with short-hand labels. There is even a dictionary that aids us in navigating such labels. Urban Dictionary (NSFW)  In addition to UD, Webster’s dictionary adds many of these labels and their definitions to its list every year, almost as to certify their existence and usage. 

Why dedicate a whole blog to an English writing style treatise? The issue in a nutshell is that labels DON’T TELL THE STORY. Those long descriptive sentences came from writers that wanted you to get the whole picture of who you were reading about. There weren’t usually photos or film with these stories. Today we have photos and film. So our language has devolved (to degenerate through a gradual change or evolution.) to looking at someone or situation and give that person or circumstance a label without knowing the story. 
Currently I have the luxury of meeting and working with a group of women that have amazingly sad and transformative stories. They are in the process of rewriting their stories by taking control of their lives and direction. It is impressive to behold. I really hope you have the opportunity to listen stories like theirs soon. 
My heart is broken when I hear people diminish their story by reducing the story, or worse, the woman to just a label. I would list them here. But truthfully, I don’t want most of them perpetuated. 
I watch people reduce a presidential candidate to labels like, “crazy”, “megalomaniac”, “pedophile”, and even the “b” word often used for women. All used without knowing, or worse yet, caring to know the story. 


What if labels are positive? I still feel like we are diminishing the story. A person’s story is important. We can’t know the “thousand words” a picture tells us if we don’t take to know the context or story of the photo. 
Labels are unfair, damaging and hurtful. When I use them I look back and realize they make me sound judgemental and harsh. It also shows a lack of ability to use the English language in all its glory and beauty. Taking the time to know the story and retell it with accuracy of adjectives not only brings authenticity to our speech but also paints the subject with accuracy. Using real words instead of short handed labels we show our intellengance rather than put the lack of it on display for the world to see. 
In the novel, “The Scarlet Letter” set in the Puritan era during the years 1642 to 1649, tells the story of Hester Prynne who conceives a daughter through an affair and then struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity. She is labeled, forced to wear a large red letter “A” to display her sin to others. When I read this book in middle school as a judgy adolescent I was appalled for someone to be labeled so excluding labels for the others In her life that helped her write her story. But here we are doing the same thing. But we don’t pin the label to a chest with a simple, single letter leaving everyone to decide if “A” stands for “adulterer” or “amazing.” Now we just pin the whole word right on social media for it to go viral. 
When my daughter Alli was little we would order her a roast beef without the cheese at a restaurant that would label the wrapper with a bright orange “special” sticker to keep it from being grabbed for another order. A child that never lacked in self-esteem, would carefully peel the sticker off and place it proudly on her chest, convinced the sticker was meant to describe her. Why can’t we allow for that; self-labeling by allowing someone to write their own story. We would have to take the time to “read” their story but aren’t humans worth being truly known. And isn’t it better to use the brain God gave you by flexing those speech muscles? 

"She had not known the weight until she felt the freedom." The Scarlet Letter

Care

The weight of a burden I have found myself carrying on my heart has become so heavy lately that it at times the burden has become a distraction to my functioning. I have started and then deleted several blog posts for fear adding to the already existing rancor in the world of social media, church; everywhere. I didn’t want to give space to others to find an excuse to once again belittle, be ugly, demean, or condescend to someone in the name of political strategy or platform, theology or doctrine or even gender, cultural or racial bias. 

Then I read this headline: “Christians are supposed to care about people.” And I thought, YES!!! (Link Below)

If you sit down and read NOTHING else today, please read this. I am not asking you to change your mind although in my OPINION some of you need to, I am merry suggesting that you change the tenor, the framework, the vitriol of your speech, social media posts, and interactions. 

The best change in the world could be that we still have differing options and beliefs but that we choose to express those beliefs in a positive manner. And yes, as my daughter often says to her toddler son, “I understand you better when your words are kind and not yelling at me.” Try it.  

https://johnpavlovitz.com/2020/01/06/christians-are-supposed-to-care-about-people/

The Tree(house) of Life

Last night shortly after falling asleep my son sent the following text:

I was shocked and did as he said. I went to Facebook. There were videos and articles all over the social media platform. By morning it had reached state and national news. The even was described as “the fire heard round the world.”

All day my mind was flooded with memories of our trips to the treehouse. The first time being shortly after Horace began building it. It was barely a forth of the final size. Even then it was an amazing site to behold. The mash up of lumber and trees was nothing like any treehouse I had ever seen, in fact it was larger than my home. 

Over the years, the tree house was where we went for a fun day, to take out of town and even out of country family. No matter people had come from or what sights they had seen, everyone was always in awe. We were always in awe because each trip showed us a new feature, addition or an intricacy we had missed on previous visits. 

The treehouse was where I went to hear God’s voice as I discerned my call to ministry. And I later was blessed to preach at the handmade pulpit and take a church youth group there as the pastor. 

Years later I was blessed to gain special permission to “borrow” the pond next to the treehouse to baptize some great people and one special baptism I will never forget. 

I am sad the treehouse is gone. I have heard from many who are equally sad. I am sure there will be an investigation and maybe even an arrest. There will be clean up to do from the debris and currently there is a burned out hole where once stood a managary of constructed majesty. In my faith tradition, the remnants of the sacrament of holy communion is returned to the earth from where it came. It seems only appropriate that the remnants of the sacrament of baptism, in the pond, in the treehouse sanctuary, in the hearts of those that encountered Our Great Creator are also returned to the earth in ash. 

To Everything Turn, Turn, Turn

"By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For your were made from dust and to dust you will return." Genesis 3:19

God did not pull any punches with Adam and Eve after choosing to feel they knew more than God and it would be okay to eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge. And thanks to what we call the "Fall" we have been repenting ever since. 

Wouldn't it be nice if it were all those two crazy kids' fault. But lets be honest, I know I need to repent of something DAILY! Based on our impulsive and logical thinking the average amount of a remotely conscious decisions an adult makes each day equals to about 35,000. I am sure I need to repent of at least a quarter of those decisions.

Repentance isn't saying, "I am sorry." Although I am certain God would appreciate a gracious, heartfelt apology occasionally, the word repent doesn't just mean that you feel bad for what you have done, or for that matter, have thought about doing. In scripture in both the original Greek and Hebrew the words used to describe repentance as a radical change away from a mind of sin.

This turning motion makes me think of the television shows where someone has a surprise awaiting them and they are turned away and then when the time has come to reveal the surprise they turn completely around. So as I picture myself turning away from something i also picture myself turning to something.

Can you turn from something without turning to something. Can you remove something, a habit, a choice, without replacing it with something new in its place? Will that space remain open without a placeholder?

Could that be the answer as to why humanity has failed at repentance for our entire existence? Could it be that when we recognize the need to turn away, a radical change from what we are doing to a something entirely new. Like the make over shows, we whirl around with a new look, everyone will be stopped, dead, in their tracks by who they see standing before them. What if the effects have dramatic impact that resonates throughout the world because that difference has divine DNA?

Genesis 2:7 "Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being."

That is what we have inside of us, Divine DNA, the actual Breathe of God. The world has sin within its brokenness. But us, we have God's divinity living inside of us and as we turn away from the world and turn towards God the world falls away and the reveal of us is surprising. We are no linger dust, we are life. We are breathe. 

The Lenten season is a time where we realize the mortality of our earthly life; From dust you came and dust you will return. But once the dust clears away we are a soul filled with the breath of God; a soul that will surprise the world with a new life, a new way of life, a new way.

"It Was A Cold and Dreary Day..."

It was cold, dreary, and rainy Sunday. With a heavy heart I left the warm safety of the parsonage to drive church for two services. My mind running wildly as I thought of how I would explain what happened at the Way Forward Conference of The United Methodist Church the previous week. I mostly wanted to address the one dimensional reporting of the secular news; we had turned our back on the LGBTQI Community. Some of the Sunday school classes would be perplexed, broken-hearted because that is not who we are. But I also know that the headlines in the papers had delighted some as well. Could I take their joy born in a lack of understanding of the process?

I wondered if today would be doable. I gave up on a "good" Sunday morning sometime Tuesday afternoon. On top of sharing this news, I had two services ahead of me, a dinner following church intended to be a fund raiser to pay off the parsonage note. And oh, did I mention is was cold, rainy, and dreary. 

But God loves to remind me He has me. 
Sunday schools seemed thankful knowing they are free to come and talk, vent or question judgement free. 
We had a record crowd despite the rain and cold.
Three sets of visitors cam to church that day, two committed to sticking around. 
An announcement of a new baby coming this Summer. 
The daily offering was nearly double the usual amount.
The men's luncheon to pay the last 7K of the 210K of the Parsonage took in 14K. 
And the food was crazy good.

Fine God. 
I get it. 
You are bigger than General Conference.
You are bigger than our messes we make.
You are bigger than my confusion and dread.
You WILL prevail despite our effort to block you.

God's hope, joy, and peace was in the raindrops that were falling and destroying my fear and dread.
So I will still labor with others to help unknot the tangled mess we made of the cord that binds us together.
I will look for the joy You give, Lord and lean on You for understanding.

And tomorrow we ...

Tomorrow is another Sunday but not like the other Sundays. 

Tomorrow I will preach and most of my congregation will be there. Those that are absent will have their reasons. 

Tomorrow my friend won’t be in her pulpit. She has left the church, turned in the credentials she worked so hard and paid so much for. She isn’t someone who identifies as LGBTQI or A. She is heterosexual but over 1/3 of her congregation is gay or has a gay child or parent or friend. She can’t face them. They are hurt because the denomination says their loved ones are not compatible with Christian teaching. She feels she failed them. Most of them won’t be there either. 

Tomorrow he will show up. He will wait to see who feels vindicated and who is devastated and wait to see who even knows or cares what happened. He will attempt to field questions, concerns and challenges from his congregation. He will try to survive the inquest. 

Tomorrow some will preach and some will not. Tomorrow some will cry and some will gloat. Tomorrow all will fall short of the glory of God. 

Lord in Your Mercy...

The Great Divorce

"There have been men before...who got so interested in proving the existence of God that they came to care nothing for God himself...as if the good Lord has nothing to do but to exist. There have been some who were so occupied with spreading Christianity that they never gave a thought to Christ." C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce

Life group question of the day, "What is the condition of your heart?" My heart? My heart is broken. Broken, for friends who walked away from The General Conference of the United Methodist church feeling unwanted, unloved and defeated. But my true heartbreak comes from the place inside me that is still a little girl; a little girl that just watched her parents' disagreement turn into a full blown argument. I watched, broken as my parents disagreement turned ugly and eventually resulted into what appears to be a divorce, or at least a separation. 

The church is my extended family. Spiritually I was born into the UMC following a lifetime of wandering lost. With the absence of stable, extended family, as an adult, the church became for me the people that supported me, raised me and now I am a leader in the church. Like a child I look up to my family. But today my family is broken and hurting and I am certain we grieved God in the process.

I also feel that in right-fighting, we eclipsed the Word of God for ourselves, for others, and ended up doing exactly what we as people called Methodist are to not do - we are to first Do no harm. But harm was done. Harm was done to some of our own family and to our witness to the world.

"No natural feelings are high or low, holy or unholy, in themselves. They are all holy when God's hand is on the rein. They all go bad when they set up on their own and make themselves into false gods." C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce

As a pastor I come across so many people that have been hurt by their church but I help them find that love can be found in a church family right where they are. In Googling this morning the national headlines cry out about our dysfunction, our fight, the possible impending divorce and the place that has been and is calling to those feeling unloved by their own churches has placed itself in the position of not being that place any longer. Not as much by our decisions but how our decision making played out in the media. I truly thought my family was better than that.

What can we do now? We can turn to God and and let God be God. Derive our power from the Spirit of God, and begin to pick up the pieces of our hearts and begin to heal. We can wrap our arms around those who have been hurt and finding our won healing in being a comfort to others. 

"There is but one good; this is God. Everything else is good when it looks to Him and bad when it turns from Him." C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce

Be sure to know, God doesn't need an interpreter. God doesn't need a defender. What God needs is people who show the nature of God to others in the world. God is love. Showing god's nature means to show love; love that is not drowned out by the sound of the clanging cymbal of self-righteousness. 

I am no longer my own, but thine.

Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.

Put me to doing, put me to suffering.

Let me employed for thee or laid aside for thee.

Let me be full, let me empty.

Let me have all things, let me have nothing.

I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.

And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father Son and Holy Spirit,

thou art mine, and I am thine

So be it.

And the covenant which I have made on earth,

let it be ratified in Heaven.

Amen

Photos from UMC.org

Why being present matters...

“When Jesus looked out and saw that a large crowd had arrived, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread to feed these people?” He said this to stretch Philip’s faith. He already knew what he was going to do. One of the disciples—it was Andrew, brother to Simon Peter—said, “There’s a little boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But that’s a drop in the bucket for a crowd like this.” Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” There was a nice carpet of green grass in this place. They sat down, about five thousand of them. Then Jesus took the bread and, having given thanks, gave it to those who were seated. He did the same with the fish. All ate as much as they wanted.” ‭‭John‬ ‭6:5-6, 8-11‬ ‭MSG‬‬

As a child I remember my Grandma describing a church family by saying, “They are there every time the doors are open.” She meant it as a compliment, implying that attending made them good people, maybe better than those who did not. 

The same statement was made by one of my children’s friends, We are there every time the doors are open,” but this time it was a complaint. 

Does church attendance, particularly the social, missionaries, outreach events make us better people? Woody Allen is quoted as saying “Seventy percent of life is about showing up.”  What happens when we show up?

1. When we show up we show up we learn something. A former secretary once told me as I left for yet another business training, “You will learn something, even if all you learn is how to sit still and behave graciously while bored.” Sarcasm aside, there is something to be said about not always being happy and entertained where you are. It is a growing edge for all of us. How many times have you gone somewhere and realized after the time had passed you were better for being there. What a nice surprise when it was somewhere you didn’t want to go. 

2. People’s lives are enhanced by your presence. Even when you don’t need people, people need you. In the history of the American church, people knew where to go when they were lonely, hungry, broken. The church was the proverbial lighthouse for those struggling in deep water. If we aren’t there to shine the light, help bring them to shore and care for them, as they gain their land legs, the lighthouse is of no value. Once when beginning a new church service in a new format, many at the church became concerned that they would “lose” people from the current service. “Can’t we just have a service for ‘those’ people without losing ‘our’ people?” One young man said this, “If no one is there to greet them when ‘those’ people come, how will ‘those’ people ever become ‘our ‘people?”

3. We are a body. Ultimate fitness requires that a body has all (or most) of its parts working. Recently, I began regularly attending exercise class. I am discovering body parts that have been allowed to go dormant. Activating those parts, while uncomfortable in the process, has made me stronger and more able and effective. The same idea works for the church. Even if we feel like what we do, what we can offer, doesn’t matter, it does. Your mere presence is often what is needed to complete the working body. 

Yes, a vital church has many, many, many offerings for fellowship, reaching beyond the walls to others and serving others. Sometimes it seems like there is so much to attend. Please don’t plan to attend. Plan to be present. Be available to others. Don’t go with the agenda to be fed. Go fully prepared to show up and share. Like the little boy, offer what you have. God will take the few fish and meager loaves we offer and spiritually feed how ever many take the time to sit down. It is in that action of the Divine that all that are preasent are fed; even you. 

Take time to look at your church newsletter and calendar to see where and when you can be present. 

National Walk Out or Up Day

"WALK WALK We like to walk. 

WALK TALK We like to talk."

Hop On Pop by Dr. Suess

We like to walk...we like to talk.  My social media news feed is overcome with hashtags with what seem to be similar; #walkout and #walkupnotout very similar yet very, very different. The hashtags are in reference to the movement by highschool students across America following the school shooting in Florida to emphasize the need for gun control, particularly in reference to the ease in which guns are obtained by those that lack the mental stability to be a gun owner. #walkout

#walkupnotout is a viral movement. The movement appears to be inspired in part by a Facebook post, mid February, in Texas. The movement encourages students to "put down their stupid phones" and walk up to lonely students and make friends, a great idea. We all need to check out less and reach out more. 

Both hashtags involve movement, walking. Here is the biggest difference, however. In walking out, the students are making a statement, saying they are tired of watching their friends die right before their eyes. Or in the case of the students that have yet to be involved in a shooting, are saying they are tired of worrying about when someone will come in and kill their friends right before their eyes, or worse yet, kill them. They are tired of being sitting ducks waiting for "the adults" to legislate their way in to safety. They are tired of waiting on us. They don't want to sit - so they are walking.

The principal that began the walk up, not walk out movement is looking at the shooter. Like many of us he is probably wondering how did we get here. What makes someone so angry they need to kill to feel release. Like so many school personnel he sees a glimmer of hope that the students could be more kind, more friendly, leaving no one out and that child will not grow up into a rage filed killing machine. 

The danger of hashtags is that they take a larger conversation and reduce it down to two to 4 words, stripping it important considerations.

Considerations like:

• Many students will walk out without actually knowing the full "why."
• Walk outs feel good. They give the walker a power when they feel powerless. 
• Walk outs give a voice to the voiceless.
• Walk outs rarely make change because they are not taken seriously by the change makers.
• Walking up to students places the responsibility for change on the the victims (or potential victims.)
• The walk up movement is akin to saying, "You are being shot because you have been mean to people. If you had been nice they wouldn't have shot people."
• It victim shames.
• We are also, once again, asking the students and teachers to be responsible for fixing a problem that belongs to the entire community.
• And while we ALL need to be much more kind and relational to EVERYONE, many of the brokenness the shooters have received has been in their homes.

Hashtags are handy. They let us find topics quickly through search engines. But the take away they minimize, politicize and advertise rather than bring about solutions.

Hashtags bind us together. they help us find our people.  I am a #metoo. But those five letters behind the tic tac toe board doesn't tell you my story. You have to know me, listen to me and befriend me before I would trust you with my story. And that is what life is all about. 

Instead of heckling the kids walking out, listen to them, come to know their fears, their anxieties and their helplessness. Comfort the afflicted, shore up the weary. Don't accuse the of just wanting to get out of class, of being driven by politicians to be anti gun. I mean have you stood by and watched your friend die at the age of 14 in what should be one of the safest places you go?

Instead of shaming kids for creating shooters by being mean kids in the third grade to the weird kid, show them how to love (it doesn't happen by you shaming them, or deriding them, calling their cultural ways stupid.) Show them how to lift others up with words and deeds by starting with those that are afraid.

People this shooter problem can't be legislated. It is a human condition problem. Truthfully, I am not a fan of guns. And I am a fan of constitutional rights. But more importantly I know you can kill with out a gun. I come from a state where 168 people where killed and thousands of lives shattered by a an angry, confused man with a truckload of fertilizer. Brokenness can only be mended with holy healing, and that is what we where placed on earth to do, heal with the love of God that lives within us.

Get walking.