I wasn't a Lent Christian growing up. We were pentecostals and we didn't practice such traditions. Lent was seen as to Catholic and to ritualistic. Not that we had any objection to extended periods of prayer and fasting, but the penitence part was to "legalistic" and it was thought that it was to "dependent upon our own ability to be saved."
As long as I have observed Lent, I've never been to keen on the penitence aspect and this year was no difference. In fact I struggled to keep my Lenten fast in so many ways. At first this really upset me, it depressed me and made me feel inadequate, but then my friend and fellow pastor Coy Remer said, "Well then you're doing it right!" I thought about that and came to the conclusion that Lent is about us humans fixating on our humanity, frailty and fallen nature. Instead of penitence we ought to focus on our propensity for sin and our inability to do absolutely nothing about it! What better way to do that than to see myself fail in my attempt to please God on my own?
This Lent, do to many personal issues, has been one of the darkest Lents of all time for me and because of this I AM SO READY FOR EASTER! This Lent I have come to the conclusion that Christ is absolutely my righteousness and holiness. Without Christ I am dead.
This Easter seems like such a gift. I reminder that because Christ lives, so shall I also live. I suppose as a pastor I should have a pretty good grasp on the last two idea's, i.e Christ as my righteousness and having eternal life through Christ, but like anything the profundity of this truth can get lost in the everyday hassle of life and can become common place especially as a pastor. This Easter I'm taking it all in, this Easter I'm gonna latch on to this idea of life, freedom, and forgiveness in Christ and truly enjoy what it's like to live again! I invite you to do the same.
Have a blessed Holy Week and Easter!
In Christ,
Josh+
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Thursday, April 3, 2014
You and I are bad.
I have been leaning left for so long. It's been a reactionary thing I think. I grew up with a fundamentalist faith, but one that also stressed the mercy and grace found at the cross. Despite the "stressing" of mercy and grace I often felt so guilty that I never knew how to really be free and take advantage of that mercy and grace found at the cross. So every sense my Sophomore year in Bible College I've been leaning left. I teeter back right a bit from time to time, but for the most part I kept moving left.
As a seminary student I was forced to look at both sides and because of my bad experience with the right, even though I often that it might be literally right, I kept moving left until I finally came to the point were God was so transcendent and humanity was so full of potential perfection that I though perhaps God's not a being, perhaps Gods not really that involved, perhaps Jesus wasn't God, but demonstrated the fullness of the perfection we could obtain if only we tried harder. Over these last few weeks of Lent all of that leaning left and all of the human potential for perfection has come to a head. I've had a sort of awakening, a renewal of sorts, I clear and conscience picture that the truth is you and I are bad.
We can't make it on our own. He need the cross, we need Jesus to be our righteousness, because without his righteousness we have none. We are fallen, broken and sinful. We are mortal, frail and incapable. We are human. As Nadia Boltz-Webber says, "It's dark in hear." referring to our hearts. I wont ever return to the strict interpretations of faith and scripture of my youth simply because my mind has been opened and once a mind is opened to truth it's impossible to close it, but I wont belive that I am able to be perfect simply by trying harder. I need Jesus and is victory over sin and death to save me from my own sin and death. No matter what I believe the world needs Jesus to be freed from it's sin and death. This Easter will be the most special Easter I've experienced in a long while, because this Easter resurrection will mean more than it's ever meant before.
As a seminary student I was forced to look at both sides and because of my bad experience with the right, even though I often that it might be literally right, I kept moving left until I finally came to the point were God was so transcendent and humanity was so full of potential perfection that I though perhaps God's not a being, perhaps Gods not really that involved, perhaps Jesus wasn't God, but demonstrated the fullness of the perfection we could obtain if only we tried harder. Over these last few weeks of Lent all of that leaning left and all of the human potential for perfection has come to a head. I've had a sort of awakening, a renewal of sorts, I clear and conscience picture that the truth is you and I are bad.
We can't make it on our own. He need the cross, we need Jesus to be our righteousness, because without his righteousness we have none. We are fallen, broken and sinful. We are mortal, frail and incapable. We are human. As Nadia Boltz-Webber says, "It's dark in hear." referring to our hearts. I wont ever return to the strict interpretations of faith and scripture of my youth simply because my mind has been opened and once a mind is opened to truth it's impossible to close it, but I wont belive that I am able to be perfect simply by trying harder. I need Jesus and is victory over sin and death to save me from my own sin and death. No matter what I believe the world needs Jesus to be freed from it's sin and death. This Easter will be the most special Easter I've experienced in a long while, because this Easter resurrection will mean more than it's ever meant before.
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
More controversy in the Church...whatever shall we do?
I'm amazed at the never ending litany of stories, blogs and reports clogging up my news feed on Face Book regarding human sexuality and the United Methodist Church. Most of you know my opinion on the issue. I think there is a clear difference between church marriage and civil marriage. One is a solemn ceremony conducted in view of God and friends and family. It is a sacred religious event that marks a major transition in the lives of two believers. The other is a legally binding contract between two consenting adults. For whatever reason an officer of the church, i.e Pastor, Priest or minister) is given the authority by the state to conduct state affairs and legalize and solemnize at the same time.
The big issue is whether or not LGBTQ person should be allowed to marry, legally and religiously, and should UMC pastor be allowed to conduct those ceremonies where it is legal to conduct them? I doubt we'll ever come to any real agreement on the issue, but a former professor of mine from United Theological Seminary as suggested a possible why forward for the continuous United Methodist Church. I think this way forward might just be the answer to pray so I wanted to share it with you this week. Below is a copy of Dr. David Watson's blog post for this week entitled "Separation without schism"
The big issue is whether or not LGBTQ person should be allowed to marry, legally and religiously, and should UMC pastor be allowed to conduct those ceremonies where it is legal to conduct them? I doubt we'll ever come to any real agreement on the issue, but a former professor of mine from United Theological Seminary as suggested a possible why forward for the continuous United Methodist Church. I think this way forward might just be the answer to pray so I wanted to share it with you this week. Below is a copy of Dr. David Watson's blog post for this week entitled "Separation without schism"
Lots of people are talking about schism in the UMC. I’m one of them. I don’t want a schism, but I recognize that one may be inevitable. Is it possible, though, that United Methodists could separate into two denominations without constituting a schism?
There have been many schisms, separations, and splinters in the history of the Church, but two stand out as most significant. The first is the schism between the East and West, which actually took place over centuries, but was made official in 1054 when Cardinal Humbert, the envoy of Pole Leo IX, walked into Hagia Sophia and placed a document on the altar a document excommunicating Patriarch of Constantinople, Michael Cerularius. Even after this time, Eastern and Western Christians lived and worshipped together. Eventually, however, a state of affairs emerged in which these eastern and western churches no longer recognized one another’s sacraments (including ordination), teaching authority, and liturgical traditions. There were other consequences as well, and over time they became two entirely separate communions.
The second major schism is of course the Protestant Reformation. We normally date the beginning of the Reformation to 1517, when Martin Luther nailed his “95 Theses” to the door of the church in Wittenberg. As with the first schism, however, this one was a long time in coming. The result was that we ended up with more Christians in separate communion from one another, without recognizing one another’s sacraments, ordination, liturgy, and teaching authority. Luther and many others were excommunicated. It wasn’t long, moreover, before Protestants began to break off from one another, each group insisting that it had the proper way to interpret scripture and the Christian life.
Ben Witherington of Asbury Seminary has recently written a blog post calling for another of these Protestant separations. He argues for the formation of a new Christian denomination that could be called something like the Progressive Methodist Church. Those United Methodists who cannot or will not live within the boundaries stipulated in the Book of Discipline, he says, should be allowed to go their own way in peace. They should be able to keep their properties and pensions. We should make all this as painless as possible, because the state we’re living in now can’t continue.
I’m not ready to endorse this idea, but there is something appealing about it. We have to find some way to let some air out of the balloon, or it’s going to pop. The last General Conference was a madhouse. I’m certain that the next one will be worse.
So let’s say we took Dr. Witherington’s advice and separated amicably into the Progressive Methodist Church and The United Methodist Church. This would not necessarily constitute a smaller scale version of the Great Schism of 1054 or the Protestant Reformation. It seems likely, for example, that we would recognize one another’s sacramental authority. Implicitly, then, we would recognize the ordination of the people who performed the sacraments. After all, we recognize the sacramental authority of many different traditions. In fact, the UMC is already in full communion with the ELCA and the Episcopal Church (both of which ordain gay and lesbian people), which means, among other things, that we may exchange clergy with one another. We implicitly recognize the ordination of very broad range of traditions by recognizing the baptism of virtually every other Christian group. Last I checked, we don’t ask if the person who performed the baptism was gay. Problems could arise if the baptism was in some name other than Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but that’s probably about it. Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, ELCA, PCA, PCUSA, UCC, Southern Baptist—it doesn’t really matter. If the minister was ordained in his/her tradition, we recognize his or her sacramental authority. It would require a full-communion agreement to bring their ministers into our churches, but we nevertheless implicitly state that their ordination is valid.
If the UMC separated into two different denominations, would we be less generous with one another than we are with, say, the Lutherans? It seems unlikely. What we’re talking about then, is not a schism, but a separation.
You may say, “You’re splitting hairs, here, Watson! You’re arguing semantics!” No, imaginary interlocutor, I am not. For Christians to recognize one another’s ordinations and sacramental authority is one of the most important ways in which we can promote unity in the body of Christ. It is the opposite of schism, and it is much more important than a denominational structure or some other formal means of identifying various Christian groups. Why? Sacrament is where the real action is in Christianity. The sacraments are where we most directly encounter God. When we say that we recognize one another’s sacraments and ordinations, we’re saying that in these sacramental activities, God is really showing up. Christ really is mediated to us by the power of the Holy Spirit. Is there anything more important than that?
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Honor exchanged for shame: Thoughts on America's history with Native peoples
I am the father to three, soon to be four, Native American children and the husband of a Native American women. My wife and kids are all registered tribal members of the Oklahoma Band of Cherokee Indians, a.k.a Cherokee Nation. I am proud of their heritage and of the heritage of all Native peoples. Most Native peoples treated the land and each other with respect and had a particular amount of integrity towards the land and creation as well as honor and respect. I am ashamed of the way our nation has treated these honorable people and I believe there will be a reckoning for America's unrepentant sins towards indigenous peoples.
In Northern Michigan there is an Island, an Island I'm sure all of you have heard of before. It's called Mackinac Island. It's a beautiful get away from all of life's hectic things. It's trapped in time, there are no cars and all the homes and buildings are from the victorian era. It's known for it's cool summer weather, fudge and "the Grand" (the Grand Hotel, built by the rail road companies hoping to capitalize on the the industrial wealth coming to the Island at the beginning of the 20th century). I love Mackinac Island as most who have been there do. As a young person growing up in Michigan it was an annual summer trip to go to the Island, buy some fudge, walk around the state park and enjoy the ferry ride to and from the island.
As much fun as the island is and as beautiful as it is, it was once more beautiful, more sacred than most of us know. The island is a sacred place in the tradition of some of its earliest known inhabitants, the Anishinaabe (Ojibwa) tribes, who consider it to be home to the Gitche Manitou or the "Great Spirit". Gitche Manitou is also known as the "great mystery". According to the Ojibwa, Mackinac Island was created by the Great Hare, Michabou and was the first land to appear after the recession of the Great Flood. The island was a gathering place for the local tribes where their offerings were made (in the form of tobacco) to Gitche Manitou and was where tribal chiefs were buried. A place that was once an organic, living, breathing temple...a sanctuary...the home of God himself, is now a tourist trap known for fudge, opulence and worthless souvenirs.
Gitche Manitou is a god much like ours. He is benevolent and nurturing and owns the universe. He is unknowable, which is why he is often called the great mystery. He gave humanity his entire stock of tobacco, which he loves, and asks us to smoke the tobacco as an offering to him. This sounds silly, but in the mythology it is a great gift and serves as a medium between Gitche Manitou and humanity.
What happened to Mackinac Island is just one example of White Europeans taking something sacred from the Native Peoples and treating it with shame and treating them with shame. The systematic hunting and killing off of the American Plains Buffalo, the uprooting of the Eastern tribes, i.e. Creek, Cherokee, Choctaw and Seminole and moving them hundreds of miles to the red dirt of Oklahoma, the intentional exposure of the Sioux and other Central tribes to small pox...all this is serves as a witness to our nations willingness to make minorities a means to an end for the sake of wealth and power. I understand that this happened almost 200 years ago, but there has never been any formal apology or attempt to reconcile and neither has there been one with the descendants of the Africans who were enslaved on this continent for 400 years!
I hope that there is more awareness about the plight of Native Peoples, what years of genocide have done to this once honorable people. They live in poverty, addicted to drugs and alcohol and plagued with obesity. They're forced on to reservations (if they want land to live on for free) and are offered subpar healthcare. Shame on our ancestors for stealing these peoples honor. My God have mercy on our nation.
In Northern Michigan there is an Island, an Island I'm sure all of you have heard of before. It's called Mackinac Island. It's a beautiful get away from all of life's hectic things. It's trapped in time, there are no cars and all the homes and buildings are from the victorian era. It's known for it's cool summer weather, fudge and "the Grand" (the Grand Hotel, built by the rail road companies hoping to capitalize on the the industrial wealth coming to the Island at the beginning of the 20th century). I love Mackinac Island as most who have been there do. As a young person growing up in Michigan it was an annual summer trip to go to the Island, buy some fudge, walk around the state park and enjoy the ferry ride to and from the island.
As much fun as the island is and as beautiful as it is, it was once more beautiful, more sacred than most of us know. The island is a sacred place in the tradition of some of its earliest known inhabitants, the Anishinaabe (Ojibwa) tribes, who consider it to be home to the Gitche Manitou or the "Great Spirit". Gitche Manitou is also known as the "great mystery". According to the Ojibwa, Mackinac Island was created by the Great Hare, Michabou and was the first land to appear after the recession of the Great Flood. The island was a gathering place for the local tribes where their offerings were made (in the form of tobacco) to Gitche Manitou and was where tribal chiefs were buried. A place that was once an organic, living, breathing temple...a sanctuary...the home of God himself, is now a tourist trap known for fudge, opulence and worthless souvenirs.
Gitche Manitou is a god much like ours. He is benevolent and nurturing and owns the universe. He is unknowable, which is why he is often called the great mystery. He gave humanity his entire stock of tobacco, which he loves, and asks us to smoke the tobacco as an offering to him. This sounds silly, but in the mythology it is a great gift and serves as a medium between Gitche Manitou and humanity.
What happened to Mackinac Island is just one example of White Europeans taking something sacred from the Native Peoples and treating it with shame and treating them with shame. The systematic hunting and killing off of the American Plains Buffalo, the uprooting of the Eastern tribes, i.e. Creek, Cherokee, Choctaw and Seminole and moving them hundreds of miles to the red dirt of Oklahoma, the intentional exposure of the Sioux and other Central tribes to small pox...all this is serves as a witness to our nations willingness to make minorities a means to an end for the sake of wealth and power. I understand that this happened almost 200 years ago, but there has never been any formal apology or attempt to reconcile and neither has there been one with the descendants of the Africans who were enslaved on this continent for 400 years!
I hope that there is more awareness about the plight of Native Peoples, what years of genocide have done to this once honorable people. They live in poverty, addicted to drugs and alcohol and plagued with obesity. They're forced on to reservations (if they want land to live on for free) and are offered subpar healthcare. Shame on our ancestors for stealing these peoples honor. My God have mercy on our nation.
This is the day that the Lord has made!! Reflections on a month of blessings.
These past three weeks, of which I have failed to post at all, have been immensely busy for me and our world. There's been the Olympics, Russia taking over the Crimea, Fred Phelps was excommunicated and thats just the world news. Theres lots to report from my own life, as well as reflections on those events which I hope will help you in your life.
Two weeks ago it was announced that I would be appointed to the Homer United Methodist Church in Midland, MI effective 7/1/2014. This will be my third appointment in the United Methodist Church and one that I a very excited about. I am, however, very sad to be leaving the church family we have here in Onaway and Millersburg and even asked my DS if it were possible, like a football coach, to bring with me some of my choice staff to help implement our game plan, of which he laughed and said no. I'm very grateful to the people of Onaway/Millersburg UMC for their love and support and their grace and patiences as I learned more about my call, gifts and trade. I was a 29 year old Seminary graduate when I came to Onaway and I showed it often. I really appreciate this collection of saints who helped refine this young pastors call. They will always be in my heart.
As significant as a new appointment is, probably the most significant thing that has happened professionally to me over the past 3 weeks is the approval of the Board of Ordained Ministry for commissioning as a Provisional Elder. This was a life time of preparation, even though I have not been a Methodist my whole life and I have been an Ordained minister in another tradition, I feel as if everything I have experienced up to this point was leading to the completion of this goal. I actually begin the journey in 2007 by joining the First United Methodist Church of Sallisaw, Oklahoma. I can really even go back a bit further to a conversation I had with Dr. Jack Harnish, who would tell you that he gave me a "kick in the pants" which motivated me to get going on my call to Ordained ministry.
The countless hours of work, worry, fear, doubt, joy, elation and the confirmation of the Holy Spirit, plus the countless amount of saints who have been there supporting me and encouraging me and showing me grace has all culminated with this one event...so far. Last Tuesday I met with the Board of Ordained Ministry for a round of interviews which went wounderfully. The interviews were encouraging, formative and a form of holy conferecning. The next day I received a call from a member of the Board informing me that I had been approved for Commissioning as a Provisional Elder. I felt weak in the knees and I cried, in fact the board member, a good friend of mine, told me to breath and relax. It was such an emotional moment I wasn't sure how to respond. I'm certain now that the only proper response is one of gratitude...gratitude to God and to the gracious saints who held my hand and made this possible.
Now as great as all that is I also found out recently that the baby my wife and I are having is going to be a girl!! After three ruckus and rowdy boys it'll be nice to have a sweet little baby girl. We have already decided to name her. Her name will be Sophia Elizabeth Blanchard. Elizabeth is a tribute to the Advent story of Zachariah and Elizabeth's surprise baby...John the Baptist. Sophie was a surprise to me, not an intentional pregnancy, but she will be great in the eyes of God and do great things in for God's kingdom.
I'm overwhelmed with blessings and I'm grateful. My heart is filled to the brim with gratitude and thanksgiving. I'm so happy to see so many of my life's goals coming to fruition and I know this is really just the start of more of life's challenges, but for now I will sit in the sun and absorb it's warm rays and enjoy the day, for this is the day that the Lord has made. Amen.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Josh
Two weeks ago it was announced that I would be appointed to the Homer United Methodist Church in Midland, MI effective 7/1/2014. This will be my third appointment in the United Methodist Church and one that I a very excited about. I am, however, very sad to be leaving the church family we have here in Onaway and Millersburg and even asked my DS if it were possible, like a football coach, to bring with me some of my choice staff to help implement our game plan, of which he laughed and said no. I'm very grateful to the people of Onaway/Millersburg UMC for their love and support and their grace and patiences as I learned more about my call, gifts and trade. I was a 29 year old Seminary graduate when I came to Onaway and I showed it often. I really appreciate this collection of saints who helped refine this young pastors call. They will always be in my heart.
As significant as a new appointment is, probably the most significant thing that has happened professionally to me over the past 3 weeks is the approval of the Board of Ordained Ministry for commissioning as a Provisional Elder. This was a life time of preparation, even though I have not been a Methodist my whole life and I have been an Ordained minister in another tradition, I feel as if everything I have experienced up to this point was leading to the completion of this goal. I actually begin the journey in 2007 by joining the First United Methodist Church of Sallisaw, Oklahoma. I can really even go back a bit further to a conversation I had with Dr. Jack Harnish, who would tell you that he gave me a "kick in the pants" which motivated me to get going on my call to Ordained ministry.
The countless hours of work, worry, fear, doubt, joy, elation and the confirmation of the Holy Spirit, plus the countless amount of saints who have been there supporting me and encouraging me and showing me grace has all culminated with this one event...so far. Last Tuesday I met with the Board of Ordained Ministry for a round of interviews which went wounderfully. The interviews were encouraging, formative and a form of holy conferecning. The next day I received a call from a member of the Board informing me that I had been approved for Commissioning as a Provisional Elder. I felt weak in the knees and I cried, in fact the board member, a good friend of mine, told me to breath and relax. It was such an emotional moment I wasn't sure how to respond. I'm certain now that the only proper response is one of gratitude...gratitude to God and to the gracious saints who held my hand and made this possible.
Now as great as all that is I also found out recently that the baby my wife and I are having is going to be a girl!! After three ruckus and rowdy boys it'll be nice to have a sweet little baby girl. We have already decided to name her. Her name will be Sophia Elizabeth Blanchard. Elizabeth is a tribute to the Advent story of Zachariah and Elizabeth's surprise baby...John the Baptist. Sophie was a surprise to me, not an intentional pregnancy, but she will be great in the eyes of God and do great things in for God's kingdom.
I'm overwhelmed with blessings and I'm grateful. My heart is filled to the brim with gratitude and thanksgiving. I'm so happy to see so many of my life's goals coming to fruition and I know this is really just the start of more of life's challenges, but for now I will sit in the sun and absorb it's warm rays and enjoy the day, for this is the day that the Lord has made. Amen.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Josh
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
The Might Month of March!
Where I pastor ww are just wrapping up a series of sermons called, "The All-America Month of February." It was kind of a tongue a cheek series. Obviously a month with record snow falls and cold temps doesn't evoke images of American greatness...well not quite like July does. It does however have several holidays that are uniquely American, but perhaps are not thought of as holidays, i.e Super Bowl Sunday, Ground Hog day, and Presidents day. Along with tying together the biblical theme togetherness we also explored the theme of the other. Being that it was Black History Month we also covered some of America's greatest Black historical figures. I think it went well. I had fun planning, preparing and delivering these sermons. Next up is March!
There's no catchy theme for March because for me March will be a very busy month, but also because this year March contains the early part of Lent. Growing up in a Pentecostal church we had little to no Lent, but plenty of lint...ha ha ha. Really though, I never recall hearing anything about Lent other than it was a Catholic thing and there for must be bad. Little did I know that Lent was a time of growth, reflection, introspect and reconcilliation. Lent is a truly blessed time of simplicity and un-indulgence.
I discovered Lent as a wayward, back sliden, recovering fundamentalist and pentecostal via the Episcopal Church. At that point in my life I was ready to embrace any form of Christianity that did not resembled the form of which I knew, i.e Pentecostalism. It was explained to me by a very wise, old, and country Priest that Lent was a time of repentance and reflection, used to help prepare us for the joy of the resurrection and the new life in Jesus. In away the relationship that Lent has to easter is very similar to the relationship that our earthly lives have to our eternal lives, it prepares us.
This year I'll start it all off with ashes, but hopefully I'll be more intentional about engaging in prayer and end up with a better understanding of God. I will fast and abstain and all those other Methodist things, but I also want to add, to do more, read more, pray more, give more, so that this time of reflection is not simply about not eating donuts or drinking diet coke or not logging on to Facebook or not txting while driving, but is about growing and becoming something new.
Lent is a gift. A chance to look inside and reflect on what we are and where we are going and if we find out that we are not what God is calling us to be or we find that we are heading down the wrong path, come the last Friday in Lent we can rally at the cross and be reborn on Sunday! So this Lent embrace the the time to reflect, to look inside and enjoy the mighty month of March.
There's no catchy theme for March because for me March will be a very busy month, but also because this year March contains the early part of Lent. Growing up in a Pentecostal church we had little to no Lent, but plenty of lint...ha ha ha. Really though, I never recall hearing anything about Lent other than it was a Catholic thing and there for must be bad. Little did I know that Lent was a time of growth, reflection, introspect and reconcilliation. Lent is a truly blessed time of simplicity and un-indulgence.
I discovered Lent as a wayward, back sliden, recovering fundamentalist and pentecostal via the Episcopal Church. At that point in my life I was ready to embrace any form of Christianity that did not resembled the form of which I knew, i.e Pentecostalism. It was explained to me by a very wise, old, and country Priest that Lent was a time of repentance and reflection, used to help prepare us for the joy of the resurrection and the new life in Jesus. In away the relationship that Lent has to easter is very similar to the relationship that our earthly lives have to our eternal lives, it prepares us.
This year I'll start it all off with ashes, but hopefully I'll be more intentional about engaging in prayer and end up with a better understanding of God. I will fast and abstain and all those other Methodist things, but I also want to add, to do more, read more, pray more, give more, so that this time of reflection is not simply about not eating donuts or drinking diet coke or not logging on to Facebook or not txting while driving, but is about growing and becoming something new.
Lent is a gift. A chance to look inside and reflect on what we are and where we are going and if we find out that we are not what God is calling us to be or we find that we are heading down the wrong path, come the last Friday in Lent we can rally at the cross and be reborn on Sunday! So this Lent embrace the the time to reflect, to look inside and enjoy the mighty month of March.
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
United Methodist Ministry: What are we doing and Who are We?
This past week I posted a question in a Facebook Group page on the role of Local Pastors and their use of traditionally Ordained person styles, garments and vestments. I got a lot of different response, but most of them were either of the visceral type or showed complete indifference. I suppose on the grand scheme of things whether Local Pastors can wear collars, stoles and robes and whether they can use the style Rev. in front of their names really is inconsequential. What matters is whether or not good ministry is taking place and whether or not the gospel is being taught and shared and changed lives are the result of that, I understand, believe me I do.
I've been a Licensed Local Pastor (LLP) now for over five years. This May, assuming everything goes well, I'll be an Elder, a commissioned Elder, and will begin my two year probationary journey to Full and Ordained Elder. I understand the difficulties, the challenges and to and extent, perhaps the discrimination some LLP's feel, so again, I get it. I also understand that there is a difference between an Elder and an LLP, one that should be distinctive, but in away is vague when we sit down and try to discuss it. After all an LLP is a pastor, he can celebrate sacraments, perform wedding, funerals and all other Pastoral ministry and is intinerate. What does and Elder do? Please refer to the prior sentence. The practical difference that I can see is guaranteed appointments, larger churches and better salaries. Elders are, for the most part, guaranteed those things. On tope of those things Elders can expect to have close to $70,000 in debt, endure a rigorous and sometimes random and always frustrating Ordination process, and an expectation of constant professionalism.
Please don't misunderstand me, I love LLP's and value their ministry, I feel certainty that I am called to Ordained ministry, but why would one go through all this when they can virtually do the same thing with 1/4 of the complications? I know plenty of people, even those who commented to my post over the weekend, who said they were happy being and LLP an that they felt no pressure or urgency to become Ordained. Even young people in their mid thirties are opting to remain as local pastors because it's to much money and work to become and Elder and DCOM's and BoOM's are fine with that.
I believe in the call to Eldership in the church. The church needs Elders, it needs the Ordained Elder, the Ordained Elder is a gift from God, they are called of God to order the life of the church, preserve the apostolic presents and administer the sacraments. Without the Ordained Elder the church would fail. I think it's time we discuss what Ordination is instead of just taking about what they do. They do everything an LLP (essentially a temporary clergy person or lay pastor) can do, but at a much higher cost, personally and finically. But what does it do to them, what changes about them, ontologically how are they different from the LLP? The cost to them is greater, the devotion, the sacrifice and the life time spent sold out out to the body, like St. Paul, becoming a servant, giving up their rights and identity. But how do we recognize this other than with higher salaries and bigger churches? All those things are great feats of faith that the Elder provides to the church. Her witness and devotion to God by willing to give everything up is a great feat of faith, enabled only by a perfecting God. The Elder devotes her life, her finances, her family to service the church. What does that mean for her, how does that change her?
I think LLP's are great pastors, who also sacrifice, but they're pastors. Is an Elder just a pastor? I don't think so. I think they truly are the gift of the apostolic presents in our churches. I've heard it said once that though your young pastor might be 30 years younger than you, when he wears that stole, he is 2,000 years old. My hope is that we continue to discuss the role of the ordained, and what ordination does and not just what they do. I hope that LLP's recognize the sacrifice and devotion of Elders. So many LLP's seem to have a chip on their shoulder regarding Elders. They feel that they are just as good, just as qualified, just as significant to the church...and they are, to an extent, but if all the church needed was the LLP, we wouldn't have Elders, if all we needed was the Pastor, we wouldn't need Elders. This is a conversation, like most in our church that will be polarizing and controversial and to some inflammatory, but we need to have it. I hope my thoughts don't offend any of you, but instead calls us all to reflection.
I've been a Licensed Local Pastor (LLP) now for over five years. This May, assuming everything goes well, I'll be an Elder, a commissioned Elder, and will begin my two year probationary journey to Full and Ordained Elder. I understand the difficulties, the challenges and to and extent, perhaps the discrimination some LLP's feel, so again, I get it. I also understand that there is a difference between an Elder and an LLP, one that should be distinctive, but in away is vague when we sit down and try to discuss it. After all an LLP is a pastor, he can celebrate sacraments, perform wedding, funerals and all other Pastoral ministry and is intinerate. What does and Elder do? Please refer to the prior sentence. The practical difference that I can see is guaranteed appointments, larger churches and better salaries. Elders are, for the most part, guaranteed those things. On tope of those things Elders can expect to have close to $70,000 in debt, endure a rigorous and sometimes random and always frustrating Ordination process, and an expectation of constant professionalism.
Please don't misunderstand me, I love LLP's and value their ministry, I feel certainty that I am called to Ordained ministry, but why would one go through all this when they can virtually do the same thing with 1/4 of the complications? I know plenty of people, even those who commented to my post over the weekend, who said they were happy being and LLP an that they felt no pressure or urgency to become Ordained. Even young people in their mid thirties are opting to remain as local pastors because it's to much money and work to become and Elder and DCOM's and BoOM's are fine with that.
I believe in the call to Eldership in the church. The church needs Elders, it needs the Ordained Elder, the Ordained Elder is a gift from God, they are called of God to order the life of the church, preserve the apostolic presents and administer the sacraments. Without the Ordained Elder the church would fail. I think it's time we discuss what Ordination is instead of just taking about what they do. They do everything an LLP (essentially a temporary clergy person or lay pastor) can do, but at a much higher cost, personally and finically. But what does it do to them, what changes about them, ontologically how are they different from the LLP? The cost to them is greater, the devotion, the sacrifice and the life time spent sold out out to the body, like St. Paul, becoming a servant, giving up their rights and identity. But how do we recognize this other than with higher salaries and bigger churches? All those things are great feats of faith that the Elder provides to the church. Her witness and devotion to God by willing to give everything up is a great feat of faith, enabled only by a perfecting God. The Elder devotes her life, her finances, her family to service the church. What does that mean for her, how does that change her?
I think LLP's are great pastors, who also sacrifice, but they're pastors. Is an Elder just a pastor? I don't think so. I think they truly are the gift of the apostolic presents in our churches. I've heard it said once that though your young pastor might be 30 years younger than you, when he wears that stole, he is 2,000 years old. My hope is that we continue to discuss the role of the ordained, and what ordination does and not just what they do. I hope that LLP's recognize the sacrifice and devotion of Elders. So many LLP's seem to have a chip on their shoulder regarding Elders. They feel that they are just as good, just as qualified, just as significant to the church...and they are, to an extent, but if all the church needed was the LLP, we wouldn't have Elders, if all we needed was the Pastor, we wouldn't need Elders. This is a conversation, like most in our church that will be polarizing and controversial and to some inflammatory, but we need to have it. I hope my thoughts don't offend any of you, but instead calls us all to reflection.
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
When I say Bishop, you say Deb!: What A Biblical Model of Episcopacy Ought to Look Like Through the Eyes of a Young Clergy (FL)
I've not been a United Methodist very long (about 6 years and 5 of those years under appointment), but long enough to know that not all Bishops are created equal. I mean yes they are made in the image of God and yada, yada, yada. What I mean is that not all of them posses the pastoral qualities that I think a bishop should have. Perhaps I'm treading on thin ice talking about our Bishop and such. I'm not even a provisional member yet (hopefully I be will in May). I'm just a FL (Full Time Local Pastor) who recently graduated from seminary and is serving in obscurity on the Northern boarder of the Saginaw Bay district, so maybe my opinion doesn't amount to much, but I've got to say...we in the Michigan Area are blessed to have one of the, if not the, most pastorally minded Bishops in the connexion.
In July of 2012 the North Central Jurisdiction assigned Bishop Deborah Lieder Kiesey to the Michigan Area, which is essentially a two point charge. It's composed of the West Michigan Conference and the Detroit Conference. This is an area of nearly 150,000 church members. Thats the size of many denominations in North America! She came to us from the Dakota's, perhaps serving in obscurity herself in a rather small episcopal area. There was a lot of hope and anticipation surrounding her assignment. Personally I attended seminary with a group of young clergy from the Dakota's and they all said great things about her. Particularly they said, and a concern of mine, was that she was very interested and responsive to young clergy and clergy families. I'm happy to say that I have found this report to be true and that all the excitement and energy surrounding her assignment was not smoke and mirrors, but very appropriate. One of the first things she did upon arrival was tour the area. I attended a gathering at Indian River UMC where she preached to and fellowship with clergy and laity. Thats when she told us we called call her, "Bishop Deb." Wow, I thought, she wants us to use her first name!? I think thats when I realized that we had been given a gift as an area, a truly pastoral bishop who is going to want, most of all, what's best for us. The following year in the summer she spent a day and a night at camp with a group of young clergy families. She watched our corny talent show, sat around the fire as we told stories and asked questions. The next day she lead worship and followed it up with a 2hr question and answer session with both clergy and clergy spouses. She ended her time with us by eating lunch and giving us all a blessing as she departed. On top of those actions she has always responded to my personal e-mails, i.e. questions, invitation to preach and a welcome.
In July of 2012 the North Central Jurisdiction assigned Bishop Deborah Lieder Kiesey to the Michigan Area, which is essentially a two point charge. It's composed of the West Michigan Conference and the Detroit Conference. This is an area of nearly 150,000 church members. Thats the size of many denominations in North America! She came to us from the Dakota's, perhaps serving in obscurity herself in a rather small episcopal area. There was a lot of hope and anticipation surrounding her assignment. Personally I attended seminary with a group of young clergy from the Dakota's and they all said great things about her. Particularly they said, and a concern of mine, was that she was very interested and responsive to young clergy and clergy families. I'm happy to say that I have found this report to be true and that all the excitement and energy surrounding her assignment was not smoke and mirrors, but very appropriate. One of the first things she did upon arrival was tour the area. I attended a gathering at Indian River UMC where she preached to and fellowship with clergy and laity. Thats when she told us we called call her, "Bishop Deb." Wow, I thought, she wants us to use her first name!? I think thats when I realized that we had been given a gift as an area, a truly pastoral bishop who is going to want, most of all, what's best for us. The following year in the summer she spent a day and a night at camp with a group of young clergy families. She watched our corny talent show, sat around the fire as we told stories and asked questions. The next day she lead worship and followed it up with a 2hr question and answer session with both clergy and clergy spouses. She ended her time with us by eating lunch and giving us all a blessing as she departed. On top of those actions she has always responded to my personal e-mails, i.e. questions, invitation to preach and a welcome.
Recently she has invited input on normally "top secret" discussions from area clergy, both lay pastors and ordained. She has opened discussion for all 150,000 Michigan Area United Methodists on creating a "new work in the Michigan area." A combined conference, not a merger, but a new work. Like I said, I've not been around very long, but I've been around long enough to know just how fortunate we are to have Bishop Deb as our Bishop and I, along with many other Michigan Area Clergy and Laity, are looking forward to a hopefully long relationship of leading by and following of Bishop Deb!
Grace and Peace,
Josh
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
MLK, Human Relations Sunday and the push for a progressive Wesleyan faith
This coming Monday, January 20th, America will take a moment, at least officially, to honor one of it's most prophetic and heroic figures...Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Unfortunately even though it's an official holiday lots of people will ignore it and lots of people will treat that day with contempt. I recently had a member of one of my churches say that it's not fair that Martin Luther King, Jr gets his own holiday and that some schools and banks close to observe that day. He went on to say his kids are expected to attend school on Veterans day and that Veterans did more for this country than any Black preacher could ever do. I agree Veterans are important and so is their sacrifice, but that "black preacher" transformed a backwards, bigoted and racist society into one that, for the most part, has at lest learned tolerance for the other. Tolerance, however, is not and should not be the vision we desire to have for relationships with others in our communities who's skin, gender, and lifestyle is different from the prevailing and dominant raced as white and sexed as male culture we live in. Tolerance is not love, tolerance is not grace, tolerance is saying, "I wont hurt you, discriminate against you are even kill you because you are different." The truth is tolerance is the enemy of love and grace. What our vision ought to be is acceptance. We need to have a vision, or what Dr. King called, "a dream", of a society that embraces the various ways that God's image is in each and everyone of us, despite our race, gender and sexual orientation.
As a pastor I am disappointed that our church has not arrived yet at a place of full acceptance and inclusion of all the various ways God is imagined in humanity. Our church, the United Methodist Church, is at a crossroads with a traditional and prevailing view of humanity and society. We cling to an archaic interpretation of family and sexuality and call it "being faithful" to tradition and scripture. It seems like when Dr. King and the social revolutionaries of the civil rights era were advocating for a more just and advertent society many in our church then were against that as well. There were pastors defrocked, churches attacked and even people killed because of the radical idea that all men were created equal and that society can truly be a place of liberty and justice for all.
Unfortunately our church, at lest the Methodist Episcopal stream, has always sided with traditional interpretations of life and scripture (when threatened with loss of membership or money) , but fortunately many of the other streams, such as the Brethren and the Methodist Protestant streams, had embraced progressive visions of church and society, i.e the ordination of women and black ministers, when it wasn't popular. I think overall the leadership of the United Methodist Church is moving towards embracing a progressive vision of church. Now some still don't and cannot and won't. For example, I had an Elder in my conference tell me that because of my support for dialogue, just dialogue, regarding full inclusion of homosexual persons in the life of the church, he regretted helping me with my commissioning paper work and would be voting against me at Annual Conference when my name is put before the executive session of Elders for provisional membership. I'm sure 50 years ago there where Elders who said the same thing to young pastors, especially in the South, who dared to say "blacks should have the same rights as whites, in society and in the church."
So this Sunday the Church celebrates Human Relations Sunday. We are asked to have special prayers, litanies, hymns, and to take up a special offering that help raise awareness on how we interact with other humans in our own communities and globally. I think it's safe to say that the circus that has preceded this years Human Relations Sunday, i.e the Gay Marriage trials, might have a negative effect on what we are trying to convey by having a Human Relations Sunday. This Sunday I'm going to attempt to share the importance of keeping Dr. Kings "dream" alive, not just over issues of race, but all issues of bigotry, i.e homosexual rights, workers rights, and women's health rights. I'm sure that in the small Northern Michigan community I live and serve in, this won't be popular. It'll have to be nuanced a bit, but hopefully the message and the agenda of a Human Relations Sunday will "get out there" and maybe at least challenge, if not transform some hearts and lives.
The biggest challenge we have as a Wesleyan tradition is adjusting to becoming a progressive church. My understanding of Wesley's faith was that he, as a son of the enlightenment age, had a rather progressive vision for Christianity, also he struggled with the traditional world view he grew up with and lived in. Fortunately in the frontier world that Methodism thrived in, Mr. Wesley's Methodism found some rather progressive partners who challenged a traditional world view and championed a progressive world view...in some ways;). Methodist were the first to have racially mixed worship and women leaders and preachers. By 1800 almost 80% of Methodist were black, unfortunately then, like now, we allowed social pressures to cloud our judgment and instead of being a mixed racial church we helped blacks start their own Methodist tradition, the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Methodism has in it's DNA the make up that is needed to be the most inclusive, gospel centered, evangelically minded form of progressive Christianity the world has ever seen! The question is will we embrace that possibility or will retreat back to stereo types, bigotry and exclusiveness? This sunday, Human relations Sunday, is a perfect opportunity to reflect on this question and maybe develop a gospel centered response for it. We will have to wait and see.
"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Grace and Peace,
Josh
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
I didn't get the job, but instead found a calling.
About 7years ago I interviewed for a job at Birmingham First United Methodist Church in Birmingham, MI. I was then working at the Oklahoma United Methodist Boys Ranch as a counselor and resources officer. I enjoyed my job, but was anxious to find a job in ministry. There weren't too many full time openings in the tradition I was then currently part of, so I thought I tried my chances with a "sister denomination." I sent my resume, made my follow up phone calls and was eventually invited to a face-to-face interview with the leadership of Birmingham First. I was intimidated by the size of the church, committees and community and it was not my best interview. I few hours after the interview, the pastor, now one of my closest friends and mentor, Jack Harnish called to say, "Josh, you didn't get the job, but have you considered pastoral ministry?" I had, in fact that was what I really wanted to do, but as I mentioned, there were not many opportunities in the tradition I was currently part of. Jack went on to, "give me a swift kick in the pants" an encouraged me to pursue ordination and pastoral ministry in the United Methodist Church. I had consider this before, but I was intimidated by the sheer amount of work, education and discipline it took to become a United Methodist Elder, but for whatever reason, Jacks "kick to the butt" was enough that day and I decided I was going to do what it took to become a UMC Elder!
So, I didn't get the job I wanted, but I did get a vocation I am extremely proud of and happy with. I guess this goes to show that from time to time, we all need a butt kicking :) to get us going in the right direction and from time to time we don't get the job, but instead find a life calling. I'm looking forward to a life time of service as an Ordained person in the United Methodist Church and it all stared with a faithful, spiritually sensitive and life oriented church father who wasn't afraid to kick a little butt. Thanks Jack, you have my permission to land another swift kick anytime you think I need one! ;)
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| Me, my wife Amanda, Jim and Bev Miller and Rev. Jack and Judy Harnish at Onaway United Methodist Church |
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
These are a few of my favorite things....
Last week a live version of "The Sound of Music" was aired on NBC. It was fun and entertaining, though some singers are not gifted as actresses and should stick to singing songs about vandalizing old boyfriends cars out side of country bars. A very memorable song from this musical, now and when Julie Andrews stared in it, is the song "My favorite things." It's a list of things that make the character happy when she's sad. I was wondering, do we all have a list of favorite things? Are there things that when we are down, these things pick us back up and how much do we rely on these "favorite things"?
Here is my list of favorite things (and people), not in any particular order, so please do not read to much into the list:
My sons
My wife
My bulldog meatball
My pipe
My job as a pastor
My church
My conference
My District
My DS...yes he is one of my favorite people :)
My colleges (Eric, Jeff, Jack, Trevor, Pat, Mike, Lisa, Larry, Josh, Kameron and many, many more)
My co-workers (Linda, Kaye, Norma and Marry)
Pumpkin pie
Cherry Pie
French toast
Pancakes
Pizza
Scripture
Jesus
Christmas
Thanksgiving
Summer
Oklahoma
Michigan
I've got a pretty long list of favs :). In times of frustration I think, do, visit, and eat many of these things. During the Holiday season I think we are more aware of these things and people than we are any other time of the year. During Thanksgiving we reflect on being thankful for them, during Xmas we reflect on the gift that these people and things are in our busy, chaotic and often overwhelming lives. When the New Year starts we reflect on how we are going to be better people and more appreciative towards the people and things that God has so graciously placed in our lives. But the rest of the year we kinda over look these things and take them for granted. I hope I learn to not take these people and things for granted and communicate to them how much I love and appreciate them and to communicate to God how thankful I am to have so much in my life, more than during one 2month period a year.
This is my last post for the 2013 year. I wont be posting anymore thought until we are on the other side of December. I hope all of you take the opportunity to tell those you love, those you honor, those you care for that you love them. I hope you tell God how grateful you are for all the stuff and people in your lives. I hope you have a blessed rest of Advent and I hope you have a magical, mysterious and miraculous Christmas.
In Christ,
Josh Blanchard
Here is my list of favorite things (and people), not in any particular order, so please do not read to much into the list:
My sons
My wife
My bulldog meatball
My pipe
My job as a pastor
My church
My conference
My District
My DS...yes he is one of my favorite people :)
My colleges (Eric, Jeff, Jack, Trevor, Pat, Mike, Lisa, Larry, Josh, Kameron and many, many more)
My co-workers (Linda, Kaye, Norma and Marry)
Pumpkin pie
Cherry Pie
French toast
Pancakes
Pizza
Scripture
Jesus
Christmas
Thanksgiving
Summer
Oklahoma
Michigan
I've got a pretty long list of favs :). In times of frustration I think, do, visit, and eat many of these things. During the Holiday season I think we are more aware of these things and people than we are any other time of the year. During Thanksgiving we reflect on being thankful for them, during Xmas we reflect on the gift that these people and things are in our busy, chaotic and often overwhelming lives. When the New Year starts we reflect on how we are going to be better people and more appreciative towards the people and things that God has so graciously placed in our lives. But the rest of the year we kinda over look these things and take them for granted. I hope I learn to not take these people and things for granted and communicate to them how much I love and appreciate them and to communicate to God how thankful I am to have so much in my life, more than during one 2month period a year.
This is my last post for the 2013 year. I wont be posting anymore thought until we are on the other side of December. I hope all of you take the opportunity to tell those you love, those you honor, those you care for that you love them. I hope you tell God how grateful you are for all the stuff and people in your lives. I hope you have a blessed rest of Advent and I hope you have a magical, mysterious and miraculous Christmas.
In Christ,
Josh Blanchard
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
A thank-FULL people
This week marks the US celebration of the Thanksgiving Holiday. Its a day about family, friends, and giving thanks, but do we really practice these values that are suppose to be so important on this day? I don't think we really know how to as a nation of mostly over feed, under paid and hardly grateful people. Sounds harsh I know, but it's the truth. America's not a bad place, in fact it's the greatest nation on earth, other than the Scandinavia, Canada, Australia...well you get the point. Really though, there a lot of positive idea's and values that stem from American minds, it's just that so many of them go un practiced in America.
There really is a lot to be thankful for in our nation. Our dysfunctional, broken and often useless government is not one of them. Our sub standard minimum wage, over priced healthcare system and failing education system are also all hard to be thankful for. Especially when the stock market is soaring, corporate profits are at an all time high and conservative tea party politicians complain about the $36 per person, per year that welfare cost Americans verses the $6000 per person per year that big business subsides cost Americans. Those things are all difficult places to find thanks in. But really when you look at the big picture things are good. Unless you're gay, black, hispanic, female, or a non-citzen, then things are still pretty tough. Given the continued resistance to comprehensive immigration reforms by Tea Party Republicans, the continued targeting of Black and Hispanic Americans by conservative state governments, the assault on voter rights for these populations and places like Oklahoma being willing to simply cut out benefits all together rather than provide them for gay couples, there might not be a whole lot to be thankful for.
Perhaps I'm being to hard, perhaps I'm being unpatriotic and un American, after all what's more American than gluttony and over indulgence, of which both we engage in at their finest over the thanksgiving holiday, i.e stuffing ourselves full of turkey, potatoes and pie on thursday and rushing to the store (now on thursday evening) the next guy to buy, buy, buy!!! This Holiday was never about family, friends and thanks. It's about them in theory, but in 1941 when the government made it a national day of thanks, it was about setting up the Xmas holiday season and the economic push that comes from it. Really if we wanted to celebrate the harvest we'd do it when the Canadians do it in October, when stuffs actually being harvested. By the end of November much of the nation is blanked with snow, ice and cold weather and the harvest has been over for about two months.
So does this mean this is all for not, all at a lose, just big and fabricated attemped to trick us into the holiday spirit so that we can buy, buy, buy? Is it only a contrived sense of being thankFUL so that we can have an excuse for being so FULL on food and stuff while 2/3 of the world lives on less than $1.25 a week? I suppose we could continue being that critical about it and get nothing out of it at all, but what good would that do? I propose that we take the GIVING part seriously and reflect on our God given opportunities to Give to those in need this year, and be full of giving and not just full.
St. Paul tells the Corinthians in 2nd Corinthians 9 that giving and generosity, charitably and graciousness are all gifts from God and that they should be thankful that they have the chance to give. It is a blessing to be able to give, both of resource and of hearts. As we enter into the holiday season lets consider how we can be thankful about our opportunity to give (those of use who have been blessed with more than we need.) This thanksgiving please be considerate of the other and try being full of thanks giving and not just simply FULL.
Happy Holidays,
Pastor Josh
There really is a lot to be thankful for in our nation. Our dysfunctional, broken and often useless government is not one of them. Our sub standard minimum wage, over priced healthcare system and failing education system are also all hard to be thankful for. Especially when the stock market is soaring, corporate profits are at an all time high and conservative tea party politicians complain about the $36 per person, per year that welfare cost Americans verses the $6000 per person per year that big business subsides cost Americans. Those things are all difficult places to find thanks in. But really when you look at the big picture things are good. Unless you're gay, black, hispanic, female, or a non-citzen, then things are still pretty tough. Given the continued resistance to comprehensive immigration reforms by Tea Party Republicans, the continued targeting of Black and Hispanic Americans by conservative state governments, the assault on voter rights for these populations and places like Oklahoma being willing to simply cut out benefits all together rather than provide them for gay couples, there might not be a whole lot to be thankful for.
Perhaps I'm being to hard, perhaps I'm being unpatriotic and un American, after all what's more American than gluttony and over indulgence, of which both we engage in at their finest over the thanksgiving holiday, i.e stuffing ourselves full of turkey, potatoes and pie on thursday and rushing to the store (now on thursday evening) the next guy to buy, buy, buy!!! This Holiday was never about family, friends and thanks. It's about them in theory, but in 1941 when the government made it a national day of thanks, it was about setting up the Xmas holiday season and the economic push that comes from it. Really if we wanted to celebrate the harvest we'd do it when the Canadians do it in October, when stuffs actually being harvested. By the end of November much of the nation is blanked with snow, ice and cold weather and the harvest has been over for about two months.
So does this mean this is all for not, all at a lose, just big and fabricated attemped to trick us into the holiday spirit so that we can buy, buy, buy? Is it only a contrived sense of being thankFUL so that we can have an excuse for being so FULL on food and stuff while 2/3 of the world lives on less than $1.25 a week? I suppose we could continue being that critical about it and get nothing out of it at all, but what good would that do? I propose that we take the GIVING part seriously and reflect on our God given opportunities to Give to those in need this year, and be full of giving and not just full.
St. Paul tells the Corinthians in 2nd Corinthians 9 that giving and generosity, charitably and graciousness are all gifts from God and that they should be thankful that they have the chance to give. It is a blessing to be able to give, both of resource and of hearts. As we enter into the holiday season lets consider how we can be thankful about our opportunity to give (those of use who have been blessed with more than we need.) This thanksgiving please be considerate of the other and try being full of thanks giving and not just simply FULL.
Happy Holidays,
Pastor Josh
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Right or wrong...you agreed: Issues of convent within United Methodist clergy vows
I'm a pretty moderate guy. I think myAssemblies of God, LCMS Lutheran, and evangelical friends would say I'm a bit left leaning, while my Main line buddies, i.e ELCA, DOC, UCC, PCUSA, etc would say I'm a little more conservative than they're comfortable with. So I think with them both being uncomfortable with many of my positions it makes me a good candidate for being a moderately progressive evangelical :) lol. Truth is I like to play both sides of the fence. Not to be controversial or "wishy washy", but because I think the heart of a truly reflective reformer wrestles with societies major issues and treads lightly within them.
The big issue trending within UMC Facebook groups and the religious media world is the trial of the Pennsylvania UMC pastor who, several years ago, married a gay couple. This is against the rule and Discipline of the United Methodist Church. It is a crime, a chargeable offense, which ought to result in the defrocking of any clergy who willing violates this rule. As is the case with most political, social and religious issues, I have an opinion...and so does everyone else. :)
As a UMC pastor, a role which I love and cherish, I am bound by covenant to up hold the doctrines and standards of the United Methodist Church. Let me preface any further statments with this: I love the UMC. If it were not for the UMC I would not have any faith to speak of. They came into my life when I was fed up with an empty, theologically bankrupt and socially irrelevant church. With that being said, all this fighting and arguing and the very real possibility of schism saddens me greatly as it should all peoples called Methodist. As sad as I am about the fighting and stuff, I'm even more saddened by other UMC clergy and their willingness to openly violate and disobey the rules and covenant they vowed to up hold. Thats what its all about...the total disregard for order and covenant.
I have always been a supporter of Gay rights, gay marriage and LGBTQI inclusion into the the life of the church...FULL INCLUSION, but I refuse, and so should all clergy, to willingly violate our covenant with the the church to further our own ideals. Do we not believe that the Holy Spirit is at work in our times of Holy Conferencing? General Conference has ruled since the late 70's to not allow Gay marriage and openly gay clergy. This is the body that speaks for the church, the world wide collection of United Methodists being led by the Holy Spirit...right? If we do not believe this than whats the point? Either we believe the Holy Spirit is active and working in Holy Conferencing or She's not, but which is it?
I whole heartedly believe that there will come a day where the church will have to move forward and fully accept LGBTQI persons, both into the ordained ministry and into the Sacramental act of marriage, but that day is obviously not today. Not only will we have to, but it's the right thing, but not like this. The Holy Spirit will speak through Holy Conferencing when the time is right. He has in the past, She will in the future. Until that day we need to hold the lines, remain faithful, and up hold the doctrine and Discipline of the United Methodist Church.
The big issue trending within UMC Facebook groups and the religious media world is the trial of the Pennsylvania UMC pastor who, several years ago, married a gay couple. This is against the rule and Discipline of the United Methodist Church. It is a crime, a chargeable offense, which ought to result in the defrocking of any clergy who willing violates this rule. As is the case with most political, social and religious issues, I have an opinion...and so does everyone else. :)
As a UMC pastor, a role which I love and cherish, I am bound by covenant to up hold the doctrines and standards of the United Methodist Church. Let me preface any further statments with this: I love the UMC. If it were not for the UMC I would not have any faith to speak of. They came into my life when I was fed up with an empty, theologically bankrupt and socially irrelevant church. With that being said, all this fighting and arguing and the very real possibility of schism saddens me greatly as it should all peoples called Methodist. As sad as I am about the fighting and stuff, I'm even more saddened by other UMC clergy and their willingness to openly violate and disobey the rules and covenant they vowed to up hold. Thats what its all about...the total disregard for order and covenant.
I have always been a supporter of Gay rights, gay marriage and LGBTQI inclusion into the the life of the church...FULL INCLUSION, but I refuse, and so should all clergy, to willingly violate our covenant with the the church to further our own ideals. Do we not believe that the Holy Spirit is at work in our times of Holy Conferencing? General Conference has ruled since the late 70's to not allow Gay marriage and openly gay clergy. This is the body that speaks for the church, the world wide collection of United Methodists being led by the Holy Spirit...right? If we do not believe this than whats the point? Either we believe the Holy Spirit is active and working in Holy Conferencing or She's not, but which is it?
I whole heartedly believe that there will come a day where the church will have to move forward and fully accept LGBTQI persons, both into the ordained ministry and into the Sacramental act of marriage, but that day is obviously not today. Not only will we have to, but it's the right thing, but not like this. The Holy Spirit will speak through Holy Conferencing when the time is right. He has in the past, She will in the future. Until that day we need to hold the lines, remain faithful, and up hold the doctrine and Discipline of the United Methodist Church.
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Death and Resurrection
I have, unfortunately, been around a lot of death over the past 6 weeks. Two funerals with church members, the untimely death of a young girl who is the cousin to one of my parishioners, the death of an 18 month old, and an uncle from each side of my family. It's been hard and emotional. I have had some form of connection to each one of these people who have died, if not directly then indirectly through friendship and such. It doesn't really matter how well you know a person when they die, I mean it does, but what's really difficult is watching the survivors try to sort it all out, that makes it painful, that makes it tough for everybody.
The Onaway Church two of it's greatest, most supportive and patriotic saints in Clarence and Tom. Both these men were life long Methodist who worked hard to see that the work of the church continued. Their deaths we unfortunate, but not untimely and not sudden or out of place. I was fortunate to celebrate the lives with their families. One of my favorite waitresses from the local restaurant lost her Grandpa this week and one of my parishioners, a young mom, lost her 17 year old cousin to a tragic car accident over the weekend.
My Uncle Keith died in October. He overdosed on Oxy. He had no children that we know of, he was a life long addict and never could hold a job. But he was my uncle, my mothers baby brother and it's hard. He died for no real reason, he died young (54) and he died without having accomplished much in life. Despite all that he will be missed and there is loss associated with his passing, if only it's experience by my mother, its loss and it's significant.
My other uncle, from my fathers side, died after a very brief (3 months) battle with lung cancer. We was my dads baby brother. I never have seen my father cry, not even at grandpa's funeral, but when Rick died...he sobbed. I was not close to Rick, but I am close to his sons, my cousins, who are like brothers to me and whom were estranged to their father for the past two years. I'm sad, because they (cousins and dad) are so impacted by this sudden passing. He also was and most likely will be the last owner of my families business in Northville, MI, the Asher Citgo/76/UniCal/Pure Oil gas and service station, circa 1948. All those memories, my grandfathers legacy, a life time for multiple generations died with Rick that day.
As sad and tragic as all those things are they are hard pressed to compare to the loss that my colleagues Mike and Bri have expereinced. Their 18 month old son Carl recently passed away after a long battle with lukemia. He died last week at his home in his mother arms. TRAGIC. I only know Mike and Bri through various district and conference events, but of all the deaths I've been around the past 6 weeks, even the ones in my own family, none have touched my heart, made me cry and just simply stopped me in my tracks like the death of baby Carl. I hope and pray they find peace and hope in their faith that sustains them through this thing which no parent should ever have to experience, the death of their baby.
With all that sadness and death and stuff it's had to look up, it's hard to see straight and to keep moving forward. The one thing that provides peace and hope is the promise of resurrection. St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians puts it this way, "We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’- I Corinthians 15:51-54
Because of Jesus we win. Death is not an end as it aspires to be, but a beginning, an eternity of peace and rest. God rest the souls of all who have died over these past weeks and may the peace of God which transcends all understanding grant those who are left behind hope.
The Onaway Church two of it's greatest, most supportive and patriotic saints in Clarence and Tom. Both these men were life long Methodist who worked hard to see that the work of the church continued. Their deaths we unfortunate, but not untimely and not sudden or out of place. I was fortunate to celebrate the lives with their families. One of my favorite waitresses from the local restaurant lost her Grandpa this week and one of my parishioners, a young mom, lost her 17 year old cousin to a tragic car accident over the weekend.
My Uncle Keith died in October. He overdosed on Oxy. He had no children that we know of, he was a life long addict and never could hold a job. But he was my uncle, my mothers baby brother and it's hard. He died for no real reason, he died young (54) and he died without having accomplished much in life. Despite all that he will be missed and there is loss associated with his passing, if only it's experience by my mother, its loss and it's significant.
My other uncle, from my fathers side, died after a very brief (3 months) battle with lung cancer. We was my dads baby brother. I never have seen my father cry, not even at grandpa's funeral, but when Rick died...he sobbed. I was not close to Rick, but I am close to his sons, my cousins, who are like brothers to me and whom were estranged to their father for the past two years. I'm sad, because they (cousins and dad) are so impacted by this sudden passing. He also was and most likely will be the last owner of my families business in Northville, MI, the Asher Citgo/76/UniCal/Pure Oil gas and service station, circa 1948. All those memories, my grandfathers legacy, a life time for multiple generations died with Rick that day.
As sad and tragic as all those things are they are hard pressed to compare to the loss that my colleagues Mike and Bri have expereinced. Their 18 month old son Carl recently passed away after a long battle with lukemia. He died last week at his home in his mother arms. TRAGIC. I only know Mike and Bri through various district and conference events, but of all the deaths I've been around the past 6 weeks, even the ones in my own family, none have touched my heart, made me cry and just simply stopped me in my tracks like the death of baby Carl. I hope and pray they find peace and hope in their faith that sustains them through this thing which no parent should ever have to experience, the death of their baby.
With all that sadness and death and stuff it's had to look up, it's hard to see straight and to keep moving forward. The one thing that provides peace and hope is the promise of resurrection. St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians puts it this way, "We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’- I Corinthians 15:51-54
Because of Jesus we win. Death is not an end as it aspires to be, but a beginning, an eternity of peace and rest. God rest the souls of all who have died over these past weeks and may the peace of God which transcends all understanding grant those who are left behind hope.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Monsters, Van Helsing and Jesus: A popculture understanding of All Saints
I have spent the last three weeks preaching a sermon series inspired by Halloween and ultimately All Saints day. We focused on the monsters that live amongst us in Christ's Church. Like something out of the darkest corners of our imagination these church monsters arise and threaten our safety, our effectiveness and our futre. They threaten to devoir the body of Christ from the inside out, like a stage four cancer ravaging the body of our loved ones...they are very real and they are in every church across America. Vampires, Zombies and Werewolves roam the halls, sanctuaries and pews of our local churches and often we just tolerate it, but we need to over come them.
Over the past weeks we have talked about the life sucking church vampier, the contagious and devouring church zombie, and the ravenous church werewolf. There are ways to remove and stop their reign of terror, but most importantly there are ways to cure, to heal the monster among us. Ultimately its a combination of love, patience, hope and courage that leads to the healing of these church monsters and even more at the core of the source of healing is Jesus and the Saints.
There's a list of "monster hunters" out there, none more popular than Van Helsing. Van Helsing is a German/Dutch Doctor who suffered the loss of his true love at the hands of the famous Dracula and has devoted his life to ending dracula's reign of terror. Van Helsing was nearly killed by Dracula early in his hunting life and was saved by a man who became a father figure and taught him all he needed to know about hunting Dracula. There's Blade, another vampier hunter, but he's half vamp and half human. Blades mother was devoured by Vampier Deacon Frost, who ate her during Blades birth. Blade was then taken in by Afari, who was a jazz musician and vampier hunter. Afari helped Blade hewn his skills and learn to use the special vampier enzyme that was transferred to him from Deacon Frost at his birth. There's Red, an adaptation of the Little Red Ridding Hood story. Red is the great, great, great grand daughter of Little Red Ridding Hood. Red is now the most recent of a line of Werewolf hunters, who devote themselves to ridding the world of werewolfs. She was trained by her mother, who was trained by her mother, who was of course trained by her mother and so on. There's Rick Grimes, the Georgia Sherifs deputy who is the leader of the remnant group of survivors in the Walking Dead's post zombie apocalypse world. Rick was left to die in a hosptial. He was unconscious when the outbreak happened and woke up 6weeks later. He was wondering in the post apocalyptic chaos when Morgan Jones and his son Duane recused him. They taught him about surviving in the new zombie world, they told him about all that had happened and they provided him with food and shelter.
What all theses monster hunters have in common is they all owe their survival and success to others. If it were not for those who came before them, they would have never survived. Because of their survival and success the world is a better place. It's safer, there are less monsters and all the oppression and injustice that societies monster often cause is righted. Much like these monster hunters the world is a better place because of the Saints and we owe all our life and success to Jesus. Jesus saved us. He taught us how to live, how to make it in this wilderness, how to stop the injustice and the monster who plagues or world and even or churches. And much like the monster hunters we saints not only owe our survival to Jesus, but to the Saints who come before us, on whose shoulders we stand. This all Saints the Gospel invites us to celebrate the lives of those who come before us and to remember that with out them, and most importantly, without Jesus we would be lost.
Over the past weeks we have talked about the life sucking church vampier, the contagious and devouring church zombie, and the ravenous church werewolf. There are ways to remove and stop their reign of terror, but most importantly there are ways to cure, to heal the monster among us. Ultimately its a combination of love, patience, hope and courage that leads to the healing of these church monsters and even more at the core of the source of healing is Jesus and the Saints.
There's a list of "monster hunters" out there, none more popular than Van Helsing. Van Helsing is a German/Dutch Doctor who suffered the loss of his true love at the hands of the famous Dracula and has devoted his life to ending dracula's reign of terror. Van Helsing was nearly killed by Dracula early in his hunting life and was saved by a man who became a father figure and taught him all he needed to know about hunting Dracula. There's Blade, another vampier hunter, but he's half vamp and half human. Blades mother was devoured by Vampier Deacon Frost, who ate her during Blades birth. Blade was then taken in by Afari, who was a jazz musician and vampier hunter. Afari helped Blade hewn his skills and learn to use the special vampier enzyme that was transferred to him from Deacon Frost at his birth. There's Red, an adaptation of the Little Red Ridding Hood story. Red is the great, great, great grand daughter of Little Red Ridding Hood. Red is now the most recent of a line of Werewolf hunters, who devote themselves to ridding the world of werewolfs. She was trained by her mother, who was trained by her mother, who was of course trained by her mother and so on. There's Rick Grimes, the Georgia Sherifs deputy who is the leader of the remnant group of survivors in the Walking Dead's post zombie apocalypse world. Rick was left to die in a hosptial. He was unconscious when the outbreak happened and woke up 6weeks later. He was wondering in the post apocalyptic chaos when Morgan Jones and his son Duane recused him. They taught him about surviving in the new zombie world, they told him about all that had happened and they provided him with food and shelter.
What all theses monster hunters have in common is they all owe their survival and success to others. If it were not for those who came before them, they would have never survived. Because of their survival and success the world is a better place. It's safer, there are less monsters and all the oppression and injustice that societies monster often cause is righted. Much like these monster hunters the world is a better place because of the Saints and we owe all our life and success to Jesus. Jesus saved us. He taught us how to live, how to make it in this wilderness, how to stop the injustice and the monster who plagues or world and even or churches. And much like the monster hunters we saints not only owe our survival to Jesus, but to the Saints who come before us, on whose shoulders we stand. This all Saints the Gospel invites us to celebrate the lives of those who come before us and to remember that with out them, and most importantly, without Jesus we would be lost.
Monday, October 21, 2013
"All the Fat is the Lords"- Leviticus 3:16
On May 21st of this year, on the 18th anniversary of my Baptism and new life under God's covenant of grace, I decided to make a life change. At 32 I was seriously obese. At 254lbs I was diabetic, had hypertension and seriously high cholesterol. I made a choice to allow holiness to extended into the way I eat and treat my body. I choice to eat right and exercise everyday. Since then I have lost 55lbs. I no longer suffer from any of the medical problems that plagued me when I was fat. In 6months my life has been extended another 30 years. I encourage all my clergy friends and peers who struggle with their weight to seriously as God for the strength and the courage to make these changes in their lives as well. Our obesity as clergy does affect the way our members see us, it does affect the way we minister and even preach and it does affect our witness. I pray that all clergy will consider the truth that Christ's salvation holistic, which means spirt, mind....and BODY. May God grant us the courage to live holy lives.
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Hospitality culture
I'm so interested in church growth and reaching young unchurched people. I've read books, taken classes and attended seminars, but I'm unable to translate their success into my own ministry, at lest on a large scale. While in Oklahoma one of the two little churches I served grew and had significant changes, but since being at my current appointment we've not. Which causes me to wonder...is it the pastor or the people that make a church grow. Now before any of you have the chance to say "neither, its the Holy Spirit." let me say you are absolutely correct, but in all practicality there is some kind of incarnational thing happening in the church that allows the Spirit to work. Does that come from the pastor, or the congregation?
I suppose it's a bit of both, but I'm leaning towards the later. I think a lot of it comes down to the people in the congregation. Are they warm? What kind of reputation does the church have in the community? What do they value and do they really value what thy say they value, i.e "we value children, but we have no children's ministry." Pastors come and go. We set the tone, we vision cast, we delegate and lead by example, but if a church is to grow all those things must be second to the hospitality of a church. If I were to plant a church the thing I would focus most on would be hospitality. You can get by with average music, average preaching, average programing, but not with average or worse, poor hospitality. Hospitality is the key tenant to a growing faith community. God hates inhospitality. God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for their inhospitable ways and it seems like so many of our churches are experiencing this same kind of judgement for their inhospitality. I hope to change the culture of inhospitality in my own churches so that we can grow.
I suppose it's a bit of both, but I'm leaning towards the later. I think a lot of it comes down to the people in the congregation. Are they warm? What kind of reputation does the church have in the community? What do they value and do they really value what thy say they value, i.e "we value children, but we have no children's ministry." Pastors come and go. We set the tone, we vision cast, we delegate and lead by example, but if a church is to grow all those things must be second to the hospitality of a church. If I were to plant a church the thing I would focus most on would be hospitality. You can get by with average music, average preaching, average programing, but not with average or worse, poor hospitality. Hospitality is the key tenant to a growing faith community. God hates inhospitality. God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for their inhospitable ways and it seems like so many of our churches are experiencing this same kind of judgement for their inhospitality. I hope to change the culture of inhospitality in my own churches so that we can grow.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Healthcare, Shutdown and Other crap from the News: A Gospel Approach
The talk of the town, or of the nation, is the government shutdown over funding of the Affordable Healthcare Act, popularly known as "Obamacare". Jimmy Kimmel proved how little we know about this law, or at least how much demonization has occurred by opponents of the law. He went to the streets and asked people which law they favored, the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare (keep in mind they are the same thing). Everyone that appeared on the skit said "the affordable care act" over "Obamacare" because they thought Obamacare was a waste of taxpayers money. I suppose it's funny, especially knowing that they are the same thing, but it's also sad that a very small radical faction of one political party has been able to, not only poison peoples public opinion and even understanding of a law that will perhaps grant them and nearly 50 million other Americans access to healthcare, but also cripple our government so much that it stopped operating. These 30 white privileged men have managed to take hostage the US federal government in their terroristic ideological crusade to prevent Americans from having affordable healthcare!
As a Christian I am charged by my Rabbi and Lord Jesus, to "love my neighbor as myself." I have wonderful health insurance, which my 2-point charge so graciously provides (mostly because they are required to by mandate of the Annual Conference). As someone who loves their neighbor as themselves, or who at least gives it a very good attempt daily, I want my neighbor to have healthcare because I have healthcare. I want whats best for my neighbor just like I want whats best for myself. It's amazing to me that these 30 white privileged men, who all claim to be devote Christians have made it the utmost ideological point to prevent their neighbor from having what they have, which is quality, affordable healthcare, which you and I pay for through our taxes. This is the utmost of all evils. To lie, cheat, and bare false witness to the extent that peoples lives are at stake. These 30 men have worked tirelessly to keep the afflicted afflicted and to comfort the comfortable when the Gospel calls us to afflict the comfortable and to comfort the afflicted.
Now their godless crusade has extended into affecting not just the 50 million uninsured Americans, but also around 800,000 federal workers plus another 250,000-300,000 contract workers. All to ensure that not everybody is insured. It is during moments like this that I like to direct these 30 white males of privilege to the biblical prophets, including Jesus and John the Baptist. These men stood up for the oppressed and the under privileged and lost their lives for it. Now this isn't that serious. Honestly of the 4.1million federal workers most of them (some estimate nearly 80%) will keep working. The parks are closed, the Army/Navy game will be canceled and discretionary spending and non-essntial employees wont get paid, but the military, the Department of Homeland Security, the FAA and VA hospitals and clinics will remain open.
The worst of this is the people who won't be paid. Many people still have to report, but won't be paid because their jobs are essential, but their pay is tied to congressional appropriations. Also people who rely on Social Security to survive will not be paid. Their payments are mandatory spending and are not affected by a shutdown caused by a failure to pass appropriations, but the people who process and mail the checks their salaries are...so those social security dependent people will not get their checks either. Also the people who process VA benefits are deemed non-essenatital so the already back logged VA will become even more so the longer this drags on. Finally the cost is a real problem. These 30 white male privileged rich, who are always complaining about government spending will spend close to one hundred million dollars per day! (this number is based on the cost and number of days the government shutdown caused in '95).
I gospel response to anything always starts with, "What would Jesus say/think/do?" What would Jesus' response be to these white, wealthy, privileged male 30? Would Jesus advocate for the "fiscal responsibility" (as they call it, I call it congressional terroism) of these 30 men? Would he want the vulnerable who live on very little through the SSI system to not have anything? Would he want the men and women who fought and served this nation to be further bogged down by administrative back log? And would he want some kind of ideological war waged on the premise of not providing healthcare for the most vulnerable of societies population at the expense of one hundred million dollars per day? I don't think so. I want to end with this passage from Amos. This passage perfectly describes the will of these 30 men and their wealthy co-conspieres.
"I will not revoke their punishment;
because they sell the righteous for money,
and the needy for a pair of shoes—
7 they who trample the head of the poor into the ground,
and push the afflicted out of the way;"-
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Josh
As a Christian I am charged by my Rabbi and Lord Jesus, to "love my neighbor as myself." I have wonderful health insurance, which my 2-point charge so graciously provides (mostly because they are required to by mandate of the Annual Conference). As someone who loves their neighbor as themselves, or who at least gives it a very good attempt daily, I want my neighbor to have healthcare because I have healthcare. I want whats best for my neighbor just like I want whats best for myself. It's amazing to me that these 30 white privileged men, who all claim to be devote Christians have made it the utmost ideological point to prevent their neighbor from having what they have, which is quality, affordable healthcare, which you and I pay for through our taxes. This is the utmost of all evils. To lie, cheat, and bare false witness to the extent that peoples lives are at stake. These 30 men have worked tirelessly to keep the afflicted afflicted and to comfort the comfortable when the Gospel calls us to afflict the comfortable and to comfort the afflicted.
Now their godless crusade has extended into affecting not just the 50 million uninsured Americans, but also around 800,000 federal workers plus another 250,000-300,000 contract workers. All to ensure that not everybody is insured. It is during moments like this that I like to direct these 30 white males of privilege to the biblical prophets, including Jesus and John the Baptist. These men stood up for the oppressed and the under privileged and lost their lives for it. Now this isn't that serious. Honestly of the 4.1million federal workers most of them (some estimate nearly 80%) will keep working. The parks are closed, the Army/Navy game will be canceled and discretionary spending and non-essntial employees wont get paid, but the military, the Department of Homeland Security, the FAA and VA hospitals and clinics will remain open.
The worst of this is the people who won't be paid. Many people still have to report, but won't be paid because their jobs are essential, but their pay is tied to congressional appropriations. Also people who rely on Social Security to survive will not be paid. Their payments are mandatory spending and are not affected by a shutdown caused by a failure to pass appropriations, but the people who process and mail the checks their salaries are...so those social security dependent people will not get their checks either. Also the people who process VA benefits are deemed non-essenatital so the already back logged VA will become even more so the longer this drags on. Finally the cost is a real problem. These 30 white male privileged rich, who are always complaining about government spending will spend close to one hundred million dollars per day! (this number is based on the cost and number of days the government shutdown caused in '95).
I gospel response to anything always starts with, "What would Jesus say/think/do?" What would Jesus' response be to these white, wealthy, privileged male 30? Would Jesus advocate for the "fiscal responsibility" (as they call it, I call it congressional terroism) of these 30 men? Would he want the vulnerable who live on very little through the SSI system to not have anything? Would he want the men and women who fought and served this nation to be further bogged down by administrative back log? And would he want some kind of ideological war waged on the premise of not providing healthcare for the most vulnerable of societies population at the expense of one hundred million dollars per day? I don't think so. I want to end with this passage from Amos. This passage perfectly describes the will of these 30 men and their wealthy co-conspieres.
"I will not revoke their punishment;
because they sell the righteous for money,
and the needy for a pair of shoes—
7 they who trample the head of the poor into the ground,
and push the afflicted out of the way;"-
Amos 2:6-7
Pastor Josh
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
The future of worship in United Methodism
I recently spent a Saturday morning presenting at a workshop geared towards helping congregations provide more meaningful worship expereinces. I lead a session on using Media with and for aged and aging congregations, which is about 80% of UM congregations btw :). The gist of my presentation was that if you are wishing to use media in your old congregation, be wise and be aware of context. The committee that provided the event and also provides these resources, is well meaning and even gifted, but only gifted in reaching the current constituency (50+). The committee, or team, to sound Post-Modern, designs sets that can be transported to churches to provide visual aids in worship, i.e Women at the well set, Renewing you Baptism Set, The burning Bush Set, etc. The sets are beautiful, but they're also old, stuffy and dull....at least if you're under 50. I don't mean to be rude or discouraging, but critical...in a positive way.
The sets offer more of the same things, lace, wreathes, fountains, pics of white Jesus and more. These things are great when you're trying to attract old people, but young folks, which I myself would be considered at least in my denomination (I'm under 35), don't like lace, wreathes, fountains, and pics of white Jesus. Our denomination needs to work with churches to exposes them to worship sets that attract and inspire young people. So whats that look like? Well it does not include lace, wreathes, fountains, and pics of white Jesus.
There's various schools of though of course. Some believe that an "ancient-futre" form of worship is more appealing to young people. Nadia Boltz-Weber at the House for All Sinners and Saints, in Denver, CO uses this model and she does very well with it. The more ancient the better in her case. She attracts and reaches a very specific group of people that the church has allowed to slip though the cracks for years. Her church is not "big" so to speak, only about 75-100 a week, so it's the size of most Main-line Protestant churches in America. Size, in this case, really doesn't matter. What we are looking for in a worship experience is vitality and her church is just that....it's vital. She also manages to pack about 10,000 words worth of info into a 15 minute sermon. She is gifted beyond most clergy and the form of worship she uses and she is successful at, is very skill oriented. Most churches that are thriving, that are reaching the un-churced and young families are using media, lights, video, even social media, i.e twitter and Facebook in worship services. They provide music that young people can identify with and that they like. In the UMC most of our churches provide a very poor quality of music. Old, nearly deaf and blind ladies playing the organ with hymns at a meter that can only be described as "funeral drudge", pastor who speak at length in a monotone voice, about topics that have no relevance in anyones practical life, and worship structures that provide very little sustained "worship: just simply are not making the cut with young people. So what's a church to do?
As United Methodist a good place to start is to engage denominations and professionals who do worship well and who engage young people and families on a weekly basis. We ought to be asking worship ministry professionals and pastors from denominations who regularly reach young people, "how do you do it?" I recently came across a worship professional named Kurt Johnson who is on staff at First Assembly of God Kalamazoo, a.k.a "Kfirst." He does worship and worship set design at a very high level of professionalism. I hope to engage him in my own ministry and in the ministry of the district and even our conference. We can learn a lot from people like him and we can grow as a denomination in worship effectiveness if you listen to them. I know having trendy and multi-media focused worship will not automatically fix all our UM woes, but it's a good start and since it's hard to find people within our own denomination who create worship environments that are geared towards young people at a high level of professionalism we need to be willing to partner with those who can.
Below is a link to Kurt' blog entitled "stage design". It's a step-by-step process as he prepares to design worship within his ministry setting.
http://kurtkjohnson.wordpress.com/2013/06/26/stage-design/
The sets offer more of the same things, lace, wreathes, fountains, pics of white Jesus and more. These things are great when you're trying to attract old people, but young folks, which I myself would be considered at least in my denomination (I'm under 35), don't like lace, wreathes, fountains, and pics of white Jesus. Our denomination needs to work with churches to exposes them to worship sets that attract and inspire young people. So whats that look like? Well it does not include lace, wreathes, fountains, and pics of white Jesus.
There's various schools of though of course. Some believe that an "ancient-futre" form of worship is more appealing to young people. Nadia Boltz-Weber at the House for All Sinners and Saints, in Denver, CO uses this model and she does very well with it. The more ancient the better in her case. She attracts and reaches a very specific group of people that the church has allowed to slip though the cracks for years. Her church is not "big" so to speak, only about 75-100 a week, so it's the size of most Main-line Protestant churches in America. Size, in this case, really doesn't matter. What we are looking for in a worship experience is vitality and her church is just that....it's vital. She also manages to pack about 10,000 words worth of info into a 15 minute sermon. She is gifted beyond most clergy and the form of worship she uses and she is successful at, is very skill oriented. Most churches that are thriving, that are reaching the un-churced and young families are using media, lights, video, even social media, i.e twitter and Facebook in worship services. They provide music that young people can identify with and that they like. In the UMC most of our churches provide a very poor quality of music. Old, nearly deaf and blind ladies playing the organ with hymns at a meter that can only be described as "funeral drudge", pastor who speak at length in a monotone voice, about topics that have no relevance in anyones practical life, and worship structures that provide very little sustained "worship: just simply are not making the cut with young people. So what's a church to do?
As United Methodist a good place to start is to engage denominations and professionals who do worship well and who engage young people and families on a weekly basis. We ought to be asking worship ministry professionals and pastors from denominations who regularly reach young people, "how do you do it?" I recently came across a worship professional named Kurt Johnson who is on staff at First Assembly of God Kalamazoo, a.k.a "Kfirst." He does worship and worship set design at a very high level of professionalism. I hope to engage him in my own ministry and in the ministry of the district and even our conference. We can learn a lot from people like him and we can grow as a denomination in worship effectiveness if you listen to them. I know having trendy and multi-media focused worship will not automatically fix all our UM woes, but it's a good start and since it's hard to find people within our own denomination who create worship environments that are geared towards young people at a high level of professionalism we need to be willing to partner with those who can.
Below is a link to Kurt' blog entitled "stage design". It's a step-by-step process as he prepares to design worship within his ministry setting.
http://kurtkjohnson.wordpress.com/2013/06/26/stage-design/
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Do we really need church?: A response to Tara Woodard-Lehman
Recently The Rev'd Tara Woodard-Lehman wrote a post for the Huffington blog site entitled, "Do we really need Church?" She, like myself and others employed by the church, said yes we do. The question was posed by a young college student who pointed out all the social and communal stuff that the church use to be so good at providing, i.e mens groups, women's groups, youth groups, concerts, plays, dinners and so on, are now offered by and even done much better by other organization and agencies outside the church. Why do we need the church for fellowship? I have my friends and our dinner parties and back yard grill-outs. Why do I need the church for meditation? I have yoga, which is part meditation, part exercise. Why do I need the church to make business contacts? I have Facebook, linkendin and other forms of social media. Why do I need to go to church to hear music or be entertained? There are small community theaters, neighborhood coffee shops and local bars who have great performers and bands!! WOW...when you put it that way...we really don't need the church!
Woodard-Lehman's response to all this was her bad memory. She stated that she and other Christians, need the church because it's easy to forget God's epic story of redmption. Essentially we go to church to tell the story and to be renewed and re-focused on what matters in our lives, but does that help with un-churced, "spiritually-minded" young adults who don't necessarily care about the Christian story of Gods redeeming acts?
I think Woodard-Lehman's response is a stereotypical main-line protestant response to a very serious question and problem that plagues all of God's main-line protestant churches. Just because we, "Love to tell the story for those who know it best." doesn't mean those who don't know it want to listen. Perhaps our inability to remember the great exploits of God is the very reason why young adults could care less.
I was pleased to read Woodard-Lehman's excitement and energy when it came to the work of Jesus Christ. She said several time that Jesus was the savior for our world...I like that!! There are a lot of PCUSA ministers who would argue with that, but that's not enough, and neither is getting together on Sunday just to hear "The Old, Old Story".... told again!
Church is important, not as a place to socialize, or to meet girls, or to hangout with friends. These are important things, but it's not what's gonna keep people coming, especially young adults...college kids. The college aged kid she spoke to in her article called himself "spiritual", but non-religious. Jesus was kind of a spiritual but non-religious guy too. Most church people are the opposite, i.e religious but non-spiritual. Jesus said that "God is Spirit and is to be worshiped in Spirit". Also he said "The Spirit moves like the wind, where ever it pleases." Jesus had some issues with the religious non spiritual people of his day, so the young adults who have issues with the church are in good company. The only reason people are going to come to church is because they believe there is something at church that cannot be obtained anywhere else, but in order to make that "thing" which is relationship with God, obvious we must heed the words of John the Baptist, "I must decrease so that he might increase." The "I" in this equation is the religious, self-righteous and institutional church...(it always seems to get in the way!!) We must optimize our spirituality and decrease our religiosity, than young people will be interested
What can the church do to optimize it's spirituality and decrease it's religious institutionalism? If you know the answer to that, then you will know the answer to the question, "Do we really need church?"This has nothing to do with worship styles, polity, or doctrine. What it really has to do with is authenticity, honestly and holiness. If a "church" experience is going to be meaningful and worth while, a church must posses all three.
I'm glad hearing the story helps Tara Woodard-Lehman and I'm glad it helps many others, but it's not the reason we need church. We need church because we need a relationship with God and this the risen body of christ is the only place we can find one.
Woodard-Lehman's response to all this was her bad memory. She stated that she and other Christians, need the church because it's easy to forget God's epic story of redmption. Essentially we go to church to tell the story and to be renewed and re-focused on what matters in our lives, but does that help with un-churced, "spiritually-minded" young adults who don't necessarily care about the Christian story of Gods redeeming acts?
I think Woodard-Lehman's response is a stereotypical main-line protestant response to a very serious question and problem that plagues all of God's main-line protestant churches. Just because we, "Love to tell the story for those who know it best." doesn't mean those who don't know it want to listen. Perhaps our inability to remember the great exploits of God is the very reason why young adults could care less.
I was pleased to read Woodard-Lehman's excitement and energy when it came to the work of Jesus Christ. She said several time that Jesus was the savior for our world...I like that!! There are a lot of PCUSA ministers who would argue with that, but that's not enough, and neither is getting together on Sunday just to hear "The Old, Old Story".... told again!
Church is important, not as a place to socialize, or to meet girls, or to hangout with friends. These are important things, but it's not what's gonna keep people coming, especially young adults...college kids. The college aged kid she spoke to in her article called himself "spiritual", but non-religious. Jesus was kind of a spiritual but non-religious guy too. Most church people are the opposite, i.e religious but non-spiritual. Jesus said that "God is Spirit and is to be worshiped in Spirit". Also he said "The Spirit moves like the wind, where ever it pleases." Jesus had some issues with the religious non spiritual people of his day, so the young adults who have issues with the church are in good company. The only reason people are going to come to church is because they believe there is something at church that cannot be obtained anywhere else, but in order to make that "thing" which is relationship with God, obvious we must heed the words of John the Baptist, "I must decrease so that he might increase." The "I" in this equation is the religious, self-righteous and institutional church...(it always seems to get in the way!!) We must optimize our spirituality and decrease our religiosity, than young people will be interested
What can the church do to optimize it's spirituality and decrease it's religious institutionalism? If you know the answer to that, then you will know the answer to the question, "Do we really need church?"This has nothing to do with worship styles, polity, or doctrine. What it really has to do with is authenticity, honestly and holiness. If a "church" experience is going to be meaningful and worth while, a church must posses all three.
I'm glad hearing the story helps Tara Woodard-Lehman and I'm glad it helps many others, but it's not the reason we need church. We need church because we need a relationship with God and this the risen body of christ is the only place we can find one.
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