Call to Change

Christians believe in new life, in changed lives.  We are baptized into new life in Jesus through the Holy Spirit.  But just like everyone else, Christians are often nervous about change.  Some leaders of the United Methodist Church have issued a “Call to Action”, naming some of the deficiencies in the organizational structure of the UMC and proposing some changes that might improve the effectiveness or fruitfulness of the ministries of the world-wide United Methodist Church.  Pretty much everyone agrees that something needs to change so that the ministries and people of the UMC can be more fruitful and faithful (especially since our current structure dates back to the early 1970’s), but we do not agree on what or how to change.

Discovery UMC, where I serve as the senior pastor, just celebrated its 20^th Easter (2013 marks the official 20^th anniversary of Discovery as a chartered church) and much has changed in our relatively short church life.  The people of Discovery have implemented all kinds of new ministries, new organizational structures, and new missions.  And we are still not done changing.  God continues to bless and challenge us with a growing ministry and congregation, and we continue to seek how to best live as a faithful community and respond to Jesus’ commission to make more disciples.

Each person changes over a lifetime—even over the course of a single, eventful week sometimes.  We change because of new experiences, new relationships, and for the sake of survival.  When we want to change or renew our lives, we have to try something different from what we have being doing, we have to explore new things, learn new skills. 

Whether we seek to grow as an individual, as a community, or as the world-wide United Methodist Church; we must try something new.  This is where the trouble starts.  We don’t like to be uncomfortable, we fear the unfamiliar, and we prefer to avoid struggles.  Change and growth require all these things.  We fear what might happen if we choose the wrong path, if we make a less than perfect decision, but if we don’t take a step in some direction the growth that we need will not come. 

For me, as I prepare to participate in General Conference, as I continue to lead the ministries of Discovery, and as I seek ongoing growth in my life of faith; the scariest thing is not what new things will bring, but what will happen if I stay just where I am.  

Ready or Not: General Conference 2012

For the next few months, I will be using my blog (hopefully more often than I have been!) to focus on the upcoming General Conference of the United Methodist Church in April-May, the North Alabama Annual Conference in June, and the Southeast Jurisdictional Conference in July.  You can learn more about what GC is at this site. I will share my own experiences as the first alternate delegate to GC and as a delegate to JC.  I will also post some from other people's writings on these subjects.  Feel free to add your comments and posts, but also please remember to "tell the truth in LOVE".

First, just check out the amount of reading that is required to know what all is happening at General Conference--and the papers in the picture are only the beginning!  I understand we get new material pretty much every day of GC.  I am so thankful for my new refurb ipad2 so that I can download all these documents and not have to carry around 2 full reams of paper with me for the whole of GC!

Speaking of all the reading...much of the reading is of petitions and proposals sent in by groups and individuals of the world-wide United Methodist Church.  Anyone who is a member of the UMC can submit a petition.  This particular fact became a part of the discussion early on for the North Alabama's Delegation.  Thinking of the process of discernment that we practice when people want to be ordained (that an individual's experience of a call to ordained ministry must be affirmed by their local church community), the great majority of our group agreed that it would be an improvement to the process of submitting petitions to GC if individuals were no longer allowed to submit proposals without the support of a larger group.  This would mean that if you wanted to submit a petition GC, you would need your Sunday School class, your UMW, your UMM, or some other UMC group to support your petition prior to submitting it--so that all petitions would come from a group of people.  The idea is that if you are the only one who thinks it is a good idea and you can't find anyone else to support it, then maybe that is a sign that it won't get any support at GC either.  This could also have the added benefit of reducing (mayby only by a few) the number of petitions that come before the GC, leaving more time to discuss those petitions that more people agree are important to the life and work of the UMC.

This is just one item we have discussed.  The things that have taken up most of our discussion time as a delegation are the future of the organization of the UMC and the future of the clergy retirement program--more on those later.

Inspiring People

This is a copy of this week's edition of the regular pastoral message that I send out to the Discovery community via email.

When I consider the people in my life who have shaped my journey of faith, I am so grateful that they made an effort and took the time to share their wisdom and love with me. I am inspired by people who are intentional about using their lives to bless others with God’s love. There are many such people who are part of Discovery today. This Sunday, we will use our “heart cards” to celebrate these special people. I hope you will take some time this week to think about the people who have shaped your spiritual life. Do the blessings and wisdom they have shared with you inspire you to make an effort to reach out to others in a similar way?

People connected to Discovery who made a difference in my spiritual life…

· Sydney. Because he made me feel welcomed. He gave our church an identity for me. An identity that said “Discovery is different” – less about style and more about substance. I miss him standing barefoot at the back of the church. But the point of this is that when you feel comfortable and wanted in church (Sydney made me feel that way) the lines of communication with God are a little more open. Discovery is genuinely a place where I feel like I am worshipping – not “going to church”.
--Steve Pitts, Finance and Stewardship Teams Member

· Suzanne Roberson encouraged me to feel free to ask God questions.
--Mickie Goad, Staff Parish Relations Team Member

· The mission team members. On both mission trips I participated in over the last two years, I had the opportunity to meet different people within Discovery and was blessed to serve with them. We all created a lasting bond with one another. This experience changed my life! It’s true that you need to surround yourself with good people because it “rubs off” and creates a strong support team for life’s interruptions.
--Jami Glover, Lay Leader

· I believe it was early 2001 when I met a mom at Trace Crossings Elementary that I had seen at Discovery, and she mentioned a small group that met at the church on Thursday mornings and they were starting a new study. So I joined and met many wonderful women. One stands out among the rest. Her name was Becky Austin Hall and she was an older woman, a retired nurse, that had survived throat cancer and during her cancer and treatments her husband left her. Becky lost most of her tongue and the ability to swallow anything. She amazed me that she was such a loving and caring person and she always wanted to do things for others. One of the last exciting things she did was take a hot air balloon ride, which was a dream of hers. We lost Becky after she underwent a risky medical procedure. I feel blessed that Becky called me that night before her surgery and I got to tell her how much she had meant to me over the last several years that I had known her. What I got from her was her awesome belief in a good God.
--Sue Drennan, Finance Team Chairperson

· Terry Rogers—you would not go wrong following his good example. Each of our staff members. They each give so generously of themselves through their passion and experience and provide excellent guidance and spiritual education for each of us.
--Jill Pitts, Staff Parish Relations Chairperson

· I can’t call them all by name because there are many. I love seeing the teenagers worshipping, knowing what a difference God makes and will make in their lives. I love seeing men—husbands and fathers like me—worshipping, praying, giving God thanks, and asking for strength and help. I love seeing the kids so innocently singing and praying. People all around me in Discovery make a difference in my spiritual life.
--Perry Turner, Stewardship Team Member


Thank God for people who provide us positive examples of Christian discipleship and who are so generous in sharing God’s love through their lives! May we all be blessed with opportunities to do the same.

Sacrifice of Praise

People prefer different styles of worship.  We know that.  What can you do when you don’t easily connect with the style of worship where you are?  I think this is an important question as worship styles change all around us.  The reason for change in worship style is usually related to the work of reaching different people, drawing in a new population to connect with God in worship.  For those who are already settled in a particular worship service that changes in style, or for those of us who visit a church that worships differently, how can we continue to connect with God through worship when it is not our favorite style?  Here is an excerpt from “Common Prayer” that addresses this question, though mostly it seems in defense of traditional worship.  I am excited about this prayer book, by the way.  It is a great daily reading and is co-edited by a Duke classmate, Enuma Okoro.

“There is an old saying many Christians use: ‘Offer the Lord a sacrifice of praise,’ referring to Hebrews 13:15.  In many circles this notion of a ‘sacrifice of praise’ almost becomes cliché. (Perhaps because worship does not come at much cost, especially compared with the sacrifices of saints who’ve gone before us.)  But when we worship with folks of various traditions, there are times when we may hear a prayer that uses language we might not naturally use or sing a song that isn’t really our style.  That is part of what it means to be a member of a community as diverse as the church is.  And perhaps that also helps shed some light on why it might require some sacrifice for us to give up ourselves.

When a song isn’t working for you, consider praising God, because that probably means it is working for someone else who is very different from you.   Offer your worship as a sacrifice rather than requiring others to sacrifice for your pleasure or contentment.  There is something to the notion of becoming one as God is one; it doesn’t mean that we are the same; it just means that we are united by one Spirit.  After all, we can become one only if there are many of us to begin with.

Liturgy [ordered prayer, Bible readings, etc.] puts a brake on narcissism.  Certainly, there is something beautiful about contemporary worship, where we can take old things and add a little spice to them, like singing hymns to rock tunes or reciting creeds as spoken word rhymes.  But liturgy protects us from simply making worship into a self-pleasing act.  So if a song or prayer doesn’t quite work for you, be thankful that it is probably really resonating with someone who is different from you, and offer a sacrifice of praise.”

Summertime and the Living is Easy

Yesterday, I was scanning Facebook and saw lots of pictures of people on vacation, playing at the lake, relaxing on the beach, and just having a good time these last few weeks of summer break.  These are special times for families and friends to spend together and make memories that will be enjoyed for years.  Seeing all the pictures made me a little sad that our family has not had as much time as we would like to just play this summer. 

Today, I was scanning news reports and saw lots of painful images and stories: riots in England, families of Navy Seals mourning the loss of precious life, Hispanic families in our own state living in fear, and news of mass starvation in eastern Africa.  A particular headline caught my eye, “Which Child Dies? Famine Forces Impossible Choices” (http://news.yahoo.com/child-dies-famine-forces-impossible-choices-145356561.html).  Seeing all these things made me feel physically sick and very thankful at the same time.  I am thankful that the people in our congregation are not currently facing such heart breaking situations, but I am sick over there being people anywhere who have to face such conditions.

As we take advantage of these last weeks of summer, I want to encourage you to be thankful for all the enjoyable times you have spent with your friends and family this summer.  And I want to encourage you to make yourselves sick, so to speak.  Let’s not just look at the pictures, read the painful stories of others’ lives, and then turn off the computer or T.V. and go on with our easy living.  Let’s carry those pictures and stories with us and lift up the people we read about in prayer.  And let’s share the gifts and resources we have that make our lives easier to help make the lives of others more livable.

Helpful Links for Making a Difference Through the Ministries of the United Methodist Church

http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umcor/  United Methodist Committee on Relief (info and donation site)

http://www.northalabamaumc.org/pages/detail/1608  Alabama Tornado Relief Information

www.umvim.org  United Methodist Volunteers in Mission (global service opportunities)

Why did you stomp the ant?!

This morning on the way into Canterbury UMC to take my kids to their daycare classes, I saw a big ant scurrying across the sidewalk in front of us.  Then I saw my five-year-old daughter's foot come down on it with forceful intention.  I looked at her and asked, "Why did you just stomp the ant?"  She kind of shrugged her shoulders.  And maybe because I am a mom, or maybe because I am a preacher, I went into a short lecture on how the ant was just living it's life not doing anything to  bother us and then she just stomps it for no good reason.  I reminded her that it is a living thing too--that God made ants.  None of what I said seemed to sink in.  Maybe that is because she has seen me on numerous occasions smash, stomp, and slap various insects in our home--but that is totally different, right?

This memory from the morning has come back to me as I have been preparing the sermon this Sunday.  Psalm 8 speaks both of our distance from God and our closeness to God.  As creatures who are "a little lower than God, and crowned...with glory and honor" (vs. 5), we humans are in a particular role of responsibility.  Created in the image of a merciful and loving God, we are called to live like the One after and by whom we were created.  We have been "given...dominion over the works of [God's] hands" and have "all things under [our] feet" (vs. 6).  So what does all this mean when we are faced with the question of whether to stomp an ant walking across our path?  Is it wrong, or does it even matter?  What does/should our particular relationship with God and our responsibility for creation shape the small and significant decisions we make about how to interact and coexist with the rest of the world?  This question seems to apply to so many things going on right now:

• illegal aliens
• war
• "fracking" to produce fuel
• political disagreements
• making personal sacrifice to give to tornado victims

If we refuse to work with one group of people because they disagree with us, does it matter?  If we only damage a small portion of the earth, does that matter?  If we share the love of God our Creator with one person, does it matter?

If we just smash one ant, does it matter?

No Stupid Questions?

Growing up, my classroom teachers always said, “There is no such thing as a stupid question.”  Well, I disagree.  Consider these real-life examples.

o   standing in front of the open refrigerator and asking where is the milk when you are staring at it

o   asking a question of your New Testament professor who is reading from the Greek text of the New Testament that begins with “well, my Bible says…”

o   “when is the Fourth of July this year?”

We find in reading the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the Bible that the disciples asked Jesus many questions.    Some of those questions did not receive full or direct answers from Jesus.  They may have not been stupid questions, but they certainly did not always come across as the ‘right’ or appropriate questions for the situation.  But when the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, Jesus answered them directly with a description as well as an example prayer.  The prayer that Jesus taught them is the prayer we call “The Lords’ Prayer” or “our Father”.  You can find Jesus’ teaching of this prayer in both Matthew 6:5-15 and Luke 11:2-4. 

 

This prayer is more than something to be repeated verbatim over and over—which often seems like some kind of ‘magic phrase’ that will correct things in a poof of magic if said just right.  The Lord’s Prayer provides us with a framework around which to build our own prayers and serves as a window of insight into how we are called to shape our lives with prayer.

The Lord’s Prayer will serve as the focus of the July sermon series at Discovery.  Each week we will explore a different portion of the prayer.  Worship celebrations are at 9:30am and 11am each Sunday

July 3—Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name

July 10—Your kingdom come.  Your will be done on earth as in Heaven.

July 17—Give us today our daily bread.

July 24—Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

July 31—Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

(11am worship only followed by a pot luck lunch)