Archive for the ‘Michael Coyner’ Category

THE VIEW FROM HERE:CARRYING EACH OTHER IN FAITH-MICHAEL COYNER

Thursday, July 21st, 2011 | By Mike Coyner
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Mike Coyner

Bishop Michael Coyner

I love the story in the second chapter of the Gospel of Mark where the four friends carry their paralyzed friend to Jesus for healing.  There is such a crowd around Jesus that these friends must carry their friend up onto the rooftop (most houses in Bible times had an outdoor stairway), push aside the palm branches over the opening in the roof which allow air movement, and lower their friend to Jesus.

It says then, “When Jesus saw their faith” he then forgave and healed the man.  Jesus saw their faith, the faith of the friends, and that inspired him to forgive and to heal.

Have you ever been carried in faith by your friends?  Have you had times in your life when you were not sure what or how to pray, but friends prayed for you?  Have you ever been discouraged, and friends lifted you up?  Have you ever been without hope, but friends gave you hope?  Have you ever stayed away from God and the church and faith, but friends brought you to a new opportunity to be with God?

Have you ever been carried in faith by your friends?

Or, have you ever been a friend who carried someone else in faith?  Have you ever thought about a friend, had their name come to you in prayer or in quiet moments, and then you acted on that impulse and reached out to them?  Have you ever gathered up support to help a friend through a tough time?  Have you ever prayed for a friend, even when you weren’t sure your friend was much of a believer?

Have you ever carried a friend in faith?

This story in Mark 2 teaches us, teaches me, that we are called to carry one another in faith.

Maybe that is the best reason for “church” and for “congregations.”  Maybe we all need a circle of caring friends who will carry each other in faith.  Sometimes I am the one who needs to be carried in faith, and sometimes I am one of those who carries another.  Maybe church at its best is the place where we carry one another in faith.

This faith journey is not meant to be a solo trip.  We need one another. We need faith friends.  We need a congregation of those who will carry each other.  We need to know that we are not alone.  God is with us through the living Spirit of Jesus Christ, but so are our friends.  And I am called to be such a faith friend to others.

If you have never needed to be carried in faith by others, then God bless you for your strength and good fortune. But your day will come when you need others to give you a strength beyond yourself.  If you have never carried someone else in faith, then shame on you – look around for a friend in need and offer your support and your prayers.

This Christian thing is not a solo thing. We are meant to carry each other in faith.

 

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VIEW FROM HERE: TEAMWORK-MICHAEL COYNER

Wednesday, June 15th, 2011 | By Mike Coyner
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Mike Coyner

Bishop Michael Coyner

 

We have just witnessed the NBA finals, and I am not writing this to bash LeBron James.  Enough of that.  He is a 26 year old kid who chose to leave his old team and move to Miami to play with a couple of good friends.  He even gave up money to do that, and so I don’t blame him for that move.  His style of moving (with the hour-long announcement of his move, the rally in Miami, and all the hype) was not very mature, and some of his comments to the media have been unwise.  But let’s stop clobbering LeBron.

However, there is a lesson from the Dallas Mavericks about teamwork and perseverance.  Some of the Dallas Mavericks are “old” for the NBA, even though it pains me to call anyone in their 30’s old.  They have been around a while, and they have been through a lot of losses and close-but-not-quite efforts.  They should get a lot of credit for sticking with it, staying together, and persevering.

To me, the big lesson about the Dallas Mavericks is about teamwork.  They pass the ball well to one another, they play a teamwork style of zone defense, and they seem to allow one another to take the leadership in any given game.  Now, don’t bash the Miami Heat on this one, because they also play pretty good teamwork, but the Dallas Mavericks demonstrate a longer-term style of teamwork.

Now, here is my real point:  ministry is all about teamwork.  Ministry is not just an individual thing, it is about teamwork.  Jesus set that standard by calling a “team” of disciples to work with him.  His first four choices of disciples were two sets of brothers who at least worked with one another, and perhaps they were already a team of four persons fishing together.  Either way, it is clear that Jesus started his group/team of disciples with sets of brothers who already knew how to work together.

Teamwork is the core of discipleship.  We North American Christians have so much bought into the cultural value of individualism, that we sometimes miss this lesson.  Too many books, articles, blogs, devotional guides, and sermons focus upon the individual’s choice, faithfulness, and service as a disciple of Jesus.  That is fine, but it misses the main lesson of Jesus’ choice of a group of twelve to be formed into a team over the three years he spent with them.

The early church continued this pattern by sending disciples/apostles to serve in pairs and teams of three.  We remember the Apostle Paul and know about his amazing ministry, for example, only because the Greek physician Luke traveled with him, helped him, and recorded their ministry.

Teamwork.  It is the secret to effective ministry.  Are you building your team, working with a team, and helping a team?  Don’t do ministry alone, do it with a team.

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VIEW FROM HERE: WILL AUSTIN FIND FAITH – MICHAEL COYNER

Thursday, May 19th, 2011 | By Mike Coyner
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Mike Coyner

Bishop Michael Coyner

My first grandchild was born in August and so now he is nearly 9 months old. I am finding that being a grandparent is indeed fun and exciting, but it also prompts me to wonder what kind of world my grandson will have in his grown-up years. As I hold my grandson, I find myself asking questions like these:

+ What will the church be like when Austin is a teenager or young adult?
+ Will the United Methodist Church be a vital and alive place for him to find faith?
+ Will all of those expensive church buildings still be in use, or will vital congregations divest themselves of real estate in order to do more ministry?
+ Will the clergy of those churches in 20 years be persons who work full-time for the church, or will most of them need to be “tentmakers” who work another job and do ministry as a part-time work or as a volunteer?
+ Will Christians in 20 years be a minority, or even a persecuted minority in American society?

I wonder about those questions, but I wonder even more about Austin and how he will find faith.

All of the statistics say that fewer and fewer persons in each successive generation are finding faith. The “Veterans” generation of people like my elderly father were churched at a rate of nearly 70%. For “Baby Boomers” of my generation that percentage dropped to 50%.  For the “Next Generation” (I prefer that term to Generation X), it dropped to below 30%. And our early data on the “Millennials” is that only about 15-20% are finding faith.

Why? Maybe we in the church have been too busy playing church and not spending our time sharing the Good News. Maybe the numbers for the older generations were inflated with people who were just church members and not faithful Christians. Maybe we are fighting powerful forces in our culture which work against the Christian faith.

I don’t know all the answers. I only know that when I look at Austin and feel the love of a grandparent, I also yearn for him to find faith.  It is most likely that will happen if he is raised in a Christian home, if he has parents and grandparents who are role models of faith, and if he has involvement in a church which is vital, relative, and passionate about the faith.

Will Austin find faith? I pray that the answer is YES! and I will do all that I can to help that happen. I also pray for all of the other little children of our world, and I will do all that I can to help them find faith, too.

 

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THE VIEW FROM HERE: EASTER US, O LORD-MICHAEL COYNER

Friday, April 22nd, 2011 | By Mike Coyner
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Easter Us, O Lord

Two years ago I visited a local church in the Indiana Conference where I heard the pastor offer a beautiful prayer including the phrase “Easter Us, O Lord.” I commented to several people about how much that phrase could mean to us as we go through difficult times in our lives and in our churches.

Little did I know then that the past two years would include so many changes and difficulties in our own family, including the death of both of my wife’s parents and my own mother. Little did I know that I would have several friends and colleagues who are battling cancer and other diseases right now, or that I would lose so many friends and colleagues these past two years. Little did I know then how much that prayer, “Easter us, O Lord” would continue to mean to me.

So again this year, I find myself praying those words expressed so beautifully in that pastoral prayer: “Easter us, O Lord.” As we continue moving through his Holy Week toward a celebration on Easter Sunday of the victory and new life which is ours in Jesus Christ, and especially as we remember loved ones who are celebrating Easter in a more glorious way, I use those words and offer this prayer:

Easter us, O Lord.

In the midst of turmoil, death, illness, recession, strife, warfare, political dissention, and personal anguish, Easter us O Lord.

Fill us with a new experience of the risen presence of Jesus Christ.

Let us come to the empty tomb and hear the words, “He is not here, he is risen.”

Let us discover afresh the surprising presence of Jesus who comes to us behind closed doors and barricaded hearts and says, “Peace with be you.”

Easter us, O Lord.

Even when we go about our usual schedules and busy lives, like the fishermen of old, let us encounter Christ who invites us to “Try again, fish from the other side of the boat,” and let us not fear change.

When we gather around our own breakfast or lunch tables, let us hear the question of Jesus, “Do you love me?” and let us also hear the admonition, “Then feed my sheep.”

And as we walk along with one another may we discover that the stranger in our midst is none other than the Christ who journeys with us.

Easter us, O Lord.

By the power of your ever-present Holy Spirit, give us and our loved ones the healing, comfort, assurance, and peace that we all need.

Bless all of our pastors as they proclaim the Good News this Easter Sunday.

Be with all our congregations as they sing “Christ the Lord is Risen Today” and let that song become a reality in their hearts and lives.
Empower our ministry and our witness so that Easter becomes more than a holiday or holy day.

And bless us with a new and fresh discovery of your promise, “Behold, I am with you always.”

Easter us, O Lord. Amen.

 

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THE VIEW FROM HERE: THE UNAVOIDABLE CROSS-MICHAEL COYNER

Thursday, March 31st, 2011 | By Mike Coyner
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The Romans knew what they were doing – they crucified thieves, murderers, revolutionaries, anyone who opposed them – right outside the city gate, alongside the road to town. They wanted everyone coming and going into the city of Jerusalem to be confronted by the harsh reality of crucifixion.
They wanted the Cross to be unavoidable.

And so it is. The Cross is not just central to our Christian faith – it is unavoidable. It was for Jesus, it was for his followers, and it is for us.

And yet … how much do we avoid the Cross, avoid the concept of sacrifice, and avoid the challenge of discipline?

I was serving a church in northern Indiana a few years ago where we always displayed a rough-hewn wooden cross right up front, on the chancel during Lent. Maybe your churches do that, too, perhaps draping it with purple during Lent, and then white on Easter, or something like that. One year when we put up that cross, a woman – a very faithful, long-term Christian in our church – said to me, “I don’t like that cross, it looks too realistic.”

That’s it, isn’t it? Too realistic. Too harsh. Too much of a reminder of the price paid, the sacrifice, the pain, the blood, the death. We like to skip over that, we like to, as my preaching professor Carlisle Marney used to say,
“We like to bootleg Easter in ahead of Good Friday.”

And yet the cross is unavoidable, even if it is hard to explain and maybe even an embarrassment. The Cross is unavoidable.

When Paul wrote to the Corinthian church (I Corinthians 1:18-25) he had to deal with the Cross and the obstacle it presented. To Jews, it was a huge problem to think of the Messiah being executed on a Cross. To Greeks and their philosophers it was nonsense. But, as Paul says, to those who believe, it is POWER and SALVATION.

So as we continue this season of Lent let me ask you some uncomfortable questions:

  1. Do you have a cross in the place where you worship? If not, why not? What part of the Christian truth are you trying to avoid?
  2. Does your preaching (or your pastor’s preaching) ever include words like “sacrifice” or “salvation” or “redemption”? If not, why not? What part of our Christian faith are you and/or your congregation trying to avoid?
  3. If you’re a pastor, does your own understanding of your ministry include the concepts of “obedience” and “sacrifice” and “calling” – or is your understanding based upon terms like “career” and “success” and “higher salaries“?
  4. What if you’re not a pastor – does your understanding of your life and ministry as a Christian include the concepts of “obedience” and “sacrifice” and “servanthood” – or is it based on things like “convenience” and “status”?
  5. Do you invite others to become a part of a life-style of sacrifice and giving and service – or do you avoid all of that and try to do what one pastor told me was the secret to his ministry: “just keep the customers happy”?

 

I ask these questions of you and of myself, because I believe the Cross is unavoidable, and if we try to avoid the Cross then we miss the power of the Gospel.

Let me say that again:  I believe the Cross is unavoidable, and if we try to avoid the Cross then we miss the power of the Gospel.

 

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