Posts Tagged ‘Kim Reisman’

Coming Soon!! A Wesleyan Accent.com

Tuesday, May 14th, 2013 | By Kim Reisman
Filed in: Featured, Kimberly Reisman, What's Your Next Step?

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Kim Reisman

Kim Reisman

 

Next Step was founded in 2005 as a vehicle for ministry in the areas of evangelism, spiritual formation, and leadership development. It’s been an amazing 8 years, full of challenges, surprises, and a great deal of meaning. Many of you have been with me from the beginning, some have come alongside me more recently, all of you have been wonderfully supportive.

Opportunities are currently unfolding that will necessitate a change in direction for Next Step. I’m shifting responsibility and will now be at the forefront of a new venture – A Wesleyan Accent – a web-based ministry providing free and subscription resources for Christian spiritual formation, catechesis, and discipleship in the Wesleyan way. It’s my hope that by clearly articulating the Wesleyan understanding of Christian faith, A Wesleyan Accent will contribute significantly to the task of strengthening discipleship, empowering mission and evangelism, cultivating ministry gifts of young leaders, and nurturing the professional and service life of young theologians.

There will be two main areas of the WesleyanAccent.com site – free resources and information, and subscription resources. The free resources will include blogs, sermons, articles, book reviews, and videos from leading voices in the Wesleyan family. Discipleship in the Wesleyan Way will be the subscription portion the site. Individuals and churches will be able to purchase annual subscriptions, which will provide access to an extensive library of small group lessons on all aspects of Christian theology. Additionally, Discipleship in the Wesleyan Way will support discipleship and small group development by providing resources for both leaders and participants through a platform of customizable curriculum planning and private group portals for ongoing communication and additional resourcing.

I’m excited about this new phase of ministry. A Wesleyan Accent will launch in the fall and you’ll be able to find us at www.wesleyanaccent.com. At that time, visitors to this site will be redirected to A Wesleyan Accent. In the meantime, if you’re new to Next Step, I hope you’ll explore the site as it is – there’s a lot of great content here that will remain accessible to you throughout the transition phase and beyond.

Thanks again for your support. I look forward to continuing to serve through A Wesleyan Accent!

Peace,

Kim

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Rediscovering First Things

Sunday, February 17th, 2013 | By Kim Reisman
Filed in: Kimberly Reisman

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Kim Reisman

Kim Reisman

 

Rediscovering First Things

Recently my husband and I remodeled our kitchen. Since I tend to be the one who can envision how I want things to look, before we began the project I sketched out a plan on graph paper. I understood the concept of weight-bearing walls and knew that would figure into the project, so I called a draftsman to make sure my idea was doable. Although I knew a little about weight bearing in construction, what I didn’t realize was that there would be one point that would be crucial to the whole endeavor. I discovered that I could bump out the back wall of my kitchen as I planned and a large beam could be put in its place to compensate; but if I left that one particular point without support, the house would collapse. One point. One point was crucial in bearing the weight of my entire house.

Renewal is a popular thing to talk about these days, primarily because we long for it so deeply in the UM church in the US. As I reflect on the concept, I am continually reminded that though renewal is sometimes connected to the discovery of new things, more often, it is a rediscovery of first things – a rediscovery of those foundational things that have proven to be strong enough to bear the weight of life and faith.

For United Methodists, those first things are our doctrines – those foundational things that bind us together with Christians across the world and throughout the ages, as well as things that define us as a community of Christians with our own unique place in the body of Christ. Like that one point in my house, these things are necessary to bear the weight of our UM “house.” They are the very things that have born the weight of 2000 years of Christians continually seeking to live into the kingdom of God unfolding in their midst. Renewal for the UM Church then, is intimately tied to a rediscovery of our first things, our doctrines.

Sadly, many people have no idea what UM doctrines are. We have, over the years, preferred the ease of open-ended musings to the much more challenging, but also more rewarding task of “faith seeking understanding.” In this way we have unwittingly placed the wondrous mysteries of Christian faith that are contained in our doctrines at a safe distance. Rather than reflecting on them and allowing them to become real for us, our doctrines remain vague and therefore make few intellectual and moral demands. That vagueness lulls us into thinking we can mold our doctrines into whatever shape we choose, turning them “into mirrors for our spiritual needs, real or imagined, rather than allowing ourselves to be reformed by them.”[1]

But this will not lead to renewal. Renewal is not born out of vagueness and ambiguity. Renewal is unleashed when people discover or rediscover what they truly believe, when they actually have something clear and substantial to become passionate about.

We must open ourselves to the power of the Holy Spirit to draw us close to the mysteries of God contained in our doctrines. Not doing so doesn’t mean that we will find other ways to approach the mysteries of faith; it means we won’t approach them at all, and thus have nothing of substance to become passionate about and nothing unique to offer the world.

It appears that much of the UMC in the US has lost the ability to clearly state what we believe and why, as well as what should be believed and why. This is painfully true in our common life together and sadly, often even more so when we relate to outsiders whom we hope to invite in. However, when we rediscover the power of our interior life, when we drink deeply at the well of the mysteries of God contained in our doctrines, our communal and institutional life is enriched, we are able as individuals and as a church to articulate the meaning and content of our faith in specific and persuasive ways, and the Holy Spirit is unleashed to move us toward renewal.


[1] Bruce D. Marshall, “Renewing Dogmatic Theology,” First Things, May, 2012.

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What’s Your Next Step? A Hard Path to a Better Place ~ Kim Reisman

Friday, September 7th, 2012 | By Kim Reisman
Filed in: Kimberly Reisman, What's Your Next Step?

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A Hard Path to a Better Place

 

Kim Reisman

Kim Reisman

I’m an Independent, not registered with any political party; although neither the Democrats nor the Republicans seem to know that based on the literature and surveys they send me – both parties clearly think I’m one of them. Go figure.

I don’t know who will win the election in November and I’m not trying to send any messages about who to vote for. But, I found the closing words of President Obama’s speech to the Democratic National Convention last night extremely moving:

…Yes, our path is harder, but it leads to a better place. Yes our road is longer, but we travel it together. We don’t turn back. We leave no one behind. We pull each other up. We draw strength from our victories, and we learn from our mistakes, but we keep our eyes fixed on that distant horizon, knowing that Providence is with us, and that we are surely blessed to be citizens of the greatest nation on Earth.

I know that was a word to the nation, but in some strange way it also felt like a word to the church.

 

 

Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it may own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.            ~Philippians 3.12-14 (NRSV)

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What’s Your Next Step ~ Get Out of the Way ~ Kim Reisman

Thursday, September 6th, 2012 | By Kim Reisman
Filed in: Kimberly Reisman, What's Your Next Step?

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Get Out of the Way

Madeleine L’Engle writes:

Madeleine L’Engle

When the artist is truly the servant of the work, the work is better than the artist; Shakespeare knew how to listen to his work, and so he often wrote better than he could write; Bach composed more deeply, more truly than he knew; Rembrandt’s brush put more of the human spirit on canvas than Rembrandt could comprehend.

When the work takes over, then the artist is enabled to get out of the way, not to interfere. When the work takes over, then the artist listens.

But before he can listen, paradoxically, he must work. Getting out of the way and listening is not something that comes easily, either in art or in prayer.

It’s true in art and in prayer, but also in faith itself – particularly in sharing that faith. When we are ‘servants of the work,’ as L’Engle describes, just as the artist allows the work to take over, so we allow the Holy Spirit, which moves within us and through us, to take over. Just as the artist is enabled to get out of the way – to not interfere – we are enabled to become vehicles of transformation in the lives of others. Not the source of transformation, mind you, but fortunate witnesses of a power deeper that we can comprehend.

Like with the artist’s work, when the Holy Spirit takes over, we must listen – deeply, attentively, openly. Not only to the Spirit, but to the other with whom we share – listening deeply, attentively, openly.

But, as L’Engle says, there is a paradox. Like the artist, before we can get out of the way and listen we must work. To be a ‘servant of the work’ we must launch ourselves into it, trusting that the work is bigger and better than we are. So we make space, build relationships, take risks, share vulnerabilities and allow the Spirit to take over; allow the Spirit to enable us not to interfere, but to be fortunate witnesses of a power deeper than we can comprehend.

Kim Reisman

Kim Reisman

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What’s Your Next Step? – Kim Reisman

Monday, September 3rd, 2012 | By Kim Reisman
Filed in: Kimberly Reisman, What's Your Next Step?

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PostSecret Monday…

 

Please don’t wait…

 

Mom

PostSecret

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What’s Your Next Step? – Part 2 – Facebook Friends and the Community of the Already Saved ~ Kim Reisman

Saturday, September 1st, 2012 | By Kim Reisman
Filed in: Kimberly Reisman, The View from Here

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What’s Your Next Step?

vickersHaving read Jason Vickers’ book Minding the Good Ground: A Theology of Church Renewal, I’m continuing to ponder next steps. Here is a second installment of those thoughts. You can read the first installment, A Death Embrace, here.

 

Selfishly, one of the things I appreciated about Jason’s book is that it confirmed my own thoughts. From my perspective, historically the church has not always held together the relationship between the personal and the corporate in a holistic fashion, which (again from my perspective) has in turn undermined evangelism in significant ways. Nicholas Perrin is on target when he say’s that many Christians are conditioned to read Scripture as God’s saving Word to them as individuals rather than God’s saving word to the church. He goes on to say that this kind of understanding has led to ‘a notion that views the church as little more than a loose association of the equivalents of Jesus’ Facebook friends.’*

Over the years, much evangelistic activity has focused on the person as an isolated entity, as though that was the entire focus of Jesus’ message. But that’s somewhat of a distortion. In Christian faith the personal and the communal don’t cancel each other out, they’re bound together, with each reinforcing the other.

That’s why Jason’s critique of the idea of the church as the ‘community of the already saved’ is so important. But it’s not so easy to swallow. Where I grew up, we’d say Jason’s gone to meddlin’.

But I can’t think of a more important word at this juncture. Salvation is not simply a private transaction between an individual and Jesus. Sin is not just about transgressing divine laws. Atonement is not merely the juridical event of pardon. And (thankfully) the church is not a ‘waiting room for heaven’ or ‘a good place to get something to eat and make a few new friends while we wait to be called home to glory,’ or even ‘a good place to come together for civic involvement or…political caucusing.’**

What is at stake, especially for evangelism, is the recognition that salvation is dramatically more far-reaching and comprehensive than a simple private transaction. Sin is deeper and more complex than the breaking of a few commandments. Atonement is far more sweeping and transformative than the receipt of pardon. And (thankfully) the church is instrumental in all of it – the very context of the Holy Spirit’s activity and the chosen vehicle through which God works for radical transformation.

But convincing folks of all that can seem like a really hard sell these days – especially in the United Methodist Church. And it’s not just because many of us think of the church as an afterthought when it comes to salvation.

Kim Reisman

Kim Reisman

One of my seminary professors, George Lindbeck talked about the importance of church doctrine to the formation of communal identity. He said that ‘Church doctrines are communally authoritative teachings regarding beliefs and practices that are considered essential to the identity or welfare of the group in question…they indicate what constitutes faithful adherence to a community.’ Think about the Quakers, for instance. If I’m a Quaker, but I oppose pacifism, I’m not going to be viewed as a good Quaker, because that’s not what a member of the Society of Friends should be. Lindbeck says that if you don’t draw that conclusion, then it’s most likely because ‘the belief has ceased to be communally formative.’*** The belief may still be a formal or official one, but it’s no longer operational.

That’s the heart of our current crisis in the UMC. Not only have we forgotten that the church is instrumental to salvation, it may also very well be that the doctrinal heritage of the UMC is no longer communally formative (at least in the US). If that’s the case, then (sadly) we really aren’t much more than a loose association of Jesus’ Facebook friends.

 

 

*Nicholas Perrin, ‘Jesus Eschatology and Kingdom Ethics: Ever the Twain Shall Meet’, in N. Perrin and R. Hays (eds.), Jesus, Paul and the People of God: A Theological Dialogue with N. T. Wright (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2011), 100, 102

**Jason Vickers, Minding the Good Ground: A Theology of Church Renewal (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2011), 83

***George Lindbeck, The Nature of Doctrine: Religion and Theology in a Postliberal Age [1984], (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), 60

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Murdock and Oscar ~ Kim Reisman

Monday, August 27th, 2012 | By Kim Reisman
Filed in: Kimberly Reisman, What's Your Next Step?

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Occasionally things happen in life that call us to pause. If we heed that call and pay attention, we often realize that we’ve been privy to something really special. That kind of thing has happened to me over the last several weeks.

Owl

Murdock the owl

We live in an ordinary suburban setting in West Lafayette, Indiana – nice front yard with neighbors a little over a driveway width away on either side. When we arrived in 1993 our back yard was lovely but our neighbors were in plain sight – no privacy whatsoever. In the years since, we’ve planted wisteria vines and built a pergola and our back yard turned into what our children have come to call the secret garden.

During good weather, we eat many of our meals under the pergola surrounded by wisteria and trumpet vines. A few weeks ago, as we were eating with friends we noticed a bird nestled in the wisteria – not the kind of bird we were used to seeing. It was a young screech-owl, about 12 inches tall, who had apparently been watching us for some time. We watched each other that night, and the next, soon naming him Murdock (after my grandfather who would also watch quietly, occasionally dropping some gem of wisdom or wit) and regularly checking for his whereabouts in the branches of the wisteria. Until one day he was gone.

That was a sad day.

owlet

Oscar the Owlet

But then another evening rolled around and John and I were out enjoying dinner in the shade of the pergola. John looked up and thought he saw Murdock! But no, it wasn’t him. It was a small owlet, so new he (she?) still had his fuzzy just-hatched feathers – and he had been watching us. So we named him Oscar (I’m not sure why) and began watching, checking every day to see where he might be nestled. Oscar lost his fuzzy feathers and fresh new, grown-up feathers took their place. He watched us and we watched him. And then Oscar was gone too. Another sad day.

But that’s when I realized that I had been privy to something special – nothing miraculous mind you, but definitely special.

Kim Reisman

Kim Reisman

An ordinary part of nature – owls – opened my eyes once again to the amazing glory of God’s creation. And it reminded me not to take things for granted, but to pay attention. So I am. Deliberately. Because I don’t want to miss meeting those who share my garden.

 

Then God said, “Let the waters swarm with fish and other life. Let the skies be filled with birds of every kind.” So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that scurries and swarms in the water, and every sort of bird—each producing offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good. Then God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply. Let the fish fill the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.”

…Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good! 

Genesis 1.20-22, 31

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What’s Your Next Step? ~ Part 1 ~ A Death Embrace ~ Kim Reisman

Friday, August 24th, 2012 | By Kim Reisman
Filed in: Kimberly Reisman, What's Your Next Step?

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Kim Reisman

Kim Reisman

What’s your next step?

It’s a good question – in this case as it relates to the United Methodist Church – what’s our next step? General Conference is a (sort of) distant memory; our regional Jurisdictional Conferences have come and gone. Various groups and people have publically staked out their claims about keeping their covenants or breaking them. So what’s next?

Jason Vickers

Jason Vickers

Now that my PhD work is officially over I’ve begun trying to catch up on my reading. Jason Vickers’ book, Minding the Good Ground: A Theology of Church Renewal was a timely read in the aftermath of all the church politics that have unfolded thus far in 2012. The book is full of important insights that are particularly relevant to the current state of affairs in the UMC. I hope to explore some of those insights over the next several posts.

The first idea I want to highlight comes at the very end of the book – literally the next to last page. Jason writes:

…Many liberals and evangelicals are blinded to the shifts taking place around them precisely because they cannot take their eyes off one another long enough to take notice. It is as though evangelical and liberal Protestants are locked in a death embrace in which both sides are equally obsessed with killing one another. All the while, we keep buried in our basements the solid food for which a spiritually hungry generation is searching far and wide.*

I’m not sure I’ve read a better description of General Conference 2012. But more than that – Jason is spot on in his insight when it comes to the overall UMC. That’s what troubles me. How can we really understand the nature of the church, of what God has called us to be and do in the world, if we are so distracted?

Many folks these days talk about reviving the ‘movement’ nature of Methodism as a way of renewing the UMC. I find that somewhat ironic since in its institutionalism, the UM of today resembles the Church of England of John Wesley’s day. Being or behaving like a movement seems unlikely. A better option might be Wesley’s own approach of seeking ‘the lost sheep of United Methodism.’**

For that to happen though, we’ve got to take our eyes off each other long enough to recognize the presence of the Holy Spirit, on whom the very life of the church depends.

 

*Jason Vickers, Minding the Good Ground: A Theology for Church Renewal (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2011), 106

**In Reasons Against a Separation from the Church of England, Wesley described his work as being for ‘the lost sheep of the Church of England.’

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What’s Your Next Step? ~ Peace ~ Kim Reisman

Tuesday, August 21st, 2012 | By Kim Reisman
Filed in: Kimberly Reisman, What's Your Next Step?

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Peace

Peace Camp Uganda

 

Aubrey and Patrick Woodson are two young Peace Corps volunteers I am blessed to call friends. They serve in Uganda and recently Aubrey worked with youth from the Greater North in a weeklong Peace Camp. She posted this on her blog:

We have been fortunate to grow up in an environment where people can argue about politics, the validity of eating at Chik-fil-A, Kony 2012…etc. None of them matter without peace. I know my campers learned a lot this week at Peace Camp but I also learned a lot from them about the power of forgiveness. It was truly inspirational to see the resilience of the youth, who have been through so much, and their willingness to learn about living in peace with themselves and with one another.

She went on to post a poem written by one of the youth:

Peace Peace Peace

Who are you?

Where do you stay?

Where were you born?

Who has ever seen you?

Peaceful Living UgandaSome people say that

you are love and joy.

Others say that you are happiness.

Others describe you as unity and respect.

To those who have read extensively

and widely, they think of you as a situation

or a period of time where there is

no war in a country. Yet others think of you

as a state of living in friendship with somebody.

How special are you?

You are too unique.

You are needed in our world now.

People are suffering and crying because you are not there.

Armies are fighting because you are not there.

Police are deployed where you are absent.

In the Greater North, many people were killed,

burnt, hammered and hung because you were absent.

Our children of this generation don’t know you.

Many people have lost their lives in the process of searching for you.

Many are still in the bush looking for you.

Many weapons were made to bring you back.

Married men and women have separated because you are nowhere to be seen.

Nobody can be comfortable without you.

Aubrey Woodson

Aubrey Woodson – Peace Camp 2012

It seems love is your father.

Happiness is your mother.

Joy, unity, and respect are you relatives.

Confusion and fighting are your greatest enemies.

Killing can chase you out of a country.

We cry, pray, and request

you humbly to stay in the

Greater North of our country

forever and ever.

-Omodo Boniface

 

Yes. Stay…but please, not only in the Greater North…

 

…If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.                                                  2 Chronicles 7.14

 

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275th Anniversary of Aldersgate ~ Wesley Heritage Tour 2013

Thursday, July 12th, 2012 | By Kim Reisman
Filed in: Events, Kimberly Reisman, Uncategorized, What's Your Next Step?

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May, 2013 marks the 275th anniversary of John Wesley’s “heart warming” experience at Aldersgate in London. To celebrate this great event in Methodism, World Methodist Evangelism will be sponsoring a Wesley Heritage Tour of England. I will be leading a group and would like to invite you to join me.

Aldersgate Flame

Aldersgate Flame ~ London

As you may recall, the experience of Aldersgate, May 24, 1738, shaped John Wesley’s life. He wrote, “I felt my Heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation.” A movement of renewal and vision began that continues across the globe today. On May 24, we will be joining with the “people called Methodist” to follow the steps of Wesley to Aldersgate. For 9 days we will experience the key places of the Wesleyan revival –  Wesley’s Chapel, Bristol, The Pill, Hanham Mt., and Oxford to name a few. I invite you to experience anew the heart of the Wesleyan/Methodist Movement today.

Kimberly Reisman

Kim Reisman

I will be leading a group as part of this pilgrimage. For more information, please download the brochure or email Kim Reisman. Clergy and clergy spouse scholarships are available. This is an exciting opportunity to mark a great event in our spiritual history. I hope you’ll consider joining me.

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