Posts Tagged ‘View from Here’

The View From Here ~ A word from Mr. Wesley as we come to General Conference ~ Maxie Dunnam

Saturday, April 21st, 2012 | By Maxie Dunnam
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A word from Mr. Wesley as we come to General Conference…

Wesley statue - Asbury Seminary

John Wesley ~ Asbury Theological Seminary

In the quad at Asbury Seminary, we have a statue of John Wesley preaching in the public market. There is a plaque on the statue with some words of Wesley. I had these words put there because I wanted our students to be constantly reminded of the peril in which we stand in the United Methodist Church. I encouraged our students read that plaque and pause often there in the presence of Mr. Wesley, and pay attention to what he said:

I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist either in Europe or America. But I am afraid, lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power. And this undoubtedly will be the case, unless they hold fast the doctrine, spirit, and discipline with which they first set out.

These words have special meaning as we participate in the upcoming United Methodist General Conference (April 24-May 3). It is clear that we are not holding fast the doctrine, spirit, and discipline with which the Methodist movement first set out.

Another word from Mr. Wesley is our challenge:

If you preach doctrine only, the people will become antinomians; and if you preach experience only, they will become enthusiasts; and if you preach practice only, they will become Pharisees. But if you preach all these and do not enforce discipline, Methodism will become like a highly cultivated garden without a fence, exposed to the ravages of the wild boar of the forest.

We are seeing it happen. The wild boar of the forest has been loosed not only in the highly cultivated garden of the Wesleyan movement, but in all mainline churches. So there is,

  • experimenting with pagan ritual and practice
  • consuming the world’s goods without regard for the poor
  • accommodating the prevailing patterns of sexual promiscuity, serial marriage, and divorce
  • resigning ourselves to the injustices of racial and gender prejudice
  • condoning homosexual practice
  • ignoring the historic Church’s long-standing protection of the unborn and the mother… nearly 50 million abortions in the last 3 decades
Matrix Mentor, Maxie D. Dunnam

Maxie D. Dunnam - Kingdom Catalysts

God called Israel to be “God’s own people…a holy nation.”  The church, as the “new Israel,” is to function in the same fashion. So God’s call to us is, “Be holy as I am holy.”  While we will spend a great deal of time dealing with structural issues, which is essential, my prayer is that we will not compromise on the critical social issues: care for the unborn, attention to the “strangers in our midst” (immigration), the practice of homosexuality (same sex unions, ordination of avowed homosexual persons), what merits a supposed Christian nation to initiate war, and peace in Jerusalem and care for Palestinians – particularly recognizing how we have given far more attention to Jews than to our Christian brothers and sisters in that “Holy Land.”

And wouldn’t it be wonderful if we would discipline ourselves to spend as much time strategizing on how to live out our mission – “Making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world” – as we do on how we will structure the governance of the church?

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The View from Here ~ O For a Thousand Dollars to Save ~ Jason Vickers

Friday, April 20th, 2012 | By Jason Vickers
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O For a Thousand Dollars to Save: A Lament on the Eve of General Conference

 

Jason Vickers wide

Jason Vickers

I have no illusions. I get that the United Methodist Church has money problems. Moreover, I get that money problems need money solutions. Nor am I reluctant to talk openly with friends and strangers about money. If anything, I am convinced that we have a money problem in America and in United Methodism in part because, along with sex, we have made money a taboo topic for polite conversation. So let’s talk about money. And let’s talk about sex. I’m game.

I am more troubled by what United Methodists will not be talking about at General Conference. For example, what are the odds that United Methodists at General Conference will have a lively conversation about the Holy Trinity or about the need to recover a more prominent role for Mary in United Methodist beliefs and practices? And what are the chances that we will have an animated conversation about the nature of holiness or about whether two sacraments are really sufficient?

What troubles me most, however, is that we don’t seem to realize that these things are related to one another – that our money problems and even our sex problems are largely a function of the utter staleness of our theological life together. Just now, the world around us is awakening from its dogmatic slumbers, which is to say, from the long sleep of Enlightenment. People everywhere are increasingly curious about God. Even Hollywood is once again making movies with plots driven by theological questions (see the Oscar-nominated Tree of Life). At such a time as this, I have yet to hear one good theological question set for debate at General Conference.

So what questions would I set before General Conference? Before taking up (again) the matter of whether two people of the same sex can be married, I would like to see us (just once) take up the more theologically profound question of whether we should add marriage to the list of sacraments. Similarly, before taking up (again) the matter of whether gays and lesbians can be ordained, I would like to see us (just once) entertain the theologically tantalizing questions of whether ordination itself is a sacrament and whether Mary might be a better model for the ordained life than Peter. And before we decide whether to downsize or to restructure, I would love to see us tackle the question of what it would mean to think about church polity and organization in a decidedly Trinitarian way.

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The View from Here ~ If Love Were Oil ~ Maxie Dunnam

Tuesday, April 17th, 2012 | By Maxie Dunnam
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Matrix Mentor, Maxie D. Dunnam

Maxie D. Dunnam - Kingdom Catalysts

A while back I visited the Lewis Grizzard museum in Moreland, Georgia. Lewis died in 1994, and I miss him. He was a writer and humorist. He communicated helpful wisdom with humor and a proud redneck.

He also wrote books. One of his book titles says a lot about him: IF LOVE WERE OIL, I’D BE A QUART LOW.

That’s our problem, isn’t it? As individuals and in our community life. We are a couple of quarts low of the oil of love.

Every great religion teaches it. Love is our deepest human need. Love begets compassion. Compassion acted out is essential for healthy living.

Love is essential for reconciliation. Reconciliation is essential for community. Creating and claiming community is the core need of every city. I live in Memphis. There’s plenty of love in here. We simply need to find ways to express it. I imagine that’s true of where you live too. How are you expressing love in your community? How might you better express it? Find those ways and claim this word of HOPE.

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The View from Here ~ Betsy’s Story ~ John Meunier

Thursday, April 5th, 2012 | By John Meunier
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Betsy’s Story

John Meunier

A United Methodist lay woman recently shared a story with me about her experiences in the church. She discovered after many decades in the church that something had been missing from her faith experience. I’ll share her words directly:

As a life long Methodist, I have struggled with “something is missing.” However, being extremely loyal to the Methodist Church I had not seriously questioned any deficiencies. However, I went through a series of events that left me at rock bottom, and with a very strong urge to understand what was missing/what went wrong. I recently read Donald Haynes On the Threshold of Grace and he gave this take on Methodism that spoke to what I was feeling and has rocked my world; the title of the section is “From a ‘conversion theology’ to ‘gradualism’”; immediately prior to this he dealt with Wesley’s encounter with Bohler and Aldersgate: “Actually a different faith journey began in Methodism as long ago as the 1880′s. Methodist Sunday School literature began to emphasize the stories of the Old and New Testament and almost censored any references to the Cross and experential conversion. The philosophy of the religious education movement replaced conversion with ‘gradualism’.”

The concept of “almost censored” hit me hard–that is what I experienced growing up in the Methodist Church in the 1960′s. Experential conversion was a definite “no-no”. The crucifixion was “there” but never addressed head on. We always went from the Hosannas of Palm Sunday to the Resurrection of Easter. For me, Good Friday remained something of a mystery. Finally in the mid- 1990′s we had a pastor who introduced the Tennebrae service and that was my first experience of going through the crucifrixion of Good Friday to get to Easter–it made a huge difference. It was during his tenure that I got to the point of “Jesus did die for our sins”–this is after a lifetime in the church! I was in my early 40′s! Unfortunately, before I could internalize all that, we had a change in pastors that was absolutely disastous for me and the wheels started coming off.
I am at the point I am tired of “gradualism” and randomness in my faith walk. I actually believed I was on a “path somewhere”–I was, but it certainly was not where I expected. After reading Haynes’ summation of “what went wrong” with the church, it feels like I was destined for a “crash and burn”: “While the church is God’s mission to the world, we err to see it as an end in itself. The sad mistake of the 20th century was to develop a sophisitcated ‘church-ianity’ that was not synonymous with ‘Christianity. We developed ‘churchmanship’ (male and female) rather than discipleship. We assimilated new members by placing them on finance committees and program teams when they were babes in Christ looking for soul nourishment.”

Haynes’ book was not the first thing I have read about “what’s wrong with the UMC,” his mode of expression spoke to me on a personal level. I am the living walking proof “gradualism” is not the way to go. I also suspect, reflecting back prior to the “crash and burn” that is why people just “wander away”– they get stalled in their faith walk.

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The View from Here ~ A Fascination with Shortcuts ~ Maxie Dunnam

Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012 | By Maxie Dunnam
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A FASCINATION WITH SHORTCUTS

 

Matrix Mentor, Maxie D. Dunnam

Maxie D. Dunnam - Kingdom Catalysts

The bulk of the products in our grocery stores were not there ten years ago. The majority of these new goods are in the frozen and instant food departments. We have instant puddings, instant rice, instant coffee. No wonder we are fascinated with shortcuts. We don’t want to know if it will work, but if it will work now…quickly.

There is a severe fallacy in this mindset. Charles Kettering put it memorably: “If you buy a fiddle today, you can’t expect to give a concert in Carnegie Hall tomorrow” Jesus expressed it differently. “Do you pick a bunch of grapes from a thorn bush or figs from a clump of thistles?”

There is no instant wholeness for us as persons…

No instant reconciliation for our divided relationships, cities and nations.

Even Jesus had to walk the entire road to the cross – no instant resurrection, no skipping to Easter.

We need commitment and perseverance, but I promise: God will honor our faithfulness.

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The View From Here ~ Giving Up General Conference: A Call to Prayer ~ Jason Vickers

Monday, March 19th, 2012 | By Jason Vickers
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Giving Up General Conference: A Call to Prayer

UMCGC 2012 logo

UMC General Conference 2012

In the last two weeks, I have given lectures at conferences and retreats and preached at churches in three different United Methodist Conferences. I have spoken with the General Secretary of one of our General Boards, with three district superintendents, and with dozens of clergy and laity. In all of these conversations, one theme occurred again and again, namely, the upcoming General Conference.  Sadly, no one expressed anything approaching optimism or enthusiasm about what many believe is the most important gathering of the people called United Methodists. On the contrary, most expressed something bordering on dread.

At this stage, I must confess that I am tempted to give up on General Conference.  As a theologian, it is difficult not to fall back on the notion that the local church simply is the church; that what happens at General Conference is theologically and sacramentally meaningless. I am tempted to believe that the body that will gather in Tampa is not a divine body, but a merely human body bound together by what may well be the most telling sign of our sinful condition – our need for enemies.

I am also tempted to give up on General Conference on pragmatic grounds. Why not simply split into two or three churches based on theological and political sensibilities? Amid the seemingly endless number of Protestant denominations in America, what would a few more hurt? Besides, when it comes to the issues that divide us most deeply, I simply don’t anticipate any solutions that will satisfy everyone. Would we not get more done for the Kingdom of God if we went our separate ways?

Jason Vickers wide

Jason Vickers

Despite how much I would like to give up on General Conference, I cannot do so. As a Trinitarian theologian, I am especially fond of Jesus’ farewell discourse in the Gospel of John. It is here that Jesus promises that he will send the Holy Spirit. It is here that Jesus speaks of his unity with God the Father. And it is here that Jesus prays for his disciples and for those who will come after them.

What does this have to do with not giving up on General Conference? In Jesus’ prayer in John 17, he asks his heavenly Father to make us one, even as the Father and the Son are one. Indeed, no theme is more prominent in Jesus’ prayer than the theme of unity, both God’s unity and ours.

Under the weight of this passage, I simply cannot regard “amicable separation” as a serious option. On the contrary, I believe that we should not settle for anything less than the unity about which our Lord speaks. At the same time, my doctrine of sin is sufficiently robust that I have very low expectations that anything resembling the unity that Jesus has with God the Father will result from the upcoming General Conference. If anything, like so many people I have spoken with in recent weeks, I will not be surprised in the least if we leave Tampa more deeply divided than when we arrived.

What, then, should we do? I suggest that we should not so much give up on General Conference as we should give up General Conference to God in prayer. In other words, I think that the time has come not solely for a Call to Action but also for a Call to Prayer. More specifically, I believe that we should pray that God would help us to follow our Lord in making unity our first priority. Having said this, I have no illusions about how deep our divisions are. But I also believe that Jesus has not left us to our own devices, political or otherwise. I believe that he has made good on his promise.  I believe that, with the Father, he has sent the Holy Spirit into the world precisely so that we might be one, even as they are one. Even so, come, Holy Spirit. Make us one.

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The View from Here ~ Bryan Collier ~ The First Need of Leadership

Thursday, March 8th, 2012 | By Bryan Collier
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The First Need of Leadership

Bryan Collier

Bryan Collier

The book of 1 Kings is a study in leadership.  Adonijah, whom we read about in chapter 1 (and in my last post) was an agent of his own demise and other’s demise because he had never been disciplined.

Chapter 2 and 3 introduce us to a child king whose story is very different.  From the undisciplined passions of David came Solomon whose great restraint in chapter 3 honors God and therefore God honors him.  However, a key conversation between Solomon and David occurs in David’s last days that are recorded in chapter 2.

As the time of King David’s death approached, he gave this charge to his son Solomon:

 “I am going where everyone on earth must someday go. Take courage and be a man.  Observe the requirements of the LORD your God, and follow all his ways. Keep the decrees, commands, regulations, and laws written in the Law of Moses so that you will be successful in all you do and wherever you go.  (1 Kings 2:1-3)

One wonders what might have become of Adonijah if David had instructed him as he did Solomon.  Solomon was only a child but he heeded his father’s charge about what the first need of a leader was – a relationship with God.  David did not tell Solomon to pursue wisdom or provision, or blessing—but to pursue the One who was the Source of those things and more.

I am often tempted as a leader to pursue the “thing” and not the “Source.”  I can gain understanding through study, provision by effort and blessing by courting the favor of those who can bless me.  But there is something dangerous in my pursuit of the “thing”—it becomes my god.  When I pursue understanding for understanding’s sake I elevate the importance of knowledge and judge (and often belittle) those who don’t possess as much knowledge or regard knowledge as highly as I do.

The same thing can be said for provision and blessing.  If provision is my pursuit then I make an idol out of the level of provision I desire and I become a slave to favors I owe when blessing comes by human favor.

Solomon, as his inheritance, already had more than enough provision and blessing and his decrees would have been obeyed even if they were unwise.  But he wanted something more.  He wanted the life that he had seen his father David enjoy in relationship with the living God.

There is a reason that David is regarded as the greatest king the nation of Israel has ever known and a reason that Solomon is regarded as the richest.  Solomon lost his way as he began to revert to his own idea of blessing and provision—and in doing so he laid Godly wisdom aside.  How different his life might have been if he had finished as he began.

We see both in David’s end and in Solomon’s beginning the first need of a leader—a relationship with God in which the Source, not the thing is pursued.  For what we pursue will not only determine our beginning, it will determine our ending.

 

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The View from Here ~ The Greatest Love ~ Mike Coyner

Thursday, February 16th, 2012 | By Mike Coyner
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“The Greatest Love” – February 14, 2012

Mike Coyner and family

Mike & Marcia Coyner and their grandchildren

As I write these words it is Valentine’s Day, and it is also the days after we all heard the shocking news of the death of Whitney Houston. The juxtaposition of those two events is really hard to overlook. Whitney Houston sang a beautiful song about “The Greatest Love” as our ability to learn to love ourselves. Valentine’s Day is a beautiful holiday about loving those who love us. Both events miss the point of the teachings of Jesus.

Jesus taught (in his Sermon on the Mount) that if we simply love those who loves us, there is no big credit in that. Everyone loves those who love them, even the most evil and devious persons somehow learn to love those who love them. Jesus said that his followers must exceed that limited understanding of love. He taught us to love God first, and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.

Whitney’s sad life is a witness to how hard it is to love ourselves. Her beautiful voice and life devolved into a familiar pattern of self-destruction which has plagued so many other celebrities. It is almost haunting to hear the recordings of her singing about “The Greatest Love.”

How do we achieve that kind of appropriate self-love? I believe Jesus shows us the way. Learning to love ourselves appropriately comes only as we first discover the depth of God’s love for us. Once we know we are loved, that we are lovable, then we can be so filled with God’s love that we are able to love ourselves, our neighbors, and God.

So, it is good to tell those who love us that we also love them. Too many people go through life without ever hearing from their loved ones that they are loved.

But let us not stop there. Let us learn to receive the wonderful and complete love of God who enables us to love ourselves appropriately and to love one another generously.

The love of God is truly the greatest love of all.

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The View from Here ~ Joy Moore

Monday, February 6th, 2012 | By Joy Moore
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Joy Moore

Joy Moore

So let it be written, so let it be done.

Yul Brynner and Charlton Heston fans will remember these words repeated throughout Hollywood’s version of the Ten Commandments. For generations, people have believed it important to remember the details of the Exodus. But as the opening to the Fellowship of the Rings reminds us, much that once was, has been forgotten, because no one lives who remember. Long before Cecille B. DeMille directed the screenplay, an accountant echoed that narrative of liberation, choosing a similar tagline – as it is written. And since we’ve now entered the season when tax collectors will alternately seem our best friends and worst enemies, maybe it was appropriate to reconsider the blog of an ancient tax collector.

Bear with me; because unlike most of our random tweets and multiple text-messages, these entries have been the favorite of generations of readers. Like choosing FOX News over CNN (or vice-versa), Christians are familiar with Matthew’s version of the beatitudes, the Lord’s prayers, and the golden rule. While some have described this genre we call “a Gospel” as a passion narrative with an extended introduction, to do so ignores it’s fusion of faith and morality. Like the blog left by James, the brother of Jesus, this fusion of gospel and ethics stands over and against those who claim accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior is all that is required. Like Micah wrote, what is required is practicing justice. So let it be written, so let it be done.

But I’ll get back to that.

So we have before us an ancient entry. And contrary to my general practice of avoiding single texts for preaching, I draw your attention to what we call Matthew 26:24

The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to the man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.

(I suspect Judas wished that tweet hadn’t gone viral)

It is always important to remember, Christian Scripture is not first about us. The Bible provides an ordered account of God’s activities of setting things right even though we keep messing things up. If God hasn’t given up on the world, then we can face the problems and difficulties of this moment, because we know what we see now is not the way things will always be. When we pay attention to the revelation made available in Christian scripture, we see what God is doing. And what we see God doing in the Bible, we are supposed to be doing in the world. So let it be written, so let it be done.

Such a commitment may cost you your life. It’s dangerous to walk your talk. Consider Martin Luther King Jr., Oscar Romero, Deitrich Bonhoeffer, or Stephen Biko. Note, Judas isn’t the significant casualty in this narrative. Still, it is not the death, but the life of Jesus that needs to be examined: A life lived to demonstrate God’s words are true. A demonstration punctuated by the willingness to die in order that others might have a more abundant life.

These words of Jesus recorded at the very end of Matthew’s blog stands in direct opposition to the notion of packing your bags and waiting to cash in on that fire insurance policy with its eventual pie-in-the-sky.

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

The challenge for the disciples was to be the bridge for someone else to experience justice. When Jesus called the disciples, he didn’t send them out in search of instant conversions. He gave them an example of living before telling. Doing before speaking. Go. Make. Baptize. And teach. This is one way in which Jesus was the incarnation of God. His life was a demonstration of God’s promises given to a chosen people on behalf of every nation. Use words to explain not promise, because God has already made the promise that matter.

This is significant. That which is written, that which we are to do…was already spoken. The only time words create from nothing is when God speaks. Ever since creation, we have only been reporters of what is happening …to what God created good.

But if our practices match God’s promises, we can exercise the right to remain silent. Take note: Matthew has preserved for us not merely a passion narrative, but a record of how Jesus always acted before he spoke. That should be our Christ like behavior. Rather than talk the talk, walk the walk so people look at you and see a glimpse of the glory of God.

This is significant. Today the people of God do good works in order that the world knows God is good.  Ours resume is supporting cast member not center-stage celebrity. We are translators not spokespersons.  We don’t have to mimic Walt Disney to create a world – we’ve been hired as tour guides for those who visit God’s wonderland.

Think about this: God is not asking us to transform the world. God is not asking us to fix the world. God is not telling us to tell the world what to do. Really.

We don’t have to set things right. We merely demonstrate what right looks like. We practice justice.

So since it was written, so let it be done.

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The View from Here

Thursday, January 12th, 2012 | By John Meunier
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Are bad habits stopping us from being an evangelistic congregation?

 

This is the question I ask myself after reading James C. Logan’s book How Great a Flame! Contemporary

John Meunier

Lessons from the Wesleyan Revival. Near the end of the short book, Logan, a retired seminary professor, lists six bad habits that prevent local congregations from living out a vital evangelistic ministry.

In short form, these six bad habits are:

  • Leaving evangelism to the clergy
  • Thinking of evangelism as membership recruitment
  • Adopting the attitude “our doors are open, anyone who comes is welcome”
  • Believing that active evangelism is socially or culturally inappropriate
  • Divorcing the saving of souls from social action
  • Turning to institutional survival as our primary purpose

I read this list and find myself examining my own attitudes about evangelism and the attitudes and actions of my congregation. Do we show signs of these bad habits?

Logan writes that there are two ways to drive out these habits. First, we need to stir up a real passion for Jesus Christ in ourselves. If we do not love Jesus, then we will not be bold about proclaiming his name in the public square and to our neighbors. Second, we must convert our local churches from being all about survival to being all about mission. Keeping the doors open is not the purpose of the church. Reaching out and making disciples is.

Easier said than done, of course, but we have to be honest about what we are and what habits and attitudes shape our today before we can start to create a new tomorrow.

I don’t have a complete answer to the question I raised at the top of this post. Is my congregation caught in bad habits? I suspect, at least to some degree, that answer is yes. But I’m still a long way from understanding that fully. Logan gives me some ideas about how to do that. He might help your congregation as well.

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