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prayer – Salvaged Faith

WOW!

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Text: Isaiah 6:1-8;  Psalm 29

A few weeks ago, I was able to make a trip to Hawaii with my family.

Twenty three of us… aunts, uncles, cousins, grandkids, siblings, parents, nieces, and nephews… in paradise.

One of the things that I am always on the lookout for in Hawaii are rainbows.

The mountains in the center capture the clouds as they move over the island, bringing light sprinkles nearly every day.

But water and sunlight means rainbows.

Nearly every day! 

The first day went by… and I didn’t see one.

The second day went by, and my dad asked if I had caught the double rainbow over the ocean that morning.  Nope.

Did I see the one the next afternoon?

*sigh* I hadn’t.

A WEEK went by and I hadn’t seen a rainbow.

But I also realized something else.

While I had been looking… I hadn’t really been paying attention.

I was still getting into vacation mode.

Still carefully putting away all of my plans and thoughts and to-do lists from ministry both here and at the conference center. 

That second day of vacation, after all, we had a special session of annual conference that I joined virtually so that we could say goodbye to 83 churches as they left the United Methodist Church.

I had been in paradise.  But I wasn’t present. 

In an interview, Anne Lamott talked about prayer as getting outside of ourselves and paying attention:

Prayer is not about saying, ‘Oh, I think I’m going to pray now.’ Or, ‘Oh, I see I’ve made a notation here to pray at 2:15.’ It’s about getting outside of your own self and hooking into something greater than that very, very limited part of our experience here…

It’s sort of like blinking your eyes open. … It’s sort of like … when Dorothy lands in Oz and the movie goes from black and white to color, and it’s like having a new pair of glasses, and you say, ‘Wow!’

I started focusing on being more present to what was happening all around me.

Savoring every moment and bite of food and laugh of the kids.

And one afternoon, on a walk with my niblings, it happened. 

a blue sky in the foreground with clouds in the background and a rainbow between palm trees and a building

I turned around and saw a rainbow.

Wow.

The artist Michael Lipsey says that “if you’re not amazed most of the time you aren’t paying attention.” 

Because the truth is, you don’t have to go to Hawaii to catch a rainbow or a spectacular sunset or a glorious flower bursting forth.

We have the opportunity to get outside of our own selves and hook into something greater every single day.

It is the touch of your partner’s hand.

Or the way the sunlight filters through the leaves.

It is the frosting covered face of our children.

Or the swell of the organ in a hymn. 

Wow. 

The other day, I came into this sanctuary all by myself and sat on these steps.

And I was overwhelmed by it all.

Nine years of memories flooded my soul…

From the nervous excitement of that first Sunday and hearing your gasps as I threw seeds all over the church…

Playing and building with scaffolding and bricks during a stewardship drive…

The babies I baptized… and the grown-ups, too! 

The little ones who are now taller than I am…

Playing bass…

Singing with the choir…

The many, many goodbyes as we celebrated the promise of resurrection…

The meals we shared…

The singing and music and laughter…

We don’t always take the time to appreciate and celebrate each of those moments when they happen, but…

WOW.

I was all alone that morning… but not really. 

Because I was connected to something bigger than myself.

And friends… I know that this is a big morning with lots of emotions that just fill this space.

As Missy and I talked about it… we might have to do some liturgical weeping today…

But I also want and need you to know that this room…

this sanctuary…

this world is always filled with wonder and power and awesome things…

If we are willing to pay attention. 

In our scripture from Isaiah this morning, he sees the Lord sitting on a throne, with the hem of God’s robe filling the temple.

And you know what, I can imagine that Isaiah’s day actually started off pretty normal.

He might have gone to the temple that morning for prayer. 

Or maybe he was bringing an offering. 

But something happened to him in that space. 

He hooked into something greater than himself. 

He could see beyond the veil of his own limited experience of reality to catch a glimpse of the divine. 

And God’s glory filled the room.

Seraphs… angels… flew around crying, “Holy, Holy, Holy!”

“The whole earth is full of his glory!”

Everything around him shook and Isaiah falls to is knees…

Woe is me!

Woah!

WOW!

(it might all be the same prayer…)

The Psalmist is moved in the same way, hooking into the power of God in all of the earth

 as they listen to the rolling thunder,

or the roar of the ocean,

or the creaking trees of the forest…

they see the mountains tremble and the fire of God flash forth…

As the Message translation puts it:

            Bravo, God, Bravo!

            Gods and all angels shout, “Encore!”

            In awe before the glory,

            In awe before God’s visible power.

            Stand at attention!

            Dress your best to honor him!

…We fall to our knees – we cry out, “Glory!”  

And friends… I have to wonder how often we, too, might cry out in wonder and awe at God’s glory…

If only WE were paying attention?

Anne Lamott writes that “astonishing material and revelation appear in our lives all the time.  Let it be. Unto us, so much is given.  We just have to be open for business.”

Next week, you will welcome a new pastor.

As part of that time, you will also hear from a guest, Josh Smouse, who is bringing to this church a word and some encouragement and direction from the CAT survey that you all took.

But before you dive into some of those ways that the church can continue to grow and thrive, I want to invite you to take a step back and ask a different kind of question:

Am I paying attention?

Am I spiritually “open for business”?

Have I been willing to allow myself to get hooked into something greater than myself?

A colleague posted on facebook this week a word about how we can change our experience of worship… and I want to share a few of their thoughts with you 

  • Pray before you get there.  Friends, you don’t have to raise your hands, but how many of you prayed before you came to worship this morning?  How many of you asked God to speak to you during this time?  What might be different if you opened yourself up to encounter God before you ever walked into this room?
  • Listen to worship music on the way.  What are some songs that speak to you?  What helps you to connect with God not just in your head, but in your soul?  How might that change what you are able to see and hear in this space?
  • Sing loudly and focus on God.  John Wesley talks about this in his directions for singing! … sing lustily and with good courage!  Have an eye to God in every word you sing.  Aim more at pleasing him more than yourself, or any other creature.  And to do this, he encourages people to attend strictly to the sense of what you are singing… what are the words?  What do they ask of you?  What are they inviting you to pay attention to?
  • Don’t run late.  We are all going to be late at some point… but the truth is that when we arrive harried and discombobulated, it is going to be harder to let go of those distractions.  Try to arrive and give yourself enough time to center and truly be present in this space.  After all, you don’t have a week to get present so you can see the rainbows!
  • Expect God to move. Oh friends… do you actually expect God to show up in worship? Are you ready for God to speak? Do you want to see the hem of God’s robe filling this space and God’s glory over all the earth? 

While trying to do a few of these things might truly change your experience of worship… they aren’t just about what happens in this room.

Because there are amazing, incredible things happening all throughout the ministries of this church…

Our little free pantry gets emptied nearly every day… and people show up to fill it again and again and again… WOW.

Our Immanuel Gospel Fellowship community continues to grow and their worship is so full of life and sound and chaos and joy… and you can come and experience it any Sunday at noon… and I encourage you to do so! You truly will cry out… WOW. 

People are going through really hard times in their lives… but you keep showing up with food and prayers and encouragement… you are present with one another… WOW. 

As she describes that third essential prayer, WOW, Anne Lamott writes:

Love falls to the earth, rises from the ground, pools around the afflicted.  Love pulls people back to their feet.  Bodies and souls are fed. Bones and lives heal. New blades of grass grow from charred soil.  The sun rises.

And it is happening everywhere, all around us,  every moment of the day.

This whole earth is full of God’s glory.

It is not just the miracle of the rainbow… but also the loving embrace of a church for people of all gender identities and sexual orientations.   

It is not just the beauty of a sunset… but also the glorious diversity of our colors and cultures.

It is not just the rumble of thunder in the mountains… but also the roar of laughter as family and friends from many generations play together.

And if we prayerfully connect with God… open our spirits… pay attention to what is happening… I promise, you will be amazed by what you see.

I also know that there is a fine line between being amazed and being terrified.

In Isaiah, we discover there isn’t much distance between WOW! … and Woah! … and Woe is me!

Sometimes we are overwhelmed by just how great of a struggle we face…

Or how far we have to go…

Or by how much has been lost…

There is so much hate in this world.

So much violence.

So much destruction.

Sometimes the problems of the world make us say, WOW – how could that possibly be?

There are so many people who are unwilling to get outside of their own selves and their own limited experiences to hook into something greater. 

Yet even those poetic words of the psalmist, David… you know, the ones that recall the violent destructive power of nature… earthquakes, floods, raging fires…

They also name that above anything that has the power to destroy… is God.

The one who gives strength.

The one who touches our lips with grace and mercy.

The one who brings peace.

The one who has the power to heal… and forgive… and change… and transform… and create… and renew…

The one who calls…

The one who sends every day, ordinary people into the world…

So that we can pay attention…

Pay attention to the hurt, and the joy, and the love, and the struggle…

And with arms and hearts and lives wide open, can say, “Here I am, Send me.”  

Thanks!

Text: Isaiah 12:1-6, Philippians 4:4-9

Holy God, speak into our midst this morning.  Fill us with hope, grace, and peace.  May the words of my mouth and the meditation of all our hearts and minds honor You this morning. May they be worthy of your calling and accomplish your faithful work in our midst.  Amen.

I thank God for you.

I do.  I really do.

I thank God for you, the people of Immanuel United Methodist Church.

I thank God for how the love you all have for each other and the world is increasing.

Robert Dunham wrote that “common struggle often forges an uncommon unity and love for one another.  Like the peace that holds the community fast in turmoil, love for one another and congregational unity are best received and celebrated as gifts.”

And as we gather today, I cannot help but reflect upon some of the common struggles that we have shared over these last nine years of ministry together. 

Some of them were challenges that we set before ourselves: raising money through a concert for DMARC, a gigantic garage sale for Joppa, or purchasing five brand new books for every student at Hillis Elementary.

But we have also been held together through turmoil. 

Some of them are simply the realities of human life:  

the illnesses, the injuries, the loss of treasured members of our community. 

We have prayed and grieved and supported one another – offering God’s strength and peace.

And then there were the realities that we didn’t see coming. 

Truly adaptive challenges we faced as the world changed… and is changing… and we’ve had to figure out how to reach new people in new ways.

We have gone through a pandemic… learning how to move worship online and connect with one another in new ways.

We have navigated conflict and conversation about human sexuality and racism and how to welcome immigrants and what kind of church we want to be for the future.

A changing economy impacts not just our church finances, but also demands more of us as we reach out to care for the hungry and the homeless on our doorstep. 

When I think about our scripture from Isaiah today, I remember that much of this text was written in a time of great difficulty. 

The first half tells of the judgment of the people, who weren’t following God’s will.

And the second half is full of hope and promise… but written from exile, having lived through destruction and removal. 

And yet, in all of it, Isaiah keeps an eye on what God has done.

On the grace and mercy of God.

Joy and praise and thanksgiving ring out…

not because everything is hunky dory… but because it is not. 

And in our own situations… we didn’t always know what we were doing, or how to do it, but by the grace of God, we’ve found ways to love, serve, and pray together. 

Not because we had the answers… or because the work was easy…

but because we knew that God was with us and would help us through.

It is the challenge of Paul and Timothy as they write to the people of Philippi.  This is from the Message translation:

“Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your                worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of         God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down.            It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.”

Although you have every reason to be anxious… and you have needs and requests to share with God… there is also reason to give thanks. 

Or… as Anne Lamott so honestly puts it in her book about the three essential prayers:  Help, Thanks, and WOW! :

“…at some point, we cast our eyes to the beautiful skies, above all the crap we’re

wallowing in, and we whisper, ‘Thank you.’

Thank you, God.

And in so many of those kinds of situations, there were moments when we got a little grumpy with one another. 

We are human after all, and we are still learning and growing and figuring these things out…

but we are doing it together…

And we’ve taken the time to share when things weren’t working out and have reached out when feelings were hurt and have tried to find a way forward.

Anne Lamott describes the prayer of thanks as a tool to move from “rashy and clenched to grateful.” 

I just love that imagery… and I can actually sense it in my body.

There are those moments when we are frustrated or in conflict and we truly are clenched. 

It is a posture of being on high alert, always ready to fight or flee or even freeze. 

In a world that is so divisive, we see that all around us.

But I think that God has used us and shaped us through gratitude, love, and grace to be God’s people and demonstrate a different path. 

We have tried to live out the advice from Paul and Timothy to be gentle with one another and to seek the peace of God.

We’ve stayed in conversation.  We’ve taken the time to listen.

And we have found ways to give thanks and celebrate the people who have come into our lives…

All of which takes that posture of abrasive and clenched living and turns it into a posture of openness and grace.   

The love we have for one another is a gift…

the bonds formed in the midst of common struggle are a blessing…

and they should be celebrated as such. 

Thank you, God.

Anne Lamott writes that “Gratitude begins in our hearts and then dovetails into behavior. It almost always makes you willing to be of service, which is where the joy resides.”

 And friends, as we have been grateful for the love of God… we have also let those prayers of thanksgiving turn into joyful service. 

[the numbers represent images of ministry projected during the worship service]

[1] Thank you God for the deeper relationships we formed with our neighborhood elementary school, Hillis, as we brought books for so many children and we have more and more people taking just an hour a week to read with those who need some extra help.  

[2] And thank you for helping us to continue efforts like Donuts for Dudes and Muffins for Moms where we can be present in our neighborhood and share God’s love with breakfast.

 [3] Thank you God for the ways that young people and their mentors here at the church bonded through hard work, study, and recreation at things like confirmation.

 [4] Thank you God for the impact you had on children in our church and community as we worked to help them learn more about your powerful and never-ending love.

 [5] Thank you God, for calling us to have hard conversations about your calling for our church in this world.

 [6] Thank you God, for bringing us together in fellowship and for new relationships formed over barbeque and basketball.

 [7] Thank you for challenging us to stretch beyond our own teams and ministries to build new partnerships with others, like the Interfaith Green Team Coalition.

 [8] Thank you God, for those who give so faithfully of their time and energy behind the scenes to make ministry here possible.

[9] Thank you God for the faithfulness of our predecessors like Mrs. Simser and the bibles we give our children and the faithfulness of third grade bible partners and teachers.

 [10] Thank you God for a seven year partnership and relationship with Imani church…

[11] … and for our new relationship with Immanuel Gospel Fellowship. 

 [12] Thank you God for the opportunity to go into the world to serve you through Volunteers in Mission, in our neighborhood, but also as far away as Omaha and Memphis.

[13] and thank you for challenging us to do hard things to raise funds and give time for ministries like Joppa and DMARC. 

[14] and for the deep connections that are created when we labor together for a common good.

[15] Thank you God for those who not only prepare meals for us every week, but who care for and minister to one another in good times and in bad.

 [16] Thank you God for those who knit and crochet blankets, for folks who feed and care and support, so that we can extend the love of Immanuel to those who need it the most.

[17] Thank you God for our staff and their faithfulness and willingness to serve. 

 [18] Thank you for the youth and volunteers and chaperones who go out and represent us so well in the community.

 [19] Thank you, God. 

Thank you. 

You know, I started out just trying to find a few highlights of the amazing work God has been doing here among us and the list just kept going on and on and on. 

As Paul writes to the church at Philippi, there really is so much to brag about. 

He praises their generosity, their support for his ministry.

He encourages them for the work that is still to come. 

But really… that’s the outline of all of Paul’s letters. 

And I can’t help but borrow Paul’s words… or rather, Eugene Peterson’s translation of Paul’s words.

“My dear, dear friends!  I love you so much. I do want the very best for you.  You make me feel such joy, fill me with such pride. Don’t waver. Stay on track, steady in God.”  (Philippians 4:1, MSG)

Over these past nine years, you’ve made some tough decisions and have stretched in new ways.

I thank God for how you’ve been willing to answer God’s call. 

And as you continue to implement some of these changes…

And live out a new kind of welcome…

There will be bumps in the road.

It won’t all be easy. 

But in the midst of the muck and the hard stuff, keep your heart full of gratitude and your eyes on Jesus. 

As people of faith, God is continually calling us to do hard things. 

God is calling us to leave our comfort zones go and be in ministry with the least and the last and the lost.

God is calling us to welcome the little ones and the stranger and whomever else shows up.

God is calling us to give up our preferences for the sake of the mission. 

And maybe the hardest of them all…

God is calling us to be honest and real about our own vulnerabilities, our own brokenness, struggle, and pain, so that this community can walk with us, can love us, can remind us over and over again about the love of God in Jesus Christ that can transform even our broken souls. 

That’s what church is all about.  

Growing in love for each other and in love for God.

Giving thanks in every circumstance. 

Singing and shouting to the Lord for the excellent things God has done among us. 

May you continue to do hard things. 

May you continue to hear and be faithful to God’s call.

May you continue to be formed in love born of our common struggle to truly be disciples of Jesus Christ in this world. 

And through it all… may you continue to give thanks… keeping that attitude of gratitude that keeps your eyes above the muck on the one who gives us strength. Amen. 

Help!

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Text: Psalm 40:11-17; Matthew 26:36-39;

Good morning friends! 

We find ourselves in the season of Pentecost. 

The season of the Holy Spirit.

Those first disciples of Jesus were transformed into apostles…

leaders of a community of people that tapped into the power of God for good in the world. 

You know, as much as we think about that phrase from the gospel of John…

that the world will know you are my disciples… they will know you are Christians… by how you love one another (John 13:35)…

I think this early Christian community was known by its prayer life. 

Just after the ascension of Jesus, there were about 120 folks that were part of the Jesus movement who all gathered together. 

Luke tells us that “all were united in their devotion to prayer.”  (Acts 1:14)

And when Pentecost came ten days later… where were they? 

Gathered together in prayer!

On that day, as their community grew by leaps and bounds, we are told that these thousands of new believers “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the community, to their shared meals, and to their prayers.”  (2:42)

And everyone around them was amazed by what they saw. 

Prayer is powerful.

Prayer is power. 

It is one of the key ways that we stay connected with God. 

It is how we allow the Holy Spirit into our lives: our minds, hearts, and souls.

And as I thought about what I wanted to say to you in these last few weeks…

As I thought about what might be the most important thing I could leave you with…

I kept thinking about how important it is that we are a people of prayer. 

It is part of our vision after all – isn’t it? 

In Christ, we live a live of love, service, and prayer. 

And I know you to be a praying people. 

We knit and perl and crochet together prayers for others.

We add our neighbors and friends and family to our prayer list. 

But I’ve noticed something else about this church…

We are great about praying for others…

but we sometimes struggle with lifting up prayers for ourselves. 

Maybe it is because we don’t want to admit that we don’t have it all together…

Or because we don’t want to be seen as bragging about the good in our lives…

Or maybe we aren’t sure if it is something we need or deserve.    

The writer Anne Lamott describes prayer as:

“…taking a chance that against all odds and past history, we are loved and chosen, and do not have to get it together before we show up.  The opposite may be true: We may not be able to get it together until after we show up in such miserable shape.” 

Did you hear that? 

We might not be able to get it together… until AFTER we show up in such miserable shape.

You don’t have to have all the right words, or have it all figured out.

You just need to start. 

Over these next three weeks, we are going to talk about what Anne Lamott describes as the  essential prayers for our lives:

Help.

Thanks.

Wow. 

When I think about those three prayers, but especially the first one, “Help!” I realize that God already knows what we need. 

God already knows what is happening in our lives.

Really the question is… are we aware? 

Can we be honest with ourselves? 

Are we willing to admit that we are not in control? 

Perhaps this kind of prayer is easy in moments of true desperation. 

In 1815, the playwright Hannah More, described how, “under circumstances of distress, indeed, prayer is adopted with comparatively little reluctance; the mind, which knows not where to fly, flies to God. In agony, nature is no Atheist.”[i]

Later in World War I, people would talk about how there were no atheists in the trenches and foxholes.    

In those moments when we truly have run out of options, and nothing is left, we cry out, “Help!”

In our scriptures for this morning, we hear two variations on this prayer.

The Psalmist finds themselves surrounded by evil and sin.

Troubles are piling up, counting more than the hairs on their head.   

They cannot see a way out.

Their heart… their hope… fails them. 

“O Lord, make haste to help me!”

As The Voice translation concludes this psalm:

“I am empty and need so much, but I know the Lord is thinking of me.  You are my help; only You can save me, my True God. Please hurry.” 

In the Gospel reading, Jesus himself is described as grieved and agitated. 

He knows that betrayal and death are just around the corner and it is more than his soul can bear. 

And so first, he cries out to his friends for help… “remain here, and stay awake with me.”

But then he cries out to God:

“My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me…”

Save me… rescue me… from what I am about to go through. 

There are those moments of true and utter desperation that show up in our lives. 

Life and death moments…

Rock bottom moments…

When there is literally nothing else that we can do besides ask for help and prayer from those around us.

But I’m far more aware of those more everyday situations where we might need help and prayer, but we hesitate to speak up. 

We hate the feeling of vulnerability and think that we should be stronger than we are.

I can do this on my own, we say.    

We don’t want to bother others with what we are going through.

Or we worry about what they might think of us if they knew that we were having a hard time. 

Most of you don’t know my spouse, Brandon, because he’s not a “churchy” guy.    

Deeper than that, he has some experiences that have put him off from religion and we’ve established some good boundaries to help respect one another’s beliefs and needs.

I so appreciate all of you in this church for also doing so and allowing him to be who he is. 

Just over two years ago, we found ourselves going through a rough patch. 

I have preached on mental health, talked about suicide and depression, walked with many of you through those moments… but suddenly, there it was on my own doorstep. 

Brandon was experiencing feelings of hopelessness and depression and anxiety… and we were able to reach out and get him connected with the resources and therapies that he needed. 

But there were some incredibly difficult moments along the way, including a 9-1-1 call in the middle of the night when he had a poor reaction to a change in one of his medications. 

And as much as Brandon needed help in those moments, so did I. 

I knew I couldn’t fix it… but that doesn’t mean I didn’t feel shame or guilt for not being able to do so. 

I needed help and strength to walk that journey with him.

And I’m so grateful for a group of friends and colleagues who answered midnight texts and kept checking in on us and allowing me to vent when I needed to do so.

I’m so grateful for members of this staff and SPRC committee that created a safe space for me to share and talk about what was going on and who kept Brandon and I in your prayers.   

But as I was thinking about this sermon, I also keep asking myself why I didn’t share all of this with all of you while it was happening. 

Part of the reason is that Brandon himself was not ready to talk about it in a bigger way… and with worship being online, I didn’t want to share more of his story in such a public space…

It is one of the reasons why we aren’t sharing more intimate details and names of prayer requests in worship… because we are now livestreaming worship every week, we hold those more personal details for our internal prayer lists. 

But I also think my own hesitation to share in a bigger way reflects why it is difficult for all of us.

We don’t want to bother others. 

Or we don’t want it to change our relationship with them… worried that they will only see our weakness. 

Or you know what… maybe we simply want a space in our lives where we can pretend that everything is okay.

As your pastor, I think I worried about it impacting my ability to show up in the way you needed me to… even though, it was impacting my ability to show up in the ways you needed me to. 

And what I needed, but maybe was unable to communicate, was some extra grace as I spent a bit more time at home and when I couldn’t be as available as I wanted to be. 

I just kept doing what I could, hoping that things would be okay. 

I fumbled along… rather than asking for your prayers.

Rather than crying out, “Help!” 

Lamott describes this as the hardest prayer, because we are admitting defeat: 

“You have to surrender, which is the hardest thing any of us do, ever.” 

It is not easy to say, “I can’t fix this.” 

We struggle with admitting that things are not okay… sometimes even to ourselves. 

But then Lamott goes on to say:  “a lot of the time we don’t know when we’re surrendering that we’re actually, at the same time… establishing connection… to a power greater than ourselves.”[ii]

We “open ourselves to being helped by something, some force, some friends, some something.”

When we turn to God and when we turn to our fellow disciples with a prayer of “help!” we don’t just find answers… we find community.

We find people who are not just willing, but eager, to walk alongside us. 

We find a God who has always been faithful and good and who will never stop loving and caring for us. 

It is why the Psalmist is able to not just cry out for help, but to acknowledge the joy that comes to those who seek him.

And it is why Jesus, in his great prayer of desperation can reconnect with his Father, placing his life in God’s hands… Not my will, but yours.

In saying, I trust you with this… we are also saying, I am in relationship with you. 

Friends, when we share our own prayers for help with each other, we are saying to one another:

I believe that you care for me.

I trust that you are in this with me. 

And I know the power of God that is with us will continue to give us strength not just for this, but for anything that might come our way. 

In asking for help, we are creating the opportunity for us to be blessed by one another. 

That doesn’t mean that you need to feel pressure to air all your struggles with the whole body.

It is perfectly okay to have a smaller group of friends and disciples that you trust to walk with you… a friend or two that you know you can be honest and vulnerable with. 

Even Jesus chose to take along just a few disciples for his intimate time of prayer in the garden.

I needed that during my struggles… and was so grateful I had it. 

But I also want you to remember and to know that this is a praying church.

That if you ask for help and are willing to be vulnerable and share those needs with us, we will be here for you. 

We will be united in our prayers, quick and eager to help and respond and show up with whatever might be needed. 

Like that early Christian community, we are people who love one another, want what is best for one another, and are willing to share and surround each other with the love and grace and mercy of God. 

And I think that when we have the courage to be vulnerable and surrender, we will find that God will simply pour out even more power and strength upon us. 

May it be so.

Amen. 


[i] 1815, An Essay on the Character and Practical Writings of Saint Paul by Hannah More, Volume 2 of 2, Fourth Edition, Chapter 19, Quote Page 232, Printed for T. Cadell and W. Davies, London.

[ii] https://www.npr.org/2012/11/19/164814269/anne-lamott-distills-prayer-into-help-thanks-wowMusic:

RESET Purpose

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Text: Mark 1:32-39

A few weeks ago, I was leading a meeting with other clergy in our circuit about our shared ministry. 

We got to the end and before we closed, I asked the question… is there anything we’d like to do differently for our next meeting.

One of my colleagues timidly raised their hand.

“Do you think we could, I dunno, maybe spend a bit of time in prayer before we start?”

In my last-minute rush to put together the details for the meeting, I had completely left prayer off the agenda. 

And since it wasn’t written on the page in front of me, we hadn’t done it. 

Before he died in 2021, my friend Junius Dotson wrote a book called, Soul Reset

He talks about how, when you play baseball, you have to touch first base.

You could have a fantastic hit and make your way around the diamond, but if you miss the bag at first base, the run doesn’t count. 

And the same is true in the Christian faith.

Our first base, the most important base to touch, is to touch base with Jesus.

We can do everything else, have the best meetings in the world, launch the best projects… but if we have missed spending time with Jesus… we haven’t gotten anywhere.

We’ve missed the very point and purpose of what we are there to do.

On Monday evening, about 20 of us gathered for a workshop with Rev. Dr. Jaye Johnson to talk about some possibilities for a new leadership structure.

As he talked about how meetings are designed with a single board or one board model, he shared that one third of the meeting needs to be spent focused on our spiritual lives.

We need to spend time with God and one another.

We need to ground ourselves in the love of God and love of one another.

If we leave that out…

If we miss it…

Then we have skipped over the very core of what we are there to do. 

We can get so caught up in the agenda and the to-do list.

We can get distracted by the details.

We can feel pulled in lots of directions.

We have to make sure that we touch first base.

We need to center ourselves in God before we do anything else.

Even Jesus takes time to do this.

Our scripture for this morning comes from the gospel of Mark and one of the things about the way Mark writes is that it feels like our modern lives.

Everything happens so fast.

It’s all condensed and you jump from one place to another.

Jesus is here and then immediately goes there.

It is easy to get whiplash!

Yet, even in the midst of that constant movement and urgency, Jesus shows us how important it is to pause and spend time with God and rediscover what we are supposed to be doing.

In fact, maybe it is because everything is moving so fast that this is so important.

In verses 14-34, Jesus begins his ministry, calls disciples, teaches in the synagogue, casts out a spirit, heals people with diseases and drives out demons.

We are told that the whole town gathers at the door! 

He has been up late into the evening caring for all of these people around him and it is very easy to imagine that he could just set up shop in the town of Capernaum doing what he does best.

I mean, he is hitting it out of the ballpark!

But the next morning before the sun comes up, he spends some time in prayer.

To go back to that baseball metaphor, he touches first base.

He grounds himself in God’s will and purpose for his life. 

And I can imagine Jesus asking questions like…

“Is this where you want me, God?”

“How can I make the most difference?”

“What is the best use of my time and energy today?”

You get a sense that there is still work and healing and ministry to be done in Capernaum, because the disciples come looking for him. 

If you look at different translations of this one phrase you find things like:

“[they] searched everywhere, looking anxiously for Him” (AMP)

“[they] tracked him down” (CEB)

“[they] hunted for him” (NRSVue)

You get a sense that they followed him, like stalkers, impatient for him to get back to work.

Any parents in the room feel that way when your kids wake you up early in the morning?

There is always more to do.

There is always something that demands our time.

There is always another meeting, another project, another mess to clean up.

There are things all around us that feel necessary, right?

But because Jesus has taken this time away to center himself, he is able not to react to all of the demands upon him, but to respond out of what God wants him to do. 

He is able to set some boundaries.

He is about to be clear about his purpose.

He can live with intention. 

So his response to the anxiety-filled requests of the disciples is, “I can’t stay here any longer.  I am needed elsewhere.” 

He says, “no” to the people of Capernaum, so that he can say “yes” to God’s bigger picture and his greater purpose. 

Or, as the writers with Breakthrough Worship remind us, he is able to trust that God will handle the rest.

I remember a story told by Bishop Sally Dyck, who is now retired, about a small church in a bedroom community.

They noticed that young couples would start to attend worship, and pretty soon they were having babies, and they had a lot of toddlers in their church.

But when the children got a bit older, those families would move to a larger church in the nearby city.

The church was distressed by this and felt like they were failing.

They didn’t have the resources to expand their ministry and compete with the children’s program at those bigger churches.   

This church community began to pray and seek God’s will and what they discovered when they really listened is that they had a purpose.

Their church was an incubator for families. 

Their job was to help these families get off to a good start and then bless them as they launched into other places. 

There is always more that we could do.

Another ministry to start.  

Another project to undertake.

But we don’t have the energy and the resources to do it all by ourselves.

And we don’t NEED to do it all. 

To take that baseball analogy one step further… you can’t play all of the positions at once. 

Someone among us has the skills to be the pitcher, but they need someone else to play catch with. 

Our task is to figure out our piece… our purpose… and to trust that God will take care of the rest.    

Whether that is equipping another congregation or another person… we can trust that there are others on the team, working for the Kingdom, and that we just need to play our part. 

As a congregation, we have spent time with God over the years and have figured out our core vision and purpose.

We will live lives of love, service, and prayer so that all who are hungry are fed by God’s grace. 

We feed people in worship through music, prayer, and sacraments.

We feed people who are hungry for connection through elder buddies and coffee time.

We feed people who are hungry to go deeper in their knowledge and love of God through small groups and classes. 

And, we feed people who have empty bellies with our little pantry, Joppa, and other local ministries. 

We can’t do it all, and we don’t need to do it all…

we just need to focus on doing our part and trusting that God is building up and equipping other churches and congregations and community organizations to do the rest. 

The same is true in our individual lives. 

There are things that are tugging at you from every corner. 

Projects that need done, people that need attention.

Everything is important, isn’t it? 

Have you ever been busy doing good and worthwhile things, but felt like something was missing? 

Maybe it is because we are simply reacting to what is in front of us, running to and fro.

What would it mean instead to set some priorities for this season?

What would it mean to figure out your role, your position?

What if you created space to spend time with God and to listen for your purpose? 

There are a lot of different ways that we can go about this.

Jesus had to get up before dawn to find a quiet space to be with God.

Maybe it is your morning commute.

Maybe it is a day a month you set aside to be in nature.

Maybe you create a spot in your house where you can sit and pray and listen. 

And I think you can simply ask a few questions like…

“Is this where you want me, God?”

“How can I make the most difference?”

“What is the best use of my time and gifts and energy in this season?”

When we know our purpose it makes it easier for us to say “yes” and “no”.

Because we know WHY we are saying yes and no.

We can be intentional about what we give our energies towards.

But… it also means that we can start to let go of the guilt we feel when say no in order to focus on a greater good. 

We can spend that time in prayer placing it in God’s hands… trusting that God will make a way and is already at work helping that need or situation to be cared for.    

Friends, each and every single one of us is beloved by God, just as we are. 

And we all have been called and equipped for a purpose. 

So, let’s step up to bat.

Let’s ready ourselves to do God’s work.

And let’s not forget to touch first base… to touch base with God… as we set out into the world.

If we do… whatever we do… will be a home run. 

Deeper Water

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Text:   Matthew 18:18-20, Luke 5:1-10

I’ll often come across a quote or a few paragraphs in a devotional that I’ll save for later, thinking – Ahh!  This will make a good sermon illustration! 

Today, as we think a little bit about diving into deeper water in our prayer lives, I remembered a story told by the seventeenth century French mystic Jeanne Guyon in her book, “Experiencing the Depths of Christ.”

But before I get to her writing, a little about Madame Guyon herself. 

She grew up very religious, spending much of her childhood in a convent until she was forced into an arranged marriage at the age of 15.

By the age of 28, Madame Guyon was a wealthy widow with three surviving children. 

But the piety of her youth was what drove her and she continued to have mystical experiences of God.  She felt called to share these teachings and eventually left her children into their grandmother’s care and left behind most of her personal possessions to do so. 

At one point, Guyon was imprisoned for her teachings on prayer, which focused on constant prayer and inward stillness which brings us into the presence of God.  Her writings were considered heresy at the time because they prioritized stillness over vocal prayer and pious action.

So imagine this woman, who has not had an easy life.  But through it all, she believed God was with her in the midst of her trials and suffering.  Madam Guyon wanted others to experience the depths of a relationship with God that she herself had found.

She tells the story of a traveler who has embarked on a long journey… a quest of sorts.  But when the man comes to the first inn along the way, he stops there and remains there forever. 

Why? 

“He has been told that many travelers have come this way and have stayed at this very inn; even the master of the house once dwelt here…  Oh soul!  All that is wished for you is that you press toward the end… Only remember this: Do not stop at the first stage.”  (Guyon, Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ)

Do not stop at the first stage.

I wonder how many of us have stopped at the first stage of our prayer lives. 

We recite the Lord’s prayer.

We have a few prayers we turn to before meals.

We might even have a daily devotional we pick up a few times a week that includes a prayer at the end of every reading.

But for many of us, we pray in much the same ways we did as children.

We learned some of the basics of prayer and then stopped at that stage along the way. 

We forgot about our destination, what we were striving for in the first place:  a life spent in the presence of God and a faith connected with the power of God.

While we spend a lot of time thinking about the prayer that Jesus taught us, we forget what else Jesus taught us about prayer.

Ask and it will be given to you.

Seek and you will find.

Knock and the door will be opened (Matthew 7:7-8 and Luke 11:9)

If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can move mountains… nothing will be impossible (Mt 17:20)

If we ask for anything in agreement with God’s will, God listens to us… we know that we have received what we asked from God. (1 John 14-15)

And from our gospel reading today: 

What your bind or loosen on earth will be bound or loosened in heaven. 

When just two of us get together and pray about something, God goes into action in response.  (Matthew 18:18-19)

If we pray… stuff will happen!

Not little stuff… BIG. GIGANTIC. POWERFUL. MOUNTAIN SIZED stuff!

That’s what scripture tells us.

That’s what Jesus keeps reminding us.

Prayer is powerful.

So why is it such an after thought?

Even in the church, this institution dedicated to the teachings of Jesus, prayer seems to be icing on the cake, rather than the main course.

Think about our typical response to things.

When we see a problem or we have a goal, we create a team! 

We have meetings and we plan and organize and we get approval. 

And then we work.

We work our tails off trying to make something happen.

And at the end of the day we find ourselves so busy and exhausted and barely one step farther along the way.

Maybe, MAYBE, we had a devotion and a prayer at some step along that journey.

But not always.  And not often. And not primarily.

Martha Grace Reese reminds us that churches are not declining or struggling because we are lazy. 

We work really hard.

Maybe the problem is that we aren’t praying as much as we work. 

In Luke’s gospel,  Simon and James and John found themselves in this very situation.

They were hard workers. 

They had been up all night and put in the hours.

And yet, they had nothing to show for it. 

Until they listened to Jesus’ invitation to go a little deeper. 

To row out a little farther.

To push beyond what they had always done. 

Was it simply that there were more fish out deeper in the water? 

Surely, that can’t be it… for they knew these waters like the back of their hand.

Was it that they just put in more hours of work?

A whole nights worth of effort didn’t accomplish what miraculously came in through one toss.

No, what changed is that they had spent some time with Jesus.

And they listened to what Jesus asked of them. 

In “Unbinding the Heart,”  Reese shares the story of the Benton Street Christian Church and their evangelism team. 

As they got started in their work, Reese asked them to not make any decisions for three months to but simply spend their time in prayer. 

This was incredibly difficult for this church full of do-ers and they got frustrated that the only thing they could report was that they were praying… but they did it.

They got together and prayed.

They prayed between meetings.

They prayed every day.

They got teased a little… but then they started getting prayer requests. 

And by the time their three months of prayer was done, they had vision and energy and direction and one month later had fifty people involved in the ministry. 

As one of the volunteers later said, “It was incredibly difficult for these four ‘can-do’ women to wait in prayer… a year and a half later, all four of us would say our prayer lives have been permanently impacted by this experiment… the entire church is still being impacted by this willingness to risk praying first.”  (p30)

Isn’t that a funny phrase…. To risk praying first?

What risk is there in praying first?

What risk is there in stopping to ask God to be present and to guide our work?

I’ll tell you what the risk is…

Something might happen.

Something might change.

And it just might be us.

Richard Foster once wrote, “prayer is the central avenue God uses to change us.  If we are unwilling to change, we will abandon prayer as a noticeable characteristic of our lives.”

Or to put it another way, if we are content with the status quo, we are probably not people who turn to prayer a lot in our lives.

The opposite is also true.

If we believe God is active in the world…

If we see that something needs to change…

If we want to transform our very way of being in the world…

Then prayer has to be part of the process.

It is key to the journey.

It isn’t just one stop along the way…. It is the very road beneath our feet.   

Two weeks ago, our church leadership team thought together about the work we have before us this year and the role and responsibilities each of us will play along the way.

One of the things that we focused on was our vision statement. 

Can we read that aloud together?

Through personal engagement in and partnership with our community, we will live a life of love, service, and prayer, so that all who hunger might be fed by God’s grace.

We’ve been working hard on making this happen.

We try to create opportunities for people to personally engage and reach out to our partners like CFUM and Women at the Well and Simpson Youth Academy.

We focus on physical hunger through our food pantry and meal programs.

We reach out to meet that hunger for connection and relationship.

But do you know what we haven’t done.

We haven’t invited all of you to pray about this vision.

We haven’t stopped to ask God to help us accomplish this work.

As much as we talk about love, service, and prayer… as much as we even practice intercessory prayer for one another’s joys and concerns… we have not prayed as a community for our work together as a church. 

It’s almost as if we took all of the power of God to bring fruit and change and life to our congregation and we locked it up in a box.

Today… let’s set the power of prayer free.

Let’s let the good news of Christ loose on the world.

Let’s turn this work over to Jesus. 

Just as Christ urged Peter, James and John out into deeper waters, this next week, each day you’ll get an email inviting you to pray for Immanuel. 

Not just for our people.

But for the vision God has given us.

For the work before us.

Let’s not stop at the first stage.

Let’s not be content resting before our journey is complete.

But together, let us keep pressing onward, deeper, out into that place where the presence and power of God can truly change us and this world. 

May it be so.  Amen. 

Grounded in our Neighborhoods

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Text: Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7; Matthew 22: 34-40

Next week is the premiere of “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” the new movie about Mr. Rogers. I grew up with Mr. Rogers welcoming me home in the afternoon from school. We entered the land of make-believe and I heard him speaking to me and my child-like worries and curiosity. But I also saw Mr. Rogers walk around and interact with his neighbors.
Growing up on a farm in the country, I never felt like I was part of a neighborhood. At least not in the way I saw it on television. After all, there was only one house within half a mile of our own.
But we did know our neighbors. We would help one another mend fences or bring in crops. The neighbor kids and I rode the bus together. We’d do the farmer wave as we passed by … and sometimes even stop the cars in the middle of the gravel road to catch up on gossip.
Throughout this month, we are exploring what it means to be grounded in God through the relationships of our lives.
We looked at the ancestors who have grounded us in a sense of persistence, strength, and identity.
David helped us think last week about our homes and families and the sense of belonging and love we find there.
And today, we are turning back to Diana Butler Bass and her book, Grounded, and thinking about how God shows up in our neighbors.
When we think about neighborhoods today, fewer people feel like they belong in the same kind of way. Even if we live closer in proximity, we feel more and more isolated. As Butler Bass writes:
“Although we live near to one another in neighborhoods, we do not feel that we necessarily belong to one another, that we have neighborly relations with either place or people. We might live in a particular location, but it is hard to sense that our lives are with others. In a way, a neighborhood is simply the space where people reside near others; the challenge of re-creating vibrant, healthy neighborhoods is building connections between people and, in the process, turning isolated individuals into neighbors. Thus the meaning of “neighborhood” is intimately caught up with an important question, one fraught with spiritual and ethical implications: who is my neighbor? “ (p. 204).

I actually have a question for you.
Who is your neighbor?
Literally.
Do you know their names?
Do you know their stories?
Each of you, when you came in today, was handed a map. And we are going to come back to that, but I want to invite you to turn it around and grab a pencil or pen or crayon… whatever is handy.
Draw a box to represent your home… whether it is an apartment or house or condo.
Now, draw a box to represent the neighbors to your left and right.
Draw a box to represent those who are across the hall or across the street.
Draw a box or two to represent any who might live behind you.

Here is my drawing.
Now… who lives in those homes?
Who are your neighbors?
Take a minute and write down as many names as you can

I must admit, I began working on this exercise and felt a bit of shame that I didn’t know all of the answers.
I could think of at least one person on those homes, but not the whole family. I couldn’t remember Cheryl’s wife’s name. Or Chad’s. Or Mitch or Rusty’s.
And to be honest, Mitch and his family moved out a couple of months ago and I still haven’t met the new couple that moved in.
I have no clue what the names are of the people who live behind us.
And if I don’t know their names, how could I possibly know their stories?
How could I possibly begin to pray for them, much less love them as Jesus commands me?

There is a strange phenomenon that has impacted our neighborhoods architecturally. Our homes used to have front porches on them and parking was on the street. Now, neighborhoods like mine have large two car garages. We open the door, drive our cars in, and never really have to get out and interact with our neighbors.
Apartments or condos can function the same way.
We don’t take the time to get to know, or spend time with, or open our lives to the people around us.

There is that old adage that good fences make good neighbors, but the truth is, maybe good tables make good neighbors.
Hospitality and open doors make good neighbors.
In a world of increased tribalism, where we live in echo chambers and online digital communities of people who are just like us, maybe we need to go back to our scriptures and explore how ancient tribal societies interacted with one another.
Over and over again in scripture, we hear the call the be neighborly.
To be hospitable.
To open our homes and our tables to others.
To reach out the immigrant, the widow, the orphan.
To provide help to those who are in need.

Henri Nouwen, a Catholic priest and theologian noted that our society tends to look at the stranger with suspicion, expecting others to do us harm.
Instead, he talked about how our world needed to convert hostility into hospitality and turn the enemy into our guest.
Then, “guest and host can reveal their most precious gifts and bring new life to others… [hospitality] as a fundamental attitude toward our fellow human being.” (p. 220)

This is the spirit that Jeremiah invited the people of Israel to embody in Babylon.
Their nation had crumbled. Their temple was destroyed. Their identity was gone.
And their enemy had carted his people off to a strange and foreign land.
How would they live in this new place?
What would they do?
Jeremiah has incredible advice for those who are finding themselves living in the worst moment of their life…
Dive deep into your new neighborhoods and keep living.
As he wrote to these exiles who had been dragged from their homeland to a faraway place, instead of this being a letter full of lament or sorrow or anger, it is a word of life.
In this strange land, in this place of exile and hopelessness…
Build houses.
Plant gardens.
Fall in love.
Have babies.
Make yourself at home.
Don’t let this time of chaos and turmoil keep you from thriving.
Jeremiah’s advice focuses in many ways on what individuals can do to keep putting one foot in front of the other, but he closes this passage with one additional piece of advice.
Work for the well-being of whatever new place we find ourselves in.
He was asking the exiles to focus not just on their own well-being… but that of their oppressor, Babylon, as well.
Because their future depended upon its welfare.
He was asking them to be good neighbors.
He was asking for them to invest their time and energy into making that place the best it could be.
Not just for themselves… but for all who share this place with you and whomever might come after you.
Keep on living.
And keep on creating space for life and life abundant to happen for others.

I want to invite you to pull out that map again.
Because this is a map of our neighborhood.
This is where this congregation has been planted.
We might not all physically live here anymore, but our future depends upon its welfare.
And we are called, as a church, to invest our time and energy into making this corner of the world, our corner of the world, the best that it can be.

And so I have a challenge for you this week.
I want you to pray for this neighborhood.
I want you to pray for the people here.
I want you to pray for the businesses that share this space with us.
I want you to pray that God’s will might be done in this place
And I want you to ask God how we can better invest our lives in these people and this place.

There are a couple of ways you could do this.
After church today or later this week you could physically walk around in this neighborhood and pray for the people and places you pass.
Or, you could take this map and sit in a quiet place and run your finger slowly along the roads.
Imagine in your mind the houses and the people and pray for them as you journey along.
Choose a different route each time you sit and pray.

You can do the same thing with the neighborhood you live in.
What would it be like if you not only got to know them… their names and what they worry about and what makes their heart sing… but also if you prayed for them.
What if you prayed for your neighbors every day?

So many of us have superficial relationships with these folks.
We are afraid to talk about the things that matter to us, thinking we might offend or put them off. But what if saw our neighbors as beloved children of God who might be yearning for the same kind of spiritual connection that we are?
How might we have different kinds of conversations?
How might we share God with them in new ways?

Thinking about running as a General Conference Delegate?

A number of people have reached out to ask about what my experience was, what they need to know, what all is involved.  Here are some of my initial thoughts… and if there are comments/questions I’ll continue to expand and update this in response.

I am still praying and discerning whether I want to do this again, but even typing this all out has been helpful for that process to me!

Time Commitment

  • Reading/Studying of Legislation (see below) – take a few hours, every week, from November/December – May
  • Two or three retreats with the delegation (usually a Friday-Saturday) where we discuss legislation, hear from experts and interest groups about why they think particular legislation is important, and build relationships
  • General Conference itself – two full weeks – 24/7… it’s life-giving and exhausting all at the same time… like Annual Conference stretching on x5.
  • Jurisdictional Conference – far less of both a time and emotional/spiritual commitment… focused on electing Bishops, less on actual legislation
  • Things to consider:
    Do I have the support of my family, work, etc. to give time to this commitment? This is a big stressful endeavor and what you don’t want is the additional stress of deadlines, resentments, etc.
    Am I prepared to do the extra work of spiritual/emotional/physical self-care to keep myself healthy (in all aspects) for this process? You have to get enough sleep, drink lots of water, pray, have good resiliency.

 

The legislation preparation… I think to be a good delegate, you need to be prepared to know your legislation.

  • You will be assigned to a particular committee, and you are going to be the expert on that section so that you can teach/explain what is being discussed there to others on the delegation. I worked to prepare charts, summaries, etc for my fellow delegates.
  • There are 12 committees that correspond with different areas of our life together, like judicial administration, faith and order, local churches, etc.
  • Others on the delegation will become experts on the other areas, but you should also have read and how you want to vote on everything before you get to General Conference.
  • I used a lot of tabs, highlighters, different colored pens… whatever you need to do to mark-up your legislation so that you know what you’d like to support, where you have questions, any changes you’d like to see made, etc.
  • You also need to work to familiarize yourself with Roberts Rules of Order (at least the basics) and to have a good sense of what is in our Book of Discipline.  Part of my prep included adding tabs to make it easier to navigate my BoD so I knew where different sections were. I worked to figure out what the BoD said in my section in particular, so I could see what the changes in legislation meant.

 

General Conference Itself

First week is legislative committees. The one you are assigned to will meet and your smaller group (75ish people) will work through every item in your section. You will make amendments, argue for and against, etc.

  • You will elect a chair, vice chair, and secretary – these are VERY important positions, and so if you don’t know folks, turn to people who might share your perspective to get some advice about who would be good in those positions and why. I think its important that they be fair and unbiased, rather than on your side. These positions, especially the chair, have a lot of power as to who gets to speak within that group.
  • Because this is a smaller group, you really do have the ability to be heard here. Raise your hand. Go to the mic. Ask questions. Make changes. This is the place to really shape the process.
  •  Everything that has an affirmative vote of a certain percentage in legislative committee goes to a consent calendar to be voted on in a block.
  • Everything else, or things that have minority reports, will be addressed individually by the larger body.
  •  If you aren’t happy with how something turns out in voting, you can create or sign on to a minority report. This will then bring your perspective back to the larger body.
  • I had an amazing experience in my legislative committee. We broke into two subgroups and so thirty of us had really good conversation, listened well, made friendships, worked to build consensus… it was the beauty of the process at work!

 

Consent Calendars

  • These are published on one day, and then the next day we vote on them.
  • You have to pay attention to them. Your homework each night is to look individually at the consent calendars and to go back to your notes of what you want to support or not. I usually then transfer my notes back to the consent calendar.
  •  If there are things you don’t agree with that are on the consent calendar, they can be removed. This is done by filling out a form and getting 20 other signatures. Then it comes before the body later for a discussion.

 

Plenary Discussion

  • We will vote on whole consent calendars at once, or on individual pieces of legislation. You have the ability to speak for, against, amend, ask questions, etc.
  • Plenary is VERY different from legislative committees. It is much harder to get to speak. You register electronically to do so and then the presiding bishop calls on you. I like to talk and interact and engage… and to not be able to say something or to be waiting all day and never get the opportunity to do so is part of the process.
  •  I have found these discussions to be brutal. Emotions/Spirits are high. People are polarized. Our process here is very unhealthy and doesn’t lend well to what we think of as Christian Conferencing.
  • This is the part of the process where you need the most emotional/spiritual/physical resiliency.

 

Worship – don’t skip it – it is often the most life-giving and replenishing part of what we do. These folks have worked hard to help support us and to keep us focused on God and I have always found it to be balm to my soul.

 

You can’t do it alone.

  • There are group chats/apps/discussions going from various caucus groups. Get connected with them. Things, particular in plenary, move so fast and sometimes it is hard to understand what is happening. These groups often have connected folks who understand polity well who help to explain why something is being said or what the process is. They also can provide quick updates as to the impact of amendments. You are absolutely free to still vote your conscience, but they provide some helpful suggestions.
  • These groups also provide emotional/social support. You get to know people and find out when meet-ups are and can build connectional relationships.
  • Take time to have meals with others… listen to people you disagree with to see where they are coming from. Explain your positions not to convince, but to help them understand, too.
  •  Let others help you and support you.

A Way Forward? Which Way?

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Text: Acts 15

The book of the Acts of the Apostles is the story of how the good news of Jesus spread from Jerusalem, through Judea and Samaria, to the ends of the earth. Along the way, the culture and traditions and scriptures of our spiritual ancestors encountered a variety of peoples and backgrounds.
When should the gospel be adapted? What was essential to maintain? Which traditions and practices should be enforced and which were merely contextual?
These were all questions being asked by the disciples and the communities they encountered along their evangelistic journeys.
Peter, in Acts 10, has a vision of the clean and unclean together and then is brought to the home of a Gentile centurion. Moved by the Holy Spirit, he baptizes the entire household… even though it was forbidden for a Jew to visit with outsiders.
In Antioch (Acts 11), Barnabas goes to minister to the Gentiles who were being converted. He is joined by Paul and together they not only convert many, but there is prediction of a famine and together the people there gather money to take to Jerusalem in response. This is not only a church of new believers, but ones who understand their connection to a larger community.
Gentiles were converted in Iconium and Lystra, but tension grew between Jews who followed Christ and those who did not. Those who rejected this new message stirred up conflict between new Gentile converts and Jewish Christians (Acts 14).
To complicate matters, other missionaries began to visit some of these places and the messages being shared about which practices must be followed as a part of the faith were different.
In particular was a very important question: Did you have to be circumcised in order to be saved by Jesus?
Now, circumcision had been an important identity marker for what it meant to be the people of God since the time of Abraham.
Jews who followed Christ did not see themselves as entering a new religion, but merely living into a new expression of that faith. Circumcision was still an important part of who they were.
Gentiles, however, were making a much larger change. Some, like the Roman centurion, were God-fearers… Gentiles who worshipped the God of the Jews but who had restrictions on what they could participate in because of their status as Gentiles. Others were pagans and were converting to a totally new faith. Circumcision would have been a significant cultural departure.

Last week, I shared with you a spectrum of theological stands that shape our church today ranging from progressive to traditional.
Imagine for a moment that this conversation was instead about circumcision.
Those on the progressive incompatibilist side might make the claim that since God is revealing a new way – no one anywhere has to be circumcised. Those on the traditional imcompatibilist side might claim – this is the same God we have always followed and everyone who wants to be saved must be circumcised. And surely there were people in the middle, who thought that Jews who wanted to be could, but Gentiles didn’t have to and so on.

Someone had to make an official decision about this so that the conflict among communities might cease. Local churches in these far flung places were confused about what was required and what wasn’t and it was hurting their ability to convert new followers to the way of Jesus.
And so the apostles and elders of the faith gathered together in Jerusalem in the year 48 to consider this question.
They heard testimony from people like Paul and Barnabas, and disciples like Peter and James made pleas. And together, the Jerusalem Council made a decision for the whole church.

In many ways, our General Conference functions every four years like the Jerusalem Council. We gather to listen and to share our stories and our witness and to make decisions that will guide the future of our entire denomination.
In February, when a special session of General Conference gathers, the decisions we make will impact not only our larger cultural witness, but also the practices and the people of local congregations like Immanuel.

As we hear this text from Acts 15, it is easy to focus on the Jerusalem Council itself… the leaders of the faith who have gathered together to make this decision.
But I admit, that in these past few weeks I’ve been thinking a whole lot more about all of the communities back in Antioch and Iconium who were waiting for a decision.
They sent off their representatives, but it would be some time before they heard a final answer. They knew that there were a variety of different directions the Council could take and so I imagine they began to prepare their hearts for a range of possibilities. Would they have to be circumcised? Would they be free to practice how they had been? Would there be other ways the Council might ask them to come into compliance with the faith?

Friends, we are those local communities waiting for a decision to be made. That decision will impact us in one way or another and so now is the time for us to begin praying and preparing ourselves for whatever might come.

Last week, I asked all of those who were here to identify where they personally fall along this spectrum of theological responses to scripture regarding LGBT+ persons. Because the impact of decisions upon OUR local community might look different from that of our neighbors.
Chart_Q1_180827This is simply a snapshot, but these are the responses from 110 of you who were in worship last Sunday morning. Nearly 60% of you identified yourselves on the progressive end, 27% of you on the traditionalist end, with about 13% of you not responding to that particular question. So I’m going to use your responses to help frame how Immanuel might be impacted by any of the particular plans in front of us.  One thing I want to highlight is that in the answers for all of the questions, no matter whether you agreed or disagreed, nearly the vast majority of you continued to say that you would stay at Immanuel.

 

The first thing I want to explore are a couple of options based on this theological spectrum of perspectives. The first one is our current reality… the status quo. If nothing passes at the special General Conference, this is the default to which we revert.

Our Book of Discipline currently prohibits both the ordination of self-avowed, practicing homosexuals and same-sex marriage, which is a traditionalist perspective. However, there are places and people who are not following those prohibitions. In more progressive areas of our denomination, sometimes this happens with no enforcement of the rules at all. In more traditionalist areas, there are often charges filed and sometimes clergy are suspended or their credentials are removed. But there is vast inconsistency.
Currently, Immanuel’s response to this has been to largely to ignore the question. If we agree or disagree with the larger denominational stance, we don’t bring it up. Within our congregation are individuals and families who are impacted by this question, but they don’t push it within the larger church. Unlike other congregations within the greater Des Moines area that have strongly identified with a progressive or traditionalist perspective and have made outreach efforts around that perspective, we don’t talk about it.
And I think this is largely because identify ourselves as a family church. And families disagree about things, but still want to gather together around the Thanksgiving table. We might have private side conversations over pie, but it isn’t going to be the thing that we focus on. So we follow the rules of the denomination, whether we agree or not.

One of the plans included in the Commission on a Way Forward Report, although not recommended by our Bishops, is the Traditionalist Plan (begins on page 67). This plan would end the confusion and inconsistency by determining once and for all that we will not ordain or marry LGBT persons within the United Methodist Church.
There are two ways that accountability and enforcement are increased.
First, all bishops, annual conferences, and members of the Board or Ordained Ministry must certify that they will uphold, enforce, and maintain The Book of Discipline related to self-avowed practicing homosexuals. Those who disagree with the Book of Discipline and cannot make such a statement have three options.
1) Not certify the statement. This will result in all funds from the UMC being withdrawn and the annual conference will no longer be allowed to use the cross and the flame.
2) Certify the statement and break the rules – automatic penalties.
3) Leave the denomination to form/join a self-governing Methodist church, aka a new denomination that might be affiliated with the UMC.

Chart_Q2_180827What would be the impact of this on a local church like Immanuel?
Well, first of all, nearly 85% of you replied that if the current stance in our Book of Disciple remains unchanged [status quo] or strengthened [increased enforcement] you would stay as a part of Immanuel. We’d have a disagreement within our church, but again, I think largely we are focused on our community together and not on the larger denominational dynamics.
One of the complicating factors of this particular plan is that as a local church, we don’t have a lot of say of what happens at the levels just above us.
The Iowa Annual Conference, for example, might decide that it either will not certify the required statement or it might form or join a self-governing Methodist church that is more progressive. If that were the case, then this local church would have the opportunity to decide if we wanted to go with the Iowa Annual Conference, or if we wanted to stay with the United Methodist Church.

Another plan that has been presented along this same theological spectrum is the Simple Plan. This plan was not part of the Commission on a Way Forward report but was submitted by the United Methodist Queer Clergy Caucus. This particular plan seeks to remove all discriminatory language around homosexuality within the Book of Discipline.
It does so by striking statements like “Ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions shall not be conducted by our ministers and shall not be conducted in our churches.” However, it does not add any additional affirming language, nor does it add language that would increase enforcement towards those who are traditionalist. No clergy or church would be required to perform a same-gender wedding. If and when a congregation wanted to allow such weddings, they could have that conversation and make that decision.

Chart_Q3_180827 Chart_Q4_180827Based on your responses to our survey, that would be a possibility. Nearly 70% of you said that you would agree if same-sex marriages would be allowed in our sanctuary. However, I also imagine that since this congregation deeply values relationship, we wouldn’t jump into any decisions without first having some family conversations and make sure it was the appropriate choice for our church.
Very similar dynamics are at play in the question about the appointment of queer clergy to Immanuel.

So far, we have been working along this spectrum of theological perspectives. The Commission on a Way Forward wanted to break us out of those dynamics a little bit and so the next two plans I’m going to present fall within a sort of compatibilist realm, but are trying to do something a little different.

The One Church Plan (begins on page 19) is a proposal of the Commission on a Way Forward that was supported by a strong majority of our Council of Bishops. The fundamental theological statement within this plan is that our position on homosexuality, whatever it might be, is not an essential of our faith. It is not something that we should divide our church over.
Like the Simple Plan that I just shared with you, it removes all language that is restrictive towards LGBT persons. However, it adds in every one of those locations statements that ensures freedom of conscience for those who think differently. For example, in the section about the ministry of an elder it states:
“In conferences where civil law permits a pastor to perform same-sex marriage services, no elder shall at any time be required or compelled to perform, or prohibited from performing, any marriage, union, or blessing of same-sex couples, or of any couples. Each elder shall have the right to exercise his or her conscience to refuse or agree when requested…”
What would be the impact of such a plan on Immanuel? This particular plan allows us the freedom of conscious, much like the Simple Plan. This plan does specify, however, that same-sex weddings are not allowed in local congregations unless the congregation chooses to approve them by a simple majority vote.
Any congregation that felt like it could no longer remain a part of the United Methodist Church, potentially non-compatibilist congregations, this plan points to already existing mechanisms within the Book of Discipline for them to leave.

The other primary plan presented by the Commission on a Way Forward is the Connectional Conference Model (begins on page 37). This model also affirms that this question is not an essential of our faith and maintains the unity of the United Methodist Church by creating three branches within the denomination based upon our perspectives on human sexuality.
The difficulty with this plan is that it requires changes to the constitution of our church which would have to be approved by 2/3 vote of all of the annual conferences combined. If this happened, there is a plan of implementation with decisions filtering down.
First, each United States Jurisdiction would vote in 2020 which connectional conference it would want to join. After that decision, any annual conference within that jurisdiction could vote to join a different connectional conference if it so chooses. Then, beginning in 2021, any local church that disagrees with where the annual conference has affiliated can choose to join a different connectional conference.
As a result, different churches within our city might belong to various connectional conferences, but we would all still be a part of the larger United Methodist Church.

As a local church, we could decide to just go with the flow and follow the decisions made by the entities above us, or if we disagreed with their direction, we could vote to join another. Whichever conference we ended up affiliating with would determine our policies on ordination and weddings.

The final plan that has already been published and is available for conversation is not a plan of the Commission on a Way Forward. It is simply named, a Plan of Dissolution, and the purpose of this particular plan is to claim that this actually is an essential of our faith and for that reason, we must divide the church.
Rather than any one perspective claiming victory over the denomination, however, the goal of this plan is to dissolve the UMC in its entirety. Then at the 2020 General Conference, delegates will be elected to help form 2 or more new denominations that likely would fall into the same spectrum we have been discussing. As those new denominations are formed, local churches would have the opportunity to affiliate with and join whichever they felt called to join.

In the year 48, the church was at a crossroads. Would they embrace the Gentiles who were following the way of Christ? Would the Gentiles shape the church, or would the Jewish faith shape the Gentiles? Leaders of the faith gathered together in Jerusalem to allow scripture, the Holy Spirit, tradition, testimony, and reason guide them in making the best decision for the church.
I imagine as those local communities of faith sent their delegates, they joined together in fervent prayer.
And so that is what I hope you might do with and for us.
Pray. Pray hard. Pray every day.
Pray for God to guide us as we make these decisions, hard decisions, that will impact our church at every single level, from our local church here in Des Moines to the hospital we have built in Sierra Leone, to our seminary in Russia, to our publishing house in Nashville. Pray.