The New Normal

I was walking on Saturday morning in my daughter's neighborhood. There's not a lot of space between the houses or townhomes so there's not much yard for kids to use for recreation. Something caught my attention in the semi-darkness of dawn. There was a basketball goal in the driveway of a small home, and there's not a flat driveway in the whole neighborhood. You should have seen how that goal post and net tilted like the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

One thought as I walked by was about the need for a neighborhood playground or rec area. Another thought centered on some poor kid who winds up being a great basketball shooter in his own driveway on an off-kilter goal, only to be the worst shooter ever on a real basketball court because he's spent too much time aiming at a target that's off.

We set ourselves up for failure when we aim at the wrong targets. Our New Normal is off in our society. The normal for the kid with the lopsided basketball goal will not help his shooting when he gets on a real court with a level goal. It doesn't do us any good either if we aim at wrong targets. We learn bad habits and think they're okay or normal because that's all we know.

My hope this week is not to yield to a New Normal but to the old but fresh standard of God: Scripture. If I don't stay grounded in what God's Word says then I end up yielding and conforming to the culture around me. I remember the days when I would walk out of a movie theater if certain words were used; now I hardly change the channel when the same words are on the TV. I've been conforming to the New Normal too much. I want to get back to God's standard and stay there. That's my goal this week.

Church Authority and Control

As I have been presiding over Charge Conferences it has been apparent that much of church life, and, I dare say, all life, is about authority and control. Nobody likes to be accused of having "control" issues, but I think we all do. It's a part of our human condition to want control. Isn't that what Adam and Eve were hoping for in their grasp for autonomy in the Garden?

I heard a "thinker" piece of humor some time ago. Somebody asked what the difference is between capitalism and communism. Someone replied that in capitalism man (pardon the sexist language) exploits man; and in communism it's the other way around! Well, it sounds to me that no matter what you call the system, exploitation occurs. Control is when we want things our way and want to be the rulers of our own existence.

Many of the questions that come my way as a District Superintendent are about who gets to decide this or that in the local church: Is it the Pastor? Is it the Church Council? Is it the Trustees? Is it the Finance Committee? Is it the PPRC? Who's in charge? These questions, however important, aren't the penultimate most important question. Sure, on a specific point of church law, the question may be about one of the groups mentioned, but as Christians the real question is about who Jesus is in our personal and corporate lives.

All of our efforts to go our own way and manipulate power into control miss the mark of being under the Lordship of Christ. If Jesus is Lord then we yield to the Mind of Christ. Christ modeled humility rather than pride. Jesus did not try to grasp authority. He already had/has it! It was a non-issue for Him. It should be a non-issue for us. Jesus is in charge!

So when I sense and see the buzz-saw tenor of some of our church squabbles it's easy to know that Jesus isn't the One in authority. If a church is wrapped up in warfare over who's in charge or control then it's not a healthy church. The situation then becomes difficult as I preside over these meetings. How do I speak the truth in love and point out the fact that we're seeking something we're not supposed to have?

I think the answer lies in my own exercise of my authority as "Presiding Elder," the old lingo and title for District Superintendents, and the title still used on the Charge Conference Minutes' form. If I try to beat people up with the "power" of my office and make threats about sending the church a less-than-adequate pastor, church closure/merger, or some other very real possibility, then I'm not acting from the vantage point of being like Christ.

Perhaps the best way to be in authority is to be like Christ who was non-reactive before Pilate; and who said from the Cross, "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do." Humility and non-reactive leadership through listening and speaking only God's words are the answers that I hope to model. Godly authority is about love not control. May it be so as I/we try to submit to God's authority, and lead others to do the same.

Clergy Communion

A few weeks ago several Columbia District clergy and I went to Mt. Mitchell and fellowshipped. We even went down the mountain for Thursday Night College Football. How we got back in the gate at the park is another story, and one worth telling sometime. We needed that time together sharing and having fun. Unfortunately, our life together has low moments, too. I just came back from a hospital room as proof.

However, I just saw our covenant community as clergy in action again. One of the pastors in my district just found out that he has acute leukemia. Tomorrow he starts 24/7 aggressive chemo. We're not at all sure about the prognosis. I spent time with him and his wife last night and again today. Their faith is strong, but they are shell-shocked. I have been working with his church since last night to cover the ministry needs, and I hope the church rallies around him. It has been a tough appointment, not because the people are unChristian. They are wonderful, but they are still grieving the moving of their former pastor of 13 years. That has brought out the usual grief-related potshots at the current pastor, and the adage "Don't let worry kill you, let the church help" has been too true in this situation. My prayer is that healing comes to the pastor and the church.

At the hospital a few minutes ago another one of our clergy came into the room with Bible and Communion elements in hand. He read poignantly from Psalm 20 - Read it! I have never felt the power of those words of comfort so eloquently read. I gave the Great Thanksgiving and we communed in a way far deeper than I have experienced the sacrament in a long time. When United Methodist clergy start our ministry our membership is transferred from our local church to the Annual Conference. The Annual Conference becomes our church home. I saw it today and I am wonderfully encouraged. May God grant us all a support community where we find sanctuary. Amen.

Wrecks & Remembrance

What a week! Normal but not exactly - charge conferences, consultations, crises, and a crash. I was on the way to back-to-back charge conferences on Tuesday night when suddenly I encountered a metal grate about 7 feet long with metal crisscrossing bars. It was in my lane lying there as I was tooling in my Mini Cooper at 70 mph. The truck four car-lengths in front of me didn't touch it. Then I saw it and could swerve quick enough - whack! This thing was about 3 inches high but felt like a boulder. I pulled over and my front right bumper was mangled, light missing, wires lying in the road, and a humongus gash in the passenger side frame through part of the door. When I looked in the rear-view mirror the grate had shattered into shrapnel. No one else was around thankfully, but my 8 month-old car took the explosion. My car could still run even though my airconditioning and gauges registered -40 degrees, and my engine light was bright yellow. I called the Mini Service Dept. and they said I could still drive it unless the light turned red. I made it to both charge conferences and limped home with the motor and car shuddering as I went. They towed it to Charlotte on Wednesday, the closest Mini dealer. I hope it's fixed like new.

The same could be said for a lot of areas of my life - to be fixed like new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says Christ makes us new creatures, but I know too well about myself and others that though we're forgiven, scars remain. I can forgive or be forgiven but the memory of life's crashes remain. Oh, to have a poor memory. I hope I can look at my car when it's fixed and not "see" mangled metal. Someone said forgiveness is like pulling an unneeded or unwanted nail out of the wall, only to have the scar left there until it's spackled over and repainted. Too often, even when the issue has been resolved, our mind still retains the memory of the spot. We end up missing the beautfiul wall and focus on the tragic memory.

Sure, I know sometimes we have been hurt so badly that we NEED to remember life's lessons in order to keep them from happening again; i.e., "Don't throw your pearls before swine," and "Be innocent as doves and shrewd as serpents." However, focusing too much on past scars makes us miss the wonder of grace and repair. My prayer is that I am being made new, and that I remember the same about everyone else. Yes, I don't want to be burned again by a serial sinner or scam artist, but at least I want to hope for the best until I'm proven wrong, and then, guess what, I need to forgive "70 times 7" and keep hoping for the best. What a struggle - praying that everything is being made new, and knowing the car has been wrecked; grace but not cheap grace; forgiveness without too sharp a memory. It's a challenge everday.