New York Anniversary Recap

Our 35th anniversary in New York City was absolutely great. We couldn't have made it without Narcie's play-by-play itinerary. By the way, we need special prayers for her as she has her next MRI on the brain tumor tomorrow, and meets with the doctor on Wednesday. We pray it's gone!

New York was wonderful - wouldn't change a thing. The Roosevelt Hotel was superb and right across the street from Grand Central Terminal. On Sunday we stowed our luggage at the hotel and went to Grand Central to buy our week subway passes and ate, passed by the NY Public Library then up 5th Avenue we strolled, stopping along the way at Saks, Tiffany's, Rockefeller Center, and hot chocolate in the Plaza Hotel after we gazed into Central Park. We went into St. Patrick's Cathedral and were heartened by the packed-house worship attendance. We hit about every Starbucks the whole trip and we're not coffee aficionados. Gotta stay warm somehow! Sunday night we went back near Rockefeller Center to Radio City Music Hall and had a super time watching the Christmas Spectacular. Simply astounding!

Monday we took the Green Express to Bowling Green and Fort Clinton for a close-up of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. We had a wonderful visit at the Smithsonian's Museum of the American Indian, went to the WTC site, Trinity Church, St. Paul's Chapel, saw City Hall, the Brooklyn Bridge, and then on to Chinatown and the edge of Little Italy.

Then we were about to board the subway back uptown to get to the Empire State Building and then to Macy's. My nickname could have been "Pockets" the whole trip because I had so many and seemed like I was always searching for something. Anyway, We stood there for a long time with me trying to find my all-week pass. I didn't want to buy another one, and then finally I gave in and purchased a daily pass. We got on the train with this guy with a cowboy hat. We struck up a conversation and found out he was from Georgia. He was by himself but not for long. We showed him how to get to the Empire State Building and I had an extra express pass. He upgraded us all to the King Kong Observatory, met other nice folks, then went down to the "Sleepless in Seattle" Observatory. He went with us to Macy's, too - a great guy. We spent a long time in Macy's then left our friend behind as we made it to Benjamin's for our Anniversary Dinner. It was wonderful. Then we headed to Times Square for the musical, "In the Heights," a testimony about community and the human family!

Tuesday found us going all over. We went to the Upper Eastside, saw beautiful Brownstones, the Guggenheim, the Met Museum where we spent hours, then we strolled through Central park, including a rickshaw to get us the last little way to the "Strawberry Fields" tribute to John Lennon. We stopped at the Tavern on the Green then headed to Columbus Circle and went uptown on Broadway to Columbia University, Barnard College, Union Theological Seminary, Riverside Church, and the God Box (Inter Church Center), plus Grant's tomb. Then it was hustle back downtown to Times Square on the Red line to the black S shuttle over to Grand Central so we could get ready for the Nutcracker at Lincoln Center. It was beyond words. I had seen the Nutcracker in Philadelphia years ago and this was better than I had remembered in every way!

On Wednesday, our day of departure, we decided against the UN and headed back to Rockefeller Center to see the ice rink up close, go into the NBC Store, and eat downstairs on the concourse. We had a great trip to the airport then wouldn't you know it, there was our friend from Georgia with his cowboy hat. We had different flights, hours apart, and there we were together again at JFK. We shared a Starbucks, talked, and even shared a prayer. We called him on Christmas Day to wish him well. God works in  mysterious ways!

We saw God's providence every step of the way, just like our marriage, and it was beautiful to behold. Emanuel - "Best of all, God is with us!" P.S. More photos on my Facebook page.

Anniversary Joy

Well, how do you encapsulate 35 years of marriage into a blog? You can't! This coming Monday, December 20th, will be my and Cindy's grand day! We'll be in New York catching the NYC Ballet's "Nutcracker," and other treats. There's simply not enough that I can do or say to express my love and gratitude to God and Cindy for these years. And it almost didn't happen! When she and I first met she thought I was using an old line, "Haven't I met you somewhere before?" Her answer: "In your dreams." I had dated too many of her friends, was 3 years younger, and had little or no credibility, but I'm telling you, it was love at first sight. I remember one night daring to reach out and touch her hand and ask her out. Before I could say anything, she stated emphatically, "It would take thunder and lightening before I would go out with you!!!"

Thankfully, summer in South Carolina's Lowcountry provides an abundance of the aforementioned natural fireworks. After several years of being best friends and me dating anybody I thought was remotely like her, we went walking one July afternoon, and... Boom! Thunder and lightening. We talked about God's desires and resonated as we always had about spiritual things, and I said to her, "You're set apart," and she said, "For you." WOW! Right then and there before we had ever been on a date or kissed, I asked her to marry me, and she said, "Yes!" Less than 6 months later we were married at Kingstree United Methodist Church on December 20, 1975.



Cindy and Evy Grace

It has been the best journey of my life. We've been blessed with three wonderful children, two super children-in-law, two grandchildren, Enoch and Evy, with another little one on the way. God has been so good to us through tragedy and triumph. We're still best friends, have wonderful date-nights (You gotta do it), and pray together every day. I just want to say "Thank you!" to God for the best Christmas present ever in my dear wife Cindy. You're the best!

The Messiah is Among Us!

A. N. Wilder’s "Grace Confounding” states about Jesus, “He came when he wasn’t expected as he always does, though a few on the night-shift had the release early. He came where he wasn’t expected as he always does, though a few Magis were tipped off...he is always one step ahead of us.”

In a similar vein, one of my favorite television shows of a few years ago was “Joan of Arcadia” which even in its title reminds one of Joan of Arc and her visions of God. The show took place in a ficitional town named “Arcadia” where Joan Girardi lived. The show was the creation of Barbara Hall, a spiritual seeker herself, who dares us to consider that God may be one of us. In the show God appears in a variety of cryptic personages: as a bum, a goth teenager, a little girl, etc. Please don’t get hung up on the imagery, especially as Joan Osborne’s song, “What if God Was One of Us?” plays at each show’s opening. It seems sacrilegious at first glance to see God, the Divine, as “a stranger on a bus, a slob like one of us (one of Osborne’s lines),” but Jesus’ incarnation in Bethlehem dares us to broaden our horizons and ask how this world would be different if we did treat the people we would normally ignore as if they were God. I’m not suggesting some heresy that we treat people as if they were gods in an idolatrous way, but as if they were carrying the precious imago dei, the Image of God, within them. That doesn’t seem to be too much to ask, especially if the end result is worth the risk.

Perhaps you have heard the story of the monastery that was dying for lack of new monks. There was a negative spirit that permeated the whole place, evidenced by much jealousy and blatant apathy toward one another in the community. In desperation, the monastery’s leader went to the hut of a wise hermit deep in the forest. The abbot described the lack of love among the monks and asked for advice about what could be done to foster better relations. The hermit simply responded by saying, “The Messiah is among you.” He said nothing more. Upon his return to the monastery the abbot told the monks what the hermit had said. As a result, people who were once either envious or apathetic about one another started asking themselves, “Could the Messiah be Brother Andrew the baker, who humbly does his task?” or “Could the Messiah be Brother Simon the chief gardener, who with great kindness provides us with food to eat?” Their wonderings included everybody and the effect was miraculous. Because of the wise hermit’s statement the monks began treating each other with such love and respect that it indeed seemed that the Messiah was among them. The monastery began to grow and thrive because of their newfound love for one another.

The Messiah is among us, too. Of course, I know that Jesus is the Messiah, the one-and-only. However, we’ll never begin to experience the power of the gospel until we SEE Jesus in everybody, both friend and foe around us. Open your eyes to God’s fresh incarnation in Jesus Christ!

Bethlehem to Bedlam

It was planned as a worship scene, a living tableau of Bethlehem’s manger complete with live animals. Unfortunately, it was too real. There weren’t any problems with the cow and the lambs. They played their roles well. Never mind that a camel couldn’t be found. After all, we reasoned that the Wise Men would have parked them out back anyway.

The goats were a different story. Hindsight is always 20-20. No wonder goats aren’t usually found in crèches. Jesus told the truth when he said that on Judgement Day the sheep ought to be divided from the goats. Together, they can wreck a nativity scene.

We often turn our experience of Christ’s birth into a zoo. We mix our metaphors for Christ’s incarnation, blend the sacred and the secular, and end up with the goats and sheep butting heads. Our symbols and celebrations have become a hodgepodge of the commercial and sentimental. Santa and tinsel have overshadowed Jesus. We have lost Jesus and replaced Him with a Coca-Cola image of jolly old St. Nick.

With Christmas customs and live nativities, Bethlehem can easily degenerate into bedlam. What began as an earnest attempt to make the Nativity of our Lord more realistic turned into a somewhat humorous disaster. But that’s nothing new. “Bedlam” often describes how we celebrate Christmas today.

The word goes back to the 1400s when a London hospital named St. Mary of Bethlehem opened its doors to the insane. According to historians, it was a very noisy and unkempt place. People started dropping St. Mary from the name. Then they eventually contracted and corrupted the last part. Bethlehem became Bethlem and finally bedlam, a place of noise and confusion. A name that was first associated with the mother of the Prince of Peace became synonymous with disruption and despair.

Sounds like our hectic schedule of Christmas parties and commitments, doesn’t it? But, it doesn’t have to be this way. The celebration of Christmas need not become bedlam. Worship ought not cause confusion but peace, “For God is not a God of confusion but of peace” (I Corinthians 14:33). This season is best enjoyed in stillness and reflection. Let the hush of this holy season toss out the bedlam of overactivity!

Real Joy

The Robin in this snow photo from earlier this year reminds me to rise above the din of consumerism and enjoy the heavenly heights as peaceful as a snow-muffled day. That's joy to me! The third Sunday of Advent is traditionally called Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete is an Old English word for “joy” that comes from the Latin, gaudium, which also means, “joy.” Our focus this week, therefore, is upon the joy that Christ’s coming brings. The essence of Christmas is joy!

Wow! What a revelation! Here I am with Christmas about to kill me, and it’s about joy? My trip to the mall just about did me in. I found out the truth about Santa. He comes to us under many names: Kris Kringle, Saint Nicholas, and MasterCard.

The Jackson family went to the mall to shop for Christmas presents for one another. Before they all split up to shop on their own, the father said, “We’ll meet at the car at 6 o’clock, so we need to synchronize our watches.” As they adjusted their watches, mother nudged father, then stretched out her hand and said, “While we’re at it, let’s synchronize our wallets, too!

Christmas joy is doled out in monetary amounts by well-meaning people, but where is the joy? Payments and bills are inevitable, and what’s to show for all the expense of time or energy?

You can’t fake the wonder of a child’s face at hearing and understanding the message of Christmas for the first time. The joy of Christmas can’t be bought and sold, it’s a climate of the heart.

Some time ago I read one of those handyman columns in the newspaper. It went: “Dear sir, Where can I buy aluminum Christmas-tree needles to spread on the carpet under my aluminum Christmas tree? I want it to look natural, as if they’d fallen off the tree in the old fashioned way.” Of course it was signed, “Sentimental.”

The answer was better than the question: “Dear Sentimental: They aren’t available right now, but a satisfactory substitute is to buy a few boughs of natural evergreen, allow the needles to dry and fall off, and then spray paint them with aluminum paint. They look just like the real thing!”

I want real joy, not store-bought spirits and fake needles. There is no satisfactory substitute for real Christmas joy. Maybe that’s why we keep being suckered into malls every year when real joy is found at the altar? Read Isaiah 55:1-3 and compare it with Matthew 11:28-30! Here is the source of true joy!

The Right Person(s)

I'm just trying to wrap my mind around a couple of recent experiences. For one, we've been having a problem for months with the volume on our TV. We don't watch much anyway so it hasn't been a rush job, but now that Charge Conferences are over, it was time to get things straight. We do have our favorite shows: "House," "No Ordinary Family," "Chuck," "Bones," and the Hallmark Christmas stuff. Okay, I know - we're sappy.

I had already called the cable company several times. Different story each time, different techniques, strategies to try and me very fearful that it wasn't a cable company issue but a TV problem. I could just imagine having to unhook all the wires and try to haul it somewhere to get fixed and try to remember where to put the wires. So alas I called the cable company again. They set up a person to come and fix it or replace the box. They didn't show and I didn't care since we'd been living with the issue for awhile, but now with a little breathing space I cared enough to call again - the fourth time. I got this nice lady on the phone and she said she would reschedule someone to come out, but before she did it she wanted to try one more thing via the settings menu on the TV. Guess what? After numerous tries and wrong advice she knew exactly what to do. IT WORKS!!!

Then it has been the Christmas Rush with my pottery making for all my clergy, the other DS', the Bishop, Extended Cabinet, everybody in the UM Center, plus family! My kiln elements have been taking a long time to fire things so I knew they were about shot, brittle, worn out - like me. And so like me in this condition, I took the kiln apart, had my new elements in hand for my L&L E23T and took all day one inch at a time pulling out bits of element wire with needle-nose pliers. Then I replaced the elements and couldn't remember where the wires were supposed to go on the control panel. So what to do? I called Rob in Washington State, my L&L Guru. Again, the right person. In no time he had my 240 volts in the right place and offered a great suggestion: Next time take a digital picture before I start unplugging all the wires. It makes a great reference photo!

Well I'm thankful for both of these folks who were the right people at the right time to save me from my own devices, pun intended. Reminds me of Galatians 4:4 and Advent: "At just the right time, God sent His Son..." I'm grateful.

Glad for Advent

CBS News Anchor Dan Rather writes in his book, I Remember, about watching the Flying Valentis while growing up. He writes, “Walking past a vacant lot on our way to school early in the morning, we would come across the Flying Valentis practicing in their long tights and tank tops.” The Flying Valentis were a troupe of circus acrobats who traveled and performed throughout the United States.

“Although we were used to their art,” Rather recalls, “the Flying Valentis never ceased being the wonder of the neighborhood. Every morning it was like getting invited to a great show without having to buy a ticket. They did triple somersaults above their practice nets and caught each other by the forearms while swinging from the trapeze. We’d gasp when they missed connections and fell into their nets.”

From watching this family work out, Rather and his friends discovered that practice meant a lot of hard work. It might have looked like a lot of fun, but it was work. Rather writes, “From this hard-working family with its specialized brand of togetherness, we learned that even life in the limelight was no cakewalk. When we traipsed back from school in the afternoon the Valentis were still swinging away from their nets, and when they returned from a tour looking banged up and limping with limbs in casts we could see that a price had to be paid for fame.” Rather learned a valuable lesson from watching the Flying Valentis, “Their vicissitudes would have been good preparation for survival in the acrobatics of network television.”

Advent is our time of holiday preparation. It is a time when we look back, examining Israel’s expectation of the long-awaited Messiah. It is also a time to look forward to the day when Jesus will return. We do not know when that long anticipated event shall occur, but we try to stay prepared. Like flying a trapeze, Advent/Christmas season often looks like a lot of fun with all of the tinsel and lights. However, without the disciplines of reflection and preparation, this season can make us end up looking as battered as working without a net.

Advent season gives us the spiritual net to help us survive the hurriedness of Christmas. With great panic we can either say that there are only 4 Sundays until Christmas Eve and we’re not ready, or with the right amount of spiritual preparation we can say that we’re looking forward to it. With adequate reflection, we can celebrate this special season with all the wonder and poignancy that it deserves. Don’t miss the net!

United Methodist Student Day and Others

I just got back from the Connectional Table meeting in Nashville. We heard a great report from the Call to Action Committee and tweaked its implementation. After that we met jointly with the General Council on Finance & Administration to begin budgeting for General Conference 2012 and the next quadrennium. One of the things that jumped out at me was a proposal to eliminate the 6 churchwide special Sundays that have offerings: Human Relations Day, One Great Hour of Sharing, World Communion Sunday, United Methodist Student Day, Peace with Justice Sunday, and Native American Ministries Sunday.

It was reported that these Sundays would continue to be observed but that their budgets would be rolled into an unified budget for the denomination. It was suggested that these causes could possibly receive more money this way. I am not convinced, but I am open-minded. Of particular concern to me are 3 of the offerings: Native American Ministries Sunday, Peace with Justice Sunday, and United Methodist Student Day. The first two are extremely important because they are the only 2 of the 6 that 50% of the monies received go back to the Annual Conference. If the Call to Action Report is all about strengthening local churches and empowering Annual Conferences in their helping local churches to do ministry then it seems logical to me to retain these two Special Sundays. I have been on our Annual Conference Committee on Native American Ministries for years and I know that we need the 50% money to operate and provide ministry to American Indians in South Carolina. I'm sure the same is true for Peace with Justice ministries.

Putting a face on offerings usually means a larger offering. I especially feel that is true when I and others of our Native American Committee are invited to speak in churches. The other offering that I want to lift up is United Methodist Student Day. Every church that I have served has had persons who have received United Methodist scholarships or a loan from the United Methodist Student Loan Fund. These monies make a difference with our young adults - one of the very groups that the Call to Action Committee has identified as vital to the United Methodist Church. IF we expect one of our 4 Focus areas to be fulfilled: "Developing New Leaders," then United Methodist Student Day should not only survive but thrive.

We are the only denomination in all of Christianity that was founded on a college campus, Lincoln College at Oxford University. We need to support United Methodist Students and, of course, our campus ministries! My daughter is the Wesley Foundation Director at Winthrop University. Four of her former students are in seminary right now! She is developing new leaders for the church and on a shoe-string budget. Our Annual Conference has cut program money (about $850 a month) for all campus ministries for 2011. I pray that we can make up the shortfall. In a time when everyone is concerned about keeping their church doors open and being lean with ministry, this is a critical area that doesn't need to be cut short. These are the students and ministries that have some of the least discretionary monies available.

I hope we will remember that this coming Sunday is not only the first Sunday in Advent, but is also United Methodist Student Day! If I think of the word "Advent" as a "Commencement" of sorts, then I cannot forget United Methodist Students!

Technology Wilderness

My life has been hijacked by technology. Yesterday I was working on some pottery with a few hours of time available before my next appointment. I had my Droid sitting near the wheel along with a towel so if it chimed I could wipe my hands real quick and pick up. I was expecting to hear from two of my children. Narcie was in town for something, and Josh had his Elder Interviews with the Board of Ordained Ministry. I wanted to hear from both of them, and especially wanted to hear if Josh passed. Hey, having a family of three Elders is a big deal with all the ups and downs of the crud we've been through this year.

Anyway, I know my phone was fully charged before I went into my studio. It's been acting a little strange lately, not holding charges for very long. I've been religiously using the Task Killer to conserve energy, but anyway I'm sitting there throwing clay, making large vases, and no phone call. I finish up my studio work and head into the house for a quick shower and look carefully at the phone and say to myself, "What? No calls, no emails - impossible. I always get emails. What's going on?" The phone was dead! And I couldn't call Josh because his number is in the phone, not in my memory. I felt lost in a technology wilderness: isolated, out-of-touch. Heck, I felt more connected to the civilized world when I was in Africa in August and they got word to me that my oldest brother had suddenly died.

So I went to my 11:30 appointment and afterwards it was off to my cell carrier's office. You know how that goes. You go in, they enter your name so it comes up on a screen letting everyone know who's next. You browse around, look at new gadgets, and WAIT! I did enjoy looking at the iPad, but it went south from there. Finally when I was able to speak to a representative she told me my phone wasn't just on the fritz. It was deader than dead. She said that she would place an order for a new phone that would arrive today. Well, I was freaking not being able to talk to Josh about his interviews, and who knows what else from unchecked email. I didn't want to wait overnight so I asked if there was some sort of promotion to get me a phone in my hand right then and there.

Nope! Well, a qualified "no," depending on ending up with a phone with a new number. No way! I barely remember my number now. So I yielded and said send me another phone, but wondered if there was any way that I could use a phone in the mean time. I had saved my old phone and it was in the car. I got it, and waited for them to charge it. Then the sales rep went to lunch or cyberspace. I ended up with a manager who saw me sitting on the ottoman-like bench. He tried to charge my old phone and then announced to me that the screen said "invalid battery." He put in a new battery that I have to take back sometime today, and told me it would only work if it was plugged in - not when walking through the grocery store, not when I turned off my car, not anywhere except with me standing or sitting beside it plugged into a jack. Kind of takes the "mobile" out of mobile phone.

Then a new difficulty, how do I go about transferring all my contacts and settings to the new overnight phone? "Easy," said the guy. All I needed was my Gmail account address and password. Well, whatdaya know, I hadn't saved any of that. He was able to look up my Gmail address, but I tried the two or three passwords that are my sort-of universal passwords and they didn't work. I emailed Gmail and tried to access the "forgot your password" tab and get an email asking questions that I couldn't answer except one: What was your father's middle name? Easy. My dad was Ralph Thomas McClendon, so I typed in "Thomas." Guess what? The security folks found out my credibility as a person to give a new password to was next to zip. "Thomas" was incorrect though that's impossible. Maybe I put my mother's middle name so I tried it - Nada, zip. My only hope of transferring the data is if my old phone lives long enough to transfer. Yes, that's right, in the mean time like so often happens when I have a car problem, the darn thing gets well when I leave the phone joint. Except that now it shows a screen, full battery, but I can't make a call - weird, but, hey, the guy said if it will turn on at all I can get my info off of it.

The only thing left will be the process of pairing it with my car's hands-free utility. That's another saga. I'm lost in the technology wilderness, but it sure has been quiet. I could get used to it, if I wasn't so used to having everything and everybody at my fingertips. Do I own a phone, or does the phone own me?

Leadership, Elections, & The UMC

The mid-term elections are over except where they're still counting or recounting, and what does it mean that the Republican Party was so successful? What does it mean that the UMC is still losing members and we have a Call to Action Report that hopes to turn the tide the other way? I'm still reading Sergio Zyman's book Renovate Before You Innovate and it has interesting segues between the US election results and the UMC. He advocates that assertiveness in your market niche is extremely important. He says, "Customer loyalty is one of the most perishable commodities in the world." Just ask Democrats. We just saw Blue States flipping Red, and I know a lot of people who either used to be United Methodist or are now "nothing" - irreligious but spiritual.

Zyman states that reminding people about why you're so great is important, but you better build on your strengths so well that you garner people's preference. His descriptor that fits some politicians and the UMC: "You're an also-ran in a stagnant category." He uses the rental car business as an example, but listen for the ramifications for the church and politics. "The top-tier players have essentially turned car renting into a commodity business, leaving customers without any real way to tell them apart." Sounds like Main Line denominations, huh? Or the politics of the same-old-same-old? For instance, have you ever heard the story of the person explaining the difference between Capitalism and Communism. He said "In Capitalism, humans exploit other humans. In Communism, it's the other way around." You just trade one set of fat cats for another, UNLESS there is real renovation, building on strengths and leading. It's called the Church, built on the foundation of Jesus Christ and the traditions of the faith expressed in relevant reasonable ways so that people experience new life: Sounds like the Wesleyan Quadrilateral to me - renovation at work!

Zyman continues his thoughts on stagnant businesses by saying, "Whenever this kind of stagnation happens, the market leader has the most to gain, mostly because when everything else is equal, people go for the bigger brand - it makes them feel they're getting a deal." Sounds like part of the reason why non-denominational mega-churches are outpacing us. Maybe it's because they're seen as hip, relevant, and they preach the time-tested Gospel. When we try to "Rethink Church," it sounds like we're more into heresy than offering certainty in uncertain times. "Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors" said about the same - we stand for nothing and all things. What???

Zyman says, "In politics, it's a very similar situation: Sameness doesn't change votes, which is why leaders win about 90 percent of the time. Faced with no significant difference, voters pick the devil they know over the devil they don't know." You have to differentiate! You have to give people a reason to do business with you more often so that when they compare you or your congregation/denomination to theirs or none at all, you will prove to them that "Anything they can do, we can do better." That will take some work, marketing/evangelism, discerning essential core values, and expressing them in ways that people will get, and proving that you can deliver. I'm all for the t-shirt test for church mission statements: If it doesn't fit on a t -shirt, it doesn't cut it or qualify. For instance, how about "MD4C" for the UMC - Making Disciples For Christ. Beats the heck out of "Rethink Church" that makes me ponder my doubts more than my faith.

The UMC and the two primary political parties have no one else to blame but themselves for the sad state of their market-shares. Why do you think a Tea Party Movement actually had traction? They marketed well and tapped into people's emotions against stagnancy. Now I haven't met a Tea Partier yet that can adequately explain "Constitutional Government," but they don't have to if somehow it means "new and improved," which means homage to the past but relevancy for the present. So the question hits me, "Who is new and improved?" - the UMC, the Democratic Party, or the Republican Party? Interesting thoughts, and I know I don't have all the answers, but, you better believe this, I am going to do all that I can to present a Relevant Gospel in a Wesleyan Way to our world. There's no better deal anywhere! We better get with it, and fast!

Mature or Manure

I don't know about you but I'll be happy when Election Day is over. The ads have been so negative and the mudslinging misses the point of leadership. It's not about what the other person has or hasn't done. The better questions to ask a candidate are, "What are you going to do?" "What is your vision/plan?" I have heard smatterings of that in the midst of trashing/bashing, but not near enough.

Let me ask you, would you rather work for a negative person or a positive person? Joyce Landorf in her book, Balcony People, says that people are either Balcony or Basement People. Balcony People affirm, lift up, and encourage. Basement People pull down, criticize, and judge. On this All Saints' Day, I'm thinking about the Balcony People who are in the greatest balcony of all - heaven. As a matter of fact, I'm making a list so that when the Basement People and their negativity are on the prowl, I can remember who and Whose I am. The question then comes, "I wonder whose list of Balcony People I am on?"

Last week there was an awful stench around Columbia, our state's capitol city. No joke! By the end of the week it had been discovered that it was from a huge amount of chicken manure spread over a farm near the city. How appropriate! I'm ready for the smell of partisanship and its negative stench to dissipate, too. We have to work together. Yesterday I was at a Charge Conference where the devotion was given and the speaker unintentionally mixed up words. Instead of saying we should "mature in our faith," it came out "We should manure in our faith." I'm glad it was at a wonderful church and the levity was good for the meeting. Truth be told, one could say that we need to do both, grow in our faith and be good fertilizer for others.

With politics I'm looking for maturity. Unfortunately, with the mid-term elections and all the local races, things have been smelling more like manure than maturity. Good leadership is more mature than manure. Hope you have a good All Saints' Day and that you avoid all manure-spreaders!

UMC Call to Action Report Assessment

I have reread the UMC Call to Action Study Committee Report several times and think I need to make a few comments. I do have a stake in this because anybody who knows me knows that I've been in the trenches of UMC restructuring for a long time. Years ago I chaired our Annual Conference's Restructuring Committee, have served on the General Council on Ministries of the UMC and helped foment its demise in favor of the Connectional Table, was part of the Transition Team that bridged GCOM to the CT, and have been on the Connectional Table for its first two quadrennia. I have taught UM Discipline and Polity at Emory University for 10 years and have written articles about our UM polity in action. I have been on panels that advocated the defeat of the Worldwide UMC amendments to our constitution because I felt that they were destructive to our connectionalism. I currently serve on the Worldwide UMC Study Committee and am constantly pondering its role in fulfilling Wesley's claim, "The world is my parish!" I believe in structural change, but only so far as form follows function. That is the problem with too many failing institutions: the structures and bureaucracies have more prominence than the mission.

At first glance the Call to Action report is absolutely refreshing. It focuses on the vitality of local congregations. The 5 recommendations that are the crux of the report are all about helping local churches do vital ministry. I do take issue with the 10 year commitment to local church vitality. I would have been happier if the report said, "1000 years." Ten years isn't enough, but I do like how the next 4 items support the local church: better clergy through fine-tuned deployment, assessment, and better exiting procedures; consistent church-wide use of local church metrics to measure how churches are doing which would help me as a District Superintendent to compare apples and apples in resourcing local churches' ministries through programming and pastoral appointments; reform the Council of Bishops so that all active Bishops are REQUIRED to exercise more residential leadership for church growth in their episcopal area. Absentee bishops are an anathema to local church vitality; and, lastly, consolidate administrative and programmatic agencies of the church and make sure that we don't fund structures, we fund functions and ministries.

This is all refreshing, but what gives me pause about the report is found at the very end. The report suggests that we (Council of Bishops and Connectional Table) endorse an Interim Operations Team of 5 people to get all this done. Wow, this would be difficult to accomplish in a high trust environment, but will be next to impossible within the low trust reality of the UMC. Sure, it's a great idea to have a few people actually get something done without having to make sure every constituency of the church is represented, but doesn't our very constitution place a premium on inclusivity. Think about women and minorities when you're debating guaranteed appointments, for instance. I still have churches that tell me they want anybody but a woman or a minority for a pastor. We have moved over the last 40 years from a good old boy system of mostly white guys to a system of good old boy/girl/multi-ethnic representatives of personal constituencies. Either way it's a good old "something" system and that does lead to reports like this one that wants to do away with guaranteed appointments and have 5 people act on behalf of the rest of us. Yes, the CTA report is right that we have Boards of Directors of Agencies that are less adaptive and more reactionary if particular voices or constituency issues aren't protected. But, hey, I would rather trust a group that is representative of the whole church than 5 people, no matter how expert and full of competency they are.

In this vein, perhaps most troubling to me is that I think that a five-person Interim Operations Team is illegal on several fronts. What got the General Council on Ministries neutered was a Judicial Council Ruling (JD 364) that basically stated that only General Conference has authority over "all matters distinctively connectional" (Par. 16, 2008 Book of Discipline). If challenged, this 5-person group would be seen as an executive body for the General Conference and the General Conference intentionally doesn't have one! Stripping away the veneer, the 6 persons who will nominate the Interim Operations Team are composed of 4 Bishops and two Connectional Table members, which is more than a little lopsided. Now, I'm all for Bishops exercising their spiritual and temporal leadership, but I'm reminded from our polity that we have a separation of powers; i.e., the two primary constitutive principles of the UMC are episcopacy and conference and they balance each other. However, this report empowers episcopacy over conference; Bishops at the expense of laity & clergy membered conferences. Bishops cannot even speak at General Conference without the permission of the GC, and this report suggests that we should have an employed Executive Coordinator (pg. 30), and I'll surmise that this will be a Bishop, too! Another huge issue caused by having an Executive Coordinator for the Operations Team is that it strips the UMC of its identity as a nonjural entity, and that only the GC can speak for the church (2008 BOD Pars. 140, 509.1, 2501, 2509). Presently we cannot be sued as a denomination because we legally do not exist! Our churches, agencies, etc. are separately incorporated entities in numerous states/locations. This switch to a centralized polity, though seemingly pragmatic, is against our mission frontier nature. We are a movement not a structure.

So what do we do from here? I agree that we have been funding structures more than funding functions and that there is too much distance between the COB/Agencies and local churches. I do agree this has caused a lack of vital congregations. Clergy leadership and easier exiting of underperforming clergy are challenges that have to be addressed. I do also wonder how long it would be before we actually missed the so-called General Church level of the UMC if it disappeared. Every General Agency of the UMC needs to prove its worth by its actions, not by defensive self-promotion but by word-of-mouth praise from local churches and annual conferences. I do think that Bishops and the whole connectional enterprise that we call the UMC should be focused on the Annual Conference and local churches. The more local we can be, the more effective. Maybe every one of my concerns can be assuaged if the Call to Action's Operations Team is an advisory one. They weren't constituted by the General Conference. They are an expression of intent by the COB and CT. Let's let the General Conference decide, but let's hold closely to an aptly named Operational "Advisory" Team's emphasis on vital congregations without surrendering inclusivity, conference as counter-balance to the Bishops, or our status of being a nonjural entity that is poised more for mission than for structure for structure's sake.

Giving People a Reason to Drink

So the innovation versus renovation conundrum is still driving my thoughts this morning. I'm reading a book, Renovate Before You Innovate, by Sergio Zyman that really illustrates the value of both, but especially doing the innovation AFTER you renovate. His premise: Know your core principles, values, strengths and then you MIGHT consider tinkering. His thought is that "Doing the New Thing might not be the Right Thing." Neither he or I aren't advocating against risk taking and daring to do something different. The suggestion is not that we figure out what new idea we can propose and pass off on people, but that we answer what people's needs are.

Sometimes what I think I need and what I really need are two very different things, but, wow, with a birthday coming I would really love an Apple iPad. I sat next to someone in a meeting and couldn't keep my hands off of it. I think I just might need one. We call Apple innovative, but they are really renovative. They start with what consumers want  versus what they can make and hope people will buy. Renovators start with known needs and are adaptive. Innovators can get so far outside the box that they are answering questions that nobody is asking and that is called futility.

Remember "New Coke"? Well, Sergio Zyman was in charge of introducing it, and it was a flop. Rather than building on Coca Cola's strengths ("Good Bones") of authenticity, continuity, and stability; the folks at Coke decided to counter the Pepsi Challenge by innovating and ended up destroying real Coca Cola and came up with a Pepsi-Look-A-Like that was a flop. In Zyman's words, "What we really should have been doing was giving consumers a reason to drink Coke instead of mindlessly repeating that Coke was part of their life or that it was an advertising icon." Gosh, sounds like the UMC and many institutions that are trying to decipher the 21st century terrain. Coke reconnected with its customers and 72 days after "New Coke's" introduction, they went back to the original formula. They innovated and failed. They renovated and succeeded!

Renovation isn't doing different things; i.e., rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Renovation is doing better things with your strengths, building better things out of existing things. Renovation starts with the assets that are already on hand and delivers a product that people desire. Innovation starts with trying to find out what a company can make and then hopes somebody will buy it. It's a lot easier to sell what you know you can make with existing assets to people you already know who need what you're offering.

Does our world still need the Gospel? Well, yeah. Take a look around. The need is evident, but what day is easiest to travel around the city streets of Columbia? Sunday. So what are our core values and strengths that can help us renovate the church? I could answer in a lot of ways, but I'm just going to pick one for today - Community. Facebook isn't community although it's better than nothing. Nothing better meets the yearning of one soul to know another soul than real face-time. Communities of faith can provide the small groups, the worship experiences, the festivals, block parties, Bible studies, and pot-luck suppers to help people meet one of their most basic needs: community. What is your faith community's greatest strength? Offer it and say "Hello!" to relevancy and give people a reason to drink from the Gospel waters!

United Methodist Renovation Vs. Innovation

As a potter the process of making a beautiful and/or functional vessel hasn't changed much over the centuries. The tools of the craft may change but their purpose is still the same. The basics of throwing clay are the tried and true: wedging, centering, opening up, pulls, shaping, collaring, design, and finishing. I could go on and on, and though very little has really changed I still peek at the new-fangled products and glazes that promise innovation.

Ah, that's the word on my mind this morning: Innovation. As I think about Christianity and the United Methodist Church in particular, I am very tempted to say it's time to innovate, but I may be way off-base. New-fangled may be disastrous rather than helpful. It may be better to renovate rather than innovate. Innovation suggests a fresh start. It suggests that we chunk all the old ways that we've been doing things, but like pottery-making, there isn't really that much that's really better. Innovation leads to a fatalistic surrender that throws the baby out with the bath water. I think Jesus suggested ways to get old and new to work together as in the shrunk and unshrunk pieces of cloth. So what's the deal? Is it better to innovate or renovate?

Innovation requires a tearing down of old structures, like "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." Demo Day means tear that whole house down. Renovation exposes the "good bones" of the existing structure and makes improvements while preserving the integrity of the house. As I ponder the United Methodist Church and its structure, or even my personal life, I'm wondering whether renovation might be the better course of action than innovation. Renovation does what Jesus suggested about the marriage of the unshrunk cloth and the shrunk cloth. It honors and uses the best of both to make things better. Sure innovation is a quick fix, and probably less costly. We have all heard that it's easier to tear down and build again rather than renovate, but I think we too often succumb to the temptation to take the easier path that promises lower costs. Don't you think about the bridge you're crossing being built by the lowest bidder?

Just some thoughts as we await the United Methodist "Call to Action" Committee's recommendations about how we're organized as a denomination. What will it be: innovation or renovation? As for me, I'm leaning toward doing renovation carefully removing that which is ineffective and wasteful, preserving our "strong bones" of Connectionalism, Wesleyan Process Theology, and the localism of strong Annual Conferences. Where I would like to do some creative renovation is in improving the effectiveness of Bishops who will actually see their Annual Conference leadership as the most important vantage point to make Disciples for Jesus Christ, clergy effectiveness valued over status, and agencies of the church that are trimmed down or merged into workable entities that will empower local churches more than prop up out-of-touch bureaucrats. I know this sounds easy and too simple, too much like innovation; but what I hope to suggest is really renovation using surgical precision rather than a wrecking ball.

Original Sin - I've Seen It!

Ain't nothing original about original sin! I don't know if you've ever heard that one-liner, but I'll bet you've witnessed it. Just when I think there's nothing new under the sun, wham! With unsuspecting naivete I'm hit with something new, unexpected, unanticipated - a new tear in the fabric of civility, even among Christians. Good grief, we don't handle it well either. After my momentary shock at this new appearance of original sin, I usually stumble through searching for some easy balm to try a quick patch on the opening wound.

And that usually NEVER works! Rabbi Edwin Freidman's book, A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix, says it all! Quick fixes don't usually work because it has taken a lot longer than we think for the junk to float to the surface anyway. So maybe this is why we need Roberts' Rules of Order and an unbiased, objective leader presiding in tense situations. Roberts' Rules actually help defuse anxiety, except for those who don't know anything more than yelling, "Point of Order!" Okay, I'm a parliamentarian, been elected one for nearly 2 decades now, so I'm prejudiced. I do like Roberts' Rules, and I don't care for everyone bashing them. Truth be told, I think they do help contentious bodies of people have a little breathing room so they can think through an issue rather than get into a shouting match. But, indeed, because so few people know the process, they sometimes just add to a sense that the know-it-all's are controlling things so we the ignorant masses are purposefully left in the dark.

Ah, this is where leadership can help by reframing a person's comments in an assembly into a suitable motion; i.e., the person's suggestion that the previous motion to do something potentially divisive should be put off and decided by more people can be reframed by the presiding officer as "I seem to hear you saying that this should be postponed to a later date with a larger gathering. Therefore, it seems to me that you're making a motion to postpone to a definite time when more people can be present at a duly called meeting. Is this your motion?" If it isn't their motion, then you're in deep trouble, but hopefully you've restated their intent well enough to give a little breathing room for the issue to defuse itself or give ideas to clearer heads to think in new ways.

What's this got to do with everyday life when we're not in a situation where you use Roberts' Rules? For me, it's about leadership and emotional process. Original sin's perpetual lack of originality makes people react, blow up, and blast others. Blame-shifting has been going on since the Garden of Eden. In everyday life I have to remember that the issues at hand are not as much about facts as they are about personalities.

Therefore, information over-kill isn't as important as understanding the emotional process we use in dealing with the so-called facts. In Roberts' Rules fashion we need to track what emotional forces are at work, restate them, stand our ground in a responsive rather than reactive way, and try to air everything out in a neutral environment.

This is hard as heck to do when people are showing their fangs, and you are tempted to show yours,too. That doesn't help anyone. Find a calm place within from which to speak. Don't wimp out and say nothing. That just gives ammo to the lions and bears. Do what St. Paul said, "Speak the truth in love." Leadership risks saying what people want to say but don't feel like they can, and restates it in such a way that everybody walks away a winner. They don't walk away "winner-take-all," because that's not reality. In our non-original sin-filled world, the best we can do is win-win-lose-lose; i.e. everybody gets something and loses something. Hey, I've been married 35 years and that's as good as it gets from my experience. Going nuclear and winning is still losing.

Chill out, lead with calm authority, and give peace a chance.

It's Good to be Home

As I reflect on the rescue of the Chilean miners trapped for months below ground, the lines of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz keep ringing in my ears, “There’s no place like home!” I cannot imagine the joy of families reunited after these desperate months. Just as it is true that home is where the heart is, there is also a need for a place to call home. Home is more than a heart-feeling, though it is often that. It is also something tangible.

This past week I was reminded of this in several ways. One was through an offer that someone made to buy our two-tenths of an acre at Lake Junaluska. We just got finished paying for that tiny parcel. There are only rocks and trees and a few stray golf balls, but it is also a vision, a hope. It is a tangible place for our family to call home – a family that has lived in someone else’s house/parsonage forever. Will we sell it? Only if we decide that I can’t stand living in retirement around a bunch of “My-church-was-bigger-than-yours-preachers,” or it finally sinks in that we can’t afford what we want to build.

However, it is our land for the time being and there is great comfort in having a home even if it is still invisible. But, the other “homely” thought came this week through remembering an October day spent with my Dad. We did our usual fall circuit. We cleaned off my mother’s grave, sprayed a weed and grass-killer to finish things off before the first-frost, and purchased a new season’s array of her favorite flowers. We traveled out to Barr’s Chapel, a closed United Methodist Church near Modoc, South Carolina. My great-great grandparents are buried there and Daddy, though only semi-ambulatory as a double amputee, was one of its trustees through the Edgefield UMC. Then we traveled a few short miles down a winding familiar road to Red Hill. This is the road that I remember traveling while sitting in Daddy’s lap angled between him and the steering wheel pretending to drive. We visited the Red Hill church where we ate on the grounds every year and reverently paid homage at Papa Mac and Ma Mac’s grave, plus the tombs of more great-grandparents, cousins and the like.

We had our usual visit, replaced flowers, saw the old homeplace of Daddy’s mother, reminisced about Grandfather Thomas’ old store and turned around. However, there is a part of me that never leaves because this trek reminds me of another home. Part of this other home is in my memory and part of it is in my future. It sneaks into my present more every day as I get older; ponder mortality, and the upcoming All Saint’s Day. It is a home called heaven by some, but in my mind’s eye it is Paradise - maybe more so because we live in a parsonage, however beautiful, but not ours. Nonetheless, heaven looks pretty inviting when my memory is overwhelmed by the carefree days of yesteryear where I can see my family alive and well with no worries to speak of. I am reminded that my longing for a place to call home on earth is far surpassed by the one waiting in heaven. There I will see the cloudy mist between the saints evaporated. Church Militant and Church Triumphant will be together again. There’ll be a reunion so fulfilling that I cry now to know it. As much as having a home here seems so attractive, there is a better one there.

Flying the Team Flag

How 'bout those Gamecocks! Most of your know that I've been a frustrated University of South Carolina Gamecock fan forever. I say "frustration" because they have been worse than hapless, but I was in Omaha for the College World Series when we won the national championship and I was there this past Saturday when we knocked off the vaulted #1 Alabama in football. I still can't believe it. You've probably heard someone say to someone else's mix of glee and doubt over the next shoe dropping, "You can't stand prosperity." I never quite got what that meant until now. I've never been here before.

Now football matters and next week's USC-Kentucky game is looming large when I never really cared that much before. Wow, what a difference a big win makes. It adds jubilant joy and more than a tinge of sheer fear. Expectations are taken up a notch, and the absolute magnitude of the event is staggering. Do I yell, do I walk away and say "I'm good. It doesn't get any better than this so I'm not watching next week," or perhaps, just perhaps, I get so jacked that I am willing to make a road trip to Kentucky? Hey, people, driving to Lexington ain't nothing compared to driving all the way to Omaha, Nebraska, and I've done that 4 times to watch USC play.

Wait a minute - Ah, now I get a sense of the see-saw of the disciples after the news of Jesus' resurrection. Go back to Galilee or to the ends of the world? Stay on the Mt. of Transfiguration or go down into the valley and tell everybody about the Jesus team? I don't own a USC car flag, but somewhere somehow today I'm going to get one, and I'm going to fly it! Who knows, maybe someone has a Jesus flag, too.

I Miss My Mama

One of the first serious books that I ever read was Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage. As a fifth-grader it came at a pivotal time in my life. I had issues with my self-worth that were awful. In the third grade I had encephalitis, an extremely dangerous illness. Statisticians say that 50% of its sufferers die and 80% have permanent brain damage. Whether the latter is true or not is up to you, but it did put me behind in school. Unfortunately I was also one of the youngest in my class with a birthday less than a week from the next grade’s cut-off.

To compound things, either due to encephalitis or not, I also had a difficult time saying a “th” sound and earned the ignominious nickname of “Fim” because of it. I do know that much of my memory before the age of eight is simply blocked out due to the high fever that I had. If it weren’t for my dear Aunt Florence tutoring me in the fifth grade I would never have caught up in school. She also re-taught me how to tell time and tie my shoes, abilities evidently erased by my illness. There were plenty of deficiencies I ingeniously compensated for until her tutoring. However, before you begin to think that I wasn’t that bright to begin with, don't forget the Magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.

But, it was The Red Badge of Courage that helped me turn the corner inside my own head. The book’s hero, Henry Fleming, was an anti-hero of sorts, a lad too young to have to face war and maiming. Henry Fleming was real. I could identify with him. He went through the stages of being scared, a deserting coward, cocksure in false bravado, gutsy under fire, and in the end became a wise veteran who knew that the golden sunlight of peace was a better goal than a red badge of combat. He had earned his stripes, so to speak. As for me, I still run the gamut of all these stages. At least Henry Fleming remains a model of someone who makes it to the finish line.

So are Jesus, the Apostle Paul, and every other saint I can think of. The most common characteristic besides faith in all the saints is a set-apart life, a sense of vocation unmitigated by divided loyalties. Saints are ordinary people who dare to do what God says. Because that is so rare is the reason we call these special people “saints.” How many saints are still among us? I better not name names, but in my mind many of you qualify. More than anyone my Mother was my hero. Wow, did she love! She lived it. She helped people, legally adopted an mentally-challenged African-American man into our family. I cannot begin to name the ways that she championed the Golden Rule. I miss her so much. Maybe it's because I have a birthday coming in a week or so, or because of what she sacrificed for me to even be born at age 39 and the gestational diabetes that turned into the real thing which changed her life forever and caused her to die far too young.

Who's your inspirational saint, and do you emulate them? Do you ever watch ABC’s TV show, “Extreme Makeover:Home Edition”? It’s my Sunday Night inspiration for the week in terms of doing something good for deserving people. The stories of the recipient families are amazing and touching. I am amazed at how whole communities want to say "Thank you!" to the saints in their midst. I also like the ways that the marvelous gifts of the Design Team are matched so perfectly with the families’ needs is a joy to witness. It’s a show that reminds me of a little bit of heaven on earth: the good guys actually finish first! It’s a good reminder before facing another week where our reality too often resembles a less than stellar outcome. The Design Team members are heroes for putting others before self.

This is our saintly mission, too. This is our race to run with Jesus as player/coach and the Holy Spirit as dynamic energizing cheerleader. God wants us to make it to the finish line and hear those long-awaited words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Advocates for Service

Wow, there are a lot of needs all around us. I just got back from our Columbia District Clergy meeting. We heard about The Cooperative Ministry that is helping the working poor. "Hootie & The Blowfish" Grammy-winner Jim Sonefeld was also there. He shared how God had brought him from a "dark place" and has given him a new life. A big part of that new life is to help others. He has teamed up with The Cooperative Ministry and the Benedict College Choir to produce a new version of their break-out single "Hold My Hand." All the proceeds from purchasing the song go to The Cooperative Ministry. If you want to see a great video and hear a great song, plus make a donation; go to www.withalittlelove.org. This ministry speaks well of our theme as United Methodists: "Together We Can Do More!"

Connectionalism is our way of being and doing church. God made us in God's image and God is Trinity, a community. So if God exists in community, how can we not? Unfortunately, the world sings a different song promoting individualism. Sure, some differentiation is a good thing, but isolation is horrible. We need each other. Therefore, to all the churches, even United Methodist ones, that want to be their own little silo without connectional responsibility - You're missing out! Hiding and individualism gone amok is part of Adam and Eve's hide-and-go-seek game after the debacle in the Garden.

So, I want to stay connected and do together what we can't accomplish alone. One of the ways that I do that was also lifted up in our meeting today: "The South Carolina United Methodist Advocate." For $15 bucks a year, you can find out all sorts of good things about our shared ministry in South Carolina. Now, I don't always agree with the content, but it always makes me think. It gives us all a forum in SC United Methodism to share ministry, gain new ideas for Kingdom-service, grieve one another's losses, and be better disciples for Jesus. If you want to learn more; go to www.scadvocate-online.org/home/ remembering "Together We Can Do More!"

Mercy is a Better Way

This morning I have been reading Matthew 15. Some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law approached Jesus as they were building their case that he was a false prophet. The accusation wasn't the usual charge of breaking the Sabbath by healing someone. This time it was more ludicrous. They badgered Jesus because his disciples didn't wash their hands before they ate.

We've all gotten that one from the clean-patrol in our lives, but the Pharisee's issue wasn't about germs as much as it was about protocol. Under the guise of trying to not let anything "unclean" enter their bodies, they washed their hands. Admirable, but Jesus nails them for their worship of doing things right over doing the right things. Have mercy. I've been to about half of my charge conferences and it's the same story. I have a lot of churches that value doing things right to the point that they aren't in ministry to those around them until the idea snakes its way through all the right church channels. In the meantime, people are getting cold with the change of season, and they're hungry. We let our methodical United Methodism insulate us from our true heritage as a group that would do whatever it took to reach the people on the margins.

We are the domesticated and comfortable middle to upper class now. Jesus gave the Pharisees a zinger. He asked how could they say they kept the Law such as honoring parents when they had a tradition that allowed them to deprive their parents of needed help by saying their resources were going to be used for a better purpose in the temple, which, by the way, gave them a better seat in the Sanhedrin. "No fair!" says Jesus. You can't let human tradition trump God's intentions. Doing the right thing is more important than doing things right. They were doing things right by their standards but not by God's.

As I trudge through more charge conferences oh how I want to hear about risky, daring ministries that value people more than a "that's the way we've always done things around here" attitude. I uphold the Book of Discipline, and I uphold grace. Jesus is pushing my buttons today, Book of Discipline guy that I am. How can I make a personal difference today in someone's life, not by paragraph 423.13, but by Matthew 5:6?

The Bumps of Life

Conventional wisdom says that you can never be too well-off or too good-looking. That’s a myth! According to the Bible our weaknesses are what make us strong because they cause us to depend on resources that are outside of ourselves. Of course the main source of strength when we’re feeling overwhelmed is God. Secondly, we can depend on other people to help us out. Especially helpful are those who have been through what we’re going through.

Everyone has weaknesses. What differentiates one person from another is whether or not one admits his or her weaknesses and then what is done about them. A college recruiter interviewed a high school basketball star. The recruiter said, “I hear you’re pretty good.” “The best there is,” the player replied. “I averaged 45 points a game, was the best rebounder in school history, and I led our team to three straight undefeated seasons and three state championships.” “That’s incredible,” said the recruiter. “Tell me,” he asked, “Do you have any weaknesses?” “Well,” said the non-Lebron sheepishly, “I do have a tendency to exaggerate.”

We all have weaknesses. There are no perfect “10’s” in the world. Ninety percent of men rank themselves above average athletically, which is statistically impossible. Very often we’re only legends in our own minds, but our weaknesses can become strengths. People who think that they’re perfect remain emotional adolescents and spiritual babies. Emotional and spiritual maturities are forged in life’s furnaces.

George Reedy was President Lyndon Johnson’s press secretary. He was a very persuasive person, as presidential press secretaries need to be. He was so persuasive that he convinced President Johnson that he should never have any assistants who were under 40 and who hadn’t suffered any major life disappointments. Without that maturity and without that disappointment, Reedy felt these people were under-qualified and overly conceited.

It’s not that optimism is a bad thing, but sometimes too much early success has a tendency to spoil us. We begin to think of ourselves as clever. We begin to rely on our ability rather than our hard work. Worse than that, we begin to rely on ourselves rather than on God. Everyone who does anything spectacular in life knows what it is to have failures. It’s what they do with failure that separates the truly successful from the also-rans. I pretty much disagree with ruling out the young in leadership circles due to their lack of hard-knocks. My wife is an Elementary Guidance Counselor and I get to hear the horror stories of bullying victims. I remember my own early years and their toll on my self-esteem. Everyone, if truth be told, has been through life’s crucible of crisis, and age hasn’t got anything to do with that. My 30 year-old daughter with a brain tumor is a whole lot more seasoned than I am with life’s crud.

What makes for a blessed 30-something or 50-something, with or without a brain tumor, is that failure throws us into seeking help – from God and others. One of the most revealing lines in literature appears in the opening paragraph of A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh: “Here is Edward Bear coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin. It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way… if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think of it!”

Well there is another way and that’s to ask for help when you’re bumping through life. I know we won’t make it with everything that’s been tossed our way this summer without help. We will keep on bumping along because that’s the way life is, but thanks be to God and you – we will survive. Your prayers and support have made a difference. Thank you and thank God.

Give Me a Story to Tell and Make it Relevant

I like story-telling, narrative preaching or whatever you want to call it. My grandfather, Papa, as we called him, would let me snuggle in the bed with him and he would start a story and tell me to finish it. It was great at such an early age to be mentored in the art of story-telling. Papa would lead off with a wild yarn and I would try to make it wilder, then he would ask the hard but creative question, "What did the story mean to you?"

Story and meaning have been on my mind as I've been perusing the UMC Call to Action Committee's reports on our church. It has been interesting to read the Towers Watson report on the driving forces of vitality in the UMC. One of the factors mentioned specifically is "Using more topical preaching in Traditional service." I've been a lectionary preacher for years, but have always attempted to be topical at the same time: timely, practical, relevant. The studies of our denomination have been fascinating. You can find the Towers Watson and Apex reports at http://www.umc.org/calltoaction under "Research Projects."

The Towers Watson summary says that there are four key areas identified as vitality-drivers: number of small groups, empowered and effective lay leadership, relevant worship experiences, and excellent pastoral leadership including good preaching and length of tenure. Likewise the Apex group has studied the UMC and has found that mission clarity, competency, and "distance issues" between the general agencies, Bishops and the local church have exacerbated a relevancy crisis for our denomination.

The point that keeps zinging me is about story-telling and relevancy. As a District Superintendent I'm going from charge conference to charge conference this time of year. I am trying to support connectionalism and especially connectional giving in these difficult economic times. I am absolutely convinced that people will give if they can put a face on apportionments. The same is true for local churches. The studies show that churches that have more face-time activities are vital. If the general church via agencies and bishops can give more face-time to local constituencies then they will be more relevant. It's all about telling a personal story.

My fear is that we have too many people from bottom to top and top to bottom that don't have a story to tell. We aren't doing so hot in terms of relevancy because we're not answering all the questions that people are asking. Sometimes we're answering questions that people are not even asking. That is useless. But, I'm thinking in the back of my pea-brain, that the story that is too often untold or the penultimate unanswered question is "What is the meaning of life?" If I cannot answer that question with the Jesus-story in my own story then relevancy is shot to you-know-where. The Gospel is the essence of relevancy.

So I'll finish with a story. Make of it what you will. Talk is cheap and actions speak louder than words. It seems in this story that the Pope needed a heart transplant. After word spread that the Pope needed a new heart, letters, emails, phone calls, and telegrams poured into the Vatican with offers from people to give the Pope their heart. The Pope pondered how he would decide from so many donors whose heart he would take. He couldn’t believe that so many people were so willing to give up their lives so he could receive their heart. He came up with a plan. On the appointed day announced ahead to the world, he would stand on the balcony of the Pope’s chambers overlooking St. Peter’s Square and drop a feather. Whoever it landed on would be the blessed donor. The day came and the Pope stood and dropped the feather. It floated down, down, down, until it was just above the heads of the gathered throng. People were shouting, “Take my heart, Pope, Take my heart!” Then just as the feather almost landed it was, “Take my heart, Pope – Blow,Whew; Take my heart, Pope, Blow/Whew”

Are We What We Wear? Maybe, Maybe not!

I came to work yesterday in jeans and a casual shirt. I was very tired from Charge Conferences, didn't feel like dressing up, so I just came to the office for pastoral consultations as is, and went to Charge Conference dressed the same way. I've felt a little guilty ever since. I need to take some clothes to the cleaners, but that's just an excuse. I just didn't feel like it.

How does it make you feel to go to a special function and there is someone there who is inappropriately dressed? Are you tired of the dressed-down casual look that is so pervasive in our society? Ball caps don’t cut it in fine restaurants do they? Where are our standards of proper decorum? But just as quickly as I want to put up fences to keep the riff-raff out, I am reminded that Jesus wasn’t very exclusive. Unlike Augusta National, He let just about anybody into the Kingdom. It was the Pharisees who had such impossibly high standards that they missed the Messiah and the Kingdom.

Thinking of Pharisaical dress codes reminds me of a family that had invited a college student and his date over to their house for Sunday lunch. As everyone started to relax, the host said to the young man, "Why don't you take your coat off?" The host had already taken off his coat and tie. The young man kind of hem-hawed around, however, as if he didn't want to do it. Finally, he got the host off in a corner and said, reminding the man of an old trick that he knew well when he was in college, "The only parts of my shirt I ironed were the cuffs and the collar." He had pressed just the parts that showed. The rest of the shirt looked as if he had ironed it with a weedeater! That was the way of the Pharisees: the part people could see looked great, but their interiors were a different story.

Jesus wants us to look good inside out. His solution to our dress code dilemma is found in the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit’s work in Sanctifying Grace that creates clean hearts and lives in you and me. We cannot measure up on our own, but God can make us new creatures! Eugene Peterson puts it this way, "The gospel life isn't something we learn ABOUT and then put together with instructions from the manufacturer; it's something we BECOME as God does his work of creation and salvation in us and as we accustom ourselves to a life of belief and obedience and prayer."

This is a good old-fashioned Wesleyan emphasis on Sanctification. We’re saved by grace, to be sure, but there IS a dress code! Consider this pastor's dilemma:
There were two evil brothers. They were rich, and used their money to keep their evil ways from the public eye. They even attended the same church, and looked to be perfect Christians. Then their pastor retired, and a new one was hired. Not only could he see right through the brothers' deception, but he was also a good preacher so the church started to grow by leaps and bounds. A fund raising campaign was started to build a new sanctuary.

All of a sudden, one of the brothers died. The remaining brother sought out the new pastor the day before the funeral and handed him a check for the amount needed to finish paying for the new building. "I have only one condition," he said. "At my brother’s funeral, you must say that he was a saint." The pastor gave his word, and deposited the check. The next day, at the funeral, the pastor did not hold back. "He was an evil man," the pastor said. "He cheated on his wife and abused his family." After going on in this vein for awhile, he concluded with, "But compared to his brother, he was a saint." He did what he agreed to do. Quite ingenious, don't you think?

Compared with yesterday I have on pressed slacks and a dress shirt, no tie, but a blazer. I figure I owe it to the clergy I'll be seeing today to show them due respect, and the Charge Conference tonight that I care enough about their church to show it in how I look. Sounds contrived, but it's a fact: what we look like should reflect our inner opinions of who we with or what we're doing. More importantly I pray that today I will look better on the inside than the outside.

World Communion Is Real Presence

World Communion Sunday has me thinking. When I was a youngster in my home church we went to Sunday School and afterwards made our way into the sanctuary. The educational building was behind the sanctuary so that if you went from one to the other you usually entered through the back door that opened into the sanctuary right beside the pulpit and altar. If we saw the communion elements and the white cloth spread out we immediately pressed our parents into leaving early.

Communion services were so long and were as somber as a funeral service. We used the old ritual; where what we said reversed our efforts at the Protestant Reformation’s focus on grace. We went back to something that resembled a large confessional booth. We used words like, “We bewail our manifold sins and wickedness which we from time to time have committed in thought, word, and deed…” I felt sinful enough already. Our communion service seemed to add to my sense of guilt. The words of pardon were miniscule in comparison to the confession. I usually left feeling worse.

This is one reason that today when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper; we attempt to focus more on Christ’s marvelous work of grace than on our power to reform ourselves. We, more often than not, now refer to Communion as the Eucharist. Eucharist means Thanksgiving. The most important thing that we do when we come to the Communion Table is say, “Thanks!” to Christ for his gift of mercy. Rather than focus overly on our sinfulness, we thank God for God’s graciousness. What a better perspective!

World Communion Sunday is an event that bridges denominations and spotlights our commonality in the Body of Christ. This world would be so much better off if we looked for that which we hold in common rather than our differences. Holy Communion, rightly observed, reunites the Church. This is the pastor’s hope when he or she holds up the loaf of bread and says, “Because there is one loaf, we who are many, are one body in Christ.”

Therefore, our focus this week is in how to get over our differences and find common power to live in Christ. The Eucharist is a time of positive celebration, reunion, prayer for healing, and a sacred time to put others before ourselves. In my first parish I had three churches. I remember how shocked I was as I went to my first communion service at the smallest church of eight members. When I arrived there was a loaf of sliced “Wonder” bread still in its wrapper on the altar and a bottle of Welch’s grape juice and some small paper cups. They had not had communion in years. I was soon to find out why.

I went through the ritual and opened the altar for people to partake and NOBODY came forward. The reason they hadn’t had communion in years is that they were afraid. They knew full well that they were not living as consistent Christians. They felt too unworthy to come to the Table. I quickly switched sermons and preached on grace. Still nobody came up, but by the time I left there five years later, a few did. Those few moved from guilt to grace, judging to acceptance. They found real communion with Jesus, a sacrament indeed.

Dentist Thomas Welch found himself in a somewhat similar situation back in 1869. Communion was problematic for a number of reasons. The alcoholic content of the wine was one of them. Dr. Welch was the Communion Steward for the congregation of First Methodist Church of Vineland, New Jersey. To his dismay more often than not communion either set some of the participants off on an alcoholic binge or a rush to judgment by the abstention crowd. He and his family did experiment after experiment to come up with a solution and they did. He created unfermented grape juice, dubbed it “unfermented wine,” and soon churches all around wanted the product. By 1890 “Dr. Welch’s Grape Juice” had become a staple on communion tables, where it remains so today, all because someone saw communion as a sacrament that brought Christians together, not divided them!

Charge Conference Christians

Everyone wants to put on a good face for Charge Conference. They are in full swing right now. I actually went to bed last night counting how many Charge Conferences I have had instead of counting sheep. Charge Conferences are in full-swing, along with consultations with pastors about their ministry. I have heard some great reports which underscore the very reason we have these annual meetings. The most distinctive Wesleyan doctrine is sanctification. We are “Methodists” because we believe in a methodical way to live our faith, making sure that we are held accountable. All those forms are our empirical way to gauge how we’re doing spiritually. At least that’s how I rationalize it. The bottom-line is that we believe Jesus didn’t save us to leave us the way we were found, but to transform us and the world. We need transformation, not just at Charge Conference reporting time but year round.

I wish there were a pill that would really cure all that ails us. Some might say that our national malaise is the product of a poor economy, the war on terror, midterm-election year mudslinging, the disintegration of the family, and sorry football teams. It’s tough when sports, your source of distraction from life’s difficulties, only adds to the problem. What I’ve found when life is on the slippery slope is to do something worthwhile. It doesn’t matter so much what the task, just so it takes commitment.

Psychologists, for years, have said that one of the best ways to get out of the doldrums is to make yourself do something for somebody else. They’re right! If we give in to the pits we’re never going to get out. Commitment is the ability to push through the pain, the angst, the pessimistic cynical mindset in which we find ourselves and keep at the projects that we’re supposed to complete. George Miller gave an interesting analogy, “The trouble with eating Italian food is that five or six days later you’re hungry again.” What he’s saying about Italian food is true for me. It sticks with me for a long time.

When we’re a little down, we shouldn’t give in to it. We should stick to the things that we know that we’re supposed to do. Sure, I know very well that I don’t feel like going to walk, but I also know the endorphins that are released when I exercise will make me feel better. Unfortunately, many of us easily avoid the things we should do. Jerome K. Jerome, who lived from 1859-1927, said it for all sad-sacks and procrastinators, “I like work; it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.”

So maybe we shouldn’t vegetate and let our burdens build up. Doing something good and worthwhile is a better answer. It’s all about commitment. Lewis Smedes puts the matter quite plainly, “I want to say to you that if you have a ship you will not desert, if you have people you will not forsake, if you have causes you will not abandon, then you are like God… When a person makes a promise, she reaches out into an unpredictable future and makes one thing predictable: she will be there even when being there costs her more than she wants to pay. When a person makes a promise, he stretches himself out into circumstances that no one can control and control at least one thing: he will be there no matter what the circumstances turn out to be. With one simple word of promise, a person creates an island of certainty in a sea of uncertainty.”

Many years ago a pastor preached on three different kinds of believers: “if,” “because,” and “regardless.” An “if” believer follows God IF he or she receives blessings and rewards in return. This person waits to see what God will do first, then decides whether or not to respond in obedience. A “because” believer follows God BECAUSE God blesses the person. This person has seen the connection between personal obedience and God’s blessing and wants to keep it going. A “regardless” believer follows God REGARDLESS of the person’s circumstances, cynicism, and hardships. A “regardless” believer honors commitment and knows that God is faithful to the faithful. Which am I today when it comes to the seemingly mundane paperwork and meeting schedule that exhibits a long obedience in God’s direction?

Mystery of Suicide

I woke up this morning to hear the news that Kenny McKinley, former University of South Carolina, star football receiver had apparently taken his own life. Friends, former teammates, coaches, and fans are shocked. He was here at the USC-Georgia game two weeks ago. According to everyone, he seemed fine. Of course, he has been injury-plagued over the last two years with the Denver Broncos. There was no suicide note, no explanation. Other than his injury there was no thought that something like this would happen.

I have never experienced suicide in my own family, but as a pastor I have dealt with quite a few. Every time I was shocked. One was especially difficult. It was an older man who was beloved in the community. His wife had some very tough health issues and had to be moved to an assisted living community. Apparently, he couldn't take it and took his own life. I have preached the funeral of a murder suicide, too, and there have been other tragic events in the churches that I served where someone took thier own life.

It is always hard for me as a pastor to know what to say in this situation. And I have often wondered why I didn't pick up on some kind of signal that this might happen. I have felt the sting of the prophet Jeremiah's words when he warns that we should not say, "Peace, peace, when there is no peace." Yet, the presence of the Incarnate Christ who came to know our pain as the Man of Sorrows gives us hope, whether we can say the right words or not.

I try to think of God's mercy like this: If human courts will acquit someone of murder because of insanity, then God's mercy surely must prove more complete than that. I have known people so full of despair that they couldn't see past their own hand much less their problems. In that moment of sheer pain and darkness they have done the unthinkable. I pray in God's mercy that they are just as acquitted as we humans would absolve the temporarily insane.

It's a mystery, and no easy answer is forthcoming. I'm reminded of Deuteronomy 29:29 again and again, "The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law." What this means to me is that there are some things we can't know or perceive and we must leave those unfathomable mysteries to God. Let's stick to what we can know and about which we can do something.

I'm certainly not advocating suicide as an option to life's dilemmas. Its pain and unresolved issues for families last generations. There is NOTHING beneficial that can come from doing such a thing, but I think God's word to me this morning is to cut people who have committed suicide some slack, and open my eyes to the unseen hurts around me. A simple "Hey, How are you?" isn't enough to delve into the human heart. If there's anything at all to take from this it is to live more intentionally in community where we rub shoulders and look into one another's faces and hearts. Facebook is a good thing but it cannot replace real community, face-to-face.

The Church is the best place for us to have deep relationships with one another. Small groups, Sunday School classes, mission projects, and other significant church activities put us side by side in an intimate setting where we can get to know the unseen pain of others. In our economically dark and terror-filled world, we need Jesus and He is most easily seen in one another. I hurt for the McKinley family and for any family that has faced such a tragedy. May they find peace among us, and help through us.

Holy Spirt or Holy Spirit

Have you ever felt so tired that you feel like a bug smacked on a windshield, or as flat as a frog run over in the road? That's how this Friday is hitting me. Its been an emotional week, anxiety then great news about Narcie, charge conferences every night with some tensions and a lot of celebration, phone calls to pastors/churches about their connectional giving, and the usual swinging door cacophony of people who don't like something about their pastor or something else. I have had consultations all week with clergy and that has been so good. Sharing prayer, support, and visioning for the future - good stuff, but I'm beat. I used to get up in the morning and walk for a hour praying my way to strength for the day. I'm too busy/tired to do it right now.

We're planning on going to see Narcie, Mike, Enoch & Evy, plus Josh and Karen this afternoon, spend the night coming back to Columbia tomorrow to go to the USC-Furman game with my brother, preach a church anniversary Sunday am followed by 3 charge conferences and a new Hispanic/Latino church start meeting. Whew! When will there be a let-up? So much for Sabbath, but we must have time to reflect and worship or we don't have anything to offer this hurting world. Every minister that I've talked to has shared their fatigue, some with tears, some with excitement tinged with fear of running out of gas. Some have been all smiles. What has made for more smiles than miles? It seems that the clergy who are taking care of themselves through exercise, time off, date nights, or some kind of Sabbath are the ones who are still smiling.

In reading lately about how many more Americans are below the poverty line right now tells me that they need the Gospel's message of hope now more than ever. If we're beat or beat-up then we aren't the voice of hope. They're going to go to the upbeat church with the upbeat music with the upbeat sermon. If we aren't full of the Holy Spirit then we won't have anything to offer. I'm afraid I resemble a Holy Spirt more than Spirit. So, I am running on empty, but ready to relax and recharge. Got to, have to, must get some nourishment from God if I'm going to be an effective witness for Christ. May God's grace win your heart this weekend and not the tyranny of the urgent. I'm going to start prayer-walking again in the morning.