Memorials that Last

I know that Article 16 of our Confession of Faith says that we deplore war but with Memorial Day Weekend upon us I can’t help but think about the sacrifice paid by so few for so many during World War II. I think of this particular war because I agree with Tom Brokaw that this was America's "Greatest Generation." Brave soldiers with their families back home, and persons in support industries mobilized an unsurpassed effort to defeat fascism and tyranny. We say, “Thank you,” to all from every conflict that have acted on behalf of our freedom.

I remember a church member in my first parish who was in the Battle of the Bulge during WWII as a tank gunner. His name was Elbert MacDougald. He carried with him the physical and emotional scars of being caught in that tank as it took round after round of small arms fire while it was stranded. He said he could still hear the plinking sounds hour after hour until relief arrived. The tank’s tracks had been immobilized. Its turret and cannon could only fire in one direction. I remember the horror on his face as he recounted his story. In one attempt to fire at the attackers, the tank’s cannon was loaded, but in the process of loading the shell, Elbert’s hand was caught between the seal and the rifled tube holding the round. The only way to be set free was for him to fire the gun. When he did it, half of his hand was obliterated in the recoil.

With every news from Iraq or Afghanistan of brave soldiers losing limbs, I think about Elbert and others like him that have given so much, regardless of the politics of war and our theology against it, to make us free. Memorial Day is a small token of our appreciation. We’ve turned it into a day at the lake or a barbecue. To so many it’s the only thanks they get.

Being a disciple of Christ demands no less a sacrifice. Christian martyr’s dying bravely for the faith turned the Roman Empire upside down. Discipleship isn’t for the fainthearted. It takes bravery, devotion, and decisive action to do God’s will in a hostile environment. Cheap talk of being loyal to Christ isn’t adequate. Henri Nouwen, in his book, With Open Hand, prayed, “God, give me the courage to be revolutionary as your Son Jesus Christ was. Give me the courage to loosen myself from this world. Teach me to stand up free and to shun no criticism. God, it is for your kingdom. Make me free, make me poor in this world; then I will be rich in the real world, which this life is all about. God, thank you for the vision of the future, but make it fact and not just theory.”

What a prayer! Christianity needs more practitioners, not theorists. In the United Methodist Book of Discipline there is a list of what are called “chargeable offenses” for clergypersons and laypersons. The list includes such things as immorality and crime as grounds for dismissal or trial. In the 1996 AME Zion Book of Discipline, there is a glaring typographical error. In the section on “Chargeable Offenses,” the first numbered chargeable offense of clergy is this: “Immortal Conduct.” Can you think of a better “chargeable offense?” When is the last time someone could have charged you with this offense?

On this Memorial Day, let’s give thanks for the immortal conduct of people throughout the centuries that have preserved our faith and our freedom.

United Methodism's Main Thing

What comes to mind when you think of the United Methodist Church? "Making Disciples of Jesus Christ..." comes quickly to mind, but that hasn't necessarily been our experience in the US, at least in terms of numbers. It is however where our hearts are and where we’re trying to faithfully live out Christ’s call not just in our day to day ministries but also as a general church. I just got back from the joint meeting of the Connectional Table and GCFA (General Council on Finance & Administration) to deal with projected budgets and legislation to reorder the life of the UMC. I am thoroughly excited that the IOT (Interim Operations Team) wants to focus the whole denomination on making vital local churches. I am also glad that we approved a realistic budget that is 6+ percent lower than the previous quadrennium’s budget. This is the first time in our history that we have lowered the budget, which is a really big deal! We also heard and approved in a straw vote of sorts that we would prefer an apportionment system that is based on a flat percentage of local church income, which would be more clear and effective as we seek to fund ministries. These were positive and important steps in our going forward as a denomination.

Connectional Ministries Board

The overall IOT report received mixed reviews. The much talked about move to fewer general church agencies was included in the report, but the solution wasn't met with much enthusiasm. Basically the proposed solution is to create a 13 member uber-board, right now called a Connectional Ministries Board (CMB), to run the whole church; have authority between General Conferences to reallocate funds and programmatic directions; and have members that represent expertise over constituencies. Wow, that’s a lot of power and responsibility for 13 people (12 member CMB plus set-aside bishop)! I'm not very optimistic that a low-trust environment like GC will trust 13 people to run the church and direct its path financially and programmatically. Replacing the 600+ directors we have now would save millions, but we would lose diversity and proportional representation. It’s hard to imagine 13 people encompassing all the wide spectrum of United Methodism. What do we value: efficiency or inclusivity? It would be great to have it both ways.

Set-Aside Bishop to Lead Connectional Ministries Board

The next potential pitfall is that the Council of Bishops (COB) decided last week to ask for a set-aside bishop to run the CMB. I reiterate that this didn't come from the IOT, but from the bishops - something that we were told they have wanted for decades. Now, I'm sure that it makes great business sense to have a bishop to be our UMC CEO, but this is fraught with question marks with regard to our polity. Historically, we've attempted to balance our two constitutive principles of episcopacy and conference. To have a set-aside bishop takes away the balance. Having a set-aside bishop can appear to empower episcopacy over conference. Sure, a set-aside bishop could hold the COB accountable in terms of outcome-based effective disciple-making in Annual Conferences, but at what cost? As potentially limiting as a 13 person team may be in the great cacophony of voices at our table, having one person directing and running such a team creates a power dynamic that puts an awful lot of authority into the hands of one person.

Let me give you a couple of ways this creates potential problems, problems that we've seen before in our history. This over-powering of bishops over conference isn't new. In 1800 the James O'Kelly schism that formed the Republican Methodist Church was caused by the tension between the power of bishops and conference. O'Kelly had a problem with Asbury's autocratic leadership, something many take issue with today. O'Kelly wanted clergy to have the right of appeal to the Annual Conference if they didn't like their appointment. He thought bishops that were too powerful were against the republican ideals of US democracy. The same thing was behind the schism of the Methodist Protestant Church in the 1820's and later in the 19th century with the Free Methodists. The 1842 GC voted to suspend Bishop James Andrew because he was a slave-holder. Some saw this as the General Conference overstepping its authority and have even argued that the 1844 schism between Methodists in the South and North wasn't entirely over slavery though that, of course, was the horrible primary issue. Even with all of this history, the primary question we should ask is whether we as a UMC want to go back to the Asburian era of autocratic leadership or an Anglican principle of monarchical (House of Lords) bishops?

Another huge issue caused by having a set-aside bishop 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). It is critical that GC’s equal balance of laity and clergy, representative of the whole of our denomination, are the voices that make decisions and set the course of our church. Not only is this inclusivity of thought and conferencing important, but in practical terms, presently we cannot be sued as a denomination because we legally do not exist! Our churches, agencies, Annual Conference's, etc. are separately incorporated entities in numerous places. This switch to a centralized polity with a central office and an executive bishop, though seemingly pragmatic, is potentially dangerous. This is a subtle change that can and will have serious intended or unintended consequences whether in lawsuits or perception. To create some sort of episcopal officer who can put a face on United Methodism needs to be pondered more closely. We – the people of the United Methodist Church are the face of the denomination. Our local churches in ministry around the world are the face of the denomination. We, as clergy and as lay people, seeking to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world, are the face of the denomination. I think one of the best ways to foster more vital local churches is to empower the bishops in their residential duties within annual conferences. Connectionalism works best when it is horizontal rather than vertical.

Advisory Councils

There were other interesting aspects to what we heard about the IOT. One is the creation of Advisory Councils in jurisdictions and central conferences to help make the connection between the 13-member CMB and local churches. I hope that this can do what's expected because right now that's a key problem in our church. Local churches and annual conferences don't experience enough connection to what the general church is doing. Advisory Councils representing local churches, annual conferences, and jurisdictions/central conferences are also important because they provide a "feeder system" for church leadership.

Fee-for-Service

Another proposal from the IOT really has me discerning the pros and cons. It proposes to add a "fee-for-service" component to the work of the present general agencies. By the way, the IOT has most general agencies reconfigured into "divisions" of the church. "Fee-for-service" sounds on one hand like a way to make general agencies produce products that local churches actually want to use. This could have potential in terms of practical ministry tools, but it also strikes me as a slam on the churches that can't afford to pay the fees for the resources. This needs a lot more fleshing out for me to buy into it. I do like the agency-accountability piece of this that makes agencies more responsive to local churches and become self-supporting at the same time, but how it would play out is still a question mark for me.

Read and Pray

There's more to think about and digest in reading the IOT report, and I encourage you to read all that you can. It's complex and so important. We CANNOT keep doing what we've been doing and expect different results, and we cannot wait until 2016 or later to get it right. The time is now. We need to pray for the IOT as much as we possibly can and trust that God will continue to provide us the grace, clarity and wisdom that we need as we discern and act. The CT and GCFA will meet again in July to hear a final report. I hope that it's one that will help the UMC truly make disciples for Jesus. That is the main thing and our grace-filled task!

Happy Mother's Day!

I married my mother! Whoa! Before you start thinking Oedipus, let me explain. Cindy is the only person that I know that is like a mirror image of my mother. There’s plenty of evidence that men and women alike seek a spouse that resembles the parent of the opposite sex. So, I’m not weird. I’m just giving my mother an extra compliment by marrying someone like her.

Cindy is such a super mom. She has tirelessly given of herself to all four of her children: Narcie, Josh, Caleb, and me. Well, I do like a certain degree of mothering. What guy doesn’t? Cindy does it well for the whole family. The truth of the matter goes beyond us four when I think of our wonderful son-in-law and daughter-in-law: Mike and Karen. I also witnessed Cindy’s untiring care, like a mother, to her own mother during her last 8 months of life.

This Mother’s Day is a milestone. So much has happened over the last two and a half years since the fateful summer of 2008 when I was a nominee for bishop. The whole process and coming in second was a mixed bag of emotions. However, as I ponder what has happened in this short period of time, I’d say it’s been good to have stayed in South Carolina, and we’ve gotten so much cared for in anticipation of whatever happens next year. We’ve had two births, Evy and Kaela. We’ve had two graduations, Caleb and Karen. We’ve had two funerals, her beloved Mom and my brother. Cindy’s had 3 surgeries and is finally fine. Narcie’s brain tumor is a prolonged anxiety that calls us to constant prayer. I’ve had a trip to the Philippines and Mozambique… and well what haven’t I had? The answer is that I haven’t had many awful things because I’ve been so blessed, and one of the most significant blessings for not just 2 and one half years, but through 35 years of marriage has been Cindy. Our 35th anniversary in late December and our trip to New York was a great salve on much of our wounds of the last 2+ years. Cindy’s support has been a bulwark in a crazy world.

My mother did the same thing for my whirlwind family. My mother was steady and full of unconditional love. She was so tenderhearted. Mother taught me about helping the poor and showing grace to the weak. She was a real lady with appropriate modesty and humility. She had an eye for beauty and fine things. She could decorate a hat when hats were in, and always had a new Christmas theme for the stairway banister. She loved history and made sure that I went to art classes even when I resisted. She also had a green thumb that could grow anything!

She was fun, too. She went camping with the guys and took us to Augusta for a variety of treats. Mother was the most knowledgeable person in town about the perfect route for Halloween candy. She knew just which houses to visit. The car was always full of greedy little gremlins. Every year I had a waiting list of people who wanted to go with us. She humored our every request, even when it wasn’t on her schedule. As a matter of fact, I think we were her schedule.

Mother did have a bit of a temper although she never spanked me. She was too loving for one to deliberately disobey. One time I did get sassy and got a smack across my head. As soon as I landed on the ground beside the sliding board, she was cradling me and apologizing. Believe me, once was enough. I didn’t get sassy again.

She had an opinion and words were sometimes pointed for those who had violated the parameters of southern gentility. My father was the usual recipient of those remarks. Cindy and I sometimes act out these vignettes in their honor, calling each other “Ralph” and “Sadie” tongue in cheek. Mother was spiritual and spicy, a lady and a tom-boy, and a lover of arts and crafts while being just as handy with a hoe, lawnmower, or garden tiller. We loved her, and love her still.

She fought illness with such grace and without complaint. She endured pain and despair with quiet hope. Mother kept loving even when her idyllic world began to show its age. She never lost her enormous sense of humor. I can relish her insatiable laugh in my mind’s ear right now. She lived a motto that we could all bear to emulate: “Ever she sought the best, ever she found it.” That was my mother, and that’s my wife. I am grateful.

Bin Laden & Schadenfruede

I have found myself very uncomfortable with the celebration of Bin Laden's death. I'm all for justice and I appreciate the military who carried out their orders. I am grateful for all those in uniform, whether police, firefighters, or military that provide us with protection. Just last night I heard on the news about 2 guys who evidently assaulted an elderly woman. Who can't help but demand justice? Romans 13:3-4 suggests that it is government's responsibility to render justice to wrongdoers. Amen.

So why am I bothered by the celebrations over Bib Laden's death? They remind me of the scenes from the Islamic world when there were throngs of people cheering when the World Trade Center towers came crashing down. I didn't like that so I'm sure the feeling is mutual. When vigilantism takes over for the Romans 13-approved corporate response to wrong then I'm/we're in trouble. Romans 12:17-21 deals with my personal desire to get back at those who have wronged me. It says I shouldn't repay evil for evil or get too happy when they get their due.

The Germans have a word for this kind of creepy glee: "schadenfreude." Schadenfreude means enjoying the misfortune of others. Personal desires for revenge must give way to appropriate corporate responses to wrong. Capturing Bin Laden and bringing him to trial becomes the preferred solution in this scenario. Yes, it would cost a fortune. Yes, it would be worth it. To polarize the West from the Islamic world by celebrating Bin Laden's death heightens the tensions and fails to win people's hearts. If hearts can be won, and as Christians we believe they can, then I need to confess and be delivered of schadenfreude. Personal pain doesn't justify personal revenge. Jesus loved his enemies and even in Matthew 26:50, when he was being betrayed by Judas in the Garden, he said, "Friend, Do what you came for." Now that's the opposite of hate. May the power of Jesus help us to call our enemies "Friend."

Easter Let Loose

Easter has come once again! The creation has been bursting forth with evidence of the resurrection for weeks now: Green the grass, ripe the bud, pink the flower, blue the sky, beautiful the butterfly, risen the Lord! Easter has come, but it is not gone!

In the drama, The Trial of Jesus, John Masefield has the centurion Longinus report to Pilate after the crucifixion of Jesus. Longinus had been the officer in charge of the execution, and after his official report, Procula, Pilate’s wife calls the centurion to come and tell her how the prisoner had died. This was important to her because she had dreamed about Jesus the night before his death and tried to warn Pilate to let him go.

After the centurion gives her the account of Jesus’ death, she asks, “Do you think he is dead?” Longinus answers, “No, lady, I don’t.” “Then where is he?” asks Procula. Longinus replies, “Let loose in the world, lady, where neither Roman nor Jew can stop his truth.”

Indeed, Jesus is let loose in the world. His truth continues to change hearts and lives. It is such a profound truth that we cannot let it be forgotten or misinterpreted. It is the One Truth that can set us free.

One Sunday late in Lent, a Sunday School teacher decided to ask her class what they knew about Easter. The first little fellow suggested, “Easter is when all the family comes to the house and we eat a big turkey and watch football.” The teacher suggested that perhaps he was thinking about Thanksgiving, not Easter. Next, a pretty little girl said, “Easter is when you come down stairs in the morning and you see all the beautiful presents under the tree.”

At this point, the teacher was quite disappointed. After explaining that the girl was probably thinking about Christmas, she called on a boy with his hand tentatively raised in the air. Her spirits perked up as the boy said, “Easter is the time when Jesus was crucified and buried.” She felt she had gotten through to at least one child, until he added, “And then He comes out of the grave, and if He sees His shadow we have six more weeks of winter.”

What do you believe about Easter’s truth? Is it accurate? In what way is Jesus alive in your world, your life? Ponder anew the mighty truth of Easter. Let its truth loose in every corner of your thoughts. Jesus is alive!

Passion Week and the Emergency Room

Ten Plagues? Lately it feels like it. If I counted back to Cindy's mother's death 18 months ago it seems like we've been through plenty. If frogs start falling from the sky I know we're in trouble. Cindy's mother died suddenly in August 2009 but we're still settling up her estate and personal belongings. Narcie found out less than a year ago that she has a brain tumor. Cindy has had three surgeries since January, including one more last week. What I thought would be enough money in my Medical Reimbursement Account to last a year hasn't lasted 3 months. My brother died suddenly on his birthday last August. In the last 3 weeks 2 grandchildren and 2 children have had strep throat. Now I have pneumonia, and I'm sure that I'm leaving something out.

Sure, there's been plenty of good stuff, too. Cindy and I had our 35th wedding anniversary last December. Josh and Karen had their first child last week: Kaela Lynn McClendon. Being a District Superintendent is still a pleasure. Working with friends to help the UMC be a stronger church globally and locally has been a blessing, too. Teaching UM History at Lutheran Seminary has been a joy. Good with bad, bad with good - C'est la vie, right? Life is this tension between good news and bad. I guess I'm a little gun-shy right now, but what I've been lately calling "a prolonged anxiety" is real. The scary thing is that I've been so blessed. There are some people who go through this kind of stuff their entire lives, so why should I be different?

So why should I think that I'm too special to get caught in life's cross-hairs? Jesus' Holy Week was utterly awful and he was/is Special with a capital "S." How easy it is for us Christians to think that we should be exempt from life's junk. How easy it is to think that people get what they deserve. Jesus' suffering during Holy Week clears up that falsehood because thinking people get what they deserve is a lie! Premillenialists may hope for a "Beam-Me-Up, Scottie!" rapture, but the early church's view of the rapture with one woman left at a handmill and the other taken sounds more like Roman soldiers capturing one and leaving one behind to me. It's not about an easy escape route! Look at early church history's facts. On average, the early church had 5,000 martyrs a day for 300 straight years. Doesn't sound like an easy life, not even close, and certainly doesn't jive with my utopian "God will protect me and reward me" selfcenteredness.

Truth be told, none us get what we truly deserve. We deserve every bad thing imaginable. Go to your local Emergency Rooms and you'll find the proof. Being in an ER is not a great experience unless you really have a penchant for studying people or might be a masochist. Cindy and I were there for 9 hours before it was decided that she needed to be admitted. Without sounding too much like a doubter concerning how much of the imago dei is left in people, I have to say that there were times in Cindy's ordeal that I pondered whether if I were somehow able to die for the sins of the whole world, would I - in the context of who and what I saw in the ER? Frankly, Cindy was the only person there who would have been worth it from my vantage point. I was tired, frustrated, bothered by the drama taking place around me, and wasn't in any mood for the sheer raunchiness and apparent lack of any manners in the people around us in the waiting room. There wasn't enough security for the menagerie including me. It was a human zoo and I was one of the animals.

And Passion Week kept smacking my brain. Sitting in the ER with Cindy writhing in pain put some perspective on the incarnation and upcoming Passion Week for me. Theoretically I knew that Jesus died for every one of the people gathered in the ER and would have done it even if it had been just one, and not just Cindy, but how much Jesus loves us has never hit me this profoundly before. Humanity is fickle, sinful, and yet God loves us! He became incarnate in Jesus and took our sins upon himself. Thinking about all this I have to admit that I'm still more than a little jaded by the whole ordeal, but I think it got my attention in good ways. If God loves us so much in spite of who we are and how we act, then I better start seeing our human commonality more than spending my time dividing the sheep from the goats.We're all made in God's image, however marred we all are.

Before I start judging the idiocy of the Palm Sunday crowd and preach about how they turned on Jesus by Good Friday, I can look in the mirror and see the same fickleness. By God's grace and love I can look in the same mirror and see the faces of every person from that ER. Everyone is included in Jesus' passion. Lord, help me to open my eyes and see that your Passion is for all of us, not one soul left out.

Remember, You Must Die!

There is a novel by Muriel Spark titled Memento Mori. It tells about a group of friends, all over sixty-five, who one by one receive anonymous phone calls telling them, “Remember, you must die!” The novel, partly serious, partly humorous, tells how different individuals come to terms with the telephone message. Though reactions vary, a common reaction is fright.

Still, the anonymous caller often causes characters to think back over their lives and assess how they have lived – about the good they have done as well as the not-so-good. In a way, the message they receive about death forces them to come to terms with the meaning of the life they have lived. Somehow death leads them back into life.

Lenten season is a reminder that we too must die, especially to sin. By dying to sin, we are led back into a fuller life of grace and good works. We put our faith into action through loving deeds. As someone has said, “We are judged by our actions, not our intentions. We may have a heart of gold – but so does a hard-boiled egg.” I proved that actions are more significant than intentions with last week’s bulletin cover. As an unthinking hard-boiled egg, my lack of sensitivity in using humor about gender roles proved that faith is either undergirded or weakened by our actions. I am sorry.

Jesus said, “By this shall all people know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another.” Educator Jeffrey Holland tells about a pre-school teacher who faced what she thought was “burn-out.” She had begun to despair about some of the children in her class. She wasn’t sure if there was something wrong with her or the current crop of pre-schoolers. Then her mother died.

She took a week off from her teaching duties to handle the funeral and have some time alone to deal with her feelings. She loved her mother very much. Her frustrations at the pre-school seemed like an even heavier burden at this point in her life. When she went back to her classroom she felt more like a soldier going into battle than a teacher.

The first day back was what she expected. Her hurt and despair produced resentment that she kept carefully hidden. She went through the paces like a professional, smiling at the right times, and was fairly patient considering the environment and her raw feelings. But then it happened. She had come around the corner to discover Rachel picking the last chrysanthemum from the pot in the hall. Rachel was the most distant and disruptive child in the class. In a stern, trembling voice the teacher demanded, “Rachel, what are you doing?” Rachel held out the flowers she had already picked. “Mrs. Terrell,” she said, “You used to be like a mother. Would these flowers help you to be like a mother again? I know you are fussed in your mind. Wouldn’t you like some flowers?”

Mrs. Terrell thought, fussed in my mind? You mean it shows? To a five-year-old? She spoke: “Rachel, what is a mother like?” “A mother is like you used to be,” Rachel said. “A mother likes being with children.” “But Rachel,” said Mrs. Terrell, “I like being with children. I’ve just… well, I’ve been… well, Rachel, my mother… passed away, and…” Rachel meekly interrupted, “You mean she died?” “Yes, Rachel,” said her teacher sadly, “She died.”

Rachel looked up at her teacher and asked, “Did she live until she died?” Mrs. Terrell thought, what kind of question is that? “Well, honey, of course,” she said, “All people live until they die; they…” Rachel interrupted her again. “Oh. No they don’t, Mrs. Terrell. Some people seem to die while they are still walking around. They stop being what they used to be. Mrs. Terrell, don’t die just because your mother did. Be alive while you are alive.”

Out of the mouths of babes. How do we witness to the world that Christ is alive? We do it by loving one another – dying to self and living for others. If I can do this then Lent will have been a worthwhile spiritual journey and Passion Week all the more meaningful!