Wandering Elder

I still find myself put out by my friend's comment of "who cares?" from a few weeks ago (two posts ago).  I find that I feel the same way I did in high school when someone would make fun of a favorite television show or comic book character. Actually, I think of it more in terms of this:  in high school, I and some friends were walking into a McDonalds.  There was a television on and it was playing MTV Unplugged.  Don Henley was singing, and it was one of his mournful ballads from his album The End of the Innocence .  I happened to like the album as did my friends, but as we walked by in a rush for a cheeseburger, one of my friends said, "Doesn't it suck to be singing your heart out to a room that just doesn't care?"  He meant, of course, the audience in McDonalds.  But that stuck with me. Now I find I feel the same apprehension and sadness I felt that day.  I love the Bible and what it represents, and I have dedicated my career and life to its study

With the tragic shooting at Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal church in South Carolina, we find ourselves once again facing the looming specter of violence, hatred, racism, and the place of the church in the world. I say once again, because we have been here before.  Every one of those issues keeps rearing its head.  I don’t always understand why – there are times when we seem to have moved forward from the issues of violence, hatred, and racism.  There are times when the church seems to be making great progress in making a difference in the world.  And then there are times where all of that is called into question. Several years ago, the Batman movie “The Dark Knight” hit theaters.  It had within it perhaps one of the finest portrayals of the Joker ever to have been seen.  Heath Ledger played the part amazingly well (worth watching just for his performance, by the way).   More to the point, though, he brought the character to life and made him more than just a caricature

I have returned from our Annual Conference with a strange feeling about the future of our conference and denomination.  That may just be a normal feeling after a week of reports, debates, and a lack of proper air-conditioning.  Hard to say. I will tell you this story. During one of the morning Bible studies/teaching moments/motivational speeches, a presenter was speaking about the book of Acts.  His comment was that Acts was the second volume of Luke, "who was a disciple." I had difficulty hearing much more for some time because what I kept hearing in my head was my own voice saying, "That's not true."  Luke was not  a disciple.  We know  this because in the beginning of the Gospel of Luke the author writes the following: "Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things which have been accomplished among us, just as they were delivered to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word, it seemed