Wandering Elder

Sometimes I find that I cannot pray.  I find that what I say sounds like empty words, recited because they are expected, but not heard; planned but not moving.  Like sound in a carpeted room. I sometimes feel I can no more speak for a congregation than the next person.  Or, I find myself wondering if the next person could speak better than I.  Sometimes I think that my prayers sound routine, since I only bring the same things to God week after week, which seem to stem from the collective attitude of the congregations that the prayer requests last  week didn't get forwarded properly, or that the answers we sought didn't stick.  So we need to beg again.  Forgive this; help that; be there; give us peace. Yet if my prayers suffer from a lack of depth, it is likely because I sometimes do not wish to swim any deeper.  That has to do with the fact that in the shallows, I always know I can touch with the tips of my toes.  In the depths , tho...

I write these particular words as I sit pondering a meeting of the annual conference to which I, as a United Methodist Pastor, belong.  I sit in an auditorium, feeling a sense of anxiety and worry.  I wonder about the future of the church.  Is the United Methodist Church going to survive?  Are we going to divide into two denominations?  If so, what will become of the former UMC pastors? It is an issue that saddens me. It saddens me because even though the issue is homosexuality, we have learned to couch the conversation in terms that do not actually express that issue.  We talk about “issues of leadership” and “issues of covenant.”  These are legalistic smoke screens. I have found, though, that these kinds of phrases indicate a lessening desire for conversation.  I know I recognize it within myself.  I have trouble talking with people who are vehemently for or against something.  I dislike conflict, but I do enjoy conversatio...

I pick up with the idea I alluded to in the last post regarding Paul's statement in Romans concerning homosexuality. For many Christians, and those outside the faith, the question does arise, "What are the Christian teachings on this subject?  Where does the New Testament speak to this issue? Before we address that, we have to visit the idea of relationships – specifically marriage.  While Jesus is never presented as married, Paul articulates that he thinks people should be single, and the disciples leave their families (which is assumed to mean their wives), there is the story in the Gospel of John of Jesus’ presence at the wedding at Cana.  The United Methodist Book of Worship contains this phrase in the service of Christian marriage:  “With his presence and power Jesus graced a wedding at Cana of Galilee, and his sacrificial love gave us the example for the love of husband and wife.”  The story from John, though, focuses less on ...

There is a whole lot of talk in the last few weeks about a potential split in the United Methodist Church.  And it has to do with the issue of homosexuality.  So, I thought I might take a few minutes and talk a little about that.  To do so, I will write a three part piece. To begin with, I am saddened that there are leaders in my denomination who are seeking to split the church.  One of our hallmarks has been our attempt to be in the middle on issues in that we work to hear multiple sides of arguments.  However, it seems with regard to homosexuality, we have moved to the either/or option.  As a side note, I would add that we have never even had the same level of conversations with regard to warfare - an issue that seems more pressing and damning for the human race. I am saddened because in seeking to foster a split, church leaders are saying that there are those with whom we would no longer wish to be in communion.  That seems un-Christian to me. ...

As a student of scripture, I find that I am increasingly concerned with the fact that Christianity has so embraced the book, “The Message” created by Eugene Peterson.  In and of itself, the book “The Message” is merely a more modern paraphrase than the Living Bible.  And while Peterson has done a vastly superior job of turning the language of the New Testament into the vernacular, we read it at our own risk and we accept it as authoritative at our peril. The book has been around for around a decade, but I find that it crops up in curriculum, studies, and sermons more and more.  I find that troubling. When on reads “The Message,” one is basically reading a stylized narrative based on the texts of the New Testament.  A good first page of this work might read, “Based on the New Testament,” in much the same spirit as movies that are loosely based on a true story begin with "Based on a True Story."  Perhaps a more accurate opening page would read, “Inspired by th...

I am worried with the lack of civility that seems to be gaining momentum in so many facets of life.  We have people making racist comments about the president who are celebrated because they won't apologize.  We have 24 hour news channels that focus less and less on news and more and more on particular partisan comments that border on incendiary so as to gain or retain favor with their particular political patrons.  We have churches who, in the name of Jesus, will talk about who God hates and thank that same God for dead soldiers. There are plenty of other examples, and I am not here to write about the examples so much as I wish to offer a word of concern.  The lack of civility leads to a loss of middle ground conversations.  The lack of civility draws lines in the sand rather than working to erase them.  It also enhances the view of the "enemy" or the "villain."  Like the popular zombies of today's fiction, once they are de-humanized, then you don't...

Last week I said I would speak to the idea of those who are convinced they are right and the dangers associated with that point of view.  It is one thing to believe you are correct.  It is another to insist and force that belief on others, or state that if they do not comply, they will be excluded or perhaps worse. Fundamentalism will likely always win out.  I don’t say that because I find it a comforting idea or because I believe in the inherent truth or right-ness of fundamentalism.  And fundamentalism isn't limited to conservatives.  Either end of the spectrum has fundamentalists.  I say that because I believe fundamentalism is easy.  Perhaps, next to atheism, fundamentalism is the easiest path of belief (assuming the idea that no belief is easier than some form of belief). Think, for example, of water.  Or electricity.  The path these two will take is always the path of least resistance.  Belief systems are like dams, rock for...