Christ in the Cobwebs

     This past week was the Annual Conference for the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church at Lake Junaluska in the mountains of North Carolina.  The weather was great, and the setting, as always was peaceful and picturesque.  The worship and Bible studies were moving, inspiring and provocative.  It was a rich time of, what John Wesley would describe as, Christian Conferencing.

      The history of gathering for Annual Conference can be traced back to 1744, when Wesley gathered Methodist Clergy together to focus primarily on matters of theological doctrine.  And he understood that such gatherings were a vehicle through which God was pleased to pour out God's Spirit, in other words - a Means of Grace.

     I've been attending Annual Conference by the Lake in the mountains of Western North Carolina for somewhere the neighborhood of 25-30 years.  For the past 22 years as a clergy member of Conference, and several years prior as a member of the laity.

     And for me, both spiritually and personally, this was one of the best.

     I found the worship to be uplifting, and the preaching relevant, challenging and hopeful.  Every time I hear really good preaching, I look forward to getting another crack at the pulpit myself.  Hearing good preaching inspires me to be a better preacher. Receiving Good News stirs my own desire to deliver Good News.

     Dr. Elaine Heath, Professor of Evangelism at Perkins School of Theology in Dallas led three Bible Study sessions.  The Holy Spirit has used Dr. Heath to birth new expressions of Christianity, new covenant communities that are providing new models of being church.   She has been instrumental in the founding of new missional communities, a new kind of monasticism where people live together in community for the purpose of sharing and offering Christ together, guided by a shared Rule of Life.

     Her words to us were challenging, provocative, timely, and most of all - hopeful.  She came to us at a time when our penchant for hand-wringing is at a fever pitch.  Declining church membership and attendance continues to be a discouraging trend, as the church tries to discern ways to be relevant and faithful in this present age.

     Dr. Heath shared a vision that reminded us that the God we serve delights in making all things new.  Reflecting on Jesus words about the folly of trying to put new wine in old wine skins (Luke 5:33-39), she invited us to consider these new days as days of "holy fermentation," as a time when the new thing(s) of God need room to grow and expand. 

     Maybe my heart was just ripe for breaking and re-shaping, maybe my heart was a just a bit more receptive to the moving of the Holy Spirit than usual, maybe I was just a tad more focused and a bit less distracted...but, for whatever reason, I found myself continually wiping away tears and jotting down valuable quotes.  I found these past days to be rich days for me spiritually.

     And I found these days to be rich for me personally.  In the midst of the work of Annual Conference, I had the opportunity to spend meaningful time with my family and valuable time with a number of friends, both lay and clergy.  These were very rich days for me on many levels.

     When we came to the close of our sending worship service on Sunday morning, I listened as our Bishop, Larry Goodpaster, admonished each of us to get to work being the outreaching, relationship-building, kingdom-embodying church, as he closed his sermon with these words - "brothers and sisters, go! Get out of here! Get busy!"

      As we sang our closing hymn, I looked up toward the ceiling.  And there, on the light fixture of section number 5 in Stuart Auditorium, was a fairly large cobweb.  Perhaps it had missed the close inspection and obvious hard cleaning of the Lake Junaluska crew before our arrival, or maybe it had sprung up since we arrived.  Whatever the case, it was one bit of imperfection that had found its way into an otherwise perfect Sunday morning, at the close of an otherwise perfect time of conferencing together.

     And I couldn't help but smile.

     It was a gentle reminder to me that the imperfections of life can be found, even in the most perfect of places, even in the midst of the most vital worship, the most loving community, the most Spirit-filled gathering.  I was reminded that cobwebs can be found, sometimes even in the most pure of human hearts.  I thought of how ministry is often messy in the local church and in the world.

     Spiritual Writer and Catholic Priest Henri Nouwen once wrote of the folly of demanding perfection from life, as if life could be lived in a sanitized laboratory, free from infection.  He reminded his readers that those who would know real joy, must be able to find it in the midst of the messiness of life.

      And those of us who would follow Jesus, really follow Jesus, must be willing to do ministry in the messy places, in the muck, mud and mire of real life.  We can't love our neighbor without having a willingness to walk among the broken shards of shattered lives.  

      So here's the word of the Lord to me today - don't be afraid to wade into the cobwebs.

      Because Christ is already there!


Grace and Peace

Pastor Randy

      

Three Cheers for Christian Conferencing

    As I type this, I'm in full-steam-ahead mode getting ready to travel to Lake Junaluska to engage in the time-honored Methodist tradition of Annual Conference.  From Wednesday through Sunday, lay and clergy members of the Western North Carolina Annual Conference will gather by the lake for a time of worship and study, to hear and receive reports, to consider and vote on petitions and resolutions, to commission and ordain, to honor the retired and to remember the dead who have died in the Lord.

    When the Conference officially convenes on Thursday morning for a service of Holy Communion, we will sing "And are we Yet Alive?", the traditional Charles Wesley hymn that opens every session of Annual Conference.  It is a hymn that celebrates God's goodness and providential hand that has kept us as a people called Methodist since last we met, and has graciously brought us back together for the gift of conferencing.

  John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement in 18th century England, believed very strongly in the concept of Christian Conferencing.  He even described it as one of the "Means of Grace", an ordinary channel for God to pour out God's grace upon God's people.

   When we gather at Annual Conference, we continue what Wesley started, remembering who God has called us to be, standing shoulder to shoulder singing the hymns of the Church, breaking bread together at the Lord's Table and in places like Granny's Kitchen, Maggie Valley Restaurant and Butts on the Creek, in conversations in rocking chairs, on porches, in front of Stuart Auditorium and by the lake, we will experience the gift of encouragement, sustenance and nurture, hearing anew the call and finding renewed strength to be sent forth in mission - all things that are inevitable and unmistakable in those gloriously mysterious moments when the Church, through the Spirit, is really and truly the Church.

     The concept of Christian Conferencing, holds at its core, the belief that the Church is indeed the Body of Christ in the world, and that to gather together in Jesus' name, is to experience his fellowship among the gathering of believers and the communion of the saints. 

     For us clergy-types, its an opportunity to to reconnect with clergy colleagues, to see who's moving and who's staying, to inquire about life and ministry since last summer.   For many of us, it's also time to get away with our families for a few days, giving us an air of relaxation and sabbath in the midst of it all.   Lord willing, there will be a stop or two for ice cream at Jelly Belly's in Maggie Valley...

     Christian Conferencing by the Lake at Junaluska, is a time to be renewed and refreshed, a time for worship and wonder, a time to remember the mystery and beauty of the calling we all share, lay and clergy, as Christian ministers, and a time for those of us who have been set apart for licensed and ordained ministry in the Church to be reminded of the purpose, gift and task of our vocation.

     And I think Brother Wesley was right.  I do think Christian Conferencing is a Means of Grace.  And as I prepare and pack for another Annual Conference, I look forward to every song, sermon and sacrament, and every handshake, hug and heart, through which God will be pleased to pour out God's grace, all over again!    


Grace and peace!

Pastor Randy

Trying to Scratch the 500 Year Itch - Part 2

     I was having a round-table discussion (actually, the table was rectangular in shape) with some members from my congregation recently.  We were talking about what it means to be a vital congregation.  We've been having a good many of those conversations over the past few months.  We've been working with a coach as part of an organized vitality effort through the Congregational Development Office of the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church.

     We've been working diligently to try and cultivate a culture of relationship-building within our congregation.  With intention, we've worked to free up some of the pastor's time, in order for the pastor to spend more time out in the community, meeting people and building relationships.

     That intentional effort found me spending about 2 and 1/2 hours at a local school Monday morning, visiting with staff in the lounge over coffee, doughnuts (you really should try the new key lime pie Krispy Kremes)  and sausage and gravy biscuits (made by a member of our Vitality Team) as they cleaned their classes before heading off to summer vacation.

    It's one way of trying to scratch this 500 year itch.

     During the round-table (actually....oh, never mind) discussion recently, the relationship-building strategy and planning session never really fully got off the ground, because we found ourselves talking about a number of challenges that school-aged children face, and the subsequent challenges parents face in trying to help their children in a way that is consistent with their commitments to follow Jesus.

    And we wondered out loud together, about the role of the Church in helping children, parents, families to navigate the real stuff of life, informed by the life, teachings, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus.   Though we had more questions than answers on that afternoon - we all agreed that if the faith we profess on Sunday is authentic and true, then it must speak to the lives we live Monday through Saturday.

    One thing was clear in our conversations - if the Church is to be vital, the Church must be relevant.

    I'm still processing our conversation, still prayerfully trying to discern the ways in which our recent conversation is vital to our vitality.  I'm still thinking about what it means for us to be the Church in these changing times and distracting days.  I'm still thinking about who Jesus was, and is, and who we must be become because of Jesus.

    It's one way of trying to scratch this 500 year itch.

    I do not know what the Church will look like after this 500 year cycle runs its course.  I don't know how the role of the clergy might be different when all the dust finally settles.

    But I do know there are many prayers to be prayed, much discernment to be sought, much work to be done, many people to be loved right now....in these days, in our moment in history.

    And I am committed to that prayer
          and that discernment
          and that work
          and that love.

    Right now, its the best way I know to try and scratch this 500 year itch.


Grace and Peace!

Pastor Randy

      
    

Trying to Scratch the 500 Year Itch - Part One

     I first became acquainted with Phyllis Tickle at the 2012 Festival Gathering of the Network of Biblical Storytellers in Black Mountain NC.  Lively, funny, insightful, authoritative, with the ability to be bitingly irreverent from time to time, she offered her audience bountiful plate-fulls of food for thought.

     The thing that has continued to somewhat haunt my thinking was her detailing of this 500 year phenomenon that has occurred in human history for the past 2,000 years or so (you can even go back another millennium for good measure if you like).  

    Here's the way she puts it in her book, "Emergence Christianity - What it is, Where its going, and Why it Matters",

   "Every five hundred years, give or take a decade or two, Western culture, along with those parts of the world that have been colonized or colonialized by it, goes through a time of enormous upheaval, a time in which essentially every part of it is reconfigured."

    According to Tickle, the historical 500 year phenomenon has greatly influenced religious experience and practice.  The pattern looks like this:

   1-Now - tabbed as "The Great Emergence"
   2-500 years ago - the Protestant Reformation
   3-1,000 years ago - the Great Schism (the split of East and West,
        the separation of the Orthodox from the Catholic Church)
   4-1,500 years ago - Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
   5-2,000 years ago - The Great Transformation - a period of such change in the
       Western world that we mark time (BC - AD, or the newer designations of BCE - CE).
       This of course is the moment of history that gave us the Word made flesh,
       the birth and growth of Christianity.
     
      Reminding us that this is not just a cultural phenomenon that impacts Christianity, Tickle points out that we can go back another 500 years and find the Babylonian Exile of Judah, and still another 500 years and run right into the Davidic Kingdom in Israel.

      I find this all pretty fascinating, and frightening stuff.  If this rhythm is correct, then, as Tickle points out, we are smack dab in one of those historical seasons of great change and upheaval, culturally, socially, economically and religiously.    And one doesn't have to be a history scholar to realize that the advancement of technology is moving at break-neck speed.  Buy the latest electronic gadget or smart phone today, and it will replaced by something faster and more advanced within 6 months.

      And you don't have to be a scholar of religion to recognize that the religious landscape is changing.  The Westernized Church has been in steady decline for quite some time now.  In my beloved United Methodist Church, worship attendance has steadily fallen across the board, churches have had to cut salaries and many stand-alone (Station) churches have had to move in with one another (reverting to their days of being on a circuit and sharing a clergy-person). 

     The picture that Tickle (and others) paint is that the days of the Institutional Church, as we have known it, may very well be numbered.  We don't know what the Church will look like after this 500 year cycle runs its course, but all the signs are pointing to the possibility that it won't look the way many, or most, of us have grown comfortable with it looking.

     And maybe, you know, that's not really a bad thing.

     Comfortable Christianity has never been the way we would describe periods of growth for "The Way", the followers of Jesus.  In fact, it could be argued that Christianity has never fully recovered from becoming the State Religion of Rome under the Emperor Constantine in the fourth century (the beginning of Christendom - Christianity as a state-sponsored politically powerful religious entity).

     As a member of the clergy, coming to the close of my 22nd year as a United Methodist Pastor, with a little over a decade away until retirement, deeply entrenched in the Institutional Church, I find I am spending a great deal of time trying to scratch this 500 year itch. I'm trying to discern what it means for my work as pastor, what it means for my vocational life and what it means for my discipleship.  I'm trying to make sense of it all, and trying to figure out what to do about it.

     I find that I'm spending a good bit of time trying to read the relevant voices who are trying to speak to these changing times for the Church.  And though so much of what we have seen over the past several years may tempt us to give into a bit of hand-wringing, many of the emergent voices seem intent on offering good news in the midst of the uncertainty of these changing times.

    They seem to be saying that the end of Christendom is not really a bad thing, that being a comfortable, fat, lazy and out of shape Church is never what God intended in the first place.

     What I do know to be the case is this - I desperately desire to be a faithful pastor in this season.  And I do believe that these are days of great challenge and profound opportunity.  I do, truly, believe that this is a phenomenal time to be the Church!

     Here's my invite - pray with me, and join me as I try to scratch this 500 year itch.

    stay tuned....

Grace and Peace!

Pastor Randy


      
             
                      

In Search of the 80% Life

     "Margin is the amount allowed beyond that which is needed.  It is something held in reserve for contingencies or unanticipated situations.  Margin is the gap between rest and exhaustion, the space between breathing freely and suffocating.  It is the leeway we once had between ourselves and our limits....we don't know when we have overextended until we feel the pain.  As a result, many people commit to a 120-percent life and wonder why the burden feels so heavy.  It is rare to see a life pre-scheduled to only 80 percent, leaving a margin for responding to the unexpected that God sends our way."

Richard A. Swenson, M.D.
"Margin - Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives"

   If you're like me, Dr. Swenson's message about margins makes sense.  If you're like me, you know something about overextending yourself, you know something about seasons of 120% living, when you've overextended yourself in ways that have made your life almost unmanageable.

   And if you know something about living at 120%, you know the pitfalls.  Lack of margin in our financial lives creates a crisis when those unplanned expenses occur.  Lack of emotional margin can leave us frazzled and harried, a prisoner to our own fractured emotions that are without anchor.  When we don't have sufficient physical rest, we can find ourselves exhausted and inefficient, irritable and unable to perform at our best.

   Sometimes I feel like the proverbial hamster on a wheel, running endlessly and getting nowhere.  I know what it feels like to get stuck in the rut of an unhealthy 120% life.

   And I'll just bet you do too!

   So, I'm on a quest for the 80% life.  I'm in search of living a simpler, less cluttered life, an orderly, disciplined life that pushes back from the table while there's still food remaining on the plate.  I've set my sights on establishing some wiggle-room. 

   I know this won't happen overnight.  Having spent way too much of my adult life living at the edge of financial, emotional and physical crisis due to lack of margin brought about by poor planning, the inability to say "no", breached or non-existent boundaries, the inability to resist the lure of instant-gratification, and an entire host of other miss-steps and blunders that have way too often kept me weary on the hamster wheel going nowhere, I realize that old habits die hard.

   But one thing's certain, Dr. Swenson is right.  Over-eating, over-spending, over-scheduling and over-working diminishes margin.  When we use it all up, and then some, we don't have the necessary reserves to handle life's little unscheduled, unplanned and un-budgeted surprises. 

   Ever try to quench your thirst with a cup that's been drained dry?  

   So join me in this noble quest for the 80% life, a life with some reserve, a life that is not teetering on the edge, a life with some wiggle-room, a life with healthy boundaries, a life not driven by appetite but anchored in wisdom....

   a satisfied life...

   a life with enough...

   a life of margin.


Grace and Peace!

Pastor Randy

   

  
  

  

    

  


  

   

   
 
  

What If God's Grace is Bigger Than I Thought - Part 2

    This past Sunday, May 19th, like many preachers, I used Acts 2:1-21 as my sermon text for Pentecost Sunday.  And working through the preparation for, and preaching of, the sermon I was reminded once again of my limited understanding in the face of the mystery of the Holy Spirit.

    I reference that in light of this follow up reflection on God's Grace.   Having just recently finished Brennan Manning's Ragamuffin Memoir, "All is Grace", I once again find myself potentially, extremely limited in my understanding of the Grace of God.

    Read Brennan Manning, and perhaps like me, you will be compelled to consider whether the boundaries of your understanding need to be expanded.  You may wonder, as J.B. Phillips suggested, if perhaps "Your God is Too Small."

   So, thanks to Brennan Manning, and thanks to the humbling nature that Pentecost always brings to my theology, here are my "what ifs" for the week....

  What if....

   What if God's Grace is bigger than I have ever imagined?

   What if God's Grace covers Muslims and Hindus, as well as Christians and Jews?

   What if God's Grace extends to the unrepentant thief on the cross, as surely as it did to the one to whom Jesus said, "Today, you will be with me in paradise?"

   What if God's Grace is sufficient for terrorists and pedophiles, bin Laden and Hitler?
 
   You see my dilemma.   I'm not arguing for universal salvation here, though I do think you can find some biblical backing for the idea.  I'm firmly steeped in my own theological tradition that fully embraces the understanding that salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ.  It is the only gospel to which I've been intrusted, the only message that I have to offer.   So, no need to share Scripture references with me that speak to Jesus as the only way to salvation.  I know them well, and they are fundamental to my faith.

   Yet, whenever a grieving family member has asked me my opinion concerning the eternal welfare of a recently deceased non-Christian relative, I find that the only answer that seems remotely satisfying or faithful is one that speaks to the mystery of God's Grace.

   As a Christian Pastor, I seek to offer Christ through faithful preaching and teaching and by way of an authentic life of discipleship.   And, would that all may come to the joy of experiencing saving faith through Christ in this lifetime.  Would that all might know the freedom of being released from the shackles of sin, the horse-collar of regret, and the boulder-like weight of shame while walking among the living.  All of that, I believe, is available through the One who came to save the world and to offer abundant life.

   But, if one's eyes are closed in death without coming to faith in Christ.  I have but one word of solace and hope to offer - Grace.


    And so every now and then, I'm challenged to consider God's Grace in a new way.  Every now and then, someone like Brennan Manning comes along, someone who is broken and bedraggled, beaten to a pulp by life, a combination of sinner and saint who has been given such a message of profound hope, and who owns such a child-like faith in the unshakable, unconditional love of God, that I cannot help but consider Grace in a new light.

    What if....

    What if, just maybe - I don't have all the answers to God's Grace?

    What if, at the end of the day, God's Grace will redeem everything and everyone?

    What if, in Jesus Christ, God truly is reconciling ALL things to himself, even the worst of scoundrels and most unrepentant of sinners?

    What if, God really didn't send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that whole world, all of Creation, would eventually be saved through him?

    What if, what Jesus did on the cross, really truly covered it ALL, everything, for everybody, for all time, whether they realize it or not, whether they acknowledge it or not, whether they believe it or not?

     You see my dilemma.

     On one hand, I do not align myself with a theology of universal salvation, and yet sometimes I just feel challenged to consider Grace in a broader, more radical, unconditional, inclusive, and may I say - absurd and somewhat disturbing way than my current theology allows.

     You see, if the truth be told, the idea of God's Grace redeeming some folks is most unappealing to me.  I find it hard to stomach the thought of salvation coming to those who have perpetuated all kinds of evil upon the weak and the innocent, and who have died with an unrepentant smirk on their faces.   To consider God's Grace, in these instances, is not so much comforting to me as it is annoying.

    I'm the grumbling worker upset that everyone is receiving the same wages at quitting time.  I'm the Pharisee thanking God that I'm not like the sinner beside me who can't even lift up his head while he's praying.

     You see my dilemma.

    Before I bring these reflections to a close, I want to invite Brennan into the conversation - he's the one that stirred all this up for me after all!

   "My life is a witness to vulgar grace - a grace that amazes as it offends....This vulgar grace is indiscriminate compassion.  It works without asking anything of us.  It's not cheap.  It's free, and as such will always be a banana peel for the orthodox foot and a fairy tale for the grown-up sensibility.  Grace is sufficient even though we huff and puff with all our might to try to find something or someone it cannot cover.  Grace is enough.  He is enough.  Jesus is enough." ("All is Grace, A Ragamuffin Memoir")

    What if Brennan is right?


    It might just mean that God's Grace is really a whole lot bigger than I thought.


Grace and Peace!

Pastor Randy
    
   
     

      

    

"What if God's Grace is Bigger than I Thought? - Part One"

    For the past several years, I’ve served on a District Committee on Ordained Ministry.  As an extension of the Conference Board of Ordained Ministry, our task is to work with Ministry Candidates and Local Pastors to provide a setting for support, encouragement, evaluation and accountability.

     When the topic turns to theology, at some point we will want to hear some reflections on Grace.   To be entrusted with pastoral leadership in a United Methodist Congregation, it’s essential that the “theologian in residence” be able to articulate a clear working knowledge of Grace in our Wesleyan heritage.  

      So, feel free to find yourself a United Methodist Pastor and ask about Wesley’s understanding of Prevenient, Justifiying and Sanctifying Grace, and he or she should be able to talk at length without batting an eye!

      Grace is fundamental to our theological heritage.  Every aspect of our understanding of Salvation is bathed, informed and shaped by Grace.  A common phrase you may hear from good Methodist-types is “grace upon grace.”

      Grace.

       I’m thinking about grace these days.  And though I’ve been immersed in a theological tradition dripping with Grace, every now and again I feel challenged to consider my own, potentially limited, perceptions of Grace.  

       Is it possible that God’s Grace could prove to be even more sufficient, than even I (a good Methodist “theologian in residence”), might believe?   Could it be that God’s Grace might possibly extend even beyond the fairly broad boundaries I have crafted for it in my very inclusive theology?

      Hmmm….

      Stay tuned…….

Grace and Peace!

Pastor Randy