Open to the Holy Spirit

 Yesterday, I went to Colorado Springs with MSC colleagues to the Flying W Ranch, to attend this working ranch’s Christmas dinner and entertainment. With old saddles hanging from the ceiling and cowboy hats as the tree toppers on every Christmas tree, it was one more time when I realized how different my life is from eight years ago. This week, a Dance FB memory from 10 years ago popped up: Friends and I were wearing “tutus” as we participated in the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band’s Dance-Along Nutcracker.

This is what happens when we allow the Holy Spirit to break into our lives: we are led to places we hadn’t thought we’d ever go, to build relationships with people we never knew before, to grow in ways we hadn’t expected. The Holy Spirit keeps stretching us and our world, breaking barriers and borders, enlarging our world in blessed ways.

This week, the lectionary focuses on Mary, the mother of Jesus. A teenager who was betrothed to the carpenter Joseph, an angel announces to her that she will bear God’s son. I try to imagine what she must have felt, how she reacted when she was told this. Scripture says she had questions: “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1: 34). Whether the angel’s response put her more at ease or not, what we know is that Mary said yes to carrying the Son of the Most High. Her life would take an unexpected turn, one she hadn’t planned, couldn’t even imagine, as she opened herself to the Holy Spirit and gave birth to a child who would change the world.

Do you leave yourself open to the Holy Spirit?

We know we are living a Spirit-led life when we find ourselves in community with people we never thought much about before, when we cross into new and unknown territories with eyes wide open, listening, learning, growing. We find ourselves relying less and less on our ego to make decisions and more on the Holy Spirit. We allow the Holy Spirit to work through us, so that we become extensions of Christ in the world. We find ourselves compelled to speak out, stand up, and stand with those who are oppressed and suffering.

This Advent season, keep yourself open to the Holy Spirit. You will find yourself (and those around you) blessed in ways you can’t even imagine.

A Candle In the Dark

 “Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.” (Isaiah 40: 1)

Saying “Happy Holidays” out of respect to the many religious traditions that exist in the United States makes some people’s blood boil: “How dare they cancel Christmas!” they exclaim. I wonder how these same individuals feel now that religious leaders in Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Galilee, and Jordan have “canceled” Christmas, stating that this year is not the time for festive celebrations when so many are suffering from the Israeli-Hamas war?

Real life has collided with our often saccharin and sanitized view of Christmas. We want to believe that this really is “the most wonderful time of the year.” That the angels’ song of “Peace on earth goodwill to all” is more than a wish. That children sleep sweetly in a “silent night”, uninterrupted by bombs or gunfire.

But there is no peace in Palestine this Christmas. In the fighting between Israel and Hamas, the number of women and children killed is shocking (the current death toll notes 1,200 Israelis and 17,177 Palestinians). Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are now homeless, trapped in the small region with little food, water, medical care, or shelter. This is a major humanitarian crisis.

There is no peace in Bethlehem this year.

Many religious organizations are encouraging those of us living around the world to join in solidarity with Palestinian Christians and forgo the usual festivities of the season. The General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church has encouraged churches to keep the second Advent candle (known as the Peace, or Bethlehem candle) to remain unlit, as a way for us to keep before us as well as in our hearts and prayers the suffering of those in the midst of war.

I admit I have struggled with this: the Advent wreath is a sign of hopeful waiting. It seems to me that at a time like this, we need to keep the light of Peace burning bright, calling us to seek peace in all actions, times, and places.

But to have the light unlit in the Advent wreath all Advent and into Christmas is a jarring reminder that there is no peace. It is a weekly reminder that millions are suffering from war and violence. Their cries echo silently around the sanctuary.

Rev. Sandy Olewine served for 10 years in the Holy Land. She shared this poem that moved me deeply:

 

As you prepare your breakfast, think of others

(do not forget the pigeon’s food).

As you conduct your wars, think of others

(do not forget those who seek peace).

As you pay your water bill, think of others

(those who are nursed by clouds).

As you return home, to your home, think of others

(do not forget the people of the camps).

As you sleep and count the stars, think of others

(those who have nowhere to sleep).

As you liberate yourself in metaphor, think of others

(those who have lost the right to speak).

As you think of others far away, think of yourself

(say: “If only I were a candle in the dark”).

— Mahmoud Darwish

 

May we each be a candle in the dark.

God is Coming, Ready or Not!

 I am so thankful that Robin puts up with me throughout Advent and Christmas. I don’t think of myself as a rigid person, but apparently, when it comes to the holidays, family members simply roll their eyes at me when I say that. I like to say that there are rituals and traditions that I like to honor. These are the things that bring meaning and joy for me, and enable me to sink into the Christmas story as fully as possible, helping me see signs of God’s coming in my life and in my world once again.

 

Because that is what good rituals do: they help reorient us and attune our senses to see beyond the usual and mundane to see where God is showing up, to lead, heal, challenge, comfort, and call.

 

That’s why I love the season of Advent. These four weeks leading up to Christmas help me prepare to receive God’s gift of Love once again. Throughout the year, there is so much I let get in the way of my walk with God, so many distractions that keep me from listening and looking for God.

 

This year, the church calendar and the secular calendar have nearly undone clergy and lay leaders. Advent is marked by the four Sundays before Christmas. But this year, the fourth Sunday is the 24th, making it Christmas Eve! How does one simultaneously prepare AND receive? Some churches have made the decision to start Advent a week early so that people can have four Sundays to prepare and then experience the wonder and joy of Christmas Eve.

 

Yesterday I wrote a post on FB: “Advent is here! Are you ready for the journey?” To which Pastor Matt Franks replied, “No, but I have found great peace in just letting it happen vs being so stressed about what needs to be done.”

 

Thanks, Matt. I needed this reminder, and I have a hunch I’m not the only one. May we all find peace in letting the season unfold. There is no “perfect” way to do Advent, no “perfect” way to prepare for Christmas. Perhaps the best way is to simply stay alert to the signs of the sacred, showing up in our world once again.

 

Because in the end, God is coming, ready or not!

 

Let Peace Begin With Me...and You

 These have been heart-wrenching days as our TV screens have been filled with images of the conflict between Israel and Hamas. The night sky has been lit up by rocket missiles that have exploded with deadly consequences. Homes and hospitals have been destroyed. Bloodied, bruised and dead Israeli children and Palestinian children have torn our hearts into a million little pieces.

How do we make sense of this conflict? How do we make a stand for peace in a place that has been torn apart by violence for centuries? What are we to do?

As I watch the images from the Middle East, a reminder whispered to me: Jesus wept.

Jesus wept.

Jesus weeps twice in the Gospels: Once, when he learns that Lazarus, someone he loved dearly, had died (John 11:35). The second, when he stood overlooking Jerusalem and was overcome with emotion, weeping as he said “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace!” (Luke 19: 41-42).

I am struck by these two instances: in the first, he feels such kinship with another that he can only cry when he learns that Lazarus has died. The second, in spite of the jubilant crowd that welcomed him with Palm branches and shouted “Hosanna”, he can only weep as he looks over Jerusalem (whose name means “City of Peace”).

Maybe what is needed in this moment are our tears. May we open our hearts to those who are caught up in a conflict that is not of their own making. May their lives matter to us. May we cry at the loss of life, whether Israeli or Palestinian, simply because they are our siblings, connected to us by a common cord of humanity.

May we cry because peace seems so elusive. May we cry because we, too, seem not to recognize the things that make for peace.

And then, through the power of God’s grace, may we live lives of peace. In youth group we sang “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.” This is the foundational place that peace begins. If we aren’t living with hearts of peace, that give rise to acts of peace and relationships of reconciliation, how can there be peace in our lives, towns, cities, countries, and world?

May the peace that begins with us pour out and connect with other peace-seekers. May this become a strong and gentle movement that truly turns swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks, so that tears no longer fall and no one studies war any more.

Doing Unto Others...

 This past week was the 25th anniversary of the death of Matthew Shepard, who died on October 12, 1998. Six days earlier, Matthew, a young gay man and student at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, was beaten, tortured, and left to die strung up on a wooden fence. It was a horrific act that tugged on the conscience of America, helping people realize the hatred and violence LGBTQ+ people face daily. During one of my trips to Wyoming, I made a pilgrimage to the site where Matthew Shepard was left to die. It was important for me, as this region’s bishop and as a lesbian, to visit the site and pray there.

Today, I am at a gathering of several hundred United Methodists in Charlotte, NC—the Reconciling Ministries Network is hosting a Convocation. RMN helps churches be a place where all people—regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity—are welcomed into the life of the church and its ministry. There is great joy and so much love in the room. It is a place of healing and hope for so

many.

At this convocation, I am especially thinking of the two men whose actions led to Matthew's death. Did they attend a church? Did they learn of God’s love for them as well as all others? What were they taught that made it possible for them to commit unspeakable acts against Matthew?

What are we teaching our children? How are we ensuring that each person—no matter who God created them to be—will know they, too, bear the image of God and will be nurtured to grow into the fullness of their God-given self in a safe and loving environment? How will we help one another see God’s face in people who aren’t like us, so that we will be moved to offer care and compassion as well as stand together for justice and right relationships?

I have been moved by the response of those in Wyoming to Matthew’s death. The state known as the “Equality State” (because it was the first state to grant women the right to vote) and a state that had an all-black town (Empire, WY, founded in 1908) has had people across the state organizing to ensure that all Wyomingites experience a safe and just place to live.

Sara Burlingame is a remarkable Wyoming community organizer. Sara recently wrote a piece reminding the people of Wyoming of the “Golden Rule of the Snow Ditch: Do unto others in a snow ditch as you would have done unto you in a snow ditch.” When someone’s car has slid off the road, you first don’t check on who they are before you help them. Their life depends on you getting them out of the ditch. You help. And you help, knowing that one day, you will need the same help.

Throughout the Mountain Sky Conference, we know the importance of this rule during the winter months! What a great way to understand more fully Jesus words, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” (Matthew 7:12). When we treat each other the way we want to be treated, the lives we very well may be saving may be our own.

May our churches be places where every person is treated as the precious child of God they are. Where we look out for one another. Where we work to build safe communities and towns together. Where God’s Beloved Community takes shape and becomes a beacon of healing and hope, justice and joy.

Let's Dream Together!

 I love church buildings. When Robin and I travel, we always stop along the way to dash into a church. I love the smell. I love the way the light dances across the altar. I love the way the pews are worn down from generations of worshippers sitting, squirming, and (if we’re honest) sometimes even sleeping.

But there are things that concern me when I visit churches. Sometimes I wonder: is the church more of a museum these days (with very limited hours) or a mission outpost?

There was a time when the church building was the only community space in a town, so it was a vibrant gathering space. People knew it was the safe home to go to when the place you lived wasn’t safe. People came to find solace as well as challenge as they deepened their discipleship. They came to dream of ways to put their faith in action, to be a healing force for those who were hurting, a movement for justice for those who experienced oppression and injustice, a place where the redemptive love of Christ was experienced in tangible ways.

But times change. For many, the church building that served us so well in the 1920s now feels like an albatross around our necks. The roof leaks. The heater is on its last legs, and it feels like we are serving the building rather than it serving us. Each year it feels as if a greater percentage of our budgets are going to building upkeep than ministry programs.

COVID taught us that vibrant ministry can happen without a building. In fact, we in the Mountain Sky Conference are now worshipping more online than in person.

What does this mean for the future church? What will we leave the generations that will come after us? Someone was thinking of us when they broke new ground, although they couldn’t imagine the world we would currently inhabit. What is the new thing we need to create, for the sake of our children’s children? How will we shape a church that is less a museum of antiques and more a place (whatever that place might look like) where wounded souls find healing and peace through the love of God?

Let’s dream together!

God Loves You!

Yesterday as I took a walk I listened to a reflection on the app “Pray As You Go”. This is a great app to use while you are driving, heading into the office, or taking a quick break. The segment I listened to instructed me to “Imagine God looking upon you with great love: ‘You are my Beloved, says the Lord, precious in my eyes.’ How does it feel to hear those words spoken to you?  Take a moment to recognize how precious, important, and significant you are to the Lord. God delights in you.”

The day was already warmed by the sun, and as I listened to these words, I felt enveloped in God’s love, as warm and real as the sunshine against my skin. It made me stop and think about all the people in my life who have helped me know this truth of God’s love for me: family members, Sunday School teachers, friends, pastors, colleagues, strangers in the check-out line, the person sitting next to me on a flight…I give thanks for all these and so many more who, when I had forgotten my own significance and worth, helped me remember that God delights in me.

In the course of my ministry, my heart has been broken too many times when I have encountered people who never had someone tell them that God loves them with a love that will never let them go. They were never assured that they have a friend in Jesus. No one took the time to help them experience God’s love for them, that they are precious in God’s sight.

Who has helped you know you matter to God, and that you are loved by wildly generous God? Give thanks for those precious souls!

And who are you helping to know God’s love? Every encounter is an opportunity—by your actions and words—to be a vessel of God’s love. May you be a wellspring of that love!

 

On Eagle's Wings

This summer has been spent in deep prayer and discernment. It has been forty years since I began serving as a clergywoman in The United Methodist Church. This coming year will be my last before retirement.

 

I have listened for God’s voice as I have asked, “How can I serve well in this last year? What should I focus on? How can I bring my best self to all matters and relationships?” I opened myself up to the pain I carry, having broken a stained-glass ceiling. I have felt anger rise up in me about the lies that have been said about me that encouraged people to seek disaffiliation. And my heart was filled with so much joy as I thought of all the people I have been blessed to serve and be in ministry with.

 

In the sacred silence, as I listened for God’s still, small voice, I was aware I was not alone. Every morning, as I prayed on the deck, eagles would keep me company. Not one, not two, but a whole nest! I felt comforted knowing I was not alone in the space, as I sought discernment about the future.

 

Seven years ago, when I was overwhelmed by the threats, hatred and condemnation that I received after my election as bishop, Robin and I came to Nova Scotia to visit my uncle. We went for a drive and as I was driving, I began to cry silent tears. I just didn’t think I had the strength to go on as bishop. I love this ministry, I love the people of the Mountain Sky, and I love The United Methodist Church, but I just didn’t think I could take one more step. I felt empty and scared.

 

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw something coming towards us. It was an eagle! It flew right past my window and then flew ahead of me, directly at eye level, and led me as I drove for a couple of miles! And then, without me touching my phone, this song from my playlist began to play:

 

Hold me close

Let Your love surround me

Bring me near

Draw me to Your side.

And as I wait

I'll rise up like the eagle

And I will soar with You

Your Spirit leads me on

In the power of Your love.

 

(from The Power of Your Love by Geoff Bullock. You can listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jZ_ZkMYUsc)

 

It was in that moment that I knew God was with me, and with power and grace would give me what I needed to serve faithfully. When I returned home after that visit, I felt God’s strength empowering me and guiding me.

 

How right, in this last summer of active ministry, God provides me with companions to remind me of God’s presence and power. Mick Jagger sang it best: “We don’t always get what we want, but we get what we need.”

 

This summer, I received a blessing I didn’t even know I needed. I am returning to the Mountain Sky with joy and anticipation of all that is before us, knowing that in all things, we will be lifted up on the wings of the Holy Spirit.

 

Let’s do this!

The Subversive Message of the Gospel

 I have been spending much time reflecting on comments made by Russell Moore, who used to be one of the top officials of the Southern Baptist Convention. Moore says that he is alarmed by the growing number of Christians who believe the Bible and its teachings are “subversive.” In an NPR interview, Moore offers a story that highlights this view:

[The book] was the result of having multiple pastors tell me, essentially, the same story about quoting the Sermon on the Mount, parenthetically, in their preaching — "turn the other cheek" — [and] to have someone come up after to say, "Where did you get those liberal talking points?" And what was alarming to me is that in most of these scenarios, when the pastor would say, "I'm literally quoting Jesus Christ," the response would not be, "I apologize." The response would be, "Yes, but that doesn't work anymore. That's weak." And when we get to the point where the teachings of Jesus himself are seen as subversive to us, then we're in a crisis.

The more I engage scripture, the more I am struck that it is, indeed, a subversive book. Jesus continually turns the status quo upside down by making the last, first, by hanging out with “undesirables”, and by the orientation to faithful living he delineates in the Sermon on the Mount, one that is grounded in love not law. When held against the values of contemporary society, Jesus’ teachings are indeed subversive.

There are subversive acts throughout the Bible. Today’s lectionary reading from the Hebrew Bible is Exodus 1:8-2:10. Here, the Hebrew people are in Egypt, where Pharoah grows particularly paranoid by their expanding numbers. He orders all the midwives to kill any Hebrew boys who are born. The midwives, seeking to be faithful to God, let them live. When asked by Pharoah why there continues to be so many infant Hebrew boys, they stretch the truth: “Those Hebrew women are just so strong and vigorous. They give birth before we arrive!”

Pharoah takes his murderous plan further: he orders all Hebrew boys to be thrown into the Nile. One mother, however, hid her newborn son. When she knew she could no longer keep her child’s presence a secret, she doesn’t throw him in the Nile, but gently places him in a woven basket. She tells his sisters to follow the flow of the basket to keep an eye on him. Who finds the baby but Pharoah’s daughter, who scoops him up from the water. She knows that this must be a Hebrew child, yet, when the child’s sister asks if she should find a wet nurse for the baby, Pharoah’s daughter says yes. Not only does the mother nurse the baby, but Pharoah’s daughter even pays her to care for the baby. Pharoah’s daughter calls him “Moses”, meaning “I drew him out of the water.”

I am struck that these subversive stories are one of the reasons why in oppressive regimes, the Bible is often banned. There is a message of hope, liberation, and justice that crushes despair, oppression, and injustice.

What would it mean for you and your church to be subversive centers of God’s loving actions? Are you ready to engage in a Love revolution? What faithful acts of subversion and resistance is God calling you to, so that others might know of God’s love, compassion, and justice?

The Deadly Silence of Muzak Churches

 I love traveling across our area and seeing the towns and villages where our United Methodist Churches are located. As I stop to pray for the church, its laity, clergy, and ministries, I wonder what that church means to the community it sits in the middle of. Is it seen as a beacon of hope? A refuge from the storm? A place of welcome? A source where basic needs (like water and food) can be met? Does it offer a spiritual path that enriches the lives of those it touches? Does it matter at all to those around it? If it closed its doors the day after tomorrow, what would be different in the town? Would anyone even notice?

When I was growing up, we derided “Elevator Music” which was found in department stores, doctors’ offices, and, well, in elevators. Muzak was invented in 1934 by Major General George O. Squier as a way to send recorded music to businesses without the use of a radio signal. Science entered in when it was found that music could be used to bolster productivity in workers and calm people down. One of the company’s slogans was, “Muzak fills the deadly silences”. At the height of its popularity, Muzak reached tens of millions of people a day, from presidents and astronauts to someone in the produce section of a grocery store.

A professor at Queens College said of Muzak: “[it’s] a kind of amniotic fluid that surrounds us; and it never startles us, it is never too loud, it is never too silent; it’s always there.”

Sometimes, I wonder sadly if the same can be said of our churches.

Have our churches blended into the landscape so completely that people don’t even know we are here anymore? Are we “there” but not “out there” in a world that has so much brokenness and so many needs? Have we watered down Jesus’ message so much that it no longer startles us?

There are “deadly silences” in our churches and communities that the Church must speak into, bringing the light of God’s Love and the healing balm of the Holy Spirit as we minister as disciples of Jesus Christ. This is not the time for us in the church to fade into a comfortable background. Drugs and division, violence and viciousness are causing our communities to crumble.

How can you and your church move out of the background shadows and sing loudly and boldly a new song of hope, healing, and liberation, so that the entire community can dance to Love’s song?

Be Kind

This week, The United Methodist Church lost a spiritual giant—retired Bishop Sudarshana Devadhar. His death hit me hard, and when I reflected on this, I realized because of the depth of his kindness. From his welcoming embraces to the way he looked you in the eye when he asked you how you were, he was a man who was fully present, grounded in grace, and an embodiment love.

I have been thinking all week about kindness. I do think it is a quality we easily dismiss and a power we underestimate. Think about the ways others have brought hope and healing into your life. It’s not usually the grand gestures we think of, but the small ways people saw us, responded to us and our needs, offered a squeeze on the arm, prayed for us, called us out of the blue, sent a card of encouragement, caught our tears.

Scripture tells us that kindness is one of the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5). Paul encourages, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32). Jesus embodied kindness in the ways he saw those the world overlooked, ate with the outcasts, healed those who were hurting, and washed the feet of his disciples.

We live in a world that is in dire need of kind people. Too many of us are stepping over or around those in need. Too many of us allow anger, resentment, frustration, and impatience get the better of us, so we fail to do the simple things that express kindness. We forget that our small, random acts of kindness, powered by the Holy Spirit, make a difference in the lives of those around us.

Consider ways you might express kindness today. Pray the words to this hymn by Margaret Cropper:

Jesus' hands were kind hands, doing good to all,

healing pain and sickness, blessing children small,

washing tired feet and saving those who fall;

Jesus' hands were kind hands, doing good to all.

 

Take my hands, Lord Jesus, let them work for you;

make them strong and gentle, kind in all I do;

let me watch you, Jesus, till I'm gentle too,

till my hands are kind hands, quick to work for you.

 

"Be Still and Know That I Am God"

 

Before I left for renewal leave, one of my pastors gave me a book she and the congregation were reading, “Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools” by Tyler Staton. There was a section that I have been mulling over: the author told about the time Dallas Willard was asked, “What do I need to do to be spiritually healthy?” Without missing a beat he replied, “You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.”

That hit me like a ton of bricks.

Most of us live our lives tightly packed, hurrying from one thing to another with scarcely time to breathe. Stop and smell the flowers? Let me see if I can fit it in, maybe sometime next week? Of course, by then the flowers have lost their sweetness and are slowly dropping their petals.

Each morning, I am spending more time than usual in prayer. I am following the advice of the Psalmist, “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46: 10). As I engage in this practice, I am discovering that stillness is not the same thing as silence. I am hearing things I was too busy to hear before. In the stillness, with no words to distract me (including my own), my heart beats to a new rhythm as I sit in the presence of God.

How can you ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life? What might your life feel like if you refused to submit to hurriedness? How might it bring you closer to God?

May you take time in this long days of summer to “Be still, and know that I am God.”

PREPARING FOR ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2023

Much of the work of conference leadership has been laser-focused on preparing for Annual Conference, which will be held next week at First UMC in Colorado Springs. Annual Conference is a time when clergy and lay members of the Mountain Sky Conference gather to help us order our life for the coming year. We will worship together, engage in mission, share in bible study, engage in learning workshops, approve new candidates for ministry, adopt a budget, remember those saints who served God and now rest from their labors, and renew old friendships and make new ones.

I have been watching reports from Annual Conferences across the country. I have been struck by the joy and hope that has been expressed across the connection. As we move past the heartbreak of disaffiliations, there is a renewed commitment to our mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. There is a desire to deepen the United Methodist connection. There is a vision for who God is calling us to be that is contagious, captivating clergy and laity.

In these few days before we gather, I will be in deep prayer for our time together. I pray that the winds of the Spirit will carry us safely to Colorado Springs and that those who will be attending via zoom will feel the connection we share.

I pray that everyone who is a part of annual conference will find joy knowing they are a part of something lifegiving and will rediscover we can do more together than we can apart.

I pray that someone will find Jesus tapping them on the shoulder and hear him say, “Come, follow me.”

I pray that we will offer one another generous grace as we commit to listening to one another, even when there are sighs too deep for words.

I pray that we will do what United Methodists are told to do from the time they enter Sunday School: to leave a place better than we found it (whether that place is First UMC, Colorado Springs, or each session we are a part of).

The words that continue to surface in my prayers are these: Grace. Joy. Connection. May these words guide our time together.

CHANGE HAPPENS

 I was recently in a meeting where someone pushed back their chair and said exasperatedly, “I just can’t take any more change.” Looking around the room, heads nodded in agreement. The world is changing at breakneck speed and it can be exhausting and disorienting. It can also make us pine nostalgically for the past and even try to reinvent it, forgetting that it is nearly impossible to recapture what was because of all that has transpired, all the ways we and those around us have grown and changed.

 

Change happens. The Bible is full of stories of change: of individuals growing and changing (even changing their names!), of whole communities changing in response to their situation, providing us with inspiration as we face change in our own lives. God speaks through the prophet Isaiah: “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?”—a reminder that faith that is vital grows in response to a God who continues to create.

 

I have been on the road for several weeks and when I finally returned home, I was surprised to find lilacs in bloom, green grass, and LOTS of weeds. So much had changed in such a short time, a reminder to me that there is so much beauty waiting to be born and seeking to blossom. To face the crossroads of change is an inevitable task of every human being. To understand it as moving from miracle to miracle is a choice.

 

As you move through the changes of your life, may you seek the miracles of new life, of beauty, of possibilities waiting to unfold before and within you. God is doing a new thing, can you not perceive it?

IT"S HAPPENING!

This week I saw the perfect Easter sign (one that every church leader—from choir member and administrative assistant to music minster and pastor, probably has tacked up in a corner of their mind):

He is Risen

WE ARE CLOSED

Happy Easter!

 

Some of us can’t wait for Easter Monday (or even Easter afternoon!). We have done our best through choir rehearsals, Maundy Thursday’s Last Supper, Friday’s Tenebrae service, prepping the sanctuary for Easter, getting ready to welcome guests to worship, and the grand finale: Easter worship! Jesus might have come out of the tomb…but by the time worship is over, we can’t wait to crawl into our bed. We can’t wait to hang a “We are closed” sign up.

But, funny thing.

Resurrection happened!

Through no effort of our own, God breaks through with the Good News that death no longer has the final say. Whatever deaths we face, God promises new life through resurrection power. And this means that anything is possible.

I always couldn’t wait to finish the Lent-Holy Week-Easter marathon and crash. But the message of new life somehow got through to the church—it is time to rise and shine and do a new thing in the name of Jesus! New discipleship programs, new outreach ministries, new mission engagements…

And I was too depleted to respond well to the signs of resurrection happening in my church.

My prayer is that you have paced yourself well this week, so that as resurrection takes hold in your church, you will be ready to engage in the new life God is bringing forth in your very midst.

This is no time to repeat Good Friday’s phrase, “It is finished.”

In fact, God’s only just begun.

Resilient Faith

 Recently, I have been in conversation with more than one person who said, “I feel like I need a really good cry.” I know the feeling. There is so much to cry about these days: one more school shooting in our conference (this one at Denver’s East High School), the climate crisis, a fractured church, a world at war, bans on books, legislation that puts our trans siblings at risk…sometimes all I have are sighs too deep for words.

I spent this week in Montana, first at a Montana clergywomen’s retreat and then at our United Methodist-related Rocky Mountain College in Billings. When I turned into my driveway yesterday, I was surprised to see that a tulip plant had burst from the ground and was drinking up the sunlight. It wasn’t there when I left last Sunday. And this morning, it was partially covered in snow but by the afternoon, it was once again reaching up towards the sun.

God built resiliency into all creation. Paul reminds us of the strength we find in God to persevere all that befalls us:

“So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without God’s unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever.” (2 Corinthians 4: 16-18)

When all seems so wrong and so bad, lean into the grace of God. When it feels as if your heart can simply not bear one more bit of bad news, remember that Love will continue to burst forth in your life and in our world again. When your soul is weary beyond words, remember the renewal Jesus offers you:

 “Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11: 28-30)

I pray for the healing of the world. May we find strength in Jesus Christ to extend God’s healing Love in our broken world.

LOVING THROUGH DISAGREEMENT

Thank you for your comments on last week’s reflection on reformation in The United Methodist Church. The many posts and emails I received in response to the reflection revealed a love of our church and a deep hunger for it to be all it can be amid a fracturing time. Where there is brokenness, there is a need for healing—there must be a time for rest and recovery as that which is broken is reformed. With the help of the Holy Spirit, the people called United Methodist will be a church of reformation as the broken pieces are stitched together in new and beautiful ways.

Can we sit in the rest and healing part for a moment?

My hunch is that you—like me—are sick and tired of the half-truths, mistruths, and just plain lies that have been said about our beloved church. I regularly get emails from folks across the connection saying that their church is considering disaffiliation because they were told I don’t believe in the divinity of Christ and that I use Tarot cards to make decisions in my annual conference. Both are false! And I give thanks for those folks who took it upon themselves to do a little research and seek out the facts.

I do have critiques about our church. There are things I wish were different. Some decisions pain me deeply. But disagreement is a part of living in community. I have yet to belong to a community that was free from dissenting voices. What matters is how we enter into the disagreements as we embrace a mutual desire to make our shared life better.

One thing I recognized early on as a pastor was that our appointment system makes it much too easy to leave a church (or for a church to request a new pastor) when the going gets rough. What I learned was that this doesn’t bring resolution, it simply delays an honest engagement of the disagreements. When all parties stay close, leaning in together, keeping aware of their commonalities instead of their differences, it helps move through the disagreement. We learn so much together! When we truly seek to move through our differences and stay united, we are all brought through the conflict to a whole (and holy) place of mutuality and trust. And it is from that place that great things can happen as we seek to serve as disciples of Christ!

(Image by Gerd Altmann)

I believe that God works even in the discord, for “in all things God works for good.” May we stay open-hearted to those with whom we disagree, for the Body of Christ is a diverse one and we need each other in order to know God as fully as we can. May love be the guide in all we do, in every ministry we undertake, in every decision we ponder; a love that enlarges our world, our views, our understandings, because this love requires us to take into account not only ourselves and those close to us, but even those we see as “other” and “strange” yet still possess the image of God.

May love undergird our life in Christ’s church as we seek to be faithful stewards of it.

Reformation and The United Methodist Church

I recently had an interview with Yellowstone public radio. The interviewer, Kay Erickson, wanted to ask me questions about the current events in The United Methodist Church. I steeled myself for her questions but then was delightfully caught off guard by her first question:

“What can you say about the reformation happening in The United Methodist Church?”

“Reformation”. I like that.

Her question had me exploring the meaning of reformation. One source describes it as “improvement (or an intended improvement) in the existing form or condition of institutions or practices etc.; intended to make a striking change for the better in social or political or religious affairs.” Synonyms for reformation include “improvement”, “betterment”, “correction”.

Instead of “split”, “schism”, or “disaffiliation”, what if we saw this moment in the life of The United Methodist Church as a reformation moment?

If we were honest with one another, we would note that it is time for a reformation. While the Gospel message of love of God and neighbor hasn’t changed, the world around us has. Our communities are filled with “Nones” (those who have had no encounter with the Church) and “Dones” (those that have left for a variety of reasons, including spiritual trauma). In fact, the “Dones” have increased in numbers as studies show that church attendance has dropped off since COVID. How we share this life-saving, life-transforming love of God in Jesus Christ needs reforming in order to reach people outside the walls of our church.

Imagine a church where all people in your community can call home, receive a welcomed embrace, and find encouragement and strength for the challenges they face.

Imagine a church that sees new people as a gift from God, who possess skills and life experiences that can enrich our common life.

Imagine a church that is a community hub, where people come for learning, recovery, recreation, and creating change.

Imagine worship opportunities that are on days and times other than Sunday mornings, so that people can receive spiritual nourishment and a faith community when they most need it.

Imagine a church that centers those lives that the rest of the world shoves to the margins.

Imagine a church where bible study is intrinsically related to service and acts of justice in the world.

Imagine a church that is less interested in building and ministry maintenance and instead with how to best be organized to meet the needs of a hurting world?

Imagine a church whose connective tissue isn’t the building but the strength of the community.

Imagine a church that is always open to the Holy Spirit’s leading, allowing itself to change in order to remain faithful.

I am ready to engage in the work of reformation. How about you?