Original post at http://lenguadelaz.blogspot.com/2013/05/it-was-never-my-last-dayuntil-it-was.html

Aren't they beautiful?

     About a week before I left the Bonhoeffer House I went with Michael to Ikea to pick up some new plates, glasses, bowls, and silverware (which were super cheap BTW). As we were driving up there Michael turned to me and told me that he really respected the fact that I was willing to go help the house out with something long-term when I would be leaving in only a week. Honestly, I hadn't even thought twice about it. It just made sense to me. The house needed something and I was able to provide it. The same went with chores, meetings, grocery shopping, etc. I had a few meetings in my last couple of weeks with some area ministries that I had been meaning to meet with for a while.

Original post at http://lenguadelaz.blogspot.com/2013/04/do-you-hear-what-i-hear.html

I love to hear people talk about mentors and friends who assisted them on their journey into ministry. Some have shared with me about people in their lives that served as a support system. Often times these people will never even mention the word ordination, call, or discernment. The mentor waits patiently until the person finally hears and answers their call. The response is often, "Congratulations, I knew this all along but I am glad you too now know this." Others have mentors that spur them all along the way, constantly asking the question, "So when are you going to stop running from your call?"

Although I love hearing stories of people's mentors that have been there with them all along, I have difficulty pointing to one, or even two or three, people in particular that made a major impact on my call to ministry. A call to ordained ministry is a call to serve a community as a community and so my call was birthed out of not just one person in particular but a community of people.

I think to my time in Knoxville, growing up at Concord UMC. I first heard a faint calling while going through confirmation. Although I never shared my calling with anyone, my confirmation teachers were very encouraging and supportive in our Christian lives wherever we were. I then joined our youth group and Jane Currin, our youth director, was a major influence and a rock during that time. She was great at shared leadership and so empowered other leaders in the church to help with the youth group and empowered us as youth.

After graduation I went to the University of South Carolina where Tom Wall, our campus minister, constantly encouraged me to get involved in numerous different ways. The members of the Wesley, like Walter Cantwell, Joanna Marcy, Sajitha Joseph, and Susan Crook walked with me as I sough answers to questions I have never asked before. I also had many other clergy mentors such as Frank Anderson, the Lutheran campus minister, and Brad and Megan Gray. Wonderful lay members like Randy Rollings, Linda Lamb, and Michael Slapnik served to even further clarify my call by encouraging me as I interned at Greene Street United Methodist Church.

Along this journey perhaps the most important part was how supportive my parents and sister were. Although we may not always see eye to eye on every issue, they have encouraged and supported me in any way that they could.

All of this is to say that although I love stories of individuals making great impacts on people's calls, that was not the case for me. Instead, I felt my call to serve the church from the church. Everyone serves their own part in Christ's body and all of my friends and family have likewise served their part in assisting me in my call. After answering my call to ordained ministry, I now continue to surround myself with a supportive community who is assisting me in discerning what exactly my call to ordained ministry will look like. They provide a support system as well as an outlet for accountability. As I hear my call to ordained ministry I listen for God's voice. I listen for God's voice in my mentors, my pastors, my friends, my family, and everyone who has been a part of the Body of Christ with me. A call to serve God's church should be from God and God's church.


Peace,
Lazarus

Original post at http://lenguadelaz.blogspot.com/2013/03/an-open-letter-to-those-who-will-not.html

Sorry for failing miserably at the Lenten discipline of blogging every day. Today you can head over to Rethink Bishop to read my contribution there.

"You took some risks that simply did not pan out. What you seem to be forgetting are the great lessons that you learned from your failures. In our failures we not only have pain, loss, and frustrations but we leave with great learning."

Peace,
Lazarus

Original post at http://lenguadelaz.blogspot.com/2013/02/no-conferencing-but-social-conferencing.html

I talked in a previous post about my experience with the Relevance LEAD conference. I want to delve even further into the importance of having a conference with multiple, non-expertise voices rather than a few professional keynote speakers. In Methodism we stress that there is no holiness but social holiness and no religion but social religion yet when we seek ways to learn we continue to turn to an outdated model of listening to the "experts".

When it comes to learning and conferences we need to add that there is no learning but social learning and no conferencing but social conferencing. In this day and age of technology we have learned to take advantage of gaining information from large groups of people rather than isolated individuals. The term is crowdsourcing and it means that you get ideas, answers, projects, etc by gathering input from as many people as possible. This is usually done via the internet but does not need to be the case.

In a way, conferences like TED and Relevance LEAD use crowdsourcing for sharing information. In the case of Relevance LEAD, rather than inviting Gil Rendle, Adam Hamilton, or Lovett Weems to come tell us the church is dying and we should do something about it, Rob Rynders and his crew invited multiple voices to share ways that they are already being innovative within the structure of the United Methodist Church. I have nothing against the 3 men mentioned, but they represent only one voice and one idea.

For each speaker invited to LEAD, there were tenfold ideas that were sparked by them. The beauty of limiting a talk to 18 minutes is that the speakers have to be very intentional about what they say. Many of the talks were left vague with much more to be desired. That is not a knock on the talks but rather a praise. Because there was so much ambiguity left on the stage, the conference attendees then were able to expand upon the talks in small groups, over a meal, or over late night drinks.

Conferences should not be monologues, but dialogues. They should spark imagination, creativity, and innovation. They should put forward more questions than answers. They should encourage the attendees to assemble and find possible applications to what is being shared. Most importantly, they should send people home with a full bag of tricks to take home and experiment with in their home conference, city, and local church.

Studies show that lectures don't work, so stop it. Students learn by engaging with the material. Conferences need to leave space for dialogue, experimenting, and interaction. If you're not doing it that way then well...


So let's make sure that conferences are interactive. Give everyone a sense of ownership and the information will go much further. Remember, there is no religion but social religion, no holiness but social holiness, and no conferencing but social conferencing.

Peace,
Lazarus

Original post at http://lenguadelaz.blogspot.com/2013/02/rest.html

As I shared the other day my lenten discipline is to blog every day. I have already failed miserably at blogging EVERY day but I have been more active here than I have been. Part of the reason is that I have been very busy. Yesterday I went nonstop from 8:00 in the morning until 9:00 in the evening. To be honest, I got so busy that I completely forgot about blogging. It is during busy times like this, especially during lent, that it is important to stop...Slow Down...And Rest.

I recently received a jawbone UP band that tracks sleep among other things. Since I received the band last week I have only been averaging about 6 hours of sleep. For those who don't know me quite as well, I need my sleep. If I go too long without full nights of sleep my body shuts down, I get grumpy, and I get physically ill. This past weekend, as mentioned in my previous blog post, I attended the Relevance LEAD conference in Las Vegas. With all of the goings on of the conference, sleep was something that I put off. As I prepare to leave for the week long TEDActive  conference on Sunday it is again important that I get caught up on sleep.

I love to blog and it is a great spiritual exercise but perhaps, a week in to lent, I need to add the lenten exercise of rest. By rest I mean not only getting enough sleep but learning how to set priorities. Rather than stretch myself thin on trying to be in so many places and with so many people, I should be getting my rest. Rest is renewal. Rest is preparation. Rest is freeing. Rest is not only getting a full night's sleep but it is creating space where I can reflect on what lies behind and what lies ahead. In just a few short weeks I will be on Spring Break, but rest can not wait. I can not merely duck my head and push through waiting for Spring Break to rest.

Speaking of rest. I'm going to bed.

Peace,

Lazarus

Original post at http://lenguadelaz.blogspot.com/2013/02/sharing-is-caring.html

Like many disciplines, I have gone back and forth on how often I blog. There are many reasons I blog. I blog because it helps me organize my thoughts, I can share my thoughts with others, I can receive feedback or accountability through my blog, I can share my voice when it might not be heard through other channels, and hopefully some of what I say resonates with others reading. Although I enjoy blogging, when I get busy it is one of the first things to go from my to do list.