The latest from the MethoBlogoSphere

The New Orleans Times-Picayune has an article online via NOLA.com about Jimmy Buffett being a big Saints fan. I’ve been a Jimmy Buffett fan about as long as I’ve been a Saints fan. It’s nice when two things I enjoy meld together like this.

I was really counting on a long and funny story from Dave Letterman tonight about the taping of the Super Bowl ad with Jay and Oprah. But there wasn’t one; he made a very brief monologue joke, and then later at the desk he dryly thanked “the actors who played Oprah and Jay Leno.”

Part of the problem may have been that tonight’s Late Show was chock full anyway, with little time for desk chat — Super Bowl QB Drew Brees, Sandra Bullock, the unveiling of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover, and some unexpected crisis in the form of stage manager and frequent cast member Biff Henderson injuring himself. Dave, in Brees’ honor, was tossing the pigskin to various members of the crew and the CBS orchestra, and Biff fell down trying to make a catch. Dave said he was fine, but they apparently took him out on a gurney with his leg in a splint.

I actually watched the first few minutes of “The Jay Leno Show” tonight — the first time I’ve done so since Jay started whining at the peak of the late night crisis — and I have to admit that Jay did a nice job talking about the spot, and about how he had to sneak into the Ed Sullivan Theater in a hoodie, shades and fake moustache for the taping last Tuesday.

Top NBC officials had to approve Jay’s appearance on the CBS promo, but it was kept so hush-hush that a lower-level NBC functionary actually came to Jay a day or two after the taping to tell Jay about a rumor that Letterman had taped a Super Bowl promo with a super-secret guest, which the executive figured might be … Barack Obama. Jay listened with great interest and instructed the NBC executive to keep him informed.

Bet that guy felt stupid when he saw the promo.

When I was a junior in high school, our friends got together to celebrate bringing in the New Year at a friend’s house (as was tradition). That year, I had to babysit my brother, so, I brought him along. He could just sit in the corner and be invisible. As long as he didn’t die, I’d be okay.
We started to play a game called “Screw Your Neighbor.” And the stakes were set. Whoever lost had to put on this green spaghetti strap. (I forget what happened if a girl lost.) Anyway, as fate would have it, I lost. Rules were rules and bets had to be honored. So I strolled into the bathroom and put on this real small neon green spaghetti strap shirt and strutted out of the bathroom. People laughed. Others took pictures. My brother? Well, Lord knows what went through his mind, but he balled up in the corner and started bawling like the little girl he was (I don’t think my brother cries as often nowadays. At least I hope not). It was rather funny.

Years later, I was graduating college and was going to move to DC to attend seminary. So my friends put on a good-bye party. One of the presents I received was a collage of pictures of memories and goodbye notes from friends. In the top right corner of the collage, there’s a picture that I thought no longer existed. It’s a picture of me a skinny green spaghetti strap shirt. I could not believe that one of my friends still had that picture. I probably can imagine why my brother wanted to cry seeing me in that, because I wanted to cry seeing that picture. But there it was, forever to remind me that I lost in a stupid card game and faced the consequences by dressing up as a girl. The collage of pictures sits on my desk, and though it’s tempting to remove that picture once and for all, it serves as a good memory and a reminder that I do not look good in green.

Speaking of not looking good in green, Thomas often gets a bad rap as a disciple. (My English teachers always said I needed to work on my segues.) I remember one of my youth pastors preaching to our kids that Thomas is not a good name to name your kids because he will always be associated with being a doubter (the pastor should’ve known better. There was a good boy named Thomas that went to that church…). But I often think that Thomas being labeled as a doubter rather unfair. I mean, he didn’t know someone there was taking notes and would bring it up every time the story was told. “So, get this man. There was this guy named Thomas… and even as Jesus was, like, standing right there, Thomas wouldn’t believe it!” It’s like, someone caught him wearing a neon green spaghetti strap shirt, took a picture of it, and flaunted to everyone saying, “See? He does like dressing up as a girl!!!” It’s like having a bad picture of you plastered all over facebook and people will always remember that night when you (fill in the blank). Not fair. Because that picture just captures a fleeting moment in time.

It was just a fleeting moment in time, and a rather fair statement to make: Unless I actually see the dude, I ain’t gonna believe you guys. I mean, the dude (Jesus) died. They all saw it. Then this same dude stands in front of the door and says, I’m alive. I’m sure Thomas wasn’t the only one in the room that thought, “whoa… what was in that piece of fish I ate?” I mean after all, Tommy wasn’t even there when everyone saw Jesus. What if he thought that the disciples were going through some kind of withdrawals?

And besides, it’s not like we never doubt, right? We’ve all wrestled with doubt, in one form or another.

But, to limit Thomas as a doubter, I think that’s unfair. That’s like labeling me as a cross dresser. (And for the record, I am not. Not that there’s anything wrong with that…)
When we discuss this story of Thomas doubting, I think it’s also important and fair to Thomas, that we bring up John 11 as well.

Jesus just heard that his friend Lazarus had passed and Jesus wants to go back to Jerusalem. His disciples were all worried and asked Jesus, “You really wanna go back to Jerusalem? Dude, they just tried to stone you a little while back. Let’s just hang out here.” (I paraphrased.)
And then, it was Thomas, who spoke up and said, “Let us also go, that we may die with [Jesus].” Thomas was willing to follow Jesus to Jerusalem, even if it meant that they would get stoned with Jesus as well. We don’t know what the other disciples were thinking. But we know what Thomas was thinking. And he spoke up, rather courageously. He was going to go back to Jerusalem with his Rabbi whatever the cost may be.

So, sure, Thomas was a doubter. But it’s a shame that’s how many people remember him as. Thomas was more than a doubter. In fact, we could argue while many of the disciples doubted Jesus’ plan to see Lazarus in Jerusalem, Thomas was not. It wouldn’t be fair for us to be remembered by one mistake we made in our lives or have that one mistake define who we are as a person. He was a good, loyal and faithful disciple, just like the others. (Well, Judas Iscariot… I don’t know how I’d defend him).

And just to be safe, I hope that picture of me wearing that spaghetti strap never gets out. I’d have a lot of explaining to do…

One of the most impressive areas of growth for us is in the area of involvement in small groups in the church. Small group involvement is important for two main reasons: 1. The Wesleyan movement was, in great part, a small group movement. John Wesley creatively utilized small, face-to-face groups to ignite his revival. In the groups, evangelical passion was wedded to Wesleyan accountability. Small groups are a very “Methodist thing.” 2. Studies show that churches grow through the increase of the number of small groups in the church and an increase in lay membership in these groups. In fact, part of the remarkable transformation at Helena UMC, is explosion of small groups being led by Paula Jones there. Mike Edmondson and Paula tell me that there is no vital, dynamically growing church that does not have at least 65% of all its adults involved, sometime during the course of a year, in small groups.

Elizabeth Nall, is our Conference leader and coach in educational small group work, particularly among parents and children. Elizabeth, in reporting our documented gains in the number of United Methodists in small groups in North Alabama says, “Small group formation is where faith development is deepened through study and relationships. There is potentially as much or more opportunity to reach people through small group participation in our churches as through our worship experiences.”

John Tanner, the pastor from Cove UMC (I call Cove the “Research & Development department for the North Alabama Conference”), credits small groups as the major factor in his congregation’s dramatic growth. At Cove (1030 Total professing members - 1050 was their average weekly worship attendance) a total of 950 people participate in small group ministries every week. John estimates that about 70% of Cove’s members participate in weekly small groups.

I have participated in teaching in a number of small group settings at ourCanterbury UMC. Oliver Clark leads a fine adult educational ministry at Canterbury that is small group based. Of Canterbury’s 4804 members, 1,428 attend regular small group meetings. An estimated 328 people are involved in Canterbury small groups who are not otherwise related to the church. Small groups, for many people, are the door through which people enter the church.

At Helena UMC, they have set a goal to give birth to at least a dozen new small groups every year in order to keep their forward motion. Elizabeth Nall says, “As a Christian educator, I believe that ii is essential to be intentional about faith development in small groups as we remain passionate about worship. There is ripe opportunity to make disciples for Jesus Christ through these small group encounters.”

This past Saturday, Feb. 6, 2010, Elizabeth and our Conference Adult Ministries Team arranged for Debi Nixon, Adult Discipleship Coordinator, from the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, to lead our conference in a discussion on small group ministry at Canterbury UMC.

Nixon discussed the Wesleyan and Biblical concept of small groups, how to start them, maintain their health, and the purpose and the goal of small group ministry through sharing the story of Church of the Resurrection - another church which chose to grow by "growing smaller" and focusing on small group ministries. Top leadership in our conference guided nineteen breakout sessions during the event encompassing more specific discussion in small group areas that our North Alabama local churches are using with success.

I am so glad so many of our churches gained important insight from Saturday’s Growing Successful Small Groups event. If your church needs guidance in strengthening your small group ministry contact Rev. Elizabeth Nall atenall@northalabamumc.org or (205) 226-7993.

Will Willimon

Ray Crump, who leads our relief warehouse in Decatur, has just reported to me that United Methodists of North Alabama ”are responding to the crisis in Haiti in a way that I have never seen in all my 50 years of ministry and relief work.” Ray and his volunteers are shipping tons of supplies to Haiti nearly every week. Thanks for this wonderful outpouring of Christian concern.

I sometimes do this question-and-answer thingy to help myself think through things. My answers to these kinds of questions change all the time, so don’t look on this as final thinking. Just thinking.

What is your calling?

To proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.

And what is the good news of Jesus Christ?

That in Christ God has reconciled the world to himself, so we might live as children of God.

What do you mean by ‘reconciled’?

God has broken down every wall or barrier that separates us from him. He has brought light to the darkness, food to the desert, and a dry passage across the Red Sea.

What do you mean when you say this is done ‘in Christ’?

Jesus of Nazareth was the agent who destroyed the grip of fear and death. If we trust in the power of Jesus to work in and for us, we will know this reconciliation, too.

So, what are we to do?

Believe the good news, and live as children of God.

Super Bowl 44 — over.  I am a huge Colts fan, but even I can’t be unhappy with the Saints victory.  Who could begrudge New Orleans anything?  I am delighted for every Saints fan everywhere.  I wish I could feel as good about the Super Bowl ads, but I don’t.  Oh, there were some funny bits and some classic moments, but as they unfolded I found myself appalled.  An inordinate number of ads were incredibly sexist and even hostile to women (except for those by women who objectify and denigrate…).  I found myself offended more often than entertained.  The “men are pigs, women are ignorant” message wore thin fast.  I felt a time warp — cast back fifty years to a time when men could be insensitive jerks and think it was cool.  Have we decided that women are somehow okay targets again?

I know.  I am idealistic.  I want to believe that we are an evolved and kind people, but the evidence is sketchy at best.  I still encounter Christians (United Methodists, in fact…) who question if “women” (as if this is some sub-species) should be pastors.  The question leaves me speechless.  Are we complete idiots?  Have we never functioned in the real world?  Have we no mothers, wives, sisters, or brains?  Have we never had any relationships of any worth or value in our lives with females?  Are we irrational, primitive, pre-modern, ignorants who live in total bigotry and prejudice?  No.  We’re intelligent human beings who respect and revere both males and females as created in the image of God.  We are not stupid.

But, then what explains the insensitive, violent, aggressive, antagonistic, misogynistic, hateful and ugly messages about women that pass for humor in marketing and media?  How have we devolved so far, so fast?  I am a guy, after all, and I found a large number of Super Bowl ads offensive and indefensible.  I can’t be too far off, since my wife found them offensive as well, and she is a woman!

I hate when the dominant culture is unenlightened and offensive — I hate it all the more when my church follows suit.  I lament with the wonderful, spiritual, competent, and gifted women clergy in my denomination who are still finding it hard to be accepted as leaders in our church.  I listen to denominational leaders crow about how far we have come, then talk to women in the system who are suffering under the burden of 19th century sexism and oppression.  Are we kidding ourselves?  We still mistreat women in leadership almost daily.

Look at our largest churches.  How many are led by women?  I actually had a well-known large-church pastor tell me it was because “women don’t want the responsibility.”  Yikes.  Our system doesn’t recognize or reward women the same way it does men.  We come up with a hundred and one (lame) excuses, but the one reason is that we simply haven’t gotten to the point where justice and fairness guide our life together.  We pay lip-service to what we know we should be (articulated values) but are light-years away from that goal (lived values).  We revere and honor woman while treating them as second-class — the great American way.

I can’t quite fathom the irreverent, disrespectful, and offensive messages about women in this year’s batch of Super Bowl ads, but I fear it reflects a deeper disregard that we refuse to admit and acknowledge.  In the church, this may call for some major repentance — unless we’re really not sorry.  I just can’t imagine that we would be so stupid as to rob ouselves of the amazing leadership of women in a system that needs the whole people of God to be successful.

There have been lots of comments on the Superbowl ads from last night, but the one that seems to have slipped through the cracks is the Cars.com ad. Part of the reason is that it was cute, but not side splitting. However, I liked it because my college roommate Jim’s son David played the part of the kids birthing the Bengal tiger. So, for Jim and David, here’s another chance for you to check it out.

Here is the message that I presented at Walker Valley UMC for Transfiguration Sunday, 25 February 2001.  The Scriptures for this Sunday are Exodus 34: 29 – 35, 2 Corinthians 3: 12 – 4: 2, and Luke 6: 28 – 36 (37 – 43a).

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The view from a mountaintop can be a most spectacular site. When I was living in Whitesburg, it was always a joy when I had to drive over the mountain to Cumberland or through Pound Gap into Virginia and down to Knoxville. To get from Whitesburg to Cumberland meant having to drive a two-lane highway literally up the side of Pine Mountain using a variety of switchbacks.

But at the top of the mountain, you had a chance to pull over (you didn’t dare stop on the highway anywhere else) and look westward across the hills and valleys of eastern Kentucky. Similarly, when I had to drive over to Virginia, the view of western Virginia was one beyond words.

(see “The View From The Mountain Top”).

Another thing that gave a surreal beauty to the area was the fact that many times the cloud cover was at 1,400 feet. What added to the beauty was that Whitesburg was at 1250 feet and so driving over the mountain took you through the clouds. And when you were at the summit of Pine Mountain and look at the valleys below, they seemed filled with clouds. It was also interesting walking to work on days like that because you knew you were in the clouds.

It is this beauty and the vistas that the mountaintops hold that are the reason people want to come and visit eastern Kentucky and western Virginia. But the problem with such wonderful views is that though you can see for great distances and the beauty is so wonderful, you can’t see the details. You can’t see the people walking in the streets and you can just barely make out the cars as they go by. Nor is it possible to see the poverty, the unemployment, the illiteracy that make Letcher County one of the poorest counties in Appalachia and the country.

When you come down from the mountaintop, you might see the straight pipes that take the sewage and household wastes from the various cabins, shacks, and houses in the hollers and dump it in the creeks that feed the headwaters of the Kentucky, Cumberland, and Big Sandy rivers. And if you know where to look, you can see the effect years of strip-mining coal have had on the environment.

It is an interesting experience to relate the beauty and spectacular views of the mountaintop with the reality of life that exists in the valleys and hollows of eastern Kentucky.

As a covenant people, ours is a history of mountaintop experiences, where we rededicated our lives to the one whom "in his might loves justice" and who "established equity." Mountaintops are an important part of our own faith journey, for it is there that we have access to the kingdom perspective and can see clearly God’s loving and just plan for humanity. Mountaintops, though, are not ends in themselves; they are only the means by which we are better prepared to embody the covenant in the valleys of history.

The transfiguration account, as written in Luke, comes between two episodes that emphasize the day-to-day reality of Jesus’ ministry. Before Jesus took Peter, James and John with him to the mountaintop, he has spent time revealing that His Messiahship is embodied not in political revolution nor religious power but in His suffering, death, and resurrection. In the second passage, following the transfiguration, Jesus must exorcise a demon from a suffering child because his apostles could not do so, reportedly because of their own lack of faith.

The ecstasy of the transfiguration is thus grounded by and rooted in the reality of the Christ who suffers for and who is incarnately present with those who also suffer. Luke emphasizes that our covenant is fulfilled or broken not on mountaintops but in our daily commitment to more fully embody the love of Christ.

One thing that I took from reading the Epistle today was that we cannot hide the glory of God. When Moses returned from having gone up on the mountain and talked with God, his face glowed from having been in the presence of God. The veil that Moses wore served two purposes. First, it allayed the fears of the people who still saw God in terms of power and not love. For all they had heard, they had reason to fear what had happened to Moses. And second, as Paul pointed out, it was a temporary glow that faded because of the imperfect glory.

Paul also pointed out that when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Our understanding and our ability to reach out come from the presence of the Lord in our lives.

As we come to this season of Lent, I hope that you will take time to go to the mountaintop, to renew your own covenant with God and the covenant you made when you joined this church, to support it with your prayers, your presence, your gifts, and your service. Take a few moments to reach out to those in your area who are members of this church but haven’t been here for awhile and encourage them to come back and renew their covenant.

As Christians we, like Peter, face the temptation of becoming entrenched in our mountaintop experiences, wanting to live safely apart from the struggle and desperation of those who seek justice in an unjust world. As tempting as it is, we cannot get comfortable on the mountaintop, for we are just passing through. We can enjoy the view from the top but sooner or latter we must come down from the top. But having been to the mountaintop, having been with God, we can more easily face the day-to-day difficulties of trying to live the Gospel in a broken world.

The road to Cumberland over the top of Pine Mountain was a narrow, two-lane highway, full of twists and hairpin turns. You never knew what might be coming from the other direction around the corner, but it was just about the only way that you could go. Such is the same with life. But when we go to the mountaintop and come closer to God, through Jesus Christ, we are better prepared to make that trip back down the mountain.

As I’ve thought about the comments on my last post, it seems that somehow folks think I am arguing for an “either/or” perspective on a congregation’s focusing on mission and relationship. Obviously, from the beginning of this entire church thing, relationships have been important. The early Christians gathered regularly for the breaking of bread and prayer, hosting an early experiment in communism . . . uh . . . sharing of resources as each had need. And Jesus, at least according to John’s version of the story, said that the world would learn of him through the love of church members one for another.

There is no doubt that being overly focused on mission with little concern for relationships is just as flawed as being concerned about relationships without mission. For one thing it can lead to a pragmatism in which the ends justifies the means, trampling on the needs and emotions of others in order to accomplish the mission. For another it can easily cast aside the needs of the weak among us in the pursuit of our holy goals. Missional zeal which is unable to embrace others with the fruits of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control) is passion out of control.

One refrain that has come to me again and again in ministry is “…the process is as important as the outcome.” Yes, moving in a direction toward a mission is important, for otherwise we find ourselves wallowing in self indulgence and the pursuit of personal comfort. Yet achieving that goal never trumps the need to treat others with love and respect, and to help move folks at various speeds and levels toward the common goal. Seeking justice in one area doesn’t allow us to treat other rudely or as impediments in our way. Even those who get in the way of what we are seeking are children of God deserving of love. And, pragmatism has to be careful to recognize the human need for connection.

For a couple of years one of our mission projects was what we called a “biscuit drop.” We had done several “potato drops” with the Society of St. Andrew with good success, but as potato processors began to be more efficient, there were fewer “gleaned” potatoes available, and one year we couldn’t find any to distribute to our local hunger agencies. One of our church members, in a fit of brilliance, came up with the idea of making biscuit dough which we would package in dozen lots and quick freeze for distribution to those agencies, and the next couple of years we would take a Saturday and make thousands of biscuits (enough one year to dwarf the Statue of Liberty!). It was messy (we would take over the Fellowship Hall) and cost a couple of thousand bucks, but it was a great time of church folks getting together to work with their hands on something they loved to help others. We weren’t the most efficient operation, but it was fun and allowed persons of all ages to rub elbows kneading dough, creaming butter, and cutting biscuits.

For all the fun, there were a couple of folks in the church that simply didn’t get it. “It’s too expensive,” they said. “Why are we doing this, because we could take that same amount of money and buy even more biscuits from Pillsbury than we can make on our own.” And in one sense, they were right. If our goal was simply to help the hungry be fed, there were many ways that we could have been more efficient, many ways that we could have obtained more food for the same amount of money, and many ways to help the hungry that didn’t take as much time and energy.

But what we were doing wasn’t simply in pursuit of the goal, it wasn’t pursing the mission at all costs and damn the torpedoes to anything that stood in our way. Yes, we wanted to help those who needed to stretch their food dollars, but we also wanted to get our people tangibly involved with the act of helping, not simply throwing money at the problem. And, we wanted to be involved in that act of service together, as friends and family joined in having fun as we incarnated the love of Christ through flour, butter, and water. We had a blast! People got to know one another better. We got to play and have flour fights. And in the process, some 15,000 families in middle Tennessee got to have free biscuits for dinner one night.

So this mission/relationship thing is an “either/or” scenario. It’s a “both/and” one, the balancing of a purpose and a people to demonstrate the wholeness of God in the world.

The danger comes when our congregations lean too far one way or the other. In the context of my ministry, in the heart of the Bible belt, there can often be a focus on relationality to the exclusion of mission. In other parts of the world, the pursuit of mission cuts the heart out of Christian life and practice. In either case, we miss out on a part of God’s intention for the church, and the world misses out on a living and breathing example of kingdom reality in their midst.

The video McLuhan, Media, and Ministers says a lot about why I feel strongly that are indeed “accountable” to one another in our adaptation and adoption of the medium,  which shapes and ion many ways directs the message that comes forth;  not in word so much as in effect (or even more accurately,  AFFECT).  I need to listen to this again to hear some of the stuff I’m sure I probably missed as my mind went “hmmmmmmm……” while he continued to explain.  Thanks for the reference Gavin.  I watched his Avatar commentary , too

As part of the Transforming Theology Project over at Claremont, Tripp Fuller and Phillip Clayton are teaching a class called "Theology After Google." Given the content of the course, Tripp has been interacting with the Twitterverse and Blogosphere as part of the course content and prep. He recently suggested that I throw a little something together around the topic of the medium and message for modern ministers. This video is that.

YouTube – TheImageOfFish’s Channel