Angels, the Ingrate, and the Narrow Gate

Sojourners Verse of the Day for 1/26/25:
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.
- Hebrews 13:2

The story below arrived in our inbox on Jan. 27, from a friend. If you still support the Ingrate* of the United States, you helped make this happen. This is not an example of how America is great.
*(see Vocabulary.com).

"Just sharing an upper peninsula immigration story from this week. My neighbor came here in the 80s from Mexico fleeing gang violence and has been a US citizen for 40 years. His son was born here 20 years ago. His wife is from here. They were ordered to "check in" at the Detroit immigration/ border patrol office on Friday. They were not allowed to go to the local office in the Soo. I was so worried for them. Well they went down and luckily came back home the next day. I asked what happened. My neighbor said he had to get a physical and fingerprinted. They ran his fingerprints through some sort of national database to check for unsolved crimes. They also did a background check for anything under his name. Nothing matched him. He has never even had a speeding ticket since coming here! He says it all took less than an hour and could have easily been done locally in our small town. But they were afraid to ask questions or make requests. I'm glad they made it back home. But I'm going to say that if names or fingerprints came up with anything they would not have come back home."
(Reference: Michigan Women for Democracy)

I'm still working at Micah 6:8. It's hard work to do justice; even harder to love mercy when the person I am supposed to love is an ingrate. Hardest of all is walking humbly. But it's essential.
Also, we could wrap our minds around Matthew 7:13-14... “Go in through the narrow gate. The gate that leads to destruction is broad and the road wide, so many people enter through it. But the gate that leads to life is narrow and the road difficult, so few people find it."

God, I want to be one of those who find it.

Bobby Jo Valentine in Concert

 

Bobby Jo Valentine is a joy-filled, new-found acquaintance. His music rings my bell and I am doing what I can to share it with others of like mind and heart. His story, while perhaps not so unique, is compelling in its truth. Disheartened through unfortunate church experience, he has emerged with a message of love and grace with original songs and skillful guitar accompaniment. Once I had listened to a couple songs, I was hooked.

Bobby Jo 's bio says, "Growing up and emerging out of a Baptist Church of strict lines and sharp edges, Bobby Jo Valentine has emerged into a larger, kinder, more welcoming way of believing and being in the world…one that is excited to learn, open to growth, and focused on love."

"His music exists outside the lines of any genre, but the music’s thoughtful, spirit focused lyrics and catchy melodies reach listeners across all walks of life. The poetic nature and spiritual focus of his stories and songs has resulted in notable awards and a growing, loyal following around the country.  He’s found a voice with original, hopeful songs about the gentle everyday spiritual awakenings of an open-hearted life.

So, here's my pitch: Grand Rapids Aldersgate United Methodist Church (graldersgate.org) is bringing him in for a performance, Sunday afternoon, November 5, 2023 at 4:00 PM, at the church. The church's flexible-furniture space and comfortable seating will lend itself to a concert atmosphere pleasing to all. 

But that's only the beginning. His music will lighten hearts and enrich spirits as he sings his story to us, a story of hope and welcoming love for all people. 

His concert will last 65-75 minutes, and he will stay afterward to greet and mix with everyone. He'll have CDs available if his music touches you and you want to listen again and again. Best of all, there is no charge, and no offering to be received. It's free, and so are the refreshments! 

Will you let others know about this concert?  Will you contact 4 or 5 people who you believe would enjoy his music? Will you come? 

Click here for a sampling of Bobby Jo. I especially liked his Tedx Talk "Grandma Yoda: Finding Happiness After Loss"

 

 

Scars that Create

“You are never more alive than when you are a teenager. Your brain is flushed with chemicals that can turn your life into a story with epic proportions.” - Chemical Hearts, Amazon Studios

“Behold, I am making all things new.” – Revelation 1:5

One of the guilty pleasures Judy and I allow ourselves is an Amazon Prime membership. Some time ago our daughter gave us a Fire Stick for our TV that through a head-shaking miracle, opens a C.S. Lewis-like wardrobe of viewing. In gratitude for our ample purchases of books and other items, Amazon provides us with an extra set of video resources. Amazon even has its own movie studio, which gets to the point of this. Walk through the door with me…In August 2020 Amazon Studios released an Amazon Original. I suppose it’s only a so-so film as far as any critic would say. But I am not a critic, and sometimes I just like a movie because, well, I like it.

The movie is “Chemical Hearts.” Based on the novel, Our Chemical Hearts (Krystal Southerland), it’s about a complex relationship between two high school seniors. One is Henry Page (Austin Abrams) who wants to be a writer and lands the job as editor of the school newspaper for his senior year. Writing, for Henry, is a form of therapy, and he often finds himself unable to speak what’s on his mind until he is able to write them. He also has an unusual hobby called Kintsugi, a Japanese art of gluing together broken pieces of pottery using gold -  based on the idea that by embracing flaws and imperfections, you can create an even stronger, more beautiful piece of art. His bedroom is filled with pottery he has purposely broken and then glued back together. Yes, the film exudes with metaphor.

The other lead character is Grace Town (Lili Reinhart, also executive producer), who is also a gifted writer. In contrast to Henry, she has no trouble finding words to speak, but is unable to write. Grace is recovering from a tragic auto accident that killed her long-time boyfriend, leaving scars deeper than the physical ones. As she says in one of her many poetic lines, “I was asked to write something about someone who was important to me but I just couldn’t find the words.” So, if you’re following this story line, we have a guy who puts broken pieces back together, and a girl with deep brokenness, in need of mending. The film portrays two very extraordinarily gifted young people who are finding their way through the complex chemistry of adolescence while dealing with scars.  As the movie ends, Henry is writing his last editorial for the school newspaper, and he speaks these words: 

"We tend to think of scars as ugly or imperfect; as things we want to hide or forget. But they never go away… I finally understand that scars are not reminders of what's been broken, but rather, of what's been created.”

In some ways, brokenness describes our world right now…brokenness in government, race relations, economics, health care, civil conversation – and then of course the obvious havoc caused by the Pandemic. We are scarred and broken in a dozen ways.

Yet handed these cards, people of faith are called to write God’s story with the hand we’ve been dealt, and find grace. We have a word that can become good news; a word to be uplifted and uplifting. We are called to find it for ourselves, and to speak hope to others in a world that challenges even the most naïve optimist.

Yet this is our job, in the midst of all that is imperfect, even ugly, to remind anybody who’s watching and listening, that putting broken pieces together (to heal), is exactly what God does. Maybe we can help write a story on scarred pages, to tell not the ugliness and imperfection in the world, but rather the new thing God is creating even now. Maybe we can flush the world with those creation chemicals that flow through all of our hearts. Would that we will find the words. 

A Price Worth Paying

I apologize to those who prefer not to read more on this subject. My friends will forgive me.
Melania Trump calls her husband's infamous "banter on the bus" as merely "boy talk." To suggest there is such a thing as "boy talk" and that it is okay, is a message her 10-year-old son will hear. He will conclude that it is ok, and the cycle of abuse will stand a good chance of being transferred to the next generation. That apparently is a price she is willing to pay.
So, to 10-year-old boys everywhere:
This is a lie. This is not ok. This is not who you are. No one who has respect for other human beings will talk this way. Decency has no place for this kind of talk, whether you are male or female. People are not objects to conquer. You have a higher calling, and it's called civility. Learn civility and you will not only find that you are happier; you will contribute to the well-being of others. The payoff is a better world. And that is a price worth paying.

To be Christian means to live a life that intersects with society. That is what the doctrine of the Incarnation means to me. "God so loved the world" that God's very presence came to earth in human form like us. That's what Christians of every bent and persuasion say.
Therefore Christians at the very least are compelled to find the places where God's hope for creation meets human experience. Social holiness is not an optional pursuit. It is one side of a coin, the other of which is personal holiness. That said...
It's time for Christians to put their actions where their words are. It's time to make our words and works the same, like the One whom we call Lord.
Plus, recently I read this:

"The time has come for Christian leaders to break their cowardly silence and forcefully condemn Trump's vision for America as fundamentally incompatible with the Gospel of Jesus Christ." (www.faithfulamerica.org)

I stand convicted of cowardice. No more.
Donald Trump's behavior resembles that of a dangerous, bully-demagogue, misogynist and racist. He lacks the necessary qualities of leadership that our nation - any nation requires to converse on the international stage. He may have traveled widely, but that doesn't mean he understands other cultures.

He claims to be a follower of the Prince of Peace, yet he threatens to "bomb the hell out of ISIS", not realizing that the children and grandchildren of ISIS will seek revenge upon our children and grandchildren. He is condemning another generation of Americans (and who knows what other nations) to more war and destruction.

His recent deriding of the Khan family is only the most recent example of his despotic ways. So, I am asking my Republican friends, of whom I pray there are many: 

One need not be a Democrat to reject the politics of the Republican candidate. In matters of religion, evangelical conservative Christians have been rejecting for centuries the notions of other evangelicals whose extreme statements and behaviors do not represent the majority of their peers. We only need to cite the Westboro Baptist Church as a contemporary case. 

You may not denounce Hillary Clinton for moralistic reasons and ignore the immorality on the other side. That is called hypocrisy. If you don't like Mrs. Clinton, for whatever reason, you can still vote for her for many reasons, without sacrificing your morals, which would be required in order to cast a vote for your party's terrible example. He lacks any measure of human decency, and it's time to follow the way of Jesus with "walk" as well as "talk."



http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/02/opinion/mr-trump-and-spineless-republicans.html?emc=edit_ty_20160802&nl=opinion&nlid=73219613&_r=0

Quagmire

The recent conflict in the West Michigan Conference of the United Methodist Church, regarding the departure of certified candidate for ministry Ginny Mikita, has generated a firestorm of Facebook chatter, not to mention comment in the secular press. I don't pretend to know more than anyone else, but because of an administrative role, I've been in a relatively small loop that has been dealing with this. I am bound, like others, to confidentiality. Therefore, I will not disclose information I believe to be privately guarded by our covenant and by responsibility. That said, I will say this, to be read along with other Facebook comments following a post by Paul Hillman of the Reconciling Ministries Network: 

"Excommunicated" is probably not the right word, although I suspect it accurately reflects the impact of Ginny's experience for her. The UMC does not excommunicate people in the strict sense. We are one of the most administratively bogged down organizations on the planet, and General Conference would never settle for a word that has very specific application in another Christian organization (my opinion). The problem at hand is the interpretation of our Discipline paragraph 241, which, in the reading of some, is designed to give direction to pastors and membership secretaries when removing a church member because of their choice to unite with another church or denomination, without notifying the former pastor of their congregation. Although I haven't spoken with Ginny about this, from what I've read I don't believe it was her choice to withdraw from UMC membership. So I question whether the use of 241 is appropriate for Ginny's case. Another Discipline paragraph to use might be 314, which deals with certified candidates (Ginny's status). Because she was a certified candidate in process with our system, she was more than a church member. She was part of our covenant of clergy who are bound at a different level together. If the direction given in paragraph 314 were followed, Ginny would have had an orderly, methodical process to follow, with less confusion (though still some) and hopefully less hurt. She may have technically "voluntarily withdrawn" her membership when she got ordained in the ULC (a non-denomination by the way, the credentials of which would never be acceptable if Ginny were coming to the UMC from that church - but that's another issue) however I believe it was not her intention, and there's the rub. I don't know how I would have reacted had I been in the shoes of a bishop or district superintendent. I believe it is still in our best interests, not to mention wise, to respect their position and the likelihood that they were compelled to apply an interpretation of the Discipline that by all indications they do not personally support. A friend has recently reminded me of the words of Matthew 9:13:  "I desire mercy, not sacrifice." I believe those words are meant to be applied across the board, not selectively.  Finally, we have gotten ourselves into an impossible quagmire caused by a legal application of our rules, when our covenant could have been the guiding principal. The Discipline, like the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, and some of Paul's words, is intended to govern with mercy, not sacrifice. So, so sad.  

https://www.facebook.com/RMNetwork/photos/a.10150664537194483.406597.14169974482/10153590435404483/?type=1

Enable Others to Act: A Boomer Reflects on Millennials in the Church

"The Truth is That You Can't Do it Alone." 
Kouzes and Posner (The Truth About Leadership) summarize their fourth practice of exemplary leadership this way: "Enable Others to Act."

Perhaps you would prefer the word "empower" rather than "enable" and you might have a point. What I enjoy about Kouzes and Posner is their ability to write for audiences that range from business to education to religious. Their experience, research and resultant conclusions apply across the board. So, while particular terms like "enable" may run counter to some of our preferences, the bottom line of "enable others to act," for church leaders, is about sharing leadership. It's about the ministry of the laity. They summarize their "truth" this way:

"Leaders alone don't make anything great. Leadership is a shared responsibility. You need others, and they need you. You're all in this together. To build and sustain that sense of oneness, exemplary leaders are sensitive to the needs of others. They ask questions. They listen. They provide support. They develop skills. They ask for help. They align people in a common cause. They make people feel like anything is possible. They connect people to their need to be in charge of their own lives. They enable others to be even better than they already are." (The Truth About Leadership, Kouzes and Posner, Jossey-Bass, pp. 73-74).

I believe the tide is beginning to turn in the church. With the influence of an emerging generation of leaders, most of whom are found in that still-undefined but exhaustively described population called "millennials," churches are finding that this refreshing batch of Americans is slowly but surely changing the DNA of local congregations. With hope and patience, the change will be reflected in a move into positions of authority as well as leadership at influential levels.

I say their influence is refreshing. The vast majority of established churches clinging to old ways that no longer work while maintaining that they "really do want young people to join them,"  are the places where there is great potential for new wind to be blowing. The bedrock in these congregations are people who love God and neighbor; they are spirited people with open minds and hearts. They are also holding onto dearly beloved traditions, sometimes at all costs. Yet they are folks who want to see a future but don't quite know how to see it through the eyes of the 20 - 34 year-old in their midst. Give the veterans empathy, for it is hard to release what has worked. That goes for any age. Empathy can unlock the potential for bridge-building between generations. Here's the key: It is up to the seasoned veterans to take the first step. I don't mean that millennials need hand-holding, like kindergartners being led across a busy street. They are quick to see through paternalistic acts. What they need is license to be released to try their own wings, just as their parents and grandparents did in different ways, in different cultural circumstances. In my opinion, they aren't waiting for permission.

In days gone by, we used to say that Christianity is one generation from extinction. It still may be true, but I think we may have assumed "Christianity" meant The Church; maybe as narrowly defined as our congregation. In any event, Christianity was simply the way we understood it to be. Christian book sellers loaded up on titles that named the illness and prescribed one or another antidote. Denominational and regional leaders designed one program after another to reverse the downturn, transform local congregations, and launch new organizational structures better suited to the times. Well, here we are. The prognosticators may have missed it by a generation or two, but the institution responsible for transmitting the faith, I mean the institution that understood Christianity through the lens of a 500-year-old Protestant Reformation, is all but gone. What lives today is not the Church of the Reformation era, nor the Church of the American hay-day years of the last century; not the church of our parents, even. There are local church exceptions, vital downtown or suburban congregations that have found it possible to change their ways and remain relevant. Some congregations are preserved by lots of money, endowed or tied to one or ten wealthy benefactors. This begs the question: Do they merely desire that Old First Church will be there to accommodate their family and friends when they "slip the surly bonds of earth?"  The healthiest and more vital congregations exist because they've found the way to extend the life of their local franchise, sometimes with a polite but persistent ignoring of denominational guidelines (note the disappearance of denominational names from church signs). What's missed in these settings is that they, too, are mere decades from oblivion. One thing is predictable: Their current vitality is limited and death will come as it does to every individual and institution. That is, it will come if their ways don't remain elastic too. In a matter of years, what works now will not work in the decades ahead. Nobody knows how long; what we should know is that churches are not merely organizations; they are living organisms.

All this means is that the Church, and every local church, must learn to practice elasticity. This is not a new idea. This is a tried-and-true fact of church life. Without a flexible style, and an adjoining practice of quick, responsible, long-term change, there is no long term future church or Church. Enter the Millennial Generation. They are nothing if not elastic. To them, the tried-and-true methods of churchianity are no longer valid. Yet, without the local congregations of their parents and grandparents, from whence shall they inherit the deep and abiding faith?

Millennials will be the first to tell you they value spirituality. But the spiritual lives they do have may seem foreign to those who've gone before. They are deeply interested in matters of religion, ethically committed to the well-being of neighbors near and far. However, their approaches do not fit neatly into the established institution as they see it. I believe our forebears had it right when they said, "the Church is of God, and will be preserved to the end of time...."   Yet I think even the best of us failed to realize that it wasn't our Church that would be preserved. The vehicle that is "of God" is not that Body made in our image, organized with our latest models, and constructed with our resources, human and otherwise. God's instrument is that Word-made-flesh Body that is home to piety, worship, mercy, social justice, and above all compassionate grace. What's more, they see that God's instrument in it's richest and true form, doesn't even exist for itself.   Even the ancestors saw that which will be preserved to the end of time....was for "the salvation of the world."  (emphasis mine).  And here is where these thoughts have all been leading...

Kouzes and Posner in their landmark book, The Truth About Leadership, spell out ten truths that coalesce around their "Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership". These practices, honed from nearly 40 years of research, are easily adapted to the needs of congregations, I believe. The fourth one, in particular, strikes at the heart at what some have called "the New Reformation" - delivering the once clergy-oriented ministry of the Church, into the hands of the membership, the laity who make up the congregations.

During the same 40 years that Kouzes and Posner have been discovering exemplary leaders, congregations have been learning to reform the ministry of Jesus Christ by taking on a greater role of leadership. In the same way that the Bible was given to the Church 500 years ago, ministry is being given to the Church today. Simply put, if clergy don't release ministry with empowering grace, we can kiss our congregations good-bye. Some clergy get this; some don't.

Millennials are not interplanetary visitors bringing salvation to the present disorder. They are humble, inquisitive, bold and sometimes uncompromising. But they are learners like their predecessors. Those who are darkening the doors of local churches today, in all their varieties I might add, have come with open hearts and minds. They want a communal relationship with Christ-followers, but here's the thing: they don't necessarily want the the faith of the people they meet, once inside. They would like to discover the wonders of a faith that will be their own, thank you very much.

Is that so hard to accept? Public education is not the same as it was 40 years ago. The business world of 2015 has gone through several transformations since 1970. The health field has moved wonderfully and rapidly into the 21st century with astounding developments in treatment and prevention. To be a governmental servant today is far different than the post-Vietnam years.
How is it that many churches can't invite change in the same way? How is it that congregations, even more than other institutions, can't accommodate the movement of Spirit and Wisdom in our midst? Why can't clergy and congregations grasp the concept of releasing ministry to the people, and especially the people who are the future?

I am among those who believe with all my heart that the future is unwritten. I trust in the power of God's resilient Spirit to raise up leadership in every generation.  But if those in leadership (read "power") don't learn the practice of enabling others to act, local churches and the authorities that govern them will continue to gasp for breath on life support, and eventually succumb to our fear of letting go. I'm not advocating anarchy. I am on the lookout for new leadership, frankly younger, who are waiting for a chance to act. But just as important, I'm praying for God to raise up current leaders who "connect people to their need to be in charge of their own lives. [who] enable others to be even better than they already are."  

How willing are we to be better?