"Small, Beautiful Things"

with thanks to Stephanie Paulsell

We used to be drawn to do great works;
That jit'ry desire has eased.
Now, we're content to do the day's tasks,
And delight in the hearts that this frees.

We once yearned to soar on eagle's wings,
To gain the neighbors' praises,
Now, though, we "do small, beautiful things",
By simpler, less notable phases.

Some time ago, and up to recently,
We tried to modestly impress,
Now, wanting to do things decently,
We decide, instead, just to bless.

Great Men and Frogs

from Thoreau's Journal in 1853
My Aunt Maria asked me to read the life of Dr. Chalmers, which however I did not promise to do. Yesterday, Sunday, she was heard through the partition shouting to my Aunt Jane, who is deaf, “Think of it! He stood half an hour to-day to hear the frogs croak, and he wouldn’t read the life of Chalmers.

I don't need to explain what frogs are to you, but many don't know that Dr. Thomas Chalmers was an early Presbyterian church leader, professor, and noted evangelical preacher in Scotland. He was, in short, a "great man and a great Christian", who died a few years before Thoreau's aunt asked him to read the churchman's biography. I am sure she knew it would be edifying, and good for Thoreau, in a particularly Christian sort of way. Yet Thoreau declined that biographical book in favor of one better illustrated and better written: the croaking of living frogs on a warm, spring day.

A friend who lives near a wetland in town here, remarked the other day that the frogs were now, suddenly, croaking. The day had been unusually warm, a record-breaking 81 degrees, and the frogs awoke. At the time, I thought it was odd that this would be the notable thing my friend mentioned about his day. However, this entry in Thoreau's journals teaches me that it's not always a settled matter to decide between listening to what is "good for you" and what is right for you. You can do worse than to listen to what frogs are saying.

Fruits at the Far End of the Mississippi

"You will know them by their fruits" (Matthew 7:16).

One small mission team (two couples) from our church came home this week from service in the South. Our larger, spring mission team of nearly 30 (a third of them high-school students) is at work in the Gulfport/Biloxi area this week. They are helping with the hurricane recovery effort, clearing debris and repairing usable homes. I called on Monday morning, and Pastor Mary Keen told me they had not seen much damage yet, and that they saw many of the federal government's trailers sitting unused in a storage area. I hope that is good news and that people are moving on to more permanent housing. We hope to post another report or two this week.

The daily reading from the "Rule of Benedict" urges manual labor for the monastics. Benedict says, it's a very good thing for the brothers and sisters to serve in the world in the same way, by physical work, that the apostles and saints have always done. He says that real work is a sign of the authenticity of the workers. Jesus says something similar, "You will know them by their fruits."

Picking Up Crosses All Over the Place

The cross is there, from the beginning, (we)have only got to pick it up; there is no need for us to go out and look for a cross for ourselves....Jesus says that all Christians have their crosses waiting for them... --Dietrich Bonhoeffer

A lot of people I know treat their Christian callings as if they were medical specialists. They only want to do what they do best, or else nothing at all. Some are musicians, some are writers, some are business leaders, and some are teachers. Some have lives which are always, always too busy to help someone else. I've known people for ten years in our church who I have yet to see go out of their way to help another soul, and their story is, "I am too busy today to help", or "I am too busy this year to help." Just the reverse of the one who "goes the extra mile" when forced to go one mile. They will go miles and miles and miles out of their way to avoid actually doing something useful for someone.

Sometimes it's just more important that somebody lifts the cross that needs lifting than it is to have God and and neighbor wait until we can find a certified or doctoral-level lifter of old rugged crosses!

We all know how wonderful it is to lead from one's strengths and to be passionate and creative and qualified about what we are doing; we all prefer to have some sort of vanity plate on our cross, or suitable embroidery and padding, but sometimes you just "got to pick up" the cross that has fallen in your way. Don't worry; we are not about to run out of crosses in this hurting world; there'll be another cross along soon. Believe me, you could spend your life picking up crosses all over the place! There are plenty available. It's a little like pick-up-sticks. Why anyone thinks they can only pick up the green cross, or the red cross, or the pink cross is beyond me...

To Bless You

In the culminating pages of the novel, "Gilead", Reverend John Ames III says to a young man whom he has subtly disliked and mistrusted for too many years, "What I would like to do, actually, is to bless you." The young man quietly consents to the blessing. It is a sacred moment between someone who comes only late to accept blessing and another one who only comes late to give blessing. Yet blessing occurs.

For years now, in our Confirmation classes we have asked the adult guides to bless each Confirmation student in their small groups on the Wednesday night when we gather. It is a surprisingly, lovely thing to see. A 13-year-old will stand completely still for a moment to accept the kind hand of an adult placed in blessing on their forehead.

I wish I had done this more often for my sons. Now, in what ways I can, I do it every time I see them. And I try to do it with the kids around me. Sometimes I play monster with them, and yet I hope I always tell them in one way or another how wonderful they are. Every child of God needs this, even the elderly and the middle-aged competents and sophisticates. We all need to be blessed just for our being.

Simple Gospel, Simple Church

A reading from the "Rule of Benedict":
...Adapt and arrange everything in such a way that souls may be saved
and that the brethren may do their work without just cause for murmuring.

Think about this sentence above and absorb it; Saint Benedict captures a very simple interpretation of the gospel and our life together: (1) make sure people get near God, and (2)make sure you treat each other kindly. So then there are two questions that follow this gospel: What are we doing that contributes positively to the redemption and happiness of others? Or, what are we doing that prevents love of God and neighbor?

Jesus preached, "Woe...to you....(who) load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not lift a finger to ease them" (Luke 11:46). Our ministry in Christ is just to clear the way to God, and to lighten the load for each other. It's a simple gospel, and it makes for a simple, wholesome church.

The Hawk

Yesterday afternoon, a Sunday, I saw my first robin of the spring. In fact,
there were about a dozen of them holding services in our back yard. They were walking and bobbing their heads in prayer.

Later, for the first time since coming to Northfield, we saw a hawk dart down into the middle of our backyard and take a prey. Then he perched on his captive, claws wrapped round it, with a great, puffed out chest, while he ate the little bird he'd caught.

At first, I thought I would run out and frighten the hawk away. Then I thought better of it. The seasons may change,spring may come, but nature really does not change, or come or go, for any season. The praying robins were seeking food. The preying hawk was, too. And so am I, and so are you. Human beings are less blunt about it, but there is not really a more delicate truth at the bottom of it all. We dine to live. We are creatures. We just prefer plastic wrap and barbecue sauce on our kill.

The further gift we have is the awareness that "life is more important than food"
(Matthew 6:25). We eat, yet we are always aware of something more; we are seeking the kingdom, too. Though we have the creature's needs, we also have the yearnings of those who are just a little less than God. How odd to be so mud-footed and so desperate to fly.

Join Our Skliled Personnel!

I received an e-mail today from a company who wanted me to "join our skliled personnel". It has been a while since I had a new job offer, so I was tempted, but I'm just not sure. Something about the invitation leaves me skeptical.

Sometimes we ourselves, and our churches, are pretty ineffective invitations, too.
We say we want folks to join our loivng and pryiang church, then we actually behave in some other way.

The monastic Rule of Benedict teaches, "Do not aspire to be called holy before you really are, but first be holy that you may truly be called so" (RB, chapter 4). Jesus teaches us to keep it simple and authentic: "Let what you say be simply 'Yes' or 'No'" (Matthew 5:37). Don't publicly advertize yourself to be what you are not; that is the very definition of hypocrisy.

So for today: I am just as hloy as the next preson! I hepo you are, to.

Traveling Home

Thoreau's Journal from March 11, 1856

At best, Paris could only be a school in which to learn to live here, a stepping-stone to Concord, as school in which to fit for this university. I wish so to live ever as to derive my satisfactions and inspirations from the commonest events, every-day phenomena, so that my senses hourly perceive, my daily walk, the conversation of my neighbors, may inspire me, and I may dream of no heaven but that which lies about me.

Thoreau is writing here about traveling to important places--and contrasting this with having the stability to remain in your own "hometown". For him, the hometown was Concord--and traveling meant a journey to Paris. For us? For us "Paris" could be Thailand or Italy, Peru or Namibia, Gulfport or Faribault. I guess "home" is Northfield. So many people in this community travel so much to so many places. I wonder whether we have a perspective on this travel though, that it is simply "a school in which to fit for this university" of Northfield?

Is travel our escape to someplace heavenly and other than our daily round, or better, is it a sort of training ground which allows us to see with more clarity and deeper appreciation our own neighbors, our own soils, skies and waters? Perhaps we visit the Appian Way, built in the 4th century BC as a "super-highway" connecting Rome with the far reaches of the Empire, largely to help us better appreciate Division Street? Perhaps one learns to speak Swahili and takes a term of studies in Kenya or Tanzania mostly to build the cultural skills required to move among "townies", college students, farmers, commuters and Dundas residents?

The first confession of faith which Israel made was this: "My father was a wandering Aramean...The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm...and he brought us into this place and gave us this land..."
(Deuteronomy 26:5ff). No matter how far afield we wander and travel,it helps us on our path if we remember that we are also homeward bound.

Preach, Pray or Die...

Thoreau's Journal from March 13, 1853
You must get your living by loving. To be supported by the charity of friends or a governmental pension is to go into the almshouse. To inherit property is not to be born,—is to be still-born rather.

I spoke with a retired pastor the other day, who asked me, "How is it going?" It happened to be a busy stretch in the ministry week, and I said things were pretty thick. He swiftly responded, "Well, no one said it would be easy." I said, "I could have sworn that someone said it would be!" But he denied it; this might be so for Lutheran pastors, but not for Methodist preachers! As Francis Asbury once said, Methodist pastors are called to "preach, pray or die on a moment's notice". I personally have observed that there are Sundays when I have simultaneously done all three in the pulpit."

Well, such considerations aside. We are all called, as Thoreau says, "to get our living by loving". We work and serve. The "Rule of Benedict" for today says in paraphrased form: "Everybody has to take their turn at K.P."; that's community and loving service. And so we do. Christian discipleship is no place for princes and princesses.

Minnesota Food Share and a 50s Drive-In--3/12

Second Post for Monday, March 12

What does a 50s Drive-In have to do with Minnesota Food Share?
Food! Life! This Wednesday, March 14, 5:30--6:30 p.m., our Confirmation class and guides will be serving 50s Drive-In Food (sloppy joes, root beer floats, etc.) to
all comers. We will also set out a "burger basket" for donations for Minnesota Food Share to help raise funds for the local food shelf--for households with pressing financial needs. Please come, have fun, and give generously! In this case, we'll all be "Rebels With a Cause"!

The prophet Isaiah never had fries with a Coke, but he knew what matters most in life, "...Share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house....(If you do these things,)the Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places..." (Isaiah 58:7ff)

Holy Conferencing Begins on Same-Gender Sexual Expression

Last night, our "holy conferencing" on same-gender sexual expression began with four United Methodist pastors who each offered their varying understandings on the morality of this. Over 40 people were present. For the preliminaries and instructional portions, the methods of the series on same-gender sexuality were described: presentations by pastors,scholars and scientists; questions and answers; and small group sharing.

Pastor Mary Keen instructed the group on the methods of respectful sharing which we are pursuing in groups where attentive listening and respectful honesty are emphasized. Pastor Clay noted a passage in Augustine's "Confessions", dating back 1600 years, where Saint Augustine explores the question of what is impermanent, or culturally and historically relative, and what "righteousness" of God is fixed for all times and places, and in what ways this is so.

Pastor Elizabeth Macaulay of Richfield United Methodist Church spoke in defense of full-inclusion of those whose sexualities are in the minority in our culture. She mentioned the suffering her own father went through as he came to grips with his sexual identity and was eventually transgendered. She advocated that "the Resurrection changes everything", most especially that it opens a way for including and companioning persons who have only been shamed and isolated for their sexual orientation in the past.

Pastor Duane Sarazin of River Hills United Methodist Church spoke against full inclusion, and expressed his conviction that in the created order men and women are made by God for shared sexual expression--and that same-gender expression may be psychologically remediable, while it can be physically threatening to participants, and morally errant. Pastor Sarazin also expressed his commitment to offer appropriate, generous, flexible pastoral care to each individual without insisting on correct dogma at every given moment in the pastoral relationship with a person in need.

Pastor Cooper Wiggen of Minnehaha United Methodist Church spoke for full-inclusion. He noted that in his own experience, even taking the role of a gay person in a stage presentation during his seminary years made others uneasy being around him in real-life social situations, and that this gave him a new sensitivity to what gay and lesbian persons must endure. He also argued that some persons are "by nature" gay or lesbian, just as some are heterosexual by nature, and that this is a scientifically proper understanding of the arguments from creation or nature which are often made against same-gender sexuality.

Pastor Phil Strom of Elk River United Methodist Church spoke against full-inclusion, for himself and the churches he serves, believing that this stance has Scriptural integrity, and he thought that every church and pastor must do in conscience what they believe is fitting and faithful. He wondered aloud whether this means there must be division of denominations, so that there are not situations where one United Methodist Church teaches one thing, and another teaches something else, so leading to confusion among denominational members and their households.

Next week, March 18: Peter Vogt, an Assistant Professor of Old Testament, Bethel Seminary, will share his views on Scripture and Homosexuality. The following week, March 25, David Fredrickson, a Professor of New Testament, Luther Seminary, Saint Paul, will teach on his contrasting views. On April 1, Dr. Simon Rosser of the University of Minnesota will teach on "The Science and Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Behaviors".

Please join us for these conversations.

Second Thoughts

2nd Post on Saturday, March 10

I've been thinking about the earlier post today,and I think I was careless in my expression about liberal humanism and conservative nationalism.
These are not forms of "godlessness" in themselves, unless certain forms of idolatry creep into the way they are expressed.

In the case of liberal humanism, this idolatry occurs where one lives from an undue optimism about the level of beneficence in human nature, and particularly about human capacities to recognize and act on the moral good when it is not necessarily in one's immediate self-interest.

In the case of conservative nationalism, this idolatry occurs where one lives from an undue confidence or optimism about any nation's capacities to recognize and act on the moral good when it is not necessarily in their immediate self-interest.

The flaw in orientation and loyalty in both cases is the appeal to a penultimate Self, Ideal, or State without an over-riding concern for what God is guiding and urging upon us, or for the interests of the many other selves and communities and nations around us.

As a Pentecostal friend and prophet used to say, "I want God to rule, and to over-rule, anything that gets in the way of the divine work."

Destination, please?

John Cock, a UM pastor, teacher and consultant, who met recently with members of our church to lead a "Spirit Journey Retreat", has published two volumes of his own "daily spirit journal". One of his selected readings for this week reminds us that in the 21st century our Christian path is neither this godlessness that is confused with conservative nationalism, nor that godlessness which is confused with liberal humanism, but another, independent way, which veers closer to and farther from these ideologies at various times. Again, it is neither airless orthodox belief, nor breathless speculative belief, but purposeful, reasoning, prayerful, generous and warm-hearted faith. We are headed for the reign of God without watering it down a bit into "religion" or "politics", "correctness" or "progressiveness", whiney disputations about who belongs and who doesn't,or meeting a list of this week's churchly behaviors and expectations.

So, about this journey we are taking: it isn't a commonplace one, and so people are surprised and uncomprehending when they see an ordinary person like you insisting on doing the kingdom of God without delay. Carl Sandburg wrote, "...And if you start to go to that country, remember first you must sell everything you have, pigs, pastures, pepper pitchers, pitchforks, put the spot cash money in a ragbag, and go to the railroad station and ask the ticket agent for a long slick yellow leather slab ticket with a blue spanch across it. And you mustn't be surprised if the ticket agent wipes sleep from his eyes and asks, 'So far? So early? So soon?'"

"Jesus said to (a certain ruler)...'Sell all that you own, and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, then come, follow me" (Luke 18:22). Set down your old baggage, then follow Jesus the Messiah.

So,are you going? Destination, please?

Same-Gender Sexuality: Is It Moral or Not?

Second Post for Friday, March 9: Invitation to March 11 Dialogues on Same-Gender Sexual Expression
This is another invitation to all our members to join us for the series of conversations the Northfield United Methodist Church is hosting concerning the morality of same-gender sexual expression, i.e. we'll be experiencing "holy conferencing" concerning gay/lesbian/homosexual orientation and behavior.

You need not attend all the events in the series, but we strongly urge every member to participate in the series, to study widely, and to reflect and pray about what our ministry as a congregation should be in this area.

Please join us on Sunday, March 11, 5-7 p.m. The Process planning team has exerted itself to offer a fair and balanced method of learning, prayer and conversation which will extend most weeks through the end of April. We will also try to videotape these conversations.

On this first Sunday gathering, we will listen as four, respected Minnesota Annual Conference pastors, with nearly a century of pastoral service among them--Phil Strom, Duane Sarazin, Cooper Wiggen and Elizabeth Macaulay describe their own answers to this one, central question: "Should same-gender sexual expression be morally accepted among Christians?"

In weeks that follow, biblical scholars and scientists will also teach, as well as advocates for and against the moral acceptability of same-gender sexual expression.

Kicking the Tires

from Thoreau's Journal--March of 1853
I know of no more pleasing employment than to ride about the country with a companion very early in the spring, looking at farms with a view to purchasing if not paying for them.

Spring comes; we can tell. Thoreau looks at farms he cannot really buy. We do the same, sometimes in leisurely--and sometimes in purposeful, ways. This is our season for kicking tires. Looking at houses we might want to purchase. Dreaming of summer vacations we may never take. Getting ready to sow seeds which may or may not grow to harvest. One of the great gifts which God imparts to the human being is the ability to dream, imagine, create stories, and fantasize. How immense the world and time would need to be if we could actually inhabit and embody all that we imagine or remember! Therefore, how immense, how endless, are the storehouses of thought, memory and imagination which God has made it possible for us to enter.

Augustine wrote in his "Confessions": "O my God, profound, infinite complexity, what a great faculty memory is, how awesome a mystery! It is the mind, and this is nothing other than my very self. What am I, then, O my God? What is my nature? It is teeming life of every conceivable kind, and exceedingly vast. See in the measureless plains and vaults and caves of my memory, immeasurably full of countless kinds of things....In this wide land I am free of all of them, free to run and fly to and fro, to penetrate as deeply as I can, to collide with no boundary anywhere....(Yet) see, I am climbing through my mind to you..."

We are literally imagining things all the time. For us, thought and prayer are always in season. The trend of our thought, memory, day-dreams, reflections,and visions is always ascending toward the face of God.

Talk Softly

The tongue of the wise dispenses knowlege, but the mouths of fools pour out folly....A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverse speech breaks the spirit." --Proverbs 15:2 and 4

There is a friend,a sister in the church, who having noticed my tendencies to
ironic teasing, and (I confess) sometimes inadvertently cutting speech, has asked me to monitor those moments myself, use them as a signal to pause, and then try to say something kind and encouraging, instead of something funny or barbed.

She is amazingly accurate in both diagnosis and prescription. I've occasionally tested her method, and it works. I've been surprised what can happen when I withhold the teasing word, or in other cases the critical word, and instead have spoken thoughtfully, honestly and generously with my friends and neighbors.

However, the downside must also be considered. Kind speech is not nearly as much fun, and raises up nowhere near as much dust and hell-on-earth, as irony, criticism, gossip, and verbal self-righteousness. Thoughtful Christians must weigh the options and opportunities involved. While the Scriptures do tell us that the "tongue is a fire", who isn't drawn to a four-alarm blaze once in a while? Spiritual arson is a fascinating game the whole community can play if they're not careful.

Sometimes it is best to be a little indirect, a little teasing, a little flawed, so that people are shocked when one shows true kindness. They may think the better of you for lapsing into pleasant comment ("so s/he is not so bad after all..."), and an occasional kind word to our neighbor is far less trouble than trying to establish that sort of thing as a habit.

If I were always pleased with people near me, and told them so, how long would they value my good opinion of them? Their suspicions about my motives would drive them from me. The secret of their beauty, and of my affection for each one of them, is safe with me! I prefer to keep my friends' trust, so I tease them.

And I try, as the sister suggests, to speak kindly to them; God forgive me and all of us the damage we have done and sometimes do still, and certainly will do yet again. Amen.

The moral: talk softly, but carry a big schtick. Regret and forgiveness are far more important to the human race than perfection.

Urban Immersion?

In about a week, I will take the Confirmation youth of our Northfield church for an overnight "urban immersion" retreat. It's an odd title for the experience; I spent 15 years in inner-city ministry, and I still never thought I was "immersed" in the challenges that were the daily struggle of broken households, persons of color, health-care problems, abuse, addicts, alcoholics, fear--most of which you can find in suburbs, too, but it was complicated in the city by overwhelming poverty and homelessness.

I'll have one 23-hour period to help the youth try to "get it" about their "neighbors'" human struggles to survive and flourish in poor areas of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. I'll get to try to explain to them why the "emergency" homeless shelters of 1982 are still open in our cities in 2007--25 years later!

A Case Study in Detroit

Following up on a story I wrote for "Christian Century" about the Archdiocese of Detroit's church closures back in about 1989, I contacted Dr. Michael McCallion at Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit to see what had happened since the planned urban closures of that year. About 30 parishes were closed in Detroit in a very brief
period of time on the initiative of the Archbishop Szoka. It was
essentially enacted as a cost-saving measure for the Archdiocese: closing
churches perceived to be relatively inactive or ineffective parishes.

The move was highly controversial. At least two studies were completed on
it. Sociologists, Jeff Bridger and David Mains (Oakland University,
Detroit), compared the impact of the parish closures to the manufacturing
plant closings that were taking in place in urban areas of the North at the
time. Grief and loss considerations were slighted--and the initiative was
largely handled as if it were the financial decision of a business
corporation.

In another study, Tom Duggan, a sociologist at Wayne State Universty, wrote
an article on the closures which argued that the closing of the churches
symbolized the departure of God from the city. Even small parishes which
remain active signal God's presence, while closed churches tell a community
or neighborhood that "God is gone".

So students of religion in the city cautioned that it was easy enough to close churches, but the real, underlying concern should be whether and how the Church would re-enter and minister in urban areas, particularly in impoverished or transitioning communities. The challenge wasn't just to end what seemed useless or
unworthy, but to replace it with something vibrant and life-giving.

In this case, the Archdiocese has never really "re-entered". Apparently,
there never was a strategy or plan to re-enter impoverished areas. The
record shows this pretty damningly. Fifteen years after the 30 closures, the Archdiocese has made only one attempt to begin again, in a single parish area on the eastside of Detroit.

The successor to Szoka in 1990, and still the current Archbishop, promised
when he came in that he would not handle the churches in that manner.
Instead, he has organized the remaining parishes by "vicarate planning"
since 1995, clustering 10 or so parishes in each vicarate, and these
parishes are to cooperate as well as possible, and to assess instances
where inter-parish sharing should or could move toward the merging of two
or more parishes. They have "closed" no churches, but there have been
about five mergers in the last 10-12 years. Apparently the reception and
results have been mixed overall.(Since that time another 20-25 parishes have been closed or merged with others; so the score to date in that Archdiocese is something like 55 closings to one new beginning!)

In addition to vicarate planning, the Archdiocese has also introduced some
urban and suburban planning, looking for five-mile radii to be served within the city, and for larger radii in the suburbs. Using this measure,
there are some "empty pocket" areas of Detroit because of the closings.
The Archdiocese has also strongly encouraged more intensive efforts in "the
new evangelization". Some on the scene there wonder why the Archdiocese doesn't try more: why not put a full-time priest, a youth worker, a DRE, and some musicians into distressed parishes? Bring in some great musicians. Open the church 24-hours a day!Something like "Sister Act"--and let her rip for a year!

So: Prune the dead stuff, but look for opportunities to "live" in each community in
need of Jesus Christ. What does it mean for Christians to be given the care of the poor of the land?

"Holy Conferencing" on Same-Gender Sexual Expression

You are invited...Every member is encouraged to be present...

Beginning Sunday, March 11, 5--7 p.m.,our Northfield United Methodist Church, 1411 Maple Street South, will host a series of Sunday evening conversations on same-gender sexual expression/homosexual expression and orientation as this relates to church membership, church leadership, unions/weddings/blessings and ordination. We have been asked by our Administrative Council to organize a period of "holy conferencing", which in our case means: presentations for and against full-inclusion from several United Methodist pastors, messages from Biblical scholars at Bethel and Luther seminaries, scientific researchers, and advocates for and against inclusion.

We will also pray together and share "sacred circle" experiences, listening to one another's experiences and thoughts without interruption, in safety and mutual respect.

The purpose for this series of holy conversations is:
+to learn a great deal together,
+to pray, speak and listen together, and
+to discover points of consensual agreement.

We are looking for places where we may agree to go forward in ministry, and also for those areas where we may need to "agree to disagree" about the morality/inclusion tensions in Christian conversations about GLBT/homosexual orientation and expression.

Light refreshments will be served. We encourage you to contribute funds at the door to help us afford some of our guests, as they visit with us.

Sleeping in Church

Though I am a preacher, I have always believed that sleeping in church was a pretty good idea. Other preachers I have known have taught me this; there are times when it is better to sleep than to endure intolerable and unending suffering!

Not everyone agrees with this. The Puritans used to have long poles, or grappling hooks, they would use to "awaken the sleepers" during their services. This, I think, was unwise. First off,you might hurt or awaken someone else accidentally, and second, the act of wakening one, while occasionally useful to that soul, depending upon the sermon and the soul, just distracts the rest of the congregation from whatever the heck it was that the preacher was saying.

Actually, sleep in church or elsewhere has its virtues. It is a blessing. The Lord God His-Own-Self, it is said in Scripture, "caused a deep sleep" to come upon not only Adam, but also Abraham, Jacob, and many others, including Joseph--the father of Jesus, generally with positive results afterwards. Adam awoke to find he had a new helper. Abraham received immense promises for the future.

Jacob is our most pertinent example. After a good nap, he awoke and proclaimed, "Surely God is in this place, and I did not know it...This is none other than the house of God..." (Genesis 28:16,17). This seems to me to be evidence that at least one of the Patriarchs slept in a sanctuary, so we have strong precedent for others to do so as well. There are more great examples. The Psalmist writes that God will "give to his beloved sleep" (Psalm 127:02). Jesus His-Own-Self could not keep the disciples awake at Gethsemane, and Paul preached so long and tirelessly (tiresomely?) that a young man fell asleep and out of a second story window.

To my way of thinking, if God Himself, God's Son and God's servants bless the people of God by putting them to sleep, preachers ought to do the same. It is our calling. It is our duty. It is a means of grace! I am always pleased and feel I have done my best for God and neighbor, and that I have joined in the long line of the saints in apostolic succession, when someone tells me I have put them to sleep on a Sunday morning! Praise God and say Hallelujah, but quietly, lest we wake anyone.

Who Is A Disciple?

Steve Manskar, our United Methodist executive for Accountable Discipleship, writes his own blog. I think much of what he writese there is outstanding for its clarity and succinct expression of a Wesleyan approach to God's grace and the disciple's "holiness of heart and life." I commend this small essay to you. At a minimum, it is informative; if you follow his purpose, you find yourself in the presence of John Wesley and of Jesus of Nazareth, being formed to give all that you have and all that you are for the Reign of God. So, today you are either a slightly attentive reader, or you may be rounding the corner into deeper discipleship. What is happening to you today? --Clay

The English word, disciple, is derived from the Latin, discipulus, meaning “a learner or pupil; one who accepts and follows a given doctrine or teacher” (The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, vol. 1:845). A disciple of Jesus Christ, therefore, is a person who accepts and follows his teachings. All who are baptized in the name of the Triune God and confess Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord are Christians and, by definition, disciples.


Our Wesleyan tradition gives some further help answering the question “Who is a disciple?” A disciple is a person who has faith in Christ and their faith bears fruit through keeping the General Rules (see The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church – 2004, pages 72-74): doing no harm by avoiding evil, doing good to all as often as possible, and practicing the instituted means of grace (prayer, worship, the Lord’s Supper, reading and hearing Scripture, fasting/abstinence). Christian faith is exhibited by a life that strives toward holiness of heart and life (1 Thessalonians 3:11-13; Galatians 5:16-26; Ephesians 4:1-3; Philippians 2:12-13); perfection (maturity/ wholeness/ completeness) in love (Matthew 5:48; 1 John 2:3-6); “having the mind of Christ” (Philippians 2:5). A disciple is one whose life in the world is “faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6). A disciple’s life seeks wholehearted love for God through loving service in the world, especially with the poor, those who are sick, prisoners, lonely, tired, and lost (see Matthew 22:37-39; 25:31-46).


The General Rules are for all Christians. They are a simple, general, guide for living in the world as followers and friends of Jesus Christ. They are a rule of life intended to help Christians to be mindful of the basics of loving God, loving neighbors and loving one another. They help disciples to attend to all of the teachings of Jesus and not only those that suit their temperament. A disciple, therefore, is a Christian who does his or her best to follow Jesus’ teachings every day of the week.

Hedged by Secrecy

Thoreau's Journal near the end of February in 1840.
The most important events make no stir on their first taking place, nor indeed in their effects directly. They seem hedged about by secrecy....Corn grows in the night.

Personal growth and development is a mystery. The things we cannot do, or bear to consider on one day, we somehow handle on the next. It took me a long time to learn to skip; I was way behind other kids my age. I think that was because I tried to "think" skipping, instead of "do" skipping, but that's beside the point. I still vividly remember the day on the playground at school when I demonstrated to my 2nd-grade teacher the new development in my life, that I could skip! She was not overly impressed; most of her kids did this in kindergarten, I suppose. Yet I knew it was a milestone! Something just changed from one day to the next.

This is true in most facets of life. If we are not ready, we are not ready.
Math, spelling, cooking, bicycling, skiing...parenting, organizing, financing...
And it is certainly true in our relational and spiritual life, as well. We aspire to love; we want to be generous; we anticipate being kind; we sure would like to be able to forgive ourselves and others. But sometimes it just doesn't happen for a long time in our lives, and then one day it does.

This is what Jesus meant when he said, "The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground....The seed would sprout and grow, yet the (sower) does not know how... like a mustard seed, which when sown on the ground is the smallest of all the seeds of the earth, yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs..." (Mark 4:28, 31).

What sign of God's presence have you suddenly been surprised to find in full blossom in your life?