Saints, Thanks, Advent and Christmas 2013

The most recent government shutdown has been resolved. As I write this in late October we are experiencing the costs and confusion of re-starting. This past week I was part of a group of pastors and fruit/vegetable/flower growers who met with two of Representative Fred Upton's staff on the topic of Immigration Reform. Next week I plan to attend the informational meeting at the Hartford Library on the Affordable Care Act. Nothing seems to be working as it should or as we hoped it would. Our human ways of visioning, organizing, planning and acting more often than not come out distorted and dysfunctional. I smile as I remember my grandmother's wisdom in knowing the humanness and foolishness of politicians and leaders.

But, we carry on anyway because there are breaks in the storm clouds, moments of clarity, and more than random acts of kindness and compassion. There is something in us that continues longing and searching for meaning in this earthly life.

One way we live in this tension of hope and fear is to celebrate the seasons and Sundays of the Church year which concludes on November 24 and begins on December 1 with Advent. I also have found it helpful to recognize the unofficial spiritual season that begins November 1 with All Saints' Day and includes Thanksgiving.

Saints are those beloved children of God in whom we saw the Light of the World and who are no longer with us. The blessing we speak in worship is that they are "Absent from us. Present with God." Thanksgiving grounds us in healthy dependence upon God, the giver of all good gifts, and healthy interdependence with each other as we affirm the need we have for community and to follow Jesus together.

Advent and Christmas show us that the birth of our Savior begins with pregnancy, expectation and preparation. In our Advent worship we light a new candle each week and confirm the work we do in the season: Hope, Prepare, Rejoice and Love. At Christmas we remember that God did not crash land or mistakenly come into this world. But through a gentle, strong mother, Mary; a humble, respectful father, Joseph; and Holy Spirit presence and creativity Jesus entered this distorted, dysfunctional world to disrupt and deliver us from sin and despair.

By faith we return to the people and stories of these seasons so that we can return to a world that is not finally shut down, but transformed and made new. Praise God for sharing this life with us in Jesus.

Methodists in Ministry and Life

In responding to God's call to bear fruit we can benefit from organizing our lives to cultivate fertile soil (Mark 4:1-9); invest wisely the talents we have been given (Matthew 25:14-30); embody the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22); see what is good, and meet the Lord's requirements to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8).

We seek God's blessing as we enter a new school and ministry year. The quality of students' and educators' lives is deeply affected by the way they organize their time and work. John Wesley and his brother, Charles, were part of an original group at the University of Oxford in England called The Holy Club. Out of this experience of active, disciplined devotion came the derisive term, methodists.

The first work of the Holy Club was the study of the Bible. The new movement was spiritual, humanitarian, but, first and strongest of all, scriptural. The searching of the Scriptures was earnest, open-minded, devout, unceasing. Wesley himself said: "From the very beginning--from the time that four young men united together----each of them was homo ur, ius libri; a man of one book .... They had one, and only one rule of judgment .... They were continually reproached for this very thing, some terming them in derision Bible Bigots; others, Bible Moths; feeding, they said, upon the Bible as moths do on cloth (Chapter V: The Holy Club at Wesley Center Online)

I appreciate our strong desire for Bible study; "to follow the Holy Spirit through prayer, and our growing knowledge of the Holy Scriptures" according to our mission statement. An organized approach to discipleship training can have a ripple effect throughout our lives, that is we can be methodists in ministry and life.

A playful and appealing resource I am integrating in my ministry and life now is called "Getting Things Done." It's author, David Allen, has some powerfully practical suggestions about why we struggle with our work and how we can respond differently to the demands of daily living. He recommends getting everything out of our minds, deciding what the next actions are, and recording them in a trusted system that is regularly reviewed and refreshed.

Your mind will keep working on anything that's still in (an) undecided state. But there's a limit to how much unresolved "stuff" it can contain before it blows a fuse. The short-term-memory part of your mind--the part that tends to hold all the incomplete, undecided, and unorganized "stuff"--functions much like RAM on a personal computer. Your conscious mind, like the computer screen, is a focusing tool, not a storage place. You can think about only two or three things at once (my emphasis) (Getting Things Done, 22-23).

The power to focus, to have a singleness of mind and heart, or to commit to a common mission can be exhilarating. This power is a source of stability and peace from God. As we enter this new school and ministry year, we can seek the blessing of a well-organized life that is inspired by God and leads us to ask, "What's the next thing to do?"

We are an active congregation who responds to clearly defined invitations, challenges, projects and missions. So together let's seek the blessing of a methodist season of growing in the knowledge and love of God.

Peace, Pastor Jeff

Wesley Foundation of Kalamazoo's 90th Anniversary

Thank you, Lisa, current students, staff, Board members and supporting churches for planning Wesley's 90th anniversary celebration! It is a great joy to be reminded of the grace and love that filled our season of ministry from February 1993 to June 2002. I remember the passion and laughter and tears that were shared as we grew up together at WMU and Kalamazoo College.

The 75th anniversary theme in 1998 was "Threads of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow," based on Ecclesiastes 3:11, "Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. God has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end." In campus ministry we are growing up and ultimately going somewhere else. There is blessed and burdensome instability, and the reminder that any one manifestation of ministry is both beautiful for its time, and not final.

One of the profound benefits of campus ministry is that we are intentionally and directly involved with the most concentrated population of young adults in our culture. We are in the right place and doing the right thing to be personally present with continuing support and the theological commitment to serve campus communities whose intellectual growth needs to be accompanied by God's call to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8).

Beverly and I along with Lindsey, Sarah and Amanda are grateful for all the love shared in our time together.

The Means of Grace Really Work

In our Wesleyan heritage the "means of grace" refer to those faith practices that are dependable sources of experiencing God's grace. The primary ones are prayer, searching the Scriptures and receiving open Holy Communion. John Wesley preached, "By 'means of grace' I understand outward signs, words, or actions, ordained of God, and appointed for this end, to be the ordinary channels whereby (God) might convey to (people), preventing, justifying, or sanctifying grace."

Happy Anniversary, Hartford UMC.

Our 2-year anniversary is July 1.

As we enter our third year of shared ministry I enter my 25th year of ordained ministry in the West Michigan Conference of The United Methodist Church. As an ordained Deacon I began serving Center Park UMC in 1989. I was ordained Elder in 1991. I am an introvert and therefore enjoy times of reflection. So I returned to a statement I wrote for Bishop Don Ott on the five-year anniversary of my Elder ordination:

Some of the most profound experiences of God's movement in my life have come during worship and especially while celebrating the sacraments. One memory of communion is particularly clear and, I believe, indicative of what the Realm of God is like. I visited an elderly widow of our congregation in a nursing home and brought her communion. It so happened that her three remaining sisters (one had recently died), all widows themselves, were visiting her at the same time. We were together in the room, I finished saying the prayer of thanksgiving, and was ready to share the bread and juice when one of the sisters remarked that this would be the first time since they were children that they would be having communion together. They had grown up, married, started their own families, and been active in different churches for all the intervening years. But on that day they were re-gathered around the bed of one of their sisters.

A related area of grace has been prayer time shared with other people. I have found a great freedom of expression in the spirit of prayer that I often cannot share in ordinary conversation. I have sensed this during prayer with members of the congregation in their homes and hospital rooms, and around their tables. I have known the power of prayer in the midst of tense and conflicted times when I have been given words of peace and compassion that I would not normally have. Times of meditation, silence, and contemplation are growing in importance  for me as well.

Bishop Ott concluded his invitation by asking what we believe "success" in ministry is:

In two words, I believe success is incarnation and communion. By that I mean that success in ministry involves an enduring vulnerability to God's presence in Christ through the Spirit and an openness to meeting other people where they are. The quality of that success is loving-justice, a term I used to describe the relational nature of the Kingdom of God in my theological paper for ordination. I am aware of the times that I have not risked offering hospitality or reaching out to persons in need because I did not want to get involved. I also know that when I have been open to God in contemplation, solitude, and Scriptural reflection, I have been led to greater depth of feeling and connection within myself and with others.

I can witness that the means of grace really work. And I am grateful for your countless outward signs, words and actions that have conveyed God's grace to me and the Hartford community. Let's have an excellent third year of our shared journey with Christ, celebrate the many ways we are sustained by God's love, and move forward in ministry by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Seeking a God-Sized Vision

As Kari Unrath (Lay Member of Annual Conference), Del Troutman (Kalamazoo District Missions Coordinator) and I prepare for Annual Conference at Calvin College, May 29-June 1, we have been encouraged to read Bearing Fruit: Ministry with Real Results by Lovell H. Weems, Jr. and Tom Berlin.

Tom's brother is a landscape architect. He once donated a landscaping plan for a new parsonage that Tom's congregation was building. Looking at photos of the site and the foundation of the house that was being built, his brother drew up a plan that showed trees, shrubs, and flowers. After everything was planted, Tom called him and suggested that there had been a mistake. The shrubs were too far apart. The trees should be closer to the home. The flower beds were too wide for the small greenery that they were planting. There was silence on the other end of the line and then a question, "Tom, can't you see what this will look like in five years?" (Bearing Fruit, 37)

When we don't account for the power of growth, creativity and repentance in our life together with God, we are tempted to think we can fix everything all at once; demand complete, instantaneous change in another person or in the church; or mistakenly substitute our short-term vision for God's eternal vision.

By contrast, when we focus on God's calling to us and seek God's vision:

• we learn that God is faithful and will provide what we need for the service we are asked to render.
• we discover that God is expansive, leading us to things that are often far beyond what we think is possible.
• we find that God knows exactly what will bring us the greatest joy, the greatest significance, and that God knows our limitations (Bearing Fruit, 40).

The most important thing you can do in your ministry is to discern what God is asking you to do with your life. The most important aspect of planning in your church is to ask what God''s desire is for your congregation in its setting (Bearing Fruit, 44).

Because I am drawn to the activity of daily ministry I need a call to lift up my head and look to the horizon; a reminder to take a deep breath to focus on the most important things; and encouragement to press on in the midst of difficulties. I also understand my calling as pastor to include this kind of work.

I am thankful for the long-term vision and work that God is sustaining in us, and for the memory of fruitful persons and ministry in our history.

May we remember and appreciate the long-term value of our faith journeys, and continue to seek a God-sized vision for our future.

An overview of this year's West Michigan Annual Conference is here: http://westmichiganconference.org/news/detail/2869.

How Old Is Your Hope Anyhow?

"I just want to celebrate another day of livin'

I just want to celebrate another day of life

I put my faith in the people, and the people let me down

So I turned the other way and I carry on, anyhow."

("I Just Want to Celebrate", Rare Earth)

March gives us both Lent and Easter. We know that Easter has special appeal in our culture. It is a time, along with Christmas and Mother's Day, when our worshiping congregation is larger than at any other time of the year. It is great to celebrate this defining moment in the Christian story of Jesus' resurrection. It is clean and pure and powerful.

However, Easter is surrounded in Scripture and in our congregational life with all kinds of opposing forces and actions. Our Lenten sermon series and adult Sunday School class are organized around Mosaic: When God Uses All the Pieces by Shane Stanford. How God uses our restlessness, regret, rejection, responsibilities, resources and rage to make a masterpiece in Christ challenges us to find strength for living in the face of severe contradictions.

Jesus, in his life, death and resurrection, becomes God's other way to turn and re-turn to the Source of Life as we face the opposing forces of sin, despair and disappointment. Such love and power come to us packaged as "old hope."

How often have you used hope early or preemptively to avoid difficult passages in your journey? Such as, "Oh, I hope that doesn't happen to me..."

Instead of this early, untested hope, God gives us hope that comes after passing through the complications and contradictions of our existence. 

And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings,

knowing that suffering produces endurance,

and endurance produces character,

and character produces hope,

and hope does not disappoint us,

because God’s love has been poured into our hearts

through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us (Romans 5:3-5)

Thank God, we can celebrate, appreciate all our days of life, and hope together in the surpassing power of love and forgiveness that God gives to the world in Jesus Christ. Let God raise Christ in your contradictions and broken pieces.

Holy Week Schedule

Palm/Passion Sunday, March 24: 9:30 am Sunday School for all ages; 10:30 am Worship

Maundy Thursday, March 28: 7:00 pm Worship with Open Communion

Good Friday, March 29: 9:30 am United Methodist Women's Breakfast; 7:00 pm Worship

EASTER SUNDAY, March 31: 8:30 am and 10:30 am Worship services with light breakfast served between services; No Sunday School

Can We Really Sing It That Way?

Here's one way it works:
     Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip.
     I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.

Gilligan's Island and Amazing Grace can be sung to each other's tunes because they are both written using the same musical meter.

In 5th grade I took the music aptitude tests with the only thought of playing drums. The results came back and the band director told my mom something like this, "Well, Mrs. Williams, maybe with some lessons he might be able to learn to play the drums." I still remember lessons in flams, paradiddles and five-stroke rolls at Mr. Banning's home studio throughout 6th grade. I returned to drum set lessons in my late 40's for about a year. Even now a nice donated drum set is in the parsonage basement.

But my greater music education has come through marriage and the Church. I married well. Beverly, my wife, has a wonderful singing voice. As a congregation we have been blessed through the years by good musical leadership, and celebrate the current vocal/instrumental gifts of Bob Lightner, Jenna Johnson, Pete Laman, Mikha Sitorus, Tammy Kling, Beverly Williams and many special music vocalists.

Often times we sing along with the special music songs in worship. Finding ways of connecting through music deepens our experience of grace. It's even more fun to discover relationships among songs themselves.

Common meter is a 4-line poetic stanza with alternating lines of 8 and 6 syllables (86.86 in our United Methodist Hymnal). Amazing Grace; O, For a Thousand Tongues to Sing; All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name; Gilligan's Island; and House of the Rising Sun all use common meter.

I appreciate learning the many ways we sing the Lord's songs in our congregation and the many ways we find to share our gifts for ministry.

Appreciating the relational power of common meter also can work theologically. As United Methodists these are the major beliefs and affirmations we hold in common with other Christians:

• Belief in the Triune God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit);
• Faith in the mystery of salvation in and through Jesus Christ;
• Belief that the reign of God is both a present and future reality;
• Belief in the authority of Scripture in matters of faith;
• Confession that our justification as sinners is by grace through faith;
• The sober realization that the church is in need of continual reformation and renewal;
• And affirmation of the general ministry of all baptized Christians who share responsibility for building up the church and reaching out in mission and service to the world.

"Nourished by common roots of this shared Christian heritage, the branches of Christ’s church have developed diverse traditions that enlarge our store of shared understandings" (Book of Discipline 2008, Paragraph 101, Section 1).

I hope 2013 is a year of singing and serving in new and inspiring ways. May we be open to the power of common, connecting gifts of God in our midst.

Take Root...Bear Fruit

  Listen to this as an audio file or download it to your audio player.

After considering several apparel choices at ICHTHUS (annual Christian music festival outside Wilmore, Kentucky we go to with our youth group), I chose this one:

The simple message is appealing and I am inspired by its directive. In our Alpha course video, founder Nicky Gumbel comments on a Japanese woman learning English phrases who converted "What on earth are you doing?" to “What are you doing on earth?”

Our Monday morning adult class is studying the book, Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations (Radical Hospitality, Passionate Worship, Intentional Faith Development, Risk-taking Mission and Service, and Extravagant Generosity), and experiencing the gifts of conversation, insight, empathy and determination to improve the quality of our life and ministry here. And at our annual Church Conference October 29 we shared many signs of fruitfulness in our congregational life. The stories of our rootedness and fruitfulness in the Hartford area are easy for me to tell as I speak with others.

November begins with our All Saints' Day celebration with open communion (11/4) and includes our annual Thanksgiving meal after worship on 11/18. In each of these celebrations we give thanks for the people in our lives who have followed the simple directive, Take Root...Bear Fruit.

I invite you to continue your growing journey with God, and consider the wisdom of God's creation expressed in Advice from a Tree by Ilan Shamir (The Power of a Positive No, 233):

"Stand Tall and Proud

Sink your roots deeply into the Earth Reflect the light of a greater source Think long term Go out on a limb... Be flexible remember your roots Enjoy the view!"

Thanks for your faithfulness in planting, tending and harvesting fruit in this Body of Christ.

Mission...In Progress

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In between Mission Impossible and Mission Accomplished lies the greater realm of life, Mission-In-Progress. I find there are few "resolved" matters in ministry. Instead we are all on the way with Christ. Our United Methodist heritage includes the powerful mission of "going on to perfection." I was asked questions related to this at my ordination in June 1991: "Are you going on to perfection? Do you expect to be made perfect in love in this life? Are you earnestly striving after it?"

"The best, most accurate description of Christian perfection is love. It is love fully formed in the human heart, soul, and mind. With Christian perfection the heart is so filled with love that there is no longer room for sin and evil to reside there" (Steven W. Manskar, a perfect love: Understanding John Wesley's A Plain Account of Christian Perfection, 6). Christian perfection is not about the elimination of sin or mistakes in our life as if we strive for perfect "performance"; it is about the increasing triumph of love in our lives by God's grace.

Knowing only in part how much is going on in our lives that we cannot control, we can at least be mindful of our direction. Pastor and author, Andy Stanley, makes this admittedly obvious affirmation:

"Direction-not intention-determines our destination"

(The Principle of the Path, 14)

One way to gauge our direction and measure how we are "going on to perfection" is through core principles or values. Some years ago I worked with the FranklinCovey PlanPlus system to write down some of my core values as a disciple of Jesus Christ and United Methodist pastor. They are signs of what God has revealed in my life to help me continue or return to the path of love and grace with Christ. I encourage you to devote time in prayer and reflection on the values you depend on or live by in your journey with Christ. These are mine:

Incarnation: I will seek to be fully present with God, neighbor and self (spiritually, emotionally, physically) in each moment.
Communion: I will seek to personally connect with God, neighbor and self in each interaction, and express genuine interest and care.
Imagination: I will seek times of solitude for the purpose of reflection and exploration of my imagination. I will invite others into similar exploration and encourage them through shared times of creative imagination.
Generosity: I will seek an abundance mentality toward my possessions, gifts and all creation. An integral part of this commitment is the availability of my person (spirit, mind, heart) for service with and for others.
Integrity: I will seek to realistically assess my relationship with time and correspondingly make commitments with God, neighbor and self that are reasonable and authentic. I desire to make and keep genuine commitments.

Let's keep going in the direction of Love and let God accomplish impossible things in our midst.

First Year Reflections of Grace

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To the Hartford UMC congregation and friends:

With the combined June-July 2012 issue of the newsletter we mark one year of ministry together. The good ministry you shared with Pastor Ron and Jan for 12 years has become our ministry as the Spirit has enabled another faithful transition in our congregation, a Body of Christ who traces its life to gathering as a Methodist Society in 1855. You have welcomed me as your pastor, and warmly received Beverly and our daughters, Sarah and Amanda. At this writing, we are moving Lindsey, our oldest daughter, and Callan, her husband, to Nebraska where she will begin a Ph.D. program in Psychology and Callan will continue his studies at the University of Nebraska. Last year started with their wedding.

I am grateful for the ways you value the pastor in the life of the congregation, and want to re-affirm my value of our partnership in ministry. In the course of a week you relate with hundreds of people, many of whom may not have a church home or know the peace-love-forgiveness that comes from knowing Jesus Christ. I depend on your leadership and wisdom to discern the best ways to respond to the Holy Spirit in our time and place.

A special thanks go to our paid staff. They are dedicated, faithful, loving servants who are open to the Spirit and are just plain hard workers. Thank you, Connie, Jenna, Jeff, Kari, and Justin.

Because of our leaders, one gift of this year has been learning to pace myself differently, allowing recovery from, and renewal for, the ongoing work of ministry. The joy of teaching that is a deep and abiding gift from my dad, mom and sister has found expression in the adult Sunday School class, Sunday evening DISCIPLE Bible study, our Parenting small group, and leadership development. Praying with and for you has also been a powerful experience of grace. We build upon our spiritual foundation as we joyfully embrace prayer, particularly through our Prayer Chain, and the weekly prayer offered by our men for me and the worship service.

My spiritual momentum and joy in serving with you are to encourage our growth in faith so that we may account for the hope that is in us with gentleness and reverence (1 Peter 3:15). I am encouraged by the enduring strength of your faith in facing hardship in physical, social, economic and spiritual pain. Your creative generosity has brought resources to people in need. And your commitment to mission affirms the world-wide scope of God's redeeming love. So, let's plan on another faithful year together, and seek God's grace in the endings and beginnings of summer.

Commitment Creates Opportunity

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When our three daughters were younger Beverly and I bought a used, white Plymouth Voyager mini-van. It was a fine vehicle that was soon equipped with a state-of-the-art VHS videocassette player console that fit between the front seats. Its single screen dropped down from the center of the ceiling. We enjoyed many miles of travel with it as a family and were glad that it went to another family with young children after us.

But a curious thing happened shortly after we purchased the van. We started seeing white mini-vans all over the place. They were easy to spot and it was so obvious that there were now more of them on the road than before we bought ours. While I did not confirm this fact by checking auto dealer sales records or the Secretary of State's registration data, it was clear that this was a new reality.

Now to be fair, I need to acknowledge some limitations. Annie Dillard observes in Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, “My eyes account for less than 1% of the weight of my head; I’m bony and dense; I see what I expect.” What makes this experience memorable for me is that I was not expecting to find other white mini-vans when we drove off the dealer lot, they just seemed to appear more frequently after doing so.

It's as if our commitment to a white mini-van changed our perception of the transportation world. Our choice revealed the presence of other similarly-committed travelers and their vehicles. So maybe this is a repeatable experiment...Might a commitment to love my neighbor reveal more neighbors to love? Would a commitment to peace-making bring me into more situations of conflict needing peace? Would a commitment to Sabbath (resting and renewing my spirit-mind-body) open up time in my life and help me let go of lesser important things?

Jesus preaches about primary commitments and their consequences, "Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met" (Matthew 6:33; The Message). 

My supervising pastor in seminary said that in our lives of faith "we are refueled in flight". That is we are sustained in commitments we are living out rather than simply contemplating. Its as if God uses our active commitment as an opportunity to expand our vision and knowledge, and connect us to other disciples on the way.

That makes faith an exciting and surprising trip. Which of course is even cooler in a white mini-van.

With gratitude for our common journey and commitment to Christ, Pastor Jeff

Easter Happens All Over the World

I think there are years I experience a southern hemisphere Easter. Our brothers and sisters south of the equator do not experience the renewing, colorful, blooming, sometimes sloppy springtime that is so closely associated with Easter in our part of the world. In an article, "Easter in New Zealand", we read "The imagery around Easter is all about new life, new growth etc – and in the Northern Hemisphere this all fits. In the Southern Hemisphere however, Easter falls in autumn – the leaves are falling from the trees, the days are getting shorter, the nights are getting colder and Daffodils couldn’t be further from blooming in the garden!"

Another writer raises this question, which would not even occur to me, "Here in the southern hemisphere, Easter is always celebrated at a time of waning and consolidation. So the question arises: Does the southern hemisphere celebrate Easter at the wrong time of the year?"

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. observed that acting for justice never comes at the right time for those in power: "Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct-action campaign that was 'well-timed' in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation" (Letter from Birmingham Jail).

Thankfully the Good News of Easter, briefly proclaimed, "Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen Indeed!", does not depend on our timing or location on the globe. Nor do we have to be in a specific spirit-mind-body state to experience the gift of Easter. The resurrection is God's act of confirmation that Jesus is God's way of abundant life in this world. At Easter we affirm God's direct-action campaign of loving-justice for all who suffer unduly from the disease of sin and separation.

What we have to celebrate this Easter is how the momentum of the resurrection continues to work in the lives of Jesus' followers. And we celebrate how the earliest experience of that momentum inspired our spiritual ancestors through the risen Jesus' blessing that "when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power and will tell people about me everywhere--in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8).

Thankfully, Easter happens all over the world, not just where we are growing and expanding, but also where we are grieving in colder, longer nights. On Easter God's love for the whole world is released into the lives of faithful people everywhere. So, we can't keep this Good News just to ourselves, nor confine it to certain areas. May God's blessing and love in the risen Jesus Christ sustain you wherever you celebrate Easter this year.

Climate Confirmation

     I thank Rev. Laurie Haller, Grand Rapids District Superintendent, for this story in her 2-21-11 "Leading From the Heart" blog: In a village located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, a little bit north of Cape Horn in South America a young man built a boat all by himself and made plans to sail it around the world. When the day arrived for him to leave, the people in the village came down to the shore to wave good-bye. Many of them were crying because they didn’t think they would ever see him again. Others were shaking their heads in disbelief as if to say he was a fool.

The young man’s family was very upset. His mother kept hanging onto him and pleading with him not to go. His father was angry and said that his son was doing the stupidest thing he’d ever seen in his whole life. Others were giving him all kinds of warnings and advice. “If you get to the Cape, and the wind is howling out of the Southwest, turn around and don’t go any further!” said one man. “If the temperature drops below freezing during the late afternoon, give up your voyage right then and there. Don’t keep sailing into the night!” said another. “If you get around to the other side, and you’re having any difficulties with your radio, please find a safe harbor. Don’t strike out across the Pacific!” said yet another. On and on the comments went.

But one person was different. Just one. He happened to be the oldest man in the village. “Son,” he said to the young, adventurous sailor, “I’ve watched you grow up from a little baby to a young man. I know how much you love the sea and what a great appetite you have for excitement and adventure. All I want to say to you is this, ‘Go forth with joy! Savor every minute! Have a great time! Just know as you do that the Lord our God goes with you and will be with you every step of the way!’”

     The heritage of our congregation is that we are generations of disciples following Jesus together. I continue to learn family histories and relationships that span generations. And one impression I have is that there is a fairly steady climate here. Over time and throughout the years you have found, and now we are finding, ways to remain faithful in the midst of lots of changes in the weather (remember the summer storms last year) and momentary challenges that claim our attention.

Lent is the gift of a season to reflect on the longer-term ways God is growing us up in faith; to appreciate the spiritual climate of the church.

Rev. Haller continues her reflection, "What is the difference between climate and weather? Weather is momentary. Climate endures. Weather lasts for a limited time. Climate describes a prevailing characteristic, an attitude, or way of being in the world."

Annie Dillard, one of my favorite writers, describes the contrast this way: “There is no shortage of good days. It is good lives that are hard to come by. A life of good days lived in the senses is not enough. The life of sensation is the life of greed; it requires more and more. The life of the spirit requires less and less; time is ample and its passage sweet. Who would call a day spent reading a good day? But a life spent reading -- that is a good life” (The Writing Life).

In Lent we not only reflect on the climate of our faith but encourage each other to go forth with joy, based on life-long journeys with God and appreciative knowledge of each other. May God bless our Lenten journeys with gratitude for the life-confirming climate of grace and peace.

Why Has God Unplugged You?

The 1/22/12 sermon, "Close Calls with Jesus", included a story from Susan Scott, author of Fierce Conversations, about experiences at Cook Paint and Varnish in Kansas City with her boss, Mr. Fred Timberlake, when she was 16 years old. She could type 110 words per minute and used an IBM Selectric typewriter (raise your hand if you used one) with the whirling metal ball. She writes, "During my second week on the job, the Selectric suddenly froze, and I looked up, shocked to see Mr. Timberlake holding the cord after having pulled the plug from the outlet. He was smiling. He handed me a sheet of paper. 'What do you think of this advertising layout, Susan?'"

She looked around, sure that there was another Susan on the payroll whom Mr. Timberlake was addressing. But no, it was her. "My impulse was to shrug and say, 'I don't know. I don't have any experience in advertising.' However, I had the impression that Mr. Timberlake anticipated my response with genuine interest. I didn't want to disappoint my boss, so I thought hard."

Because she had been directly asked, she creatively and thoughtfully shared her impressions from her personal experience. "Mr. Timberlake listened as I spoke. When I stopped, he stood quietly for a moment, then said, 'Remarkable. Thank you, Susan. I'm sending this back to the drawing board.'"

Mr. Timberlake initiated and guided the interaction in such a way to draw out Susan's creative thinking. He called her to get more deeply involved in the life of the company. Here is the conclusion to Susan's story:

Throughout the summer, whenever my Selectric froze, I would smile

and prepare to answer another of Mr. Timberlake's questions.

In his presence, I became a bigger human being.

Every person who worked for Fred Timberlake

would have followed him anywhere.

Jesus unplugged his disciples from their existing roles by calling them to follow him. Nets were dropped by Simon and Andrew, and net mending ceased as James and John left their father and other workers in their boat. They learned and imperfectly practiced new and challenging rules of engagement...Love your enemies; Forgive and you will be forgiven; Deny yourself and take up your cross daily and follow; Feed hungry people.

Jesus unplugged them for the work of the Kingdom of God which Jesus announced and lived in person. They became bigger persons in Jesus' presence. And Jesus promised that his disciples, the ones who believe in him, "will also do the works that I do and, in  fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father" (John 14:12).

Why has God unplugged you? Have you been interrupted in the routines of your life and felt called to respond? An integral part of our walk together as a congregation is to help each other look and listen for such "unplugged moments", and to celebrate the new depths and directions God reveals to us. May you prayerfully consider God's claim upon you through Jesus' call to follow him. And don't be surprised when you are unplugged for the sake of the Kingdom of God.

Go With Your Favorite View in 2012

I'm a month-at-a-glance kind of guy. My default view on Google Calendar is the monthly view. When I used the FranklinCovey planning system I preferred a two-page view of the entire month instead of one page with really skinny rectangles in which to make notes. Now don't get me wrong, I appreciate looking across a whole year or the hour-by-hour view of a day. But there is something about a monthly vision or view that energizes me. I see a month as a measurable, workable period of time for planning and organizing. Our church committees meet monthly. Most of my bills are paid monthly.

The Bible expresses monthly time frames in telling the redeeming story of God's love for us and the world. As our spiritual ancestors were being prepared by God to be liberated from slavery in Egypt in the first Passover "The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, 'This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year.'" (Exodus 12:1-2). The announcement of Mary's pregnancy has a month reference as well, "In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God" to tell Mary "you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus" (Luke 1).

The liberating gift of Jesus is wonderfully described in Galatians 4:4-5, "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children."

Part of the beauty of the Church is how God has given us different views of time. Some of us are long-range thinkers and planners; some of us are minute-by-minute people; some work by the week; and then there are the monthly people. Regardless of our time orientation, God uses us to accomplish divine goals.

Do you have a favorite life-giving view of time? What if we celebrated and served God and our neighbors in energizing and hopeful ways based on our favorite view of time in 2012?  527,040 minutes await us in 2012 (a leap year with 366 days). If that seems a bit overwhelming, how about an inspiring perspective from the song, "Day by Day", in the musical, "Godspell":

Three things I pray 

To see thee more clearly 

Love thee more dearly

Follow thee more nearly 

Day by day

May we experience the fullness of time together in 2012 from every point of view.

God is All In at Christmas

Special offers abound in the holiday shopping season. We dance in the tension of loyalty and benefits as businesses and customers. Loyalty cards and programs allow us to build up value points in the company's hopes that they will keep our current and future business. The thought is that if we find greater value elsewhere, we will simply go there. In other words, they doubt our loyalty and consider it fragile and temperamental. It must be maintained with vigilant customer service and daily special offers. And the funny thing is that this system works. Companies do keep our business by their offers and customer service.

On the consumer side, we play company offers against one another by threatening to take our business elsewhere in the hopes of securing a better deal for our money, commitment, or time. The whole process seems to be based on doubt, lack of faith and fear that we really won't maintain our commitments to one another as businesses or customers without constant reassurance and special offers. And the funny thing is that this system works. We can get better deals by using our loyalty and dollars as bargaining tools.

That's the retail side of life. But it produces some funny side effects when we try to use it on the faith side of life.

When we consider ourselves as customers/consumers in our relationship with God, the biggest retailer ever, then we end up acting in ways more characterized by scarcity and fear than love and trust. We make bargains with God for love and healing. We pray to God as if interacting with a vending machine to get our desired results. We pledge to change our ways to avert major consequences of our actions, hoping for some special offer to make it all better and stay on acceptable terms with God.

Knowing our fragile-fearful-hopeful-sinful condition, God turns our retail reality upside down by making a personal, irrevocable commitment to us in Jesus Christ. No loyalty cards or incentive programs are needed in God's relationship with the world, just the Good News that "the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it...the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth" (John 1:5,14).

In other words, God is All In at Christmas. There's no holding back better deals and value until we show greater loyalty or clean up our lives. God acts first in love at the intersection of hope and fear so wonderfully expressed in the Christmas carol, "O, Little Town of Bethlehem":

"Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light; the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight."

May our retail reality be wonderfully and lovingly redeemed by the great gift of Jesus Christ again this Christmas so that we may give appropriate gifts of love and loyalty to God, one another and the world. Merry Christmas.

After this post was published as my December 2011 newsletter article, I found this prayer by Rev. Dr. Ozzie Smith, Jr. at the end of his address, "A Sight for Certain Eyes":


Thank you, God, for giving us your All. Your All that the world would later see. We would learn later that a leper would see All in Jesus coming and saying, "You can heal me if you choose to." A Syro-Phoenician woman would not leave the table without having some of this All. Nicodemus would sneak in for a night class for this All. A bleeding woman would crawl to touch the hem of this All. Crowds would be fed by this All. Peter would walk on water towards this All. A dying thief would realize it and be welcomed to paradise by this All. Water would turn to wine by this All. Millions of men and women would accept calls to the ministry by this All, and slaves would sing, "Nobody knows the trouble I see," but this All. Teresa of Calcutta would be known as a saint of the gutter because of this All. And when evil thought that it had done all that it could do by putting this All away, All would get up again and say, "All power is in my hand." Saying, "If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men and women unto me." 

Thank you, God, for giving us your All, the Word made flesh in your Son Jesus. Lord, grant that we might have certain eyes in the midst of our present uncertainty. We thank you. We bless your name and we praise you for the giving gift of Jesus. Amen.

Behold the Grace of Your Life

What an incredible October. I have been blessed with gifts each week for Pastor Appreciation Month. Thank you (Hartford UMC) for valuing the role of pastor in the life of the church. We are just getting to know each other and you are continuing a strong tradition of gift giving.

And now comes November. Another great month that begins with All Saints' Day, traditionally November 1 (our worship celebration is October 30), and ends with Thanksgiving and the beginning of the season of Advent. I love this time of year because it bears so much spiritual significance.

The Kalamazoo District offered a Pastor's Appreciation Day yesterday at Westwood UMC. That congregation has special meaning for me as they were the home church for our family while I served the Wesley Foundation on Western's campus. The main speaker offered this insight in the context of reflecting Christ's glory (2 Corinthians 3:18):

What we look AT consistently,

we begin to look LIKE over time.

Where we focus our attention and energy greatly impacts the shape or dimensions of our existence. The value of thanksgiving or living gratefully is that it breaks the hold on our tendency to think we can provide for ourselves all by ourselves. For most of us, every day we live in houses we did not build, eat food we did not grow and wear clothes we did not sew. In other words, we are dependent creatures by design. We need each other and we need God.

The New Living Translation has this beginning to Jesus' Sermon on the Mount: "God blesses those who realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is given to them" (Matthew 5:3). In the version of the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy 5:1-21 (the other version is Exodus 20:1-17) the motivation for resting on the Sabbath is gratitude for God's liberating work in bringing our spiritual ancestors out of slavery in Egypt.

Living gratefully allows us to relax our bodies and release our anxiety, indeed frees us to love God and our neighbors. Such a view of our lives also renews our strength to prevail in the challenges of daily life.

Giving Rocks

Having prepared and officiated for the most weddings I can remember having in any year of ordained ministry, I can again affirm that the most common areas of power, potential, and pressure in marriage are relationships, finances, and sexuality. When those three areas are anticipated, talked about, and planned for, the couple is building a strong foundation for their marriage relationship. In premarital counseling we talk about these issues even though the couple may not be, and hopefully is not, in crisis about them. The conversations are insightful and give the couple the opportunity to consider the issues in non-threatening ways.

I hold a similar view in regard to stewardship and finances for us as disciples of Jesus Christ. That is, anticipation, conversation and plans for giving in a non-threatening environment contribute to strong faith in our life together as the Body of Christ. One early recognition we may make in talking about faith and finances is that our consumer culture leads us to view the goods of creation and community as commodities that can be bought and sold. When we have a "transaction" mentality about giving, then we might expect that our gift should be directly followed by faith, health or love.

I invite us to a "transformation" mentality about giving, where we realize that through giving we enter God's realm of blessing and abundance where strength may come from many directions and sources, not just as a direct result of our current gift. The wisdom writer of Proverbs noticed:

"One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.

A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed" (Proverbs 11:24-25)

In our life with God our giving is a response, not a stimulus.

Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the LORD will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth” (Genesis 26:22)

One cornerstone or solid practice in giving is a tithe, which is a tenth of some amount. I have shared in worship before that every gift we give is a tithe of something. Multiply your gift by ten and see what else it looks like in your economic world: a tank of gas; monthly electric bill; mortgage payment; weekly cost of groceries. Jacob's experience shows us a greater foundation for giving, "and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth." One sign of growing in faith is that the basis for our giving is what we receive, not some other expense in our personal economic world.

The presence of joy also affects our giving and the perspective we have on our wealth. “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field" (Matthew 13:44). Each Sunday in worship I conclude the invitation to give this way: "We pray that our giving may come from, or lead us to a joyful heart." May you find ways to rejoice in sharing a portion of what you have received and be refreshed by God's generosity.

Music, Money and Mission

Good morning and God bless you. September brings the familiar opening of a new school year and re-entry to lives committed to education. It also brings new, refreshing and challenging developments in our church and Hartford communities involving music, money and mission.

Music: Did you know there are Directions for Singing in our United Methodist Hymnal? The last of seven directions from John Wesley on page vii is "Above all sing spiritually. Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at pleasing him more than yourself, or any other creature. In order to do this attend strictly to the sense of what you sing and see that your heart is not carried away with the sound, but offered to God continually; so shall your singing be such as the Lord will approve here, and reward you when he cometh in the clouds of heaven."

Since arriving here in July I have appreciated the way we have been led in music by Pete Laman, Mikha Sitorus, Bob Lightner, and Lynne and Dan Farmer. On September 11 we welcome Jenna Johnson as our new Church Musician. She has most recently been a music leader at the Cedar Springs and East Nelson United Methodist Churches north of Grand Rapids. She is a first year student at Western Michigan University. One of the many reasons I am excited about Jenna is the spritual sense she has of the gift of music in the church and in her own life as a child of God. Part of our congregation's welcome for Jenna will be providing transportation and lunch for her on Sundays. We are asking a family or household to adopt her for a Sunday each month. Our plan is for her to arrive at the church by 9:30 AM to prepare for worship and rehearse with any musicians or vocalists. Let Cindy Kent (Staff Pastor Parish Committee Chairperson) know if you are interested in taking care of Jenna on a given Sunday each month.

Money and Mission: The economic landscape changed here on August 30 with the opening of the Four Winds Casino. The United Methodist Social Principles begin with an affirmation of our "long history of concern for social justice." The Social Principles call us to thoughtful and prayerful approaches to contemporary issues and are "intended to be instructive and persuasive in the best of the prophetic spirit." Under the heading of The Economic Community is this statement, "Gambling is a menace to society, deadly to the best interests of moral, social, economic, and spiritual life, destructive of good government and good stewardship. As an act of faith and concern, Christians should abstain from gambling and should strive to minister to those victimized by the practice. Where gambling has become addictive, the Church will encourage such individuals to receive therapeutic assistance so that the individual’s energies may be redirected into positive and constructive ends."

I shared a prayer request with our West Michigan Conference Prayer Center on August 30: "I request prayers for Hartford and surrounding communities as the Four Winds Casino opens today, August 30, at Noon. I celebrate the strong community-related ministry of our congregation and pray for fresh strength to continue being the Body of Christ shaped by compassion, grace and justice." I also have talked with colleagues who serve United Methodist churches in communities with casinos, and had an initial conversation at the local Chamber of Commerce. What I appreciate about our United Methodist tradition is how seriously we take the community context of local church ministry. To only criticize the nature of the newest business in Hartford is to fall short of a faithful effort to understand history and economic realities.

The same Social Principles statement on Gambling continues, "The Church acknowledges the dichotomy that can occur when opposing gambling while supporting American Indian tribal sovereignty and self-determination. Therefore, the Church’s role is to create sacred space to allow for dialogue and education that will promote a holistic understanding of the American Indians’ historic quest for survival. The Church’s prophetic call is to promote standards of justice and advocacy that would make it unnecessary and undesirable to resort to commercial gambling—including public lotteries, casinos, raffles, Internet gambling, gambling with an emerging wireless technology and other games of chance—as a recreation, as an escape, or as a means of producing public revenue or funds for support of charities or government."

While the economic landscape has changed, our calling to be the Church has not. I am challenged to see the threat to community stability, to encourage people overcome by gambling addiction to seek help, to create sacred space for dialogue and education on the tragic history of the United States and Native Americans, and to promote standards of justice that reflect God's gift of abundant life to all of us. How do you see us responding to these changes? I want to walk together with a renewed commitment to love God and our neighbors as we love ourselves.

A Couple of Good Things to Keep in Mind

My late father-in-law was a good, avid golfer. He felt that with a couple more rounds each week he could elevate his game, but he was playing at an enjoyable level and chose not to devote the extra time and money to such an effort. He told me that a quality golf swing includes more than 30 things you need to do correctly and that he could only be mindful of about 3-4 of them at any one time. I get that.

Last month my article was about the multiple dimensions and big picture of our life with God and the Church. This month I offer a couple things I am mindful of in my life and ministry as a disciple of Jesus Christ and your pastor. First, hospitality. I came to faith in Jesus Christ in high school through the hospitality of Three Oaks United Methodist Church. My family and I were welcomed into the fellowship of the Church. I was given opportunities to explore leadership through worship, administration and being one of the church custodians. Out of those experiences and the gift of a social consciousness for my faith through the Wesley Foundation at Central Michigan University I came to discern a call to ordained ministry. The late Henri Nouwen is one of my favorite authors. He wrote that hospitality is not meant to change people but to offer them space where change can take place (Reaching Out). Such space and change have profoundly shaped my ministry.

Second, compassion. I believe the current and long-established practice of demeaning and condemning persons who hold different beliefs, or who significantly question traditional beliefs, does great harm to our spirits. Such interaction shuts down faithful inquiry and rightful confrontation of exclusionary practices. With compassion we recognize the God-given value of the other person, and establish a connection that allows for real conversation and the possibility of healing and wholeness.

Third, generosity. As I mentioned at the closing of worship on Sunday, 7/24, my friend had encouraged me, "Don't be so stingy with the blessing, use both hands!" That statement characterizes an abundance mentality and reminds me that in God's economy we get grace which we don't deserve and cannot earn. We are asked to share a portion of what we have received for God's greater work of salvation in the world through Jesus Christ. In being generous we become more like God, in whose image we are created. I am grateful for the generous ways I see in our congregation and encourage us to keep going!

What kinds of things help you return to the center of your faith? What do you need to keep in mind when you enter or are faced with a season of change? May we be blessed with ongoing conversations and interactions that reveal the best that God has for us.