Thanks-Giving

Of late I have begun to notice the correlation between Thankfulness and Giving more closely.

As such, I offer a few things that have helped me to notice this...

I am thankful for the Food Pantry and Disability Supply closet we have at the church. In sharing the story of thankfulness for this, one of our Boy Scouts in Troop 87 took this as his Eagle Project to expand it. In sharing that story of thankfulness, the supplies of food and disability supplies have grown, even as the use of those supplies has grown.

I am thankful for my family, my wife and child, as well as my extended family, Mom/Dad, Grandma, and my Sisters and their families. In telling them how thankful I am for them, the time we have dedicated to one another has grown, and those experiences, even when strained have led me to be more thankful, and giving of my time.

I am thankful for the service professionals who have helped serve me - in Food Service, Maid Service, Car Service, Banks, and even the greeters at the hospital who direct me to the right place. In giving thanks for their time, attention to my concerns, and simply sharing that with them, I have found them more willing to take an extra step to make things easier for me and my family, as well as my own willingness to give them more flexibility in dealing with things I did not want to address, as well as paying them more than I had previously.

I m grateful for the ministries of St. Andrew UMC, and so I have found myself giving more of myself and my attentions to helping grow those ministries and supporting them, with my words, my money, and my time, as well as my expertise and the expertise of those who are most helpful to the varying needs present therein.

All of this is in response to God's faithful giving to me, and my awareness and thankfulness for that which I notice, which translates to loving God and loving neighbor more. In turn, I find I am more giving, of time, energy, knowledge and ultimately love.

I guess there must be something to that song my dear daughter was singing this week...
Magic Penny
Notes: words and music by Malvina Reynolds; copyright 1955 and 1958 Northern Music Corporation, renewed 1986. a.k.a. "Love Is Something." Despite the later copyright dates, this song was actually written while Malvina's daughter was at a junior high school dance, so around 1949.


Love is something if you give it away,
Give it away, give it away.
Love is something if you give it away,
You end up having more.

It's just like a magic penny,
Hold it tight and you won't have any.
Lend it, spend it, and you'll have so many
They'll roll all over the floor.

For love is something if you give it away,
Give it away, give it away.
Love is something if you give it away,
You end up having more.

Money's dandy and we like to use it,1
But love is better if you don't refuse it.
It's a treasure and you'll never lose it
Unless you lock up your door.

For love is something if you give it away,
Give it away, give it away.
Love is something if you give it away,
You end up having more.

So let's go dancing till the break of day,
And if there's a piper, we can pay.
For love is something if you give it away,
You end up having more.

For love is something if you give it away,
Give it away, give it away.
Love is something if you give it away,
You end up having more.

The Neighbors

What kind of relationship do you have with your neighbors?

Then think about what kind of relationship you have with the neighbors of your church or work.

I got to thinking about it a little more today. We had outside worship, at a strange hour, with lots of animals, dogs, cats, a bunny and a horned toad. You see today was World Communion Sunday, and for the life of St. Andrew UMC, we also celebrated the Feast of St. Francis with a Campout last night at the church, followed by a Blessing of the Animals during worship today.

We don't really know the names of our neighbors. We prayed for them all last year about this time as we walked the neighborhood. But we didn't meet them at the door to say hi. (There were a few chance encounters of folks out to check things). We have since hosted a wedding reception for our most immediate next door neighbor, but don't have much we have done to engage all of our over-the-fence neighbors, or even those within two blocks of the church.

Part of the communication plan for this coming year probably ought to involve something to engage those neighbors, so we can communicate with them, about special events, and how to manage those things (including perhaps the HS and College Football games held at the HS across the Street), as well as concerns and issues as some have noted in the past - like sprinkler (or lack thereof) issues, and trees that may be fall hazards.

Have you engaged your neighbors at work or church? Do you have a plan of action for this? What has worked, and been most effective in talking with these the most immediate of you neighbors?

Peace,

$500,000

I have spoken with several folks recently, who when a loved one passed away they came into a goodly size sum of money.

I have also worked with several churches who have had the same blessing shared with them.

I posit for your consideration:

You just received $500,000, how would you use it?

Your church just received $500,000 how would they use it?

For those who would have the fortune of being able to speak from experience, I would like to ask you to imagine what would happen right now - not what was, as that experience has certainly shaped how actions might change or be affected at this moment.

Peace,

Worship Thoughts

Pastor’s Corner June 2011

A brief review of our worship service will be our topic this month. I want to take a moment to explain some of the theology that goes into our service as it is, and some of the personal choices I have made in how to transact those theological moments.

830AM Service Welcome Announcements Songs of Praise Children’s Moment Offertory Opening Prayer Scripture Reading Sermon The Lord’s Supper Benediction

1020AM Service Order of Worship GATHERING PRELUDE OPENING HYMN PRAISE and PRAYERS CALL TO WORSHIP INFORMAL MOMENTS GREETING ONE ANOTHER CHILDREN’S TIME PRAYER HYMN CONCERNS FOR PRAYER SILENT PRAYER PASTORAL PRAYER CHORAL ANTHEM PROCLAMATION PRAYER OF GRACE AND ILLUMINATION THE SCRIPTURE GLORIA PATRI SERMON RESPONSE INVITATION CONFESSION AND PARDON RESPONSE HYMN OFFERTORY DOXOLOGY PRAYER OF DEDICATION HOLY COMMUNION THE GREAT THANKSGIVING THE LORD’S PRAYER (in unison) TAKING BREAD AND CUP SENDING FORTH CLOSING HYMN BENEDICTION POSTLUDE

EXPLANATION The preparatory time for worship in both services is a little varied. During first service, we begin with the announcements, clearly placing these outside of worship. This is more confused in the 1020 service with announcements, which are not worship, and the time of greeting one another firmly placed in the allocation for praise and prayers. The Call to Worship is effected through the responsive reading in the 1020 service, and the music of praise and worship in the 830 service. In the traditional order of service for a church service the greeting would come at the end of the service, as an addition to the benediction, with those who have gathered unsure of where they might be next, as they may have been interlopers present for a psingle service, or under some scrutiny for their faith, and thus subject to persecution which would prevent them from participating during the next service. This time obviously breaks the flow of a worship service, and can make it difficult to bring the people back together, which we know to be the case in both of our services, using music and the children’s message to drag people back to their seats to continue to participate. This brings me to the question of a children’s message. What I find interesting about this time, is that it is used in churches to do a variety of things. Some churches use it as a “dumbed down” version of the sermon, because the “kids” won’t understand what the pastor has to say. In some churches, like ours, it is used as a prelude to dismissal, where we tell the children that they are to be different and separated from the rest of the church body. The children’s message is a new advent in the church, implemented during the 1900s. Prior to that children were in the entire service with the entire congregation, to learn how to be Christians, to be a reminder to the entire congregation that we are all children in the eyes of God, and as a social trainer to help children learn how to act in the rest of society. The old adage from Africa, “it takes a village to raise a child” was the premise of the children in service. Kids were cared for by the entire congregation during the service. The other alternative, which was what some churches turned to was that the children were not in church at all, set apart for Sunday School during the worship service, or just allowed to be elsewhere to play games or be with other kids. The location of the offering is always a question. As ultimately, the offering is to God, with the church as the means by which it gets conveyed. In true worship, our offering is given not in response to what the church is or is not doing according to our desires, but given to God as a means of sharing our adoration and praise for the God who has already given us everything, and freely so, including our salvation with the gift of His only Son Jesus Christ. The placement before the sermon signifies this more clearly, and after the sermon it is seen as a means of responding, in action, to the very message of the Gospel communicated in the Sermon. The Scriptures we use for worship are also a little contrived, as we have not been following the Lectionary of late. The Lectionary is designed to help tell the story in thematic ways, with an Old Testament lesson, a Psalm, an Epistle (letter) and a Gospel Lesson (from Matthew, Mark, Luke or John), and intended to help teach the scriptures, though it does leave many passages out, and rarely deals with the troublesome or difficult passages of scripture. Our current method of selecting scriptures for worship comes from the scriptures you asked to hear more about, either because you felt you knew them well, and wanted a chance to share that wonder of Scripture with the rest of the congregation, or because it was a passage or segment of scripture that was pretty fuzzy and unclear to you, and you wanted to learn more. I have also thrown in a few other pieces to help stay with the Seasons of the church (Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Pentecost) and affirm the traditions of the church by these means, as well as a few passages that have been “Pastor’s Discretion” with the idea that for the good of the congregational life of St. Andrew UMC we might need to review or learn more about a particular topic or passage of scripture. In the Order of Service I have chosen to explain our service and the meanings thereof, I also picked a service that has Communion. Insomuch as the Sermon is designed to communicate God’s message in words of the Gospel, and the good news of Jesus Christ, Communion is a “Tangible Sign of an Inward and Spiritual Grace” which was freely offered in Jesus Christ. John Wesley called this a “Converting Ordinance”. If the purpose of a sermon is to encourage change in the life of the congregation member, through the hearing of the message, then Communion effects real change in the Spirit of the individual. The “Converting Ordinance” then is to say that if someone is being pulled to come to Communion and participate God has already effected a change in the person, and in the moment of participating in Communion, the individual affects the mantle of Jesus Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit, and is made a Christian, and begins to live the life God has called us to live out the Great Commandment, “To love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind; and to love your neighbor as yourself”. We follow the effected and affected changes of the worship, transmitted through the Call to Worship, Prayers, Sermon and Communion, with the Benediction to send us out in ministry to the world. At this point, our worship must really begin - with purpose and practice, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ, in thought, word and action, according to the grace given us by the Holy Spirit, in the name of God.

I realize that I may sound overly harsh in my assessment of the way in which we do worship. The reality is that this is the form of worship we have learned and decided to participate. I want to acknowledge that I am very open to doing worship in the way of St. Andrew UMC, and many other forms as well. I have a hard time with High Church worship, with stalwart traditions, as most of us are, because it is not a particularly participatory worship, nor was it intended to be. Worship in the traditional forms, especially under the traditional Latin Mass, was for the priest to direct the attentions of the people to God, and the understanding of the language used was not as important as the fact that God was being worshiped properly.
It is from some of this background that I dissected the worship styles we use at St. Andrew. We tend toward the “Isaiah model” of worship which concludes with the sermon, and the idea that the sermon should be driving people out to action, and is the culmination of the work of the Spirit in the acts of worship preceding it.
I realize that there are a variety of theological and practical understandings for the way in which we do ministry, and practice worship. God is faithful in all of them. The various forms we use are tools for helping direct us, and are derived from the initial forms of worship established in Jewish Synagogues and the Temple many years ago, sustained through the ages since by the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, as well as the various denominations we have formed since. It is in the amalgam of people we have worshiping with us, that the things that are familiar are utilized and developed to create our current Order of Service here at St. Andrew.
I also want to acknowledge that I do not know it all. If you have insights or knowledge to share with me about the forms we use in our worship, please do so. I will do my best to learn and understand even more deeply from the richness of backgrounds we bring to this time together as we offer ourselves back to God for the many wonderful things God has already given to us.

Witnessing

Have you ever been convicted?

You know that deep turning of your soul that reminds you of a particular action you did or should have done.

I had that experience just now. The doorbell rang, and it wasn't the very wonderful and gracious lady who has provided meals for my sick wife, child and myself for the past few days with another kind offering of great food. My daughter ran to the door and pulled back the curtain, and it was young men dressed in shirt and tie, holding pamphlets and Scripture books.

I opened the door wary and yet with enthusiastic greeting. I was immediately set-upon to shill the church these young men attend. I asked if they would then be coming to my church, as I am a pastor, too. This of course caught them offguard, shoved a few pamphlets and treated to silence and quick looks at one another as they formed the next step in their strategy.

Out came those most carefully applied words of traditional evangelism in the last 40 years, "If you were to die tonight, would be assured that you were going to Heaven."

It was at that moment that I lost my sense of decorum, laughed quite boisterously and said, "Really, that's your opening? You really need to work on that."

I did conclude with, "Yes, I am a pastor. Yes, I am assured I am going to Heaven. Thank you." Then I shut the door.

My wife, being the ever-faithful ecumenist, offered her apologetics and tried to remind me of what these young men were really trying to do. And I applaud her greatly for this, knowing full well, that if it had been her, I would have been attempting to redeem them at that moment as well.

She then offered this great line, "How scared of God do you have to be to go door to door trying to get others to be so scared of God that they would come to your church?"

And then it hit me. The moment of conviction fell upon my poor little head, and I think I know what I need to do in the next few weeks.

I had prayed for our neighborhood over the past year, and I have mentioned that I need to go visit with our neighbors. I haven't done it yet, and the time has come. God has whomped me over the head with this kind of reminder, that I have something else to offer, with an outstanding church.

I expect to spend time in the next few weeks going to our immediate back fence neighbors and saying hi, introducing myself, and asking what we can be doing to be better neighbors. I might get laughed at. I expect to get yelled at, because we have not done what some of our neighbors have "demanded" that we do. There are old wounds from the church, both ours and others.

At the end of it all, I want to remind folks that I am not there to convert them. The truth is God does that job. Mine is to help them find fellowship, and a place of sanctuary with our common space, the fence and community we share. This means we are present in those moments to help birth transforming love.

As for what I might do about the church that came visiting, my mind is still spinning.

Hearing the Scriptures in the Scriptures

I had a seminary professor who admonished us that if we were reading something in Scripture and did not hear at least three other passages of scripture, then we did not know our scripture well enough.

Today I was going through the One Year Bible Reading from Biblegateway, and came across this passage in Exodus 12.

¹¹ “After the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites and gives it to you, as he promised on oath to you and your ancestors, ¹² you are to give over to the LORD the first offspring of every womb. All the firstborn males of your livestock belong to the LORD. ¹³ Redeem with a lamb every firstborn donkey, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem every firstborn among your sons.

From it I recalled this passage.

Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King

¹ As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, ²saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. ³ If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”

⁴ This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

⁵ “Say to Daughter Zion,
‘See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”^{a]" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">[a]}

⁶ The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. ⁷ They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. ⁸ A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹ The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,

And of course when I kept reading in the devotional, there it was. Someone else has set this up to find the parallels for us. Do you hear the similarities too? A strange sense of foreshadowing is taking place here to remind us that this time the Donkey will not redeem the Lamb.

(Of course the cynic and snark did crop up and I wondered why the Lamb of God would redeem the asses of this world)

Peace,

Advent Devotional

Home Again

11 Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his fa-

ther, `Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them.

13 "Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country

and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a se-

vere famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out

to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach

with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

17 "When he came to his senses, he said, `How many of my father's hired men have food to

spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him:

Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your

son; make me like one of your hired men.' 20 So he got up and went to his father.

"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for

him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

21 "The son said to him, `Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no

longer worthy to be called your son.'

22 "But the father said to his servants, `Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a

ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast

and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So

25 "Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music

and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 `Your

brother has come,' he replied, `and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back

28 "The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded

with him. 29 But he answered his father, `Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never

disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my

friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes

home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'

31 "`My son,' the father said, `you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32

But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he

DEVOTIONAL STORY

When we see the story of the prodigal son, we often forget the story behind the story. As we read

about in the Ten Commandments we are called to honor our father and mother. One of the ways to

dishonor parents in days gone by was to treat them as dead and claim the inheritance they would

leave. This is exactly what the prodigal son did. The penalty for such a claim was that the son would

have been stoned by the townsfolk upon his return to town.

It is the love of the father that kept watch for the son, such that when he saw the son, yet in the dis-

tance, he went running to gather him in, and reclaim him into the family, so that the son would not

be put to death. This was a true redemption, and it is the very love that God seeks to give to each of

us, that we might know love fully and completely, redeemed into the family and restored to the in-

heritance that we squandered without the guidance and surrounding of God’s powerful arms of love.

The main thing the Lord wants is to say: this is my son, daughter, child and this is the place that I

have prepared for them.

Home is where the heart is--have your heart in Heaven.

Home is Heaven, His creation-therefore all is Home.

PRAYER

Lord, when we were still waiting to find you, you were watching out for us. You ran to meet us on the

road to death. Thank you for opening your home and your life to us once again. May we never forget

such love, seeking to offer amazing love as this to many others in your name. Amen.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Where is your heart?

What makes something feel like home to you?

David Camphouse

New York Homelessness and Christian Response

There is nothing so unsettling to my sense of Christian responsibility and response as the homeless of New York. The homeless in other places stir it as well, but New York seems to hold a special place for my Christian sense of right and wrong.

I recall that we are called to serve by feeding the hungry, visiting the imprisoned, casting out the demons, clothing the naked and healing the sick, as well as “teaching them to obey all that I have taught you.”

Even taking seriously the thought posed to me that not all of us are so gifted by the Holy Spirit as to be able to do the healing of sick, or especially the casting out of demons, then somewhere I have also failed to do my job as a pastor, who is charged with equipping the saints for the ministry of Christ in the world. One would assume that even if I did not have the calling to do such ministry, that some do, as there is just too much issue without the help of Christians taking their jobs seriously.

Therefore I can only assume that too many Christians are abdicating their responsibility, which in turn leads me back to introspection and the look at myself in examination of my spiritual gifts and whether or not I am, in fact, being called to such a ministry of casting out demons and healing the sick, and how I might go about building up those spiritual muscles working with the Holy Spirit.

How do you understand the Christian Response, in light of Christ's commandments, and the realities of our world today? Can you help me from feeling a deep sense of despair and failure, as a pastor and as a Christian?

Youth Group Updates (part 1)

Back in October/November we saw the need for a youth group at St. Andrew UMC, and began to revise and re-vision for a resurrection of the youth program.

In order to establish a baseline of activity, and interest, I invited anyone who was feeling called to work with our youth group to join me on a Sunday morning to work out some of my expectations for the coming months, and whether we had enough leadership to proceed.

At that time I laid out my desires for stages of involvement, the curriculum I intended to use, and we decided on a time to gather, with the plan to gather every week, until Christmas.

The basic outline I have for bringing people into leadership is this:

-Observe: Just watch

-Mingle: Get to know those who are present, and let them get to know you

-Integrate: Begin to participate in the activities and question/answer dialogue

-Lead: Take on a role where you are helping orchestrate the activity

-Train: Teach others to do what you have been doing (youth and adults)

-Recruit: Invite, welcome and integrate new persons into the group (youth and adults)

I know that each person has the right to opt out or stop progressing on this scale at any time, but my goal is to help each person grow into the next step.

In conversation with the adults last night I realized that I have a whole lot of adult and youth leaders who are at the level of "Integrate", and able to take the next step into "Lead", if I would lay out the expectations for them to step into that role.

So I am working on what my expectations, the adult expectations and the youth expectations of youth group are to better train and lead into the next stages of growth.

Connecting Discipleship

There are two things I have had heavy on my heart of late. Connecting better, and more often; and building Disciples.

I am sure the two are related, and I am still stumped at this early hour about what makes them so interrelated.

I am reminded of the Covenant Discipleship Model

The Top Arm is Works of Mercy

The Bottom Arm is Works of Piety

The Arm to the Left is Inward Works

The Arm to the Right is Outward Works

Now for the internal conversation I need to have about where Websites, Facebook Pages, Blogs and Twitter feeds intersect these Works from Covenant Discipleship. At the end of the day I want to build new Disciples, and Disciples who are deepening their faith.

I see what is there, and for a guy who is prone to seeing the connections, and looking at things sideways, I am struggling with the relationships between these two areas of interest, and still am seeing or comprehending what I need to in order to help others understand.

Suggestions, ideas, or how you see these coming together would be helpful.

Men +1

Off to the Men's Fellowship Group at St. Andrew UMC for breakfast this morning. I am taking my daughter, so in one sense she represents the +1 in the title.

For years this group has focused on fellowship. I have no complaint with fellowship, as there is much that can happen by way of fellowship. In this particular instance, I want fellowship to be helping people more explicitly direct their walk with Jesus Christ.

To this end, I am excited because one of the best ways to get to know the people of the Men's Fellowship is to hear the story of faith that each of them brings. Very rarely do men have this type of forum to gather and share so deeply.

I have been thankful for my years in the Men's Fellowship at Bishop FUMC. They decided along the way to become a Chartered United Methodist Men's Group. The thing is that they focused on a Book study - scripture, tradition, and reason. The bulk of time though was directed to Experience. These men could relate, and they could lay out their own faith and its struggles more clearly working with other materials.

My hope is that our Testimony time with Men's Breakfast will continue to grow. I am grateful to Carl Gerber for introducing this method of fellowship to me. It works. I use the title Men +1, to echo Carl's sentiment, that there is always room for one more.

Men's Breakfast is the First Saturday of each month. The cost is per your sense of donation, and breakfast usually lasts about an hour and fifteen minutes.

Youth Group

The Youth Group at St. Andrew UMC in Santa Maria is making a comeback.

This Sunday at 5PM, until 6:30PM, local youth are invited to St. Andrew UMC, in the Youth area (the far side of the building, across from the Sanctuary) for a selection from Combos, Vol. 2 on "God Man".

We will be discussing Jesus and both God and Man, fully Human, fully Divine.

I look forward to seeing you there, as I begin leading this series, and using it as a time to train adults and youth about leading this amazing gathering for our Youth in Orcutt and Santa Maria.

Guaranteed Appointment

I have a friend on the United Methodist denomination wide study committee on ministry. As we continue into the 21st century, [they] are evaluating certain practices. [They] hope [I] would be able to answer a couple of questions, as [they] deeply value [my] opinion:

The two questions are:

1. What is your opinion of the guaranteed appointment as the United Methodist now practices with the itinerant clergy (the clergy agree to go where the bishop sends us, the bishop guarantees the clergy a job). Would you favor keeping it or not? As much detail and perspective that you can give would be most helpful.

2. If the guaranteed appointment is eliminated, and if non-seminary trained local pastors are ordained, what would be the motivation for a candidate for ministry to pursue a seminary education (and accumulate a large amount of debt)? Recent statistics suggest that almost half of new candidates for ministry are on the local pastor track (which currently means they are not ordained).

My response:

1. My opinion of the guaranteed appointment as the United Methodist Church now practices with itinerant clergy is that we are not doing any favors to our churches, our pastors, or the Gospel. By limiting risk, and rewarding complacency (don't rock the boat) we are not creating enough discomfort in our congregations and for our clergy to effectively risk and challenge and change. I am reminded of several passages in the epistles where the Apostles have gone out and appropriated what was before, in the culture, or in the historical record of Israel and made it work differently for the immediate context they live. Jesus does this as well, accepting the discomfort internally, while creating discomfort for the people. [Luke 4:14-30] I am in favor of guaranteed appointments, with a broader understanding of the purpose of the appointment, to train leaders, to administer the Sacraments, and to serve more churches (in the style of our Circuit Riders - entire regions of several states, etc, not our Current Circuits that encompass no more than 7 churches [that was the largest circuit I heard anyone serving]) I also believe that we do not do enough oversight of our clergy as provided for in the Discipline for evaluation and removal from ministry. If we were to do the work required for oversight as presented in the Discipline I think we would not have the same issues. Paragraphs 331.5-6 (deacons) and 334.4 (elders)

2. I know the expected debt load of incoming clergy is beyond what the expected income is. This should be better rectified, with a more strenuous examination prior to entering seminary, including service in the local church. It might be that the Board of Ordained Ministry would spend time culling from the ranks of the enhanced leadership of the Local Pastors those who would be a good fit for seminary. I applaud the efforts of our local pastors, and know them to do outstanding work. I think that setting seminary trained persons as guides and trainers for service would only serve to enhance that model, as well as allow for greater lay empowerment through the entire process.

I apologize if I have been anywhere unclear in my thoughts, and I would be happy to follow up as best I can.

Getting out of the Way Pt. 2

I just wanted to add this bit from the UM Portal:

AGING WELL: What younger folks wish older folks would learn

I remember one such type of gathering as part of VBS one year at Santa Barbara FUMC. While the children were all off doing their VBS thing, the adults had a regular Wednesday night Bible Study, and the Youth Group met every week on Tuesday. THis week, we all came Monday-Thursday for study and something along the lines of the regular discussion fused with VBS materials.

However, for Wednesday night, both the adult Bible study and the youth group met in the Asbury Room and shared what it was like to have been through milestone moments in our lives, like getting our driver's license, first date, etc. And then we compared notes on where we wanted to see the church go in the future.

Helpful and encouraging times. It is that kind of intergenerational interaction I want to be building into the first service at St. Andrew UMC. I have found that the best way to keep children and youth in the church when they are old enough to decide for themselves is to involve them in church from the outset, rather than shuffle them off into separate quarters before or part-way through the service.

Maybe we can make it work. My sermons may take some more energy and some better prep to be engaging for all. But, be it known here and now - I take my cues from Hope UMC in Torrance that proudly proclaims "Noisy Children Welcome"

Getting out of the Way

Yesterday I was watching my twitter feed, and Steve Heyduck posted something that grabbed my attention. I had a gut reaction, and I failed to complete the thought in 140 characters, and digest the conversation with any real strength.

It started like this:

@steveheyduck: For the UMC to take seriously raising up young leaders, we who are 45+ will have to be willing to get out of the way. #umc

@revcamp: @steveheyduck getting out of the way only helps if you are identifying and guiding to that point #umyc #umc

I don't want our leaders now to get out of the way to take seriously raising up young leaders. To me that sounds an awful lot like "In order for our children to grow up we need to die." Now, I realize that statement may be overdramatizing the issue, but I have seen it acted out that way.

It may be that Steve means "get out of the way" in the sense of providing actual leadership opportunities, with real responsibility, and accountability for failure, accolades for achievement, and listening to our ideas as we begin to think out new plans for the future. I hope that is it.

After watching some more of the extended dialogue (durn it there are not threaded feeds on Twitter - a la Facebook and Gmail) Mike Lindstrom responded with some of these thoughts.

1. @jereasons @steveheyduck I agree about ego - will we let younger ones cast some vision and move "our" church fwd or will we be speed bumps?about 5 hours ago from TweetDeck in reply to jereasons
2. @steveheyduck Okay - just want to be clear. As a soon to be 45 yo I'm passionate about moving into God's vision w/ others (I abhor ladders)about 6 hours ago from TweetDeck in reply to steveheyduck
3. @methoblog (and @steveheyduck) 45 year old clergy not ready to retire (and have vision) can work w/ yng ldrs who lead - join w/ not jump out

Which was in reference to some of these comments

1. @mikeybob I am 45 myself - just admitting that WE can't just talk a good game about raising up young leaders.about 6 hours ago from TweetDeck in reply to mikeybob
2. @mikeybob by "get out of the way" I don't mean retire. Perhaps climb off the "ladder?" Perhaps genuine openness to younger people's ideas?about 6 hours ago from TweetDeck in reply to mikeybob

But, getting out of the way too early is dangerous and leads to death for all. Now, I will admit I am right at the edge of Young Adults by definition of clergy standards at 35. I admit I was frustrated at times as an assistant youth leader, and as an associate pastor with being "held down" by the heirarchy of the church. Sometimes, that was saving my hindquarters from getting in some real trouble. At other times I think we missed some opportunities with our families, youth, and congregations.

I am grateful for those who said "What's the worst that can happen - we fail? All we can do is try it and see." From those statements followed the pieces that said, "Here are some things you may want to think about, and some tools I think you will need to make it succeed." If I chose to use other tools then so be it. If I thought about what was given all the better. If I decided a tool wasn't necessary and the truth was otherwise, I was usually given the opportunity to learn it for myself; when risk was too high, I was told to use that tool regardless. I was grateful for each of these.

These days I have no hierarchy to hold me back, but I do have people to whom I am responsible. The choices I make are my own, and I realize that I have an entire congregation that has its own expectations of what I am going to be. I try to honor those, as well as be myself, hold conversation as we go forward.

I wonder what it will look like to allow the current people to be themselves, as well as inviting new people into the conversation, as United Methodists, as Clergy, and as a changing nation and world. Can we provide enough leadership that those who will have to lead next will have some idea of what good leadership is, and how to enact it, or are we just turning over the reigns to the cart horse to a four year old raised in a car society?