SOARING - A Bishop's Blog

Bad Can Push Us To Be Great

Sometime "bad things" happen to good people that create in good people the desire to be great people. The current decline in membership and church attendance within the United Methodist Church has been bad news to us and for some there is a feeling that God has left us. And believe me when church folk believe that God has left us for others there is no worse thing that could happen to us. I am reminded of a quote from the book Good to Great written by Jim Collins. Collins writes, “Good is the enemy of great.” It is because so many of us settle for just being good that God sometimes has to allow the consequences of our behavior to come home to trouble us. It is often difficulty, discomfort and pain that push us to move when we would prefer not to move. But the discomfort of declining membership, declining attendance, lost of influence and declining resources have given birth to feelings of defeat, depression, disunity, and despair. This discomfort has given rise to some brave movement within the United Methodist Church to set a goal of staring 350 new churches per year. New congregational development is one of the key elements that we must embrace as a faithful response to the Great Commission. It is not something we do to insure our survival. It is our realization and confession that we have not been faithful to Jesus' command "...to go and make disciples of all nations. This will not be easy but we are not in this to do easy work we are in this to be faithful followers of the Resurrected Christ. I am hopeful and optimistic that we can find our way forward.

Flagrant Foul

Good morning! Well, another one of my heroes has demonstrated that he is human. Robert Horry, sometimes referred to by sports commentators as “Big Shot Bob” confirmed that he is subject to flaws on the basketball court. It appeared that he lost it last night and committed a flagrant foul on Steve Nash. I believe that Horry will be given some kind of suspension or fine for his behavior which I believe to be proper. I can not help but wonder how he is feeling this morning as he wakes up to the reality of what he did. It is such an agonizing thing to discover that you are human. The truth of the matter is that a human being is capable of hitting last second shots to win ball games and that same human being can turn around and miss a game winning shot or even worst commit a flagrant foul. I’ve watch Horry since his days with the Houston Rockets and have never seen him respond to disappointment in this matter but again he is human.
Have you ever experienced a moment in which you discovered that you are human? I call these moments, “This is why I need you Lord moments!” There is an imperfection within all of us that brings us to a point of humility, to a place where we recognize our need for God’s strength and divine intervention in our lives. I hate those moments. But I have also discovered those are moments that help me to begin a new process of growth. You see if a seasoned player like Robert “Big Shot Bob” Horry can make a mistake on the basketball court where he has gained fame and performed well then there is the possibility that I could also do wrong. But if and when we do let us grow from our faults and failings and not be stuck in them.

I Went Through the Desert On a Horse With No Name

There is a song I believe that was recorded by the group “America” that has been ringing in my ears for some time. The one line I believe goes something like this. “I’ve been through the desert on a horse with no name. It felt good to get out of the rain. In the desert you can remember your name. Cause there ain’t no one for to give you no pain.”

Now just why has this song continued to stay with me for the last three days? I am not sure, but my speculation is that maybe there is a longing somewhere in my soul to be removed from the rain. I guess all of us long for that place where the rain cannot get to us. This also reminds me of another song, “Everybody Gets Stoned!” This song relays a message to us that we all have our day of being beat up and abused by the world. The Eagles suggest that we all long for a desert where we can get away from the “rain” or the “stones.”

It is a fact of life that trouble finds its way to all of our doorsteps. It does not matter whether you are in a ghetto, living in a gated community, always hungry or have more food than you need; the holder of a Ph.D or a high school dropout we all have bad days. These are not just troubled days, they are days that try our faith, assault our spirit of optimism or just make us want to stay in the bed and not be involved in the battle of life. I realize that we all need to get away but we get away not to avoid the “rain” or “stones” but to renew our strength to be energized to continue the struggle.

So when you feel overwhelmed, go “…through the desert on a horse with no name…” and be refreshed, renewed and rededicated.

UM and Christian Churches Together

I just received an email from Dr. Riley Case in which he expressed a concern that we United Methodist practice a selective ecumenism based on his understanding of our decision to not join the new Christian Churches Together. Usually I stay out of this kind of church argument but on this issue I disagree with Dr. Case’s interpretation; because I have been apart of this dialogue. I have just returned from a meeting of the Pan Methodist Bishops (this includes African Methodist Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal Zion, Christian Methodist Episcopal, United Methodist bishops). This issue was discussed in great detail in a small group meeting and later in our plenary. Our Historically Black Methodist Bishops were very adamant that we (United Methodist) not join Christian Churches Together because they have some serious concerns. One of the concerns is that this group CCT was formed around the same time that Bishop Thomas Hoyt of the Christian Methodist Episcopal became the president of the National Council of Churches and believed we should be supportive of his presidency. Secondly, they expressed grave concern about the direction of CCT and preferred to wait until this is clear.
Thirdly, CCT offers denomination many membership options. Many of the Pentecostals and others have taken advantage of these options as we have. I realize that many desire to make life a simple issue of black and white but even the CCT recognized that there would be times that the various denominations would have different reactions to whatever CCT was engaged in and thought it best to have the various denominations at the table even when they disagree.

Unpredictable Change

I understand from the Weather Report this morning that winter is not ready to leave us. The report is that we will experience dramatically colder temperatures. The temperature will be dropping from the high 70s to the possible the 20s this Easter Weekend. There is very little in life that is predictable. I remember watching my cousin Helena bake a cake. She did everything just right and placed it in the oven to bake. But her brother made the cake fall. It was an ugly site of a cake but the cake sure tasted good to me. Sometimes what looks like a bad situation turns out all right and sometimes what looks good turns out wrong. It is a person’s ability to adjust to circumstances and the inconsistence of life that often determines success or failure. You can not guard against all the adversities of life but you can learn not to let your reaction to those uncontrollable events be apart of the problem. You can learn to place those things in the hands of God who has declared that we are loved either protect us, deliver us or give us internal and external resources to not only survive but to thrive.

Large Church Conference

We just concluded our first Large Church Initiative in the Holston Conference. It was hosted by First Centenary and Christ United Methodist Churches. Our speakers were Bishops Al Gwinn & Hope Morgan Ward, Rev. Adam Hamilton, Kent Millard, and Leonard Sweet. We offered over 40 workshops and three onsite learning experiences. I do not have the figures of the number of attendees but on Wednesday we had about 225 registered participants. Those who attended were from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee & Virginia.

The conference was advertised as a Large Church event but many came whose hope and drive was to reach at least 250 persons in worship and go beyond. I was impressed with the presentations, plenary sessions, workshops, and sermons. We experienced emergent worship, contemporary worship, and traditional worship.

As soon as the evaluations are read and reported I will post the results. What a Holy Spirit filled time!

Recent Reading

As part of our spiritual journey together, the Extended Cabinet and I have just finished reading and reviewing the book "Blood Done Signed My Name" by Timothy Tyson. It is the account of a United Methodist preacher kid's remembrances and research into a gruesome slaying that occurred in Oxford, NC while his father was the pastor there. It is extremely well written and gives us a view of that tumultuous era of the 50s, 60s, and 70s in our nation. I recommend this as quality reading. We are grateful to Grady Winegar for recommending this for our spiritual edification.

Not Either Or But Both And

We are all often guilty of making sacred the ways God moves in our lives and some time make the mistake of making our experience normative for others. Some of us accepted Christ as the result of a worship experience that dramatically impacted us. There are others who saw and experienced Christ as we observed others involved in a mission outside of the worship hour. This could have been witnessing people of a congregation involved in ministry with the homeless, reaching out to latch key children, building a Habitat House, speaking up for justice for those who could not speak for themselves or in a mission trip overseas.

I believe all of these to be valid avenues to experiencing the Risen Christ. The trouble comes when we elevate one over the other. The Great Commission calls us to go and make disciples while the fifth chapter of Matthew's gospel tells us Jesus admonished us to let our light shine that people may see our good works and give glory to God. In each instance the goal is the same and that is to share this good news of God's redeeming act in Jesus Christ and to demonstrate God's desire to be in communion with humanity. And we need not argue over which is valid.

If we look at the track record of the Church in recent years we need to spread the good news by all means available to us rather than spend our time debating which is more sacred, godlier, or more valid.

Bill Deskins

The Holston Annual Conference lost a friend in Bill Deskins. Bill served this conference faithfully traveling to Knoxville from Tazewell, Virginia many times during a year to give leadership to our Personnel Resources Committee and to other meetings that needed and valued his input. I will miss his smile of assurance and his positive attitude about our church. In a time when most of us are prone to think about ourselves, Bill seemed to always want what was best for the cause of Christ and the church. He was a faithful Christian and a loyal United Methodist. Bill, I will miss you.

James E. Swanson, Sr.

Healing

I am currently reading a book edited by Dr. G. Scott Morris, MD entitled "I Am the Lord Who Heals You." It is a collection of sermons by great preaching on the theme of healing, wholeness and restoration. I would recommend the reading of these sermons for pastors, lay speakers and anyone interested in the church's role in bringing about healing, wholeness and restoration in individuals and in systems.

I see so much hurt and pain in those who I come into contact with and long for the day when our churches and our ministries become safe places for people to admit their hurt and seek healing. So what do you think?

Freedom Writers

Wow! What a movie. I recommend this real life triumphant movie. It is the combined stories of high school freshmen struggling to learn in the midst of so much disappointment and despair so prevalent in the communities and homes in which they lived. It is the sense of calling that a teacher embraced that these teenagers find real freedom to become the persons God created them to be. The tremendous lessons in this movie are those we all need to learn. It is a movie about keeping hope alive when there is really no reason to have hope. It is a movie of how one person can make a difference. It is a movie of the power of living a sacrificial life. It is a story of how we overcome the bad teachings we receive from our families and surroundings. It is a movie of how we can crush people if we love the system more than people. It is a movie that proves that we have more in common even when we do not look or speak the same.

I might warn you to carry some tissue with you because the drama and acting is so powerful that you will be moved to tears. There will be tears of sorrow and tears of joy. So many images and scenes from the movie flood my mind even as I write this. Just go see the movie regardless of what you read from those who write reviews.

Winning

My, my, I can only imagine how Peyton Manning feels after winning the AFC Championship game. I believe that this win is especially satisfying to him in light of the times when he did not win the so-called big game. It is amazing how good winning feels. And yet many opt each day not to engage life because they are fearful of either losing or winning. The challenge that comes to us when we lose is to somehow find deep inside ourselves the strength to not let the defeat be seen as the substance of our existence. The challenge of winning is not allowing the victory to make us smug, over confident, or down right arrogant. Peyton at least on camera handled the victory with the same grace he has handled some bitter defeats.

You see I believe that the most important thing in life is how you grow each and every day regardless of whether you are victorious or defeated. How do you not let the drive to win so dominate you that you will do anything, even act in immoral ways to win? It appears from the numbers and even the attitude of the United Methodist Church that we are losers. However, I would remind us if we could but admit we have made some mistakes and then learn from them, I believe the Lord would send a bounteous harvest to us. I believe the scriptures tell us that we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus who loves us. I truly believe this. It is my story and I'm holding on to it.

Peace

The Pursuit of Happyness

After viewing the movie "Eragon" with my son Joshua and two of his friends Delphine met me at the movie to view the movie "Pursuit of Happyness." Will Smith starred in this true story about the life of Chris Gardner. Mr. Gardner and his son lived on the streets of the San Francisco Bay Area as homeless persons. Gardner perseveres and eventually becomes a stock broker after a chance encounter with a stock broker who tells him that all it takes is someone with a gift for working with numbers and people.

Armed with this word of encouragement Gardner suffers through the loss of his wife, homelessness, no income and having to win a permanent job against many who have more education than him to become a multi-millionaire. Gardner becomes a transformed man.

How many of our people sitting in the pews of their church need a word of encouragement? So what do they receive when they dare to venture into our places of worship? In the movie, Chris Gardner pursued happiness but how many of us realize that we are the ones being pursued by the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit offers us a relationship with God through Jesus that brings us "...life abundantly.” Imagine what could happen if we began to offer a word of encouragement to many in despair.

Give It to Them Will

The Highlands United Methodist Church in Birmingham decided to take the call of Jesus to feed the hungry seriously and it appears that they were slammed by some of their neighbors and the newspaper in Birmingham for doing this.

This is a statement that Bishop William Willimon gave in response to the criticism. "The problem is not that Highlands United Methodist Church offers food to homeless people. The problem is that we live in a state where more than 15 percent of our neighbors are living below the poverty line. The problem is that 23 percent of Alabama's children live in poverty," wrote the bishop.

A BIG HIGH FIVE goes out to Bishop Willimon for this statement. Give it to them Will.

Opening Community Worship

Today, we the Council of Bishops, had our Opening Community Worship. It was a spirit-filled time with tremendous singing from the several choirs of the Central Conference of Mozambique.

The President of Mozambique welcomed us and thanked the United Methodist Church for preaching and teaching a gospel that helped the people of Mozambique and the rest of the world know that they are God's people. He spoke of Medical facilities, schools, and other social action agencies that were financed and staffed by missionaries and others who treated them as equals and how this helps the corporate and individual self-esteem of this country.

We were also welcomed by Bishop Machado the host bishop who celebrated that this was the first meeting of the United Methodist Council of Bishops ever outside the United States. He also told us that in the Portuguese language there is no word for a female bishop and therefore us United Methodists we were adding new words to the Portuguese language.

I am so proud of our work here in Mozambique and all of Africa and glad that I am a part of a church that helps to lift the burdens of sin and poverty. The dual message of personal piety and social holiness of the Wesleyan message was on display here today.

Praise God through Jesus Christ for his liberating power.