The summer is quickly coming to a close and a new adventure is about to start – I will be entering Seminary at Drew in just a few weeks.  As I contemplate the life change ahead, I wonder – Am I really ready for this?  Is this where my future lies?  Will I ever be “good enough” to serve others?  My life has not been a storybook version of what others might expect in their clergy.  As I consider these thoughts, I am comforted, at least a bit, to know that John Wesley, the original Methodist – had many of the same concerns but eventually came to understand that you did not have to be perfect to serve God.  Ok – so my past mistakes in life will not be an impediment - but can I really be a person that can be there to comfort others, to help them connect with their spiritual needs?

I got a bit of an answer today – when quite unexpectedly I ran into an old acquaintence.  Stopping for some friendly words, I soon found myself in a lengthy discussion, in a very public place, about the nature of God, spiritual beliefs, how tragedies in life affect us, and what role might God have in them, does God have a set plan for our lives and much more. 

While I have had similar conversations with others, they have always been in “safe” settings, places where it was expected that such conversations would be had, or times when only the participants in that conversation are close by.  Today was different – today I sat in a crowded barber shop and shared my beliefs.  Perhaps for the first time I truly felt that I was being a disciple, spreading word of God’s grace, bearing witness to my faith.  While my old friend was deep in the conversation with me, it was those that surrounded us that may have gotten the most out of our talk.  As the two of us shared our thoughts, I noticed that others around were listening, often trying to appear as if they were not .  No one joined our conversation – but I wonder how  many of them may have left the shop thinking about their own faith.  Did they go home tonight and share the story with their spouse of two guys in a Barber Shop talking about God and faith – and did that lead to a discussion of their own. 

Wether that talk had an effect on anyone else or not, I know that for me it was just what I needed today, a tangible example that I can be the witness God is calling me to be, that I probably do have what it takes to make this path a fruitful one.  Only time will tell for sure, but I have faith that this is the right path.

Congratulations to Becca Clark ( a regular over at Holy Leftovers) and her congregation and web folks at Trinity United Methodist Church in Montpelier, VT. They just recieved the annual award for the best web site in the Troy Annual Conference. The site ( http://www.trinitymethodistvt.org/ ) is sleek, informational and provides lots of great content. I encourage everyone to take a look at what a church site can look like if you have people with knowledge and energy involved. Job Well Done!

I hope to use their site to gather ideas for working on our own at numc.net (Newtonville UMC).  Over the next year the Troy Annual Conference will be no more.  The conference will be in part joining with other three other upstate conferences (North Central, Wyoming and Western NY, to become the new Upstate New York Annual Conference.  (info on the New Annual Conference can be found at http://www.uppernewyork.org ).  Another portion of  Troy Conference (those churches in Vermont – inlcuding Becca’s) will be shifting into the New England Annual Conference.  Maybe that will give NUMC a chance at the best website award next year….

Congrats again to Trinity UM and may God be with you as we all transition to the future.

DM

The seed will against all  opposition, prevail over evil and human injustice leading to ongoing transformation into the world that God dreams of.  As part of a transforming community, people experience liberation from fear of death and condemnation.

Well, its been a few weeks, and our little study group has read through and dicussed several sections of McClaren’s book Everything Must Change.  I have to say that I am finding it quite interesting.  I would encourage anyone intersted in the multi-facted issues that face both American and world-wide communities today to read through the book and consider its ideas, whether you are Christian, Atheist, or anything else.  Ultimately, the ideas discussed as approaches to world issues, are applicable whether you seat them in Christian theology or not.

Today, I want to provide a brief introduction to some of what the book has to say for anyone that might have a nacsenct interest, or that might not be able to access the book.

The book considers how the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth can address todays critical global problems.  McClaren starts out by considering the two questions that will form the basis of his inquiry:

     1. What are the biggest problems in the world today? and

      2. What does (did) Jesus have to say that is applicable to those global problems.

In answer to Question 1, McClaren identifies 4 major problems (the following in italics is taken directly from McClaren’s website http://www.everythingmustchange.org/content/blogcategory/36/12/

The Four Crises 
1. The prosperity crisis – or crisis of the planet – grows from the fact that our pursuit of prosperity is unsustainable ecologically. We demand more resources and produce more wastes than our planet can handle. In our lifetime, we have crossed several tipping points where our unsustainable way of life pushes us farther and faster toward a whole array of intensifying ecological crises. This lack of respect for environmental limits has produced great wealth for 1/3 of the World’s population, at great cost to the rest.

2. The equity crisis – or crisis of poverty – arises because a minority of the world’s population is experiencing great prosperity, while a majority is not. This growing gap between rich and poor adds to the pain of poverty an acute sense of injustice: while some starve, others waste, and while some are sick, others have abundant health care, and while some feel trapped, others have abundant opportunities. This growing gap between the ultra rich and the very poor leads to resentment and  hatred of those who “have” by those that do not, and to fear and anger toward those that do by those that “have”.

3. The security crisis – or the crisis of peace – is made worse by the two previous crises. As the environment experiences greater stress and puts limits on economic growth, the poor suffer disproportionately. Their suffering in turn fuels mass migration, petty and organized crime, war, and terrorism. The rich respond by investing more and more of their income in weapons and armies and police, leaving the poor even more isolated and angry, resulting in a vicious cycle of resentment among the poor and fear among the rich that increases the likelihood of catastrophic war.

4. The spirituality crisis – or the crisis of purpose/ story – intensifies as our religious systems fail to provide inspiration and moral will to address the previous crises. Too often, they legitimize counterproductive responses, or they distract people from constructive action by preoccupying them with other matters.   Failure of the World’s religions to provide a framing stroy capable of healing or reducing the other 3 crises.

The book then turns to looking at the Framing Stories – (Contexts for life that help to give direction and understanding to how we live our lives) – and how many of the existing framing stories reinforce rather than address the global crises.  For example – McClaren recounts how he encountered people in Africa who expressed to him that they had really only heard one sermon (in many incarnations) in their whole life – “You are a sinner and you are going to hell.  You need to repent and believe in Jesus Christ“.  This is especially distrssesing in an area where hunger, illness and constant strife with neighboring groups are every day realities that could certainly form the basis for many sermons on peace, love, social reform, etc.

McClaren goes on to express his concern that for many of us the framing story we live within is that lifes purpose is to accumulate an abundance of possessions and experience maximum pleasure – leaving little reason to manage our consumption of resources.  Another typical framing story is that we are in a life and death competition – where only the strongest survive.  As a result , there is little reason to seek reconciliation and collaboration toward non  violent solutions to conflict.

McClaren then contrasts these ideas with the framing stories he sees in the teachings of Jesus – that we should be seen as free and responsible creatures, made by a good, wise and loving God that wants us to pursue virture, collaboration, peace and mutual care.  With this view, we can have profound meaning in live by aligning ousr actions with God’s Widsone, character and dreams.  If we follow this story, then society will take a radically differnet direction, changing the world.

….Next- two views of Jesus – Conventional vs. Emerging

Members of our coungregation have taken on reading Brian McClaren’s “Everything Must Change” as a study during Lent.  So far we have only gone through the first two sections, but already I am finding the book to be expressing many ideas that have been floating around my mind (though less well stated) for some time.  I was wondering if anyone else has had the opportunity to review the book and had any thoughts on it.

McClaren starts out by looking at several questions that have bothered him for years, and then moves on to “What are the biggest issues facing the world” and what framinq questions do societies use to identify how to respond. 

I look forward to anyone else’s thoughts as I continue to read on.

Hosting a 30 Hour Famine

The youth group I work with held a 30 Hour Famine last weekend.  The event kicked off with a final dinner on Friday evening, after which the youth did not break their fast until Sunday morning.  During those 30+ hours we had lots of discussion about what it means to go hungry, what effects long term hunger has on people (including a Homework time about 15 hours into the fast, where they started to realize that going without food affected their ability to think clearly) and how we as Christians should be responding to the crisis. The students were shocked to learn some of the relevant facts, such as the as many as 29,000 children die each day from hunger and hunger related issues (that is one about every three seconds) or that while the UN estimates that $150 billion per year could provide food and clean water for everyone in the world currently starving, youth in North American spend over $155 billion per year on video games, junk food and other extras. 

  The event led to our youth reaching out to friend, family and even strangers, spreading the word about the famine (both ours and world famine) and raising funds.  On the day the event started our seven youth brought along three friends from other denominations (two more were supposed to joing but took ill earlier on Friday).  Ultimately, this small group of 12-16 year olds was able to raise over $2500 to help fight hunger.  Perhaps more importantly, the word spread and we have already been approached by other students, and other whole youth groups that want to join in next year if we do it again.

I am very proud of this group of youngsters, and wanted to share their efforts with you all.   My work with them this year has been very fulfilling and I look forward to continuing to grow with them.  It has been wonderful to see the group evolve from a bunch of kids that came because mom and dad made them to a cohesive group that is already planning future ministry work to help move the world closer to the Kingdom here on earth.

If you are interested in learning more about the 30 Hour Famine program, visit http://www.30hourfamine.org/.  To learm more about our efforts, go to http://numc.net/

After an extended hiatus during a busy few months, I hope to once again begin posting random thoughts as I continue on my Spiritual Journey.  To kick things off, I start with a Sermon delivered on the First Sunday of Lent

Reading  - Mark 1:9-15

⁹In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. ¹¹And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

¹²And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. ¹³He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

¹⁴Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, ¹⁵and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

Talk about getting a call from God – WOW!

The heavens open, the voice of God speaks loud and clear as a bell.

“YOU ARE MY SON, THE BELOVED.. I AM WELL PLEASED”

What an amazing site to behold!     , and what a hard call to ignore!

Considering the theme of thin places that we are looking at in this Lenten season, those places where we are closest to God, where we can see God at work in our life, I would have to say that this was a mighty thin place.

It was the kind of situation we would probably all love to have if we feel called at all.  God very clearly, speaking directly to us, saying exactly what he wants from us.  An event where one would be about as close to God as you can get in this world. 

But that rarely happens and in our own lives   -  a moment like that is difficult for us to relate to. 

It’s kind of like some winning the multi-megamillion lotto, or a major sporting event, something that we might dream about, but not something that we can ever expect to really experience or relate to. 

It is difficult for us to truly grasp what it would be like to win Olympic Gold or to be offered a multi-million dollar deal.  Most of us will never really know the thrill that such an event would bring, or understand the pressure that goes along with such events.  Pressure to be perfect, pressure to continue to perform while seemingly the whole world is watching. 

Within the last month we have seen how that pressure can impact people – with the problems and confessions of Michael Phelps and Alex Rodriguez.  One was seeking a way to escape the pressure of their success, the other seeking a way to live up to those expectations, but both making mistakes, giving in to temptation and suffering the consequences of their failure to remain perfect. 

Perhaps thankfully, most of us will never have that ultimate experience or hear that deafening unavoidable in your face call from God.  But Jesus did, he heard the call loud and clear, and needed to find out how he would respond to it. 

The next part of today’s reading shows us how he responded.  The story now places Jesus in a situation much closer to home for most of us.  He is driven into the wilderness and left to survive on his own,  

with no provisions, or shelter except for what he can get from the wilderness – and along the way he faces great temptation. 

Haven’t we all felt that alone and isolated at some point, alone in the wilderness even as we are surround by others – many of whom might be lost in their own private wilderness. 

Whatever the cause of that isolation,

family discord,

illness,

or in today’s economy financial concerns, feelings of depression, fears, and more. 

We all have the potential to have felt alone in our own wilderness at some point. To have felt separated from others and even from God. 

During that time in the wilderness Jesus was just like us, alone, in need, and faced with temptations.  Temptation to take the easy way out, temptation to heed his hunger through acts he knew went against Gods wishes. 

But he fought against those temptations and still survived.  Instead of letting that time in the wilderness be his ruin, the newly identified “beloved of God” turned it around and allowed that desolate, desperate situation to become a positive life changing event. 

We know almost nothing of Jesus’ life before that fateful day he met John the Baptist at the River Jordan, the same day he began his journey in the wilderness.  Up to that point he was a relative nobody, an average “Joshua the Handyman”.  But from the day he came out of the wilderness to the day he died, just three short years, his actions changed the world. 

You coud say  - “of course,  - Hey! He was the Son of God after all.  Didn’t the heavens open up and God clearly state that he was!” 

  That is, after all, what Mark tells us, but imagine what those events can do to someone, having that kind of responsibility laid on you all at once. 

The movie Bruce Almighty  provides one interpretation of how someone might respond to a similar situation.  At first the power is Cool, and Bruce revels in his newly acquired abilities.  But soon the responsibilities associated with that power become overwhelming, and he finds himself having to deal with the consequences of poor choices.

Jesus faced the same situation. “here is all this power and responsibility, deal with it“

Unlike Bruce, Jesus denied the temptations.  But even more important –his way out of the wilderness was to serve as God called him to do.  Spreading the word of the coming kingdom and the Way to reach that kingdom.

Jesus recognized the significance of that thin place he was at, he saw and understood God’s purpose for him and did not shrink from that purpose.

He served through action and words.  -  Some of his first actions were to reach out to others in need, to help heal as well as spreading the word.  He began to not only lead, but to serve both God and those he led as well. 

In doing this, Jesus showed us how we can find a way out of our own wilderness situations.  Not by turning inward or giving in to the temptations that crop up.  But rather by reaching out to help others, allowing the action of serving God’s Purpose to free us from the wilderness.

Jesus saw that the wilderness is just not a place of danger and isolation, but that it can be a place of beauty and solitude, a place for reflection and considering what new paths our lives should take. 

Rather than seeing the wilderness as a place that makes us ask “how can we ever survive this?  it can be seen as a place to make us ask “WHO ARE WE?” 

The process to declaring as a candidate for Ministry includes a lot of reflective questions.  One question we are asked to consider is when and where in life have you felt closest to God.  When I thought about that, the answer came pretty quickly.  Even though it was a time in my life when I was not attending Church on a regular basis, or feeling all that spiritual in general, I visited the Four Corners area about nine years ago and was able to spend time in some pretty remote places – see my slides for today.  That real, physical wilderness of the desert canyons of Arizona and New Mexico, was a very special place to me.  A place where even at that point in my life, I could see God’s power and beauty at work.

Unfortunately, I did not fully appreciate that is was a place I could personally connect with God until much later.  Looking back now, I realize that for me, that wilderness the ultimate physical thin place for me.  A place where, had I been prepared, I could have felt much closer to God than ever before.

Like the wilderness that Jesus faced, the wilderness places in our own lives are places that allow transformation.  The wildernesses we each face are place where we come close to God, where we can look at the question of “Who Are We”. When we find ourselves in those places we can make the choices that will either allow us to find our way out, or sink deeper into despair.  We can take actions God calls us to, or we can fall to the temptation of self pity. 

If we open ourselves to God’s presence in our life at all times, those wilderness times will not seem so alone or difficult to navigate, because we will not be alone.  Rather than letting such places lead us to despair, we can choose to find hope and a purpose in such places.  By taking actions that God calls us to, not only will we find our way safely through the wilderness, but we can do our part to bring God’s Kingdom to earth.   If we just keep in mind that we are never totally alone.  God is always there, just waiting for us to open our eyes and our hearts to that saving grace.  To let God become a part of our lives, as we prepare the way of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Just back from a Volunteer in Mission Trip to Cedar Rapids Iowa, and area devastated by flooding in June – more than 5000 homes and 1200 businesses damaged. Among other efforts the First United Methodist Church of Marion is coordinating VIM efforts in the area. I heard that they have already logged more than 40,000 hours of Volunteer work, but that is only a drop in the bucket of what will be needed. Images from my trip can be found by following the link below. I hope to add more details shortly.

Video from the day of the flood crest can be found at  http://www.ourchurchvideos.com/50321/iaumc/view_video.php?viewkey=1059396431415e770c6d

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