It's More Than...

"God is our refuge and strength, a help always near in times of great trouble. That's why we won't be afraid when the world falls apart..." Psalm 46:1-2

I didn't know about the mass shooting that happened in Orlando until lunch after services. When my friends at the lunch table started talking about it I didn't know what to think. This is a horrible tragedy, an abhorrent act of hatred, and yet the responses to this occurrence have been all over the place. This hatred has been met with much hatred for sure - but how that hatred has been directed has left me saddened and broken hearted. Some have used it to as a way to say that God used this shooter as a form of punishment for a sinful people. Others have clamored that the only way to end gun violence is to make guns more readily accessible for "the good guys." Others have posted pictures of gay people kissing for the sole intent that it would just make mad the shooter and others with the same hatred towards the LGBTQ community. Then others have purposely made this political with more pleas for stricter gun control.

My question now is: which is more depressing? The horrendous action that killed more than 50 of God's precious children (regardless of whether or not they are followers of Christ, they are still God's children), or the fact that those who pour out in righteous indignation can't seem for even one second stand in unity before ripping into one another by arguing over what is best between the polar opposite solutions to how to keep guns out of the hands of those who would inflict harm?

But it's more than gun control (or the lack of, however you view it). It's about a worldview that has glorified violence, whether it be violence to inflict terror or violence in the name of protection. Effectively, at it's core, violence is brought on by hate. This hate has taken on the form of more than mass shootings (or the plans to commit a murder on a large scale, as demonstrated by the Hoosier pulled over on his way to the LA Gay Pride Parade heavily armed). Just this morning I learned on my way to work of a 15 year old girl who had did not realize a nude photo had been taken of her until it had been Snapchat'd across her school. Not knowing how to deal with this form of emotional violence (you can call it cyber bullying, it is still very much violence), she killed herself at home in her bathroom.

It's more than gun control and bullying - it's hatred. It's a blatant disregard to love your neighbor as yourself as Jesus has shared with us as a must-do. This comes out in the form of violence, of brutality, of bullying, of manipulation of an individual or group, of the refusal to work together in unity and demand schism over one issue, stereotyping a whole people group (religious or racial) based on the actions of a relative few... effectively it is the exclusion of the "other" and this is not what God had in mind.

At God's core is community: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit working together to bring about wonderful change and transformation in the midst of a broken world. Three very distinct persons coming together, and instead of working against each other, being thankful for one another and the gifts that they bring to the table. We were made in God's image, and this fact means that we were made to be in relationship with one another - in community with other people, even those with whom we may disagree. God recognized with Adam that it was not good for him to be alone, so Eve was created as more than just a "helpmate" but a companion, someone whom Adam could love and be loved in return. Two very different people and yet they were in community, and remained in community with one another even after they had been kicked out of the Garden of Eden (remember, Adam blamed Eve for making him eat the fruit? I can only imagine the hurt incurred, especially since this would have been the first time anybody blamed someone else for their own actions and choices.)

It's more than any particular and singular issue: it's about hate in all its forms.

 So what can we do about it? First, we can pray. We can pray for all those who are grieving the loss of loved ones due to this hatred that has been allowed to become a part of our society. We can pray for those who are recovering physically from their wounds in these tragic acts and pray that they might find emotional and spiritual healing in the wake of them. We can pray for ourselves, that we might have the courage to stand up against the systemic hatred which has festered in our society towards any group of people - LGBTQ, racism, religious groups, etc...

Second, we can be Christ's hands and feet towards the marginalized. We can treat our brothers and sisters who are LGBTQ, Muslim, gun control, anti-gun control, other denominational Christians, etc... like the human beings they are! Like the precious children of God that they are because they all have been made in God's image at birth as well!

Father God, forgive us for our trespasses against our fellow human beings. We have forgotten that our actions of hatred have actually been hatred as we have been told that bullying and even shootings are normal events. Help us to realize that these are not natural things and bring us back to what you have commanded of us: to love you, Lord, with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength, as well as to love our neighbors as ourselves. Through your Holy Spirit, strip us of our sinful desires and create in us a new person emulating Christ in which Your love overflows and affects all those we come across, regardless of whatever people group they might belong to. Amen.

Getting Ready for a Revival!

Before leaving for England, the pastors that meet on a weekly basis, Tuesday mornings, at city hall to pray with the mayor had been talking about bringing a joint church revival here to Sullivan. They were thinking about doing this in April - 8 months away.

While I was in England, as I've mentioned before in this blog, I had been gaining more and more of a sense of urgency. Something needs to happen in Sullivan - I don't know what that looks like other than it needing to be led by the grace of God and the Holy Spirit. When I come back to the mayor's office the next Tuesday morning, no longer were they talking about this revival through Revive Indiana being 8 months away - they were already going through logistics and how to pull this revival off in 2 months! While I was gone, feeling the Spirit tugging on me, the pastors back here in Indiana were feeling this same push!

I stop and I think about what John Wesley did for the church: he organized and executed a revival, yet he didn't do it alone. The Spirit was working through him, his brother, their classmates, friends and acquaintances. Often times when we talk about the Methodist movement, it often times sounds like John Wesley gets all of the credit and he did it all by his lonesome - and that couldn't be further from the truth.

There are many things which I am impressed by concerning this upcoming revival. For one thing, it is all of these different churches which are coming together as the Body of Christ. Sure, we might not all agree on every doctrine, but we recognize that the main and unifying point of Christianity is our relationship with Jesus Christ - that we are all called to grow closer to God through His Son. As long as we keep our eyes on that truth then we're golden!

The other amazing thing to me about this is that the Spirit literally knows no bounds, either spatial or chronological. God was working on my heart while I was in Salisbury, England while He was working on the hearts and minds of the pastors back home, 5 time zones away. Even though there is a part of me that wants to throw up my hands in exasperation at the lunacy of pulling off an event this big in 2 months, I find myself at peace, trusting that no matter what happens, God will use this for His glory. Good will come out of it - and my part of this process is to trust and obey.

So here I am, in the midst of sermon planning and writing, studying, visiting parishioners and trying to get ready for the Fruitful Congregation Journey which will help lead Sullivan First UMC into being a more fruitful and vibrant congregation (a revival in and of itself), at the same time, I am actively promoting and helping to get this ecumenical event off the ground. All I can say is that I am incredibly blessed to be given the opportunity to be a part of something like this alongside some truly wonderful and gifted people from the various churches in this city.

If you want to learn more about Revive Sullivan, you can check out our Facebook page (just search for "Revive Sullivan"). I am going to be looking into a website and likely building that if Revive Indiana (who we are doing this revival under) does not already supply us with one.

Prayers, please, for the community of Sullivan. May this city come to know the grace of God as it is actively working in all of our lives, and may the Spirit cut through the attitude of apathy which Sullivan has taken on. May we all come to understand that we are loved and valued children of the Most High God!

Pilgrimage: End +1 Day

At the time of writing this blog, I am approximately halfway through my flight home, midway through writing a (hopefully) coherent sermon and hoping that what winds up being written here is worthwhile for whenever it is that I manage to post it...

This morning has been full of anxiety for me. I'm anxious and eager to get home and hold my son and kiss my wife. The plan of who was going with me and John on the Underground to Heathrow was constantly changing. Got on the wrong DLR train which meant that I had to spend more money and readjust our path through the Tube. My reading comprehension failed which meant that John and I had to navigate how to get from Terminal 5, where I thought we were supposed to be, to Terminal 3... (that one just made me feel dumb) It was not the relaxing and boring wait I was hoping for before boarding. We made it through TSA smoothly and I'm expecting the same when going through customs at the airport. I just think it was a lot of change and adjustment, and for someone who doesn't like things to be unexpected... well, I think you get the picture.

This pilgrimage has been something that I still can't quite put to words. Sure, there is this sense of spiritual enlightenment - something that a pilgrimage should have as a part of it. It was a time where I was able to meet new and incredible people that have helped me to realize that I need to keep the kid in me alive and affirmed by many that I do have a lot of potential (evidently my sermon actually made an impact at worship at the Methodist Central Hall in London, for which I fully thank the Holy Spirit for). I walked in the same rooms and streets that John and Charles Wesley walked through... More than those things, though, I have this sense of urgency growing within me - a sense of urgency to make sure that I am helping those in my pastoral charge are seeking Jesus in their own pilgrimage. I feel as though I've been getting ready for a run even before leaving for England, and I have this burning in my heart to start running and pray to God that I don't run out of stamina!

John Wesley really seemed to take to Paul's metaphor of the Christian life being a race which we will never finish. We are to be constantly striving to be closer to God in everything we do. We will never get to the point where we will understand or fully experience the fullness of God's love for us, but we can strive for and work in growing our relationship with our Creator through Christ. Learning to love like Christ loved, along with everything that entails, is what John Wesley meant when he spoke about Christian Perfection and never ceasing to obtain it. If we actually do manage to reach Christian Perfection in this life, it would likely be for the slightest moment where we get that ever so brief understanding of what God's love means in all things before it escapes our imperfect human mind... yet that still doesn't mean that we do not keep trying. It is in this pursuit that we realize that faith in God is not the end game, but putting that faith and love in Jesus Christ into action.

I know that it seems that I'm hopping around between subjects, but here's how I understand these things to tie together: I am running for Christian Perfection, and I am running to help usher and guide my brothers and sisters in Christ towards that same goal. I will continue to mess up (I've messed up plenty already), but I will keep moving in God's grace until I can get to the point where I sin no more, and the mistakes I've made will dissipate over time as I learn from them.

Even more significant, though, is that this pilgrimage isn't ending. I've been on a pilgrimage for a long time already. Sometimes that road has been robust and lavish in spiritual highs... and at other times I have experienced my lowest lows where I had to question if God was still there - even if this gracious God still cared. A pilgrimage is simply seeking God, regardless of where you are or what time it is. It is more than learning as much as you can as a student or taking in as much as you can like a consumer: it's learning and taking in everything God is opening up to you in that moment so that you might apply it in your ministry context - and everyone has a ministry context.

This pilgrimage isn't over yet - it is something that stretches over the course of our lives. I don't know what shape mine will take, or even if I will necesssarily keep this blog going with that realization. No doubt I will grow weary and tired on this journey at times just as I will be filled with boundless energy at others. Through it all, though, I will remember one of the last things that John Wesley said before his pilgrimage ended:

The best of all is, God is with us!

Posted with Blogsy

Pilgrimage Day 10: London

This post isn't going to be terribly long, despite the fact that we covered a lot of ground.

This morning we showed up at Wesley's Chapel in London. At the sight is also John Wesley's house, where he lived for the last 17 years of his life. Behind the church is where John Wesley himself was buried. Across the street is the cemetery where his mother, Sussanna Wesley, is buried. It's a very prestigious appointment, one that has been held by Lord Griffis for close to 2 decades now. It is a congregation that is represented by more than 50 nationalities.

We had lunch around the area, then we did a walking tour that was over 2 hours long, walking London to various places that are significant to the story of the people called Methodists. We visited the Foundry, which was a meeting space / clinic / school / place to feed the homeless... as well as a place to worhsip. Welsey purchased it and fixed up the place so that he could do all sorts of ministries. We then walked to Aldersgate Street to the place where John Wesley felt his heart "strangely warmed" - what we refer to as his conversion experience which he wrote so much about. The end of the tour was at St. Paul's Cathedral. Unfortunately, we were unable to enter into the cathedral because of a special service that was taking place instead of the usual Evensong which we were planning on attending.

Our time table was moved up drastically as a result of the cancelled Evensong. We went to The Centre Page pub early for dinner as a farewell meal with everyone. We returned to St. Katharine's retreat center after dinner for closing worship. I'm not going to lie: it was a long worship, but it was a good time where we were able to share testimony with one another, sing together and share in the Eucharist. Most certainly it was a meaningful time that seeingly none of us wanted to have end.

Several of us spent some time in the lobby, almost begging for time to slow down or halt altogether. This is an increbly diverse group of people age wise, several nationalities and many different levels of experience. Some were clergy and others laity, some deacons and some elders. At the end of the day, however, we seemed to all realize that we're all God's children.

Here I am, the night before heading to Heathrow airport with several of my fellow pilgrims, all about to head out our separate ways. We will never again meet altogether in the same place like these past two weeks again, but I know that I have more prayer support as I head home than I had before. New friends and new partners in ministry.

Perhaps the greatest lesson that I got out of this trip, however, is that the Methodist movement did not happen over night. I want to help revival come back to Sullivan, IN, but it's not going to happen overnight. I want to help the church grow spiritually and into having more love for God than they have already. But, like all things worth doing, it'll take time.

Right now, though, I am eager to get home to my family. Praying for safe travels home tomorrow!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Pilgrimage Day 9: London

Today was kind of bittersweet. We left Salisbury which has been a "home away from home" kind of place for many of us and headed to London where we are staying at the Royal Foundation of St. Katharine. Primarily, this place functions as a retreat center.

The first thing we did when we got to London, though, was go to the Methodist Central Hall. It seems to be the heart of Methodism for London. It is a massive building built in the 19th century directly across the street from Westminster Abbey. It seems to be half church, half conference hall. It was in the Methodist Central Hall that hosted the first United Nations Conference.

 

I had the opportunity to share a message with the Pilgrimage Group as the young adults on the trip were asked to do a worship service. I shared the message from John 21:20-24 where Jesus is telling Peter to worry about the ministry that he is called to and not someone else's. I applied that to how we are called to follow Christ and not try to replicate another person's ministry because we all have our own unique gifts and talents.

After we left Methodist Central Hall and got into our rooms, it was free evening. That was spent finding Abbey Road and walking across it like the Beatles, adding to the grafiti wall in front of Abbey Road, walking all around London and using the Underground and taking pictures of Stoney (Micah's bear from Stonehenge) everywhere.

It was a good day, and right now I am wondering if I really should have agreed to running at 6am tomorrow morning... But it'll be good. Looking forward to it!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Pilgrimage Day 8: Bristol

Today was spent in Bristol - back in John Wesley's day, it was the second largest city in England, coming in at 40,000 people (today, it is the fifth largest by population at 420,556 according to the 2001 census). It is also known as the "Cradle of Methodism" because it is in Bristol that the first Methodist Chapel, built in 1739 and later enlarged to handle more people in 1748. Now, there were Methodist Chapels later erected in Wesley's day - the other two being in London and then up north in Newcastle, but it was the Bristol one that John Wesley spent the most time at (a total of 6 years, which is actually a lot of time considering that John Wesley never seemed to get off his horse).

Being in the New Room (as it is referred to) was a neat experience. It was here that Methodist preachers were taught how to preach as well as Wesleyan theology. The architecture of this meeting space was very Quaker (because a Quaker designed it...) with a gallery along the second story and it had a double pulpit - the one below for the liturgist / scripture reading and the top one for the sermon. Above the actual meeting space was living quarters for preachers, one of these rooms being reserved for John Wesley himself. From this living quarter space there are two windows - one looking towards the back of the meeting space and the other looking down towards the pulpit. It is well believed that when John was in Bristol, he would sit in the common area of the living space upstairs and critique the sermon being presented. No doubt, if I had seen John Wesley from that window above, sitting or standing there and listening to me preach, I would get very nervous...

After being in the New Room, we went out to the city's edge to where a plaque is, taking notice that it was immediately around there that Wesley first preached "in the open air." Imagining that it was then a brickyard compared to today, where it was the edge of a parking lot for new office buildings was an interesting stretch of the imagination. We were also able to visit Charles Wesley's home. He settled down with a Welsh woman in Bristol, and the house that we visited (which the family only stayed at for about 6 years) was centered around this tall and skinny staircase... There were 5 stories to this house with the kitchen and storage area at the bottom in the basement, the main receiving room on the entrance floor, the main bedroom with another room on the second, the third floor was a couple more rooms - bedrooms no doubt - and the top floor was Charles' study where he very well penned many of his thousands of hymns.

The last bit of our Wesley tour in Bristol ended between St. James Cathedral and St. Mark's Church, which are across a courtyard from one another. England finally decided to be its rainy self today, so our guide was telling us about John Wesley's confrontation with the bishop who was telling Wesley to leave Bristol, and Wesley telling the bishop that he was not going to leave because he believed that, "The world is my parish" and that the only way he was going to leave Bristol is if God told him that he was needed elsewhere instead. Near the end of his life, John was invited to preach at St. Mark's, the Lord Mayor's church, where his sermon was calling out the leadership of Bristol. John Wesley seemed to be an equal opportunity critiquer, and that no one was safe from being held accountable by John.

When it comes to Johnn Wesley's open air preaching (which George Whitefield encouraged him to do), it began to show Wesley really flexing himself. Up until now, John was convinced that the only proper way to preach was to do so inside of a church. Those few individuals who were preaching outside on a market square or in the fields were completely inappropriate. Eventually, however, after seeing the need for the citizens in Bristol to know Jesus, John recognized what he had to do. So, according to his journal, he "submitted myself to be more vile" and went out to the city's edge (so as not to technically step on the Bristol diocese' authority) and began to preach the word, where as many as 3 to 4 thousand showed up to hear him according to Wesley's figures.

We were not able to really explore Bristol much. A large group of us actually found a tea and coffee shop and hunkered down there. It was a good opportunity to talk with the district superintendent of the the East district in my conference. It has been a lot of fun getting to know Dave Byrum better on this trip. In the short amount of time we spent in Bristol, though, I had seen more homeless people than my entire stay in England so far. Granted, this likely means that I was not in the right place in London to see many who were in need, but I still felt myself disconcerted. As we were walking out to Charles Wesleys' family's graveside I gave the remains of my sack lunch to one man. It wasn't much and I found myself wishing there was more than a piece of fruit and some candy in it. About an hour later we passed 3 or 4 more in a different area of the city and half of the group I was with immediately began to do the same for them. It was certainly one of those moments where I recognized just how fortunate I was. Not only do I have enough and then some but I'm travelling the world for the sake of learning more.

We came back to Sarum College in Salisbury for a late dinner. Compline was earlier tonight to give us time to pack. This is our last night in Salisbury. In the morning we board the coach with all our things and head to London for the next two nights until the end of our pilgrimage. Salisbury's been a nice home base for us - and you can't really beat being right across the courtyard from Salisbury Cathedral! Thank you, Salisbury, for all that you've done for us here.

Posted with Blogsy

Day 7: Church then Bath!

Today has been a good Sabbath day. It started super early for me, though! By the time I had finished my blog post last night and talked over Facebook Messenger with Eva, I wasn't going to bed until 12:45am, then got up at 6:30am to go running. I sent some messages to Sarah Knapp-Ellis after I got back (thanks again for covering the pulpit for me this morning!).

We went to worship at Salisbury Methodist Church this morning. It is a very inviting church with wonderful congregants. The sermon had to do with needing to find time to recharge - in a way, withdrawing for some times in order to re-engage with those in need. The pastor's interpretation was that when Jesus sent out the 12 disciples to do healings and casting out of demons, Jesus "went on holiday" for that short time to recharge. Then, when the crowds recognized "them," the text is saying that the crowds recognized the disciples as having done awesome things. So now, not only does the crowd want a piece of Jesus, but they want a piece of the disciples, too! In the midst of their enthusiasm (when they wanted to keep on telling Jesus about all of the good things that they were doing), Jesus suggested that they take a break and head to the other side of the lake. Even though the text does not mention this, the indication is clear: Jesus is trying to ensure that burnout does not happen for the disciples. Even though it seems counter to logic, often times the best time to take a break is when things are going exceedingly well. Waiting until times get rough (in this instance, waiting for when ministry gets near impossible) is too late to be able to recharge one's batteries because that's when you need the energy most! It's about setting a rhythm in life of engaging, recharging then engaging again.

After the service, it seemed like the entire congregation stuck around for tea and coffee. They had what looked like a gift stand, second hand books and movies, even baked goods for sale in their fellowship hall. It's always good to see community in a church that doesn't want to leave.

We headed back to Sarum for a quick lunch, then we hopped on the coach for Bath! Like Stonehenge, the past two times I have been to England I was unable to visit Bath. While at bath I visited Jane Austen's home where she grew up. I did not, however, feel the inclination to pay money for the tour - so instead myself and two others in my group went down to the park just down the street and rested there for a bit. There was a group of people playing patank (the spelling I'm sure is wrong there...). It's like bocce ball but with smaller balls evidently. Once the two in our group who went through the tour were finished, we headed on to the main event (for me, at least, considering I'm not a huge fan of Jane Austen): The Roman Bath!

It was rather interesting for me to learn that the Roman Bath wasn't excavated until around John Wesley's time in the 18th century. One would think that such a big deal of Roman architecture would have been studied and preserved since it was built - but such is not the case. Then, when one realizes this, it becomes even more humorous that those that wanted to use this place as a tourist attraction commissioned Roman looking statues to be put up to try and make people believe that these were original statues of some of Rome's famous Caesars. Kind of cool, kind of funny. It's neat that (with some preservation, mind you) this structure's main pools are still working. The geo-thermal pool is still working, feeding the main pool where those who visited would bathe and soak in the warm water. It was also interesting of note that the room housing the geo-thermal pool that fed everything was the room devoted to worshipping the Goddess Sulis Minerva (I know I have the Minerva part right at least). For me, the biggest surprise was that this was a place of worshipping at least one Roman god - I had always assumed from hearing about it that it was just a gymnasium / bathing area / day spa deal going on. At the end of the self-guided walk through tour we had an opportunity to drink some of the water that came out of the spring. While some others thought it was the worst water in the world, it actually reminded me of straight-up well water that hadn't had the high mineral content filtered out (kind of like the showers at camp, I guess...).

I forgot to mention that before even going to Jane Austen's house, 6 of us visited the oldest tea house in Bath (c. 1482), Sally Lunn's, which is the home of the "world famous Sally Lunn Bun." Now, I'm not sure how world famous these buns are, but I can tell you that they are delicious! I had cinnamon butter on mine and it was awesome!

Bath wasn't what I had expected. I don't know how much sense this makes, but Bath seemed much more European than the rest of England. Now, I recognize that the UK is part of Europe, but there seemed to be a much heavier influence of Italy and France than I had expected. It's lovely, it's just that the architecture and gardening reminded me a good deal of the few days I had spent in Paris and pictures of Italy. It didn't seem as British in that regard... I'm sure I'm making little sense with that statement but that's how I feel. Regardless, awesome stop!

If you notice in my pictures that will be posted, I took the bear I got at Stonehenge yesterday and brought him along for the trip, snapping photos of him doing things like drinking and eating at the tea house, purchasing a ticket for the Roman Baths, getting his picture taken with the Jane Austen statue, etc... I thought that it would be fun to take these pictures then make a photo book for Micah. Maybe one day it will be a fun way to talk to him about my trip and possibly get him excited to go visit England someday in the future - giving me an opportunity to share my enthusiasm and love for this country. Besides, it's cute!

It's almost unbelievable to think that we are 7 days into the start of the pilgrimage and have only 3 more full days to go. This has been an awesome and inspiring experience and I am eager to see what these final days will have in store for us all!

Posted with Blogsy