My last post led me to ask this question within the comments discussion. What do you think?
Are ministries that emphasize or take advantage of technological advances exclusive (i.e. They might not include those unable to afford or understand the technologies.) or inclusive (i.e. Are we simply ministering relevantly and including those on the ‘cutting edge’ technologically?)?
Is there a more nuanced way to look at this?
Lately, I’ve been reading several things on the flattening of the world and the technological revolution that has taken place over the last few years. The two I’ve read most recently are The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century by Thomas L. Friedman and Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything by Dan Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams. All of this has me thinking about possibilities for the Church. How can we faithfully use the latest techno-cultural developments to help make disciples of Jesus Christ?
We don’t have to reinvent the wheel here, because there are some really smart folks who have discussed these issues (eg. Tall Skinny Kiwi’s post on Church 2.0). There are several others within this link that have some good thoughts as well.
So, how could this work for we United Methodists? What about Wesley’s small group accountability systems? Could we use technology to form groups of like-minded clergy and laity into accountability groups via the web? Privacy might be the biggest issue here, but it would allow methodists from all over the world who take discipleship seriously to take part in a group.
What about communication? Could districts communicate more effectively through blogging? A recent communication through my district has made me think about this. Our district superintendent recently sent out an email on an important social issue (torture, to be more specific) with some of his thoughts on a resolution that was voted on at Annual Conference. Some people have carried on an ongoing debate by replying to all of the people on the email list. If this communication took place via blog, it would probably encourage more effective debate and interactivity on all things communicated through our district office. In a rural geographically spread out district like ours, this could be an excellent source of community as well.
What else can we think of? On this note, I know our youth are far more cutting edge than we are with their involvement in interactive relational networks, something Gavin Richardson has spoke about in the past.
OK, what about our conferences? How should our communications departments be handling Web 2.0? What about web visionaries for each conference who could lead the way for our congregations?
Let’s think about this – where can we be on the edge of technology instead of catching up?
Yesterday we celebrated Holy Communion, as both of my churches are official members of the communion-once-a-month tribe. At one congregation we had several visitors, which is quite a feat in a small town that has relatively few newcomers.
We had one couple who was very curious about the service and the United Methodist understanding of communion. I want to honor their privacy, so I won’t give too many details, but they were delightful. After the service they wanted to have a conversation about United Methodist beliefs regarding the sacrament.
I’m not sure exactly where their understanding of communion was formed, but it became clear that it is very important to them that the place they worship not hold an understanding of communion that resembles transubstantiation. In fact, if I understood them correctly, they weren’t too fired up about consubstantiation either.
I pointed them to This Holy Mystery and tried to explain my understanding of the real presence of Jesus in the sacrament, worked through a Wesleyan understanding of the various means of grace, and then applauded their concern for sacramental theology. Over and over, they used the word symbolic. In contrast, my buzzphrase was “Christ is truly and really present, but it is a great mystery metaphysically speaking” (OK, I didn’t use the word metaphysically, but I tried to get at that in less philosophical language).
They seem like great folks, and my primary concern was to make sure I didn’t mislead them in any way concerning the United methodist views of the Eucharist while honoring their search for a Church home. Next time I see them, I’ve got two copies of This Holy Mystery workbook by Gayle Carlton Felton that I’m going to give them. Thank God for good resources!
Allright…I’m one of those rare commissioned elders who hasn’t worn a stole during my probationary period. I simply feel that it is a mark of full ordination, and I want my ordination service to be special. It seems to me that wearing a stole on the Sunday following my ordination will carry a lot of deep symbolism and meaning both for me and my congregation. Some people argue that the congregation “deserves” to have someone who wears a stole, thereby not feeling short-changed by not having a “real” elder, but I haven’t bought that argument.
However, I am already collecting stoles to wear once I am ordained next year (unless something weird derails the process). The first two are gifts from my mother-in-law, and I’m trying to decide which green stole to start out with. Right now, I’m stuck between two really nice plain green stoles. So what could be more fun than an interactive informal blog vote. Pick your favorite and tell me in a comment. I’ll try to post something a little more intellectually stimulating some other time!
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For my faithful readers out there – all four of you – the blog now has an easier domain name. All you need to remember is catchingmeddlers.com – that’s it. I suppose that’s one of the great things about a unique blog title. No one is really snapping up domains like that just yet!
That’s how long the Lord’s Prayer takes to say if you pray it at a moderate pace. I’ve timed it. This Sunday, I’m beginning a sermon series on prayer, and I think this is a very significant fact.
When asked by his disciples, this is the prayer Jesus gave as a model. Of course, there are places like Luke 6:12 where we see Jesus spending the night in prayer, so I’m not discounting the need for extended prayer. I’m just saying that this is the model prayer Jesus offered when asked how to pray. Just before teaching the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew, in verse 6:7 he even tells the disciples not to, “heap up empty phrases.”
So, do you have time to pray? Do you have 21.98 seconds? I know I do.
My friend Kevin, at Deeply Committed, is posting the results of the Oklahoma Annual Conference voting for delegates. I’m very encouraged by a strong group of representatives.
My wife and I went out for our anniversary (8 years today!) to the new Cheesecake Factory in OKC. We then went to Saint Luke’s UMC downtown for the opening worship service of Annual Conference.
We had a great opening service for Annual Conference. The Africa University choir sang, and the Bishop Greg Palmer of the Iowa Annual Conference delivered the message. He preached on the Prodigal Son and the necessity of celebration.
This is such a small world. Today, I read that Dr. Jim Holsinger, a United Methodist physician from Kentucky and former chairperson of Asbury Theologial Seminary’s board of trustees, has been nominated to be the next Surgeon General!
Dr. Holsinger often took biblical studies classes at the seminary, and I had the opportunity to take Minor Prophets as a January term intensive course with him. I don’t know anything about his politics, but I know this. He is, in my estimation, an incredibly gracious, intelligent, genuine, and humble Christian. You would have never known the kind of influence this man had from meeting him for the first time. He introduced himself as “Jim,” and carried himself as a fellow student. I loved getting to know him during the shared pain of this inductive bible study class, and I pray that he rises yet again to the challenge of this appointment.
A few months ago, I was sitting in our kitchen as Nanci got off the phone with the soccer coordinator for Eufaula’s kids leagues. As she hung up the phone she looked at me with a big smile and said, “Guess what honey!? You’re going to be Emma’s soccer coach!” So, in a matter of seconds I became the coach of The Cheetahs, five girls ranging in age from four to six who had never played soccer in their life being coached by me, a man who had never played soccer in his life! Our season started off with a bang.
Our girls were so excited to be playing their first game, even if it was against a bunch of boys with a few seasons of experience under their belt. Our girls ran up and down the field, but didn’t score a single goal. That was OK, because we knew what we needed to work on: everything! A few weeks later, we were still desperate to score a goal. A few games later, in the last half of a game, little Amelia broke free from the pack and began moving toward the goal. As she closed in, all of our Soccer-moms had to restrain themselves from running out and kicking the goal for her! By the time she neared the goal, most of our parents were three steps over the foul line screaming, “KICK IT AMELIA! KICK IT!” And in that moment of sheer exhilaration, we scored our first goal of the year. Excitement filled the air…this was the first of many more to come. Instead our schedule got more and more difficult, and it seemed that the boys got taller, faster, and stronger…three more games, four more games, five more games…zero goals. Now, I like to think of myself as a leader of sorts, and I tried my best to keep the girls motivated. Its OK girls, you really improved your kicking this week! But the frustration was mounting…week after week no more goals. The drought was unbearable…one girls decided she wouldn’t play against boys and sat out a few games. Another showed up with her head hanging. Of course some just wanted to make sure they looked good in their uniform: win, lose, or draw!
Before the final week, I gave it everything I had. We were about to play one of the other girls teams, and I hyped it as if it were the NBA Finals, World Series, and Superbowl all wrapped into one. I pumped them up and we practiced like crazy the last week. The morning of the big game, our girls marched in like little 5 & 6 year old soldiers. Even our little AWOL soccer girl told me, “I’ll play this game coach.” We were facing the “Little Divas,” but they looked huge! They were beaming with confidence…looking taller and bigger than any of our little Cheetahs. After seven games and only one goal, I held my breath and waited for the whistle to blow. Our girls held hands as they stood in a line for the coin-flip. Immediately after the whistle, their biggest girl took the ball down and kicked it toward the goal like a rocket. Our entire side winced as the ball bounced out of bounds off the goal. All of a sudden, the girl who had sat out the last three games took the ball and got a look of determination on her face…she kicked it down the field like a professional and kicked it through the goal with authority! Our side erupted – jumping up and down in excitement! But our girls didn’t quit…they looked like the Brazilian national team blocking goals, stealing the ball, and eventually scoring eight goals! I almost felt sorry for the Little Divas. What happened? Our girls played with passion and determination – they played like they were on fire…there is only one way to describe the way they went out and played. They were inspired, and as everyone who has ever watched a sporting event knows: there is a huge difference between “just playing” and “playing inspired.”
You all have heard enough sermons to know that this story isn’t just about girls soccer. : It’s a story about life…it’s a story about the Church…and it’s a story about who we’re called to be as Christians. Sometimes it feels easy to be a Christian when you first start out in a life of following Jesus. We start off our faith journey just like our girls began the season. We’re excited; we’re resolved to start doing things the right way. You share your faith, you bring friends to church, you’re a different person…but then you stumble the wind is gone from your sails. There have certainly been times in my life where I’ve felt like I’ve been spiritually dry. In fact there are times when every Christian would like to get down and sit it out on the sidelines of faith forgetting about the struggle to live daily as a Christian.
But today’s scripture is the story of a different way to live. Today’s scripture is the story of inspiration. In our final game, our little girls played like they were different people because they played inspired. On Pentecost, God inspired the Church by pouring out the Holy Spirit on normal men and women just like us. The disciples were waiting in an upper room after Jesus’ Ascension. All of a sudden, the room was filled with the Holy Spirit – the event was so indescribable that all we read is that the sound was like a rushing wind and there was something like tongues of fire that deeply touched everyone who was there. As soon as these disciples were touched and filled by God’s Spirit, they began to witness in an inspired way. In fact, they were able to share the testimony of God’s work to people whose languages they didn’t even know! The fire of the Holy Spirit lit the fuses of the disciples and the Christian Church spread like wildfire from a little upper room in Jerusalem to all parts of the earth…and it began right there that day!
And just as there is a difference between “just playing” and playing inspired, by the power of God’s Spirit, there is a world of difference between just living and “living inspired.” When I baptize anyone, I ask the Holy Spirit to work in their life to make them faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. I ask the same for each person here. The Holy Spirit can and will inspire you to be the person God has created you to be if you’ll receive God’s call to live inspired. Sometimes we don’t talk about the Holy Spirit because we’re afraid of sounding too “Pentecostal,” but being filled with the Holy Spirit is more about empowerment and inspiration! It’s about being enabled to do more together with God than you can ever do on your own. When you are filled and inspired by the Spirit of God you can do things beyond your own power and ability, things that are heroic. I’m not talking about comic book stuff like outrunning a speeding locomotive or leaping a tall building in a single bound. I’m talking about us performing spiritually heroic acts because of the power of God’s Spirit poured out on the Church at Pentecost!
Several years ago, while I still worked in a research lab, I had several difficult experiences with my boss. There was one person I worked with that often did things that were blamed on other people in our lab. One day, during a lab meeting, I was accused of leaving several things unfinished and several mistakes that were actually the fault of this other person. Every bone in my body wanted to stand up and let them have it with both barrels. At the very least, I was ready to walk out. But for several months, three of us who were Christians had been meeting for prayer and bible study before we started work. Everyone else knew we did this and watched us very carefully to see how we lived. As badly as I wanted to respond, something in me said, “Don’t say anything…just sit there.” So, against my own inclinations, that’s what I did. As I was walking out to my car that day, my friend Lance said, “I don’t know how you did that. You know you weren’t responsible for what they blamed you for.” By the power of God’s Spirit, I was able to say, “You know you’re right every bone in my body wanted to let them have it and tell them whose fault it was. The only reason I didn’t is because I’m a Christian, and I felt as though God didn’t want me to respond.” Instead, by the power of the Spirit, I was able to understand a little more about Jesus and how he endured so much and suffered for things he never did. I would have missed that blessing if I had responded under my own power. I was able to receive that grace only because of God’s Spirit. I was given the opportunity to grow as a disciple because of God’s Spirit. Today, I have something I want to offer you. It’s a prayer to God’s Holy Spirit.
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And you shall renew the face of the earth. O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and every enjoy Your consolations. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
When we pray this prayer to be attentive to God’s gentle, yet surprising, Holy Spirit we’ll see changes in our lives. We’ll see deep spiritual changes: the ability to respond to evil with kindness, the ability to let things go, the ability to witness and share our faith in natural ways, the ability to see the difference between “just living,” and “living inspired.” 2000 years ago, God poured out his Holy Spirit on a group of Christ followers and the world has never been the same. What would happen here if we did the same?
This afternoon, I’m heading to Annual Conference, and I have a request to make for this week. This is a strategic and important time as we’re preparing for the General Conference of 2008 where United Methodists from around the world will come and work together shaping the future of our denomination. We’ll be electing delegates for that this week. Pray this prayer daily with those of us who represent United Methodism in Oklahoma in mind. Pray this prayer daily, thinking of our bishop, our lay delegates, our clergy, and the future of our denomination. If the Holy Spirit will ignite Godly fires in each of our hearts and gives us wisdom and guidance, the UMC will be a different Church and we’ll be a different people. We’ll quit “just living” and start, by the power of God’s Spirit, “living inspired.”
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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