Just Visiting

Welcome to Lent! Are you suffering yet? Afterall, isn’t that the idea of Lent, giving up something and thus suffering, if only a little? Often to no other purpose than to feel good about ourselves for sacrificing some nonessential. Why the Lenten need? Is it perhaps because we do nothing the rest of the year? That the living of our lives is no different from the agnostic across the street, maybe even a little worse, and we need something. A little dirt on the forehead, passing on chocolate and VOILA! we are sharing in the suffering of Jesus.

I don’t do Lent because I don’t think I would or could do it right. I doubt I could attempt it with right motivations, desire or expected results. Giving up pasta has more to do with reducing my waistline than reducing my pride. I need to work on substance, not style (despite my total lack of the latter).

If you do Lent I hope you do so in a way that is in keeping with the original intent. Sacrifice, really, truly. If you limit it to something like giving up Starbucks for Lent?, take the money you would have spent and give it to the church. Take the time you would have been at Starbucks and sipping on your drink to engage in one of the spiritual disciplines, pray, read scripture, etc. Remember. That is the point, no matter what you do or do without, the idea is to bring you closer to God. Whenever you reach for that forbidden item and stop, take the moment, the time saved from not playing Warcraft, to be with Jesus and perhaps it will continue through the year.

hate having to write this but feel I should. “This” being something on a local, specific, issue, in this case being the United Methodist (UM) Denomination, Macedonia UM Church (MUMC), apportionments and the recent charge conference. It is a given that something will be misconstrued, feathers ruffled, etc to no purpose. I don’t mind ruffling feathers, bent noses, hurt feelings, (even mine) when it’s to a purpose. I want to pour oil on the waters, not stir the pot so let me start with the disclaimers. The following is my opinion, reasoning, conclusions and no one else’s. I have not spoken with Rev. Forrest and had only a few words with Rev. Duley. I did attend the charge conference, spoke a few words but mainly listened. I may use a variety of devices in the following post to include irony, humor and sarcasm. IF this is not clear or is unacceptable, stop reading now and save everybody a lot of grief.

Now on to the hunt and I apologize for the length. The other ill-fitting part of this piece is I find myself defending the UM to MUMC. As the resident “outsider”, such defense is strange. Background for those not up on the plot to this point. At the December charge conference MUMC approved a budget that included a 2% pay increase for Rev Duley and not paying the full apportionment to the UM which had been increased by the UM 50%. As the Virginia Conference has a policy that a church, which does not pay its full apportionment, cannot give its Pastor a pay raise; Rev Forrest, as the Winchester District Superintendent (DS), called a special charge conference to address the issue.

In my opinion, the DS made a hash of the conference. There may have been many reasons for this to include: He knew the result was foreordained (can a Methodist believe in foreordination?) and thus didn’t make the strongest case. He came as both supplicant and leader, always an awkward balance. As DS he has not worked with a congregation in a while but rather led a group of Pastors, (similar to but a little less difficult than herding cats I hear) a different skill set than dealing with congregants. In addition, he didn’t want to come asking for money, most people (we’ll leave the kids out of this conversation) don’t. They do not like coming hat in hand. We joke about Methodism and its stewardship month and all the money sermons the Pastors give but in truth, they hate it as well. It’s one of those distasteful tasks necessary to the functioning of the church and simply must be done. He also wasn’t fully prepared to address the charge’s questions and concerns not knowing in advance what they were.

Therefore, in my own foolhardy way, because of what I have heard from MUMC members, I take it upon myself to give a better presentation and defense of UM. I hope my nonmember status gives me some perspective and emotional distance from what is a traumatic event for many.

The easiest point to handle is why the special charge conference. Rev Forrest, as he admitted, made a mistake. He did not notice the discrepancy until after the December charge conference was breaking up. As reconstituting the charge at that time would not have been practical he called a special conference. No harm, no foul. Anyone who has not made a mistake may take special umbrage at his action while I take a quick break.

The apportionment, without going into how it is set or spent, went up so much for two basic reasons. One was the previous cap on increases. Anytime you cap you are merely delaying the reckoning. Like a balloon payment on an adjustable mortgage or skyrocketing prices after the lift of a price freeze, it is going to happen, especially if the cap was set below inflation rates. Second, the UM are facing a financial crisis as membership continues to drop and financial obligations increase, especially in areas of pensions and health benefits. This is one reason the UM, like many business and organizations, desperately want Federal health care to transfer the cost from them to others. Given MUMC’s growth throughout the years of the cap, a major spike should have been expected. It is not punishment for success anymore than moving up a tax bracket upon a job promotion is a punishment.

So why is this tied to the Pastor’s salary? First, he is the leader of the local church with all that implies. Second, to quote the Book of Discipline (to which every Methodist should pay attention, it’s amazing what you can find):
¶ 340. Responsibilities and Duties of Elders and Licensed Pastors
The responsibilities of elders and licensed pastors are derived from the authority given in ordination.
3. Order:
b) To administer the temporal affairs of the church in their appointment, the annual conference, and the general church.
(1) To administer the provisions of the Discipline.
(2) To give an account of their pastoral ministries to the charge and annual conference according to the prescribed forms.
(3) To provide leadership for the funding ministry of the congregation.
(4) To promote faithful, financial stewardship and to encourage giving as a spiritual discipline.
(5) To lead the congregation in the fulfillment of its mission through full and faithful payment of all apportioned ministerial support, administrative, and benevolent funds.
(6) To care for all church records and local church financial obligations, and certify the accuracy of all financial, membership, and any other reports submitted by the local church to the annual conference for use in apportioning costs back to the church.

Notice the section I bolded. The Pastor works for both the local church and the Bishop and one of his performance objectives is FULL payment of apportionment. There is a lot more to being a Pastor than preaching on Sunday (read all of section 340 to get an overview), any Pastor is almost certainly underpaid. If your job calls upon you to do something and you do not do it your boss will let you know at your annual review or sooner, hopefully not with a pink slip. Thus, the DS, as the Bishop’s representative, let Pastor Jason know the standard was not met and the actions called for by the VA conference.

How is the apportionment spent? The DS gave out much of that for the District level. How the VA and General conferences spend their parts is also readily available. Everybody has concerns with some item or another, it’s a given. I have many concerns but they deal more with the intent and philosophy of the spending rather the individual expenditures. I’m not going to defend the expenditures except to say each level of leadership will have them. Seen what the state legislature and US Congress have done lately? Same concept and as Methodists you have some means by which to address it. I don’t, the penalty of nonmembership, which I accept. As to the will-o-wisp of reducing the apportionment by eliminating “bureaucratic waste”, you might as well ask the tooth fairy. Over the decades, centuries and millennium all government have promised to pay for this program or that tax cut by eliminating “bureaucratic waste”. It has not happened yet. While elimination of waste and wise use of resources is always a goal to strive for, it is not a source of funding. Waste is an inherent defect of bureaucracy and bureaucracy is an inherent defect of government, secular and sacred.

More importantly, what local benefit is there to the apportionment? Here is where the DS really blew it. The first benefit is that MUMC exists and has existed for well over 100 years. We have members whose families have been at MUMC for 3, 4, 5 or more generations. Look at the age of the cemetery, read the headstones, see the connection to that “cloud of witnesses”. There is a reason the historic chapel still stands. In most of that time MUMC was a small stop on a circuit or charge whose Pastor was supported by local churches and apportionments from larger churches he never saw. Methodism first came to Virginia because of support from England. Nondenominational churches and churches raised and led by charismatic leaders have a hard time bridging and surviving generational gaps, usually they don’t. A cause fades, a leader retires or dies and the same fate strikes the church. The denominational identity and connection allow a church to continue. It is part of a family that lives even as members die rather than a group of people who have rallied around a cause or person only to fade as their center does.

Second, Rev Duley is Pastor of MUMC because of apportionments. Jason was selected, trained, ordained and appointed to MUMC because of the UM system. Without it, he would not be at MUMC. Now we may all be fine, outstanding people who deserve a Pastor of Jason’s caliber but it is not automatic. You have not lived until you have been through a church battle centered on the retention or removal of a, choose one or more, (substandard, contentious, inattentive, liberal, conservative, lying, philandering, egocentric, other adjective here) Pastor and its aftermath. There are other benefits but these seemed the most immediate and pertinent.

Finally, why us? Why was MUMC singled out for this treatment? There’s the rub. I can only speculate at this point with very little basis but that should be sufficient to get me a job on talk radio or cable news! Look at this story:
http://www.umc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&b=2433457&ct=7787259 and this one: http://www.umc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&b=2072519&ct=7774873 note especially the date on the second. When was our original charge conference? Dec 7, a day to remember, two days before the call for a special General Conference to deal with financial difficulties. I do not think MUMC was singled out; I think it was first.

Just enjoying the snow which will be gone soon.  Unlike my childhood where snow would pile on snow and glorious snow “mountains” would arise for endless battles, massive snow forts, sledding runs that went on forever and no sight of the ground for months, this snow will be gone within a couple days. Rain and warm weather will turn everything into a giant puddle, dirty cars and muddy remnants.  I’m sure there is a metaphor and a blog in there somewhere but I’m not interested in chasing it down.

Rather, why is Christmas now?  Why 25 December? I’ve heard and accepted the received wisdom that it was to be a counter to pagan festivals.  Seemed the only reasonable answer, right?  Well, as is often the case, received wisdom may not be true wisdom.  I was reading an article at the Biblical Archaeology Review (www.bib-arch.org/e-features/christmas.asp) by Andrew McGowan, Warden and President of Trinity College, University of Melbourne.  He gives a convincing argument that the early church thought the birth of Jesus was either 25 December or 6 January (Orthodox Christmas).  You should read the article but two main points come out.  One, the anti-pagan thesis is weak, especially for Christmas.  Second, although there is no direct Scriptural date for any given birthdate the early Christians had a case for the 25 Dec/6 Jan dates.

Basically if we look at the incarnation/redemption cycle as a perfect whole we can figure out the dates.  We know the date of the crucifixion.  If you assume the incarnation is in symmetry you make some connections.  Let me quote Mr. McGowan:

“Around 200 C.E. Tertullian of Carthage report the calculation that the 14th of Nisan (the day of the crucifixion according to the Gospel of John) in the year Jesus died was the equivalent to March 25 in the Roman (solar) calendar. March 25 is, of course, nine months before December 25; it was later recognized as the Feast of the Annunciation-the commemoration of Jesus’ conception.  Thus, Jesus was believed to have been conceived and crucified on the same day of the year.  Exactly nine months later, Jesus was born, on December 25.”

We don’t really know the exact date but it is nice to know that Christmas Day wasn’t pulled out of a hat or picked for reasons of spite or jealousy.

Am I talking about the blog or church?  You’re not entertained.  You don’t enjoy church.   It doesn’t have the same level of excitement.  Three issues, lets look at the last.

Is it TGIF or TGIS?  Which do you really look forward to, Friday or Sunday, and why?  I understand looking forward to Friday.  I do too, I get to sleep in late until 6 am, I don’t have to commute to work-its waiting right at home and my house is more comfortable than my cube.  What’s not to like or enjoy?  TGIF!!!

So what about Sunday?  Why should we be excited?  Get up earlier than we want, fight to get the kids up, fed, ready for school-I mean church (feels the same doesn’t it),  to go sit in a pew instead of on a couch, to watch a sermon/program where we don’t have a remote to change the channel and we have to be happy about it.  Doesn’t anyone know torture when they see it nowadays?

We don’t get excited about church service because we look at it wrong.  The above is all too typical and gives no basis for excitement.  If that is all church is then it cannot be exciting.  Church, of course, is more than just the Sunday meeting.  Church is the people, not the building, not the meetings,  and sometimes we forget that.  We shouldn’t but right now we’re talking about the Sunday worship service.  What is it?  I alluded to this in the first post of the series.   God’s chosen people come to thank, honor, serve and talk with him together. We do this on our own during the week but by coming together as a family we add something transcendent.  

Think of it this way, you read the articles, watch previous highlights, draft players for your fantasy team, talk to people about Sunday’s game but until you get together with a group of friends to watch it,  the game it doesn’t come alive.  How about this, you learn your lines, practice your movements, work in groups of 3 or 4 until “Lights, Camera, ACTION!” You all come together on stage: actors, technicians, stage hands, writers and director and a two dimensional picture becomes something alive.

Is your Sunday alive?

Remember this from the last post:  “You’re not entertained.  You don’t enjoy church.   It doesn’t have the same level of excitement.  Three issues…”   Last time we touched on entertainment, this time lets look at enjoyment.

Why don’t you enjoy church?  Well as discussed before, you aren’t entertained but we can enjoy that which does not entertain us but we are almost hard wired now to equate the two together.  So lets mix it all together today.  Speaking of today, how did the trip to church go?  Did you have to drag yourself and the family out of bed to get there?  How much fussing and fighting and running around to make it to the church on time? Once there what grated, dragged on you, made you glance at your watch hoping the organ would strike the final chord?

Now the bible  says as we endure hardship, trials and tribulations  ( 2 Cor 12:10-”For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with …., hardships, … and calamities…”) we progress in sanctification and grow in grace.  I don’t think going to church is considered hardship, calamity, toil and trial, despite how we feel.   Off key singing, uncomfortable pews,  humming lights, heat set by thin blooded southerners, and boring sermons just don’t seem to rise to the level.

So what to do, grin and bear it, grit our teeth and stoically bear the unbearable?  Well perspective does help, as hinted at above.  It really isn’t that bad.  We have to endure much worse on a regular basis.  If nothing else consider your job, coworkers, relatives, commute, health, etc.  But no, we don’t want a bunch of grim sourpusses inhabiting the pews.  What would it take to enjoy church?  Have you ever asked the question?  You know why you don’t but what positive things do you need?  Leave out entertainment.  I would enjoy church if…..

Perhaps what needs to be changed in order for you to enjoy worship services is not the service but you.

Hymn to Joy

or baseball, NASCAR, fishing, etc?  Does the  80+ game basketball season need more games?   Do you understand the infield fly rule? Can you follow the Redskins personnel changes? Does the thought of getting up early, sitting on a hard seat, watching a line in the water for hours get your heart racing?

Great, good for you.  Sports, recreation, enjoyment are wonderful.  The crack of a bat, the swish of a net, the thrill of the Redskins losing.. oops, sorry I digress.  Anyway, it is good but … 

While doing all of this how do you approach church?  52 worship services too many for the year? Peter, Paul and Mary-that’s a music group right? has nothing to do with the Bible?  Sitting in a heated/air conditioned building on padded seats for an hour is uncomfortable? Listening to a 15 minute sermon is so boring it verges on torture? Faith, atonement, justification are too difficult to even consider comprehending? 

You’re not entertained.  You don’t enjoy church.   It doesn’t have the same level of excitement.  Three issues, lets look at the first one. 

 You are not entertained at church, especially at the worship service.  Perfect.  That is how it should be.  You aren’t there to be entertained.   If you are going for the music, an entertaining sermon or video you are going to the wrong place.  If that is what you want go to a concert, see a comedian, catch a show; DO NOT go to church.  Never thought you’d hear that in a religious blog did you?

Going to church each week is not about your needs, desires or wants.  There is a place within the church to meet the (real) needs of the people, even desires and wants.  That place is not the worship service.  We gather together in the sight of the Creator of the Universe, whom we have greatly offended, from whom we should expect only just punishment, to thank him for his great mercy and providence, to praise and adore him with great joy and passion, to learn of him, to become like him.  Isn’t this better than entertainment?

WE GATHER TOGETHER

1. We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing;
   He chastens and hastens His will to make known;
   The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing;
   Sing praises to His Name; He forgets not His own.
2. Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
   Ordaining, maintaining His kingdom divine;
   So from the beginning the fight we were winning;
   Thou, Lord, were at our side, all glory be Thine!
3. We all do extol Thee, Thou Leader triumphant,
   And pray that Thou still our Defender will be;
   Let Thy congregation escape tribulation;
   Thy Name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free

Psalm 100

A psalm. For giving thanks.

 ¹ Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.

 ² Worship the LORD with gladness;
       come before him with joyful songs.

 ³ Know that the LORD is God.
       It is he who made us, and we are his ^[a] ;
       we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

 ⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving
       and his courts with praise;
       give thanks to him and praise his name.

 ⁵ For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
       his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Not as simple as you might think at first.  Short definitions leave too much out; long ones cloud its brilliance. The Gospel, of course, does not exist in a vacuum and so many words are redefined or lack meaning (god, justice, sin, mercy, holy, love) for people today.  Still let’s try this on for size:

Holy God, prompted by love, extended mercy to guilty and self doomed man by sending his son, Jesus, to die in man’s place and further to provide a righteousness by which man might stand before God.

Notice, the gospel starts with God, ends with God and is for the purpose of God.  That we are redeemed from, not just the consequences of sin, but sin itself is an unfathomable, undeserved gift but it is not the story.  The gospel is about God.

Yep, I’ve been gone and the best way to endear myself to the small audience can hardly be by starting with a quiz.  On the other hand, since school just started it seems appropriate.

What is the Gospel?  No circular answers, ie the Gospel is the Good News, is the Evangel, is the Gospel.  This should be fairly simple for any Christian since it is so basic, right?

Check later to see what answers I get or have.

Here is an update you might not hear often; Good people don’t go to heaven.  Remember what Jesus said? ” For  I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mt 9:13b)  He is not looking for the good people; he’s looking for the bad!  Good thing too or I wouldn’t stand a chance.  As for all the good people sitting in the church pews every Sunday?  They don’t get into heaven.

So am I setting your teeth on edge?  Am I upsetting your view of Jesus?  Do I have you looking for rhetorical stones to rebut me with?  Are you ready to cast me into the outer darkness? OR do you think “Hey, great, I didn’t know Christianity could be so fun.  Lets start, what do I want to do first?”.

Before you take either course, let me ask you WHY?  Why condemn me? Why praise me? I’ll lay out my case a few lines from now but do you have a basis besides personal preference?  When questioned can you present a cogent defense of your decision?

Now, lower the pitchforks and  let me explain, afterwards we can toast marshmallows.  There is a difference between the definition of good and bad people and the perception of good and bad.  By (God’s) definition there are no good people, everyone is bad.  Jesus does not call the righteous because there are none to call.  This does not mean, unfortunately, that everyone, being bad, goes to heaven.  Fortunately, it does not mean the “badder” you are the greater your priority of admission. 

So what does this have to do with the “good” people, whom I have just demonstrated,  don’t exist?  This is where perception comes in.  We see people as good or bad.  More importantly, people  see themselves as good or bad and they lean heavily to seeing themselves as GOOD.  If you see yourself as bad, the depths of your depravity,  your complete impotence and failure in face of God, you realize you need to transform, your need for renewal and help.   Your Savior is at hand.

A good person, though, doesn’t need transformation, just a little change-a tweak, they don’t need to be saved as they aren’t lost but they can help those who are! Why look at favorite evil person.  I’m much better than him.  I don’t kill, I go to church.  I don’t steal, I give to the poor.  I don’t spout hateful words, I sing in the choir. I don’t cheat on my wife, I teach Sunday School.  Obviously I’m saved, its least favorite coworker, neighbor who sits on his couch drinking beer, with his cursing, foul talk, bawdy humor, illegitimate kids, third marriage, never darkened a church door, etc. who needs a Savior.  Right?

 On that day many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not  prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?” ²³ And then will I declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”  Matthew 7:22-23

Didn’t think I was going to make it.  Website troubles, crashing video system,  daughter graduating, what a mess.  I had to say no to a 9 day business trip to Geneva because of the graduation.  And this, the 500th Anniversary of John Calvin!!  Does she owe me.

I’ve not been completely wasting the time, thinking, planning, plotting a course for the blog.  Its still not solid but its getting there.  I will no longer be posting the notes from the Discovery class.  This space is too short for the material covered in a 25-30 minute class and since the Sunday School is supposed to be getting an extra 15 minutes with the new schedule, its a worse fit. 

What I will do is add certain key thoughts from the study as they come out in class and mess it with the other resources I’m studying.  In Hosea right now?  The propensity of people, both common and religious, to try and make the worship of God relevant to the people by modification, adaptation and addition of ideas, practices, items of the culture.  God’s response: Complete condemnation, second only to those who perform worship with the “correct” forms but do not worship.  In both cases the people do not know God and “worship” a god created from their own imagination and desires.  They have forsaken the God who has revealed himself, who rescued Israel and gave them Canaan because he is not relevant, too difficult, too far in the past, not fun enough for a modern people.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge;
Hosea 4:6a