Last week’s column on Excuse Number Ten for missing worship, “God will understand” sparked some interesting comment–and I do welcome those responses. They hone my thinking about this human tendency to place the responsibility for both major and minor decisions squarely on the shoulders of others. I know how often I become what I call “othered.” That’s not “bothered,” by the way. ”Othered” is the act of letting the actions of others dictate my own actions. I set aside personal... Read more
As I work my way through my list of excuses people give for choosing not to give regular time for the care and nurture of their souls in a corporate gathering, I have to look at myself. I have used Excuse Number Ten, “God will understand” multiple times as a justification for doing something I know I shouldn’t–or for not doing something I know I should. When I look at that statement just by itself, I become aware of my... Read more
Come into this scene with me: a loved one has died and the family wants a clergy person to guide them through the really tough time of loss and grief. We clergy who spend much of our life at the crossroads of death and life are often able to bring not only some comfort, but helpful perspective at these times. When the person who had died is unknown to me, I seek to learn the history and find the patterns... Read more
Today, I explore excuse Number Twelve of fifteen for staying away from a worshipping community: “They all teach and believe different things. How do I know which one is right?” Let’s consider the logic to the statement. We see different ways to practice medicine, educate children, repair cars, cook chicken, clean a house, run a business, grow a garden, program a computer, cut hair, have a satisfying marriage. Multiple opinions do not mean that we quit seeking medical help or... Read more
The excuses continue. Why do people neglect caring for their own soul by avoiding regular gatherings, which I call church? Here is excuse number thirteen of the fifteen I’ve heard over the years: “The church has done terrible things to people.” To this I say, “Yes, it has.” I myself have been a vocal critic of the harm done by many religious groups. It saddens me to think about it and I see no sense in whitewashing this. In the... Read more
I just got off the phone with my oldest son. He was phoning from Abu Dhabi, where it was 1:45 a.m. at the time of call. He was preparing to board a flight to London, where upon landing, he will immediately switch terminals, find his wife and two young children and the four of them take off for Bogota, Colombia. By the time they land, Jonathan will have been traveling for about 35 straight hours. His wife, the lovely and... Read more
Today I offer reason number fourteen of fifteen about why people choose not to attend a place of worship. I define a place of worship this way: a gathering of unrelated people where, for at least a couple of hours a week, they intentionally attend to the transformational development of their spiritual life. Excuse Number Fourteen: “The church didn’t help when I needed it.” I receive somewhere between three to six calls a week from people I do not know... Read more
One of the reasons I chose United Methodism as my place of service is the connectional system. I think such a system ultimately reflects more health and has more opportunity to be fully transformational than stand-alone isolated churches. Just as I don’t think there can be a spiritually healthy Christian who refuses to interact with other Christians, no matter how challenging that can be, I also don’t think that churches can be spiritually healthy when they choose to disconnect from... Read more
I see multiple parallels between the university faculty tenure package and the system of guaranteed appointments for itinerant clergy in The United Methodist Church. In both cases, the path to that place of security is long and tortuous. The supplicant must leap over tall buildings and navigate treacherous obstacle paths. He or she is subjected to multiple and often painful evaluations by groups of peers. At some point, certain scholars are deemed ready to be awarded tenure, and certain clergy... Read more
The buzz is everywhere for United Methodist Clergy: a commission has declared that the day of the guaranteed appointment is done. Here’s the report. There’s quite a bit of discussion about this on Facebook and I’m sure lots of other convesations as well. .The question: what is an “effective” clergyperson? How does someone decide who is and who isn’t “effective?” On first glance, this should be all that hard. Surely an effective clergy person is one who leads his/her church... Read more
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