A late evening call to the church: “I’m in a motel with my little girl and I can’t pay the bill tonight and I can’t go home because I’m running away from my husband. Can you give me the money to spend another night here?” A friend accompanied me to the motel where we could check out the story. We plunged into the dark underbelly of that town where I was serving, both a little frightened. We noted that the... Read more
The idea of “doing no harm” underlies many important service traditions. The Hippocratic Oath, often taken by students upon graduating from medical school, reads in part: “I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone.” The General Rules of The United Methodist Church read: First, do no harm. Second, do all the good you can. Third, stay in love with God. Recently, I came across the... Read more
Because the members of the Judicial Council were faithful to the letter of the law, which is exactly what they are supposed to do, we now know for sure that this emperor has no clothes. The United Methodist Church cannot be re-formed. It’s over for us with our current structure. The Judicial Council’s decision to revoke the involuntary retirement of Bishop Earl Bledsoe over issues of violation of procedural minutia found in the Book of Discipline (not over the question of his... Read more
Election Post-Mortem Mark Davis, a right-wing conservative radio host and columnist, wrote this in his post mortem about the Presidential election: But I lament a country where the middle class is more attuned to government benefits than the work ethic that was once our nation’s engine. I will blame the culture of dependency that leads millions to seek rescue paid by the incomes of others. And I will point to a society that has stood idly by while standards of... Read more
The Setting On Sunday evenings, I’ve been holding a remarkably well-functioning Confirmation class consisting of several young teens, one older teen, and four adults, ranging in age from early 30’s to mid-70’s, a mixture of men and women. The teens get drilled first. This is a “no-frills” confirmation regime: the faster they learn the material in a thoughtful, integrated way, the faster they can join the youth group which is also taking place. Once I am satisfied they’ve accomplished the... Read more
I admit it–the polls are going to close in a couple of hours on the East Coast, and I’m already getting antsy to start hearing results. I keep checking my favorite political commentators and statisticians as if their words will assure my comfort and hoped for victory. I’ve been quite careful not to openly state the candidate I hope will win the Presidential election. I think that as a pastor, my role is to encourage people to think carefully about... Read more
The WordPress blogging challenge for the day, “You have three hundred words to justify the existence of your favorite person, place, or thing. Failure to convince will result in it vanishing without a trace. Go!” My response: Light. We are light, this small community of faith. Grace and forgiveness glue us together, yet hearts and arms open to anyone wishing entrance. The young acolytes solemnly hold their candlelighters. The worshippers see their clear faces shine. Holy smiles race around the... Read more
I was watching one of those hoarding TV shows recently. I suppose they relax me a bit. This morning, as I was pondering and praying through the day, I became even more away that I am just one step away from seeing my own life spiral out of control as do the lives of the hoarders. One day when I will not do what are occasionally called the “quotidian” tasks–those things that must be done routinely no matter how much... Read more
So, here is Dallas’s own Robert Jeffress opining about politics and the pulpit. Although he does not name the name, Jeffress makes it clear that Christians either vote for the candidate he clearly supports or they are voting against the biblical values of family and traditional family roles. Now, there are a whole other set of Christian thinkers and writers who affirm a different candidate, whom we shall also not name, believing that their candidate has a far better understanding... Read more
Last Sunday, I asked people to think long and hard about how they treat others in a way that makes them invisible. I had used a scene from the movie “The Help” to illustrate it. There, the black maids, who made life possible for their white and privileged employers, were also invisible to those very employers. Their employers spoke about their maids as though they were not there and denied them the most basic of courtesies. At the end of... Read more
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