Saying More Than One Thing

I was a senior at Rice University, and as I loved my Religious Studies major and had shown a bit of aptitude for it, I and a few other undergrads were invited to participate in a graduate survey/seminar on Biblical Studies with Matthias Henze and Werner Kelber. So with less than 10 students in the room, I and the other undergrads were pretty intimidated. I had thought I was doing pretty well just keeping up with the reading and discussion and engaging occasionally.

So I was terrified, mortified, and strangely flattered when Dr Henze stopped us all in our tracks one day with this statement: "This is a graduate-level seminar and you are all excellent students. You need to be prepared to say more than one thing each class."

I learned many valuable things about what it meant to take Biblical scholarship seriously, about asking tough questions and living with ambiguity and tension, and much more. But the lesson that served me the most was the one taught in that moment: "Say more than one thing."

Today, we live in a digital culture. I just don't mean my laptop, iPhone, electrical outlets, Dish Network TV, GPS...I also mean that we employ an "on/off" approach to many issues affecting us at a deeply human, philosophical, religious level. Someone's either right or not. This issue is either the most important in the history of the world...or irrelevant. If there is one minor flaw with an argument, then the whole thing is wrong.

Contrast this approach with that of St Augustine's:

Augustine is a really stylish professional: he rarely relies on the knock-out; he is out to win the fight on points. It is a fight carried on in twenty-two books [The City of God] against nothing less than the whole pagan literary culture available to him.

--P R L Brown,
as quoted in R W Dyson's introduction to The City of God

This is an approach which can live with ambiguity: Augustine draws upon "pagan" historians, philosophers, rhetoricians and more to make his arguments. Yet he does not loose his grasp on the issue that needs addressing or heresy requiring confrontation. In short, Augustine was a master at saying more than one thing.

The Bible, too, I believe is polyvocal and multivalent. If we tried to eradicate all context or become reductionist, then we might believe that the Bible contradicted itself, or we would give as much priority to obscure and minor passages available for misinterpretation as we do to the premier themes. These "minority reports" are often valuable correctives, or complement the main thrust of the Biblical authors. The various perspectives of Scripture engage our imaginations, catch us up in the economy of God, and enrich our faith and life.

But we flatten the message and meaning of the Bible at our own risk. Take the current conversation about gay marriage in our country. As I read the Bible, I do not seethat it contemplates in any way marriage as something other than between a man and a woman. Yet it also speaks eloquently and persuasively to our time on behalf of those who are marginalized, oppressed, are different or are strangers...and of the availability of divine grace and love to all.

So when it comes to the volatile conversation about gay marriage, I believe the Bible says more than one thing. Does a so-called Biblical perspective on marriage (which presumes, again, there is only one) contemplate marriage between two men or two women? No. Yet neither does it envision limiting basic rights, slandering and libeling those outside the mainstream, or rejecting people from the community of faith or common society.

Now this just happens to the be the thought on my mind at the time: the question of "who is saved and how does that happen?"--one of the central themes of both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament--could also stand for scrutiny of this nature (and more time than I have this afternoon!). And many others. The narrative and poetic nature of the Bible resists conflation and reductionist tendencies.

Better to ask: How do these stories shape our own life's story...both individually and communally? Do we have more than one thing to say about the infinite, finally-beyond-all-words God?

Why "Expatriate Minister?"

It seems like an odd handle or moniker to choose for my blog, now 4ish years after I started...and it's trickled out to other places on the web, notably Twitter. Yet I still think it's worthwhile to consider myself an emigre clergyperson. Here's why.

As I graduated from Candler School of Theology (Emory U., Atlanta) in May 2005, a lot of things were changing. I was about to not be a student for the first time in 20 years. I was only 18 months married, with my first child about to arrive. I headed to Texas for commissioning to ministry, yet I wouldn't be serving in my home state...I was headed across the pond to the British Methodist Church for a year. So when I created my blog as I began serving in the UK, "expatriate minister" was a pretty good summary for how I felt, with the bonus that it provided a unique perspective in the blogosphere.

Well, a year later, I was headed back to the United States, the United Methodist Church, and a new appointment to campus ministry. Did "Expatriate Minister" still apply? After reflecting on my experience whilst being stationed on the Scunthorpe Circuit and about what I might be called to do in campus ministry, the answer was: yes!

Campus ministry involved stepping out of my own cultural setting and entering a new one. If it was less visible a transition than moving across the Atlantic, it was that much harder to make precisely because of the invisible lines that separated me from the college students that inhabit Lamar.

All ministry, I have come to realize, requires becoming an expatriate. It involves leaving your assumptions, your culture-of-origin, your customs, even your identity to some extent behind. You have to adopt the attributes and identity of the people you are sent to--otherwise, being from another culture or country will truly make you an "alien."

This is what United Methodists call "itinerancy." It's being open to the leading of the Holy Spirit to move to a new place, minister in a new way, live out the love of God incarnationally among new people. Even if you are in the same place from year to year, you and I still have to itinerate out from behind the desk, out from the walls of the church, out from the "good church people" to bring the gospel message to those who need it most.

Finally, it means having the assurance of your true home in God's kingdom and not in any earthly habitat. Whether you have only known one home, or there are too many to count, our true home is not constructed by us amongst our expectations and self-made security. Our safety, our comfort, our home is with God...and wherever we find God's people at work building God's kingdom, we are no longer expatriates, but at home.

"But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ." (Philippians 3:20, NRSV)

2009 Annual Conferences

Here are the dates for the 2009 Annual Conferences in the US, arranged by starting date:

Red Bird Missionary, May 1-2, Big Creek, Ky.

Detroit, May 14-17, Adrian, Mich.

Kansas West, May 20-22, Salina, Kan.

Texas, May 24-27, The Woodlands, Texas

Oklahoma, May 25-28, Oklahoma City, Okla.

Minnesota, May 27-29, Saint Cloud, Minn.

Greater New Jersey, May 28-30, King of Prussia, Pa.
North Central New York, May 28-30, Liverpool, N.Y.

Memphis, May 31-June 2, Jackson, Tenn.
South Carolina, May 31-June 3, Florence, S.C.

Dakotas, June 3-6, Rapid City, S.D.
Illinois Great Rivers, June 3-6, Peoria, Ill.
Kansas East, June 3-6, Baldwin City, Kan.
Kentucky, June 3-6, Covington, Ky.
New Mexico, June 3-6, Odessa, Texas
Southwest Texas, June 3-6, Corpus Christi, Texas

Baltimore-Washington, June 4-6, Baltimore Md.
Central Pennsylvania, June 4-6, Grantham, Penn.
Iowa, June 4-7, Ames, Iowa
Oklahoma Indian Missionary, June 4-7, Anadarko, Okla.
North Alabama, June 4-6, Trussville, Ala.
West Michigan, June 4-7, Grand Rapids, Mich.
Wyoming, June 4-6 Scranton, Pa.

Alaska Missionary, June 5-7, Anchorage, Alaska
Missouri, June 5-8 Springfield, Mo.

Alabama-West Florida, June 7-10, Montgomery, Ala.
Central Texas, June 7-10, Southlake, Texas
Louisiana, June 7-10, Kenner, La.
North Texas, June 7-9, Plano, Texas
Northern Illinois, June 7-9, Saint Charles, Ill.
South Georgia, June 7-10, Columbus, Ga.

West Ohio, June 8-11, Lakeside, Ohio

Nebraska, June 10-13, Lincoln, Neb.
North Carolina, June 10-13, Greenville, N.C.
Troy, June 10-13, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
New York, June 10-13, Hempstead, N.Y.
Northwest Texas, June 10-13, Midland, Texas

Florida, June 11-13, Daytona Beach, Fla.
Mississippi, June 11-14, Jackson, Miss.
Oregon-Idaho, June 11-14, Salem, Ore.
Peninsula-Delaware, June 11-13, Princess Anne, Md.
Rio Grande, June 11-13, San Antonio, Texas
West Virginia, June 11-14, Buckhannon, W.Va.
Western North Carolina, June 11-14, Lake Junaluska, N.C.

Western Pennsylvania, June 11-14, Grove City, Pa.
Yellowstone, June 11-13, Billings, Mont.

Arkansas, June 14-17, Rogers, Ark.
Holston, June 14-17, Lake Junaluska, N.C.
Tennessee, June 14-16, Brentwood, Tenn.
Virginia, June 14-17, Norfolk, Va.
Wisconsin, June 14-17, Appleton, Wis.

East Ohio, June 15-18, Lakeside, Ohio
Eastern Pennsylvania, June 16-18, Oaks, Pa.

North Georgia, June 16-18, Athens, Ga.

California-Nevada, June 17-20, Sacramento, Calif.
California-Pacific, June 17-20, Redlands, Calif.
Rocky Mountain, June 17-20, Grand Junction, Colo.

New England, June 18-20, Wenham, Mass.
Pacific Northwest, June 18-21, Tacoma, Wash.

Western New York, June 19-21, Buffalo, N.Y.

Desert Southwest, June 25-28, Glendale, Ariz.
Indiana, June 25-28, Muncie, Ind.

Music for Pentecost

So one of the fun things I'm working on is having a decent playlist for all the liturgical seasons. Since Pentecost Sunday was yesterday, I've been digging through my music to find something that might relate to the Holy Spirit...and not having a lot of luck. Here's what I've got so far:

Oyaheya (Ricky Byars)
Spirit in the Sky (Norman Greenbaum, though I also have a dc Talk version)
Veni Sancte Spiritus & Within Our Darkest Night (Taize)

...and that's it. I also have some songs which might well fit into a theme if we merged this with Kingdomtide:

Be Thou My Vision (Van Morrison)
Love and Peace or Else (U2)
Prayer of St Francis (Sarah McLachlan)

But still not a great start. Anyone have suggestions? Please?

(I'll post other liturgical playlists when I get some time.)

Texas Conference Constitutional Amendment Balloting

Here are the numbers given this morning at Annual Conference for constitutional amendments

# + -
1 398 704
2 373 716
3 166 932
4 148 944
5 164 927
6 309 785
7 175 930
8 852 238
9 812 256
10 150 908
11 220 876
12 162 934
13 149 942
14 173 919
15 613 451
16 168 937
17 827 258
18 176 923
19 888 187
20 160 924
21 177 909
22 662 404
23 153 929
24 165 931
25 162 919
26 149 944
27 164 933
28 161 939
29 163 936
30 160 938
31 159 941
32 160 939

Numbers came from the screen displays put up at TAC on 5/28/09. Hopefully got all these transcribed well from the notes taken by a colleague. Very interesting numbers.

Memorials & Remembering

Each year, the first action of the Annual Conference as it is called to order, is to participate in a worship service of Thanksgiving and Remembrance...or, in common parlance, the memorial service. Until we shortened conference, it was always after lunch on Memorial Day; now, it's the night before.

As the rest of the society celebrates the sacrifice of soldiers for their country, our conference remembers those who have spent their lives for the Kingdom of God. It's a profoundly counter-cultural statement for the church to make. Our national heritage will ultimately fade away, even with the sacrifice given willingly by our veterans and their families. But we understand that the Kingdom of God will not pass away, and the gift of a life in its service is one which will be everlasting.

So while others might be headed to the beach or firing up the grill, we were doing something completely different. Music as diverse as a new choral setting of "God of Grace and God of Glory" and "Seasons of Love" from Rent gently encouraged us to consider the motivation of these pastors and spouses. The sermon, from Dr. Elijah Stansell, reminded us of our mandate and delight to bear witness to the immense love of God. And we sang our way through the liturgy for Holy Communion, which gave us a tangible, visceral experience of the sustaining grace of God.

One of the pastors I've known the longest in the conference was remembered at the service--Rusty Watkins died while getting ready for Sunrise Service on Easter. The funeral packed the sanctuary and overflow areas of one of our larger churches, and I know that many of the folks who came to last night's worship remember his wacky sense of humor, his capacity to listen, and his deep, deep love for God and God's people. As his name was read, I realized that there was so much else I could be remembering at this time, or the hundreds (1ooo+?) of folks present for the service could be remembering. And yet, the choice we made on a humid Saturday night near Houston was to remember the One who hosts the Communion of Saints.

What is it that you remember? What is it the you memorialize? For what do you spend your time, your life? And how long will it last after you've gone? I hope that we will be intentional in seeking after the things that have true reality, true worth...truly eternal things.

How Shall We Pray?

It isn't as if we have a choice. Prayer is like breathing, or communicating with our fellow human beings. We do it, whether we want to or not. I doubt it will even cease after we take our last breath.

The question, then, is "How shall we pray?"

What will our prayers be like?

For what do we pray?

Far too often, the prayers uttered on our lips throughout our week (and even spoken by pastors on a Sunday) are selfish. They focus on what we think we want, how we want it, when it would be best for us. They are prayers focused inwardly on our community, and rarely take into account where the Spirit is at work outside of the 4 walls of our congregation.

I think these 40 days of prayer for the United Methodist Church are different from such self-serving prayers. Yes, it's prayer for who we are as a people; but it is with the knowledge that we need God's wisdom, not our own. It's not prayer for a specific thing so much as for a way of looking at things, at ourselves, at our world. Of course, they aren't perfect prayers. But they are rooted deeply in our experience and (poor) practice at being the people of God.

Over these next 40 days, let's work together as a people--not to advance a particular political agenda, nor to put certain people in power, nor to marginalize a group--but to bend all of our collective will towards the discernment of where God is calling us. Invite your congregation to join in--I wrote about it in my church newsletter for this week. Share it with folks in your Annual Conference. Invite Facebook friends, Twitter followers, and blog readers. Spread the word that God is not finished with us yet!

40 Days of Prayer

I've been involved with conversations about what it means to be a young person called to ministry in the United Methodist Church for quite a while now...it's become something of a career in and of itself! But I got hooked into the conversation that's going on across our globe about a year ago at the Church's quadrennial General Conference.

That discussion has become something much larger--not just what the place of young adults in ministry and church, but what kind of church are we becoming. Who are we called to be, as Methodists, as Christians? And the quick answer is...we're not sure. We know that what has worked in the past doesn't work now; yet the gospel remains the same. We don't all agree, operate from the same perspectives, or have set starting points.

We do have something that is bigger than all of our differences and individual viewpoints: the One in whom we live and move and have our being. So a grassroots, social-media-enabled movement began to root whatever it is that we are in the process of becoming in prayer. Ben Simpson got the ball rolling, and it's being supported by UMCyoungclergy. You're welcome to read more about it today from these sources and the other folks who are blogging about it today. I'm writing one of the 40 days, and there are many more who have committed to the hard work of praying what we're setting down. This pilgrimage of prayer occurs during the yearly season in which Annual Conference sessions are held.

So I invite you: Pray with us. Pray that in the "dark night of the soul" which we often find ourselves in that our faith will be strengthened. Pray for God to continue to illuminate the path we are on. Pray for the renewal of the church. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen +

Top 10 Ways for Pastors to Observe Holy Saturday

Stop working feverishly on your Easter sermon...don't plan the Easter Egg hunt for the kids. Take a day for you--yourself, not you-as-pastor--to observe something of the events of Holy Week. I don't know a lot of places that hold a worship service on Holy Saturday (at least, before an Easter Vigil)...so with your free time, try one of the things on this list:

10) Launder or dry-clean your robes and/or stoles so they will be fresh and clean for Easter.

9) Listen to some appropriate music: classical Requiems, Taize choruses, traditional hymns, Gregorian chant, Latin motets, contemporary songs...take your pick. But wait until Sunday for peppy Easter music!

8) Put away the leftover Christmas decorations that never got into a box.

7) Reflect on the places where you've failed in the past year. Ask for forgiveness and "time for the amendment of life," as the old prayer says. Remember that Jesus knows the shame of failure in the cross, and that he died for that as well.

6) Garden. There's a reason that God put Adam and Eve in a garden, the lovers of the Song of Songs in a garden, and a garden at the heart of the city of God in Revelation...not to mention Jesus' resurrection. Go pull some weeds or plant some bulbs.

5) Volunteer at a social ministry on your own time. Spend some time in the abandoned places of empire, with people that society has discarded. It's what Jesus would do.

4) Observe the old English tradition of "beating the bounds." Walk (or drive) around your parish--not your church, but the community you're appointed to. Go to the places you never make it to or that make you uncomfortable. Remember why you got into this ministry gig in the first place.

3) Pray. It's hard to find time for your own relationship with God as a pastor. Get with a friend, your family (gasp!), or just find some time for yourself to be honest and open with God, and to hear what hope the Spirit has for your future.

2) Read something you want to read...not to prep for a sermon or a study group. Even if it's just the funny papers.

1) Rest. “On the sabbath they rested according to the commandment.” (Luke 23:56b) Take some sabbath time, for yourself to rest in what God has accomplished for you, your family, your ministry, your community.

May waiting in the desperate faith of Holy Saturday lead you to the joy of resurrection on Easter Sunday!

Preschooler Theology, Part I

Sitting with Ben this morning, who isn't feeling well. So we were reading out of the Psalms, 118:19-24, and talking about the events of Holy Week. In trying to explain about the imagery of the "gates of justice" and "God's own gates," I asked, "Sometimes we go to visit God--where do we go to visit God? At church?" and he says, "Yes." Then he paused. "And sometimes if we are sick or not feeling well, God comes to visit us!"

For an almost-4-year-old, Ben has a pretty good grip on the Biblical story and character of God, I think.

A Good Day

They don't come as often as I would like, but I want to celebrate when they do: it was a good day today!

I'm not saying it was perfect (or that I was!), but it was one of those days where you feel like you are doing the right thing. I was a pastor, priest, preacher, and teacher today. I saw new life begin to unfold. I saw new possibilities. I saw people I've known for a while in a deeper and truer way. I saw the Spirit of God move.

I have been working on a sermon about expectations, so the question of what do I expect of myself, of God, of others has been on my mind. I wasn't expecting today to be anything other than routine, catch-up, administrative work. And I was surprised by grace and joy and peace. I hope you are ambushed by your vocation--by a Christ-experience--as well.

Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace,
according to thy word;
for mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
which thou hast prepared before the face of all people,
to be a light to lighten the Gentiles,
and to be the glory of thy people Israel.

New Year, Old Problems

Today wasn't supposed to be this way.

Actually, neither was yesterday. But here I am, 3 in the afternoon, with nary a thing done at work. You know, the work of God. That stuff I'm totally and completely responsible for.

I'm fooling myself if I think what I call work is really opus Dei. Churning out emails, program creation, and the like. Administration, but not the heart of ministry. And so when I don't get to do that in the way and on the schedule upon which I've decided things should get done, then I'm not a happy camper. I need to make sure these things happen, I need to be in this place by this time, I need to...well, you get the picture. In the pressure-cooker of accountable ministry, I turn into Alexander in the middle of his terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day.

In short, I hate letting other people down. I want to be, with Paul, all things to all people. I've come to discover Paul either had no life, or he was fudging the truth a bit. Probably some of both. I struggle to find the right balance between church, campus ministry, connectional responsibilities, and--oh yeah--family. Not to mention time for myself to read, think, create, and simply be.

So, I grab drive-thru for lunch and conveniently forget the banquet feast prepared for me. I run around like a chicken with my head cut off...and still sign all my emails with "grace and peace." Is this an area of life where we believe, "Yes, we can"? Or is this an area where human initiative and bootstrap-pulling-up is fundamentally flawed?

So I'm realizing a few things (and have been for some time now): it's not my ministry to make work, it's God's; and trusting in God means letting some things go or giving them away. It's not hard for me to be chief technician manipulating the religious machinery. It is hard to trust in a transcendent God who is willing to share ministry with me, though not on my terms.

Christie and I were talking last night about something else entirely when I made the point that the work of mending our own deep brokenness is work that takes a lifetime (and that's when God's doing the mending). Talk about preaching the sermon you need to hear the most!

The lectionary this week is an invitation to the vocation of disciple. May the living, life-giving God grant me, and you, and the entire church the grace and peace to be shaped by the Spirit into true disciples of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Final Notes about Cote d'Ivoire

A followup Beaumont Enterprise story is available here:
http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/local/southeast_texans_help_to_net_disease_in_africa_11-25-2008.html

You can view my Cote d'Ivoire photo album at
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2055775&l=5f9c3&id=3003527

Photos and more are available at http://umns.umc.org and http://www.txcumc.org

Thanks for everyone who followed along with the blog, on Twitter and Facebook, and said prayers or sent words of encouragement! May our Thanksgiving celebrations this week make us truly thankful and extravagantly generous.

Worship

Well kids, the word of the day is “worship.” Why?

Find out at http://www.txcumcmedia.org/africablog/?p=154

And I hope you have read all the posts, not just mine, on the conference blog page, not to mention the wonderful other bloggers listed on the blogroll. Merci beaucoup!

Que c'est la nouvelle?

What is the news? This question is the first one asked upon arriving in a village, especially for an official visit to the chief or the church. It’s apparently protocol for “What are you doing here? What’s your business?”

Read more at http://www.txcumcmedia.org/africablog/?p=129

Hope

Two stories from today: one from the Catholic hospital in Alepe, the other about our Gendarmie (national police) guard who accompanies us everywhere we go.

Read more at http://www.txcumcmedia.org/africablog/?p=126

Simplicity

Simplicity is not a choice here, not for the vast majority of the people I’ve met. One of the team members shared last night about going into a home to see the nets we’ve been distributing all week actually being used. This was a four room house, with each room smaller than the hotel room we’re staying in here. A family was sleeping in each room; 17 total people living in the house.

Read more at http://www.txcumcmedia.org/africablog/?p=85

Beaumont Enterprise article

Here's a link to the article about the trip from the Beaumont Enterprise:

http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/ent-life/net_gains_give_life_in_africa_11-07-2008.html

Priorities

...It's not that I don't like football; but is that really what our highest priority ought to be? I couldn't help but think of the contrast between the Friday Night Lights and what is going on here this week in Cote d'Ivoire.

Read more at http://www.txcumcmedia.org/africablog/?p=79

Travel Update

There's a travel update posted on http://www.txcumcmedia.org/africablog/?p=60 and some nice pictures as well (including one of me!). Please find out about how the past few days have gone, and excuse the lack of posting--it should be more regular from here on out!