Is It a Teachable Moment?

Four characters living out the drama of racism in America in the headlines.



Professor Henry Louis Gates, a prominent Harvard professor, returns home from a long trip and can't get the door of his house open. Enlisting the aid of his cab driver, he tries to push the door open. He identified himself as the owner and yet seems to have lost his temper. Would you if someone was still questioning you in your own house?



A neighbor, Lucia Whalen, responds to the request of an elderly neighbor who saw the men tryiing to get into the house by calling the police. Is she being a good neighbor to the elderly woman or her community when someone sees something unusual?



A well-respected police officer, Sargent James Crowley, responds to a 911 call. He is a trainer for helping prevent racial profiling. What overrode his own training in the heat of the moment?



The President of the United States hears about the incident and comments in such a way that ratchets the conversation. Later he reflects a little on what it's like to be a black man in America and calls it a "teachable moment."



Later today they are all, except the woman who called 911, expected to have a beer together in Washington. I think it's good modeling that they will sit down together and I hope we'll have enough of a window on the conversation to allow it to truly be a "teachable moment" in how to talk about racism.



In a predominantly Euro-American state with our diversity in many different ethnic and racial groups, it's easy for us as Minnesotans to ignore the realities of racism. And yet every day there are incidents in our own state with our neighbors who are Native Americans, Hmong, Hispanic, African, African American and the rest of our emerging diversity of peoples. Our neighbors are literally next door to us in all of our neighborhoods as individuals and as churches. Many of our churches are located in neighborhoods filled with people who don't look like those of us worshiping in the buildings.



How are we making this headline news item a "teachable moment?" What do we have to learn from this incident? And what do we have to teach from it as Christians and in the context of gathering as people of faith for worship, Bible study and prayer? What are we saying? How are we praying?



Is it a teachable moment?



WDYT?

Where's Your Shack?

I'm baaaaaaaack! I just needed a little hiatus there for a bit and now I'm back wanting to hear from you on all sorts of things.



I recently read (on my iPod) the popular fiction entitled, The Shack, by William Paul Young. The reason I read it was because I saw all these people in the airport and on airplanes reading it and I thought I might have an interesting conversation about it if I had actually read it. I didn't expect to like it...



But I did! I was also reading the book of Job at the same time and so I like to say that the story line is really "Job meets the Triune God"! A man suffers a terrible tragedy and then finds himself going to the place where the tragedy occurred: a shack. In many respects the season of Lent is about going to our shack, wherever that is that is hardest for us to believe in the living God.



At the shack, he has an encounter with God that doesn't meet his expectations about just who God is and how God relates to humanity. Finally God says to him, "This weekend is not about reinforcing your religious stereotypes!" There couldn't be better advice about what will help us relate to God differently than to let go of our "religious stereotypes" at time. Isn't that the story of Easter morning? There's nothing in John 20 with Mary Magdalene encountering the living Christ that was reinforcing her religious stereotypes!

However, I know that the way in which God is revealed to the man at the shack is disturbing to some. I found it rather refreshing! I have always believed that our images of God are what draw us closer or farther away. How can we know God's love if the image of God that we have is less than loving to us?



I also find myself adopting a few phrases from the book. I like the way God is forever saying, "I'm especially fond of you" or whoever God is talking about at the time. Remniscent of "you are my beloved child," this phrase reminds us that God is especially fond of us...and everyone else for that matter! (Honestly, it becomes a catchy phrase!)



The images of life after death or heaven--whatever that was with rainbow like auras--didn't do so much for me but I think we're all challenged to think about what life beyond this life is...for the purpose of living this life. The man in the story had to confront his relationships with others who had already died so that he could truly live. It's a story of transformation.



Not bad theology overall but like "Jesus movies" that pop up every now and again, when we read or see our images of God or Jesus or the Holy Spirit a little differently, it makes us think...and rethink just who God is in our lives. Not a bad thing...



So, have you read the book? WDYT?

We, the People

We have elected a new president of the United States of America. With the election of Barack Obama, many place high hopes for change across our land and world.



What are your hopes?



What role does the Church play in providing a prophetic witness to the new Obama administration and to us as nation?



Some did not vote for Barack Obama. What are your hopes (this is an appreciative inquiry)?



As a nation, whether we voted for Obama or not, we are called to be one people. After all it says, "we, the people," not "he, the president." What do you hope "we, the people" will be and do as a nation in these next weeks, months, and years, rooted in our faith and lived out in our nation?



It's a critical time in our nation's history. WDYT?

Has Tuesday Finally Come?

All day that silly saying of Wimpy's from the Popeye cartoons of my childhood keeps coming to mind, "I'll gladly pay you on Tuesday for a hamburger today."

I don't know, but I wonder if it was funny 40-50 years ago because nobody would give anybody a hamburger today if you weren't going to pay them until next Tuesday. Now it seems that we have built our society on the expectation that we can have all the hamburgers we want and don't have to pay for them until the next and then the next and then the next Tuesday.

So has our Tuesday finally come as a nation or at least on Wall Street?

First it was Bear Stearns, then Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, then Lehman Brothers, and then Merrill Lynch (described as Wall Street meeting Main Street, USA). Where will it all lead?

I don't have a business or financial background so I can't fully analyze and extrapolate all that is going on, but it seems like there are some questions to consider and lessons to be learned.

A few of my questions today as Wall Street reels:

Is this as simple as greed?

Where was the leadership in these companies? What were their principles of operation that led them to this place?

What does this suggest to us as a church? Will anyone speak of it in worship this Sunday? Or any Sunday? (Maybe that's why I'm hoping some of you can lend your expertise in analysis, especially how that analysis might impact our faith.)

Clif Christopher is coming to the Minnesota Annual Conference on September 23 at St. Andrew's Church in Eden Prairie and I'll be interested in how he addresses stewardship in light of these economic times; things have changed economically since he was here last fall. How is it impacting your fall stewardship campaign if at all?

Furthermore, what is the unique voice of the Christian faith in these financial times?

WDYT?

The Middle Ages in the Church Today

I've spent some time with family this summer and as a result, I've been immersed in young adult culture and then older adult culture (as in 75+). At first I was thinking these two cultures are on a collision course but I've decided it's more like they are going in opposite directions, never to meet unless something really brings them together.



I found young adults to be more disconnected to the church than I even I had imagined. What we care about as the institutional church is so far off their radar of concern. But it's not that they don't have expectations of the church. In fact, they're deeply disappointed that we talk but we don't walk what they expect the church to be: a community that cares about people other than ourselves. That's kind of the bottom line: we care too much about ourselves and not others, especially those who are different from ourselves, the environment, and the global issues of our day.



My immersion with older was a little disconcerting, too. Change is about the last thing they want--in the church or politics. For instance, my cousin's daughter who is 14 came to a family gathering. No one quite expected her to make the 2 hours trip in the car but she came. Shouldn't we be delighted that she did? Shouldn't we be all over her in terms of making her feel welcome? Instead the girl hennas her hair and later all I heard was that she hennas her hair. Who cares? In my immersion with young adults in San Francisco, I never saw so many tattoos in my entire life in such a short time. I had to get over myself on that one! Yet these older adults can't figure out why younger people won't go to church! But the look on their faces would make any young adult think twice, not to mention my cousin's 14-year-old!



When I got home the other day from the most recent foray into family immersions, I began to wonder, what is the role of people my age? Baby boomers. I'm thinking specifically in terms of the church.



Do we ask the right questions of both groups?

How are we part of the problem? Or the solution?

Do we advocate for one group or the other?

Do we try to bring these totally alien groups together?

Do we align with one or the other?



I was talking to one of my young adult relatives and she said, "You have to just go with the young people...but then I suppose that's hard for the old people." Yes, my dear, that's the dilemma.



So, I'm wondering. How do you experience these two diverse age groups? As one of them or someone like me in the middle.



Frankly, I've never felt so middle aged as I have at the end of this summer after my immersions with the two age groups! And the church is definitely in the grips of middle age--trying to negotiate between these two very diverse age groups.


WDYT?

WDYRead?

As the mid-summer's dream of warmer days and some time away from our usual responsibilities approaches, I note that many periodicals and newspapers begin to publish the "beach reading" or summertime bests. Even Circuit Rider's latest edition, May/June 2008, listed some well-known United Methodists--laity and clergy--and their favorite books.

John Wesley used to read a wide variety of topics and disciplines. He was particularly fond of the sciences in his time as well as theology. He advocated wide reading with clergy. Sometimes I worry that we as clergy don't read widely enough, keeping us from having a diverse perspective on the world, our lives, the culture, and the people entrusted to us. But then, do laity read widely outside of their fields of interest? I'd be interested to know what influences what you read.

I'll begin by listing what I am presently reading, too. I usually have several books going at a time--one on my iPod (audio book) and one or more that I'm reading with my eyes. All are stimulating but quite frankly I'm much less inclined to fall asleep while reading when I'm running plugged into an audio book!

On my iPod I am reading Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery by Eric Metaxas. This is an excellent history of how social change occurs, motivated by people of faith. I haven't seen the movie but I can't imagine that it represents the social conditions and Methodist influence as pointedly as the book. I am learning things about Methodism in England during the last half of the 18th century (and later years of John Wesley) and the beginning of the next. The social conditions as well as the way in which Methodism is regarded by "outsiders" isn't something that I have as vividly had described. Plus, it's important to read about those who have brought about deep social change against all odds.

With my eyes I am reading The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann. This came from Bishop Will Willimon's recommendation in the Circuit Rider. His description of this novel caused me to call up my local bookstore and get a copy asap. As Bishop Willimon says, "When the church becomes infatuated with physical illlness, and ministry too easily degenerates into running errands for those who are experiencing physical degeneration, Mann's novel that takes place entirely in a hospital tells the truth. Our therapeutic church is really changed in this classic." I'm only about 100 pages into this 700 page novel so I can't say I have his perspective yet, but I'm intrigued!

And then with my eyes, I am also reading A Spring without Bees: How Colony Collapse Disorder Has Endangered Our Food Supply by Michael Schacker. The bee population is disappearing, bee colonies are collapsing, and the greatest scientific minds can't figure out why. The interconnectedness of the bee with agriculture with world hunger and poverty should give overwhelming concern to us all. We as United Methodist Christians need to do more theological thinking about the ecological changes going on around us.

For me I'm reading history, fiction and science.

WDYRead?

Can You See the Campers for the Trees?

The Sunday afternoon and evening following annual conference, I went out to Kingswood camp to teach the "theology" session for our camp counselors. It's great fun, partly because most of them are young adults and I enjoy listening to and interacting with them. Although, two of our camp counselors are retirees (think about that!).

I shared my presuppositions about camp:
1) Parents send kids to camp for spiritual formation.
2) Church camp provides in its 24/7 format the opportunity for more than 1 year of Sunday School impact.
3) Over 80% of adults in church today became Christians by or during their teen years.
4) 60-85% of those adults made their first commitment to Christ at camp.

So, the week of camp is an important one in the life of campers, counselors, our annual conference, and the mission of our church which is to make disciples of Jesus Christ! These camp counselors have a big job--please pray for them.

I share the United Methodist understanding of grace and how it relates to the various ages and stages of young people as they come to camp. Some campers need to be made aware or reminded of God's grace and unconditional love (prevenient grace); some need to be invited to make a commitment to Christ (justifying grace); and some need to grow in their relationship with God (sanctifying grace). In fact, all campers need all three!

I ended by saying that I expect each counselor to make it his or her goal that each camper:

1) will connect to the Creator and creation;
2) experience God's unconditional love through him or her and their peers;
3) will witness an example of faith and find it compelling in the life of the counselor;
4) will have the opportunity to draw closer to God;
5) will have daily Bible study and prayer that connects with their lives;
6) will experience Christian community; and
7) will have fun!

Our camping program is going through a year of continued assessment and reorganization. I would appreciate it if you would share something about the following:

1) What difference has camping made in your spiritual journey? Or your child's?
2) What's the most important aspect of camping and how can we do it more faithfully and fruitfully?
3) What input would you give the camping program about camp overall?

WDYT?