Stay UMC

Dear Methodist friends,

These are difficult times, and there are many more pressing things on our plate.

However, a group of North Alabama Methodists are advocating that the North Alabama Conference "Stay UMC," should there be a vote called for on the Annual Conference level to secede from the United Methodist Church and form a new "traditionalist" denomination. This vote could take place in 2021 or 2022 if the Protocol passes at General Conference in 2021, as many expect. There are some clergy and laity in the North Alabama Conference who are actively working toward the goal of leaving the UMC.

"Stay UMC" released www.stayumc.com today. This was to be unrolled in early March and the pandemic caused a heavy pause. General Conference has now been postponed to August/September of 2021, so it is still something in front of us.

I wholeheartedly support “Stay UMC!” I invite you to explore www.stayumc.com and join the movement.

I hope that discussions around the “Stay UMC” movement will lead to greater transparency so we can be a better Church.

I have nothing against clergy and churches who wish to leave the UMC in the present impasse. They are brothers and sisters in Christ. Some are very traditionalist, others are very progressive, but on both edges there are those that would choose to no longer stay in communion with the traditionalists, centrists, and progressives that believe we are called to be one diverse Church. The denomination is making withdrawal possible now, and churches may keep church properties if they follow the appropriate requirements. I just don't believe those who wish to form a new denomination should attempt to force the entire Annual Conference to go with them.

Please check out www.stayumc.com to understand what the Protocol is, why we wish to "Stay UMC," and what's at stake if we don't.

Invocation for JSU Commencement

It was an honor to lead the invocation for Commencement Exercises at Jacksonville State University, held outdoors on August 1, 2020 at the JSU Gamecock Stadium. This was spring graduation that was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

I carefully wrote my invocation as a gift to the JSU community, and I thought I'd share it here as well.

Let us pray.

God of Solomon and Sophia, God of Divine Wisdom and Grace,

We pause this day to pray. We pause as outstanding scholars are honored here, and we pause to honor the One that merits our greatest respect. We pause to point to the Source and Sustainer of all that is true and all that is good. It is with deep gratitude that we pause, and it is with deep gratitude that we pray.

We pray for these candidates, that the academic degrees awarded today might be more than accolades. May these degrees serve as seeds. May they be seeds that are nourished by the soil of real-life experience, and may they be watered by the rain of struggle. May they be seeds that are fed by the sun of enlightenment, so that they blossom and make the world a more beautiful place.

May these degrees, these seeds, represent not only the accomplishment of knowledge but the continued quest to become.

Fill these candidates with a faith in what the future brings. May they have soundness of mind in a world that can’t seem to agree on what constitutes truth. May they have abundance of hope, no matter if their graduation was delayed due to disease and unease.

May the memories of this day not be overshadowed by a pandemic. May they unleash the power of the academic so that the seeds planted today spread like an epidemic.  

May these commencement exercises be exactly that, commencement exercises. May they be a commencement, a kickoff, a fresh start … not only the ending of a helpful chapter in life but the beginning of a hopeful chapter in life.

May they be commencement indeed. May they also be exercises, knowing that you are not finished with us yet. You are never finished with us yet.

God of both enlightenment and love, we pray (in the words of the Apostle Paul) that these candidates be transformed by the renewal of their minds. In that spirit, we offer these exercises to you.

And now with deep respect for all faiths that might be represented here, I pray in the name of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, whom scripture calls the “Wisdom of God.”

Amen and amen.