The “Cherry-Picking” of the White Church

This potent quote is from “The Crucible of Racism: Ignatian Spirituality and the Power of Hope” by Patrick Saint-Jean, SA.

“The white church has often cherry-picked its way through the Bible, ignoring scripture’s clear and consistent support of those whom society has marginalized. Meanwhile, the actual message of the Hebrew Scriptures and the message of Christ in the Gospels and throughout the rest of the Christian scriptures challenge us to build a world based on justice, equality, and love.”

Nationalism, Religious Squabbles, and Racism

I was privileged to do the “Read Together” podcast this week. 

The introduction reads “Rev. Steve West identifies three core values of the early church that the world found offensive and encourages us to relentlessly live into them.”

Those three values are:

- The lordship of Christ (which messed with their nationalism)

- The resurrection of Christ (which messed with their religious squabbles)

- The radical inclusion of the church (which messed with their racism)

Have a listen. It can be found HERE.

Thoughts on the Day after the Election

Some of us grieving today and others are quietly celebrating. We’ve had a presidential election. We are a diverse nation and even a diverse Church, and there must be a variety of feelings out there today. We acknowledge them.

Yet in God's church, we proclaim today that we are one in the Spirit and one in the Lord.

Our bishop, Bishop Holston, wrote a powerful letter, day after. I encourage you to read it as we move forward with grace and love for one another.

You can find the complete text HERE.

Here are some portions I'd like to share.

He begins with a quote from 1 Peter 3 in The Message paraphrase: “Be agreeable, be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble. That goes for all of you, no exceptions. No retaliation. No sharp-tongued sarcasm. Instead, bless - that’s your job, to bless.”

Bishop Holston then began, “After so many months of disharmony, dissonance and discord – thanks to the non-stop campaigning, constant political advertisements, and flurry of divisive social media posts leading up to election day 2024 – this Biblical instruction may sound like a tall order. And it is.

“We know accepting the grace and love that God offers so freely is simple. Actually living as followers of Christ in a world that often seems like it’s going in the other direction – that takes hard work and persistence.

“Election day has passed. We’ve all prayed and we’ve had the opportunity to vote, not just as an obligation but as an opportunity to witness to our faith. Now it is time to continue our witness and move forward together with love as our biblical foundation – setting aside our differences and looking honestly and forthrightly for ways to work together for the betterment of our communities, our state, our nation and all of God’s creation.”

He suggests our next faithful steps …

    1) remain grounded and steadfast in our faith

    2) remain vigilant in responding to needs around us

    3) encourage building up, not tearing down

    4) be “agreeable” – not necessarily of one mind, but having empathy with those don’t agree with

He then closes with this:

"Please join me in prayer for the women and men who will lead … our state and our nation forward. Continue to pray for the healing of our fractured nation and that we will engage one another with honor and respect, always living with a purpose bigger than ourselves. Pray that we center our lives on faithful action more than words. And pray that we remain committed to serving as Christ served – by loving all. May we always balance our prayers and support for our elected leaders with our obligation to work for social, economic and restorative justice for all of God’s children.”

Thank you, Bishop Holston!

Charlie is Born!

Welcome to the world, Charlie!

You are the most beautiful granddaughter a Pops could dream of!

Anticipation

.

Anticipation.

Anticipation. It's making me wait.

As you probably know (since I've mentioned it, oh ... dozens of times), Sandy and I are eagerly awaiting a new granddaughter. As I write, the due date is just two weeks from now. On top of that, our daughter Deborah seems more than ready.

I saw the director of the local Wesley Foundation at a meeting this week, and I asked him if he's going to be around the next two or three weeks. Who knows. I might be calling him one Saturday night when we are en route to the hospital. I don't know if I've ever, EVER felt such anticipation.

Whenever I think of the subject (and this dates me, I'm afraid), my mind goes to the old Carly Simon song. It came out when I was a child and I remember hearing it on the radio all the time. Some of the words are: 

We can never know about the days to come,

But we think about them anyway.

And I wonder if I'm really with you now

Or just chasing after some finer day.

Anticipation, anticipation is making me wait,

is keeping me waiting.

And tomorrow we might not be together.

I'm no prophet.

Lord, I don't know nature's way,

so I'll try to see into your eyes right now,

And stay right here.

'Cause these are the good old days.

Anticipation is such a complex emotion.

What will our dear baby look like? How pudgy will her cheeks be? What color will her hair be? Will she even have hair? And if she has hair, will she lose it?

It's not just things like that. What kind of person will she be? What type of God-given personality will she have? What gifts and talents will she offer to make the world a better place? What pain and suffering will she know? What will give her joy?

I have so many questions. And alas, there are no answers right now. Regardless of that, it's all capturing my imagination.

I've been thinking about anticipation in the spiritual life. What kind of anticipation are you feeling about life right now? Is it about a family matter, or something at work, or discernment about something related to your future? How do you deal with the anticipation?

My encouragement for you today is just to live in it. Lean into it. These aren't useless questions just because you don't have the answers yet. So much of life is living the questions.

I pray that in your relationship with God, faith might become less about knowing all the answers (which nobody does, especially if they think they do) and more about living the questions. It's really a good place to be.

I believe Christian faith is about beholding mystery and embracing uncertainty. Why else would Jesus boil down faith to the phrase "follow me?" We have no idea where he's going to take us. And it becomes the adventure of a lifetime.

My Twelve Convictions as the UMC Moves Forward

As I pray and continue to find healing and perspective after last year's season of church disaffiliations from the main body of the UMC, on a recent retreat I wrote down these twelve convictions. What would yours be?

My Twelve Convictions

1. Ministry is messy because relationships are messy. It’s by grace that we are saved! I love church because it’s the gift God gave us to bring people to Christ. So I embrace the messiness with joy. I choose the Jesus way and work things out in love.

2. As I said in my book, “the arc of Christian history bends toward inclusion.” Christianity, since the early church, has reformed itself over and over to come back to this gospel value. Here we are again. Reform is painful but it’s necessary to meet the times.

3. My personal views were changed by decades of ministry with LGBTQ+ Christians, in and beyond my local church. The idea that you can’t be gay and be Christian is bogus. I know too many that are. Their witness formed me over time. I have experienced the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15 in slow motion.

4. I don’t worship Wesley. But I find the Wesleyan way an unparalleled, balanced, and passionate expression of biblical Christianity. Wesley’s sermon “The Scripture Way of Salvation” and our core doctrines in the Discipline spell it out. I just love being a mainline United Methodist. I believe the holiness tradition the separatists claim is a derivative of Wesleyan spirituality. I don’t believe we can arrive at a sinless life. I choose to be overwhelmed by grace!

5. It’s clear from Wesley’s writings, especially “On Schism” and “The Catholic Spirit,” that he would be mortified by how the separatist leadership has functioned over the last ten years. The secessionists caused the schism, not the people they demonized.

6. The initial concerns were valid … how do we move forward in light of dramatic changes in our culture? But the WCA formed in 2016 to openly plan schism. They overturned the One Church Plan presented by the Commission on a Way Forward in 2019, though they knew they would probably leave anyway. They also knew full and well that the Traditional Plan was not sustainable, so I have concluded that it was never intended for unity. It was to say “either they’re leaving, or we’re leaving.” I saw this from the beginning and protested. It turns out they followed through with their end game.

7. The separatists did not leave the UMC for theological or biblical reasons. They left for sociological reasons, rooted in American culture wars and ideological politics. They simply made justification for it using the Bible and theology. This exposed the underbelly of American religious history, as such movements have done in the past. I love our religious freedom because it leads more people to Christ, but this experience has shown me this is the biggest pitfall.

8. Diversity, not division, is a sign of the Holy Spirit. Unity has never been the same thing as uniformity. Wesley coined the phrase “agree to disagree” because he strove for perfection in love. Love is what matters. Love wins.

9. The gospels never even mention the hot button topics that separatists left over. But the gospels definitely teach about unity. Jesus prays for it for a whole chapter in John, noting that our unity comes from abiding in him (not agreeing on everything).

10. Yet here we are, and those who left us are our siblings in Christ who we must now love, just as we love people of other denominations. This will involve forgiveness and healing. I am on a journey of opening my heart.

11. The communion table is the gift Christ gave us to bring unity in our diversity. It’s not just about me and Jesus. It’s about the kingdom of God. We need to come back to the table in order to move forward. This message is the gift I brought to the larger discussion, for such a time as this.

12. The UMC can now robustly stand for the positive biblical value of unity in diversity, over against the divisiveness of our culture. We are unhindered by the divisions of the past and can truly embrace the vision of open minds, open hearts, and open doors. We can grow by bringing all kinds of people into vibrant relationship with Christ and a life of being immersed in grace. I’m excited about our future.

Thank you for remaining UMC!

I saw a post in a clergy forum on social media, from a pastor of a church that disaffiliated but he remained with the UMC. He simply want to say thank you to others who did so as well. He said that while filling in at a church, he had a lay person thank him for remaining UMC. He realized that no one had done that … no denominational leader had done that.

He simply wanted to say "thank you” and wish God's blessings on them in their new ministry setting!

I responded with the following comment.

Yes! I want everyone to know I have gratitude in my heart for all of you who persevered. Thank you for your loyalty to Christ and to the mystical church God gave us.

I realize I am personally fortunate … I serve a local church that chose not to enter a discernment process, and we only lost 10% of our people which was painful but not disruptive to ministry. And I was blessed beyond measure to be in appointment from which I could openly lead our Stay UMC movement in North Alabama.

I admire people like you who held to the faith, who believe what the Bible says about Christ’s prayers for unity and about the DNA of the early church called to live the radical love of Jesus even when it’s uncomfortable. It was hard to hold fast when those around you were falling into the schismatic fear. Yet you did.

Thank you. You chose to remain in communion with me and such a diverse group of other Christians, though you and I may only know each other on social media. We are family, the body of Christ.

It meant the world to me that a bishop at Jurisdictional Conference went out of his way to thank me for standing up as a leader to defend the faith. You all should be thanked as well!

More than that, know that Christ holds you close to his breast. Well done, good and faithful servants.