A Response to a District Superintendent

The District Superintendent of the Gulf Central District of the United Methodist Church wrote in her July Newsletter a brief article that has stimulated me to write a brief article in response. I hope what I share is a faithful, respectful, and loving response. I started seeing connections that she either did not see or did not want to see. To put it simply and directly, she does not connect her observations regarding lack of institutional health, her hope for full inclusion of the LBGTQ community, and her perspective on the cultural context in which congregations serve their communities.

The District Superintendent expressed her desire to help the United Methodist team in the district to move forward in the new conference year. She admits it will not be easy. She identifies the following reasons.

Struggling congregations

Buildings needing maintenance

Reduction in financial giving

Shrinking and unmet budgets

Pastors and leaders pushing against the inertia drawing the church inward

This sounds much like a list most of the District Superintendents in Indiana, my home Annual Conference of the UMC, could offer as well. I am not sure how true this list would be throughout the United States.

                She expresses her hope that the denomination at its called General Conference will debate and decide its position on human sexuality and full inclusion of the LBGTQ brothers and sisters.

                She then identifies the climate and culture in which the church in the United States carries out its ministry.

Families surrounded by polarizing politics

Growing nationalism

Immigration crisis

Global instability

A healthy economy

Digital technology enabling us to stay connected to everything and everyone

                I think it worth a few moments of my time, and I hope you time, to unpack the issues she identifies.

Part of the climate and culture in which Christianity works is one that longs to have free expression of its sexual desires. It wants unrestricted affirmation in this area. This is not new. Since Freud, many people have viewed traditional morality as oppressive. Few seem willing to admit that sexual desire can become a form of oppression. Sexual desire is beautiful and part of our natural condition. Yet, finding proper ways of expressing such desires is part of a healthy approach to adult relationships. Churches need to find a faithful and loving way to offer their guidance in this important area of human life. The guidance Jesus (Mark 10:6-9, basing himself in Genesis 1-2) and Paul (I Corinthians 5-7, and rules for the Christian household n Ephesians 5 and Colossians 3) offer a sufficient basis for faithful guidance that the church ought to offer today. I am aware of the challenges in interpreting such texts. At the same time, we are clearly dealing with marriage between a man and a woman. I realize that this position now receives the criticism that it is takes the Bible in an overly literal and simplistic (fundamentalist) way and arises out of bigotry. Many of my friends in the United Methodist Church would view it in this way. In this brief discussion, I can only assure that I do not have a fundamentalist view of the Bible. I can also assure you that I love respect the many heterosexual persons I know who have not followed the guidance provided by Jesus and Paul. The same is true for any other persons who express their sexual desire in ways not consistent with Jesus and Paul. Jesus and Paul invited us to love our neighbors. As created in the image of God and having the potential of allowing God to conform them into the image of the Son (Romans 8:29), each person deserves my respect and love. Each person is of sacred worth. They also deserve the truth of the change God desires to bring into our hearts and lives.

                In identifying polarizing politics, growing nationalism, and immigration crisis as part of the climate and culture in which the churches must face the challenges of ministry, I invite you to ponder. How we identify the issues with which culture challenges the church will provide insight into what one thinks the church must do. I have already suggested that her failure to identify sexual expression as a cultural issue to which the church needs to respond is important.

                Further, polarizing politics is obvious, and has been a staple of American life in the course of my baby-boomer life. The 1960s were polarizing. Nixon and Watergate were as well. Opponents of Ronald Reagan called him racist, uncaring for the homeless, uncaring of those who contracted AIDS, and one who might start a nuclear war. The House of Representatives impeached Bill Clinton. George W. Bush was fascist and had people who made movies about assassinating him. Barack Obama faced strong opposition to his attempts to nationalize the health care industry. We know Donald Trump has managed to unite the radical Left with the never-Trump conservatives. Yes, politics is polarizing and this concern is not new.

                 The DS has a concern for nationalism. Here is another place where I part company. I hope the churches throughout the world love the country in which the minister. I am not sure how any local church conducts its ministry if it hates its country. A genuine love of country is part of our love for the people to whom we minister. The cultural, economic, and political life of the nation is of concern to God and ought to be of concern to the church. Every nation has its imperfections. The church needs to be part of improving the values by which people conduct themselves in the public square and strengthening the institutions of society. The church is one of those institutions. It relies upon the health of the cultural, economic, and political order. I say this in a practical way, for it receives its funding from people participating in those institutions.

                I find myself far more concerned, then, with the growing anti-Americanism in the culture and among political leaders. I see it in academia as well. The rejection of the western cultural heritage (Plato, Aristotle, Christianity, Reformation, and Enlightenment) is of concern to me. The unrelenting attacks upon the founders of this nation remain of concern to me. Yes, I am well acquainted with these attacks. Yes, I am well aware of the birth defect of this nation regarding slavery and race. However, the founders of this nation began a journey of liberty. Among many academics and theologians, lifting up the Marxist critique of the West is another form of anti-American expression. The desire of many to move toward a form of politicizing every aspect of American life through government agencies regulating as much of American life as possible is about as anti-American as one can get. We forget the oppression that government can impose upon its citizens.

                The immigration crisis is a matter of caring for our neighbors. The concern is for people who enter the country illegally. The concern is that people with bad intent may be part of that number. Another concern is that too many want to enter the nation to receive the free education and welfare. My point is only that such concerns are not nationalist in a bad way. They are not racist. They arise out of genuine concern for the health of the neighborhood.

                The way we identify the cultural challenges may well affect the result that we find in the local churches. What bothers me is that the DS sees no connection between the result of declining budgets and so on with the way she has expressed her hope for full inclusion and the way she identified the cultural challenges. That failure to offer respect for the concerns that many Americans have regarding what is happening in the culture and churches regarding sexuality, as well as genuine expressions of love for country, may well be part of the reason for the institutional decline she also notes. To put a finer point on my concern, if the United Methodist Church is not able to find a way to affirm the Bible on matters related to sexual expression and to affirm its love for this country in its founding principles and desires for liberty, then I do not see a way forward toward healing its institutional decline.

                I invite reactions and I would value thoughtful response.

Moltmann Conference at Florida Southern 2017

On November 28-29, 2017, I had the privilege of going to Florida Southern College for the Willis Lecture. Its theme was The Future of Christian Theology. The 90^th Birthday of Jürgen Moltmann was the occasion. I had the privilege of talking briefly with some of these persons, including Moltmann.

Jürgen Moltmann was a privilege to meet. He graciously signed books for me and took a picture with me. When I approached him and shook his hand, he asked me who I was. I told him I was a just a United Methodist pastor who read many of his books. At his age, he has had some significant losses recently, including an important “dialogue partner” in Wolfhart Pannenberg. He had also recently gone through the death of his wife. I asked him what his experience of aging had been. I have been thinking of such things, since I was just turning 66. He said that aging is a journey to loneliness. He clearly is a gracious and humble man. As I continue to age, I can only hope I will age as well. One had to listen carefully to his lecture, for he could be difficult to hear. He opened with a discussion of the themes of Christian theology since WWII. When he approached offering his suggestion for the future, he paused. He looked at us with a smile. He said something like this. “Of course, I realize that you may not follow the guidance of your teacher. After all, I did not follow the direction of my teacher.” It was a nice bit of levity.

His lecture focuses on the need for an ecological turn and a turn to the Spirit.

            After WWII, theology arises out of Church and Christ center, with the confessing church, Church Dogmatics, kerygmatic theology. Theology became preaching to the choir. It protected theology from political theology. Contextual theology made the context the text of theology. Since 1990, theology sought academic respectability. The home of God is the world. The church is to be among many truth-seeking communities. He referred to his friend John Polkinghorn.

            If our world is to survive, an ecological turn needs to occur.

            He admits that he focused so much on the future coming of God that he forgot the present coming of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit connects eschatology to the present. The future of theology is the coming of God.

            Florida Southern has a reputation for the largest collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture.

           

Steffen Loesel, a former student of Moltmann, analyzed the different approaches of mainline and evangelical communities toward secular culture. He referred to the tension between relevance and identity Moltmann discussed in Crucified God. He seemed put off by emerging worship, contemporary, and coffee shop churches. He seemed to favor a style that was liturgical, sacramental, and somewhat mystical. It struck me that we will not ever dissolve the tension between relevance and identity. The approach he favored would not generally appeal to me. I would be more in favor of many styles of being church, but all of them communicating with each other in a way that keeps everyone aware of the tension between relevance and identity.

            Miroslav Volf seemed focused on the tribalism of the Christian community. He wants to see theology contribute to human flourishing. Theology is a way of life seeking self-understanding. He wants affinity between life and thought. Theology is for pilgrims on the way. We experience this affinity in a proleptic and ec-static way. He is arguing against

putting theology in an isolated sector of life and intellect. I liked his approach and I want to do more reflection with him through his writing.

The conference was well worth attending. I met some wonderful people. I am a political conservative. Here is the thought that I had. The theme of the conference was the future of Christian theology. Why can we not think of the future of theology as an embrace of the freedom implicit in democracy and free enterprise? Freedom and all it entails, including regard for the worth and dignity of others and embodied in social institutions, is an important aspect of human flourishing. If theology does not figure out how to escape Marx, communism, and socialism, it will die, and it will deserve to die.  

If you have any interest in architecture in general or Frank Lloyd Wright in particular, Florida Southern College is a good place to visit. The angles are interesting in terms of the layout of the school and the buildings.

Boston Declaration: A Personal Declaration in Response

https://thebostondeclaration.com/

A friend brought The Boston Declaration to my attention. It was part of an email from the Indiana Annual Conference on November 30, 2017, apparently promoting it as worthy of our theological and political consideration. My friend wrote that he considered responding to the Declaration. That comment began the process that has resulted in this brief reflection. I have respect for many of those who signed the document. Since I have read the books of some, they surprise me that they have signed a document like this. It will probably help any potential reader to read the declaration first. Rather than analyze the document, I have written my own declaration. I have embraced the flow of the Boston Declaration. However, I have used it as a foil for my declaration. In doing so, please understand that I am giving the Declaration great respect. I hope my response is respectful, seeing some common ground but acknowledging large areas of disagreement. 

I am just one follower of Jesus, whom I believe to be a Jewish prophet and teacher of wisdom, as well as the promised Jewish Messiah, the hoped for Son of Man, and therefore Son of God and Savior of the world. The Christian community needs to hear in a new and powerful way his message of love for the neighbor, love for the enemy, and his beatitude upon those who make peace.

We live in a cultural setting in which outrage against inappropriate sexual behavior has become highly politicized. People have what appears to be moral outrage at private behavior when it conveniently advances their political agenda but turn away when it becomes politically expedient. Such selective outrage at private moral failings reveals the importance of the political issues involved. Voters have too often had such difficult decisions forced upon them by the political process. 

We live in a cultural setting when people rightly express outrage against the small numbers of those who advance white supremacy, (one is too many) while conveniently ignoring the rise of violence and the shutting down of free speech on campus and other settings, simply because such intimidation and violence advances the progressive cause and beats opponents into silence. We can celebrate the advances made in race relations in America. Racism is the birth defect of this nation. If we have the eyes to see, we will see the influence of the Civil Rights movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as evidence of correcting this defect. The changes in legal, political, economic and cultural standing of racial minorities are a celebration. Yet, too many persons, organizations, and political parties, depend upon alienating races rather than bringing them together. 

Christians as individuals and communities need to have boldness and courage to resist the forces that divide and alienate. Such a path is a risk. It involves costly discipleship. It might mean our preferred tribe, which is that collection of people and organizations who think like us, will disassociate from us. It might have to embrace the fact that in this cultural climate fellow Christians will judge and exclude us. Following Jesus today involves reminding people that their political opinions ought not to become idols. Jesus has become the property of a tribe. Jesus is greater than their political agenda. Jesus did not have a political or economic agenda. In fact, if we have come to political opinions, we need to hear Jesus in the voices and ideas of our political opponents. We need to hear the voice of Jesus outside our tribe. Christians agree that the poor need always to before us as we contemplate our political and economic views. We must always oppose the forces that separate and alienate on superficial grounds, such as economics, social status, religion, or race. We must also be mindful of the forgotten men and women in a free enterprise system that have the vision and passion to use their talents in a way that finds and creates needs among people and devise plans to fill those needs and desires. Such creativity requires faith and hope in the future, as well as love for family, community, and nation. It has led to improving the material lives of all persons, including the least of these. We need to have a rebirth of respect for the pursuit of happiness and respect for private property, both of which are important for the economic well-being of all.

We can be grateful for the biblical challenge to choose life (Deuteronomy 30). The West has inherited a tradition of philosophy and religion, of politics and economics, which provides the intellectual and practical resources that will improve life. The diversity of cultural setting is impressive, whether from eastern and southern Europe, from the Middle East and North Africa, and eventually from northern Europe and America. These resources encourage openness to learn from and tolerate views that derive from other cultural traditions. Such resources have advanced the cause of freedom in such a way that they encourage on-going social reform. For that reason, the economic advances made by all persons, regardless of gender, race, or sexual orientation, is one that all Christians can celebrate. “Following Jesus today means choosing life, joining the Spirit-led struggle to fight the death-dealing powers of sin wherever they erupt.” The Holy Spirit, the giver and sustainer of life, bids us to choose paths that lead to life for self and for others. Too many people choose death. We see death in the too many abortions. We see death in the sexual obsession of so many. If we have the eyes to see, we see death in the abuse of drugs. We see death in the political decision to stifle free enterprise and the use of private property through federal taxation, bureaucracy and regulation that leads to economic stagnation rather than creativity and growth. We see death in locating sin among the wealthy and powerful, making them the object of envy and hate, instead of recognizing our common bond with them in sin and potentially our common bond of faith. Too many who profess Christ are actually part of the alienating forces in America today, as they focus upon the superficial differences of race, gender, sexual orientation, social status, and economic status. Such differences, while important, do not define us as human beings or as believers in Christ. Christians who fire the flames of suspicion and alienation between such groups do nothing to advance the ministry of reconciliation God has given the church (II Corinthians 5:18-20). Too many Christians adopt a stance of critique toward a tradition and toward a political and economic tradition while at the same time participating fully in that system. They are enjoying the benefits of freedom and relative economic well-being while supposedly advancing an alienating critique from a morally self-righteous position. Their critique, offered from what appears to be the moral high ground, is in contrast to their lives, which rely upon participation in the system they profess to critique.

In reflecting upon such matters theologically, the identity of God becomes important. This God asks people to do justice, to love kindness, and walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8). This God asks of all people to honor God and to do what is right (Acts 10:34-35). God has created humanity in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), regardless of the superficial differences humanity has created. Behind the diversity in which humanity lives, moves, and has its being (Acts 17:28) is the unity humanity has as creatures of God. The path of following Jesus involves recognizing the blessing of God upon the poor, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, the meek, those persecuted for the sake of righteousness, and the merciful (Matthew 5:1-10). Uniting with the people of Israel, following Jesus involves loving God with all that we are and loving our neighbors as ourselves (Deuteronomy 6:4-5, Leviticus 19:18, Mark 12:28-34). As Jesus received the Spirit in his baptism by John, as the Spirit empowered him in his teaching, healing, and exorcism, as the Spirit empowered the early church and the first believers, the Spirit will lead us in the world today. This means willingness to discern the places where evil shows itself in this world, the courage to oppose it, and the willingness to suffer for the sake of righteousness. The spiritual danger is always present that those who oppose evil will find that evil overcomes them. Resentment against the existing order of democracy and capitalism, for example, can become a secret poison. Such resentment can become its own form of slavery that people carry with them wherever they go. No one has the right to hold the possibility of a new world brought by human action, even if we delude others and ourselves into thinking Jesus is with our brand of politics and economics. Even if successful, such a proposal will become another oppressive existing social order that will inspire resentment and opposition. Evil is not the answer to evil. Discontent, hatred and insubordination toward the existing social order forgets that every human system lives in the shadow of evil (Karl Barth, Romans, p. 480-1). In opposing evil, we run the risk of becoming like what we oppose. The revolutionary who fights oppression too often becomes like the oppressor (George Orwell, Animal Farm). 

As a follower of Jesus, I find in him my rest, peace, and salvation. I mourn the coarseness of our politics. I mourn the disrespect Americans show to their political opponents. I have a particular concern with how people are bringing Jesus into their political ideologies. Far from honoring Jesus, such attempts actually reveal the idolatrous attachment we have toward our politics. We reveal our desire to have Jesus to serve our political ideology (Karl Barth, Romans, p. 378). I lament the broken lives and homes of this nation. I lament the alienation that so many people feel from a nation that has steadily grown its respect for the worth and dignity of its citizens. I lament the alienation some citizens feel from an economic system that has created so much opportunity for people to pursue happiness. I lament the sometimes-justified feeling of alienation people have from the police, military, and others who defend this nation devoted to freedom. I lament the failure of so many Americans to understand that we live in a dangerous world and that therefore the nation needs to defend itself. I lament a divided church in its understanding of the role of the Bible, the teaching of the apostles, the classical teachings of the church, and the role of the political views of its members. The failure to show honor to other Christians has been a failure of immense proportions in terms of their witness in the world. In particular, bringing Jesus into our particular vision of the responsibility of government brings dishonor to Jesus. It suggests that the only thing that matters is politics and economics. It fails to see the spiritual issues that afflict humanity and which only the risen Christ can heal. 

America is full of false ideologies. Among the deepest is the failure to recognize that the ideas that established America, especially its devotion to liberty, limited government, and constitutional rights are the best hope for the world. Such ideas have shown that political and economic freedoms are beautiful partners in expanding the wealth of a nation, the freedom of its citizens, and the respect that institutional life offers individuals. Such ideas do not isolate the wealthy as particularly evil or the poor as particularly virtuous. The more people can feel their worth and dignity finds respect in the political and economic spheres of cultural life, the healthier the nation can become. Respectful participation will always lead to healthier individuals. The ideas that founded America have become increasingly part of the world, not only in Europe, but also in Asia and Africa. The false ideology in America places at the feet of America exploitation, racism, sexism, and empire that more accurately lays at the feet of communist and fascist movements, as well as other forms of totalitarianism. Today, the greatest danger to those who love liberty is militant Islam. We live in a violent world. We show love to the neighbor when we defend them. In particular, opposition to the hateful ideology that we find in militant Islam deserves the full support of the church and individual Christians. The willingness to give hateful labels to such concerns (homophobia, islamophobia, racist, and so on) betrays its own bigotry and unwillingness to engage reasonable discussion and debate. Such rhetoric attempts to put one on a moral high ground that one does not hold while shaming any opposition to a particular view of the role of government in this nation. Such an approach is the path to its version of fascism. Such an approach will never acknowledge that it may have much to learn from the opposition.

As one who worships the God of Israel and seeks to follow Jesus in this world, the invitation is always present to choose today whom I will serve (Joshua 24:15). As a call to action, I am just one person. I want to do my part in this setting. I want any reader to know that I choose to make political and economic commitments that are life-giving. As such, I will treat the stranger with love. While respectful of the differences human beings have created, I also recognize that beneath the differences are common humanity and our existence as creatures God has made. I look forward to the spread of regard for the worth and dignity of all persons. I long for a time when Christians can be with each other in the way the risen Lord is with us today through the presence of the Spirit. I want to work with others for a reasonable care of the earth. Instead, so many people seem to use the language of care for the earth as a mask for a socialist and anti-capitalist agenda. I hear in the deep divisions in our world a call for my feeble efforts to bring healing. I will work against anti-Semitism. I will work against any effort to dehumanize the Muslim. I gladly open myself to the wisdom that will come in our global setting from religions differing from my own and from those who have no religion.

Prayer: Your love for me is deep

Lord, you are a loving God. Your love for me is deep. Your love holds strong even as I struggle for truth, gamble on other paths, and ready myself to give in to temptation. I invite you to walk with me on my journey. Help me to see beyond the flashy, the smooth pitch, and the quick fix. Help me today to keep my eyes focused on Jesus, who knew temptation, disappointment, and pain. In the midst of temptation, he remained faithful to his heavenly Father. Help me to remember that you, Father, are always working for my good. Hold me in your grace, tender God, and help me to move beyond myself so that I can live and serve, as did Jesus. Amen.

Prayer: Too often I live in the shadows

Lord, you are light and truth. Yet, I confess that too often I live my life in the shadow of darkness.

• I pray that your love and light would shine on all those who suffer, giving hope to those whose lives war, persecution, and slavery have obscured. Help them to know the power of your life-giving light.
• Guide all the leaders of this world to govern with compassion and justice.
• I pray for all whom stress and fear weigh them down. They attempt to muddle through their days relying on themselves instead of you. Turn their faces toward you, so that in their times of difficulty you are the beacon that guides them.
• Shine your healing light on those who suffer the darkness and loneliness of depression. Vanquish the demons that wreak havoc in their lives and restore them to wholeness.
• Bring healing to those who live under a cloud of pain and suffering, flooding their pain with the warmth of your light.
• Comfort those who walk in the valley of the shadow of death, that whatever the number of their days, you will bathe them in your glow.
• Fill me with your Spirit so that all who encounter me se the light of your love shining in my face. 

I pray all this in the name of Jesus Christ, who is the light of the world. Amen.

Prayer: Give me a steadfast heart

Lord, give me a steadfast heart so that an unworthy thought will not drag me downward. Give me an unconquered heart that no difficulty or suffering can sear out. Give me an upright heart that an unworthy purpose may not tempt me to turn aside. Bestow upon me also an understanding to know you, diligence to seek you, wisdom to find you, and a faithfulness that may finally embrace you. I pray these things through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.[1]

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[1] -Inspired by Thomas Aquinas.

Prayer: You have given me faithful framework

Read Exodus 20:1-20 and the Ten Commandments

Lord, you have given me a faithful framework to live a faithful and godly life. Yet, I fail to keep your commandments. I do not always put you first. I often worship any number of other gods and idols. I get so busy, I forget that you command me to rest and renew myself. I do not always tell the truth. I do not honor those in authority, especially those close to me. I have impure thoughts. I often covet what someone else has. Forgive me for not keeping your commandments, whether in thought or deed. Place your commandments in my heart, so that I might follow you faithfully. Amen.