Reflections on Memorial Day

I have, in the past, had ambiguous feelings about Memorial Day. I see the need to have the ceremonies and fly the flag.  I have memories of those who lost loved ones in wars.  One particularly poignant memory has stayed with me through the years.  My mother got a call one day from some very good friends whose son was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam – one of those guys who would drop down into the jungle to pick up troops needing a way out.  He was scheduled to come home in two weeks, but instead of coming home to celebrate with his parents, he was coming home in a casket to be buried by them.  He was the light of their lives, their first born son.  The family of this young man was proud of him for his service, but so, so devastated by his loss. I still remember the tears in my mother’s eyes as she took the call and learned that the young man that she had babysat and watched grow up had been killed in action.  So while I understood the proud, patriotic displays on Memorial Day, I was also deeply troubled by the fact that we sent such young men (and now women) to war.

I have been what you might call a wannabe pacifist.  I say a “wannabe” because I think being a true pacifist requires an attitude that I just never had.  I resonate with much of the pacifists’ views.  Pacifists hold on to the world view that God's kingdom requires them to be peacemakers.  But even more than that, they trust that God will bring about that kingdom.  They argue that inactivity is a sign of deep faith in the ability of God to work.   Pacifists do not run away from evil; they are not those who run to Canada to escape the draft while living off of Daddy's money.  They are people who use the weapons of the Spirit to combat evil:  prayer, fasting, voluntary poverty, refusing to return evil for evil.  Pacifists know that they will not always be effective; that evil will sometimes (maybe even most times) strike them down.  But they are willing to be struck down for the same reason that Christ was willing to go to the cross: because they believe that love is the ultimate victory and Christ is the ultimate victor.  

I am only a wannabe pacifist because while I might just possibly be able to allow myself to be struck down, I am definitely not willing to see those I love suffer if I have the chance to do something about it.  I will use the weapons of the Spirit to combat evil, but in this broken world I can’t see any way around  using weapons of the world. Unless we as Christians are willing to stand in front of the aggressors and die en masse for what we believe, fighting evil with physical means seems the only option. 

Even in my wannabe pacifist days, I began to listen to those who had served in the military. And from years of listening, I have learned something about those who serve. For the most part, they are not in the service because they love war.  They do hope to gain benefits like training, education, leadership skills, etc. But for the most part those who serve in our armed forces are just as interested in peace as I am.   In fact, most of those I have listened to and talked with are in the military because they believe that their service will make the world safer, more peaceful and less chaotic.  Despite things like the My Lai massacre and the Abu-Ghraib torture, most of the folks that I have talked to saw their “enemies” as human beings, and grieved over the situation that led to war.  

So on this Memorial Day, I will remember those who gave their lives so that others could live.  I will honor their memory and fly that flag.  I still hate war and I am very glad that The United Methodist Church works for peace.  But I have to honor our warriors, because, I think in their own way, they are working to be peacemakers as well. 

An invitation to prayer and waiting on the Holy Spirit

An Open Letter to my covenant brothers and sisters in the North Texas Conference:

When I reflected on GC 2012, the image that kept coming to me was the Tower of Babel. It seemed to me that various groups were trying to build a tower to the heavens with their various plans and God confused their voices and sent them out.  The anger that I have had at the triads, the new plans, the lack of guaranteed appointments, etc. was amplified by the chaos at GC.  And then a few days ago, after listening to the Bishop’s talk on YouTube and the message about HPUMC, I was angry – again.  I wrote down all the reasons. But when I woke up the next morning, God “hit me upside the head” (as we say in East Texas) and helped me to the realization that my anger was not the righteous anger of God (who knew?) and God gave me a word from the Holy Spirit that I share with you.

I have heard a lot about us needing a “new Pentecost” in recent weeks and months and my clergy study group has been studying the book of Acts for about 2 years.   So when God convicted me of my sin of anger, God also convicted me of the need for emulating the early church.  It says in Acts 1:14 that the disciples, the women, the family of Jesus were “constantly devoting themselves to prayer” while awaiting the Holy Spirit.  So I think this is the word that God has given me: that I/we need to spend a time together in prayer before Annual Conference waiting for the Holy Spirit. 

We all have been praying, but the vision here is to come together on the Saturday before Annual Conference to pray for AC, for the Global church, for ourselves, for each other, for our congregations; to meet without any other agenda, without a plan, without deciding in advance who takes leadership, without even lunch!  Just to pray individually, in groups, in the whole group as the Spirit moves us. 

FUMC Plano has graciously agreed to open their sanctuary from 9-4 on Saturday, June 2.  I invite all of you who also feel this on your heart to come and join me in prayer, for an hour, a morning, an afternoon or all day.  I know this is a busy time, a crazy time to suggest such a thing.  I am assuming that if God wants this to be a group thing, that God will put it on the hearts of others as well as mine! 

I believe with all my heart that one prayer God always answers is the prayer, “Come, Lord Jesus, come. Come, Holy Spirit, come.”  I will be waiting in prayer on the Holy Spirit at FUMC Plano in the Sanctuary on Saturday, June 2 from 9am to 4 pm.  I hope that some of you will be led to wait with me.

Blessings,

Martha Myre

Pastor, FUMC Leonard

Opening Worship at GC2012

 (Note: This is somewhat after the fact, but I was having computer connectivity issues!)

Opening worship was full of pageantry.  There was lively, globally-conscious music.  Symbols, dancers, Bishops, lo!ts of Bishops, and awesome video. But was the Holy Spirit present?  I'm sure some felt the movement of the Spirit, but, sadly, for me, though I was entertained and enjoyed the experience, I was not moved or inspired or deeply touched. I have been reflecting on why.

I had high hopes for the opening: Native Americans took the stage. But when the presenter told a Native American creation story as if being in NA territory meant that Genesis 1 &  2 were not relevant, my own spirit withdrew.  The creative dance and dramatic presentation were well-done and beautiful, but didn't speak to me. I acknowledge that this is most likely a problem in me, but there you have it. The video presentation was professional but felt more like a preview of Discovery Channel's series on Planet Earth.  The music was pretty good overall, but the anthem "God Has Work for Us to Do" was just boring.  The decorations were tasteful, but the cross, though on the stage, was almost disguised and hidden, as if we were ashamed of what it really means.

What did I want that I didn't get? I wanted a focus on Jesus.  I wanted pleading prayers that called upon the Holy Spirit to fall upon us.  I wanted less choreography and professionalism and more authentic crying out to God.  I wanted music that gave honor and praise to the crucified and risen Christ, that celebrated Jesus as Lord of our lives. I wanted less drama and more scripture.

What spoke most?  The Bishop's sermon.  The service of communion whose words were familiar and (to me) deeply meaningful.  I loved hearing the mix of voices and languages.  And the old hymns redeemed  some of the pagan theology.

I am continuing to pray that God will open my heart to feel the presence of the Holy Spirit here at GC2012.

Impressions from General Conference

It's interesting how many people I know or, at least, who are familiar to me this time around.  I was at Fort Worth and felt a little out of place--since I wasn't a delegate.  This time I am happy to be here in a support capacity and feel the energy. 

I  love connecting and re-connecting with some of the staff people I worked with last time.  These are the folks who make it all happen.  They have almost uniformly positive attitudes and servant hearts.  I am having fun people-watching and catching snippets of conversation here and there.  Mostly it's things like, "When did you get in?" "Do you know what room we are in?" "So good to see you again!" etc.  Some folks are already grouping and looking like they are having serious conversations, but most are just enjoying the day, the reconnecting, and the beautiful weather. 

Those of us who are working as Recorders or Transcribers (or both!) have had our training and the newbies are trying to pick the brains of those who have done this before.  Some of the trainees are looking a bit worried about what they have gotten themselves into. 

There are some very serious issues coming up in the next few days and a tremendous amount of work to be done.  The legislative committees don't even start to work until Thursday morning and have to be completely through by Saturday evening at 9:30.  As it stands now, whatever they don't get to just won't be gotten to.  There is no provision for staying until all the petitions have been looked at, so the committees will have to prioritize their work.  This is a new rule, so we are not sure what the effect will be, but as for now, that is the way it will be done.

Be praying for the delegates as they begin their work and the support staff as they try to provide a calm working environment and smooth process for the delegates.

The next 11 days will be challenging and could potentially have a great impact even on local congregations.  This afternoon, however, I am looking forward to opening worship.  I expect it to be inspiring and I am praying for an outburst of the Holy Spirit.  As I said in a reply to another blog:  "Even United Methodists can have a Pentecost!

Blessings from Tampa,
Martha

A Letter to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dear Dr. King,

Thank you for your dream. Your passionate words helped a whole generation understand what the kingdom of God would be like.  Our world is beginning to change and I can see glimpses of your dream becoming reality; though we still have a long way to go.  Thank you for the way in which you lived out your faith and your commitment to the kingdom. You were not perfect; you had your flaws and failures. And that too is a gift, because I am not perfect either and it helps to know that imperfect people can be faithful and effective people. Thank you for fighting hate with love and conflict with peace.  You are one of my heroes and inspirations, because you followed Jesus where he led you and I am trying to do that too.  I look forward to the day when we can walk together in the new Jerusalem and see that God’s kingdom is as beautiful and wonderful as you dreamed it would be.

A Question of Thanksgiving

This post is a little late, but these questions have been rolling around in my brain for a while.  

What exactly does it mean to “give thanks?”  Just to “give thanks.”  Period.  I keep hearing people say (or sing) that they are thankful for this, that, or the other, but often they don’t say to whom they are thankful.  So . . . can you be “generically” thankful?  Does “I am thankful for. . .” -  whatever – mean anything?  I mean, can an atheist be thankful?  Obviously an atheist or anyone else can be thankful to another person, but can they be thankful for another person?  What does it mean to be thankful for food, home, friends, family, etc. if no one actually gave them to you?  Are you thankful to yourself?  I watched a video from Skepticon where all these atheists were expressing thankfulness for things, people, concepts, etc.  Only two of them noted that they were not thankful for anything, because being thankful for implies that you are thankful to someone.   One of them said, quite sensibly, that saying that he was “thankful” would be anthropomorphizing the universe.  So he just commented on what he “liked.”

And then there are the Christians who express thanks.  We say things like, “I am thankful that I have all of this good food to eat.”  But if we are expressing thanks to God, we had better be careful.  If we acknowledge that God is the source of what we are thankful for, then we are by default acknowledging that all we have is a gift.  And if that is true then the “blessings” that we have are supposed to be used to bless others.  If we are not blessing others, can we truly say that we are thankful?

If true thanksgiving acknowledges the source of the blessings for which we are giving thanks, then we should be prepared to put some muscle behind our thankfulness.  Otherwise our thankfulness can be as empty and meaningless as that of the atheists.  

I think that I am going to need to be more careful in the future with my words of gratitude; instead of saying, “I am thankful for . . .”  generically, I need to say: “I thank my friends for. . .,” or “I thank my family for. . .,” or “I thank my church for . . .,” or  “I thank God for . . .”   And my gratitude really should be expressed in giving to others, not simply in indulging myself.

I have come into contact with a lot of people who do not have enough food, electricity, water, etc.   I pray that more and more God will turn my giving thanks into sharing blessings.

Sigh.  Just when I think I have made a little progress towards being a Jesus-follower, I realize how far I have to go.   I am thankful to my family, my friends, my church, and our God for patience with me!

Why I am putting my name in for GC delegate

I have resisted putting my name on the list of those interested in being a General Conference delegate for a variety of reasons, but since I have now done so, I feel that I need to be clear about what is important to me. On Methodistthinker.com, Steve Wende suggests that we need to look at the beliefs of those going to GC: http://methodistthinker.com/2011/01/28/steve-wende-orthodoxy-deciding-factor-gc-delegates/. The official delegate form for the NTC did not have a place to let people know what doctrinal position one holds. Therefore, I have pointed that form to this blog.

Here is what I think important for a GC delegate:
Committed to the orthodox faith as found in the Apostle’s and Nicene Creed, including the primacy of Christ!
Passionate about making disciples of Jesus Christ.
Passionate about the local church.
Preaches and teaches the orthodox faith and lives explicitly under the reign of God and the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Has a high view of the authority of the bible.
Committed to a life of healthiness and holiness.
Can and does think theologically.
Spirit-filled.

These are the things to which I am committed. There are also certain issues that I think are critically important. I listed some of those on the form, but here is a more complete list:

1. Reduction in the General Boards and Agencies - they are too big and too far removed from the realities of the local church.

2. Guaranteed appointment system - We don't really have a "guarantee" of appointments. The language says that we "shall" be appointed if we are in good standing. Paragraph 334.2 lays out the requirements to remain in good standing. Paragraph 334.3 provides for a process if effectiveness is questioned. Paragraph 334.4 tells what happens if a clergy is found to be ineffective. We do not need new procedures, and we certainly do not need for the Bishops and Cabinet to have even more power - in particular the power to decide without a process that a pastor does not deserve an appointment. We need to follow the procedures that we have, which both protect the pastor from unjust removal and allow the Bishop to remove ineffective pastors.

3. Continued strength of the worldwide church not watered down by a regional system. Many of us look to Africa to provide leadership in the growth of the United Methodist Church. This is an area of the world where the Spirit is moving; putting legislative barriers between the US and other parts of the world is a poor idea.

4. Seminaries and University Senate. At least one of our seminaries (Claremont School of Theology) is now training clergy/leaders in Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc. as well as United Methodist Clergy. They are more interested in meeting "the cultural and religious demands of a world in transition" (from their website) than in lifting up the uniqueness and primacy of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

5. Belief in and teaching of the uniqueness and primacy of Christ - This should be required teaching at all approved United Methodist Seminaries and should be required for United Methodist clergy to remain in good standing.

6. Authority of Scripture. Placing ourselves under the authority of Scripture does not mean taking the bible as "inerrant" or "literal." But we need a more thoroughgoing understanding of the authority of scripture for our theology and our life together as a community of faith. (If you wish to hear if I preach what I espouse, then please see my congregation's website: http://fumcleonard.org/820436)

7. A commitment to a life of holiness. Yes, for me that means celibacy in singleness and faithfulness in marriage. The homosexual agenda has not gone away. I have searched and studied the scriptures, listened to those in the LGBT world and prayed deeply about this issue. I believe that the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching and thus while we welcome all persons of whatever sexual orientation as members of our community of faith, that we should not either preside over homosexual unions in the church or allow practicing homosexuals to be ordained. We have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God and it is incumbent upon those of us who hold these views to do so with great humility and the knowledge that this causes pain to our brothers and sisters of different sexual orientation. I am burdened by the pain, but I cannot, with integrity hold a different point of view.

8. The process of Ordination. I too believe that we need younger clergy in the UMC. However, that will be difficult with the torturous path now required for ordination. As one who spent 16 years in the process, I can assure all that the process is not a good one and that we are greatly confused about the meaning of ordination. We need to completely rethink ordination, how we prepare people for ministry and how we maintain effectiveness in ministry.

9. We need a passion for young people. My heart aches for the young adults who are leaving the church in droves and for those of us who are left bereft of their presence. We absolutely must go to them in love and genuine friendship, since they have decided not to come to us. Our focus on mission and ministry with the poor and our concern with global health might help us connect. But we need to think more critically about how our church structures are helping or hindering our engagement with young adults.

Finally, we must recognize that superficial changes in our structures, while perhaps helpful, will not, in the end, save us. Only a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit and a revival of our commitment to Christ will do that. If we are not spending the majority of our time preaching good news to the poor, proclaiming release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, then we are not sharing the kingdom. If we are guided more by "best practices" than by the Holy Spirit, then we will be a well-run - and dying - church.

Being a small time pastor at a small United Methodist church, I do not expect to go to General or Jurisdictional Conference as a member of the delegation. However, I will go, one way or another, because I feel it is important to know what the General church is doing.

There are many fine people and leaders who are seeking your vote. Please engage with them and discover what grounds them in the faith and what will ground their decisions at General Conference. May God have mercy upon us as we enter into this time of coming together as the whole United Methodist Church.

Blessings,
Pastor Martha