My Rule in Life: Stop to Smell the Roses

Each spring/early summer I am greeted with a nice surprise--blooming roses! The previous owner must have liked roses, as they were the only living plants in my yard when I bought the house--2 full sized rose bushes and 3 miniature bushes. The full sized bushes look quite old, but after some generous rainfalls the first spring I lived here, I saw buds start to come to life. I was excited to see them bloom and thought of my Grandma (who would have been 105 years old yesterday!) and her carefully nurtured backyard paradise. I noticed one day as I hurriedly ran out the door, that my roses smelled just like Grandma's backyard. I stopped, looked closer, and then drank in the sights and smells of my two blooming rose bushes. They were different types of roses, I noticed for the first time. One was pinker and the other a more peachy tone. The peachy ones smelled better, but weren't as pretty as the pink ones and they both offered their gifts of beauty to one who appreciated it, but was often too "efficient" to notice the offering.

I've lived in this house for three springs now and I've developed a rule--I cannot, under any circumstances, walk past my roses without stopping to smell them. In fact, sometimes their thorns even reach out and grab me as I hurry past if I try to ignore them. It's a small reminder to enjoy the beauty of creation and not hurry past all the unexpected evidences of God. I'll admit, there are times when I neglect watering them, and yet, they still bloom. Eventually, however, a dry spring or summer will come and they will cease their blooming. But when I water them, O how generous they are with their gratitude, blooming flowers sometimes even into the first snowfall! They are unexpected blessings and scented reminders of fruitfulness.

So it is with our spiritual lives. We can get by for a short time on "showers of blessings" but what a true spiritual blessing it is when we position ourselves for God's gracious outpouring of love and righteousness by turning our attention daily to God. In my prayer book today, I read Isaiah 50:4,

Lord Yahweh has given me a disciple's tongue, for me to know how to give a word of comfort to the weary. Morning by morning he makes my ears alert to listen like a disciple. The Lord Yahweh has opened my ear.

Even stopping to smell the roses helps me to listen and sustains this weary disciple with a word from God. And so, I have a rule. A rule to stop and smell the roses when they are in bloom. And to water them when they are not, so as to wait expectantly for when they are ready.

Some Changes at SC

Well, it has often been said that change is inevitable, and we find that to be true at Southwestern College. After 14 wonderful years as the Campus Minister and Chair of the Philosophy and Religion department, Steve Rankin has felt the call of God to minister in another community. As of July 1, he has accepted an invitation to become the Chaplain at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. We are certainly sad to see him leave Southwestern, as his ministry is keenly felt on campus at this time. I was a sophomore the year that Steve started at SC, which means that during my freshmen year we were absent a Campus Minister. The impact that he made, even in the next 3 years, was significant. He redesigned chapel involving student worship teams. He started Discipleship Southwestern, a program that has now involved over 150 students (and of which I am currently the director). He nurtured the call to ministry in a number of students (including myself). And he poured his life into his students. In the 11 years since, he has continued on that initial impact in incredible ways. I have been honored to join him in the work at SC during the last four years. Keeping up with him is at times dizzying, but always significant. I cannot begin to express the impact that Steve has made on my own life and on the lives of many other students in the last 14 years.

Steve will be significantly missed on campus, but, as has been his goal, he is about the work of the Kingdom of God. He has simply chosen to be obedient to that goal through another arm of the United Methodist Church. While I'm sad for us at SC, I'm very excited for him and for SMU! I believe that he will make an impact for Christ in that community as well! Here is his take on the move. Please join me in praying for Steve and his family as they all adjust to life outside of Winfield.

A Call to Prayer

I have always been a strong believer that prayer "works." I remember as a child, praying nightly the same memorized prayer that my sister and I "developed," including a prayer for all of our family and friends by name and also a prayer for the "whole wide world except for the bad people." Well, my prayer may not have been theologically coherent, but the intention was pure--by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, to present my requests before God. I remember that understanding growing as I learned different ways to pray, through journaling, through reading Scripture, in groups and alone. I also grew deeper in my faith as I read Richard Foster's book Prayer and Bill Hybel's book Too Busy Not to Pray. I read of believers across time who have prayed and then the impossible became possible, such as Peter's miraculous release from prison in Acts 12, even when the church who prayed for him so fervently didn't believe it when he was released! Prayer is a means of connection to God, but also has become a lifeline to me, as through prayer I have experienced God's love, the love of community, and even sometimes the challenge of being corrected. That's why this is so important.

Starting on May 18, a prayer effort for 40 days will be beginning. It is not an "official" action by any group, but rather a response by some folks to an Open Letter that was posted by Ben Simpson. The result of the Open Letter is a prayer campaign that has involved clergy, young and not-so-young alike, who are interested in lifting the UMC up in prayer in an intentional way. The hopes for the prayer effort include a sense of witness of the work of Christ in our lives individually and also in the UMC. Would you be willing to pray with us?

You can find the prayers here. They are being hosted on the UMC Young Clergy website that has just been officially launched! I do hope that you'll join me in prayer.

Waiting for Inspiration

I recently preached in chapel at Southwestern. Here is a "version" of what I preached!

One of my bad habits is that I’m a bit of a procrastinator, especially when it comes to sermon titles. I am notoriously bad about starting early on sermon preparation, but honestly, when it comes to prepping my sermons, I’m not disciplined enough (and preach so infrequently) that I don’t spend the time developing sermon ideas regularly. I do regularly pray for upcoming preaching, but don’t “simmer” in ideas and texts like I should early enough. My tactic has been to “wait for inspiration.” Some of you know what I mean—you’ve got a paper to do or a project to work on, but you’re not in the mood. So, you just sort of do other things and wait to be inspired to work on it. But, it often doesn’t work that way…we may be waiting for something—for inspiration, for God to breathe life into us—but those deadlines keep coming at us, regardless of whether we’ve been “inspired” or not!

There are definitely thing that we DON’T have to wait for inspiration in order to do? The “mood” doesn’t have to strike me in order to do a certain number of things. For me it’s watching LOST on Wednesday nights, or eating a piece of dark chocolate, or responding to an email. But other things—things that are harder, or more important, or more complicated—they require more attention, more drive, more focus. When the stakes are higher, we sometimes need that inspiration in order to get started.

But sometimes we wait because there’s nothing else that we can do! Ever had something unexpected come your way that derailed you? Maybe you got sick, you got a flat tire, or a friend came by with an emergency. Sometimes the waiting is more about being stuck. Sometimes we may say that we’re waiting for inspiration, but the truth is, we’re hoping that no one comes along to inspire us because we’re too tired, or in too deep to want to move.

Our passage today gives us a glimpse into that kind of waiting. Here is the context: Jerusalem has been sacked—the Holy City (and its worship) has been taken over by infidels. The author of this chapter (traditionally thought to be Jeremiah—the weeping prophet) is taking the fall of Jerusalem personally, actually, his description is much more of a man who is in a pretty deep depression—he cannot escape, he is crying out to God for help.
You get the impression that he pretty much think that his life has bottomed out.

Despair. Stress. Fear. Resignation. The world is falling apart. Actually, the way that this is written, quite literally, the world is falling apart! In fact, from A to Z. Each chapter of Lamentations is an acrostic in the original Hebrew language. The author is telling us that there are so many things wrong with the world that he can tell us something for EVERY letter of the alphabet! In fact, they probably memorized this and recited it at various times of the year. The world has gone to the pits!

Do you know despair? Do you know stress? Well, we all know hard times—like this time of year when we have lots to do and it’s hard to find the motivation to hunker down and get it done. But do you know the depths of despair? I would guess that some of you do. When your life is sort of spinning out of control…you’re not sure what the future holds, or if you even want the future to hold anything at all. Maybe you’re getting ready to graduate and you just see a big question mark for May 11, the day after graduation. Maybe you’re far from graduation and you can’t see how you are going to finish out the rest of your schooling. Maybe you’ve gotten bad news from home and you feel helpless in the situation. The darkest place in all of these situations (or whatever you are) is that place where you’re waiting for the other shoe to drop.

That’s where our guy is…in despair, announcing his lack of glory, brooding on his affliction. And yet…he says this.

What? That’s not what you expected, is it? He’s just told us how depressed he is and then, he drops the bombshell: God still loves me! And God—you are worthy of my praise! Great is your faithfulness!


We sang earlier a song earlier, “Great is Thy Faithfulness.” It was written by Thomas O. Chisholm (1866-1960). Mr. Chisholm was converted at age 27 and became a Methodist minister for a short time, but spent most of his life selling life insurance. He was never a wealthy man, in fact struggled with health and financially. And yet, he proclaimed the faithfulness of God: Great is thy faithfulness, Great is thy faithfulness, morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed, thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.

We also sang “It is Well With My Soul.” This song has an incredibly compelling story to it, too! It was written by Horatio Spafford (1828-1888) who was a businessman who lost a great deal of money in the great Chicago fire and also lost a son. Shortly after the fire, he planned a trip with his wife and 4 daughters to Europe but was delayed as his family set sail shortly before he was able to leave. On their trip over, their ship was met with disaster and sunk, leaving few survivors. Of his family, his wife, alone, survived. He followed shortly after their tragedy and penned these words: When peace like a river, attendeth my way, when sorrows, like sea billows roll; whatever my lot, thou has taught me to say, it is well, it is well, with my soul.

What gives these men hope? They have learned the secret of finding hope, even when circumstances are tragic—say, “teeth-breaking-ly tragic,” they have hope. How do they do that? Let’s turn back to the scripture and see what we can find.

What? Wait quietly in the midst of all this tragedy? No…here is our normal reaction: If there is something wrong, let’s use our voices, let’s lament! Let’s write a blog complaining about it or tweet our friends or even just complain loudly in the cafeteria when we’re ticked off about something!

But our lamenter says, “the Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him” and even adds “It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”

Do you buy that? Do you believe that the Lord is good to those who wait for him? Does waiting bring good things? Waiting feels like WASTED time, but is it?

We’re going to watch a short video of a woman who shows us that waiting does bring good things. Above all, in this clip, she exemplifies hope. Perhaps she hasn’t always exemplified hope, but she’s had some recent circumstances that have given us insight into what it means to wait.

Well, I’m guessing that you’ve seen the video of Susan Boyle, the 47 year old, singing sensation on Simon Cowell’s Britain’s Got Talent. Did you hear the hope in her voice:

• “Currently unemployed, but still looking”
• “Always wanted to perform in front of a large audience…I’m going to make that audience rock!”
• “Trying to be a professional singer—she hasn’t been given a chance before, but here’s hoping it’ll change”

She hasn’t won the competition yet, but she’s definitely won the hearts of the world! As of yesterday, there were 37.5 MILLION hits on her YouTube video. Susan Boyle not only has hope, but she shows us that hope is contagious! We all want to think about our dreams a little when we watch her sing. I wonder what gave her the courage to stand up on the world’s stage and sing. I wonder if it was reading words like this:

It is good for one to bear the yoke in youth, to sit alone in silence when the Lord has imposed it, to put one’s mouth to the dust (there may yet be hope), to give one’s cheek to the smiter, and be filled with insults. For the Lord will not reject forever. Although he causes grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; for he does not willingly afflict or grieve anyone.

Susan Boyle certainly knew what it felt like to be rejected, and yet, maybe she knew these words to be true—God would show compassion on her—he doesn’t willingly afflict or grieve anyone. There is a lesson in this passage for you, though, too. It specifically speaks to the young and says that it is good to “bear the yoke” in youth. See all these negative images:
• Sitting alone in silence
• Put one’s mouth to the dust (a posture of repentance or humility)
• Give one’s cheek to the smiter—that sounds like it’s going to hurt! (sound familiar—turn the other cheek?)
• Be on the receiving end of insults
Why is this something that youth should be bearing? It doesn’t seem like anyone should have to bear this mistreatment! Can anything good happen while you’re waiting?

Well, actually, the answer is yes: Have you seen a child that got everything that he demanded from his parents—candy, doesn’t have to brush his teeth, doesn’t go to school? Can you imagine this kid as an adult? An unchallenged kid would turn into an overindulged and narcissistic adult, demanding his way, regardless of who it hurts in the process.

But, have you met a child who has endured challenges—perhaps just boundaries set down from his parents, but maybe more—a loss in his family, or even a physical challenge. Not everyone responds productively in this circumstance, but there are those that take tragedy and turn it to triumph—that is the stuff of Disney Movies, right?

Can you see it: young man in despair, lost, alone, ominous music in the background, repentant posture, covered in dust, a man throws insults and slaps him on one cheek while the tortured offers the other one, when, off in the distance the hero is visible (there may yet be hope), and he rescues the afflicted. The hero is compassionate, strong, powerful, and loving! You see, this passage reflects more the sad reality that we will face trouble in our lives and points out that while God is not to blame for it, God is the one in whom we can place our trust. Learning this lesson, especially as a youth, allow us to persevere into maturity, trusting the goodness of God, despite difficult circumstances.

In waiting, we learn that our character needs to be refined: we must wait, as it proves what we are made of.

We also learn about God’s character when we’re patiently waiting before the Lord: God is compassionate, loving, merciful, faithful. In other words, God is worthy of our hope!
So…how do we wait? How do we have this hope? I think that there are 3 kinds of waiting:

1. Jiffy Lube Waiting Room (Passive waiting)—just a matter of time,
• Doing nothing
• Doing “busy work”—puzzle, knitting, watching tv
• Not necessarily productive, but not destructive
There is a spiritual parallel: going through the motions, getting distracted by “good” things, but not taking time to find out what’s really important

2. Hospital Waiting Room (Anxious)
• Anxiety, tears, prayer—complaint
• Time drags out—excruciating
• “Stuck in the mud” waiting
There is a spiritual parallel here, too: praying, but then worrying; laying it down, and then picking it back up again; impatience.

3. American Idol Waiting Room (Active)
• People rehearsing
• Maybe have family or friends there with
• Chatting about chances
• Praying
• Scoping out competition
• Palpable anticipation
The spiritual parallel here is more productive: quietly listening to God, spending time in prayer, reading scripture, surrounded by Christian community.

When you’re waiting for inspiration, what kind of waiting are you doing? Are you passively waiting? Anxiously waiting? Or are you actively waiting?

There are important lessons that are learned while waiting. We can join in with the writer of Lamentations and hymn writers Thomas Chisholm and Horatio Spafford and find our hope in God! You may feel like your life is in a pit right now. Or maybe things aren’t even that bad, but you’re waiting for something—waiting to be inspired, perhaps. Waiting to graduate. Waiting to take the next step.

Are you taking advantage of the gift of waiting? Waiting is not wasted on the young! As you wait, you will learn of the character of God—the compassionate, faithful, loving character of God. You just might find the priceless gift of hope in the midst of tragedy. You just might be inspired by the Spirit of God in the midst of your waiting. What are you waiting for?

Why I stay in the United Methodsit Church

Several weeks ago now, Jenny Smith posed the question, “Why do you stay in the United Methodist Church?” Many others have posited their answers and I’ve decided that it’s time for me to throw mine out there.

1. Wesleyan Theology is the actual reason that I became United Methodist. I actually grew up American Baptist in a congregation that was probably more like a Southern Baptist congregation. Undercurrent themes of “once saved, always saved,” “right” (or righteous) behavior and God’s omniscience permeated the faith of my childhood and adolescence. Unintended though it may have been, the faith of my youth was one that was pretty focused on doing the right things. Sure, I saw love exhibited, but my developing spirit identified this to be a love that was conditional on the right behavior. As I went to college, I chose a small United Methodist college that had an excellent biology program, as that was my intended major. My mom was all for it! She had grown up Methodist and had actually wanted to attend Southwestern when she was my age. The first Sunday that my twin sister and I were away at college, we decided to attend one of the local UM churches with some of our new friends. The second Sunday we were going to go alone to the American Baptist Church (which is right next door to FUMC, even sharing a parking lot) and when we discovered that it had already started, we went instead to FUMC which started 5 minutes later. That Sunday was youth Sunday and I was hooked! I saw that the youth had a ministry within the church and were willing to share of their faith. Before long, the youth pastor had asked me and several other students to start working with the youth group and I have been a regular worshipper at a UM congregation ever since. Fast forward a few years from the fall of 1994 when I started attending a UM church and you’ll find me in seminary, still worshipping in a UM congregation, but not claiming that I was United Methodist despite the fact that I loved the idea of prevenient grace (which was what I identified to be the most distinctively Methodist theology at that time). It was not until I took a class on Wesleyan Theology that I realized that I actually loved the theology of John Wesley! Every sermon I read was my favorite…until I read the next one! His “heart-warming experience” warmed my heart, too, especially when I realized that he could bring together my own understanding of the importance on doctrine, personal piety, and love for others, especially the outcast. In studying the theology of John Wesley, and then later, UM Theology, I realized that I had truly been “home” all along. Though sometimes I’m jealous of someone with a long Methodist heritage, I feel blessed to realized that inasmuch as I feel like the UMC found me, I feel like I found the UMC. I still make that choice today.

2. I feel called to the United Methodist Church. During a time right after college, I was working for Fellowship of Christian Athletes. I was on a plane coming from an FCA training event when my seatmate, who was reading the Bible when I settled into my seat, started talking to me about my faith. He asked what church I went to and I told him that while I wasn’t a member, I worshipped at a United Methodist Church. He very loudly said, “You aren’t a lesbian, are you?” Flustered at both his pointed-ness and his decibel level, I stammered, “Uh, no! Just because I’m Methodist doesn’t mean that I’m gay!” You see, once again, we had just been in the news for our tension over homosexuality in the church. I was disheartened to hear that while there was much that the news could have reported that the UMC did that was positive, this man (who I’ve affectionately dubbed Fred Phelps’ cousin in my memory banks) pulled out what is certainly not one of our prouder distinctives—our ongoing struggle about homosexuality in the church. However, during that conversation I found myself defending that while we have our struggles within the UMC, on our best days, we are committed to staying in relationship with one another, despite the fact that our diversity causes us pain. I acknowledged to F.P.’s cousin and still do today, that our diversity is not without its challenges. There are a few things about the UMC that grieve me, but among the worst is when the world to which we are witnessing sees us fractured, exposed, and fighting. Looking back, it was in this conversation close to 10 years ago that I can begin to see God calling me to the UMC. I remember thinking (strangely) that I wanted to help the people of the UMC through these challenging times. I am certain that I did not have an overestimated sense of my own contribution, but somehow I felt in that moment that the challenges of the UMC were my challenges, too. For me, the beginning of being called to the UMC happened in that weird conversation on an airplane.

3. I see great hope in the people called Methodists. Now, I must qualify that remark. I see great hope in potential of the people and I see that the people have great hope. However, I am not blind to the fact that our numbers in the American UMC are diminishing and that sometimes we lose sight of the stated main focus of our church (to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world). Some make take exception to my last statement, but I often think that we’re pretty caught up in issues that are not central to being disciples and making disciples. However, when I read Eric VanMeter’s latest commentary in the UM Reporter, I was reminded that while I’m inspired by the heritage of the UMC, I’m more interested in the legacy that we could leave.

If the best things we’ve inherited, however, become tools to infuse new life into the United Methodist Church, then our heritage will continue to thrive. Our spiritual fathers and mothers passed down to us a concern for the poor, a heart for service, a commitment to holiness and the courage to confront our problems with wisdom and creativity.

Still, the best things about us as the United Methodist Church are not found in our tradition. They’re found in our trajectory. Our life is not tied to the heritage we’ve received, but to the legacy we leave.

Amen, brother! I see the stirrings of people all over the church, people who sometimes challenge us by making us confront our failures and people who, with a theology rooted in grace, remind us that we have much work left to do and we can actually start to make an impact. We do have a wonderful heritage. But I for one think that our heritage must impel us forward into that trajectory that is rooted in Scripture, articulated in our Methodist doctrines. It is a faith that is not intended to stay in the church service on Sunday morning, but is sturdy enough to carry us into the streets, schools, boardrooms, and even the bars. There are many who have this hope and I hope that the many will respond. I may be particularly biased in seeing this hope. I now get to work in campus ministry at my alma mater with college students who exemplify that hope every day (and a few who even want to join us in ministry in the UMC).

I could go on with other reasons why I stay in the UMC such as the connection that I’ve experienced locally, nationally, and globally or the concern for the least, the last and the lost that permeates our work in the world. There are many other “family resemblances” that I could name, but the theology, the call, and the hope are what got me here, and will keep me here. God is at work in the UMC and I’m so glad that I get to be a part of it!

Young Clergy in the Ministry of the Church

Thursday and Friday of this week, I was in Nashville at a gathering of 10 UMC young clergy. We were invited by folks from the GBHEM and two young clergy (Chris Roberts from the Indiana Conference and Jenny Smith, a seminary student at United). The agenda was for us to talk about some of the issues that young clergy face in the UMC. The momentum going on for the gathering was strong, as we had all Facebook “friended” one another and had begun thinking about our purpose for being together. I learned that the ball had begun rolling when Jenny did a series of video interviews about young clergy at General Conference last year and then posted them on a website that she created. Chris saw the videos and expressed interest in being a part of something intentional to bring young clergy together to talk about the issues that face the church and how we might work in a unified manner to approach those issues. The gathering that happened this week was the fruit of that interest.

The 10 of us (plus Meg Lassiat from GBHEM and a few other “drop-ins” from Nashville) spent our time reviewing a non-scientific survey that Jenny designed to gather some feedback from others who are young clergy or care about young clergy in the UMC. (If you see a trend of technology in the introduction above—Facebook, video interviews, website—just wait…we’re not done with technology yet! We also had a simultaneous “liveblog” that included 7 of us in Nashville and about 25 others, at any given time. The transcript of our conversation is here.) While I won’t attempt to summarize the entire 24 hours that we spent together (we did get a dinner break and night off, which of course consisted of us talking the whole evening!), I do want to give my concluding impressions:

• First of all, this is a very hopeful group! We’ve heard Lovett Weem’s excellent research on the clergy crisis in the UMC and while it would be tempting to despair, this group and many others have chosen to hope that God will use us to impact the church in a powerful way.
• Younger clergy, though appreciative of the work of their forebears, are not necessarily interested in the same discussions of previous generations (especially regarding theological diversity). What seems to be a recurrent trend is that we are often more interested in what unifies us. (Here are a couple of quotes that got bandied around a bit: “In the essentials, unity; in the non-essentials, liberty; and in all things, charity” and (my favorite) from E. Stanley Jones, “Here we enter a fellowship; sometimes we agree to differ, always we resolve to love and unite to serve.”)
• We decided that what unifies us is the desire to be disciples and make disciples.
• Many younger clergy feel isolated, voiceless in their annual conference and concerned about burn-out.
• Younger clergy seem to reject the perception that most appointment systems are based on a competitive model (rewarding—both financial and otherwise—those with more years of experience and making younger clergy “do their time” in more challenging appointments) and prefer to work in a more collaborative model of ministry. (This point here deserves a significant amount of analysis, some of which I hope to go into at another time.)

While we did do a significant amount of discussion, we did arrive at a couple of points of action. We talked about two different things that could address some of the needs of younger clergy that arose from the survey, our discussion and our online participants. First, we talked about enhancing the website that Jenny has already started. Our hopes are that it could become a “hub” that is keeping track of things pertinent to younger clergy—best practices, blogs, events of interest, and even forums for discussing topics of particular interest. (If you have a blog that you would like to include on our blogroll, or if you know of some “best practices” for young clergy, please email Ashlee.Alley@sckans.edu.) We also discussed the potential for a gathering of young clergy that would address some of the biggest concerns facing us (again, namely isolation, voicelessness, and burn-out). There will most definitely be more to come with all of this, but I have to say, that as a young clergy (for a few more years, anyway ;) and also as one who works with college aged students who often are experiencing a call to ministry (and sometimes to ordination), I come away feeling really hopeful for the church in the days (and years, and decades) ahead. There are many who desire to serve Christ and his Church and they even want to do it under the auspices of the UMC. We’re not a perfect church, but God IS doing some great things within us. And I really think that this is one of them.

For another take on someone else who was there, read April Casperson's blog.

Live From Nashville

I was asked, along with 9 other young UM clergy, to be in a conversation sponsored by the GBHEM about young clergy. I along with, these others, and a few drop-in guests, have spent the afternoon and evening chatting about the state of and opportunity for young clergy in the United Methodist Church. In typical technological form, we had a simultaneous live blogging conversation going on during our discussion, including those of us in the room, and anyone else who wanted to join in. We're reconvening tomorrow from 8:30-noon (central time) and I would love to invite you to drop in.

Here's the link