A Message From God

God is calling you to do What He has empowered you for and gifted you to do. God is not calling someone else to do it; God is calling you. Therefore, you don't have to be somebody else to do it; you need only to be yourself, empowered and called by God.

Vision for the UMC

Everything that I have read and studied over the past several years tells me that the United Methodist Church is a church in decline. To mix metaphors, we are hemorrhaging members like rats off a sinking ship. I can't speak for other conferences, but as far as West Ohio goes, though our area population continues growing, our numbers of UM church members declines. Greatly.

The answer is not to decrease membership requirements. It does not seem like decreasing membership requirements do anything to slow the decline. In fact, the churches I see growing have more stringent membership requirements.

I am not trying to bash the UMC, because I believe in this Church. I don't think John Wesley was perfect, but I admire him and think that we still have a lot to learn from him. In fact, the more I read, the more I'm convinced that Wesley had it right.

This is why the United Methodist Church must do something about the decline.

Andrew Conard wrote a blog post about vision for the UMC, and I am pondering that very subject right now. What should we strive for? What should we look like?

Part of my thoughts revolve around what I've been reading lately - and the absolute need for us to utilize the "means of grace." If it's all about the Kingdom of God, and the Kingdom of God is all about God's sovereignty/rule, and the whole point of everything is to get us humans back in right relationship with God, then wouldn't it stand to reason that we should be doing everything possible to work on that relationship?

In his conclusion to Kingdom Triangle, J. P. Moreland quotes a George Barna survey, reporting that "80% of believers do not sense that they have entered into the presence of God during a typical worship service" and "half of all believers do not believe they have entered into God's presence or connected with him in an intimate way during the past year."

Having just stumbled upon this article from the Onion, I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Its impact is how true it is.

I am convinced that this is the sticking point. We're tired of "playing church" and if we aren't entering into God's presence, we're just playing church. And if we, as a church, aren't ushering people into the presence of Almighty God, then we are missing our point completely.

Thus I believe that the vision of the United Methodist Church must include bringing people into God's presence in a way that they experience the Almighty. We should be practicing spiritual practices regularly - prayer, fasting, service, evangelism, giving, Bible study (and Bible meditation - we must learn to love the Word of God, to not just study it, but to allow it to penetrate and shape our hearts) encouraging.

I believe that John Wesley was absolutely onto something, and we would be well set to follow his example in the spiritual disciplines (as well as in his ideas about small group ministry). And the whole thing must be covered in prayer.

Half Marathon

This morning I ran in the Kentucky Derby (half) Marathon in Louisville, KY. I ran the full marathon there 2 years ago, and afterwords, I felt like... well, not good.

I had been training pretty hard for this run with a plan of running 8:30 miles. I ran my own 1/2 marathon here in Millersport (a simple out and back course which I believe was a bit short) several weeks back, and I did it in 1:52:27, so I was hoping to hit that time in Louisville.

I got down to Louisville in the evening and went straight to the Expo center, where I picked up my race packet (including bib, t-shirt, info on about a thousand other races, and some of this stuff (best.invention.ever). I also bought a clearance racing jersey.

I met up with Nate, Jimmy, and Dusty at the expo center, and after some jumbled directions and a wild goose chase or two, we ended up at a noodle place eating Pad Thai. It was spicy and yummy. I was slightly afraid that it would pay me back during the run, but I was fine.

Right before we ate, my friend Mike N called, so he came and hung out with me for a while. It was so good to see him hang out with him - he was a good buddy from NK/NB soccer playing, 5K running days, and he moved to Louisville. We caught up and reminisced about the old days.

Then it was on to the Galt House, our accommodations for the night. We all got ready for bed and hardly slept. I kept dreaming that I was running the race and getting badly chafed from my new shirt, which, in the dream, was waaaay too small. I wasn't alone in not getting much sleep, so despite all our discussions on what time to set the alarm for, we were all up and at 'em by 5:00 am. We caught a shuttle to Iroquois Park and waited...

Nate, Jimmy, and Dusty all ate some energy jellybeans. I almost puked just at the thought of them. In fact, I gagged a little bit right now as I wrote about them. I brought along a gel, most of which I gagged down about 45 minutes into the race.

The race started predictably; with a mess of people through whom we had to weave and dodge our way. Once we got into the hills, things opened up quite a bit.

I tried to catch my mile splits, but I missed some of them. My splits were as follows:
Mile 1: 8:59:41
Mile 2: 8:33:56
Mile 3: 9:34:18 (included a potty break)
Miles 4/5 (missed the 4 mile marker): 17:10:48
Miles 6/7 (missed the 6 mile marker): 16:18:46 (at which point I told Jimmy we needed to dial it back a little bit)
Mile 8: 8:33:97 (back on track)
Miles 9/10: 17:04:44 (you wouldn't think it would be so hard to see mile markers, would you?)
Mile 11: 8:22.50 (I can smell the finish line by now)
Mile 12: 8:16.59 (here I come!)
Mile 13: 7:22:86 (now that's a strong finish!)
the last .1: 1:34:23.

Race results: Bib # 4443. Chip time: 1:51:48.
Place: 972 (overall, out of 9397); 145 (age group)

I had a lot of fun in this race, and (as you can probably tell by my splits) I had quite a bit of energy left for the finish. I was happy with my time and with my consistent mile splits (the first three miles were a wonder that I was able to run even that fast because of how many people I had to avoid).

Soon

In a couple of days, I'll be in Louisville to run in the Kentucky Derby Festival (half) Marathon.

The last time I was there, I ended up running my best marathon time (beating my previous PR by 9 minutes), but I paid for it. I didn't want to even run for months afterword (and don't even mention energy jellybean to me; they still make me want to puke).

But I'm finally over that and am excited to compete Saturday.

Now comes the hard part; waiting. And not running. My taper started this afternoon after my workout. The next time I run (God willing - and assuming the mean dogs across the alley don't come after me when I'm taking out the trash tomorrow) will be in the race!

Top 25

I just realized my iPod has a built-in playlist for the 25 most played tracks. I found the list pretty entertaining.

25.Chanson de Matin - Michael Davis
24. Haunted When the Minutes Drag - Love and Rockets
23. Darklands - the Jesus and Mary Chain
22. Upside Down - the Jesus and Mary Chain
21. Just Like Honey - the Jesus and Mary Chain
20. Been Caught Stealing [12' Remix] - Jane's Addiction
19. Psalm 25 - The Bible Experience
18. Psalm 13 - The Bible Experience
17. Route 66 - Chuck Berry
16. King of Glory - Chris Tomlin
15.Indescribable - Chris Tomlin
14.Slice of Life - Bauhaus
13. Never Make Your Move too Soon - B.B. King w/ Roger Daltrey
12. Rock this House [Live] - B.B. King w/ Elton John
11. Midnight Blues - Allman Brothers Band
10. Rising - Paul Baloche
9. The Perfect Kiss - New Order
8. No New Tale to Tell - Love and Rockets
7. Sometimes Always - the Jesus and Mary Chain
6.Slow Ride - Foghat
5. Unfailing Love - Chris Tomlin w/ Steven Curtis Chapman
4.She's in Parties - Bauhaus
3.Take the Skinheads Bowling - Camper van Beethoven
2. Lick it Up - Kiss
1. Living After Midnight - Judas Priest

Successful Preaching

In a post called "Things I Wonder" MDiv student Jenny Smith ponders what makes for successful preaching. Her "gut" says "transformation."

I have to admit, that's when I feel most successful; when I hear or see the stories of transformation that have flowed from the sermons. I don't feel all that successful when all I get are lackluster "nice sermon, pastor" responses from the congregation.

Transformation is indeed one of our goals; we recognize our mission as a United Methodist Church is making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. If the things we do aren't transformative, then we're missing the boat. If we don't offer people the opportunity to meet Jesus or to hear from the Holy Spirit, then we might as well close up shop.

The difficulty with basing success on transformation, however, is the fickleness of human nature. If I am obedient to God and preach the Word of God in a relevant and well-prepared way and nobody responds, am I unsuccessful? I'm not talking about shooting up a Saturday Night Special Sermon and hoping that it strikes the mark or pulling an "oldie" out of the sermon barrel and hoping it hits home.

Here's the deal: in the Old Testament, we read from many prophets. Were they successful? It seems that maybe only Jonah was; he was the only prophet who saw instantaneous life change and transformation following his proclamation of the Word of God. Yet he became depressed (to the point of becoming suicidal) on the "success" of his message.

Other prophets faithfully proclaimed the Word of the LORD to hardened hearts and unlistening ears. Were they successful?

I hold that they were successful; they were obedient. Success is not based on us transforming the world, because plain and simply, we cannot do it. Transformation is the Holy Spirit's job, and when we base our success on how well we do the Holy Spirit's job, then we are in trouble.

One of the difficulties is that we don't preach in a vacuum. We preach to humans, who have the freedom to accept or reject the Word. We preach to humans who are at all stages on the journey, and it's all but impossible to judge "transformation" based on one little slice. Sure, there are the remarkable transformations, when we see someone delivered from bondage right here and now, but often that deliverance comes through obedience for a long time (12 step groups, as one example).

If we base our preaching success on the immediate stories of transformation, we also risk a shallow transformation. I know I have been convicted by sermons and then have gone and done absolutely nothing about that conviction. That I wasn't transformed (in the long run) should not be blamed on the preacher. I should shoulder that blame myself for being stubborn and hard-hearted.

So I base my preaching success on my obedience. Did I preach the Word of God? Did I bathe the whole process in prayer? Did I listen to the Holy Spirit as I was studying? Preparing the message? Developing the Power Point? Choosing hymns? Was I willing to change what I wanted to say in favor of what God might want to say? Am I dealing with personal preferences, or am I dealing with God's Truth? Do I get the two confused? When I say "thus says the LORD" (I don't really ever say those words) is it really something God is saying?

What do you think? Upon what criteria would you base preaching success?

Easter!

What a great day! This morning, we roused the boys from bed way early (I never like to wake them up; they are so peaceful and cute sleeping) and took them straight to church for the sunrise service.

This was the best Easter sunrise service I've ever been to. It was based on first-person monologues with songs in between them, and they were extremely well done. It was obvious that not only were the characters very good actors, but that everyone put a lot into their parts.

Speaking of great, then we had a fantastic Easter breakfast following the sunrise service. Yumm!

I thought the first service went well, but I felt like the service was really quick (and I rushed through the message). Now I'm taking a breather between services.

Later, after I get a nap (which I am starting to really feel like taking!), we'll have an Easter Egg hunt at home. The boys colored eggs yesterday (more like Jonathan colored eggs and Andrew, well, he wasn't feeling very well and wasn't listening very well, either), and they are going to get to find them this afternoon (when it's warm out!)

Good Friday Thoughts

Good Friday is counter-cultural. It has the name "Good" but it is the darkest day of history, the day our Savior died.

I did not grow up following the liturgical calendar (which isn't such a bad upbringing), and there isn't much of the liturgical calendar that I still follow. But I do feel like Lent and especially Ash Wednesday and Good Friday have an important, even essential, part in yearly life.

These are times when we consider our own sin and our culpability in the death of Jesus Christ. It was *my* sins that nailed Him to the cross.

Whether or not you recognize "Lent" - it is a good thing to sacrifice, to fast. Not just a "well, this is when we fast" kind of fast, but a real, heartfelt, give something up for Jesus - kind of fast.

We don't do that much. We mostly indulge our senses to the full extent that we can afford. In fact, as I type this, I am listening to one of the over 12,000 "songs" (do you call spoken word a "song"?) on my iPod.

We blow quickly from one sense to another, from one experience to another, from one non-experience to another (as I would categorize most of our sedentary tv-watching). We don't wait. We don't analyze. We don't look beneath the surface in our own lives.

Lent flies in the face of that culture. It tells us to slow down. To deny ourselves. To follow Jesus.

To die to self.

If we do not do these things, we can never really celebrate in resurrection. We will merely *remember* it or think about it, but we won't experience it.

And we are supposed to experience it in the here and now, not just in Heaven.

A Conversation with Jesus

On Wednesday I took the day as a retreat day, just me and Jesus. In seminary, I found that a good way to do that was to go off into the woods alone with my Bible, my journal, and a pen. I made my way to Alley Park, just south of Lancaster, for some time alone with God.

As I was walking up a hill (as an aside, when there is a trail called "Vulture's Roost" I will always take it), I imagined what it would be like if Jesus was walking along with me (in the flesh). Of course, in my imagination, he was wearing sandals and a robe.

Pretty silly, eh?

Anyway, I wondered, "What would Jesus say right now if He were walking with me?"

The answer was clear. "Slow down!"

Now, this was a silly answer, and it made me laugh. It made me laugh because I could just imagine Him hiking up that white robe (that he wore for His senior picture, you know, the one with the blue sash) and hurrying up the hill with me. I laughed it off, especially because I was on my way up the Vulture's Roost trail, which while not vertical, was sort of a strenuous hike, and I wasn't going very fast at all.

"Slow down! Wait up!"

So I did what any rational person would do in this situation: I made a deal with The LORD. Yeah, that always works out well. How's about this, Jesus? You're the Creator (yeah, with God). So if you really want me to slow down, how's about making me a rock to sit on?

I laughed about the (oh so clever) response I'd come up with... until, about 10 steps on, I found a rock dead in the middle of the path. Not only was this rock flush with the ground, but it was wet. Very wet. With water puddled on it.

"Well, all you asked for was a rock. That, my friend, is a rock!" was his response (between laughs).

So, as clever as I am, I (after a good laugh), told Jesus, "If you can make a flat rock like that for me, you can certainly make a good one for me to sit on. What I'm looking for is something a little taller, and, while you're at it, find some sandstone to make a dry one. And it might as well be out of the wind."

"I mean, after all, you're the LORD."

I got a laugh at my cleverness... until I came around a bend and saw this:

Yes, that is the very rock. And I sat on it and hung out with Jesus for the next hour or so. It was dry. It was big enough to be extremely comfortable to sit on. It was out of the wind. A perfect rock.

What did I take from my conversation with Jesus?

I need to remember to slow down. No matter what else is going on, I have to take the time to sit on a rock that Jesus provides for me. Not slowing down reinforces the lie that I am indispensible. I'm not.

But it also reminded me to be specific in my prayers. If I want a big, dry rock out of the wind, then don't just ask for 'a rock' but tell Him what I really want (He knows anyway).