Genuine Love

This past Sunday we had a guest preacher, the Rev. Louis Johnson, who was the pastor of Bell Springs UMC for seventeen years before his final retirement.  It was such a joy to have Louis in the pulpit, even though I wasn't there to personally enjoy it!  He told me that he would be preaching on "genuine love" and so I thought we'd look at the Scripture, I John 4:7-21, to look at God's perspective on love to compliment our lesson from Sunday.

It occurs to me that as many of us are reading I John 4:7-21, we could get just as many viewpoints and perspectives on what it means.  That's true with all Scripture--but in particular this one, because the primary operating word is "love".  Especially in English, we use this word to mean dozens of different things!  For example, "I love ice cream" is not the same as "I love my children" nor the dreaded sixteen-year old hastily whispering "I love you" after four weeks of dating!  The way we love our career, our friends, our neighbors, and our pets is each a little different.

Not to mention, that many of us have been the target of the opposite of love: hate.  Whether this hate has arrived in the form of abuse, violence, malice, gossip, injustice, or any number of other sources, most likely a combination, given our background histories, we would be likely to say that love is the opposite of those experiences that have been the darkest in our lives.  So our version of "love" would specifically and directly be a counter-response to our past often times.  For example, if you were cheated on by a partner in the past, then you would be quick to define "love" as "loyalty"; if you were subject to violence, then you might make sure to include "peace" or "respect" in your definition of love.

I'm not suggesting that love cannot include these things, but when we look at Scripture, we need to come to the text in such a way that we do not add our own meaning into it, but rather, listen closely to God's word and allow it to redefine our perspectives.  The word "love" is very difficult because we have so many uses for the word; but when we talk about God's love, or the love God requires of us, we are discussing a very specific love, a love which may challenge the way we assume we should be loving.  

And finally, I John 4 is not the only place in the Bible where we find the topic of love; there are so many examples, we would never be able to discuss all of them.  But what we can do is to read this text to see how it transforms the way we understand what it means to use this word "love" as Christians, as God's people.

Verse 7 actually affirms what I've claimed so far: "Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God."  This is a really bold statement, because it suggests that the only way people are truly capable of love, of genuine love, is through God and God's love.  Again, we can use the term "love" to describe something which everyone is capable of in this world; but genuine love, God's love, true "love" is a term reserved for God and those who are with God.  God is the center of all love, so, in verse 8, it reads, "Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love."  As Christians, we do not say that non-Christians are incapable of love; we claim that human beings have tainted love, have turned love into something it isn't, and can only understand genuine, true love, God's love, if God redefines what it means for us to love one another.  Even Christians will love one another in sin, but our hope is that through God, we might be refined and purged so that our love can be more genuine and pure, that is, more like God's love.  If you need examples of "sinful love", think about those who love selfishly, who love violence, who love themselves only.  Fifty Shades of Grey comes to mind as a contemporary example.

So what is God's genuine love?  The next verse helps clarify: "God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him."  This is a bold claim, because it demonstrates how God is redefining love through the example of his Son Jesus Christ, who did not show love the way we tend to on earth!!  Jesus demonstrates love an infinite number of ways, but chiefly among them includes sacrifice.  Verse 10 continues: "In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent  his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins."  And verse 11: "Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another."  

To put it simply, God's love is first and foremost self-sacrificial for the benefit of all humankind.  The most impressive and clear way that we know God's love is through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  We often think of Jesus' sacrifice as giving his life up and willingly heading to the cross, but we find through the Gospel that everything Jesus did was sacrifice.  First, Jesus sacrificed comfort and assurance when he became human; while he was still the King, the Firstborn, he was not recognized in this way during his lifetime, sacrificing the honor that comes with being God!  Then, Jesus sacrificed by suffering a life on earth putting on flesh, enduring all of the pain and suffering we know here in this world.  Jesus did not build up his own kingdom, but worked for God's Kingdom, sacrificing his identity and self-hood so that his Father in heaven could be glorified.  He sacrificed his time, treasure and talent in order to heal, deliver and teach us.  Each moment of his life was pouring out for us, and all of this would come to a crescendo at Calvary, where Christ did not withhold even his earthly life for us.  Christ's offering of himself could stop at death, but not even did this prevent him from sacrificing glory in heaven; rather, Christ welcomed us to share in that glory for all of eternity, proving that Christ truly exists for the singular purpose of loving humanity, because we know that God's love is sacrificial for others.

The next time we think about love, if we are going to live as Christians, then we ought to recognize that God's love is primarily a love of sacrifice for others, not only those for whom we desire to sacrifice, but for all others around us: our neighbors.  When you say, "I love you", and you do so through Christ who strengthens you, do you really mean that you would make real sacrifices for that person?  If you say you love God, for example, will you sacrifice your time and resources for the building of his Kingdom?  If you say that you love your neighbors, are you willing to truly love them by spending time with them, praying for them and helping provide their earthly needs?  

Just as "faith" is more of a verb than a noun, as we discussed in last week's post, so too is "love" a physical, intentional action rather than simply a warm, fuzzy feeling.  And we are called to enact that love for God's Kingdom to come, for God's will to be done, on earth, as it is in heaven.

Faith, Belief, and Fruitful Works

In American Christianity we have placed a great emphasis on our eternal salvation and how to "get" saved.  That makes sense and is not difficult to believe, because Americans are well-known for being quintessentially pragmatic and oriented towards the future.  But God is not only concerned about your salvation--in fact, he isn't much worried about it at all, seeing that he is the source of salvation and knows he has already provided it to you, if you even desire it for a bit!  But when you're saved, or when you decide to live into your faith after being raised in the church, you do not drop dead!  Rather, you continue to live and work in this world.  This fact is proof that even though you are saved, God has intentions for your life to continue in this world, for one reason or another.

That intention and purpose is God's mission for us.  Simply put, God's mission is to redeem and restore all things back unto himself--and our mission is to join him wherever we find him at work around us.  That makes sense because if we are in relationship with God, and God can be found in a particular place or engaged in a particular activity, we would naturally desire to greet him and be with him!!  Imagine a friend or family member whom  you love with a flat tire along the road, or hosting a dinner party.  Do you avoid this person, driving past or screening your calls, actively seeking to disengage with him or her?  Or do we offer a hand, strike up a conversation, fully acknowledging and participating in life alongside him or her?  Better yet, what would it say about your relationship with this person if you always ignored him or her rather than engage?

James is making a distinction between two words in his letter to the twelve tribes: faith is not being used the same as the word belief.  In James 2:19, believers are compared to demons; what we have in common with demons is our knowledge and acknowledgement of God's existence.  Why would demons shudder if they did not believe God to be powerful somehow?  But what these demons do not have in common with us is that they lack faith in God, which is the self-assurance in God the Father, a relationship with Christ the Son, and heeding the guidance of God the Holy Spirit.  Faith requires belief, but is so much more than just a mental admittance, "I believe in God."

But pastor!  What about John 3:16?!  "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life."  This is an excellent question you've asked, and is one worth discussing more deeply.  It appears that this verse is in contradiction with James 2:19!  (We are in luck!  The truth is that whenever you find two Scriptures that appear to be in contradiction with one another, you have found an especially powerful opportunity to search and study more deeply, allowing God to inspire and renew your mind and heart in new ways!)

Our American obsession with belief rather than faith has allowed John 3:16 to become the most familiar and quoted verse of the Bible in our time; but ancient and medieval Christians did not use this verse all that often.  But since we focus so heavily on obtaining salvation, this verse has been pressed into our memories, recited by our hearts, and written on our faces at sports games.  That is not any problem, because it's a great verse!  But let's read the context around John 3:16 more deeply to see what John really means by the word believe as he uses it.  

*Remember that when you read the Scripture, you are reading different books and letters written by different people, each one inspired by God uniquely.  Just like people use language a little differently in our day and world, so too did the apostles, like John and James.

In John 3 Jesus reminds Nicodemus about the situation in the Book of Numbers where Moses was instructed to fashion a bronze serpent in the wilderness.  (Read Numbers 21:1-9 for the background story if you're not familiar with it.)  Even though venomous snakes surrounded the Israelites' feet, if they looked up and gazed upon the bronze serpent, they were spared.  Now, what kind of person would actually take their eyes off of the ground, away from poisonous snakes crawling all around, in order to look up at a bronze statue?!  Only someone who really believed, with enough faith in God working through Moses, would actually follow through with the command.  You could discuss how much you think God would or would not command you to do so; you can say you believe in theory but not in practice; you can claim other gods or doctors or whoever could possibly save you instead; but when you are bitten by a snake, no belief, understanding, ideology or position is going to save you from the venom.  You need an anti-venom.  Salvation, that is, God's anti-venom of sin and death, is only being used by those who believe in God and actually trust him enough to look upward for an unlikely panacea, rather than starting downward, trying to resolve the situation without God.  What good is anti-venom if you aren't going to use it?!

True faith has what we call "works" or "actions".  Faith is rooted in trust of God, and directs us to operating in a particular way.  Rather than trying to create our own anti-venom for our sins, we trust in God's healing as we look up--and, out of our love for others, we encourage those around us who are sick with sin to look up as well, so that they can have access to the anti-venom too!!

So when Jesus is speaking in the Book of John, we find the verb believe to be referring back directly to the story of the bronze serpent in the wilderness, which is the verse immediately beforehand, 3:15.  The "belief" found in this story, as we have already demonstrated, is not simply a mental note, but is a conscious decision that leads to action in a change of behavior.  In the Book of John, the word believe is used in the same way that James uses the word faith.  Since both are discussing different issues, in different contexts, and each has his own writing style, it is not upsetting to see these near-synonyms "faith" and "belief" being used in different ways, each apostle focusing on a particular aspect or facet of the word.

Faith leads to action, and, over time, those actions will be evidence as whether or not you truly lived by faith.  Those who live in faith will bear good fruit, because they will be nourished by their relationship with Christ, who is the True Vine.  Mental admittance of "I believe there is a God" but nothing further is simply not what Scripture is talking about; the modern English definition of "believe" emphasizes a mental agreement rather than any action following as a result.  Changing your old behavior, having your life conform more deeply into God's love, and acting in the sincere interests of your neighbors is the intention of the faith, or "belief", as it is understood both by John and James.  

The Diversity of God

On Sunday we talked about our God, who is a Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  We discussed how this operates, and all kinds of traits that God has revealed himself about being a Trinity, and why it matters.  If you are not certain about the Trinity, I recommend your reading the sermon from Sunday again, which can be found at www.bellspringsumc.org.  Just go to Worship > Past Sermons (PDF) > August 23, 2015.  Having some understanding of Trinity will be necessary for this post to make any sense at all!

One topic we did not cover was the uniqueness and diversity within the Trinity.  Too often we simplify God, and do not fully appreciate God's fullness as being a Trinity.  Where would we be if God were only the Father, without the Son or Holy Spirit?  How much would we be at a loss if our God were only the Holy Spirit, whose role is to sustain our church and guide believers, if we did not have the Son to teach us God's truth, or the Father to prepare a place for us in heaven?  What makes God so special is that God is a Trinity, three in one and one in three, a God unlike anything else in creation, a God who defies metaphors.

God is not created; God has always existed as a Trinity, and will continue to eternally exist as a Trinity.  Therefore, God's nature is inherently diverse within himself.  The Father is not the Son, and the Son is not the Holy Spirit; while all three "Persons" of the Trinity are fully God, each one has a different role in the universe, in our world, and in our lives.  Each one relates with us differently--think about how the Son relates with us verses the Holy Spirit.  The Son came to us in flesh and blood, yet the Holy Spirit and Father do not.  

While God is fully God as a Trinity, there are some differences between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, leaving us with a God who is diverse, even within himself!  And what a beautiful God we're dealing with--the Scriptures proclaim that this is the God of salvation, eternity, and infinite wisdom. Something else really interesting for us is that he has created humankind in his own image.  In Genesis 1, we see that we worship and adore a God who has truly given us his own mark, as his children and inheritors of the divine life.  And since God is diverse within the Trinity, God has left us with a mark of diversity among ourselves.  Diversity therefore is not the mark of evil or danger, but is a gift from God by which we have been created into God's very likeness!

I hear and see too many comments on Facebook, online, and overhearing conversations where people are opposed to one another's diversity.  Diversity takes many shapes: gender, ethnicity, background and upbringing, ideology, culture, language, etc.  The list goes on, because inherently each of us is a little different, and each of us has a little different role within the Kingdom of Heaven.  But what astonishes me is how we as Christians are often those who are creating division as a result of our own diversity.  Diversity is God's own gift to us, a gift that we as Christians proclaim is one of God's greatest gifts to humankind.  The only gift that we have received greater than God's own image is the gift of God himself, of Jesus Christ who came to our world to dwell with us in solidarity, to offer himself up as a sacrifice on our behalf, to welcome us into eternity through his life, death and resurrection.

Celebrating diversity of human beings is not some tenant of a bleeding heart liberal; it is foundational and thoroughly rooted in the Scripture, in the Christian life and in God himself, because God is a Trinity, inherently and essentially diverse within himself, uncreated and eternal.  When we engage with people in this world, we will see that everyone around us is different than we are, and instead of asking them to conform to our likeness, we should note that God has already made them in his own likeness, for diversity is one of God's own trademarks.  

Questions for further consideration:

1. How should we as a church celebrate diversity?  If we though more deeply about diversity in worship, and sought its practice, how would our time in worship be different?

2. How does our society encourage conformity to a certain standard?  How can we as Christians resist this temptation and instead celebrate the uniqueness of God's children, as different as they may be?

3. In God's internal diversity, God remains to be the definition of goodness and holiness.  What is the difference between celebrating diversity yet striving to conform to God's goodness and holiness? Can we pursue holiness as a family in solidarity while retaining our diversity of gifts, graces and cultures?

The Mission of God vs. Our Missions

On Sunday we talked about the mission of God, that God has already determined to be God with us, God for us, and through Christ and the Holy Spirit, to never be God without us.  God's plan to bring all nations and peoples into covenant with himself has already begun; however, God's mission is not quite finished yet, so God continues to move through the church on earth to accomplish that mission.

In order to think about this mission in more concrete terms, let's use 21st-century American terms to describe God's mission.  When we think "mission" in English, we sometimes think about a spy movie, perhaps with a dauntingly impossible task; however, that's probably not the best way to think about it.  But when we think about God's "mission" we probably most often think about it as God's "goal".  Our society is a goal-driven society, where children and adolescents are taught at a very early age to set up short-, medium- and long-term goals for themselves to guide them in life.  In the workplace, we have goals (or quotas, or benchmarks) that are set daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly.  When we write out our résumés, we almost always add adjectives like "goal-oriented" to describe ourselves.  Even at home we make a to-do list and seek to accomplish it in a certain way within a particular amount of time.  Most of what we do in today's world is driven by goals.  And lest we forget that goals are so important to our way of life, that when the New Year arrives, we set for ourselves a whole new set of life goals named "resolutions".

God's mission/goal is different from the way we handle goals in our world today.  In fact, churches, pastors and entire denominations function much in the way I have just described above, but this is not how God's mission/goal works.  You see, our missions and goals in life are typically crafted for a desired end result; that is, we set goals in order to reach a new milestone, an accomplishment, a new reality in which we are no longer overweight, we have sold a thousand more widgets, or have scored sufficiently high on the benchmark examinations.  God's mission is a little different; whereas we think of missions and goals as a means to a desired end or achievement, God's mission is already promised to end in victory.  It is really important that we understand that Scripture reveals to us truth that God wants us to have.  Why on earth would we need to know about God's new heaven and earth in the future, its dimensions, its colors and shape, its creatures?  Because God really wants us to understand that our mission as the church is not to reach an end goal or accomplishment; God has already guaranteed the end result of victory, and there is nothing we can do to change that outcome.

All too often in the church, we have come to the conclusion that we exist simply to carry out a series of goals, resolutions and quotas in our community: more members, more converts, more baptisms, more community involvement, more ministries, etc.  This plagues the church today, as is evidenced by hundreds of new books being published every year to help pastors figure out how to bolster the numbers.  Our problem isn't that we're turning ministry into numbers; it's that we've long ago turned our mission into a game where we're seeking specific results, even though the final outcome was determined so long ago.

So what is God's mission?  What is the church's mission?  God's mission is the church's mission, so in order to know one we must know the other.  Whatever God's mission is, it is not an end result but rather a journey.  If God is on a mission at all, and yet the "end" of this mission is already determined, then God must be concerned about the period of time in between now and that end.  And since we don't have any idea when that end is going to come (probably not anytime soon, mind you), it reminds us that God's mission is likely to take place over a very long period of time, just as it has already for so long.

As we discussed on Sunday, and have learned in the church in the past, God's mission is fulfilled through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, both examples of when God decisively decided to be with us, and to enter into profoundly new relationship with us.  In fact, we can largely deduce from Scripture and the world around us that the only reason we know anything about God is because God told us about himself, and wanted to be with us in the meantime.  In my mind, the best answer for the question, "Why are we here?" is "Because God wanted to be with us."

In Isaiah 55 and 56, we learned that God's mission is to be with us and to gather us together, bringing everyone under his solemn covenant, first established with the Israelites and then with the Gentiles through Christ.  This mission, however, of being with us in relationship and community, is not a mission that will actually have any "end" as it were; God's mission to us is an eternal mission, as God has already decided to be God with us for all eternity, and seeks to keep us in his presence forever.  Yes, the world will have an "end" and a new heaven and earth is promised to us; but that doesn't end the mission!  That is only one step in the eternal love and camaraderie that our Father in heaven has promised us.

Our mission as a church must have the same parameters.  First, we cannot think of our mission as a set of goals to check off of a list.  Now, is it sinful to have goals of any kind?  No, I don't think so, at least not in earthly terms.  God knows the utility of organization, forethought and passion: Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, came to earth to experience what it's like to be right here in our shoes!  We in the church are allowed and encouraged to set goals and such to maintain certain regular operations, but the reason we exist at all is because God is already with us and simply wants to remain in relationship with us.  Absolutely God wants more of his children in relationship with him, and it is part of our mission to reach out to others and gather them into the flock.  But even reducing evangelism and outreach to a number, goal or quota is completely missing the point; what God desires more than anything is to be in relationship with us, not only today but every day, as he carries his mission out throughout the journey which is our life and eternity with him in paradise.

So then all of this begs the following questions:

1. What goals have I set for myself?  Are they realistic?  Why did I set these goals?
2. Do I desire a lifetime spent in a journey and relationship with God along the way?  Is that a goal that ever gets "checked" off of a to-do list?
3. Why do I become upset at myself when I do not accomplish my goals according to my own plan?  Do I hold anxiety or uncertainty or doubt about my future in God?
4. What is my mission, my reason for existing?  Will it ever end?

Our kingdoms vs. God's Kingdom

On Sunday we discussed some of the differences between the Kingdom of God (aka the Kingdom of Heaven) and the kingdoms we build here on earth.  If we are going to be the church, we are going to need to be building God's Kingdom rather than our own kingdoms.  But what do we mean by "kingdom" anyway?  A country with a monarch (king or queen) with absolute power?  Probably not--and the Scripture probably doesn't meant that either.  So what does Jesus mean when we tells us about the Kingdom of God?  And what do we mean when we talk about our own kingdoms here on earth?

I want to first be clear on what I'm not talking about.  First, we understand God to have created everything that there is--in fact, there is nothing that God didn't create, except for God himself.  Everything falls into those two categories--God, or creation (not God)!  In that sense, yes, everything is God's "kingdom" in that God does reign and is sovereign over all God's creation.  That is a very cosmic understanding of "kingdom", and not the exact way Jesus is using it when he talks about the Kingdom of God.

Secondly, Jesus is not using the term legalistically or literally.  When we think of "kingdom" on earth, we think of a monarchy, that is, a country or territory with a king or queen reigning with absolute power and authority.  When Jesus talks about the Kingdom of Heaven, he's not talking about building a new country literally.  And when we say that Christians should not be building their own kingdoms on earth, we are definitely not talking about creating our own little countries and seceding from the United States!  

Mark 4:26-29 gives us one of Jesus' parables: "Then Jesus said, 'This is what God's kingdom is like.  It's as though someone scatters seed on the ground, then sleeps and wakes night and day.  The seed sprouts and grows, but the farmer doesn't know how.  The earth produces crops all by itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full head of grain.  Whenever the crop is ready, the farmer goes out to cut the grain because it's harvest time.'" [CEB]

God's Kingdom is something that Jesus compares to a way of living, a culture, or a profession, as in this case with the farmer.  The key to this parable is that the farmer's reality is very different from the reality of a farmer here on earth.  Here on earth, we must be very intentional about sowing, fertilizing, weeding, and caring for plants against disease and pests in order to have a harvest time at all!  You might imagine how much this would change the profession of farming, if all food could be grown in this manner!  

Along that same line of thinking, God's Kingdom is a reality very different from our reality here on earth.  God's logic, the way God's Kingdom is organized, the order and sequence of existence is all different than in our human kingdoms.  In that sense, the Kingdom of God is less of a "place" or a "thing" and is more of a trajectory, a series of actions, and a way of life which is unlike the trajectory, actions and way of life we live in our human kingdoms.  

What motivates human kingdoms?  Why do we even build them, and what are they like?  Let's look at Matthew 6:19-21: [Jesus speaking, Sermon on the Mount] "Stop collecting treasures for your own benefit on earth, where moth and rust eat them and where thieves break in and steal them.  Instead, collect treasures for yourselves in heaven, where moth and rust don't eat them and where thieves don't break in and steal them.  Where your treasure is, your heart will be also." [CEB]

Did you catch the motivation behind human kingdoms?  It's not the word treasures, although preachers will often tell you that is the case.  The fact is that Jesus encourages us to "collect treasures for yourselves in heaven"!  Treasure is a good thing!  The problem is not treasure, but the motivation behind it: "for your own benefit on earth".  In order to build up the Kingdom of God, we must stop pursuing our own benefits and selfishness, and instead look out for the benefit of others.  This, of course, goes against the very nature of the (sinful) human being--we are genetically programmed to serve ourselves, protect ourselves and raise ourselves up as the most important ones around, gaining importance, prominence and influence.  We are naturally very sinful, selfish, prideful and--in pursuit of our own benefit--we naturally seek to build up our own kingdoms here on earth, where rust and moth eat our efforts.  

If we claim to be Christians at all, we must pursue, idealize, or at least attempt a lifestyle where we allow God to change the way we think, to challenge the very basic understandings of human civilization.  Rather than seeking to build our own kingdoms, i.e., living lives where we protect, serve and help ourselves first and foremost, we are called to a radically, completely different way of life where we truly put others' welfare first.  And as a side note, this cannot only be people we love and cherish, because then we are effectively building our own kingdoms as families or small groups, isolated and impenetrable from the outside.  Not only are we to be completely selfless in this life, but we are called to make sure that at least some of that effort to care for others is loving people who do not necessarily love us back or hold the same Christian views we do.  But more details about why will be forthcoming in another devotional.

Here are some questions to help guide you in thinking about "kingdoms":

1. Do I deserve everything I have and more?  Have I "earned" my own living?  Do I consider my time, treasure and talent truly "mine" at all?

2. In 100 years, do I really hope that people will still remember me for all I have done?  Or do I really pray that somehow, through my work, God's Kingdom is magnified, even though my name is long forgotten?

3. Why do I fear putting more time, money, energy and attention into the church or other ministries?  Do I fear losing a part of myself to God or the church?  

4. If someone were to hack into my email, financial data, and correspondence, and know everything about my daily routine, would it appear that I was primarily building God's Kingdom, or my own?  

5. Am I willing to spend less time on my kingdom and give more time to God's Kingdom?  Why or why not?

Annual Conference and Connectionalism

Today we have begun our Annual Conference here in the Tennessee Conference of the United Methodist Church!  We gathered this afternoon at 2:30PM at Brentwood UMC to light the candle which officially begins this gathering which occurs, as you might imagine, once per year for about four days.  This is a time set aside for all of the clergy, and an equal number of laity delegates, to gather and reconnect, plan for the upcoming year, and reflect on the past.  Essentially, it functions as a time when all of us come together to share, pray, talk and love.

So in this post I want to talk about connectionalism in the United Methodist Church, specifically bringing up problems and solutions as pertains to the Tennessee Conference.  In 2012, an outside committee was asked to come to our churches to evaluate our conference to see what obstacles we faced as we move into the future of our church.  (You may follow this link to see the report for yourself: http://www.tnumc.org/f-a-c-t.html )  This committee identified one obstacle of concern to be that clergy do not know one another in the conference and therefore do not trust one another.  Obviously, many of us are friends, and I know that there are definite connections for everyone, but too often we do not know the pastors serving churches down the street from us!!  This might not matter for other denominations, but as for United Methodists, connectionalism is a vital component to our theology and way we do things.

By and large, there are only two types of systems that organize churches, and all churches will generally fall into one category or the other.  One system is known as "congregationalism", which places the authority of the church within the local congregation.  Leaders are ordained and affirmed by local church; theology and the Bible is interpreted for that community; and connectionalism exists only casually or by chance, i.e., two pastors went to seminary together who end up in the same town, resulting in two churches working together.  The other system is known as "episcopal", which places the authority of the church outside of the local congregation.  Leaders are ordained and affirmed by leadership outside of the local church, such as a bishop; theology and the Bible are intepreted for a wider community and is "regulated"; and all churches within the system are connected by way of this episcopacy.  The United Methodist Church operates as an episcopal system, but too often we act as if we are congregationalists.  We do not select our incoming pastor, for example; we consult with the bishop's representative, the district superintendant, who works with the bishop to assign one.  We do not act independently of other churches; our work in the community is in tandem with one another, and the witness of one church is connected to the witness of another.  Love it or hate it, the United Methodist system of episcopacy is one of our hallmarks, and is the way we share in Christ's work together in this alien world.

So annual conference arises out of this connectional, this episcopal system.  And it's great--already I have met new friends and seen old ones.  I even saw the pastor who baptized me nearly ten years ago, for the first time since 2008.  But this leads me to my main point--annual conference is not the only four days when we ought to see one another and work together; its purpose is to help encourage more work between pastors, churches and lay people the other 360 days of the year.  The problem is that our lives and schedules get so busy at the local church that we feel that we don't have time or energy left to foster connectionalism among the churches in our community.  And this is the problem that this outside committee identified for our conference; we must change our attitudes and rethink how we do ministry in order to move forward on a better foot.

I don't know exactly where the problem lies, but I can imagine several forces at work in preventing the collegiality between pastors and churches that we ought to have as we work for the Kingdom of God in our world.  One problem may be that as we work together, pastors and churches fear losing their congregants to other churches who offer different ministries and services.  This problem is simple, because it only requires a reorientation of our minds!  If people from your church come to mine, or my congregants move to your church as a result of our working together, then there must be a good reason, as opposed to a bad one!  Maybe one church offers children's ministry where another one does not; maybe one church worships in a different way that appeals to the family more.  At the end of the day, the world is our parish, and we should celebrate all of the congregations meeting in our community as God's gift, and see each person as our brother or sister regardless of their church membership.  If I hold a revival but seven new families begin attending the church down the road, then glory to God; there must be a reason for them to attend that church instead of mine.  Does the fruit not still please God?  Is that not our purpose, to bear fruit for God?  

Another problem I've thought about is how busy pastors can be, particularly at churches where they have been serving several years.  Many churches are very pastor-centered, where a large percentage of the daily affairs are regarded to be the responsibility of the pastor.  The United Methodist Church does not function this way; all congregants are needed to reach out to the community, to help take care of church administration, and do God's work to visit the sick and homebound.  Too many times people complain that the pastor doesn't take enough time with a particular group of people, ministry or task; the problem is that such churches are keeping the pastor so busy that he or she does not have enough free time to engage in relationships outside of the local church.  Worse still, these churches may even feel that they pay their pastor to work only for their interests; but the truth is that, while we do maintain the local church as our top pastoral priority, we are also responsible for ministering to people throughout the community, not only to those already in the church.  And don't you want us to do so?  How else does the local church increase its connection with the community and serve its people with renewed vigor and attention?  This includes working with other pastors and churches as well; together we can be more effective and amplify that fruit that God is producing in our lives.  In fact, working with other churches can actually help sometimes to reduce our workload, providing us more time to give quality time in ministry with our local congregations.

Finally, we pastors have part of the responsibility of connectionalism ourselves.  At the end of the day, if a pastor doesn't go to meet another pastor, if no one takes the initiative to engage in conversation, then naturally we won't be working together.  We have to be intentional in working with one another, in meeting each other and working our schedules around one another so that we can enter into holy conversation and work toward our common ministry.  We must also be intentional in maintaining collegial relationships, responding to calls and emails, and attending meetings with one another.  It doesn't happen all by itself; connectionalism requires effort.  It is just this simple.

We find Jesus to be an excellent example of someone who was intentional about entering into relationships with people he didn't know.  In our Savior we have someone who was interested in other people even when it wasn't easy, automatic or socially effortless.  It's easy to stay in touch with people at work, our own churches or in our neighborhood; it's difficult and requires a lot of work to build more relationships and maintain those over the course of years.  As United Methodists we move around a lot, and every year there is a new pastor somewhere in the neighborhood.  But shouldn't there be someone who will be willing to reach out to the new pastor to invite him or her into the community?  Shouldn't there be an effort made to make sure that the people of our churches remain connected and working together to bring justice and peace to the lives of those in our communities?

In my current appointment in North Carolina, sadly I have experienced little to no such outreach.  I engage with other pastors only when I went to meet them, and rarely did I get any response.  My prayers are that in Tennessee we have begun to live with greater intention to work together in our shared ministry, particularly in Coffee County, where I will soon be serving the lovely congregation at Bell Springs United Methodist Church.

God's New Creation

One thing I get a lot as a pastor is questions around the topic of the afterlife.  What will heaven be like? Who will be there?  When is the end coming?  These questions are undoubtedly important to each of us, as we want to have hope of a future after this life, and Scripture attests to God's promises of a new creation in the next life.  Now I'm not going to speculate anything in the future, mostly because Scripture is very difficult on the topic of exactly what the future holds and exactly what it will be like.  But I want to write today about what this matters for today.  The problem is that we assume that the next life--whatever it holds--is only relevant in the next life.  But the witness of Christian Scripture is altogether opposed to this view.  In Scripture, we are taught that the promise of God's future redemption is relevant for us right now, because God is already engaged in God's process of making all things new.  Let's look at this more closely and see why tomorrow matters for us today.

Let's begin with an example from the Book of Revelation, a vision from the apostle John which describes God's new world for us tomorrow.  Revelation 7:9-10 reads: "After this I looked, and there was a great crowd that no one could count.  They were from every tribe, nation, people and language.  They were standing before the throne and before the Lamb.  They wore white robes and held palm branches in their hands.  They cried out with a loud voice: 'Victory belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.'"  Here we have just a piece of the vision that John gives us which grants us some foresight as to God's future kingdom, when God will reign in full glory through Jesus Christ who sits at his right hand.  This vision makes clear that there will be people from all groups and nations represented in glory, rightfully praising God and perfected by God's grace.  Why does this matter for us today?  Because we know that through this vision, God intends for the Gospel to spread throughout the earth, that God is actively reaching out to people from all groups and nations and languages to join him in eternal glory.  Without this vision, we might be deceived into thinking that God's kingdom is somehow limited to people of certain types or backgrounds.  But one thing is clear--what these people have in common is their eternal victory song for the Lamb, Jesus Christ.

You see, if the next life only mattered tomorrow, we might be mistaken into thinking that we can simply sit and enjoy our Christianity at home as a personal faith that had no impact on the world around us.  But this is simply not the case--if God is expecting all peoples to join him in glory, then he must be expecting us to go out into the world to share the good news in preparation for this heavenly event.  God is not only interested in the outcome of eternity; he's interested in our engagement with other people right now, which was his plan all along.  In engaging with others, we not only help prepare heaven with all of the people who belong praising God, but we are actively forming a new world right here and now, a new reality which inches ever closer to God's final reality in eternity.

This is why Jesus does not only reach out to spread the truth of God's forgiveness, but also heals those who are ill and feeds those who are destitute.  Jesus is not only interested in "pie in the sky" that is offered for eternity, though that is certainly a primary concern of his.  Jesus seems equally interested in offering abundant life to people on earth right now in addition to giving forgiveness which leads to eternal life.  And this is the work of the church; not only to spread the word about God's ultimate victory over sin and death, but also God's healing for the nations as God blesses us with his goodness even in today's day and age.  When we compartmentalize Christianity as a religion that only offers us a promise for tomorrow, we destroy part of the truth of the Gospel, that God seeks to restore and reconcile humanity and all of creation here and now.  God has not abandoned us in this world, forsaking us to the evils and principalities of this world; God has come in Jesus Christ to show that God refuses to be God without us, even before he fulfills his final promise to establish his new kingdom, his New Jerusalem, right here on earth.

So when people ask me about heaven, or what happens after death, I don't always have an answer that satisfies them.  The fact of the matter is that God's kingdom is already coming, and this we experience as we live in Christ Jesus through a vigorous repentence and in loving service to our neighbors.  In fact, you have foretasted heaven already, if you have come to the Lord's Table with humility and emptiness, if you have served your neighbors with compassion and love, if you have joined hands with other Christians in passionate worship and intentional devotion together.  Certainly, this is not the end!  God promises a new heaven and a new earth wherein we will sin no more, and all the tears will be wiped from our faces!  But God is not delaying his work, leaving it for the future--he is already at work through us, the church, to establish his heavenly reign among us on earth forever.

How does this fact change the way you think about tomorrow?  How does this make you think a little differently about heaven?  We have confidence through faith that God has determined to raise the dead through Christ's resurrection; but even now that we live together, dead to ourselves and alive anew in Christ Jesus today and now, how does this grant us a foretaste of that heavenly banquet when we feast in victory at Christ's table for all eternity?