Advent & Adoption

Today was the fourth Sunday of Advent. As a person who did not grow up in churches that practice Advent, it is still a new tradition to me. I love watching the candles being lit as we all pray and anxiously await the arrival of Christ. This day Advent was made more real to me as I looked over and saw the Burdett family. The Burdetts first starting going to my home church (Servant Church - Austin) the same time I did, at the time they were childless, today they have two beautiful children and during the service one of them was snuggling with Grandma Burdett as she comforted him because his finger was hurting. She held him like she had known him his whole life, but she only met this child a few months ago. The Burdett’s beautiful children were adopted from Uganda, and what’s interesting to me is how much adoption is like Advent.

During Advent we await the arrival of Jesus Christ, we wait like Mary did for 9 months, although Advent only lasts a month. During adoption the future parents wait to be matched with children like the Burdetts did, they waited for months until one day they got the call, they would become parents to these precious gifts from God. They flew to a foreign land to gather their children and then they waited for weeks in a hotel until the country of Uganda legally turned the children over to them, then they returned to the United States and waited until the US government allowed their children to become US citizens. Adoption, like Advent, involves a lot of waiting and a lot of trusting in God. And as we wait and trust in God, God assures us that our waiting will not be in vain, God has not left us, God is here. The Burdetts will not be left without children, their children will rise up and call them blessed. Christ is coming, all we have to do is trust and wait.

You can read more about the Burdett's adoption story on their blog about it: http://burdettadoption.blogspot.com/.

My attempt at a book review of Torn by Justin Lee

I have never written a review for a book before, which is strange because I read books all the time. This book, Torn: Rescuing the Gospel from the Gays-vs,-Christians Debate is different. Justin Lee tells his life story in these pages, and yet he also tells the story of the Church, and the stories hundreds of thousands of Christians that have struggled in this “culture war”. He doesn't just tell his story he tells my story, and the story of my friends who left the Church because it refused to show them grace. He tells the story of parents who had to leave their churches because their children were not safe there, he speaks of families that separate because of the dogma the Church promotes, and he does it all so brilliantly from the perspective of an Evangelical Southern Baptist gay man that wants to serve the Lord.
As Lee continues to immerse the reader in his own personal story he uses others’ stories to continue not only moving his story forward but working in theological information and well as the history of the Church’s opinions and reactions to gay people. His in depth analysis of “Ex-gay ministries” as well as on “Queer Theology” is done from the position of a layman making it more understandable and relatable. He ends the book by giving practical ways the Church and individual Christians can work to bring unity instead of division on the issues that homosexuality may bring up, and he does it in an unbiased fashion.
I found myself drawn to Lee’s story and even more so to the passion he has for serving Christ and the Church. In this book I saw the future of the Church and its role in hosting healthy conversation about sexuality, and more importantly about the people these conversations effect. I strongly recommend every Christian read this book, because in it there is so much information that we as Christians need to learn in order to be faithful and gracious disciples of Christ.  

Unity is What Matters

As a part of the United Methodist Church, I know what division looks like. I have seen arguments over everything from pension plans, to whether or not church structure should be changed. One major argument has been going on for about 4 decades about whether or not LGBT persons should be allowed to fully participate within the UMC. This debate has strong theological arguments on both sides, as well as real people on both sides, so I feel no need to argue it here. What I do want to argue in favor of is unity.
The main problem with the word unity is that people assume that unity means that everyone thinks the same, but that is not the case. My mother and father disagree, a lot, but they are still unified in their decisions, sometimes my mom has to give up what she wants so my dad can make decisions he feels are best for our family, like when we moved to Texas; other times my dad has to give up he wants, like a new car, so that we as a family can get what my mom wants, like new furniture. Being unified means being willing to be flexible when difficult situations arise. I think the UMC needs to be a little more flexible.
At the last General Conference when presented with the Hamilton/Slaughter Amendment, the legislative body of my church decided not to “agree to disagree” on Homosexuality, when quite frankly it should have and here is why:

1. We do disagree, a lot of us disagree on how LGBT people are to be treated
2. Honesty is the best policy and to say we don’t disagree is a lie and breeds resentment on both sides of the argument and makes it difficult for those caught in between
3. It’s okay to not have all the answers

I know that this debate will continue on in the future for years to come, possibly for decades more. I am alright with that, but what I am not okay with is our lack of honesty in admitting that this disagreement is occurring. Some in our church would rather split, or stay in community and just suppress the non-majority group’s opinions. But I believe that leaving a way open for individual annual conferences, or central conferences, dare I say individuals to come to their own conclusions about what God is saying through Scripture, tradition, reason, and personal experience. I believe that repentance from saying we have all the answers is good for the Church universal and that humbly welcoming people of all opinions will lead to a better understanding of God and neighbor overall. Whether we agree or not is not important, remembering we are still one in the Spirit and one in the Lord. We may not all agree but that just proves that we are family even more.

A Storm Brewing in the West

Recently the Western Jurisdiction voted to make the slogan of the UMC “Open Doors, Open Hearts, and Open Minds” a reality by adopting this statement:

A call to biblical obedience: Understanding that God’s grace and love are available to all persons, the WJ is on record as believing that the UMC is in error in its position that homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching. As a result, the WJ calls on bishops, clergy, local churches and ministry settings the challenge to operate as if the statement in Paragraph 161F does not exist, creating a church where all people are truly welcome.(http://www.rmnblog.org/)

More conservative Methodists have cried foul-ball, and rightfully so, the Book of Discipline clearly states that General Conference speaks for the entire global connection, and though it is extremely difficult to get any legislation passed due to the way our current system is set up - what the Western Jurisdiction has done is essentially told the General Conference that it is wrong and that they won’t listen to it when it come to LGBTIQ issues. Actions like these are not uncommon in Christianity, Protestants have done the same thing with the Roman Catholic church as have the Eastern Orthodox church. Baptists and Methodists split over the issues of race and slavery as evidenced by the Southern Baptist Convention (1845), and the Methodist Episcopal South (1844). The past ideological disagreements in these denominations have lead to “us vs. them” mentality that caused these churches and the respective denominations to split. Some like the Baptists never reconciled after their disagreement on slavery, and have continued to drift further apart as the decades became over a century; the Methodist Episcopal, and the Methodist Episcopal South on the other hand came back together and became the United Methodist Church (after merging with the Evangelical United Brethren Church in 1968).
The very name United Methodist is in-and-of itself misleading, because the church is not united when it comes to the issue of how to treat the LGBTIQ community. Some factions of the church want full-inclusion on every level of church; some wish only for the church to allow full-participation in local congregations; and there are those that wish to exclude said community from ordination, but not from other forms of participation; some factions like that of some of the delegations of the Central Conferences truly believe that LGBTIQ persons are evil and need to be stopped. How can this church resolve these very different approaches in a way that keeps our church united?
I say “our church” because it is all of ours. This issue is not unique to the UMC, the Roman Catholic church has views as contrasting evidenced by the fact that both Lady Gaga and Rick Santorum are both Roman Catholics but their views on the LGBTIQ community are as different as they are. Our denomination had a white flag raised at General Conference, the Hamilton-Slaughter petition, which would have allowed our church’s members to agree to disagree; but the voice of our denomination could not even agree to disagree. On the one hand it is laughable that General Conference couldn’t agree to disagree because it is obvious that they do not all agree. It is also sad that GC2012 failed to agree to disagree because that means that each side feels that it is so right it must run the other side over and force it to “do the right thing”. It creates an environment that leads to hurt and to defiance, the perfect storm for another Methodist schism.
The Western Jurisdiction was not alone in its contempt of the current wording of the Book of Discipline when it comes to homosexuality. The Northeastern Jurisdiction also pushed through legislation that showed the region’s disdain for the harsh language which has aptly been described as the “incompatibly clause”, but it went nowhere near the extreme move the Western Jurisdiction’s move. Alongside these jurisdictions are countless United Methodists in other jurisdictions and Central Conferences, yet despite the unrest and aggravation on both sides of this argument no one is willing to compromise. The actions of the Western Jurisdiction prove this point, and the jurisdiction’s actions can have multiple outcomes especailly since the Western Jurisdiction is also hosting the next General Conference, here are my predictions for what will happen in the next four years:

1. These actions will force General Conference to spend more time on “holy conferencing” on LGBTIQ issues.

2.. They will cause the US Methodists to consider making the US a Central Conference, or at least making the Western Jurisdiction one.

3. They will cause the entire church to rethink and focus on what our covenant is with one another, and re-examine the authority of the Book of Discipline.

At worst this could lead to another Methodist schism, at best it could strengthen the church if we the church approach this with the humility and grace becoming of those who dare to call themselves Christians. What I want to happen is that different from what I envision happening: I want the US to be a Central Conference and end its colonial approach to church governance; I want General Conference to spend more time talking about homosexuality; I want the church to really think about what it means to be in covenant with one another. Most importantly I want this church to follow Christ.
I asked earlier: How can this church resolve these very different approaches in a way that keeps our church united? The answer is so simple: Fix our eyes on Jesus. We spend so much time looking at what makes us different and not focusing enough on why we were united in the first place, we were united by the power of the Holy Spirit in Christ. We have open doors so that others can come in and be lead to Christ as well, we have open hearts so that Christ’s love might pour out and touch others, and we have open minds so that whether we are right or wrong we are still faithfully loving all, and treating everyone with the same grace that the Creator showed through Christ.

Thoughts on Communion

As some of you may know, I plan on going into ministry full-time, that has lead me to seminary applications. One of them requires I write a one page essay on a theological topic that concerns the church, the community, or the world. This is that essay, I was already thinking about Communion after serving it at Servant Church (Austin, TX) this past Sunday, so this essay literally just popped out of my brain onto Google Drive, hope you enjoy.

Serving the Body & Blood of Christ

I don’t know if it is the liturgy leading us all to Christ and humbly receiving the grace He through the Spirit provides, or simply the gathering of saints creates this perfect atmosphere in which people feel that can show who they really are at the altar. When I serve communion I somehow always get the wine, so my line is always the phrase “This is the blood of Christ shed for you”, this line never gets old to me because of the reactions the line elicits from the people receiving Christ’s blood. Some of the congregants will smile, affirmed in their faith and in God’s love of them, some will cry for precisely the same reasons, others stare at me and look as if I have just cast a spell on them. 
My favorite moment in serving communion came on the last Sunday I spent at my home church before leaving for undergraduate study at the University of North Texas. One woman who was in town for the baptism of her niece came to the front already weeping, as she reached out her hands, “This is the body of Christ broken for you” , said Travis she nodded and moved in front of me still crying, I bent my head down looked in her eyes and said “This is the blood of Christ, shed just for you.” I changed my line for her, I knew that she was moved by Christ’s love for her, and I felt in my heart that she needed to know that this body and this blood, was here for her, not just the bread and wine, that the church was there to help her bear her cross daily, that God had not left her unto herself, but God had sent another Comforter, even the Spirit of Truth, and that Comforter was working through this bread and wine and this community of saints. As her eyes were level with mine she looked as if a veil had been lifted and she said to me “Thank you, thanks be to God”. I never saw her again, but I know that the Comforter had done a work in her that day through that body and blood, I only pray that the Church and I can be a body that the Comforter sees fit to use to bring comfort to others.

Why should we keep VBS?

This last week I recently began the fun journey of chaos, noise, debauchery, and often inter-child violence that churches all across the United States inaccurately deem “vacation” Bible school. If you have ever volunteered at a VBS you know that there is nothing about it that reminds you of a vacation. I had the particular pleasure of working with the 5th graders, who I expected to be better behaved because they were the oldest group, but I quickly learned how wrong I was about that presumption. My 5th graders, 29 of them, were boisterous in every sense of the word, there were the saving graces in the group, the ones that helped and tried their best to behave...but I would never describe VBS as a vacation save to describe it as a vacation for my patience.

Why do churches across the nation do this? If you cast aside the obvious answer: babysitting for the parents; you are left with typical surface answers, “To teach kids about Jesus”, “To draw in families”, blah blah blah. We can teach kids about Jesus any Sunday, and drawing in families can happen many other ways, there is something about Vacation Bible School that seems to be very important across denominations, across racial lines, VBS is very all-encompassing. On one hand it can be used as a metaphor for the Church at large, one giant production that sugar coats and fluffs up a simple truth, that God loves us and wants relationship with us. Or it could be a sign that churches everywhere are trying their best to reach out to their communities and society at large. Why do you think churches continue this yearly tradition?

At our VBS this year the kids had a “penny-war” to raise money for a local homeless ministry, they raised over $800 in 5 days. But fundraising is not the reason for VBS. They were taught stories about Noah’s wife, Naaman’s servant girl, John the Baptist, and the apostle Paul. They sang songs, that most of my 5th graders complained were “lame”, “boring”, and “stupid”. They did arts and crafts, science, and recreation. But what really stuck out to me was their drama sessions. At one point the leader of this activity asked the kids “What is it we can do that pleases God?”. I expected the kids to reply with stereotypical Sunday school answers like “pray”, “be nice”, “listen to our parents”; but these kids threw me off with answers like “volunteer to  help others”, “donate money to the homeless”, “recycle”. At 5th grade these kids were already connecting their faith to serving the world.

And I think back when my kiddo who has difficulty processing social situations, who is terribly shy and was even for a time was assigned a “special buddy”, volunteered to pray for another one of our 5th graders who was sick that day. I was moved to tears because it. I wondered then if VBS was more for the volunteers than it was for the children. But it really is not more for either group. It really is all about the Church, not individual churches, but the Church universal, because it teaches kids about what church is. Vacation Bible School’s messages are very general; there is no deep theology or philosophy that would confuse children or worry adults; but there are simple truths that are taught that improve the understanding of these children. My little kiddo learned that even though he is not the most popular of kids, he is still a part of their community and that it is his responsibility to care for others when they are sick. My other kids realized that the earth is a gift from God and that gift needs to be treated with respect; they learned that the homeless are God’s children too, and that we need to love the homeless like God loves us, because God loves them too.

Through VBS kids are taught not how to be better people, or better Christians, they are taught about why the Church is here. The Church is here to be Jesus for the world, to sacrifice itself so that others might live. These kids are learning through those “stupid” and “lame” songs, to “dare to care” for others, to “depend on God” not money to supply for our needs, to go out and “change the world”. Change it not just for their benefit, but for the benefit of those less fortunate, to the glory of God.

Holiness and Favoritism

“Don’t be conformed to your former desires, those that shaped you when you were ignorant. But, as obedient children, you must be holy in every aspect of your lives, just as the one who called you is holy. It is written, You will be holy, because I am holy. Since you call upon a Father who judges all people according to their actions without favoritism, you should conduct yourselves with reverence during the time of your dwelling in a strange land.” 1 Peter 1:14-17

I have always known that God plays favorites, prime examples would be Jacob and Esau (Malachi 1:3), Joseph over his brothers (Genesis 37:1-10), the children of Abraham over everyone else in the entire world (Genesis 15), the list goes on. So this verse has always been somewhat confusing in that is explicitly states that God does not play favorites when he judges. If you look in the Hebrew scriptures you will clearly find that some people sin and God blesses them for doing, the biggest one is lying. Satan is allegedly the “father of lies” (John 8:44), but when Rahab lied twice (Joshua 6:17)  God spares her life and counts it to her as righteousness (Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25); David’s wife lies to her father the king (1 Samuel 19:11-17), but there women are respected and praised for lying saved lives, but according to the law they should be punished. God makes exceptions in His judgements to spare their lives because of their devotion not only to those whom they loved, but to God as well. Rahab ends up becoming an ancestor of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:5) and although Mical does not end up bearing any children and ends up getting dealt a really bad hand by whoever authored 1 Samuel, she was still married to the greatest king of Israel, David, and she still saved his life. These women examples call into question what holiness really is.

To conservatives, holiness is following all of the rules and praying that you do enough “holy” actions. To liberals holiness is serving in as many non-profits and helping as many people as you possibly can. And moderates are just a mix of these two options. Both conservatives and liberals have it wrong though, because the focus of their holiness still comes from within them not from God, the source of all that is holy. They use their actions, or their in-actions in some cases, to prove their holiness when the way to holiness is simple: give into God’s demands instead of your own desires. Mical could have spent one more night with her husband David who she hadn’t seen in months, she would probably have loved to spend time with him, but she knew there was a strong chance he would not be safe there so she told him to leave to save him. Rahab put her life in danger to save Joshua and Caleb fromt the soldiers that were searching for them, but she risked her life so that others might live. Holiness is laying down your life so that others might live, and giving up yourself that God might use you to be a blessing to the world. Jacob was chosen so that God might so the world that even a deceiver can be called righteous; Joseph was chosen to show that even trust-fund babies are capable of having a servant’s heart; Abraham was chosen, because even a pagan can hear the voice of God and obey. What is holiness if nothing but being willing to be used by God. If a prostitute, a trust-fund baby, a liar, and a man married to his sister can all be holy, what’s to stop us from being holy as our Father is holy as well?