Untied Methodist

Several decades ago, the United Methodist Church met in Indianapolis for its General Conference.   I recall seeing at that time of a picture of an Indianapolis hotel that was seeking to warmly welcome the United Methodist Church to its town.   Evidently, the person that had the duty of tending to the sign was not a very good speller because the sign proclaimed:   Welcome Untied Methodist.

I just returned late Tuesday night from a special session of the General Conference in St. Louis.  I was there not as a delegate, but as an observer in my capacity as the President of the United Methodist Rural Advocates for the United Methodist Church.   Though the founder of Methodism, John Wesley, stated that Christian Conference was a “means of grace”,   I witnessed how untied Methodists are.   The consequences of the decisions remain to be seen.     It was one of the most painful church gatherings that I have been a part of in recent memory.   Here are a few observations of that gathering:

·   Though there is much that United Methodists agree on, they are sharply divided on the issue of gay/lesbian issues.   By a vote of  approximately 54%, the General Conference voted in essence to maintain its current stance banding same sex marriages and gay/lesbian pastors.  

·         All present  in St. Louis whether they advocate for changes in the current stance or not are passionate about their love for Christ and His Church

·         All present at the General Conference value the Bible but sharply differ on how they understand it

·         We live in one world, but people around the world sharply differ on how they view issues relative to human sexuality

One friend of mine asked the question,  “Were there any winners in St. Louis?”   I do not believe there were.    There were people in pain in St. Louis and beyond because of the decisions there.   In the church, we believe that when one person in the church suffers, all suffer

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Despite it all, the church continues in all its human frailities and imperfections.   The needs of the world are great.     As I boarded the plane, I encountered on Tuesday a man going home to bury his mother who needed a resurrection hope.   On the phone yesterday, I heard the story of a  family from Venezuela here in the United States that needs   to be welcomed.    At the hospital, I encounter patients who wonder if they are in their last days who need comfort.     A man stops me on the way to the airport saying that he needs food to eat.    There is much work for the Church to do its brokenness because the there are many lives who are broken.   -  Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:   Heal your church, O Lord.   Let your Spirit fall afresh on it.  Tie your cords around it.   Save us, O Lord, from our divisions that we might together reach out to your hurting world;  through Christ our Lord.  Amen.  

Thomas Jefferson and the Bible

President’s Day was just a few days ago.    Since the birthdays of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln are this time of year,  we normally think of them at Presidents Day.   I want to focus on another one of our presidents today:  Thomas Jefferson.  He was our third president and served in the office from 1801 to 1809 after having served as vice president.   Thomas Jefferson lived in the state of Virginia and has a beautiful home outside of Charlottesville, Virginia that is called Monticello.   

A few years ago, my wife Ann and I visited Monticello and its lovely grounds.   We took a walk down from the house to the cemetery where Thomas Jefferson is buried.    By Jefferson’s instructions, his gravestone notes that he founded the University of Virginia and was the writer of the Declaration of Independence but makes no mention to the fact that he was President of the United States.  After visiting the house, grounds, and grave site, Ann and I went into a small gift shop on the grounds.   Amid the post cards, shirts, and the like is the Jefferson Bible for sale.    What you might not know about Thomas Jefferson is that he wrote his own Bible.   It is a little different from the Bible you may have in your house in that Jefferson takes out parts of the Bible he does not like.  Technically, it is not a Bible as the official title is The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth.    According to tradition, Jefferson took a razor to an actual Bible and pasted those parts of the Bible that he wanted to include in his work that was published in 1820.

I share this  because I suspect most of us  (like Thomas Jefferson) have parts of the Bible that we like better than others.   Our congregation this year is reading the Bible in its entirety.  In recent days, we have read books of the Bible such as Leviticus and Deuteronomy which perhaps are not in the “top ten” list of favorite books  of the Bible for most folks.       I encourage you to open your Bible and discover all of it.    It might surprise you.  Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall  

Prayer:   O God,  praise and glory be given to you for the Holy Scriptures, a light for our path and a lamp for our feet.  Give us the discipline to read your Word and study it.  Let your Spirit fall afresh on us to give us open hearts to what you would say to us; through Christ our Lord.  Amen. 

A Love Like No Other

Valentines Day is here again.   People approach Valentines Day in different ways.   Some simply see Valentines Day as another day with no special meaning for them.   Of course, there are others who approach Valentines Day with anticipation and excitement because they are in relationships with people they love and/or love them as they are lavished with candy, cards, flowers, and the like.   Finally, they are people who are sad when Valentines Day rolls around for all sorts of reasons:  they are facing their first Valentines Day with their heart feeling the pain of a marriage has ended or a relationship has severed… their spouse or significant other has died or is in the hospital. 

This year, I encourage you or challenge you to do something different this year whatever Valentines Day means for you and it is this:  tell someone or even better show someone that God loves them.    You don’t have to spend an enormous amount that you cannot afford on candy or flowers.  When you get right down to it,  human love is fleeting.   Those of you who have suffered the loss of someone you love know that simply because your loved one is not living on this earth  anymore.   Those of you that have faced a breakup in a relationship know that human love is fleeting because you do not know the love of that person anymore.  However, the love of God is different because “God is love”.    Tell someone or show someone that God loves them this Valentines Day.   Isn’t that what followers of Christ are supposed to do all the time.  Have a joy-filled week.-   Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:   O God, we give you thanks for your unconditional and eternal love.  As you have loved us,  let us tell others and show others your love; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

Leonardo and "The Last Supper"

You will see with this blog today a picture of Leonardo da Vinci’s painting “The Last Supper”.    Many of you have seen it before or perhaps you can seen a re-enactment of it during Holy Week or on Maundy Thursday in your church.   Some of you may even have a copy of the painting in your home  Though it is a work from the late 15^th century, it is one of the most recognized paintings in  the world still today.    

I heard a story about da Vinci and the painting a few days ago from an unlikely source:  one of the books of writer and psychologist Dr. Phil McGraw.   Dr. Phil tells the story that when da Vinci was working on the painting, he ran into a particularly difficult time when he was trying to paint the face of Jesus.   At this time,  it seems that da Vinci had had a  disagreement with an associate.   Though it is not revealed what the issue might have been, da Vinci discovered that the disagreement with the friend was the reason that he was having a difficult time completing his masterpiece.   You see, it is difficult to look at the face of Jesus when you look with scorn or dismay at the face of a brother or sister. 

In that story shared by Dr. Phil is found an important truth that many of us sometimes overlook:  there is a connection between our relationship with the Lord and our relationship with others.   If there is trouble in our relationship with others, it will impact our relationship with God.    Jesus gets to the heart of that connection in the prayer he taught his disciples that we call “The Lords Prayer”  when he taught them (and us) to pray “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”   Is your relationship with God adversely impacted by the truth that there is an issue between you and someone else?  Perhaps it is time to get the matter resolved.    Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:   O God, we ask your forgiveness for the times that we are quick to offer condemnation of others and slow to forgive.  Forgive us, O God, and help us to forgive others knowing how abundantly you forgive us again and again; through Jesus Christ our Lord.   Amen. 

Super Bowl and Supper Bowl

There will be many sports fans and especially football fans whose eyes will be focused on Atlanta and a football game being held there in a few days.     Families and friends perhaps already have plans to get together and to feast on their favorite foods.   Some will be quite interested in the football game, while others will be more interested in the social gathering, food, or the television commercials.   We call that game the “Super Bowl” and it has been called the same for several decades.    This year,  my interest in the game is not particularly high due to the fact that the NFL team I follow, the Carolina Panthers, did not even make it to the NFL playoffs.

Whether you are an avid sports and football fan or not,  I invite you to not just think about the Super Bowl, but also the supper bowl.    A few years ago,  I began to hear about church youth groups that were having fund-raisers near the date of the Super Bowl that they called the Soupper Bowl.   Their point was to draw attention to a local, national, and global issue:  hunger.   While most of you reading this will have the ability to eat  more than you really need on Super Bowl Sunday, that same day there will be people in our community and beyond who do not have enough food to eat.  

World hunger is a large issue.   There are many reasons why children, youth, and adults will go to bed hungry tonight.    I will not take time to explore all the reasons partly because I believe it is a complex issue.  While some would like to avoid the issue by saying that all people are hungry because they are not willing to work, I contend that the issue is not that simple.    What I do know is that while many will be stuffing themselves with their favorite foods on Super Bowl Sunday, there will be many in this world who will not have a supper bowl before them.  

Since world hunger is such a large issue, it is tempting to do nothing.   As a follower of the One who fed the hungry long ago and proclaimed himself as the “bread of life”,  I urge you as I urge myself to do something.   While none of us has the capacity to eliminate hunger, all of us have the capacity to do something and get involved.  Help feed the hungry.    Take some canned food to a local food pantry or perhaps volunteer to help there.   Instead of waiting till Christmas to come around again to put money in the Salvation Army kettle, send them a donation now.    Find a way to make a difference.   This week, I invite you to not just focus on the Super Bowl, but also the supper bowl.   I guarantee you that a good feeling will linger in you long after the football season is over.  Have  a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:  Lord, we remember those in our community and world who live with the pangs of hunger.  Give us the compassion and the motivation to make a difference in their plight.   We pray these prayers in the name of the One who fed the hungry, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen. 

I Hate Snow, I Love Snow

When I was a boy, I can recall that my Grandpa Wall would listen at lunchtime every day to the news and weather on the local radio station, WBBB.    While we are in a 24/7 news cycle today, such was not the case in those days.   Grandpa would ask us to be extremely quiet especially when we would listen to the weather forecast shared by someone with the National Weather Service at the Greensboro airport.     This time of year,  our ears perk up with a little more interest in the weather forecast when they mention that four letter word that brings glee to some and disgust to others:  snow.   

I hate snow.   Nancy Hatch Woodward says this about snow:  “Snow brings a special quality with it- the power to stop life as you know it dead in its tracks”.   Such is especially the case in the Carolinas where I live.   As a pastor for over 40 years, the mention of the word snow in the Carolinas always prompts the question of whether to cancel a church meeting, a church event, or Sunday activities.    If it  was my decision alone, I would like to never cancel Sunday worship but I try to err on the side of caution concerned that ice or snow might bring injury or accident to some faithful follower of Christ who desired to exercise their freedom to worship.    I hate the uncertainty about whether the schedule of the church or businesses I frequent will go as usual.  

I hate snow.   I also love snow.    John Burnside says this about snow:    “Snow isn’t just pretty.   It also cleanses our world and our senses, not just of the soot and grime of a mining town, but also of a kind of weary familiarity, a taken-for-granted quality to which our eyes are all too susceptible.”   I love how snow can turn a stark winter landscape into a winter wonderland and how snow can transform the world around us.    Snow makes us see the world around us in all its beauty and splendor.

Back in the 1990’s, I took a trip to Israel and the Holy Land about this time of year.      I know not how often snow comes to that part of the world, but it must every now and then.     The prophet Isaiah has snow on his mind when he writes,  “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;   though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”   (Isaiah 1:18).      God transforms the world around us with snow and that same God transforms our lives through his forgiveness and grace that we find in Jesus Christ.       You see, there is another four letter word  that changes everything-  love, the love of God.   Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:  Lord, you are the God of sun and snow, of wind and rain.   We thank you for providing for all our needs.  We especially give you thanks for the forgiveness and grace that is ours through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.   Amen.  

The Power of the Hyphen

When one year ends and a new year begins, I usually will take some time reflecting on some of the events of the past year.  Recently, I thought about some of the people that died in 2018.  They included the following:

• George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush- former President of the U.S., former first lady
• Paul Allen- co-founder of Microsoft
• Stan Lee-  comic book writer, super-hero creator
• Aretha Franklin- singer, entertainer
• John McCain-  United States Senator, U.S. Navy veteran
• Burt Reynolds- actor
• Penny Marshall- actress

These are just a few well-known people that died in 2018.  There are many more people that could be named who served our country, entertained us, and impacted the quality of our lives.  Of course, there are people most of us could name who died in 2018 who are not well known or famous, but who touched our lives in significant ways and whose names are written on our hearts.

As you read this, it is near the birthday of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Certainly he touched our lives, our country, and our world in remarkable ways.   Former President Jimmy Carter tells the story in one of his books about attending the funeral of Rev. Martin Luther King Sr., father of the slain civil rights leader.   President Carter tells that during the funeral one of the pastor participating in the funeral spoke about the power of the hyphen.   The pastor said that most every gravestone has on it the name of the person and also the date they were born and the date they died.   In between the date of their birth and the date of their death is a hyphen.  Jimmy Carter tells that the pastor went on to speak about the fact that all of us have a date we are born and a date we die.   While none of us can control those dates, all of us are given a choice about what happens between our birth and death. 

Each of the persons listed above who died in 2018 left a legacy that will is lasting well after their death.  What will be our legacy?   One person put it this way:  “Our life is a gift from God.  What we do with that gift is our gift to God.”    Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:   Living God, I thank you for the gift of my life and for the gift of new life in Christ.  Let your Spirit fall fresh on me to help me to live my life in a way that is pleasing in your sight; through Christ our Lord.  Amen.