Author: Jeff

This post is dated June 28, 2016, and was published on jw4grace.wordpress.com before I created my current site jw4grace.com.

“An elder is called to share in the ministry of Christ and of the whole church: to preach and teach the Word of God and faithfully administer the sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion; to lead the people of God in worship and prayer; to lead persons to faith in Jesus Christ; to exercise pastoral supervision, order the life of the congregation, counsel the troubled, and declare the forgiveness of sin; to lead the people of God in obedience to Christ’s mission in the world; to seek justice, peace, and freedom for all people; and to take a responsible place in the government of the Church and in service in and to the community. These are the duties of an elder. Do you believe that God has called you to the life and work of an elder?”

I do so believe.

This year’s West Michigan Annual Conference at Michigan State University marked my twenty-fifth year as an ordained elder in The United Methodist Church. The description above was part of this year’s Service of Recognition, Commissioning, and Ordination. Every year that I participate in this service I am humbled by these clear declarations of the official meaning of the Orders of ministry (Elder, Deacon, Local Pastor) and the confirmation process (Recognition, Commissioning, Ordination) for each Order.

Each clause describing the life and work of an elder now has vivid meaning in the relationships, stories, and memories of the people through whom God has blessed and burdened me. The blessings, of course, are great. The burdens are heavy reminders of my limitations and ongoing need for grace. In Christian community, vulnerability and intimacy are revealed in all we learn about God, each other, and ourselves. Which is why I so often return to GRACE in my life and ministry.

GRACE is the best way for me to approach knowing God in all the Wesleyan ways we understand it: God loving us before we know it, opening doors by preparing hearts and minds for new relationships; reconciling, forgiving and restoring us to a right relationship with God through Jesus Christ; giving us a future with hope as we go on toward perfection in love in this life.

The most graceful people in my life are Beverly, Lindsey, son-in-law Callan, grandson Braxton, Sarah, and Amanda. Beverly and I also are welcoming a new son-in-law Florian who will marry Sarah next April. Grace flows through them and our extended families, natural and chosen.  Grace confounds, comforts, and challenges me. It is the orienting power in my life and ministry. When I wonder about direction, identity, or purpose, I return to grace and go from there.

Which brings me to accounting. I majored in it for my Bachelor’s degree from Central Michigan University. I passed the final section of the CPA exam during the final year of my Master’s degree from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. I am so thankful that accounting has taught me the spiritual value of financial stewardship. I also have discovered how important it is to me to account for my life and ministry.

Sometimes fear motivates my accounting, wanting to show that I am enough of a disciple, husband, father, grandfather, ordained elder, or friend to be acceptable. Then there are the bad examples of “accountability” that seem like thinly veiled attempts to get rid of unacceptable people. But in my healthier, GRACEFUL moments, accounting is a witness to joy, abundance, peace, and hope. I prefer the accounting described here:

Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence (most of 1 Peter 3:14-16).

Through grace, God has given me the strength to account for my hope. I have returned to grace to begin again so many times that I have lost count. The life of a disciple and work of an elder in the Church is still the best way I believe I can account for God’s grace in my life. I thank God for all of you who share this journey.

And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also, he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true” (Revelation 21:5).

On February 2 Gwyn Meisenbach, our Lay Leader, announced that I was being appointed to Greenville First UMC as of July 1. We talked with each other that day in Holy Conversation and I said,

“I look at you and I smile. I just do because we have a good life together…Our life as United Methodists goes this way…Pastoral families and congregations are matched together for a season of ministry, a season of life, and certainly for us here a season of love. And we are touched by all that you have given us.”

With the announcement of my appointment to Greenville we enter a new stage of our common life to prepare for Beverly’s and my departure and the arrival of a new pastor/pastoral household. This upcoming change is new for us but not unfamiliar.

In Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World, Tim Ferriss asked Tim Urban, “What is the book (or books) you’ve given most as a gift, and why? Or what are one to three books that have greatly influenced your life?”

Urban responded: The Fountainhead was a major influence when I wrote a long blog post about why I think Elon Musk is so successful. To me, he’s like Roark—he’s tremendous at reasoning from first principles. In the post, I call this being a “chef” (someone who experiments with ingredients and comes up with a new recipe). Musk is unusually cheflike. Most of us spend most of our lives being like Keating, or what I call a “cook” (someone who follows someone else’s recipe) (Ferriss, Timothy. Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World (pp. 41-42). HMH Books. Kindle Edition. Bold is mine)

I like the contrast of “chef” and “cook.” Perhaps this coming transition is an invitation to put on our chef hats and experiment with known ingredients and come up with new recipes for ministry in Wayland.

Another way to describe this transitional experience is found in a chapter on Innovation in Charles Duhigg’s book, Smarter Faster Better:

“Our analysis of 17.9 million papers spanning all scientific fields suggests that science follows a nearly universal pattern,” (Brian) Uzzi and (Ben) Jones wrote. “The highest-impact science is primarily grounded in exceptionally conventional combinations of prior work yet simultaneously features an intrusion of unusual combinations” (Charles Duhigg, Smarter Faster Better, 213-214; Bold is mine).

Could “an intrusion of unusual combinations” be a creative way of describing God’s way of “making all things new” in Jesus Christ?

• Making all things new means that what we already have is given a new purpose, direction, or energy.
• We already have what God will use for justice, compassion, and peace.
• We already have what God will use for us to be a beacon of Christ in our community.

So, we can look at each other and our gifts for ministry as being made new by God’s grace. There can be deeper, different conversations and decisions about the future of Wayland UMC. And that is refreshing! Just as God made things new for us in 2014 until now, God acts again to renew and revive our congregation.

And God has been doing this all along. I said on February 2, “I looked back and since 1960 in terms of the record of churches and pastors, I am the 12th pastor to serve Wayland United Methodist Church.” That “intrusion of unusual combinations” is happening as we will welcome a next pastor here and as Beverly and I go to Greenville First UMC which will be my 8th appointment since returning to Michigan in 1989.

We are loved and blessed and brought together and sent out through God’s “intrusions of unusual combinations.” May we trust that the things and people God brings together in Jesus Christ will be made new for God’s purposes in this time and place.

On the occasion of celebrating 30 years in ministry this past St. Patrick’s Day (3/17/19), I shared this testimony to the love and grace of God that I know because of the people in my life.

Being a pastor does not make sense apart from a congregation.

MY being a pastor does not make sense apart from Beverly. Her love and grace and ministry are amazing.

We have three strong, inspiring, funny, delightful daughters and two sons-in-law; Lindsey & Callan, Braxton and Miles and they are expecting a sister in late July (Remi was born 7/25/19); Sarah & Flo in Orlando; Amanda in South Korea (she has since returned and is working and living in Chicago).

Beverly and I are each the oldest of three in our families and our ministry does not make sense apart from them. Our moms are here, Marlyn and Betty; our dads have died, Brent and Charles; we gained a step-dad many years ago, Rob. And we have always had Uncle Rick.

To them, and my sister, Dr. Lori Tagger; Brett & Tammi in Chicago with Tyler, AJ, and MacKenzie; Barb & Charlie, Rose and Grace; Beth & Durke, Oscar and Alex: we love you and thank you for supporting and accommodating this ministry life.

We also chose and gained in seminary, four other families who have become our Evanston family. Cassidhe Hart (who preached that day) is our chosen niece. In pastoral ministry, you move around a lot. And they have made every move with us and been there for us in all the ways we have changed.

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A profound insight in Christian theological history is attributed to Saint Anselm, who became the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1093. His motto is “faith seeking understanding.”

We want to make sense of our lives as human beings and in our relationship with God. We want to be involved in worthwhile actions and projects and enjoy meaningful relationships. We want to experience the fullness of time together with God and each other. The larger context of these desires is proclaimed by the writer of Ecclesiastes:

What do people really get for all their hard work? I have seen the burden God has placed on us all. Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end (Ecclesiastes 3:9-11; New Living Translation).

While our search for meaning has its beautiful dimensions, there are also real risks in not appreciating our limits. When our meaningful worlds or worlds of meaning are threatened or contradicted, we are scared about losing our identity and place in the world. We will fight to maintain our worldview against challengers, facts, truth, and anything else that might cause us to change. When we do change at this fundamental level because of internal or external circumstances, it is a type of death experience. There is a loss of what we have known when we have to begin again or create or find new meaning.

Ministry with each other and in the world as we go through this dying/rising/changing process is the work of the Church. We get to proclaim the good news that even in our greatest losses there are the gifts of new beginnings.

Seeking or finding meaning in our lives aligns our spirit and mind and body with God’s greater purposes. When that sense of integration and joy and power is experienced in community with others who are also alive in these ways, the world changes for us. That is, we share a common sense of God’s love and justice. We find new opportunities for relationships and effective work. We are inspired to take risks knowing that our value and our identity are embraced and held by God. Jesus is this wholehearted person for us, fully human and fully divine. Jesus invites us to follow him and his ways to learn of God’s grace and to be partners with him in the present and coming Kingdom of God.

When the plain sense of things is distorted and disturbed by lies, distractions, or direct attacks, we can momentarily lose our balance and our way. How will you make sense of it in 2020? In which relationships will you find strength and inspiration? How can we as the Church impact the troublesome world we have inherited and created? I look forward to important life-giving actions and conversations this coming year as our faith seeks understanding that frees us to be God’s people in the world.

Holy Conversation is something new in worship this Fall. At the end of the service and before we leave the sanctuary, we talk with each other. It could be a question about the sermon or worship service or a faith question that has been on someone’s mind or heart recently. These conversations have included questions about personal devotional materials and study bibles; inviting young people to spiritual life; wondering about the activity of God in the world and universe; and how to deal with people who won’t change.

This time has become a way to reveal or discover the connections of worship and daily life. It also is the opportunity to learn more about those with whom we worship.

“Outside My Own Little World” is our Fall worship series. Dr. Marcia McFee of Worship Design Studio has written this about the nature of the Church:

In order to begin to live “outside your own little world,” we are asked to “wake up” to the world around us…beyond what we might see right in front of us. Sometimes we simply go through the motions—in our lives and in our worship. Perhaps it is not about staying awake in church, but staying awake as the church (used with permission through subscription to www.worshipdesignstudio.com).

As we enter the Advent season leading to Christmas, we are reminded that being alert and ready to respond is an important spiritual quality.

Another awakening source for our congregation is the prayer requests we share in worship. Many are for people we know who are having surgery or whose loved ones have died. But we also have prayed for Hong Kong and the struggle for democracy, victims of gun violence and natural disasters, and the need for financial resources in a single-parent family. To conclude the Children’s Message we pray for families who are separated, homeless, and hungry.

We act on these prayers and Holy Conversations in multiple ways:

• Collecting donations every week for Christian Neighbors Food Pantry.
• Serving as Christian Neighbors Food Pantry Board Members.
• Volunteering regularly at Project Hope.
• Collecting donations and traveling to Henderson Settlement to serve.
• Serving the community and building up the congregation with the Harvest Dinner.
• Developing friendships and sharing worship and meals with the Salem and Bradley Native American United Methodist congregations.
• Sponsoring Scout Troop 97.
• Opening our building for Senior Meals twice a week.
• Serving the children in our community through the Amazing Arts Academy. We had 47 kids and 17 volunteers this year! There were 13 children last year.
• In the last couple of years, our Noisy Offerings have supported PET (Personal Energy Transportation), Henderson Settlement, Local Emergency Fund, Poetice International, Wayland Christmas Project, Ministry Shares, and Camp New Day.

In my article for the January-February edition of The ARK, I introduced the perspective of Planting–Cultivating–Harvesting as a way to approach our ministry in 2019 and asked if we might see ourselves as a Greenhouse of Hope. I return to a source for that perspective, my dear friend Rev. Dr. Dori Grinenko Baker:

We believe that if the church is to thrive, it will need such young leaders. However, we also believe that Greenhouses of Hope open possibilities for living a life that matters to all people. We believe that all Christians have a call, by virtue of their baptism. We hope that congregations who practice care for vocation will give birth to a fascinating array of ways people can live and act fully out of their faith (Greenhouses of Hope: Congregations Growing Young Leaders Who Will Change the World, 6-7).

When people leave the church inspired radical change happens.

It is still inspiring for me to consider the world-changing power, certainly witnessed in the biblical book of Acts, that has come through the Church throughout the ages.

ON MARCH 7, 1965 Reverend Hosea Williams and John Lewis stepped from the pulpit of Brown Chapel Church and led a group of 600 toward Montgomery. After just six blocks, when they crossed the now infamous Edmund Pettus Bridge over the Alabama River, Sheriff Jimmy Clark’s deputies and state troopers dispatched by Gov. Wallace attacked the group with nightsticks and tear gas, injuring dozens. The violence stopped the marchers’ first attempt, but they would not be silenced or stopped for good. The event came to be known as Bloody Sunday. Two weeks later, under the protection of Alabama National Guardsmen and Army troops, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. set off again from Selma and marched along U.S. Hwy. 80 to the capital city (https://riotexasmfsa.org/2015/03/).

Of the many memorable moments of that day, there were the words shouted through a bull horn to the marchers, “Go back to your homes and churches.” As if those were the places where they would be out of the way, back in order, and off the bridge. But it was because of what happened in those churches and homes that they were walking across the bridge in the first place! The church was where they learned, prayed, worshiped, organized, and went out into the streets.

The church was a body of people who heard the Gospel, saw the injustice, and walked onto the national stage of the Edmund Pettus Bridge to awaken the conscience of a nation.

While such bold and dramatic actions may not characterize our local church history, Jesus’ deeds and words are meant to wake us up and raise up our faith to bold levels of showing mercy, seeking justice, and sharing Good News in our community.

Let’s thank God for a vibrant year of ministry and feel the urgent awakening energy of the Holy Spirit to be a congregation inspired to serve as a beacon of Christ in our community.

What happens when you leave the church inspired?

I don’t remember if I gave the opening prayer for the township board meeting or was just attending as an observer and pastor in the community. A man was requesting a zoning change to put in a canoe livery on the local river. He was making an appropriate request and the board members asked him questions about his ownership of the property and the survey he had done for his request. That seemed to go just fine…until it was time for comments from the audience. Another man stood up somewhat agitated. He was the first man’s neighbor.

He spoke against the request and closed his remarks by saying, “I also had a survey done and he doesn’t even own the property!”

I don’t remember how the matter was resolved but have continued to think about what their little river neighborhood was going to be like when they left the meeting.

The two surveys clearly contradicted each other. They were mutually exclusive giving no value to the other. That kind of sounds like the risk in every other conflict we encounter including the acknowledgment of climate change or mistreatment of children and families at our southern border; the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; differing Biblical interpretations; or the Traditionalist-Progressive struggle about inclusiveness for LGBTQ+ sisters and brothers in The United Methodist Church.

What land surveys don’t say is what kind of relationship the parties currently have or could have. How healthy is it? Is it based on justice? What is the power balance? Who has more resources?

Surveys form the basis for plans and expectations and possibilities for what can happen in a relationship, a community, or a situation. Surveys are documented ways of looking at a population or an area and determining its dimensions, resources, and needs.

I appreciate our Bishop David Bard’s comments in a Question and Answer session (unofficial gathering) late one night at this year’s Michigan Annual Conference. He has shared his heart in this conflict and encouraged us to enter the vulnerable space of examining our hearts and the various interests of our sisters and brothers. He said that we are living together in too small of a house and are hurting each other. He feels we need to create space for healing and reflection, and I agree with him.

I write my articles after surveying my faith and our common life together. And you read my articles based on your surveys. These next two surveys by Jesus reveal our needs for peacemaking and compassion and good hard work all of which take place in a world filled with hope and fear.

Jesus surveyed Jerusalem: “As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it,  saying, ‘If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes'” (Luke 19:41-42).

On another occasion, he surveyed the crowds: “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;  therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest’” (Matthew 9:36-38).

I know we feel the corrosive effects of violence from racism, menacing policies of leaders, threatening rhetoric, and grossly unjust differences of wealth. Jesus also was subject to these forces in his death on the cross.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
(When I Survey the Wondrous Cross)

Sorrow and love mingle for sure but so does anger at the humiliation and disregard for vulnerable people represented in the crown of thorns. We still live in a world that needs saving and healing and restoration and peace. And I am inspired to keep showing up for Church and ministry and life by the words of Adrienne Rich:

My heart is moved by all I cannot save: so much has been destroyed I have to cast my lot with those who age after age, perversely, with no extraordinary power reconstitute the world.

(“Natural Resources” by Adrienne Rich in Household of Freedom by Rev. Dr. Letty Russell)

There are plenty of surveys to consider. What does your survey say about how to live faithfully in our present age?

In between Mission Impossible and Mission Accomplished lies the greater realm of life, Mission-In-Progress. I find there are few “resolved” matters in ministry. Instead, we are all on the way with Christ. Our United Methodist heritage includes the powerful mission of “going on to perfection.” I was asked questions related to this at my ordination in June 1991: “Are you going on to perfection? Do you expect to be made perfect in love in this life? Are you earnestly striving after it?”

“The best, most accurate description of Christian perfection is love. It is love fully formed in the human heart, soul, and mind. With Christian perfection the heart is so filled with love that there is no longer room for sin and evil to reside there” (Steven W. Manskar, a perfect love: Understanding John Wesley’s A Plain Account of Christian Perfection, 6). Christian perfection is not about the elimination of sin or mistakes in our life as if we strive for perfect “performance”; it is about the increasing triumph of love in our lives by God’s grace.

Knowing only in part how much is going on in our lives that we cannot control, we can at least be mindful of our direction. Pastor and author, Andy Stanley, makes this admittedly obvious affirmation:

“Direction-not intention-determines our destination”
(The Principle of the Path, 14)

One way to gauge our direction and measure how we are “going on to perfection” is through core principles or values. Some years ago, I worked with the FranklinCovey PlanPlus system to write down some of my core values as a disciple of Jesus Christ and United Methodist pastor. They are signs of what God has revealed in my life to help me continue or return to the path of love and grace with Christ. I encourage you to devote time in prayer and reflection on the values you depend on or live by in your journey with Christ. These are mine:

Incarnation: I will seek to be fully present with God, neighbor, and self (spiritually, emotionally, physically) in each moment.
Communion: I will seek to personally connect with God, neighbor, and self in each interaction, and express genuine interest and care.
Imagination: I will seek times of solitude for the purpose of reflection and exploration of my imagination. I will invite others into similar exploration and encourage them through shared times of creative imagination.
Generosity: I will seek an abundance mentality toward my possessions, gifts, and all creation. An integral part of this commitment is the availability of my person (spirit, mind, heart) for service with and for others.
Integrity: I will seek to realistically assess my relationship with time and correspondingly make commitments with God, neighbor, and self that are reasonable and authentic. I desire to make and keep genuine commitments and seek genuine Sabbath rest.

Let’s keep going in the direction of Love and let God accomplish impossible things in our midst.

At the end of June, Beverly and I will celebrate five years of ministry in Wayland. Wayland UMC welcomed us in July 2014. I remember a potluck in the park after worship, starting to learn about the all-hands-on-deck nature of the Harvest Dinner, and Beverly and I receiving very large cards filled with candy bars whose names were part of the message. We are grateful for the ways they have cared for us.

It was at my five-year Elder retreat with Bishop Donald Ott in 1996 that he told us, “You are not new anymore.” Likewise, as pastor and congregation, we enter a new growing season of ministry that might have the character of middle years.

Maarten van Doorn writes in his article, Why Are You Not Making An Impact? Perhaps It’s Just The Middle,

The middle is where it gets tough. In the beginning, you’ve still got all the enthusiasm. And when you can see the finish line, you start your sprint…In the middle, the mountain peak we remember seeing…so vividly from base camp appears to be covered in fog. You’re not sure that you’re still going up, let alone how to reach it…What this means: in every path to the summit, you’ll stop ascending for a while. But that doesn’t mean you’re no longer climbing.

For 2019, I want to hold the perspective of Planting-Cultivating-Harvesting to understand our ministry. Cultivating is a commitment to stay in one place and support and seek growth right where we are. We are seeking more understanding of the Wayland area through a resource called MissionInsite. I am grateful to Wayne Trainor, our Mission Team Co-Chairperson, for his willingness to learn how to best use this resource. It will give us information to help us deepen our ministry and outreach. It may seem like not much is happening but we are cultivating and preparing for significant ministry.

Jesus often used agricultural metaphors to describe God’s kingdom and our calling to participate in its growth. As anyone who has tried to maintain a garden knows, growing desirable plants requires intentionality and hard work. Growing nothing is easy. Growing weeds is easy. Growing delicious fruits and vegetables and beautiful flowers is much more difficult.

(Cultivated Ministry: A NEXT Church Field Guide to Bearing Fruit, 9)

But you need to remain well established and rooted in faith and not shift away from the hope given in the good news that you heard. 

Colossians 1:23a (Common English Bible)

My pastoral letter that accompanied the 4th quarter 2018 giving reports included this reference from the article, “Your Church—Machine  or Garden?” by Patrick Johnson:

    But I want to challenge us to begin thinking about the church as a garden versus a machine. That shift in thinking is key, because a garden environmental model focuses on:

• relationships and cultivation. It’s about a relationship with the soil. It’s a process of cultivation, that is connecting with people who till the soil and with the plants that you’re planting.
• root issues and fruit issues. It’s about doing your part, watering and planting and harvesting as God provides the increase.

Wayland UMC traces its roots to 1856. Since 1864, we have been on the same plot of land. In our sixth year of ministry, I pray we that we might cultivate compassion and generosity in the same place where so much has been planted, cultivated, and harvested for the glory of God.

Hope of the world,
thou Christ of great compassion,
speak to our fearful hearts by conflict rent.
Save us thy people from consuming passion
who by our own false hopes and aims are spent.
(“Hope of the World,” Georgia Harkness,
#178, United Methodist Hymnal)

2019 is a year of decade remembrances for me. My 40-year reunion at River Valley High School is in July. A remembrance of our 1979 Class C State Championship team was held last Friday. I graduated from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in 1989. And the 30-year commemoration of ministry with Beverly is in worship on March 17 with a free meal following the service.

Taking longer looks at things is one of the ways God has shaped me in ministry. I am willing to have second thoughts, intentionally. Not as a reference to doubt, like, “I’m having second thoughts about some decision/matter/question, etc.” But, second thoughts in the more positive light of giving further consideration to matters of faith and life. Second thoughts suggest that first thoughts and impressions may not convey the deepest meaning. Further contemplation can bring out better understanding and allow for meaning to emerge over time.

While I can respond to the immediate and urgent needs of a situation, I am a contemplative person at heart who is nourished in solitude, reflection, silence, and conversation.

The 2019 General Conference of The United Methodist Church concluded on Tuesday with the decision to adopt the Traditional Plan which retains the current prohibitions on same sex weddings officiated by United Methodist pastors or held in United Methodist Churches, and the prohibition of ordaining self-avowed practicing homosexual persons. There also are increased penalties for pastors who violate these rules. 

In times of crisis, I look for ways of making sense of what’s happening. When I am honest though about this General Conference, my first response is that I am scared and deeply troubled by the level of hate that is expressed in the process and I feel that things are out of control. That is my honest first prayer before seeking explanations or perspectives or frameworks for understanding. I’m scared by the hatred, disdain, and dismissal of LGBTQI sisters and brothers. The presence of hate in the Church is a “consuming passion” from the hymn verse above. It is exhausting and lethal.

I believe the General Conference decision means that vulnerable people will continue to suffer. And I believe we have failed again to accept God’s invitation to a new reality of compassion and hospitality and mission.

We are a church of passionate people,
so, I anticipate some intense conversation about this.

But I write for the sake of my soul. I write to offer a word of grace and compassion for those persons who will continue to experience discrimination because of their sexual identity and orientation. I write to search my heart and faith and seek God’s help. And I am interested in the spiritual practices that sustain you. These are expressions of what we call the means of grace.

I wonder what the next spiritual communities of healing and recovery and renewal will be for people who feel threatened or dismissed. I came to know Christ in high school through the hospitality of my home church and I have cared deeply about how people are welcomed in every congregation where Beverly and I have lived these past 30 years.

At the end of June, Beverly and I will celebrate five years of shared ministry with you. I believe in the healing power of personal conversations. In that regard, I have 20 invitations to make. I have set up 20 different time periods in March where I would like to listen and talk with you about your spiritual journey, your feelings about our church, and how I may pray for you.

The URL to schedule those times is https://doodle.com/meetme/qc/8jAnARWnFf

You can choose when and where we might meet. Adult Sunday School which follows worship and the adult small group on Mondays at 7 PM are two ongoing opportunities for conversation and learning. I also have asked our leaders to host gatherings in their homes where appropriate.

I started and now conclude my article with a verse from my favorite hymn by Georgia Harkness, “Hope of the World.” For me, it is a compelling reminder of Christ’s unrelenting love in all our human conditions. May God’s grace sustain us through these conflicted, painful times and lead us to faithful, loving service in Christ’s name.

Hope of the World, O Christ o’er death victorious,
who by this sign didst conquer grief and pain,
we would be faithful to thy gospel glorious;
thou art our Lord! Thou dost forever reign.
(“Hope of the World,” Georgia Harkness,
#178, United Methodist Hymnal)

(For January/February 2019 Wayland UMC newsletter) The Michigan Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church begins January 1, 2019. Wayland UMC belongs to the Midwest District, one of nine Districts in our new single state Annual Conference. Previously, we belonged to the Grand Rapids District of the West Michigan Annual Conference.

Bishop David Bard continues to serve as our Bishop and we have a new District Superintendent, Rev. Dr. Margie Crawford. In my introductory time with her last fall, she shared a framework for ministry of Planting – Cultivating – Harvesting. We are almost always involved somewhere in this process though we might not share all parts of it together. It is important that we appreciate and recognize what God is doing in our congregation and in our world.

“Whenever you see Jesus acting in the Gospels, you see him putting people into motion. He’s like a giant billiard ball. Wherever he goes he breaks up old patterns, he sends people off in new directions.”
(Timothy Keller, Hidden Christmas, 45-46)

John Wesley understood that God’s grace is a dynamic form of divine energy. Movement and change are built into God’s relationship with the world.

In an earlier newsletter article, I shared two questions from Nelson Searcy, a church growth leader:

The wrong question is “How do I get my church to grow?”
The right question is “What is keeping my church from growing?”

The wrong question assumes that the natural state of the Church is at rest, and we need to do something to make it move. The right question assumes that the natural state of the Church is moving and growing and, therefore, we need to remove the barriers or hinderances to allow the growth to emerge.

So, if God’s gift of Jesus puts people in motion and the natural state of the Body of Christ, the Church, is moving and growing, what is the Holy Spirit planting, cultivating, or harvesting in our congregational life? What is the Holy Spirit doing in your life?

My dear friend, Rev. Dr. Dori Grinenko Baker, writes in her edited volume, Greenhouses of Hope: Congregations Growing Young Leaders Who Will Change the World, “Greenhouses of Hope are messy, organic, creative, inventive, and sometimes chaotic places. Nonetheless, they cultivate just the right nutrients to sustain and strengthen young people who want to change the world rather than flee from it” (8).

“I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building.”
(1 Corinthians 3:6-9)

For 2019, what if we look upon our congregation and discern what God is doing through the frame of becoming a Greenhouse of Hope? Let’s be a congregation that looks for Planting – Cultivating – Harvesting occasions in our midst. I hope to have these conversations with you in the coming year because “God is calling us to be a congregation inspired to serve as a beacon for Christ in the community.”

(For November/December 2018 Wayland UMC newsletter) I just added two new songs to my iTunes playlist for Bernie Williams, a Latin jazz musician, to whom I am not related. Most recently, his music gives me energy for my morning routine. And with five of his songs on my playlist I now can go on a healthy walk to the rhythm of his songs.

Playlists can be helpful that way. They can focus our attention on particular activities. Perhaps you have a playlist for your physical work out or a walk or household chores. Athletes use music to focus their concentration on the game or match or challenge ahead. If a song is on your playlist, hopefully, it’s because it resonates with you.

I like the way Carole King’s “Jazzman” depicts a Christ figure:

Lift me, won’t you lift me above the old routine;
Make it nice, play it clean jazzman
When the jazzman’s testifyin’ a faithless man believes
He can sing you into paradise or bring you to your knees

And the way “Listen to the Music” by the Doobie Brothers expresses a longing for good news:

Don’t you feel it growin’, day by day
People gettin’ ready for the news
Some are happy, some are sad
Oh, we got to let the music play
What the people need
Is a way to make ’em smile
It ain’t so hard to do if you know how
Gotta get a message
Get it on through…

Songs inspire us or bring us into a positive mental, physical, or spiritual state. They have therapeutic and healing qualities. And music is not the only source for this kind of transformation in our lives. There are rehearsals of familiar written and spoken messages that focus our attention and inspire us for faithful living. This is the potential before us every year at Advent. The season of Advent starts a new church year and this year the first Sunday of Advent is December 2. Each year in some fashion we replay messages of peace, joy, love, and hope that we find in Jesus.

This year is the 200th anniversary of the release of the song, Silent Night, Holy Night. From our Worship Design Studio resource:

“This hymn has become the best-loved worship moment of many Christians–even those who only come to church once a year. Something mystical occurs as we light our candles and sing the hope of “all is calm, all is bright”–peace and light for the world.”

We sing Silent Night, Holy Night every Christmas Eve along with Christians throughout the world. We resist the violence, fear, and deception that assault our spirits, minds, and bodies as we return to the good news that can focus our attention and inspire us for faithful living. In seemingly futile times, we affirm that the peace, joy, love, and hope that we find in Jesus are ultimately the strongest powers in the world.