That my child may have peace

I hope you’re able to see the poster accompanying this blog post.  It’s a wonderful photograph of a servicewoman in camouflage hugging her daughter with tears streaming down her face.  The caption reads, “If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.” 

What a powerful reminder of the spirit that, at its finest, motivates our armed forces. We all want peace.  We want it for ourselves and for future generations.  It’s one of the hard realities that the desire for peace often seems to mean we have no choice but to take up arms.  While people can disagree on how to respond to that desire and choice, there should be no doubt that the dream of peace – especially in a volunteer military – compels our service personnel today. 

The poster also reflects the driving force behind the sacrifice of Jesus. I can easily see Jesus here, embracing any one of us children, tears streaming down his face, wanting only our welfare and our peace. I can see him saying, “Take me, that my children might live in peace.”  

I do hear him saying that – from the Garden and the cross. That is what He did. This is the meaning of sacrifice. 

This weekend we thank God for that spirit of sacrificial love that is ours in Jesus Christ.  We thank God for that spirit motivating our service personnel and our veterans. We thank God for anyone who receives and honors and acts on the spirit that calls us to loving sacrifice: 

“If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.”

 Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Pastor Larry

C.H.A.N.G.E.S.

My father long ago introduced our family to the wisdom of Heraclitus.  Heraclitus was a Greek philosopher who lived in Ephesus around 500 years before Christ.  His adage: “The only thing constant is change.”  Dad reminded us that the one thing you can count on not to change – is that everything changes.

This Sunday morning we will confirm almost 20 eighth-graders who leave behind the spiritual complacency of childhood. They will confirm their faith in Jesus Christ so that they may live as followers of Jesus “on purpose.” Change.

There’s less than a month of high school left for our seniors. Soon the reality they’ve known all their lives will change.  Out of public school. Usually out of the house. Away from Burke.  Change.

College seniors will soon bid campus life goodbye. Financial challenges loom. Friends disperse. Change.

We have about a half-dozen families who’ve welcomed newborns into their lives in recent months. Several more young families will grow by one this summer. Our church community is seeing retirements and deployments, reassignments and departures, arrivals and readjustments. Old Heraclitus was right.

Yet by my desk is posted the word CHANGES as an acronym.  Each letter stands for a word, so that the deeper meaning of “changes” is revealed. That meaning is --   

Christ Has A New Gift Each Second.

All of our times are in God’s hands, and God’s will is always – always – to bless us. So times of change are also gifts from God.  Certainly new opportunities and exciting possibilities are gifts; certainly milestones passed and achievements reached are too. 

But sadness is also a gift from God; grief and regret are also. They invite us to savor each second that has passed. They invite us to remember the securities of home or friends that we counted on so long. We give thanks for the blessings of stability and the precious gifts we enjoyed effortlessly. No we realize we can no longer count on those things. The past is over. These harder gifts of sadness and grief and regret can awaken us to live in new ways in our new life chapter. What can we continue – and what do we want to change – in the seconds, days, years that are about to begin?  Often we’re not motivated to ask these questions without Christ’s harder gifts of sadness and regret.

So maybe change isn’t the only thing that’s constant. Constant also is the grace of Jesus Christ. Constant is His desire to bless you. Constant is His determination to help you grow in wisdom. Never-changing is His commitment to your growing in faith and hope and love.

Christ has a new gift each second. I hope you will welcome the days ahead – joy and sadness alike – as gifts from the hand of a loving Lord.  

Pastor Larry

Faithfully ... Into the Future?

A few weeks ago I wrote about the issues coming before the General Conference of United Methodists in Tampa.  That Conference is now over.  Here are some of the actions taken (and not taken).

1. The "Call to Action" initiative to restructure the denomination's agencies for ministry was supplanted by several subsequent proposals. The Conference did vote to shrink some agency boards, but they went through arduous voting processes until a final comprehensive plan was proposed.  That restructuring plan passed by a 60% vote but was subsequently declared unconstitutional by the Judicial Council. Most of our structures will remain as they are for another 4 years, while some consensus for restructuring will take a higher priority.

2.   Guaranteed appointments for ordained elders were eliminated.  Bishops and Cabinets will have fuller discretion over appointments, though a number of procedural safeguards and processes will undoubtedly appear in each individual Conference.

3.  The proposal for a "set-aside bishop" was defeated. The Council of Bishops will most likely continue to select an active bishop to preside over the Council and serve as spokesperson for the church when necessary.

4.  A $603.1 million denominational budget for 2013-2016 was passed, 6% smaller than the current quadrennium.  Changes to clergy pensions were approved that will shift more of the risks in retirement preparation from annual conferences to individual clergy.  The United Methodist Church entered into full communion with a number of historically black pan-Methodist denominations, and the Conference approved making the United Methodist Women an autonomous organization rather than operating it under the church's missions agency;

5.  There was no change in the wording of our denominational stand on homosexuality, which currently reads:  “The United Methodist Church does not condone the practice of homosexuality and considers this practice incompatible with Christian teaching.”  After over an hour of passionate debate, the Conference could not even agree that it disagrees over the issue of homosexuality.

The Revs. Adam Hamilton and Mike Slaughter, pastors respectively of the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection (Kansas) and Ginghamsburg UMC (Ohio), proposed a substitute statement acknowledging honest disagreement among faithful believers on this topic. The proposal urged unity over division and respect for co-existence of differing views.  Hamilton reminded delegates that John Wesley once said, “Though we cannot think alike, may we not love alike? May we not be of one heart, though we are not of one opinion? Without all doubt, we may.”

After the proposal was defeated, the Daily Reporter spoke with Laura Rossbert, a visitor from the Tennessee Annual Conference, who was in tears.  “I stand here broken-hearted, knowing the church has done harm to my friends,” she said. “As a straight, married woman, I have privilege – but I am also expecting a child in September. I want my church to love my child no matter who they grow up to love.”

If I may offer a personal word:  It probably comes as no surprise that my own discernment has led me closer to the stance of Adam Hamilton, Mike Slaughter and Laura Rossbert than to the current wording of the Discipline.  I pray for our denomination to be one in unity and love – and I also pray for the full inclusion of everyone.  I would hate to see the church divided; I also hate to see the pain and anguish that this stance causes to so many. It remains hard for both of these prayers to be answered fully in our denomination right now.

But my hope remains strong that our own Burke UMC remains within the holy circle of God’s love.  In light of that love, I hope we will continue to practice John Wesley’s advice.  We may not think alike, but we can love alike. We do not have to be of one mind in order to be of one heart. 

“Faith, hope and love endure, but the greatest of these is love.”

Pastor Larry

Living on Someone Else's Blood

One of my parishioners in Richmond years ago suffered from a cancerous type of anemia.  In a phrase, the disease ate Ginny’s blood cells. She would have to go to MCV Hospital every three weeks or so for blood transfusions, and her energy level would increase.  As the weeks would pass she’d slowly get weaker and more anemic until it was time to go for her next round.

Ginny found the turn her life had taken her to be quite astounding.  “Literally,” she said, “I’m living on someone else’s blood.” It was amazing to her that medical science enabled that to happen – but it amazed her even more that total strangers would donate their blood, their “essence of life” (she called it), so that people they didn’t even know would have the opportunity to live. She was grateful beyond her ability to express.

I wrote a sermon on Ginny’s life experience.  I wanted to remind myself and my church that all of us are living on someone else’s blood. The gift of Jesus Christ on the cross has freed us from the dead-end of sin and death.  We owe our lives to the One who gave his “essence of life” that we might see gratefully see more joyful days on earth.

Every time I donate blood, I think of two people – Ginny Willett is one.  My Dad is the other.  Dad gave so regularly he began earning pins for his donations. I know he earned a 5 Gallon pin (that’s 40 pints), and I think he earned a 10 Gallon pin before he had to stop donating. But he’d done it all his life.  He’d always say simply, “It’s something I can do.”

The Bloodmobile is coming to our parking lot on Saturday, May 19.  It will be part of our Change the World celebration.  It’s another way you can change the world – literally – for the Ginny Willetts of this world. It’s something you can do.

I suggest it also as a means of grace.  We experience the grace and love of God through many means – praying, worshipping, serving, helping, working for justice, and so on.  Just as we pray remembering that Jesus also prayed, and wash feet remembering that Jesus also washed feet, and show mercy remembering that Jesus also showed mercy – so we can do the same this month.  Jesus gave his blood. Perhaps, as we do the same thing, we’ll discover a new closeness and blessing from the Lord.

What’s critical here is that we need your sign-ups by Saturday, May 12. You only need to go online to www.inova.or/donateblood, click on Donate Blood 2X and use the Sponsor Code 1092.  You can also contact Pam Riffe who’s coordinating this at pam.riffe.a7k8@statefarm.org or 804-980-0116.

Change the World offers a multitude of ways for the community to join us in bringing powerful change to our planet. Please don’t neglect sharing “the essence of life” itself. It's what Jesus did for you.

Pastor Larry