What’s missing this Fall?

Don't Forget this Important Back to School Item

Unfortunately, a new item has been on more and more parents’ shopping lists this year: bulletproof backpacks. The too-numerous school shootings in recent years punctuated by the recent shootings in Dayton and El Paso have only reinforced demand for child-sized body armor. It is a sad commentary on American life that we would rather use active shooter drills to teach our children how to minimize casualties or equip our children with body armor than to ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines and/or institute universal and comprehensive background checks. 

The reality is that our children are facing issues we didn’t while we were growing up. In addition to the proliferation of gun violence driven by domestic terrorism, they face a planet increasingly destabilized by climate change, skyrocketing costs for the higher education that they require to enter an uncertain economy, and a healthcare system that is almost unaffordable to all but the wealthiest. 

Parents want to prepare their children as best they can for this rapidly changing and increasingly hostile world. We sign them up for and encourage their participation in organized sports to teach them the value of physical exercise and teamwork. We push them to participate in extracurricular activities like Boy and Girl Scouts, music and art lessons, school clubs, and community service organizations to help them round out their personalities and college applications. We want them to have friends, so we set up playdates and drive them to meet their friends for movies and games. We do this because we want them to be prepared and healthy individuals. 

All of this is important to our children's development but a key question we need to ask during this back to school season is this: What are we doing to nurture our children’s souls and teach them how to care for the part of themselves that endures to eternity? The truth is that their soul is the one constant that stays with them as they grow up, graduate high school, go to college, enter the workforce, meet their spouse, start a family, and change jobs several times. It will be with them as they experience their own healthcare crises and care for their parents (us) in their old age. It will be with them as they take leadership of our economy’s businesses, our society’s institutions, try to solve the problems that prior generations bequeathed to them, and tackle the new issues that will emerge in their lifetimes.

At some point, their education will become dated and, unless they have learned how to teach themselves new skills and knowledge, it will begin to fail them. Their bodies will get older and will no longer perform with the peak athletic performance that allows them to dazzle their peers. The hard truth is that some of things that we consider most important deteriorate over time, and the best we can do is slow that decline. Our children may not yet realize this, but one day will hit them. Life is hard and it will batter and bruise us and wear us down. 

However, their soul and their relationship with the God is what abides throughout all these changes. Indeed, it is their spirituality and relationship with God that can best sustain them as they endure the storms and crises of this life. So what are we doing to promote the spiritual development of our children? What are we doing to connect them with a strength and love that can help them survive all the challenges of life and thrive in the midst of it all? 

As we enter the hectic pace of the fall school schedule, let us not only worry about school supplies and clothes, practices schedules and club meetings. Let us also encourage our children to invest their time and energy into a relationship with a God whose love can sustain them through the best and worst that this life will throw at them. We can give them no better gift than a deep and abiding relationship with the God who loves them and will always be with them. 

Grace and Peace,

Pastor John

Battery Critically Low?

Plug into the Holy Spirit

Have you noticed that more and more people seem to be having trouble keeping their phones charged? I went into a great new coffee shop next to the district office yesterday after an appointment with our district superintendent, Dawn Taylor Storm, and noticed that almost everyone was charging their phones while they sipped their coffee. Outlets and power cords were everywhere. As I walked out with my dark roast in hand, I saw someone get into their car and immediately plug their phone into charge.

My guess is that this has happened to you more times than you care to think about: You unlock your phone and see that the battery icon is in the red and the phone says that you need to charge before it shuts down. If there is a symbol of this present age it is the low battery icon on our smartphones. We are in constant motion, trying to do more and more, be more and more places, and meet the ever increasing demands on our lives. We keep adding more stuff to our task lists and schedule and, much like our phones, there just doesn’t seem to be enough power to sustain us. We keep getting the “battery critically low” message earlier and earlier in the day.

When this happens with our phones we usually have the good sense to plug them in and top them off so we can keep texting, answering emails, looking at Instagram, and listening to our favorite playlists. If we don’t connect them to power, they will enter low power mode - where the screen dims, the processor slows down, and the cellular radios look for updates less frequently. If we persist in our usage of the device without charging, it will eventually shut down and refuse to power up until it has been plugged into power long enough for the battery to regain a sufficient charge. After missing a critical text or being stuck in a waiting room with nothing to do because our phone battery has died, we learn a fundamental truth of this technological age: Charge your battery whenever you can. It never hurts to plug in and top off your power reserves because you never know what life will throw at you next.

So why do we ignore this when it comes to our spiritual lives? Why do we push ourselves until our souls are completely drained and we have nothing left to offer ourselves, the people around us, and God? Why do we refuse to look for a power source? All too often we seem too content to wander about in a “spiritual low power mode” with the battery light of our souls flashing red. When this happens, our ability to function normally is severely impaired. The symptoms are easy to spot. Our personal lives are out of whack. Our relationships with the people we love are frayed. God feels remote. There is no joy to life. We just shuffle from one task or activity to another.

The good news is that it doesn’t have to be this way because there is a power source readily available to us. As followers of Jesus we have access to an inexhaustible supply of energy for our souls. It is called the Holy Spirit and Jesus offers the Spirit to us as a gift. It’s time to stop living with our spiritual batteries in the red. Seek God’s Holy Spirit in worship, prayer, and reflection and discover that there is more than enough power in Him to face whatever life sends your way.

Grace and Peace,
John

St. Matthew’s Welcomes Everyone

Pastoral Response to the Special Session of General Conference

As you have likely heard, the special session of our denomination’s General Conference met this week to address several options to address our differences as United Methodists with regards to the full inclusion of LGBTQ members - specifically in the areas of marriage and ordination.

We are a global church and we are not of the same mind when it comes to this so many expected this special session of General Conference to be a difficult one. And it was. After a narrow vote, the option known as the Traditional Plan passed even though some of its components had been ruled unconstitutional by our judicial council. Other parts of this plan are still under review and what is ruled constitutional will go into effect in January of 2020. The Traditional Plan maintains our current restrictions on same sex marriage and ordination and adds enforcement measures for pastors, district superintendents and bishops who do not honor these restrictions.

For our LGBTQ members and our members who have family and friends who identify as LGBTQ this vote was incredibly hurtful. For United Methodists who believe our Book of Discipline when it says that the church should fully welcome and embrace all persons because all people are made in the image of God and have sacred worth - this vote was disheartening. They find it hard to understand why some are denied access to marriage or ordination of everyone is made in the image of God and has sacred worth. And even some who voted for the Traditional Plan are dismayed at the pain this vote caused so many. This has been a difficult and challenging week for United Methodists.

To help us understand in detail what occurred at General Conference and to address any questions you might have, we offered a forum on Sunday during our Sunday school hour. Our bishop and district superintendent will also be here on March 27 at 6:30 pm to provide more information and address questions.

At this point, I want to pause and affirm a fundamental truth about this congregation - we have always welcomed everyone and we will continue to do so. That is who we are here at St Matthew’s. As a pastor, I have always welcomed everyone and I will continue to do so. As United Methodists we affirm that all persons (regardless of their ethnicity, religious background or sexual orientation) are made in the image or God and have sacred worth. We will continue to be a church for all people and welcome everyone who comes through the doors. We will continue to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

There won't be any major changes right away. We will keep everyone posted and plan for the future together. In the meantime, don't let anything get in the way of loving your neighbor. Pray for our church and our denomination. Pray for all those who are in pain or feeling anger or grief at the moment. Be kind and loving toward those with whom you may disagree.

I suggest that we follow the General Rules that the founder of Methodism, John Wesley, set down for us:

Do no harm: Avoid speaking ill of anyone and treat everyone with compassion and empathy.

Do good: See who is hurting or troubled in your midst and offer them comfort. Actively look for opportunities to help others.

Stay in love with God: No matter our differences, the one thing that holds us together as a church is Christ. When we come together to worship and serve God we are brought closer together. Come to worship, take Communion, pray and study the Bible together. Let God be at work among us!

In Christ,
John

Patience is Hard

What the latest Avengers movie can teach us about patience

A couple of weeks ago, the latest installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe hit theaters. Avengers: Infinity War is the culmination of ten years of movies that began with Iron Man in 2008. For those who are not fans of superheroes and comic books, the Avengers is a team comprised of “Earth’s mightiest heroes” who come together to defend the planet from threats both terrestrial and extraterrestrial. Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Spider Man, Dr. Strange, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Black Widow, War Machine, Falcon and the Black Panther combine their considerable talent and skill to fight the villains that would crush those without super powers.

In Infinity War, the Avengers square off against Thanos, one of the most powerful villains in the galaxy, who is bent on gathering the Infinity Stones and then using them to eradicate half of the universe’s population. From the far reaches of space, to New York City, to the continent of Africa, the Avengers fight to stem the tide of Thanos’ invasion. The movie ends on a cliffhanger and it seems that Thanos (the bad guy) has won the day. Our heroes seem defeated and the forces of evil look ascendant.

After the credits rolled and Marvel gave us the usual post-credit trailer, movie goers silently filed out of the theater and were unsure of what to make of what they had just seen. In all respects, it was an excellent movie but it was a hard one to watch. The good guys didn’t win. Our heroes were vanquished. The good news is that Infinity War is the first of two parts of this chapter in the Avenger’s story. We will get to see if our heroes can reverse their fortunes and defeat Thanos when the next Avengers movie hits theaters next May. The bad news is that we have to wait a year to see what will happen. A whole year!

As I walked out of the theater, I remember feeling the same way back in May 21, 1980 when I went to see Episode 5 of Star Wars - The Empire Strikes Back. That movie ended with our hero, Luke Skywalker, defeated by Darth Vader after having learned that the villain was actually his father. The Empire had nearly defeated the struggling Rebel Alliance and everyone’s favorite smuggler-turned hero, Han Solo, was captured by the ruthless bounty hunter Boba Fett. There were so many unanswered questions at the end of that movie and I had to wait three years until Star Wars Episode 6: The Return of the Jedi debuted and I could find out the fate of my favorite characters. Three years!

It about killed me to wait three years to see Luke Skywalker and the Rebel Alliance defeat the evil Galactic Empire and it’s killing me to wait until next May to see if earth’s mightiest heroes can defeat Thanos and somehow undo the terrible destruction that he wrought. Of course, it is hard to be patient when you’re invested in characters and stories like these. However, there is no other choice. The directors and producers will release the movie when it is done. Until then we have to wait.

The pastoral side of me, realizes that this period of waiting is an opportunity to develop my capacity for patience, which is one of the fruits of the Spirit described by Paul in Galatians 5:22. God’s ways are not our ways. God acts in God’s own time. Sometimes God waits to answer our prayers and sometimes we don’t receive the answer for which we hope. We want to know when God will hear our cries for help. We want to know that the results of the biopsy will be OK. We want to know if the surgery will go well. We want to know if God will bring peace to our troubled world. We want to know that things will be OK. And because God is not our genie in a bottle, we have to wait until God reveals his plans. This brings us back to the need for patience. The good news is that God does not leave us alone in our waiting. God is present through it all, even when we don’t feel that presence. God also sends the Spirit to create within us patience. As Paul writes in Galatians, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”

It is a good thing that God helps us in this way, because it is not my nature to be patient. I want to know if the Avengers will defeat Thanos. I want to know if our church’s strategic plan will bear the fruit we hope it will. I want to know so many things - right now. But I must wait. And in the meanwhile I am counting the Spirit of God to bring me the fruit of patience.

Grace and Peace,
John

Patience in Advent

Not Everything has to be Instant

The season of Advent is all about patience as we prepare to celebrate the Christ’s entry into our world so long ago in Bethlehem and anticipate his coming in final glory at the end of the age when God establishes his Kingdom. The problem is that most of us (including myself) are not very patient. We live in the instant age where we can pull our smartphones out of our pockets and look anything up, anywhere and anytime. We can order something from Amazon and have it delivered the next day for $3.99 (if you are an Amazon Prime member). Amazon and Google have even rolled out same day delivery to select cities in the country so lucky customers only have to wait a few hours to receive their purchase. We can stream millions of songs instantly via Apple Music or Spotify and get sneak peaks at unreleased albums that the artist has just finished recording.   We can download a movie from the internet to watch in just a few seconds. No more driving to the video rental store and waiting in line to check it out. We can choose from a smorgasbord of pre-prepared meals from the the grocery store and pop them in the oven instead of diligently gathering the necessary ingredients and following the step by step instructions of a recipe and then waiting for it to finish cooking. For these and so many other reasons we are terrible at waiting and have become extremely impatient as a society.

Nowhere is this impatience more on display than the Christmas season for which retailers now start decorating the week before Halloween. My boys didn’t have a chance to collect their candy and come down from the resulting sugar buzz before Santa, Christmas lights and holiday music appeared in stores. Churches start singing Christmas carols on the first Sunday of Advent rather than dwell for a time in the slower, less joyful hymns of Advent. And so we rush around in a constant state of stress because we can’t and won’t slow down. Indeed some of us have forgotten how to do so.

However, we must recover the art of waiting and cultivate patience in this season of Advent if we are to truly experience the joy of Christmas and the birth of our Savior. The ancient Hebrews waited for centuries before the Messiah appeared. Surely we can wait a few weeks to bask in the joy of Christmas. Join me in trying to slow down this month and work to linger more in the moment. Let us try to recover what it was like to wait for something we knew we wanted and deeply needed. If we can do it we will find that Christmas is even more joyful and our shouts of praise will be even more exuberant when the Christ child is born into our hearts once again.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor John