World Wide Worship

This summer while traveling, our family worshiped at Southminster United Church of Canada in Niagara Falls, Ontario.  It was not the largest congregation we've ever attended.  In fact, we were 4 of the 34 in worship that morning.

My interest in this particular congregation was our common ties to Methodism and Wesleyan heritage.  The United Church of Canada was formed by merging four Protestant denominations in 1925, one of them being the Methodist Church in Canada. In fact, the United Church of Canada remains a member of the World Methodist Council. Since I am serving on this council in the present quinquennium (and since there are no United Methodist Churches in Canada), I thought it would be helpful to worship there.

It was a nice experience but not so different from small United Methodist churches that I've attended. To be fair, I didn't anticipate the Canadian worship to be drastically altered from what we do in Oklahoma.

A more varied experience was when Kyla and I stopped in to a Methodist Church on St. John's Island back in 2015.  They handed us percussion instruments along with the bulletins when we entered the sanctuary.  We had a good time of island style gospel singing to open worship!  Later in the service, the pastor asked if there were any other clergy in the congregation.  I was one of three present that day and he called us all forward.  I was invited to pray for people in the congregation as was happy to do so. Then I helped him serve Communion to the congregation which was one of my highlights of the trip (yes, but I am called to do this!).

This was not my first experience in praying for people of another congregation.  I have done so in Methodist Churches in South Africa and Mexico.  I can tell you that while our cultures may differ in a lot of ways, our needs in prayer are very similar.

Bishop Hayes is praying for a local woman in South Africa.

Part of the South African experience involved a hike to see The Pinnacle Rock in Graskop, South Africa.  While we were there, some of the local women found out that Bishop Hayes was an episcopal leader and an impromptu prayer service broke out!  Bishop Hayes was glad to pray for them as requested and I took a quick photo.  I think their trip to the mountain top included unexpected blessings!

All of this reminiscing is to remind us that we will be celebrating World Communion Sunday on October 1st.  This is especially moving to me as I imagine Christians all around the globe gathering for this holy meal.  Not all of us get along theologically but we are brothers and sisters nonetheless.  Even though we may have differences, we have far more in common than we would consider at first glance.  This Sunday recognizes our common heritage and faith.  It is rather impressive to kneel at the altar rails while realizing that people are praying in the same way in different languages in a wide variety of settings all over the earth.  Some of the prayers may be of a very different style but the basic content remains surprisingly similar.

I hope you'll find a place to worship and receive this Sunday and remember your brothers and sisters around the world!

In Christ,

Sam

Frustrated by Grace

Lectionary Reading: Matthew 20:1-16 (NRSV)

This may be my favorite parable of Jesus.  It has the surprise or twist ending that is so characteristic of his stories.  The parable hasn't lost any of its difficulty when told to a 21st century audience either.

I still find it vexing.

Most people put think of themselves as having a good work ethic.  And so it is easy to imagine that we would be one of the first people picked on the owner's first round-up.

Field picking is hot, backbreaking work that
would not likely yield generous feelings
if you are perceived as a slacker. 

As the parable progresses, we do not sympathize with the late arrivals but with the people tired from a hard day's work.

When the less than full-timers are bestowed with equal pay, it is shocking because we can easily imagine how we would feel.  It would not be a happy feeling!

As we think about the story, we recognize that this would not be a sound business practice for a landowner to employ on a regular basis.  And so this story must have deeper meaning as it relates not to human practice but to God's economy.

Grace doesn't make sense in an environment where we measure ourselves by our productivity.

So how do we embrace this grace not only for ourselves but in order to give it away to others?

I'll be exploring the idea that we can't fully realize grace until we begin to see it available for others on Sunday as the final sermon in the series, "Full: Finding God's Abundance in our Lives."  I hope you'll join us if you're in the area - maybe we can be vexed together!

In Christ,

Sam


Photo by Bread for the World via Flicker.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license. 

Accountability versus Judgment

Lectionary Reading: Romans 14:1-12 (NRSV)

“United Methodists lead with grace, not with judgment.”

This particular sentence was the first chapter in a series entitled, “What’s Different about The United Methodist Church?” by the former Oklahoma Conference bishop, Bruce Blake.  It came out twenty years ago in 1997 when I was still fairly new to pastoral ministry and many churches across our conference used it in preaching and teaching.

It is an idea with which I agree and would say effectively categorizes the identity of our denomination.  My early childhood years were spent in the Assemblies of God which emphasized holiness to a different degree than most current United Methodist churches. By holiness, I mean seeking right living (righteousness) as a part of being a follower of Jesus Christ.  This is different from self-righteousness which is a separate issue (but a danger or temptation to all who seek right living).  

The particular Assembly of God church where we attended was fairly judgmental in nature which was designed to keep people from sin.  I can remember various times from my childhood when I went home from church afraid for my salvation rather than assured. This is not the healthiest spiritual state for a five-year-old.  I’m not sure the fear increased my faith but it did increase my anxiety.  In comparison, the Assemblies have just as many problems with sin as United Methodists in my experience (or any other denomination for that matter).  Both of us have our share of stout disciples and our share of back-sliders.

I write this to let you know that sometimes my perspective may be reactive to my negative encounters of a judgmental church.  I often err on the side of grace.  I do this so that people may experience the welcome invitation that Jesus Christ offers for the journey of faith we all undertake.  

But one of the real problems of leaning so heavily on grace is oftentimes a lack of commitment.  If there are no real expectations or if the lack of commitment can be easily overlooked or forgiven without any consequences, then real problems begin to develop.

Sometimes the churches that emphasize grace turn Jesus into this nice man who just loves you and doesn't really ask for much in return.  He’s going to pick you up and brush you off and offer an encouraging word.  There are many times I need this and you likely do as well.  But if there is no direction for our life of faith and if we place our commitment level somewhere beneath our other pursuits in life, it shouldn't surprise us when people fall away from the church.  

This is not the kind of accountability I need!

Sometimes we remove all accountability to get away from being too judgmental. Conversely, sometimes we become too judgmental in the guise of accountability.  This becomes difficult as we seek to share God's grace with others.  We want to meet people where they are.  But at the same time, we encourage people to put away their sins.

This Sunday, I'll be discussing this particular tightrope as we continue the series, "Full: Finding God's Abundance in our Lives."  I hope you'll join us if you don't have something better to do (okay, that last line was sarcastically judgy)!

In Christ,

Sam

  

Photo by Wally Gobetz via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.

The Difficulty of Grace

Lectionary reading: Romans 13:8-14 (NRSV)

Over the next three weeks, I will preach a series on the difficulties of God's grace that I've entitled, Full: Finding God's Abundance in Our Lives.

When we discover grace, we find that we have more than enough of the things that really matter.

Grace allows us to move past bitter hurts.

Grace allows us to forgive those who have done us wrong.

Grace allows us to love our enemies.

The difficulty comes when we encounter grace and feel as if we are undeserving.  Of course, this may be a necessary feeling so that we do not begin to take God's gifts for granted.  A little humility is an important ingredient for seeing grace for what it truly is.

With apologies to Wayne and Garth, sometimes our response to the idea that "we're not worthy" is to try to earn our way into God's favor.  We end up incorporating a "works righteousness" theology that will always leave us lacking.

Rather than work to curry God's love, we work in response to the love God has already bestowed upon us.  This may sound like semantics but it is crucial in how we understand the human-divine relationship.

Our work for Christ comes out of thanksgiving and gratitude rather than seeking to gain what we already have.

Gifts are often difficult for us to receive.  And as we look at the Romans passage, we see that we become part of the gift to the world when we seek to act out in love.  Love is not an easy thing or a simple thing.  My own capacity to love others is expanded when I seek God out in my life.

It is okay if we are as "busy as a bee" in our love
for others but it is easier to maintain the pace
when we acknowledge God regularly.

This Sunday will be the first of our new 9:45 am worship service in the sanctuary.  I will be preaching at 8:30, 9:45 and 11:00 am in the sanctuary and at 10:50 in Wesley Hall. Trey will be preaching at 7:00 pm in Wesley Hall as he and Matt finish up the series on the General Rules.  This gives a lot of opportunity for worship!  If you are in the area on Sunday, I hope you'll join us!  If you can't make it in person, you can always catch us on Facebook live or replay it later.

In Christ,

Sam


Photo by rumpleteaser via Flicker.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.