Our Hearts, Our Mission, Our Treasure

In our church brochure that is available to folks on Sunday mornings, we highlight the Great Commission: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” That’s what our job is in our community, and we know that there are countless opportunities to do that as a church. Related to that is the Great Commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.”

When our Church Council had our pastoral onboarding, I got to hear how our church is doing those things in so many ways for our city. If our church ceased to exist, there would be a huge void left behind. Making disciples and loving our neighbors as ourselves shows in huge ways:

• Methodist Preparatory School. We provide a nurturing Christian environment to help educate young children, along with an after-school program for children K-5th grade. In the most formative years of a child’s life, we may be the first opportunity for a child to learn about the love and claim of God upon their life. What a witness, and what a mission!

• Bread of Life Food Pantry. For fifteen years we have helped people who are challenged by food insecurity – a problem which is becoming more challenging each day. This is not social work – it is Kingdom work and an extension of the Great Commandment and Commission. Jesus was clear to those of us who are blessed: when people are hungry you give them something to eat, when they are thirsty you give me something to drink, when they are strangers you invite them in. Again, what a witness, and what a mission!

• Operation Round Up/Samaritan Office. Most every day we work with residents who struggle to make ends meet and can’t pay their utility bills. Truth be told, all of us would be one-two paychecks from being in that situation. By the grace and generosity of others we help people – and help them from a church building - making no apology for doing it in Christ’s name.

We named it in our onboarding process: these things make up the DNA of Covington First UMC! We are always reaching out into our community and are a traditional yet flexible congregation. We are a generational and legacy church made up of long-term members and families yet welcoming and always making room for new folks too!

As the last few years have proven, we are a resilient but proven church – willing to be in the storm yet able to provide shelter for those who are hurting and meeting people where they are on their journey with God and life. I am happy to serve such a church. I hope you are happy to be members of it!

Sky+

Hyper Politicized, Hyper Calvinism, and Hyper Individualism

When people asked me, “If you weren’t Methodist, what would you be?” my usual answer was, “Ashamed!” After offending a few folks with that, I changed my answer to “Lonely.” It’s not quite as blunt.

However, in this hyper-politicized culture we live in now, when someone asks me why I’m not a Democrat or a Republican, I have no problem saying, “Because I am ashamed.” And I am. Folks that argue about false equivalencies miss the point: the lesser of two evils is still evil. I can’t reconcile or rationalize that. I’m glad that others are able to. To me, the extremes are destroying everyone between them. Conversations are becoming toxic, and as a result no one has them.

Many of my Southern Baptist friends wrestle with hyper Calvinism in their denomination and churches. I’d define it for you, but I would get attacked for my definition because there’s no agreement upon the definition - even among Calvinist and Reformed circles. Some use it as a label for “I don’t like you/your beliefs.” Others say it is emphasizing the doctrine of election above prayer for conversions, acts of evangelism, and preaching/witnessing. It’s another case of the extremes trying to destroy each other and everyone between them.

Which leads to hyper individualism. We don’t like to be told what to do (regardless of whether we’re progressive or conservative). The problems: If you’re a strict American conservative, you find yourself lodged between individual rights and personal responsibility, and the phrase “provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare.” If you’re a strict inclusivist arguing for tolerance, you have to allow for (i.e., tolerate) EVERYONE… *even* those you don’t agree with.

What do these all have in common? EXTREMES. And extremes can cause harm to everyone between them and the other extreme. The argument is often made, “The only thing in the middle of the road are dead animals.” My response to that is, “They’re dead because they got hit by someone on the left or on the right who didn’t get stopped in time… if they tried to stop at all.”

Jesus was clear in the Gospels: anyone or anything that does not take into account living for others, loving their neighbors, and acting on their behalf is immoral. The Great Commandment and Great Commission are non-negotiable. Taking up your cross and following Jesus isn’t conservative or progressive: it’s radical and scandalous. Jesus didn’t make friends of the institutions of the day – neither will today’s Christians. 

Proclaiming the crucified and risen Christ – as the Apostle Paul said – is offensive to those on BOTH sides. If you're gonna lean on a side, lean on the Lord's side.

Sky+

New Beginnings

When my father turned sixty, he told me, “Well, here goes my trip into my seventh decade.” I said, “Pop, you’re sixty, not seventy.” He said, “I’ve completed six decades. I’m STARTING my seventh. Correct?” I had to agree, though I thought it put a damper on his birthday. He found it humorous.

 

Now that I am traveling into my seventh decade, it’s given me time to reflect on who I am, what God created me to be, and what I am called to do in this season. The only way to arrive at any answer to these questions is to pray. Not just a one- or two-time prayer full of wants and desires and things that we want God to give us, but constant prayer.

Believing that the best definition of prayer is “communicating with God,” that means

listening a lot more than talking. We shouldn’t want to interrupt the Almighty. In the midst of listening to God, I have become very aware that my clock is running. In this season of my life, it seems to be that God wants me to finish well. While God is never done with us – even in our last breath – I know that my best years are fewer in number than ever before, and I want to be useful.

 

Sixty years, nearly forty of it in pastoral ministry, has taught me that listening is also a

tool for the work of the Church. As I have begun listening and asking the occasional

question or two, this much I know: Covington First UMC is a great church with great people, who loves its God and its community. I also know that the past ten or so years have been tough. Death, tragedy, sadness, and upheaval have been challenging to our psyches and our souls. As I listen to you and to God, my work here seems clear: to be a healer, a shepherd, and an encourager.

 

I read several of the late Eugene Peterson’s books when I graduated from seminary. In one of them, he repeated the words of John Calvin regarding the human heart: left to our own motives, we allow our hearts to produce idols, not faith… and that allows congregations to make pastors a “quality-control engineer” of their church.

 

That’s not me.

 

So, I want to take seriously the roles of being a healer, a shepherd, and an encourager.

My hope is that by getting to know you, living among you, and learning and listening more about Covington and its people I may do those things, and do them well! Feel free to contact me if you’d like to meet sometime, whether it be about church or faith matters, or simply to get to know me better. That will help me do my work better. You can call the church office to get my phone number so you can call or text me.

May the peace and love of Jesus Christ be with us all!

Sky+