How Did I Vote? Sorry... I Ain't Playing That Game

I voted. I always do when given the opportunity (I am a registered Independent and Kentucky has closed primaries, so I can't always vote). But I get more and more depressed each time I do it. I wonder if I am selling out my Christian faith when I vote.

Worse, the way you vote or feel about an issue automatically gets you placed into a camp, at least in America. We Americans like to be for/against, black/white, yes/no. We don't like to think in terms neither/nor, shades of gray, and either/or. Did Jesus believe in the Ten Commandments? Of course. However, when someone needed healing on the Sabbath, he did it. Sometimes, the line moves and black and white becomes shades of gray.

So did I vote? I did. Was I happy about it? No. Was I happy about my choices? Heck no. That meant that I was not happy with the way I voted.

• For president, I had to decide between a senator who speaks well and is enthusiastic yet politically inexperienced and a senator who I once respected but has changed to be more palatable to "his side." Both candidates have very troubling stances that I find morally and ethically problematic. Both represent political parties that have a lot of moral bankruptcy and a history of abdication of responsibility.
• For senator, I had to decide which candidate had the least offensive political ads. I can't blame their parties, because both of them as individuals "approved this message." Sen. McConnell started out his campaign with muckraking and flat-out lies. Before it was over, Bruce Lunsford joined the act and did the very same thing. Maybe that's politically the smart thing to do. But no one will ever convince me it's the moral thing to do. I don't want to teach the next generation that the way to obtain leadership is to do so by denigration and speaking dishonestly of another child of God.

I have voted and my American conscience is clear. My Christian conscience, however, is troubled.

My community is in the midst of a school consolidation issue. It wasn't on the ballot, but it is a source of contention among many. I am watching it tear apart a community. People are taking sides, and you're either on their side or you are "bad." 

In theory, we're all supposed to be on the Lord's side. It seems, however, that people's idea of the Lord's side is based on how they voted. While I think God is concerned about our lives, I am not sure He places that much cosmic importance on a local school consolidation, a U.S. Senatorial election, or even a U.S. Presidential election. We are but one very small speck in an infinite universe of God's creation.

So who's side am I on? I'm on the Lord's side. Do you think I'm gonna tell you how I voted or how I feel about school consolidation?

Not on your life. I am a lot more than my vote or opinion. 

Pax,
Sky+

Clothes Make the Man (or Woman)?

I never knew where this phrase came from until the other day; it's a Mark Twain quote. "Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society. "

Hardly a quote intended to impress the need for dressing to the nine's. Sounds like it means that this is what separates us from the animals. I'm glad we wear clothes!

On one of the news programs this morning there was a very long segment on what the presidential candidates were wearing. Of course, all the hubbub about Gov. Palin's outfits figured prominently, along with Sen. McCain's $500 shoes, Sen. Obama's 5-6 suits, Sen. Biden's hair (or lack of it), and so on. And the bottom line? "People watch what others are wearing, but it probably has very little to do with how they vote."

So I looked in my closet - and it's pretty sad re: what I wear to work. I have:

• 4 pairs of Levi 560 blue jeans, relaxed fit ($30 a piece, total $120)
• Several polo-type shirts, long and short sleeved ($15-$20 a piece, total around $140)
• A four pairs of Docker pants ($28-$35, total $140). 
• Two clerical shirts ($35 a piece, total $70)
  
• Two suits that probably need replaced: (guessing around $425)
• One pair of dress shoes on their 4th sole ($125)
• Two pairs of casual shoes ($140)

If clothes make the man, it takes $1,160 to make me. Maybe I should upgrade. 

Sky+

Gunner's Ultimate Healing

At 1:43 PM, G-man got on the train to the Church Triumphant, where God will wipe all the tears from his eyes, where there is no more cancer, no more death or mourning or crying or pain, and all things are made new. He's healed and cured.

Thank you, Father. Bless those of us who grieve, especially Gus and Janna.

Sky+

Happiness Is Being A Pastor

Today, between worship services, the K-2 Sunday School class presented me with this card - which is 1/2 the size of my office door!

I am a very, very blessed man.

Sky+

Happiness Is Being a Labrador Retriever

I have been staring out of the office window for about an hour - I have a writing deadline next week that I am going to be hard-pressed to make, and as luck would have it, I have "block." Having Block is bad enough; worse, the writing deadline is for a homily resource - sermon illustrations for Lent! Writer's Block and Lent are a very bad combination!!

Since it isn't 5 PM yet, staring out the window is my only inspiration. About 30 minutes ago, a black labrador retriever walked by the window. All of the sudden, he took off like he had been scalded. He was chasing a squirrel, and they did a dos-si-do before the squirrel found a tree and ran up it. The dog was barking, jumping up at the tree, and then backed off and just looked up... and smiled that smile that only labradors have.

Watching them took me back to a memory I had when I was in seminary. It was the spring, and I was umpiring a small college baseball game. I can't remember the school, but what I remember was that the field was open along the left and right field foul lines past the dugout - no fence. Some of the fans sat in lawn chairs along the lines, and saw a grill going cooking burgers and such.

About midway in the game, a player from the visiting team hit a ball into an outfield gap and was trying to turn it into a double. As the runner rounded first base, I saw a black streak out of the corner of my eye come from the lawn chairs on the right field side. It was a black lab, and he was running full-throttle... toward the runner. As the runner was coming to second base, the dog clipped him. Hard. My partner stopped the game. I think the second baseman helped the runner up. Everyone was laughing on both teams except, of course, the runner.


Efforts to corral the dog were largely unsuccessful. The more players tried to chase him down, the more the dog thought it was play time, and that labrador retriever smile was just getting wider and wider. After a couple of minutes, he simply trotted back over to the right field side and laid down by the grill, where I'm sure someone fed him a hot dog or two.

While everyone else was trying to get their composure back, the catcher was having no luck in doing so, laughing harder and harder, tears coming out of his eyes and trying in vain to remain in an upright posture. Finally, he manages to crouch down and the pitcher throws a pitch. I don't remember if it was a ball or strike, because he started laughing uncontrollably again. The runner at 2nd base is not at all amused, so I told him, "Man, you better get a hold of yourself, or that guy is gonna come over here and whoop you."

The catcher simply said, "He'll probably whoop me for sure if he finds out that's my dog."

Now, I don't know who laughed harder, the batter, the catcher, or me. But I do remember that we had to stop the game. Again.

Pax,
Sky+

Holy Cow... and %@$# !

I am not a die-hard Cubs fan, though I do have a preference for the National League. But it's hard not to root for the Cubs if they get into post-season. 

All I can figure is that the Cubbies must be cursed. A great regular season... and then in the playoffs, they boot the ball out in the field, and have no bats at the plate.

I just don't know what else to say. I'll just let the psalmist lament for me:

1 How long, O LORD ? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and every day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?

3 Look on me and answer, O LORD my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;

4 my enemy will say, "I have overcome him,"
and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

5 But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.

6 I will sing to the LORD,
for he has been good to me. - Psalm 13

Please keep Cubs players and fans in your prayers. Their mourning will not be short.

Pax,
Sky+

We Look Good – On Paper

The United Methodist Church is a great church… on paper; just check out a Book of Discipline. The 2008 BOD won’t be published until January, but the 2004 BOD has 832 pages in it and is 6 ¾” x 9 ¼”. That compares to my 1984 copy which had 769 pages in it and was 5 3/8” x 8 5/8”. Our annual conference has 25 “Special Days” to take place on Sunday celebrations of worship, raising awareness of different ministries in our conference. We have lots of sub-groups, divisions, and special interests in our denomination that have their own offices, complete with budgets, staff, special study guides, even “lobbyists” that push their causes. United Methodism, by all appearances of structure and budget, must be busting at the seams.

Sadly, we know that’s not true. And my blog title is a misnomer, because while the METHOD of Methodism looks good (on paper), the facts and figures look very bad – we are continuing to lose members.

I’ve said this in blogs before – United Methodism is awfully good at majoring in the minors. Take the items in the first paragraph: 

• The Book of Discipline. It gets bigger and bigger, yet the UMC gets smaller. Lots of rules and regs, but very little theology or instructions in Christian praxis. More and more about ordination requirements, but still no theology of ordination. 
• Special Sundays. We place 25 Sundays in the Christian year as “special” in our annual conference – nearly half the Sundays in a calendar year. We have done that at the expense of liturgical days such as Epiphany, Pentecost, and Christ the King. Some of our folks know what Native American Sunday means, but have no clue what Epiphany means. 
• Special Groups. Do newcomers to the UMC "get" all these groups, factions, caucuses, and causes? Are they really needed anymore? For example: United Methodist Women certainly hold a prominent place in our denomination, but isn’t it telling that rarely does any of its membership include women under 60 years of age? Are we welcoming to younger folks?
  

Our UMC rank and file leadership seems to go into two directions: (1) Are very wary and resistant of change, even in the midst of dying. (2) Realize change is needed, and often have to leave/ditch Connectional resources and ties to do so.


Resistance to change seems to be inherent to United Methodists – as progressive, inclusive, and “in touch” as we claim to be, I wonder if we really are? Have we become so inbred that we don’t want change and content to die? If this is true, we have really played a bad joke on ourselves. Instead of doing a 180° - as John Wesley intended us to – could it be that we did a 360°, and we are right back where we started? Are we living out Wesley’s greatest fear?

I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist either in Europe or America. But I am afraid lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power. And this undoubtedly will be the case unless they hold fast both the doctrine, spirit, and discipline with which they first set out. – John Wesley, 1786

I attended our annual conference's Connectional Ministries Team meeting the other night. I have to admit - I usually don't attend (I'm on it by virtue of a conference commission I chair). But the ideas outlined to go to the bare bones, re-prioritize, and to make disciples energized me.

What would happen if we asked ourselves, every time we took action as a conference, committee, or church: "How does this act/action contribute to 

1. reaching people, 
2. discipling them, and 
3. being part of God's work of transformation?"
   

For one thing: it might put into question the very existence of some of our conference entities. Or at least question how we've operated them for some time (I know I am having to ask myself these questions as the chairperson of a conference committee).

To do these things, we will have to take our conference mission to heart: Making disciples of Jesus Christ who will transform our church and the world, through bold decisions, faithful sacrifices, and courageous actions.

Change is hard. Bold decisions are risky. Sacrifices are uncomfortable. Courageous actions take stoutness of heart. Sounds a lot like the beginnings of Christianity.

This could be exciting!

Pax,
Sky+

Discipleship: Balance & Faith, Not Fixing People

It is a lesson that doctors and pastors have a hard time learning: we cannot “fix” people. Medicine and God can fix people, but people cannot fix people. I think this even applies to being disciples and making the disciples: We cannot fix people; only God can. The sooner we learn that, the better.

We cannot be all things to all people - even in the church. As much as we want everyone to come to Sunday School, never miss worship, be here whenever the doors are open, etc., the reality is that once we invite people and encourage them, we have to let God do the rest. It doesn’t mean we need to be lazy or “hands off,” but neither can we make nor fix people into being faithful. Only God can do that.

I am keenly aware of this, being that pastors tend to be people pleasers. The problem with this is (a) no one can make everyone happy, and (b) Christians are supposed to please God and God only. I know what the expectations are: pastors are supposed to be CEO’s, administrators, counselors, academicians, teachers, visitors of the sick and lonely, fund raisers, spiritual leaders, marry-ers and bury-ers, and excellent preachers. The fact is that it is impossible to do all of these things to suit everyone – so why try? We must please God first. And in the end, only God can fix things anyway.

Trying to be something we are not, and trying to do what is not in our power leads to burnout. The most sobering statistic I have ever read is this one from Jimmy L. Draper, former head of Lifeways Ministries: today, for every 20 people that go into the pastorate, only one of them will retire from it. They either burn out, get dismissed, have a moral/ethical breakdown, or just quit. I know I can count over 30 people I have known in the past 20 years around my age that are no longer in pastoral ministry.

Before you feel too sorry for me, I think all of these things apply to all of us as disciples: do we see ourselves as fixers, or helpers? Do we see ourselves as lone rangers, or in partnership with Christ? Do we think that we don’t pray hard enough, or is it possible that we’re simply not listening (or liking!) what God might be saying to us?

It’s all about balance and faith – in all things. If we please anyone, it needs to be God. Only God can fix what is broken, and only God can cure us of what ails us.

Sky+

Parsonages & Itineracy: Out of Date or Just Ignored?

I cleaned our house today - I usually do this earlier in the week, but schedules never quite worked out for that to happen. Our house is three years old - built new right after I moved to Reidland. It's hard to believe three years has gone by. As you can see in the picture, we live in a very fine house.

Even though the house is still like new, there are a few things that need some attention. I contracted someone today to clean the gutters and pressure-wash the deck, which will need staining before it weathers too much more. I need to remove some mulch and replace it around the perimeter of the house where the landscaping is. Our church was very gracious in building a new parsonage, and I am going to do my best to be sure we keep it looking new. My family has always covenanted to leave the parsonages we lived in in better shape than when we moved in them.

I've been lucky throughout the years that I've never moved into a less-than-standard house. No house is perfect, but there weren't holes in the bathroom floors or leaky roofs or substandard wiring in them like some of the horror stories I have heard from others over the years.

However, I have to confess that some of my colleagues have given all of us pastors a bad name over the years. It is hard to believe, but some pastors simply trash their parsonages. They not only don't clean them, but they don't bother to repair them and alert folks to needed repairs. The word gets out that "You don't want to follow so-and-so, because you won't be able to move in to your house for two weeks - it won't be fit to live in!" It's been my experience that most church trustees are more than happy to address parsonage issues if you and the your family show an interest in maintaining and even improving it.

Some pastors resist such help - they see such as an intrusion of their privacy. While folks can certainly snoop more than they should, churches have a valid right to keep their property and assets in good condition... and if they've had previous (or present) pastors who don't take care of their parsonages, churches get understandably nervous, or even resentful, when yearly inspections or maintenance are not met with open arms by pastors and parsonage families. As a result, when it comes time to make a decision on whether to build a new parsonage, renovate a present one, or offer a housing allowance, the housing allowance is often chosen.

In our conference, parsonages are becoming an endangered species; more and more churches are moving toward a housing allowance. Financially, of course, this is advantageous to pastors - it allows them to build up equity. But from the point-of-view of the United Methodist itineracy, it can be disastrous: it puts another variable in a system that already has a lot of variables. In my Annual Conference, folks in Memphis tend to stay in Memphis - which ties the hands of the cabinet in making appointments. Add to that the "We have a house that we'd have to buy/sell" argument, or "We haven't amortized our house yet" plea, and it puts another kink into the itineracy - maybe a pastor needs to move, maybe a church needs the pastor to move, or both - but the pastor's finances (or lack of them!) end up making the final decision... something that the parsonage system eliminates. Add to that the fact that the spouse may have a job that they can't or don't want to leave, and itineracy becomes nearly impossible.

As a result, a multi-tiered itineracy becomes a reality. Our large membership churches are already in a tier by themselves. The next tier are churches who offer housing allowances, particularly in metropolitan areas: the advantage here is that pastors can be moved around in metro areas without worry about a pastor having to sell a house - they can usually keep the present house they live in. And then there are churches with parsonages. The advantage is that there are no homes to sell or buy, and pastors in this category are much more mobile and able to itinerate from farther distances away.

The snafu is when someone moves from one situation to another: you either have to buy a house, or sell a house. In our conference, that can happen with relatively short notice - and in this present economy, the housing market is very poor. Our parsonage is located in a new housing development of Paducah, and there are three houses for sale on our street... and they have been up for sale for nearly six months. The absolute worst case scenario is moving from an appointment that has a housing allowance to another appointment that has a housing allowance, and buying a house at your new location and being unable to sell the house in your previous location.

I'm not naive enough to think that other professions don't have this problem, but in theory, the itinerancy was designed to be able to deploy clergy to serve every church in an annual conference, sometimes very quickly. Parsonages helped the itineracy in this regard.

Given the increased difficulty of making pastoral appointments, and the present realities of parsonages, housing allowances, and two-income and two-profession families, it seems that United Methodism needs to do some thinking and rethinking.

1. Is the itineracy really just dead - and should we bury it?
   
2. If not, are we still committed to itinerant ministry?
   
3. If so, do we need to reconsider the move toward housing allowances as the norm?
   
4. Do we need to hold pastors financially accountable for damages, and insist on yearly inspections with D.S.'s present?
   
5. Or do we need to ditch the itineracy and go to a modified call system?
   

Right now, it seems to be that we are in the worst of all worlds where the above is concerned. Any ideas?

Pax,
Sky+

Six Degrees of Separation

I did something last week I said I’d never do – I signed up for Facebook on the Internet. It is a social network that began as a college campus networking tool, but soon expanded to anyone and everyone. And it’s been incredible how many old friendships I’ve renewed in so short a time… and how many new ones have begun.

There is a phrase that comes to mind: Six Degrees of Separation. It is a theory that if a person is one step away from each person they know and two steps away from each person who is known by one of the people they know, then everyone is an average of six "steps" away from each person on Earth. It’s even led to a game called “Six Degrees of Separation from Kevin Bacon,” a party game in which you can take any actor and link him to actor Kevin Bacon. Let’s see… Kate Winslet was in Titanic with Leonardo DiCaprio, Leonardo DiCaprio was in Catch Me If You Can with Tom Hanks, Tom Hanks was in Apollo 13 with Kevin Bacon [I’ll be darned]. Ronald Reagan was in The Young Doctors with Eddie Albert, Eddie Albert was in The Big Picture with Kevin Bacon… well, you get the idea!

Small world, isn’t it?

Jesus said, “Go and make disciples.” John Wesley said, “The world is our parish.” It seems clear that God uses encounters with believers to draw people to Himself. In that respect, if we allow ourselves to be used as vessels, there is only one degree of separation between people and God.

The world really isn't that big of a place - or parish.

Sky+

Pastor as Spiritual Leader - Part III

Take Thou Authority?

In one of the last posts on this matter, I noted that the UMC has no theology of ordination, but we have a host of procedures and policies. We are one of a handful of denominations that will place someone as a pastor of a church without ordaining them, such as local pastors, commissioned pastors, etc. Whether one is ordained or not, one is a pastor of a United Methodist church not because of ordination (a means of grace and sacramental action), but because of authority being granted to them by the Book of Discipline.

Herein lies a problem, I think: we are granting pastors authority from a standpoint of church law and ministerial office, and pastors often assert their authority by persuasion (which can be good and bad). But in a day and age where people are suspect of authority and disillusioned with the Church, none of those standpoints really grant any empowering authority at all. Pastors are going to have to realize that true authority comes from God, and pastoral authority comes from God's grace. This is where ordination SHOULD be couched, but I fear (at least in the UMC) that it is not.

Authority is power - but power misplaced gets us nowhere. Ministry is done by all of the people, not just the pastor. In fact, the word liturgy literally means "the work of the people." It may be that pastoral authority's real power comes from shared leadership and vision. It is clear that pastors do not know best and our education is not helping us - or our denomination would be growing instead of dying. Unlike the paradigms of the world, the parish model is to use the power and authority God gives us WITH others, rather than OVER others.

Author Howard Rice contends that until pastors can be straightforward about their own spiritual journeys, those that they pastor will never be able to recognize similar movements of the Spirit in their own lives:

The deeper we [pastors] go in our own experiences, the more general those experiences turn out to be; the more we dare to lift up the struggles and successes of our own faith pilgrimage and share them with others, the more others are helped to articulate events along the way of their own journeys. All too often laity keep their deepest religious experiences from pastors. Parishioners fear that pastors will not understand or accept their experiences. They may worry that they are not good enough. They don't show themselves for fear of rejection. They hide behind walls and hope that someone will notice them and pay attention. They hope that the pastor will say words that validate their experiences...

People need help to sort out their deepest experiences. They need someone they trust to help them recognize the dangers of some choices. They need help to reorganize their tendency to spiritual pride. They need guidance to distinguish the voice of God from the welter of other voices. At heart, therefore, the pastor must be a guide to the spiritual life, a person others trust to share the struggle. The pastor offers assistance, not as one who has already arrived but as one who is on the same journey, going alongside the people and perhaps a step or two ahead. - Howard Rice, The Pastor as Spiritual Guide, pp. 185-6.

Those two paragraphs are damning to many pastors - are we as adept and (more to the point) bold as we should be in matters spiritual? Can we share our own spiritual journey and struggles competently and articulately? As well as we (claim to) preach? Can we speak the language? And can we be humble enough to realize that we have not "arrived" yet? We learned - and indeed, were trained - to be the resident theologians to our churches. Can we honestly say that we are also the resident spiritual directors of our churches?

It'll take work - and prayer - to get there if we're not the spiritual directors or guides of our churches. And in the process of shoring ourselves up, we cannot shirk off our other responsibilities. Effective ministry requires priorities. We still have to be managers and administrators. The sick need visited. The youth need instructed. People may need the pastor and not have an appointment. Some pastors have been labeled as lazy, and it is hard to refute the label. Others don't heed the signs of needing sabbath. Still others work hard, but don't prioritize well. Working and taking sabbath require spiritual adeptness and maturity to discern! I know that I am still learning.

For a season, we UM pastors may have to see "being connectional" as being connected to God and discerning the Holy Spirit, instead of being connected to Annual Conference, continuing education seminars, and district gatherings - these are tools, not ends to themselves. And instead of prayers of petition, we may need to be praying in silence and listening to what God has to say to us, instead of telling God what we want to say. God is certainly essential to the task of pastoral ministry - no duty can call us higher (not even duty to the district or conference!!!); secondary and tertiary matters must yield to the primary.

A lot of pastors burn out or get jaded because they either think they are alone, or that they believe that they alone have the wisdom, education, and authority to do ministry. The fact of the matter is that Christ empowers us - and "us" includes laity and clergy alike. In order to empower the masses, we have to be spiritual leaders who derive authority from the witness of their personal integrity and model, rather than deriving it from the pastoral role or office. As Rice says in his book, that kind of authority becomes authentic, powerful, and changes lives.

It may be that we pastors need to lead and follow... or get out of the way.

Pax,
Sky+

Oops, Crud, and Doh!!!

Since fuel prices have gone up, some folks have been buying motorcycles and scooters to defray costs, and I've gotten an occasional call or two asking for my advice, tips, what to have in the saddlebags, etc. The main thing I tell them is to remember to check the weather each day, and to remember which vehicle you have if shopping. My saddlebag list:

• flashlight
  
• road flares
  
• cycle jumper cables
  
• tire kit/gauge
  
• rain gear
  
• crescent wrench
  
• towel
  
• Leatherman tool
  
• sunscreen
  
• 1st aid kit
  
• lip balm
  
• hand purifier
  
• bungee straps
  

Having said that... I goofed yesterday. I have been riding my motorcycle (a Kawasaki Vulcan Classic LT) just about every clear day this summer to work and for errands. The office needed a new computer monitor, so I went to Best Buy and got a good deal. As I walked out into the mall parking lot with a computer monitor and box in my hand, I realized that I had forgotten my own tip I had given new riders... and saw my two wheeler parked.

This is why you carry bungee straps. Glad it wasn't a 60" television.

Pax,

Sky+

Pastor as Spiritual Leader - Part II

Congregations are demanding entities. The church I serve has around 450 members, and if I were to poll them on what they expected out of me as their pastor, I would probably get several responses. I think it would be safe to say that being a competent manager and being a spiritual leader would be chief among them. While theologically and scripturally there is a problem with just being a "hireling," the reality is that people do pay some pastors a fair amount of money - and they rightfully have some expectations.

Church Management/Administration - "Being Martha." I hate administration and management. But the reality is, there needs to be a rhyme and reason to what we do in the church. The Apostle Paul may have said it best: "All things be done decently and in order." My reason for trying to do it as well as I can is so I don't have to do any of it over.

But how do you do it? Some looked at Niebuhr (I can't remember which brother) during the 50's and 60's (and into the 70's and 80's, since I studied it also) who suggested running with the business and military models of the day (i.e., Management by Objective) to organize and prioritize ministry and programming. Some folks went to Steven Covey seminars. Some heard Herb Miller lecture. Some, like me, paid major bucks to attend Ken Callahan events at Calloway Gardens (I don't remember much, but I did play one of my best rounds of golf there!). And while these models were designed to prevent reinventing the wheel and to allow more of church ministry to be shared, they had one fatal flaw: very little theological underpinning, and virtually no evangelical underpinning. In short - they managed what was present, but encouraged little innovation or visioning. That ran tangent to the Christian proverb, "Where there is no vision, the people perish." You certainly cannot blame any one thing for the Mainline decline of the 60's and following, but one can be sure that the Management by Objective or 12-Step models certainly weren't the answer to the problem.

Spiritual Leadership - "Being Mary." I think some rebellion occurs somewhere along the way when called men or women begin parish work and encounter realities and conflicts. Somehow, a shift away from being makers of disciples and caretakers of church souls and a shift toward being the Chief Administrative Officer (the Book of Discipline's words, not mine) takes place. Why didn't someone along the way say, "it's not either/or, it's both/and?" Naturally, cynicism creeps in. Pastors feel like they are losing their identity.

I'm old enough now to realize that my own church polity is far from perfect. Has anyone realized that the UMC has virtually no theology of ordination? We have a lot of rules and regulations about it - but no theology. It only makes sense that viewing the pastor as spiritual leader is difficult in a denomination that has no theology of ordination. I will say this: we DO have an excellent PROCEDURES AND POLICY section for ordained ministry in our church law. Just no theological underpinning for it.

We have 10's of classifications for pastors: full-connection elders and deacons (who are ordained); commissioned probationary elders and deacons (who are not ordained); associate members (some ordained formerly, some not); part-time local pastors, full-time local pastors, student local pastors, supply pastors (who are not ordained). However, what do people in the pews called the person behind the table and pulpit in their church, regardless of the permutations listed above? "Pastor."

It is no wonder, then, that pastors have a hard time seeing themselves as spiritual leaders, given our denomination's confused look at matters of ordained (or unordained) ministry! The fact is, layfolks could care less about conference membership and clergy classifications; they want a spiritual leader. It's not only what they're paying for, it's what they desire and yearn for!

What is the tool most needed for pastors to be spiritual leaders? It has nothing to do with workshops, schools of ministry, or even a curriculum geared toward a degree: it is the pastor's very own faith. It requires maturity. It requires an understanding of the needed balance between being a manager and administrator AND incorporating one's own spiritual life into directing others. Henri Nouwen said it much better: "Ministry means the ongoing attempt to put one's own search for God with all the moments of pain and joy, despair and hope, at the disposal of those who want to join the search but do not know how." (from Nouwen's Creative Ministry, p. 111).

In short, sometimes we need to be preparing the house (Martha), and sometimes we need to pay attention and seek the Master's will (Mary).

I'm not through letting this go just yet...

Pax,
Sky+