The Middle Doors

According to Robert Schnase, Bishop of the Missouri Conference of The United Methodist Church, names five fundamental practices critical to congregations that fulfill their mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. In his book, Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations, he entitles them as radical hospitality, passionate worship, intentional faith development, risk-taking mission and service, and extravagant generosity. Each one of these generates thought and reflection. However, it is his comments about “The Middle Doors” that especially interest me.

“The pastor and staff soon realized that “the front door” was working well as people felt invited and welcomed. But they were slipping out “the back door” because they were discovering too many of “the middle doors” were closed tight.” p. 66-67

Schnase goes on to say that after being warmly welcomed, new members found the classes, organizations, choirs, studies and groups within the church to be cliquish and uninterested in welcoming new members. They didn’t feel needed. New members need to find meaningful connections in small groups beyond the worship experience.

Are our church’s “middle doors” open?

Nature Deficit Disorder

This morning I opened my e-mail to find this message from my sister. With her permission, I share it.

This morning I began a new book. I have been looking forward to reading Barbara Kingsolver's new book Animal, Vegetable and Miracle since first knowing of its existence. So this morning I treated myself to opening the front cover and commencing to read. Though I have only read a very small portion, I recommend this to you. While at Janet's the other evening I voiced a thought concerning how we could try to connect our children to the earth through a summer gardening project (possibly as a different way to teach love of earth and creation). Barbara's latest book confirms this as something we should be doing. Everywhere I turn I am reminded that this is a focus we are missing. I read my brother-in-law's "Earth Focus", I hear my nephew's thoughts concerning grazing on the family farm, I have seen the pictures of young children working a community garden, I see the gas prices skyrocketing, I see the bulldozers indiscriminately reshaping the land, I see fertile farmland being subdivided or covered with black top, etc. What I don't see is the church taking a very proactive stance to protect and guard God's beautiful earth and teaching our children stewardship of God's earth Recently I have really been hit over the head and am feeling nudged and/or clobbered with this as a focus for some exciting teaching opportunities. I am not sure of the the hows and the wheres etc. but I am sure this is something we should be pursuing. The night the children came to my home for our end of the year party, I was delighted to see their utter enjoyment of having an open green space in which to run and frolic. I fear their experiences with the joys of nature are too few. Enough preaching. Please ponder. Mary

I also recommend Last Child in the Woods-Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv. This is in our church library.

Garrison Keillor

My resident environmentalist shares a lot of interesting information and conventional wisdom with me. Today's offering comes from Garrison Keillor.

"You look at the Amish and you see the past, but you might also be looking at the future. Our great-grandchildren, faced with facts their ancestors were able to ignore, might have to do without the internal-combustion engine and figure out how to live the subsistence life. Maybe someone will invent a car that runs on hydrogen or horse manure, or maybe people will travel on beams of light like in old radio serials, but the realist in you thinks otherwise."

The Last Day

Annual Conference concluded yesterday in a flurry of activity. Election of delegates to General and Jurisdictional Conferences consumed much of our time. Ken will be going to the Jurisdictional Conference in 2008 at Lake Junaluska. [In the United States, the UMC is divided into five areas or jurisdictions: - Northeastern, Southeastern, North Central, South Central and Western. These provide some program and leadership training events for constituent Conferences. Every four years the jurisdictional conferences meet to elect new bishops and select members of general boards and agencies.]

The budget for 2008 totaling $16,995,194 was adopted. This is a 2.8% increase over the previous year. This includes our World Service apportionment and other designated funds. Conference reports including the one from The Council on Finance and Administration are on-line.

As always, the fixing of appointments is the last act of Annual Conference and this is done in the context of worship. Ken, Scarlett and I will be at First UMC for the coming year. The Bishop’s sermon text was John 13 (foot washing passage). She very effectively reminded us of our call to servanthood in this sending forth service. In fact, I have ordered a tape of this sermon and will be glad to share it.

The 2008 South Carolina Annual Conference will meet in Florence on June 1-4.

Resolutions and Other Matters

As often happens at Annual Conference, a simple matter becomes cumbersome and time consuming. As I had predicted, there were questions and concerns about The Methodist Oaks now being marketed as The Oaks, a United Methodist Community. The Executive Director and Trustee Chair made a compelling case for the change. In reality this is a decision that the Annual Conference can only question, but cannot reverse. Once again we forgot the role of our Board of Trustees of our various institutions.

A resolution to require churches to have Safe Sanctuary Policies was passed after listening to those who don’t fully grasp the necessity for this. It is hard for me to understand that anyone would question the need for this in their churches.

The resolution about asking our State Legislature to remove the Confederate Flag from the State House grounds generated passionate debate, but did pass. I am glad that a resolution to support the UMC Global Aids Fund passed without debate.

It is interesting to note that there were no resolutions about environmental matters. Our Environmental Stewardship Committee at First UMC needs to consider submitting one or more resolutions another year to increase awareness and action in our churches concerning these issues.

Worship, Bible study, election of General Conference delegates and other agenda items were also part of our day. Being a lay or clergy member of Annual Conference requires lots of patience and the ability to endure fanny fatigue. One more day….

A Great Day of Service

Wearing yellow t-shirts, United Methodists were a visible presence across the City of Florence today (Tuesday). This afternoon members of the Annual Conference could be found participating in a variety of service projects. From yard clean-up and home repair to visitation and letter writing, we became the hands and feet of the Gospel. I was part of a group that visited an adult day care center and am glad that we spent this time reaching out to others. May we do this each day wherever are.

As usual, Annual Conference is a special time for being with those who have been important parts of our lives through the years. I have especially enjoyed seeing friends from Columbia and Lexington and to hear what is happening in their congregations and personal lives. It is a joy to see some of the new members finding their identity within our conference and beginning to shape who we are.

I was pleased that Russell Davis was recognized for his ten years of ministry with our camps and retreats. He has assumed a camping ministry position in North Georgia. I will miss working with him. As a strong advocate of Asbury Hills, I hope that the Conference heard his gentle words about the opportunity we have been given to touch lives with Jesus through our camping ministries and beautiful properties. We need to take care of these gifts.

Annual Conferenc 2007

With the theme- “To Serve the Present Age”- the 2007 South Carolina Annual Conference is meeting in Florence this week. Bishop Taylor continues to lead us into new and different ways of doing things beginning with the site of this event. We are at the Florence Civic Center instead of Wofford or Claflin campus. All seems to be going well with this location to this point. Of course, some of us love the idea that it is only an hour and a half from home.

Another break with tradition was that the ordination service was on Sunday evening. This includes the licensing of local pastors, commissioning of probationary elders and deacons, and the ordinations of full elders and full deacons. I was especially pleased to see my friend, George, licensed as a local pastor. He will serve Poplar UMC. It is hard to believe that I was ordained a deacon ten years ago.

Today we began electing delegates to 2008 General Conference. The lay members have already elected their first delegate, Carolyn Briscoe. As this process unfolds, it is interesting to see which names come to the forefront. Right now most leaders among the clergy are middle-aged white male elders. I hope we represent ourselves in a more inclusive way.

It is almost impossible to reflect on tonight’s worship with an open mind as First UMC was responsible for it. Ken preached a dynamic sermon and Tim assembled an amazing choir from the area and led them in music that celebrated the 300th anniversary of Charles Wesley’s birth. Both Scarlett and I were liturgists. We believe that we offered a meaningful worship experience and it certainly warmed our hearts. It will be an important part of our personal memories for a long time. Thank you, Bishop, for inviting us.

Rain, Rain!

As Longfellow wrote, “Into each life some rain must fall.” Today, I understand this reality. The earth is parched and the plants are suffering. The dark skies (and the Weather Channel) predict relief. Although I could use this as a metaphor upon which to reflect, sometimes what is literal is more important. Let the rains fall.

This connection and concern for the earth probably had its beginning in seeing my father, a farmer, watch the skies for much needed rain. In recent years, the writings of Wendell Berry have kept me sensitive to stewardship of the Earth and all of God’s creation. Currently, I am reading his book of essays, What Are People For? I think Berry is a prophetic voice and his works need to be read by more people. This rainy day would be a good time to start.

God's Signs

I recently read a blog about church signs that seems like a good thing to share on Friday. The slide show with commentary is worth viewing. They truly are signs of the time and could be a good catalyst for some interesting discussion.

The Joy of Knitting

Along with many other women (and a few men), I have rediscovered the joy of knitting. Primarily, I knit prayer shawls that are given to those who need to be reminded of God’s abiding presence. Other persons I know knit beautiful scarves and assorted items for family and friends. Many do some form of charity knitting – chemo caps, infant caps, blanket squares, scarves and lap robes. It is interesting that a many of the knitted items become gifts of love to others. That topic in itself would be interesting to explore. All of this seems to have generated novels with characters that knit. Debbie Macomber’s A Good Yarn is one that I just read and enjoyed. The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs is in the stack of books to be read by my bed. There are also devotional books that focus on knitting. Websites abound that share patterns, sell yarn and needles and give instructions and tips. Yarn shops and knitting groups are popular places to create important friendships.

Somewhere along the way I found this quote by an unknown author that expresses my interest in knitting:

“The act of knitting is a meditation, for the work of the hands compels the mind to rest, and gives free rein to movements of the soul."

Memorial Day 2007

In the quietness of this morning, I remember Memorial Days of the past as noted in last year's blog. I was touched by the above editoral cartoon in the Sun-News and the early morning TV news stories about those who have given their lives for this country. Today's number of US soldier's lives lost in Iraq War is 3455. Lots to think about...

Ending war is not just laying down arms, but addressing the issues that incite conflict and war. Perhaps this is the year that we need to observe Peace with Justice Sunday (June 3, 2007) and be called to action by it.

Church Office

The inner workings of the church are usually a revelation to those who join a church staff including ours. In many ways, our church office is like most other offices. Personnel, policy and procedure matters shape what gets accomplished. Human short-comings sometime thwart our efforts and frustration creates tensions that have to be addressed. Newcomers can be disappointed in finding less than an idyllic setting. So, as we add new staff members it is important to lead them through an understanding of this reality without discouraging them. It becomes an opportunity for the rest of us to re-evaluate our way of being a church staff and it can be a growing point for us. So it has been with the addition of Amy and Ron. They are a blessing to us.

As our Duke intern, Nathan, joins us, we face similar concerns. We need to give him a realistic view of ministry from the inside, but not cause him to question his call to ministry. Our hope is that he will gain a healthy understanding of the complexities of parish ministry and be better prepared to address them in the years ahead. During his time with us, he can help us understand what it means to be in ministry in Myrtle Beach today. Nathan can be very important to how the staff works together to share God's love.

How a pilgrim meets and greets those along the way helps define the journey. "What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"
Micah 6:8.

Kudzu

I must confess that my day goes better if I read the newspaper comics in the morning. They seem to put a lot of things in proper perspective. Some are poignant and others funny, but most have a message worth noting. I will admit that a few of the newer ones challenge me. However, as a NPR junkie, I did enjoy Kudzu this morning and want to share it.

Welcome, Nathan

Our Duke Divinity summer intern arrived this past weekend. Nathan has just completed his first year of seminary and is seeking to further explore his call to parish ministry through this ten-week field experience. I think it is quite appropriate that he begins and ends his time with us in worship. He has spent the last two days meeting and greeting church members and staff and trying to learn a bit about First UMC and Myrtle Beach. I am sure it is all a bit overwhelming, but his winning smile is still in place and he is making plans to teach, preach, visit and to be a part of other assorted activities.

I am so pleased how this congregation takes seriously its role as a teaching church and willingly shares in this experience. By doing so, we certainly are helping to shape the future not only for Nathan, but for the church as well. This is an awesome task and I am glad to be involved with the passing of the mantle. I am curious what congregants think it important for him to know. For me, I plan to help him understand the importance of the teaching role of a pastor and being a servant.

Books for the Road

During my recent road trips, I have listened to two books that have recalled memories of people, places and events from my past. Each has given me an insight into my personal quirks and idiosyncrasies in an enjoyable sort of way and I recommend these books to others.

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir by Bill Bryson is a delicious account of growing up during the 1950s in Des Moines, Iowa. Not only could I readily visualize his story, but I could also see the department stores, restaurants, schools and homes of my childhood. With humor, Bryson told his story of family and friends and how they shaped his life during this time. I enjoyed similar reflection of my own story as he told his and realized how this can be both fun and therapeutic.

Recipes From My Life by Pat Conroy combines two mainstays of Southern living – cooking and storytelling. As Conroy recounts his adventures of cooking, he tells much of his life’s journey. With detailed descriptions of classic Southern dishes like shrimp and grits and macaroni and cheese to fine European cuisine, he tantalizes the taste buds and taunts the culinary skills of this listener. Interwoven are the stories of his dysfunctional childhood and interesting adult life. In listening to his story, I remember my mother teaching me to cook, the wonderful breads and desserts made by my grandmother, the special family gatherings and favorite foods from my childhood. Add to this the requests from Robert for molasses cookies and Dan for beef stew, I realize the sacredness of food prepared carefully and shared with others.

Important Reminder

From a Jim Wallis blog -

Throughout American history, church leaders have spoken out on the vital moral issues of the day - whether it be slavery, civil rights, or in defense of the family and the dignity of human life. One of the enduring lessons the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. taught is the power a religious community can have in society. Reverend King said, "The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority."

Bikers etc.

I seem to be having difficulty writing a blog this week and I am not sure why. Perhaps it is the roar of bikers outside my window or maybe it is the need to multi-task. (I know, Ron, this is more appropriately known as rapid refocus.) However, yesterday I was at a Spartanburg Methodist College Board of Trustee’s meeting and the driving time gave me plenty of time to think. Included in my thoughts were the following:

-No matter how much we talk about the carbon imprint we are leaving on the Earth, most of us like the independence of driving ourselves and traveling alone. The four SMC trustees from this area drove separately to Spartanburg. Although we are advocates of being environmentally friendly, many of us haven’t adopted such practices. Lord, have mercy upon us.

-I am a firm believer in maintaining Sunday school during the summer and many within our congregation agree. If we don’t, the discipline of learning is often lost and class members become strangers. However, providing this ministry effectively is the challenge. The children need familiar faces and routine. Yet, their teachers need a respite. Youth that don’t want to be part of the summer visitation/music activity do not have an alternative. Adults are caught up in the Myrtle Beach summer scene and elect to do other things on Sunday morning. What are our options as we prepare for summer Sunday school? Lord, have mercy upon us.

-Nathan, our summer intern, is arriving this weekend. For this to be a good teaching/learning experience for all, we need to define more clearly both sides of this relationship. Our lay committee will meet on Sunday evening with Nathan and work on this. In our effort to teach our interns, we sometimes fail to learn from them. They can provide an understanding of the church and pastoral leadership into the future. Are we listening? Lord, have mercy upon us.

-Listening to multiple news accounts of world events can be depressing. Why are Christians so reluctant to be voices for peace and justice? Lord, have mercy upon us.

A Trip to Durham

I spent the last couple of days at Duke Divinity School in preparation for our field education student, Nathan Kilbourne. This year we are part of the Teaching Congregation program that offers an added experience for those who are named Duke Scholars in recognition of their academic achievement and promise of future ministry. Although I enjoyed supervising our interns the last two summers, I now have a greater respect for this program after meeting and hearing the faculty that oversee it. First UMC has undertaken very important work by offering this contextual learning experience that helps further define a student’s call and prepare him/her for ministry. Nathan will begin his field experience on May 20 and be with us for ten weeks. He will be sampling the realities of congregational life in a variety of ways.

Some observations and thoughts from my Duke adventure:
- Duke seminary students are some of the youngest in the country and I certainly am a mature minister.
- Students not only study the usual basic courses, but also enter into meaningful community and together explore what it means to be in ministry.
- Environmental and social justice issues are major concerns and calls to activism.
- It is exciting to think about what our future church might be.
- God does live in Duke Chapel.
- It was a good time for me to evaluate my own ministry and consider what I need to be studying to further my effectiveness. I am still thinking about this and will take suggestions.
- A meaningful pilgrimage can be made by traveling I-95 and I-40.

The Power of the Spoken Word

I frequently read Issac Bailey's blog. Sometimes it is related to what he is discussing in his column and other times he writes about what others are saying. Either way I often find it thought provoking. This week he linked to a report from media researchers at Indiana University about Bill O'Reilly's style of news commentary. Not only do we have to ask some serious questions about O'Reilly's popularity, but also have to realize the power this kind of spoken word currently holds over our culture.

The Bishops Come to Town

The Council of Bishops of the United Methodist Church is meeting at Springmaid Beach this week. The South Carolina Conference is serving as host and some of First Church members are helping in a variety of ways. Yet, we know little of what is happening because this episcopal gathering is not a secular news event. So, it was with great interest when I read the UMNS account of the address by Bishop Janice Riggle Huie, president of the Council Bishop. She called for our denomination to reclaim its heritage as a Christian movement. “The United Methodist movement invites belief in Jesus Christ over the cultural gods, the practice of forgiveness over hate, peace over violence, a better life over poverty, health over sickness.” She challenged the bishops to be leaders in making this happening. However, I find it a challenge for us all to hear.