Postmodern Renaissance Culture Revolutionary

A Fractured Quadrilateral In the previous piece, I wrote about the four identified sources of authority within the history of the Church of Christian faith. Experience, Tradition, Scripture, and Reason have all risen to be the primary source of authority for a faith community. In some cases, the rise of a new form of primary authority has created a conflict between faith communities. There have been obvious splits within the history of the Church over these points of difference. I also alluded to John Wesley and the integration of all four sources into his work in the area of theology. The United Methodist Church took what John Wesley did and have found a unique identifying theological framework. In the Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church, our polity and doctrinal guide, the Wesleyan Quadrilateral is described. It has become a reference point over the last 40 years that United Methodists could point to as something that we shared in common. Recent events lead me to believ...

Forest of Authority This is quite long. It is a piece I have written to explain a new metaphor I am using to teach the different faith traditions. It is also the first part of an examination on where I believe we stand as Methodists in conflict with one another. In the years that I have been teaching church history, I have commonly used the analogy of a tree. It helped to point out the development of the different “branches” of the Christian faith. It was easy to show how one denomination is related to or different from, other denominations. In the last few months, I have begun to shift the analogy. Now I use the image of forest instead of a single tree. The move to a new picture has come as a result of preparation for Bible study in 1 John as well as the ongoing institutional and philosophical crisis of the United Methodist Church. I began to see that one source was not sufficient to understand the current reality of the Church universal. I felt that a different picture has become nec...

Recently I have been pursuing the idea of journaling. I want take this up a more of a holistic, and hopefully more objective, gauge of where I am emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. The problem of beginning this pursuit, other than my chronic laziness and pathological fear of beginning something new, has been the recurring theme of goal setting. This has caused me some measure of pain. I understand setting goals as a necessary step in making progress in achieving something. In my head I see why this is necessary. In my heart I feel that this is a critical part of my trying to develop personally and professionally. I just cannot get passed the wall that I see nothing as a goal in my life. I asked colleagues and friends about their professional and personal goals. They were helpful in making me feel inadequate. Or maybe incomplete in my desire for what I want to achieve. The intangible goals of life are easy for me. I see the back and forth of failure and success. I don't con...

In the effort to make my voice one of the many, I sent the following to the delegation of the Oklahoma Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. To the Oklahoma General Conference Delegation, I know you have received many viewpoints encouraging you to see fit to vote some way or another. My only desire is that you will vote the direction your heart leads you. Show integrity to what God has called you to live out. Be gracious in service to all in a spirit of love. Hope for the kingdom of God’s reign to be the ultimate end of any decision that will be made. I would contribute my voice to the decision about the plans that have been submitted only as a way to encourage you to see what many have seen as the least viable plan as a potential way forward for the future of United Methodists. The Connectional Conference Plan has been criticized as being too vague, requiring too much voting (in terms of the number of Constitutional amendments), and a stop gap measure “kicking the can furt...

I have been banned from posting personal things or controversial things on Facebook. That is the world I have come to live in now. For this season, I am isolated from the main outlet that I have used to voice my worries, fears, failures, and weakness as a sign that even pastors lives suck sometimes. So, if I cannot use Facebook anymore, then this shall be my outpost of sharing what is or isn't good in my life. I have, in fact, cut my Facebook "friends" down considerably. I have continued to follow those in the church as "acquaintances" only because it is still a way for THEM to share the suck of life. They are under no ban nor limitation for what they are allowed to post. But I have limited Facebook posts to only those I know can be there to hear what I say and express the appropriate response. But for this day, I felt I should share what has been happening in my devotion life. I have found a new desire to greet each day with a time of spiritual reading, Bib...

No, this has nothing to do with a singing competition with only CCM or hymns being sung. This has to do with a very real practice of idolatry that is being practiced in the American Church today. I have been chewing on a hunk of philosophical and theological gristle for a while now. Today was the day I finally got it worked on enough to get it out. By the way, for disclaimer sake: Due to the nature of the inflammatory, political, and potentially destructive nature of this post, it will not be shared on my social media platforms. If you are someone who desires to avoid issues that may be troubling to sensibilities, I suggest stopping here and returning to the platforms of communication you feel more at home with. If you wish to share this message, just ask my permission first. There, that's the formal stuff out of the way. I have been watching the landscape of the churches I have served very carefully for the entire run of my ministry. Almost 22 years of serving United Methodi...

Tomi Adeyemi drafts an amazing world where magic was crushed by an oppressive government. The gods responsible for magic have retreated from the people. And the king actively oppresses those who have the visible telltale marks that could possibly allow them to tap into magic once more. Adeyemi's hero is Zeile, a headstrong and impetuous girl who leaps into action without thinking through the consequences. She bears the marks of a magic user. And her actions lead her on a quest to restore magic with the help of her gladiator brother and a runaway princess. This isn't a simple quest story. This is a story of personal struggle. The author admits that this story, its characters, the world it takes place in, are all a reflection of the climate of racial tension that is present around us. Adeyemi writes in such a way that the emotions of our real world difficulties are present. Those emotions do not demand the reader to replace elements with real world counterparts. Those e...

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. The Come Back Effect lays out the approach that North Point Ministries uses in connecting with guests in an effort to bring them into the ministry regularly. Jason Young and Jonathan Malm come from a guest services background. The approach they highlight is very practical for churches to put into place. The basic theme is the subject of hospitality. The overall message is one of moving the focus of a church from providing a comfortable environment for the established church to providing an intentional comfortable and welcoming environment for guests. The practical suggestions are about taking your current collection of people, training them for maximum hospitality toward guests, and then empowering to live out their individual personality and gift or skill set in welcoming people who may have never had contact with the church. The strongest chapters that Young and Malm bring to this book are chapters on Recover Quick...

It isn’t easy reading the news. It isn’t easy to sit down at a table with a mixed group of people. It isn’t easy to share things on social media. The reason? Because politics seasons all of these. And sometimes, the seasoning is off putting. Have you ever put salt in a dish when sugar was called for? That is how some conversations go these days. I think it is time to make some declarations about my politics. One, so others can judge me by my own position. Two, so I can look back on this and see development and change. Three, just so I can get a few things off my chest. I don’t affiliate with a single political party or platform. Republicans and Democrats can’t agree within their own party on what they think is important. The two party system has limited the true freedom of expression and a realistic representation of all people in this nation. We are convinced that these two parties are the only “real” way government can be run. Strangely, the two we have are not the two we ha...

We were in the first day of business when the Health and Pension reports came up for approval. In the course of discussing our retired clergy's health insurance, a change was proposed. It was proposed that the Annual Conference would reduce the contribution to retired clergy member's HSA (health saving accounts) by $1,200 annually. This move was to take a conservative position for possible future down turns. This led to debate that was quite involved. Questions of how much surplus was available, and the position of conservative versus providing adequate care now were tossed about. I sat there wondering a couple of things. One of these will sound horrible. The other will be only slightly less so. The first was: Should a retired clergy member be allowed to argue for this issue? The primary question of the proposed change was brought forward by a clergy member who retired this year. Now, before anyone jumps to the comments to play whack-a-mole with me on this, let me clarify a...

As May has rolled around and out, the tradition of venturing to Annual Conference was recently partaken of. In other words, I had to attend the annual meeting of Oklahoma United Methodists to set our course for the coming year. And, as I have done in some past years, this year I took notes to reflect upon when I arrived home. You are now party to the ramblings of a narrow mind. Not narrow in the sense of I don't see other perspectives. I just mean narrow in that my ramblings are the only ones you will read. Clergy Executive Session is where I begin Annual Conference. This is the session where the clergy gather to vote on issues that pertain only to the ecclesiastical office. This is where we vote on clergy candidates and ordinands. As part of our tradition, we examine each ordinand with the historic Wesleyan questions for pastors. These are a set of questions that have been in use, in one form or another, since John Wesley examined pastors and preachers. Have you faith i...

In a little over one month, I will taking the appointment as pastor to the Mooreland United Methodist Church. And I'm confused. It isn't about the location or the job. It is about the transition. This will be my fifth appointment to a new church. There are always expectations of the new pastor on the part of the receiving church. There are also imaginations and excitement to do things on my part. In other words, there is always a degree of change that takes place. But the confusion comes with trying to grasp how much, how soon, how deep, how wide. There was a bit of wisdom that was shared with me early in ministry. "Don't make any real significant changes in your first year." That doesn't seem like a long time in our rapid paced world. The idea behind it is that you don't want to appear to be throwing away the established way of things. That first year was supposed to be a time of learning the context: the people, the community, the history, and the sa...