Back to Blogging
It has been a while since I posted something, but
now I am back to blogging. Sorry to be unplugged so long.
When I write in my journal I typically begin,
“Hello old friend. It has been a long time and much has happened. More
than I can share in this sitting.” Those words fit my blogging pattern of
late. Much has happened since I last posted comment, some would say rant, in
the life of Discipledom, American culture, the Kentucky Region, and personally.
It is more than can be shared in this one post. Blogging is something I do for
myself. It helps keep the brain firing, keeps me focused, creative, and is at
times a pressure release valve. I know there are a few folks that visit my site
and it is fun to hear from them when an email arrives. Blogging was pushed down
the priority list these past four months as I rearranged the list: ministry in
Kentucky, ministry within Discipledom, a hobby or two, and life with my
companion.(1) So, in brief, a few words about these
things.
Ministry in
Kentucky
If you ever hear me use the phrase,
‘my ministry,' slap me. I don’t use that phrase when I speak of
ministry. I was ordained into Christian ministry in November 1991. I
participate in the Church’s ministry as an ordained minister, as one
called out for representative ministry.(2) It is not something I own. This
highlights part of my problem with the continued dishonoring of ordained
ministry. A segment of the Church, including Discipledom, continues to reduce
ordained ministry to something like getting a license to drive a car. Look
around you the next time you are driving or a passenger. Everyone behind the
wheel should not necessarily have a license to drive. Just like everyone cannot
be a doctor, attorney, fighter pilot, or congressional
representative.(3)
Ministry in Kentucky is
beginning a new chapter for me. I still serve on Regional staff. This is my
eighth year and my longest tenure in any position to date.(4) The Region is
in the infancy of a new Regional Minister and a capital campaign. We want to
improve our outdoor sanctuaries, Camp Kum-Ba-Ya and Camp Wakon’ Da-Ho,
where 800 children, youth, and adults attend camping experiences each summer.
When I interviewed back in 1999, I noted that this was my top priority and
should be the Region’s as well. Funny thing priorities and life serving
the Church. As we raise money it means helping people understand that we are
not changing the nature of the outdoor sanctuaries or the community that makes
them holy ground. Rather, we are making changes to ensure that the outdoor
sanctuaries can welcome more to the community, be more welcoming of people with
all abilities, and provide space for activities that we can’t do right
now. This, along with making the final of several changes to the Regional Youth
Council, is the last of a list of things I knew I could help the Region do
during my service. As I begin these final steps of a long plan I have begun
wondering what’s next? Ministers must reinvent themselves and learn new
skills when serving the Church to keep from becoming comfortably
numb.
Ministry in
Discipledom
It was good to be in the
motherland this summer.(5) Disciples had a mostly uneventful General Assembly.
Every time I saw our General Minister she looked relieved that another day had
past with little controversy.(6) My experience at assembly ranked in the
‘so what’ category. I enjoyed seeing friends and catching up. The
resolutions and the conversation around the resolutions was well controlled. I
voted against the Iraq war resolution as well as the health care resolution(7).
Our polity does not allow the General Minister to address Congress or the
President of the United States or any other country on behalf of the
denomination. She can address political leaders or issues in our culture or
world on behalf of the Assembly, but not all Discipledom. I don’t think
the denomination helps the ‘me’ generation that went into the
military reserve or signed up for military service by telling them
‘don’t deploy’ if you don’t want to deploy no matter the
reasons.(8)
My other concern for our brand
of Christian witness is the rewriting of the order of ministry to further
Christian unity or make it easier to become ordained without seminary
training.(9) Maybe this is the pendulum swinging back from the extreme of Jim
Jones. I respect Rev. Robert Welsh, but cannot fathom how this re-ordering is
positive for Discipledom. It would fulfill the dreams and work of a generation
committed to ecumenical unity and a recognition/reconciliation of ministries so
that we could further claim that the Church is One. By adopting a three tiered
order of ministry, commissioned, ordained, and covenantal (substitute deacon,
elder, bishop or some other three-fold language), Disciples will finally cry
'uncle' to the denominations that count themselves as the bearers of Apostolic
tradition so the dominant voice can feel better about sharing a chancel, stage,
a table or ministry with us. Are we to turn back to the creeds as we devolve in
theology and practice?
A Hobby or
Two
Though he probably does not remember it,
my father told me that I needed to make time for the one thing I really enjoy
doing, that was not work related, and be sure to do that each week as well as
work. “Try to fit an hour each week into your routine of whatever that
is. It will help your attitude with the rest of the week.” Beyond
spending time with my companion there are two things, hobbies, I really enjoy.
I like to play golf, but have not touched a club this year. I like to fish more
than I like to play golf and have this year had the opportunity to fish though
not once a week. I’m one of those people who likes to fish even when
nothing is biting. Catching is fun, but fishing is, it just is. At one level
it is my connection with my extended family and particularly my dad’s
father who I am told loved the lake and fishing. There is other analysis as to
the why, but that removes the ‘is’ from fishing for me, so I
don’t analyze it too often. This fall and coming spring, I am fishing
every chance I get. And when I can’t fish, blogging will have to
substitute.
Life with my
Companion
In October we celebrate eighteen
years of marriage. Yesterday at a meeting, I referred to myself as I often do,
“Hi, I’m Michael. I belong to Lisa.” I enjoy the strange
look I get when people first hear that phrase. For such a modern world we cling
to old world ideas about women being property to be given from one family to the
next. When we married we determined that no one would ever think that of our
relationship. And now that there is so much talk about protecting marriage it
has become more important to me than ever to use the language of companionship
rather than marriage for our relationship. Homosexual persons cannot threaten
anyone’s marriage relationship any more than a heterosexual person can
unless there is something tragically amiss in that relationship already.
Homosexual adults should have the rights and protections to open relationships
that my companion and I share. Companionship is what we desire, is good for a
stable, productive society, and as such the government should recognize it the
same way it did when we bought a marriage license back in October of 1989. If
religions don’t wish to bless the relationship in their places of worship,
so be it. That is the separation of Church and State, but too many politicians
are listening to that threatening or threatened third grade faith and limiting
the constitutional rights of some citizens based on an unsubstantiated belief
that marriage is only between a man and a woman, rather than the fact that
committed relationships between consenting adults is important to our
culture.
As I mentioned above, we have
lived in Lexington for eleven years and in the same house for eight years. Lisa
grew up with that kind of experience, but for me it is a new thing. Yes, there
is vocational pressure. Here in our early forties the idea of retiring someday
is unimaginable, but improving our home, saving for later life, and making money
work today so we can spend a few weeks in St. Thomas each year are important
aspects of our life together. When ministers marry one another vocational
decisions become more complex. Some will laugh at this next statement, but it
captures the mood. We are becoming grownups. As we mature together our
relationship has never been better.
So,
these were more than a few words. If you hung around thanks. If you moved on
to something more interesting I understand. If you blog and respond to
something I wrote here on your blog, please send me a link so the conversation
can
continue.
Notes
1.
People who know me will laugh at the notion that I have a priority list, and
they might even sigh at the thought that I have grownup enough to have or at
least admit to owning, having, keeping using such a
thing.
2. I remind seminary students and those
seeking ordination that when you are ordained you represent all of the
Church’s history, the bad and the good, to every person you meet at every
moment of the day.
3. I am sure there are other
jobs, vocations you can, would, or will list.
4. We have lived in
Lexington eleven years. I have never lived in any town or city that long. My
previous service in congregational ministry lasted three or four years
each.
5. This is my term for Texas which is my
adopted home state. I am a Louisiana native.
6.
This does not mean that things did not go wrong. As I noted in a blog from
assembly the youth portion of the event was disappointing, and several groups I
spoke with had very bad mission experiences. We really need to return to a
summer/fall General Assembly schedule for a variety of reasons not the least of
which is that the salaried adult leadership at the General church level has no
idea how to creatively think about, organize, promote, or advocate for youth or
youth ministry in Discipledom.
7. I heard some
ministers refer to the health care resolution as the ‘fat clergy’
resolution.
8. I don’t agree that the
Iraq war was a necessity. Holding Bin Laden and the Taliban accountable was
just, but Iraq was conjured up by politicians and corporate America from a
nations grief and fear. Then it was shaped by marketing firms with six and
seven figure budgets. But military personnel sign up for duty no matter where
the theatre of battle. They are not roadies who get to take a one leg vacation
if they don’t like the destination. I want the Iraq war to end and the
way it will end is when people leave work, stop shopping at Walmart, and descend
on the capital for a week or two asking, demanding that our military men and
women get out of Iraq. The only other way to end the war is for the military
draft to come back so that this neocon war is something everyone is sacrificing
for rather than people who need an extra $20k to get out of debt or a bad
neighborhood. Every time a member of congress votes to extend the funding of
the Iraq war without a timetable of closure someone from their family should be
required to enlist for duty in Iraq and deploy as soon as their training is
complete. When their grandchildren are preassigned for duty when they reach the
appropriate age, then closure to this foreign policy tragedy will
come.
9. This is an ongoing argument for the
Kentucky Regional staff. And when I say argument I use it as a positive
description. Some believe the seminaries are no longer or are doing a poor job
of educating seminarians for pastoral ministry. The seminaries are not teaching
what persons need to know to minister in this post-modern, post-Christian age.
Some argue that Campbell and Stone would not appreciated the hierarchy that
exists between education, ordination, and service in ordained ministry though
they both thought an educated clergy person was important in the life of the
Church. And some point out that for many a seminary education is out of reach
because of the sacrifice needed to attend or because of cultural differences in
the perception of ministers. Offering alternate paths to ordination that are
recognized by the denomination defames the many women, minorities, and men who
have answered the call to service, and completed the necessary educational,
practical, and theological components for the Church and the world to entrust,
recognize, and invest ordained ministry into their lives. Can you guess where I
am in this argument?
Filed Tue - September 18, 2007, 11:04 AM in
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