Racism in America

The media coverage of the George Zimmerman trial in Florida was non-stop.  Everyone it seemed had an opinion.  A few minutes before the verdict was read Kim asked me what I thought it would be.  "Guilty," I said.  So I was surprised when the "not guilty" verdict was prounounced.

My guess is that a vast majority of Americans, especially African-Americans, were not surprised, but angered by the verdict.  Here is another example of laws that appear to benefit the majority to the detriment of the minority.

I have been listening to the national debate about racial profiling and stand your ground laws.  What I hear, especially from our president, is that I have no idea what it feels like to be pre-judged based only on the color of my skin.  So I have tried to get a sense what it must feel like to have brown skin and walk into an elevator and notice a white woman clutching her purse more tightly.  I try to imagine the experience of people avoiding walking
too closely to me on a sidewalk.

Listen to black America and they are telling their stories of being profiled.  Parents feel the need to tell their children the subtleties of how to get along in this country as African-Americans with a long history of oppression by European-Americans.

As people of faith God calls us to work for justice which is nothing more than removing  barriers that keep people unequal and undervalued.  God's love is given in equal measure to all of us.  I encourage those who have experienced the privileges that come with being part of the majority to walk a mile in the shoes of someone who has not.  Now is the time for compassion and understanding.  Listen to your African-American friends, neighbors, and coworkers as well as other ethnic groups.  One of the greatest gifts we can offer is the ability to truly listen to the heart of another.  May their stories be told in ways that lead us to witness the glory of God's kingdom coming on earth!

Grace Always,
Dave

Changing Expectations

I have lived in Alaska for over 21 years and until last Friday have never gone dip netting for salmon!  This, of course, is where biologists have counted a sufficient number of salmon entering rivers to spawn, so they open a fishery for a period of time for Alaskans to fill their freezers for the winter.  It was with this expectation that my son, Ryan, and I embarked on the journey to the mouth of the Kenai River last week.  He has dip netted and so it was a special experience for him to take the lead. 

He said that the daily count of fish entering the river had been increasing significantly.  There was every reason to believe we were going to catch dozens of fish.  This was what we expected, that we would dip our nets into the frigid water and bam, fish would be caught!  I even talked about catching more than one fish at a time!

But reality does not always match our expectations.  We did not catch a single salmon all day!  But what a glorious day it was to be outside in God's creation.  75 degrees, sunny.  Mt Redoubt was directly across Cook Inlet providing a feast for our eyes.  Chatting with a neighbor about our Alaska outdoor experiences.  Snoozing in the sun.  Talking about Ryan's future.  But we did not accomplish what we had come to do.

How well do you adjust your attitude when life expectations do not match your reality?  I would not have driven 6 hours in one day on a busy highway just to experience the views.  We went there to fish.  But I believe in doing what I can to accept the reality of my life situation whatever it may be.  I don't see the value in rejecting what cannot be changed.  As people of faith we know that God is always present in every life circumstance.  When our lives do not happen the way we expect we can always experience the presence of God.  Sometimes these experiences will mean more than what we expected to happen.

Grace Always,
Dave

Forget the Trinity!

I am aware that the title of this post may stir up the emotions of faithful Christians.  I am not suggesting we forget the trinity.  I want to tell you a true story.

I was preaching and leading worship at our Willow UMC last Sunday.  Because Kim and I have a cabin north of Willow we have worshipped with the congregation on several occasions.  So I was familiar with their worship style.  Although I must say that it is very different worshipping as a congregant from leading worship as a pastor.  As a worshipper I am free to encounter God and do not have to remember the structural details of worship.

All went well until it came to the benediction.  I pronounced this benediction or something similar, "May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, (pause), and I forgot the other part.  So God's peace be with you!"  Everyone laughed, not at me, but with me.  Our Alaska UM churches are filled with people who give you the freedom to be yourself.  We are not people who put up with pretense or showmanship.  We are real people served by real leaders who make mistakes and sometimes forget the trinity.

Thanks be to God!  Now let's get out into the world and offer this same grace to others!

Grace Always,

Dave

Entertainment Bar Is Rising

Christian psychologist, priest, and spiritual father Henri Nouwen wrote, “When our good plans are interrupted by poor weather, our peace of mind by inner turmoil, our hope for peace by a new war, our desire for a stable government by a constant changing of the guards, and our desire for immortality by real death, we are tempted to give in to a paralyzing boredom or to strike back in destructive bitterness.”

            I must admit that I dislike the word boredom.  I especially disliked it coming from my children when they were teenagers.  I have observed that what would have excited me to no end when I was a teen can be very boring to today’s teenager.  I remember being thrilled to get a wrecked 1962 Ford Falcon in my senior year in high school!  I fixed it up and it became my pride and joy.  Have you seen the nice cars and trucks in our high school parking lots?

           Nowadays, parents feel pressure to provide lots of experiences for their kids.  There are so many good activities and things from which to choose today!  But in exposing our children to so many options, we may be inadvertently creating a kind of immunity in our kids, thereby raising the level of excitement needed to conquer their boredom.  Today it simply takes more novelty and excitement to keep kids interested.  The entertainment bar keeps going up. 

          How do you think this is affecting the spiritual lives of our children?  I think about the negative effects of our consumeristic, entertainment-driven culture on our children.  Recently a TV ad featured several young people following their dreams to play sports, dance, or sing on a stage.  In every case the passions people followed were about entertaining others.  I guess it is hard to pitch an ad to get people to join the Peace Corps or build a Habitat for Humanity home.

          And this is why the world needs to hear the voice of God through us, the Church!  But this voice must be heard by each would-be-disciple of Jesus and ACTED if the gospel message is going to be welcomed by others. 

          What can you do to keep the entertainment bar from rising in your life? 

Grace Always,
Dave
         

 

 

Online Church?

Last week I attended the Oregon/Idaho annual conference in Boise, Idaho.  I met Sophia Agtarap who is the daughter of Fred Agtarap who served as interim pastor of our Homer UMC this past year.  Sophia works for United Methodist Communications in a new position that resources churches interested in developing online faith communities. 

Some interesting questions arise over how we do church in a virtual internet arena.  How do we "count" people?  We United Methodists are obsessed with counting things!  How are the sacraments celebrated?  Are ordained elders needed to consecrate virtual bread and juice?  What is the nature of Christian community with people who may never meet in person?

I don't know the answers.  But I do know that our churches need to be thinking about ways to engage others via the internet.  So here's what I am going to do.  I plan to lead a book study of an amazing book I am reading now:  "Speaking Christian," by Marcus Borg.  I am aware that many young people are turned off by organized religion and they will not come to our church buildings even if the programs we offer peaks their interest.  So I will plan this study and advertise on Facebook.  I'll ask young people I know to share it with their Facebook friends.  I suspect there may be people from various parts of the country and perhaps the world.

I have this thought that if we Christians are willing to engage young people and their honest questions about God, that real spiritual growth will happen, and perhaps even Christian community.  So I encourage us all to think of ways we can use social media to create new places for new people for Christ.

Grace Always,
Dave

Value of Spiritual Disciplines

I don't always keep up with my daily spiritual disciplines.  What I have learned over the years is that I seem to need variety.  I can't always do the same routine day after day.  This doesn't mean that I don't try to maintain a spiritual discipline routine.  But I can't keep it up for a long period of time before I need a change of some kind.

The problem is that during that change mode I am tempted to abandon or lessen my daily routine.  For the moment there is a freedom that comes with changing my rule of life.  But as with any void something will get sucked into that space...people, things, ideas.  And God gets squeezed out.

The reason why maintaining spiritual disciplines is a good thing is that they mystically place me in the best possible position to listen to the voice of God and receive the grace of God.  I think of the times when I am not centered and in a moment of distraction, temptation, or willfulness, I miss a beautiful God moment.

It is entirely possible that the God moment awaiting us tomorrow may be linked to our decision to place ourselves in a prayerful position today.

Grace Always,
Dave

Family Joy

My heart is full of joy for two reasons today.  I am still feeling the afterglow of the Alaska annual conference.  Celebrations of our leaders, meaningful worship, capable episcopal leadership, sad farewells, truth telling, and the most raucous reading of appointments ever!  I do hope we as an annual conference will become more than the fun we experience together.  I'm talking about the hard work of holding a mirror to our congregations so we can face our current reality.  In doing so we need to not allow the anxiety of our people deter us from our mission of disciple making.

The other reason for my joy is the news that one hour ago at this writing on Monday, June 3, our grandson, Camden Robert Keller, was born to Rob and Lauren Keller in Idaho Falls.  8.5 lb and 20.5".