I just returned from attending PNW's annual conference which was a real delight. There were several reasons to go: being there for David and Julie Elmore's commissioning, telling the AUMC story at their Ministry Fair, networking with leaders, and playing on the bishop's basketball team to raise money for Nothing But Nets.
The commissioning/ordination service was inspirational with retired bishop Woodie White preaching about feeding the shepherds. He challenged the laity to feed their pastors. Bishop Hagiya asked people to come forward if they were feeling a call from God into professional ministry. The superintendents prayed for them. It was a holy privilege for me to pray with several people who came in tears.
I was able to spend time with Craig Parrish, our treasurer, on a few AUMC issues. I also was briefed on the role of Volunteer's in Mission. My past work with PNW's board of ministry helped in making connections with folks.
You should know that our bishop is quite a good basketball player. The game got crazy as people bribed the officials with donations to Nothing But Nets. I wondered if we might do something similar in Alaska next year.
I am trying to be patient with myself for not being up to proper superintendent speed. It is not an easy transition to go from being a pastor for 30 years to this new role. I ask for your prayers, and for Leila and Crystal as we forge a new team.
Grace and peace,
Dave Beckett
Monday, June 22, 2009
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
My last dibble for St. John UM Church
After ten years of pastoring St. John United Methodist Church the time is quickly approaching for my departure June 14. On June 15 I will become the new superintendent of the Alaska United Methodist Conference. This is my last piece for our newsletter.
This is my last dibble! For the past ten years I have tried to poke some holes here and there to make room for some seeds of grace and truth and love to sprout in all our lives. I know that St. John will continue to thrive and grow as you move forward with your mission. I am deeply grateful for the many ways you show God’s love to the world. Kim and I enjoyed the second chapter of raising our four children at St. John. You have understood our struggles as parents. Lay leaders and staff have encountered my weaknesses and shown me grace. Kim and family will continue to be at St. John. We will remain at our home and I will have a longer commute to the conference office at East Anchorage United Methodist Church. I will return for my daughter’s wedding in July and another in September. But I will not come to worship services unless I am invited in my new role as superintendent. You need time to bond with your new pastor. I am thrilled to hand over the reins to Dr. John Dodson. John will serve you fully and ably for the next year at which time the bishop will appoint your permanent new senior pastor. The good news is that I will be involved in that new appointment. Keep in mind that this is not my church, nor is it yours. We are God’s church. This is God’s work in and through us, sometimes even despite us! So I pray for a continued servant attitude for St. John, for a deepening desire for God, and for a spirit of contagious joy that reaches out to create new places for new people.
I love you.
This is my last dibble! For the past ten years I have tried to poke some holes here and there to make room for some seeds of grace and truth and love to sprout in all our lives. I know that St. John will continue to thrive and grow as you move forward with your mission. I am deeply grateful for the many ways you show God’s love to the world. Kim and I enjoyed the second chapter of raising our four children at St. John. You have understood our struggles as parents. Lay leaders and staff have encountered my weaknesses and shown me grace. Kim and family will continue to be at St. John. We will remain at our home and I will have a longer commute to the conference office at East Anchorage United Methodist Church. I will return for my daughter’s wedding in July and another in September. But I will not come to worship services unless I am invited in my new role as superintendent. You need time to bond with your new pastor. I am thrilled to hand over the reins to Dr. John Dodson. John will serve you fully and ably for the next year at which time the bishop will appoint your permanent new senior pastor. The good news is that I will be involved in that new appointment. Keep in mind that this is not my church, nor is it yours. We are God’s church. This is God’s work in and through us, sometimes even despite us! So I pray for a continued servant attitude for St. John, for a deepening desire for God, and for a spirit of contagious joy that reaches out to create new places for new people.
I love you.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Bad Faith vs Good Faith
This is the opening from my March 15 sermon using Brian McLaren's book, "Finding Faith." I really think he makes a great point between good and bad faith.
Do you have questions and doubts about God? I do. My favorite prayer is from the famous Catholic monk, Thomas Merton, who wrote this opening line: O Lord, my God, I have no idea where I am going.” Sometimes a wave of doubt just washes over us, the kind that filters down to the deep places of our souls. And we wonder at times if God is real. We sing a hymn in church or hear the scriptures read or listen to a sermon and we ask ourselves, “Do I really believe this?”
I have often thought that we should be known as St. John United Methodist Church, where it’s okay to ask questions. Not all fleeting thoughts and doubts should be given our energy and attention. But the nagging ones should be asked and explored and talked about in a safe and trusted environment of Christian community. I have witnessed peoples’ questions take them away from God and the church. I still believe that the church can be a safe place where questions are honored and faith is explored.
Do you know what prominent Christian leader said these words? “In my soul I feel just that terrible pain of loss, of God not wanting me — of God not being God — of God not existing.” Would it surprise you to learn that these words were spoken by Mother Teresa? Mother Teresa knew, of course, how much people the world over admired her for what she was doing, picking up the sick and dying from the streets of Calcutta and caring for them in their last days. She knew she had plenty of admirers who, as soon as she herself died, would propose her for sainthood. “If I ever become a saint,” she wrote, in her later years, “I will surely be one of ‘darkness.’”[1]
When Jesus was in Jerusalem celebrating the Passover with thousands of other Jews he knew that people were believing in him simply because of the signs and miracles he was doing. He knew that faith that rested merely on signs and not on God to whom the signs point is shallow and unstable. Where is your faith centered? Some people believe that sincerity matters. If I am sincere about what I believe then it must be true.
Brian McLaren, author of “Finding Faith,” uses the analogy of thin ice to drive home this point. “If you’re walking on a lake that’s covered with one inch of ice, no matter how sincere you are in believing you can do it, you’re in for a cold soaking at best, drowning at worst. If you’re walking on a lake that’s covered with twelve inches of solid ice, even if you are plagued by doubts at every step, you’ll still be upheld. So the issue is less the sincerity or intensity of your faith than it is the trustworthiness of the object of your faith.”[2]
[1] —Cited by David Van Biema, “Mother Teresa’s crisis of faith,” TIME, Thursday, August 23, 2007; and, James Martin, “A Saint’s Dark Night,” The New York Times, August 29, 2007.
[2] Finding Faith, Brian McLaren, p. 30.
Do you have questions and doubts about God? I do. My favorite prayer is from the famous Catholic monk, Thomas Merton, who wrote this opening line: O Lord, my God, I have no idea where I am going.” Sometimes a wave of doubt just washes over us, the kind that filters down to the deep places of our souls. And we wonder at times if God is real. We sing a hymn in church or hear the scriptures read or listen to a sermon and we ask ourselves, “Do I really believe this?”
I have often thought that we should be known as St. John United Methodist Church, where it’s okay to ask questions. Not all fleeting thoughts and doubts should be given our energy and attention. But the nagging ones should be asked and explored and talked about in a safe and trusted environment of Christian community. I have witnessed peoples’ questions take them away from God and the church. I still believe that the church can be a safe place where questions are honored and faith is explored.
Do you know what prominent Christian leader said these words? “In my soul I feel just that terrible pain of loss, of God not wanting me — of God not being God — of God not existing.” Would it surprise you to learn that these words were spoken by Mother Teresa? Mother Teresa knew, of course, how much people the world over admired her for what she was doing, picking up the sick and dying from the streets of Calcutta and caring for them in their last days. She knew she had plenty of admirers who, as soon as she herself died, would propose her for sainthood. “If I ever become a saint,” she wrote, in her later years, “I will surely be one of ‘darkness.’”[1]
When Jesus was in Jerusalem celebrating the Passover with thousands of other Jews he knew that people were believing in him simply because of the signs and miracles he was doing. He knew that faith that rested merely on signs and not on God to whom the signs point is shallow and unstable. Where is your faith centered? Some people believe that sincerity matters. If I am sincere about what I believe then it must be true.
Brian McLaren, author of “Finding Faith,” uses the analogy of thin ice to drive home this point. “If you’re walking on a lake that’s covered with one inch of ice, no matter how sincere you are in believing you can do it, you’re in for a cold soaking at best, drowning at worst. If you’re walking on a lake that’s covered with twelve inches of solid ice, even if you are plagued by doubts at every step, you’ll still be upheld. So the issue is less the sincerity or intensity of your faith than it is the trustworthiness of the object of your faith.”[2]
[1] —Cited by David Van Biema, “Mother Teresa’s crisis of faith,” TIME, Thursday, August 23, 2007; and, James Martin, “A Saint’s Dark Night,” The New York Times, August 29, 2007.
[2] Finding Faith, Brian McLaren, p. 30.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Thoughts on Desire during Lent
Have you ever desired something but decided to simply be with that desire without fulfilling it? Sometimes I hear my children say, "I'm hungry." And sometimes I say to them, "It's okay for you to be hungry." It's not the answer they want to hear. They assume, as do most kids, that we are not meant to be with our hunger. Hunger is a desire that should be fulfilled immediately. Instant gratification.
Love is a desire we all have within our hearts. One of the reasons so many of us do not have as much love in our lives as we want is because we act on our desire for love inappropriately. We become attached and addicted to people, things, and ideas. We are so interested in fulfilling that desire that we fail to simply be with our desire for awhile.
It is in "being with our desire for love" that we come to receive the gift of love. We wait for it and become ready to receive it when it arrives. Love is a gift that can only be received.
Lent is approaching. It is a good time to ponder what we want from God, from life. Instead of framing it as a time to give up something. What if we tried to spend some time with our desires without fulfilling them?
Love is a desire we all have within our hearts. One of the reasons so many of us do not have as much love in our lives as we want is because we act on our desire for love inappropriately. We become attached and addicted to people, things, and ideas. We are so interested in fulfilling that desire that we fail to simply be with our desire for awhile.
It is in "being with our desire for love" that we come to receive the gift of love. We wait for it and become ready to receive it when it arrives. Love is a gift that can only be received.
Lent is approaching. It is a good time to ponder what we want from God, from life. Instead of framing it as a time to give up something. What if we tried to spend some time with our desires without fulfilling them?
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Is asking for help good or bad?
I have a tendency not to ask for help when I need it. I suspect you may have this trait as well. The thing is that there have been times when it worked and other times when it did not. Once I needed some help moving a new 200 lb hot tub to the back yard. Did I wait for help? No way. I lifted it up on its side and stuffed a piece of cardboard under and slid it. This resulted in a big gouge in the plastic side!
On another occasion I needed to lift my aluminum teardrop camper off its base. I knew I needed help but instead moved forward. With a lot of thinking and planning I was able to accomplish my task. I remember standing back and feeling pretty good about myself.
So we have this double message in our world today. Be independent, self-reliant. At the same time recognize that you need others for your work, your family, your spiritual life.
I want to say that there needs to be a balance between these two positions. Sometimes we need to use our own God-given abilities to solve problems. And there are times when we need to ask God and others for help. As we move into the Lenten season may we discover that balance that makes sense for us.
On another occasion I needed to lift my aluminum teardrop camper off its base. I knew I needed help but instead moved forward. With a lot of thinking and planning I was able to accomplish my task. I remember standing back and feeling pretty good about myself.
So we have this double message in our world today. Be independent, self-reliant. At the same time recognize that you need others for your work, your family, your spiritual life.
I want to say that there needs to be a balance between these two positions. Sometimes we need to use our own God-given abilities to solve problems. And there are times when we need to ask God and others for help. As we move into the Lenten season may we discover that balance that makes sense for us.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
How to apologize: I'm sorry or my bad?
Yesterday in worship I was talking about how our culture has replaced "I'm sorry, will you forgive me?" with "My bad." I wasn't feeling good about this. During a talkback a teenage guy disagreed with me and said that "My bad" carries with it all the meaning of "I'm sorry, will you forgive me?" I responded with, "I guess some translation is needed at that point."
Later that night we talked again in the parking lot about how language shifts. At one point "charity" got replaced with "love." Are we in the midst of a language shift where "I'm sorry" will be replaced with "My bad?" My teenage friend did admit that youth like to change things just "to be weird."
So I am trying to be open to this shift but something in me is resisting big time. What do you think?
Dave
Later that night we talked again in the parking lot about how language shifts. At one point "charity" got replaced with "love." Are we in the midst of a language shift where "I'm sorry" will be replaced with "My bad?" My teenage friend did admit that youth like to change things just "to be weird."
So I am trying to be open to this shift but something in me is resisting big time. What do you think?
Dave
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)