Balcony View

One of the great gifts of the superintendency is the view from the balcony of this amazing conference.  It is a view that feels lonely at times because no one else sees what I see in our churches across this great land of Alaska.  But I love what I see.  Part of my job is to share with you this vision of what God is doing in and through the people called United Methodists in Alaska.

For example, I see Pastor Charlie Brower in Nome connecting with native Alaskans in new ways.  I see First, Fairbanks responding to the call to mobilize others to be the hands of Christ in an emergency.  I see Christ First and Palmer learning how to start new missional communities.  I see Chugiak filling a need in their community to help people reuse unwanted stuff.  I see Anchor Park stepping up to become an anchor church for New Day Alaska.  I see First, Anchorage awarding grants from their foundation to strengthen Alaska ministries.  I see St. John starting new small learning groups where people are formed into disciples.

I see Ascent Alaska reaching out to people who need to know the God of creation.  I see the central Kenai churches offering serious education for laity.  I see Seward moving their ministry into the heart of downtown.  I see Homer extending the hospitality of Christ in the form of a regular free community meal.  I see our Juneau churches working together as never before with a shared youth ministry.  I see Sitka UMC growing in numbers.  I see First, Ketchikan offering grace and shelter to people at the edge.

There is so much more to see from the unique view of the balcony.  I invite you to climb the stairs now and then to see what I see...that God is alive and moving in the communities served by our 29 churches!

Grace Always,
Dave

Hanging Out with Mom and Dad

I have just returned from a 7 day cruise with my parents, Bob and Louise Beckett, from South Carolina.  Kim and I thoroughly enjoyed being with them.  Being in their 80's meant they were not quick at anything except cards.  And Dad brought a cane to help with his back pain.  This came in handy when we were all able to go to the front of the line when checking in.

There were many laughable moments such as trying to enter what I thought was our room only to discover we were at the wrong end of the ship.  Or the time we were warned not to take any fruit off the ship and told about being arrested and fined.  When we disembarked there was a fruit-sniffing dog checking out everyone's bags.  Dad asked Mom about the raisins in her trail mix so she deftly walked a wide circle away from the dog.  We joked about having to bail her out of a Mexican prison for raisin smuggling!

But the best moment happened the night of our final day on board.  The four of us were sitting in the main atrium listening to a live band playing easy jazz.  During one song my Dad stood up, left his cane on his chair, and walked to Mom.  He didn't say a word but simply held out his hand.  She stood up and together they danced...the only ones to do so.  It was not a dance floor and people were watching, but they didn't care.  They just held each other and danced.

Thanks Mom and Dad for your faithful love of 64 years.  And thanks for nurturing your childlike adventurous spirit and allowing me to be part of it.

Grace Always,
Dave

The Nature of Experience

We United Methodists believe that God is revealed to us through a blend of scripture, tradition, reason, and experience.  God offers guidance to us through what we call the quadrilateral.  Each one serves as a check and balance to the other lest we attempt to use only one leg of this four-legged stool.

My brother who is a pastor, monastic, and theologian is convinced that one is more important than the others...experience.  I have been thinking about the nature of experience and raise these questions.
1. Who determines what an experience means?
2. Does one experience always have the same meaning, or can that meaning change over time?
3. Can we trust others who help us determine what an experience means?
4. Does our experience of God reflect who God really is?

In his book "Remove the Heart of Stone," Donal Dorr talks about two kinds of meanings of our life experiences.  Imposed meanings come to us from others, or outside influences.  When you have a depth experience someone is there to tell you what that experience means.

An example is the night I walked forward to pray at the altar of my church as a 16 year old teenager.  I don't remember the preacher's message or why I went.  What I remember is a confusing bundle of emotions that were pretty typical for a teenager.  So I had this experience of release and there were tears.  Immediately afterwards I was surrounded by people who cared about me who were also authority figures in my life...my Sunday School teacher, my pastor, my parents, and friends.  It was at that moment that they imposed a meaning on my experience.  They told me that I had been saved.  And I believed them for several decades.

Dorr talks about another type of meaning of our experiences:  Intrinsic meaning.  With this meaning there is time and space for the meaning of our experiences to bubble up from within.  One resists imposing a meaning in order to yield to the intrinsic meaning.  This type of meaning needs time for prayerful reflection.  It comes when we are ready to ponder it.

This is one of the ways a fast-paced world can subvert the process of our spiritual formation.  The world is so wired to make snap judgments on people and issues.  Labels are a simple way to make sense of our world.  But is this world genuine?

I look back on that altar experience differently now.  I do not see it as this pivotal salvation moment, but rather a part of my ongoing returning to God.  It was a way of expressing my desire to know God and let go of a bunch of unhelpful emotions.

My prayer is that God's people will give each other the holy time and space to resist imposing meaning on one another's experiences.  Let us be so present with God and each other so that God can be part of the insight into what life's experiences truly mean.

Grace Always,
Dave

Church 3.0

Yesterday my friend and mentor, Dr. Elaine Heath, professor of evangelism at Perkins School of Theology in Dallas, shared this blog as a must read.  It is titled Church 3.0 and was written by Rev. Dr. John C. Dorhauer, current Conference Minister for the Southwest Conference of The United Church of Christ.  Dorhauer makes a striking case for a new reformation needed in the attractional church.  Church 2.0 happened 500 years ago during the Reformation and the changes were strongly resisted by the status quo Church.  

Dorhauer, like myself, is a steward of the institutional church.  We know and love the Church.  But our love for the Church must not get in the way of our love for the gospel.  It is time for a new version of our Christian faith to give birth to new ways of re-presenting Christ to the world.  It is time for Church 3.0.

"Postmodern communities of faith aren’t investing in buildings. Millions of dollars to buy and build property is a waste of missional resources. Stained glass windows used to be necessary when illiterate peoples could not read nor remember the stories of the faith. The stunning beauty and brilliance of story was captured in these magnificent pieces of art, and the gospel was kept alive because of it. Now, it is an opulence that can’t be justified to a world where access to story is but a mouse click away. If property doesn’t directly impact mission, it is a waste."

"Postmoderns don’t want to eliminate any possible means by which the sacred can be experienced. They want to eliminate stale rituals that no longer feed the spiritually hungry."

"This is only a glimpse of what I experienced in my exploration of church 3.0. I love deeply what I see. I trust this expression of the faith to be as authentic as mine – and to ensure that people everywhere will come to know that they are loved, valued, and respected. That is all I need my church and my religion to do or be. It is enough."

I commend this blog to you.
It is why I am involved in the Academy for Missional Wisdom
God is doing a new thing and we need eyes to see!

Grace Always,
Dave

On Leaving Alaska

I have been thinking about transitions lately.  It is no wonder since I will begin my ministry as pastor of First UMC, Bend, Oregon, on July 1 of this year.  I really want to leave well.  Five years ago after my final sermon at St. John where I served for ten years a staff member said, "Thank you for not making this all about you."

I really believe that what we do in ministry in Alaska are God-breathed words and actions.  Many go unnoticed and are lost in the fog of history.  But if what we do and say is God's work it will always matter.  God's kingdom being built one act of love at a time, especially with people pushed to the edges of society.

So I want this work to continue and find myself dreaming of a transition plan that will empower and equip the new superintendent.  The Alaska Conference has much to celebrate and build upon for the future.  Here's a short list.

• Payment of apportionments at 94% last year.  Highest ever.
• Sale of First Samoan property with money going back into our Legacy Fund.
• Major funding of leadership development initiatives through the Tuell Center.
• Imagine No Malaria events in every church has us halfway to our goal of $150,000.
• New Certified Lay Minister training to begin this spring in Kenai and beyond.
• Several new faith communities starting with training from the Academy for Missional Wisdom.
• Cooperative youth ministry in Juneau.
• Outside the box appointments such as Nome.
• Significant relationship with our two big sister conferences.
• Advocacy on social justice issues.

I am grateful to God and everyone in the Alaska conference for this opportunity to serve here.  My work is not completed and there is much to do until summer.  What I do from now on is done with a sense of preparing for the next leader to take up the mantle and carry on.  If you have ideas that will help with this transition please let me know.

Grace Always,

Dave

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

This is a week set aside by the World Council of Churches asking Christians to pray for the unity of the body of Christ.  I respect any endeavor that seeks to eliminate the lines that separate not only Christians, but people.  We live in a world that tries to draw sharp distinctions between people.  Black and white, native and non-native, urban and rural, rich and poor.  Such distinctions lead to labels.  And when we look at people through the single lens of a label we fail to see the fullness of their humanity.

Certainly Jesus desired his followers to be united in love and mission.  But he also showed us how to look at all people with eyes of compassion to see them as whole persons.  People are more than labels.

So during this week of prayer for Christian unity let us also diminish and eliminate the lines that separate us from all people of the world.  Our union with God always comes with a mission to become one with others.

Grace Always,
Dave

Memorization

I have one of those Sunday School perfect attendance medals the Methodist Church used to give to children back in the 50's and 60's.  I earned them all...18 years of perfect attendance.  Other kids used to salute me walking the halls of Grace Methodist in Hamilton, Ohio.

In many of those Sunday School classes faithful teachers (most of them with gray hair) would have us memorize scripture.  To this day I still memorize scripture and prayers from time to time as part of my ongoing faith development.  I want to have a reserve of God words in my head during those critical times when I need a word from God.

This month I am memorizing Thomas Merton's famous prayer.  I have used it on the phone a few times talking with potential pastors praying about coming to Alaska.  It has been deeply helpful to them.  Here is that prayer.

MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. 

Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.

 But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. 

And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. 

Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

• Thomas Merton, “Thoughts in Solitude”

© Abbey of Gethsemani

Grace Always,

Dave