United Methodist Church Aims At Relevance and Global Service (Part Three)
L. Dwight Turner
Of all the wondrous aspects of God’s proactive grace, one of the most fascinating is his ongoing invitation to humankind to participate in the unfolding of his Great Story. When we understand the full ramifications of this divine invitation, we respond by praying for wisdom and discernment, two necessary gifts that will enable to us see where and how God is working and how we might fit into this work of restoration in a participatory way. The Foundation Document continues:
We open our hearts to confess our sin, to receive God’s grace, to discern God’s call, and to feel strengthened by God’s sustaining Spirit….God invites us, with all our imperfections, to participate in this work. We open our hearts so that we can change. We open our hearts to feel God’s presence with us as we labor.
It is through our compassionate service that we, in the words of Wesley, embody the “moral image of God.” Using the analogy of breathing, Wesley likened our participatory efforts in support of the unfolding of the divine plan of restoration to the process of inhalation and exhalation. Accordingly, the Foundation Document reminds us that we embody the moral image of God when we receive his grace and then reflect that grace back into the world. Wesley called this giving and receiving of grace as “spiritual respiration.”
By responding to the Spirit’s action in our heart and going forth to do the work that we have been called to do, we bring into play the third aspect of the solution to the world’s problems: open hands. Personally, I am deeply moved by this focus of the Foundation Document. It is precisely here, with open hands, that we accept our responsibility as children of the Living God. And what is that responsibility: we are to give flesh to grace.
By being the hands, the feet, and above all, the heart of Christ in our hurting world, we engage in not only compassionate service, but also, participate in the wisest, most effective form of evangelism in existence. By incarnating the moral image of God and the loving heart of the Master, we become, in essence, what Paul called “living epistles.”
In speaking of the responsibility we, as Christians, have to God and the world, the Foundation Document states cogently:
We open our hands to respond to the Spirit and do the work God calls us to do in the world…..We often live as though “being created in God’s image” gives us special privilege, but that is a grave mistake. Our status as human beings increases our responsibility, not our privilege. Being created in God’s image means that we are charged with caring for this world, not invited to abuse it. Doing justice, building peace, and mending the planet are ways that we take care of what we have been given. However, we are not caretakers for an absentee landlord; rather God’s renewing Spirit works through us and courses around us breathing new life into the planet and its people.
Next, the document reminds us that Wesley saw this aspect of stewardship as a sacred trust, not to be taken lightly.
A steward is not at liberty to use what is lodged in his hands as he pleases, but as his master pleases…..The care of the earth is entrusted to us. We are the “channels of God’s blessings” to the other creatures and to the earth itself. (Works 2:440)
Living as he did during the growth period of the Industrial Revolution and its concomitant rapid urbanization, Wesley had great foresight into the potential problems associated with socio-economic forces and, far ahead of his time, began formulating a biblical response. As Methodists, we can rightly take pride in this aspect of our Wesleyan heritage.
The Foundation Document also connects this Wesleyan concern with creation with having “open eyes to see God’s vision for the whole of creation.” Further, the document makes the essential point that a valid Christian worldview understands the Hebrew prophetic tradition that Jesus was so much a part of. Specifically, the Council of Bishops tells us that “this is an inclusive vision of well-being.” The document goes on to connect this vision of wholeness with the tradition of “Shalom,” which includes living in harmony with all aspects of creation.
As humankind now moves into the second decade of the new century, it is vital that we understand and apply the principles of God’s kingdom to all aspects of life. Whereas specific aspects of the fabric of our existence need to be singled out for attention from time to time, we cannot afford to lose a holistic perspective on the world. We are all interdependent, interconnected parts of one large whole and suffering in one aspect of creation means suffering in all aspects. I think this is why healing is an important topic for discussion, planning, and practical application at this time in our collective history.
The Foundation Document makes it clear that for Jesus, healing and preaching the establishment of the Kingdom of God were deeply interrelated. From his writings and his ministry, it is also apparent that John Wesley was cognizant of this vital relationship as well.
Healing and preaching the Kingdom of God were part of the same ministry for Jesus. This process of preparing for the Kingdom of God, of renewing creation, is akin to a healing process. God is healing the planet….John Wesley held firmly to this language of healing in his own preaching and teaching. Indeed, one of his favorite metaphors for God was “the Great Physician.” (Works 4:23) For Wesley, God is fundamentally concerned about well-being. Salvation is understood holistically, as complete holiness and happiness. When we expand that notion of salvation to the planet, we see that God’s work of renewing creation is comprehensive. In the hands of the Great Physician, every aspect of our world is being made whole or healthy. Poverty and disease, environmental degradation, and violence are signs of our ill-health. God is working toward the health of the whole body. If we are to fashion ourselves as instruments of God’s renewing work in the world, we too must direct our efforts toward healing our collective body.
Granted, each of these issues may require individual attention. However, we cannot afford to lose sight of the interrelated dimension of these global maladies. The Foundation Document, with characteristic cogency, addresses these themes:
With open eyes, we see the relationships between poverty and disease, environmental degradation, and the proliferation of weapons and violence. Although this makes the problems seem even more difficult to surmount, treating them separately is less effective. To accurately diagnose our situation and craft a viable plan for health, we must see and respond to the ways in which the particular threats interact with one another….Although we may prioritize poverty and disease, environmental degradation, and weapons differently in light of our individual experiences, we must not lose sight of the connections among them. And we must reject policies and practices that pit the victims of these problems against one another. We must see these problems as linked, like three connected rings, so that a solution for one improves the situation for the others.
to be continued…..
(c) L.D. Turner/ 2010/All Rights Reserved
Methodist Youth of Asia Work for Peace and Justice
L.D. Turner
My heart is warmed this morning as I just read an article by Grace A Tomas, appearing in the United Methodist Communications newsletter, which describes efforts being made by the church’s youth in Southeast Asia. Well over two hundred years after the life of John Wesley and halfway around the world, these young people are carrying on his tradition of loving service in the name of Jesus Christ.
According to the article, thirty-eight young Methodist leaders from eight different countries have come together in united purpose to form the Sixth Conference Asian Methodist Youth Network. The Sixth Conference, which was held in Cambodia, met under the umbrella of the theme, “Working Together for Justice and Peace in a Globalized World.” In addition to sharing ideas about the future direction of the group, participants also learned more about globalization, its impact on Asia in general and young people in particular.
The conference also took a long, hard look at the HIV/AIDS issue, which is a major problem in the region. In Tomas’ excellent article, she states that the network’s purpose is:
…to bring together young people of Asian churches rooted in the Wesleyan tradition in order to provide them the opportunity to share and strengthen one another and plan partnerships and cooperative efforts.
Participating countries included Taiwan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Indonesia, the Phillippines, Myanmar, and Cambodia.
Wise Words from Thomas Kelly
Thomas Kelly, the Quaker mystic who wrote A Testament of Devotion is one of my favorite writers and this little book of his is a true gem. “A Testament” has been at my bed side for many years and I normally take it with me when I travel. It is one of those kind of books that repeatedly brings comfort, insight, and inspiration.
Like most Quakers, Kelly writes of a perfect balance between the mystical and the mundane; the silence and the social; the inner and outer aspects of the Christian walk of faith. From time to time I like to share a quotation from Kelly as I think more and more people should be exposed to his writing. I strongly recommend A Testament of Devotion. I have read it more times than I can count. I think I can safely say that this book, along with Watchman Nee’s A Normal Christian Life are two of the most influential books I have ever read and believe me when I say I have read more than my share.
The Inner Light, the Inward Christ, is no mere doctrine, belonging peculiarly to a small religious fellowship, to be accepted or rejected as a mere belief. It is the living Center of Reference for all Christian souls and Christian groups – yes, and of non-Christian groups as well – who seriously mean to dwell in the secret place of the Most High. He is the center and source of action, not the end-point of thought. He is the locus of commitment, not a problem for debate. Practice comes first in religion, not theory or dogma. And Christian practice is not exhausted in outward deeds. These are the fruits, not the roots. A practicing Christian must above all be one who practices the perpetual return of the soul into the inner sanctuary, who brings the world into its Light and rejudges it, who brings the Light into the world with all its turmoil and its fitfulness and recreates it (after the pattern seen on the Mount).
Thomas Kelly
(from A Testament of Devotion)
Steering Clear of Myopia: What Do I Know, Anyway?
L.D. Turner
On several occasions I have received either comments or emails from readers of this site, stating in one way or another that they cannot “figure me out.” Most of these readers are cordial and genuine in writing to me, but for some reason or another, I don’t seem to fit well into whatever box they might be trying to squeeze my thought into. My advice to these friends is this: “Better get a shoe horn.”
The fact is, I guess, I am just a bit of a theological maverick. I have found over the years that labels are, at least for the most part, meaningless. Some folks consider themselves to be conservative believers, while others take pride in being called liberal. Others are fundamentalists and yet others are emergent. I suspect that some of my readers’ confusion stems from the fact that I have beliefs that bridge these many Christian camps and, as I said, I can’t be pigeon holed. And guess what? I think that’s a positive thing.
Let me explain.
Emerson once said that “a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” One of the things I think he meant by this statement was that, if you allow an external source to define your beliefs, you are often forced compromise the integrity of your mind in order to remain consistent with whatever the school of thought you might be identified with. For example, if you consider yourself to be a fundamentalist you readily understand that fundamentalists believe in the Virgin Birth. As a self-identified fundamentalist, you realize that you, too, should believe in the Virgin Birth. This state of affairs is no real problem unless you find that you don’t really believe in the Virgin Birth. Now you have a dilemma on you hands. The way many folks solve this conundrum is to either say that they do, in fact, believe in the Virgin Birth when they really don’t or they convince themselves they believe in it, even if they don’t. The result is the person in question has compromised the integrity of his or her mind. In order to be consistent with a pre-defined worldview, the person claims to or pretends to believe in something he or she does not believe in.
The other end of the theological perspective has equal problems. Let’s say you are a very liberal Christian. You have read Spong, Borg, Crossan, Tillich, and all the right authors. Of course, liberals don’t believe in the deity of Jesus, at least most of them don’t. But what happens if you discover that you do believe in the deity of Jesus. Well, now you have the same problem as the fundamentalist discussed in the previous paragraph. In order to be consistent with what a liberal is supposed to believe, you compromise and even convince yourself that Jesus was just another “great moral teacher” and your problem is solved. Unfortunately, now you have a bigger problem. Your integrity is gone.
I can speak of these issues with a certain amount of certainty and at least a modicum of clarity because I have, as they say, been there – done that. By the grace of God, there came a time when I got fed up with having others determine the content of my worldview and went on a quest to figure out just what it was that I really did believe. I won’t bore you with the details of my search except to say that as things progressed, I felt more at ease because I understood what I actually thought was true, rather than trying to force myself into a pair of theological shoes that were designed for someone else.
And I guess it is for this reason many readers may find themselves asking, “Where is this guy coming from?” “Is he a liberal or is he a conservative?” The fact is, I am neither and both. I am just who I am and, like Popeye, that’s who I am.
I would also say that it is important to know that I full well understand that I am really quite limited in the scope of my knowledge. William Barclay, the great biblical scholar, once said he had, at best, a “second-rate mind.” I have read extensively in Barclay’s works and can say without reservation that if his mind is second-rate, then mine is surely way on down the scale in double-digits. I have come to understand that I can, in fact, be wrong. That is one reason why I don’t involve myself in theological arguments or nitpick over the finer points of doctrine. What do I know? Further, for me to strongly insist that someone else has a view that is erroneous smells of arrogance when you get right down to it.
Some Christians feel they have been called to be “Watchmen on the Walls,” beating the bushes in search of heretics and other misfits and nomads within the Body of Christ. Perhaps this is, indeed, a genuine calling and, if it is, I pray they live according to that lofty purpose. I am not one of them, however. I don’t think I have ever labeled anyone a heretic and doubt that I ever will. Why not, you ask? The fact is, when you get down to the honest truth of the matter, I don’t have enough knowledge to make that judgment. I am not giving you a false humility here. I am speaking from my heart. I, like many others, see through a glass darkly and have far too many doctrinal logs in my eye to start picking at the theological specks in someone else’s.
One other thing needs to be mentioned as well. Doctrinal and religious debates, as I mentioned in another article posted this week, tend to get a bit testy. Rarely have I seen one of these discussions go on for long before folks start launching verbal grenades that have little to do with the point they were originally trying to make.
I avoid these discussions and debates like poison ivy for the following reasons. First, as already mentioned, my knowledge is too small for me to be the final arbiter of any doctrinal dispute. Secondly, these kinds of conflicts promote discord rather than unity, and it is unity we are called to, not discord. Finally, I stay away from doctrinal fights because these sorts of disputes often put people in the position of having a choice to be “right” or to be “kind.” I’ll opt for kindness every time.
To address one other issue quickly, I am, as I said, a bit of a maverick. I read widely and study many different schools of thought when it comes to the faith. That’s why you might see me refer to many odd bedfellows in my writings. I have learned a great deal from, say, a raging liberal like Marcus Borg and I have equally benefited from the writings of Chuck Colson. Politically and theologically, I am about as close to Colson as Kansas is to Katmandu. Still, I find few writers who engage me as much as he does. Colson makes me think, just as Borg makes me think. So you see, if you are trying to find out a theological box to put me in, better get a shoe horn.
I’m a mutt!
© L.D. Turner 2009/ All Rights Reserved
Wise Words for Today
Jesus brings us reliable information about who we are, why we are here, and what the humanly appropriate motives are for doing whatever we do. First, he informs us that we are by nature unceasing spiritual beings with an eternal destiny in God’s great universe. We will never stop existing and there is nothing we can do about it.
Dallas Willard
(fr0m The Great Omission)
While we have already fallen from God’s intentions for us, he can restore us into the flow of God’s life if we will only count on him for everything. That is, we must trust him, and really to trust him is to take up his cause, his “yoke” (Matthew 11:29). Then he will teach us how to make our choices with the aim of glorifying God by doing good to human beings. Under his instruction, this will prove to be the most exhilarating kind of life imaginable, with a scope and richness of personal creativity that never stops increasing.
Happy Thanksgiving
All of us here at LifeBrook and at Sacred Mind Ministries wishes each and every one of you a blessed and meaningful Thanksgiving. Let us always give thanks, rejoicing in our blessings, both seen and unseen.
L.D. “Mick” Turner
Today’s Encouraging Word
It’s a shame that some churches still teach that true ministry is limited to the pulpit. That’s rubbish. Pulpit ministries are to help people discover and be effective in their own spheres of influence. But the vast majority of people are meant to serve outside the pulpit and fivefold ministries….When you confine true ministry to the fivefold ministries, you make 95 percent of the church irrelevant…Furthermore, your promised land is almost certainly not a ministry you feel you should start, but an actual place of influence in society that you can take back by the grace of God. Many Christian have become so religious that they are no longer passionate about what happens in the world. Because they have been locked up in the four walls of the church, their wildest desire is to become a preacher, evangelist, praise and worship leader, youth pastor, and so on. These are housekeeping ministries that need to be done excellently, but they should not be confused with the real work God has called the vast majority of believers to, which is in the world. Don’t confuse the chore you perform in God’s house for the promised land He gives you outside His house.
Sunday Adelaja
(from Church Shift)
Honoring Old Ben: A Man of Honor, Nobility, and Influence
L.D. Turner
Early in life God granted me the great fortune of having several positive role models that taught me to honor, revere, and respect the natural world. My grandfather, a life-long game warden, felt most at home in the mountains and woods of North Alabama. My father was also a game warden and an outdoorsman. Although originally from Alabama, my family moved to Florida when I was ten-years-old and my strongest memories of those years was of my Dad, skippering a small boat through the endless mangrove mazes on the southwest coast of the Sunshine State.
Yet another influential nature mystic in my early life was an old man known to me only as “Old Ben.” Although my father and grandfather impacted me in many positive ways, it was Old Ben who took my spiritual life and planted it in fertile ground. Living alone on remote, undeveloped acreage that he owned, Ben was a storehouse of valuable knowledge of the workings of nature. He often spoke of things like “energy” and “light” and how these two mysterious forces danced together to keep the world in balance and sustain life in it myriad forms. Although I was only a kid when a pair of neighborhood buddies and I “discovered” Old Ben during one of our typical bicycle journey to parts unknown. Later in life I would realize that meeting up with Old Ben, sitting on cable spools in front of his run down trailer, and watching him weave all sorts of things from Palmetto fronds, were among the most significant events in my life.
Old Ben in particular taught me lessons that have had lasting value. I have often thought I should write a book describing some of my experiences with Old Ben and some of the wisdom that he imparted to a young, not-so-attentive boy in the languid, sweltering climate of southwest Florida. Maybe some day I will.
When I was in my mid-teens, I learned a bit about Old Ben’s racial heritage. He was a full-blood Chinook, born in Washington State near the Canadian border in 1890. I met him when I was 11, in 1960. Old Ben was 70 although in my eyes he looked 100. That he was a Native American never entered my young mind. The only Indians I had seen were usually engaging in a wide range of nefarious deeds on the big screen at the Gulf Theater in Venice, Florida. Old Ben was the first real Native American I had ever encountered.
I also learned, not from Old Ben, but from his sister who usually came for a month-long visit every January, that the family migrated from the great Northwest in 1946, due to the failing respiratory health of Ben’s father. The family bought and rehabilitated a dying orange grove and made their living growing and selling fruit. Old Ben, the oldest child, took over the business and the land after the father died in 1952. The sister moved back to Seattle and Old Ben continued to run the business until he sold a half-interest and retired to the most remote section of the family land, which I learned totaled more than 400 acres.
Old Ben knew the intricate workings of the natural world in a way that a quantum physicist knows quarks and a great poet knows words. Even more, the old Indian took great pains to live his life in accordance with the subtle principles and laws that he so deeply understood. There must have been something of value in all of Old Ben’s arcane knowledge because he lived to be 105.
I kept in touch with Old Ben right up to the end. In the late 80’s, no longer able to care for himself physically, he sold his land and moved into a retirement community. With a clear mind right up to the end, he still amazed me with his wit, humor, and natural wisdom. I last saw him about a year before he died and it was a memorable visit. After a hearty dinner, we sat at a picnic table near Casperson’s Beach and watched the sun disappear into the waves of the Gulf of Mexico.
Fishing a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket, Old Ben said he wanted to share something with me. Further, he said that if I molded my life to the wisdom hidden in the words of the prayer, I would always find strength, power, and resiliency, no matter what slings and arrows life might send my way. It was a famous Chinook prayer that clearly illustrates the power, the glory, and the assistance available if we know how to avail ourselves of what creation has to offer. Unfolding the paper, Old Ben glanced at the last sliver of sun sinking into the sea and, with the light that remained, read:
We call upon the earth, our planet home, with its beautiful depths and soaring heights, its vitality and abundance of life and together we ask that it:
Teach us, and show us the way.
We call upon the mountains, the Cascades and the Olympics, the high green valleys and meadows filled with wild flowers, the snows that never melt, the summits of intense silence and we ask that they:
Teach us, and show us the way.
We call upon the waters that rim the earth, horizon to horizon, that flow in our rivers and streams, that fall upon our gardens and fields, and ask that they:
Teach us, and show us the way.
We call upon the land which grows our food, the nurturing soil, the fertile fields, the abundant gardens and orchards, and we ask that they:
Teach us and show us the way.
We call upon the forests, the great trees reaching strongly to the sky with earth in their roots and heaven in their branches, the fir and the pine and the cedar, and we ask them to:
Teach us and show us the way.
We call upon the creatures of the fields and forests and the seas, our brothers and sisters the wolves and deer, the eagle and the dove, the great whales and the dolphin, the beautiful Orca and salmon who share our Northwest home, and we ask them to:
Teach us and show us the way.
We call upon the moon and the stars and the sun, who govern the rhythms and seasons of our lives and remind us that we are part of a great and wondrous universe, and we ask them to:
Teach us and show us the way.
We call upon all those who have lived on this earth, our ancestors and our friends, who dreamed the best for future generations, and upon whose lives our lives are built, and with thanksgiving, we call upon them to:
Teach us and show us the way.
And lastly, we call upon all that we hold most sacred, the presence and the power of the Great Spirit of love and truth which flows through all the universe…to be with us to:
Teach us and show us the way.
That was the last time I saw Old Ben this side of the grave. In the grand scheme of things, few people outside his family and circle of friends are even aware that he ever lived. Old Ben was not a man of fame nor was he a man of monetary fortune. He was without a doubt, however, a man of great honor and nobility.
Let those who have ears, hear.
(c) L.D. Turner 2009/All Rights Reserved
