By Jim Nelson
Christmas – That time of year that should be filled with joy and celebration; and above all giving thanks to God for the greatest gift of all.I always feel sorry for those who in the hustle and bustle of buying, wrapping and exchanging presents, in the going to party after party often with too much alcohol, in the over indulgence of food; miss the true meaning of the miracle.How sad it must be for those children who are taught to spend Advent awaiting Santa Claus instead of the coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus. Even though I may currently be an editor/writer and not serving a church, I am still primarily a pastor. And it is my pastoral heart that makes me want to share the real gift of Christmas with everyone I can.
We profess to believe that Jesus was fully human and fully divine. Christmas reminds us of the fully human Jesus who came to earth and walked among us. Who emptied himself and became just like you and me.As Christians we have the privilege of worshiping a God who understands because he has been there. God chose to come to earth as a vulnerable baby, totally dependent on others to care for him. He cried when he was hungry, and had to wait for someone to feed him. He shivered when it was cold, and depended on someone else to warm him. As he grew, he passed through the awkwardness of adolescence, and the fickleness of childhood friendships. He sweated when he was hot, his nose ran when he had a cold, he bruised when he fell, and bled when he was cut.He had to deal with the temptations of materialism, power and glory; the frustration of not being able to make even his disciples fully understand his teachings; and the humiliation of living in a land occupied by a foreign invader with military installations and soldiers throughout.
Toward the end of his life, he felt failure when many turned and followed him no more (John 6:66). He suffered the betrayal of a trusted friend. His heart must have broken when his closest friend denied even knowing him. And, it comforts me to think that at times, being as isolated as the rest of us are from God, he too may have had a moment or two of doubt. It is easy to get wrapped up in the fully divine side of Jesus, but the miracle of Christmas is that it reminds us of the fully human side. Unlike other religions, we have a God who understands because he suffered just like the rest of us. What pain can we feel, what experience can we have that he did not also have? When we feel lost, alone, abandoned, betrayed, or just plain depressed; we can go to Jesus for comfort because he can relate not in some divine, all-understanding, all-knowing kind of way, but in a personal, I’ve-been-there kind of way.
In the United States we are truly blessed. Most of us did not start out in a manger, nor did we have to flee persecution. Most of us won’t end up nailed to a cross, our backs raw and bleeding from the torture of the lash. Unfortunately there are still parts of the world where people do have similar beginnings and similar endings. Because we are so blessed, we need to take extra time at Christmas to be thankful that God cared enough to come to earth as a baby, and to walk among us to show that he does understand how we feel. Merry Christmas.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Guest Columnist: I was homeless and you gave me no shelter
By Andy Peabody
Sitting down, Stephanie, our housing director, slid an all-too-familiar piece of paper towards me. Immediately I knew what was happening in the ministry’s emergency night shelter. The first time was finally here; the moment I’d been dreading for months. “They came from Cherokee County looking for a place in the shelter,” Stephanie added.Looking away from the unsigned document, Stephanie asked: “Now, as I understand it, if they feel they cannot honestly sign this piece of paper stating they are United States citizens or legal permanent residents 18 years of age or older, we cannot provide them with emergency shelter even for one night, even if we have open beds.”
My head filled with emotions: values and rational processes all clamoring for my attention. Could I retreat from our position that whether or not we agree with this new law, the state of Georgia - and Cobb County - have told us we have to do this? Was I absolutely sure the shelter received the requisite county, state, or federal monies to make it subject to this new process? Might we offer the two men (who had already confided their undocumented status) the gift of hospitality and “sanctuary” in the sanctuary of the former church that now serves as our ministry’s emergency shelter? Was I prepared for the consequences of saying, “No, this is wrong and I choose not to do this – we will not turn these individuals away from the help we have within our power to extend”?
The document is an affidavit representing Cobb’s efforts to implement SB529, the Georgia Security & Immigration Compliance Act. While I vehemently disapprove of the law and the way my particular community has seen fit to enact its provisions, in that moment, I felt my hands were tied. I looked Stephanie squarely in the eyes and said with as little emotion as possible, “For now, we have to do this. If they can’t honestly answer in the affirmative, we cannot offer them emergency shelter, regardless of the extent of their imminent need.” For a long time after Stephanie left, I felt an absence greater than could be explained by her departure. A coldness had entered the room, one which wrapped itself around my heart. I closed my eyes and reached out for God in prayer, and instead felt a distinct and palpable absence of God’s presence. Then it hit me – in turning away two strangers in a strange land, I had turned aside Christ himself from the doors to which he had come seeking assistance. The longer I sat in solitude, the more convinced I became that I had done the wrong thing – whatever the law might say. I felt I had stepped from the light into shadow, and that to re-emerge into the light I would have to speak out for those who’d had no advocate to stand up for them when they came to our doors seeking shelter and hospitality.
So I am speaking out – not as the representative of MUST Ministries, nor of the North Georgia Annual Conference – but as a man who is deeply, deeply troubled by how far astray we seem to have wandered with SB529. Some, in good conscience, will disagree with me – so be it. I know and respect many who do. But I hope those who are similarly concerned will join me in speaking out, ardently and consistently, against policies that force us to choose between hospitality to fellow humans in need and obedience to the laws of our land.
Martin Marty, the eminent theologian and columnist for The Christian Century, reminded us at a conference in Atlanta recently - we all know what xenophobia is, but have we forgotten about xenophilia, love of the stranger, and hospitality? At times, we all must choose whom to follow; now is such a time. The need is literally knocking on our doors.
Andy Peabody is a probationary clergy member of the North Georgia Annual Conference of the UMC serving MUST Ministries in Marietta, Ga.
Sitting down, Stephanie, our housing director, slid an all-too-familiar piece of paper towards me. Immediately I knew what was happening in the ministry’s emergency night shelter. The first time was finally here; the moment I’d been dreading for months. “They came from Cherokee County looking for a place in the shelter,” Stephanie added.Looking away from the unsigned document, Stephanie asked: “Now, as I understand it, if they feel they cannot honestly sign this piece of paper stating they are United States citizens or legal permanent residents 18 years of age or older, we cannot provide them with emergency shelter even for one night, even if we have open beds.”
My head filled with emotions: values and rational processes all clamoring for my attention. Could I retreat from our position that whether or not we agree with this new law, the state of Georgia - and Cobb County - have told us we have to do this? Was I absolutely sure the shelter received the requisite county, state, or federal monies to make it subject to this new process? Might we offer the two men (who had already confided their undocumented status) the gift of hospitality and “sanctuary” in the sanctuary of the former church that now serves as our ministry’s emergency shelter? Was I prepared for the consequences of saying, “No, this is wrong and I choose not to do this – we will not turn these individuals away from the help we have within our power to extend”?
The document is an affidavit representing Cobb’s efforts to implement SB529, the Georgia Security & Immigration Compliance Act. While I vehemently disapprove of the law and the way my particular community has seen fit to enact its provisions, in that moment, I felt my hands were tied. I looked Stephanie squarely in the eyes and said with as little emotion as possible, “For now, we have to do this. If they can’t honestly answer in the affirmative, we cannot offer them emergency shelter, regardless of the extent of their imminent need.” For a long time after Stephanie left, I felt an absence greater than could be explained by her departure. A coldness had entered the room, one which wrapped itself around my heart. I closed my eyes and reached out for God in prayer, and instead felt a distinct and palpable absence of God’s presence. Then it hit me – in turning away two strangers in a strange land, I had turned aside Christ himself from the doors to which he had come seeking assistance. The longer I sat in solitude, the more convinced I became that I had done the wrong thing – whatever the law might say. I felt I had stepped from the light into shadow, and that to re-emerge into the light I would have to speak out for those who’d had no advocate to stand up for them when they came to our doors seeking shelter and hospitality.
So I am speaking out – not as the representative of MUST Ministries, nor of the North Georgia Annual Conference – but as a man who is deeply, deeply troubled by how far astray we seem to have wandered with SB529. Some, in good conscience, will disagree with me – so be it. I know and respect many who do. But I hope those who are similarly concerned will join me in speaking out, ardently and consistently, against policies that force us to choose between hospitality to fellow humans in need and obedience to the laws of our land.
Martin Marty, the eminent theologian and columnist for The Christian Century, reminded us at a conference in Atlanta recently - we all know what xenophobia is, but have we forgotten about xenophilia, love of the stranger, and hospitality? At times, we all must choose whom to follow; now is such a time. The need is literally knocking on our doors.
Andy Peabody is a probationary clergy member of the North Georgia Annual Conference of the UMC serving MUST Ministries in Marietta, Ga.
Aging Well: Christmas: A Story Told Through Older Adults and Neighborhood Angels
By Robert Beckum
When Luke wrote the first story of Christmas, he deliberately told the story of God’s redeeming love through older adults and angels. Those advanced in age like Zechariah and Elizabeth or Simeon and Anna embodied the hopes, dreams and fears of all humanity. Angels proclaimed God’s response to humanity’s deepest hopes and greatest fears in the birth of Jesus. According to Luke, only two groups seemed to understand the significance of what God was doing that first Christmas—-angels and older adults. In my life journey, most of the angels (God’s messengers) I have known have been older adults. Chief among those angels was Mrs. Coulter.
Dora Louise Coulter did special things for all the children in the neighborhood where I grew up. She delighted in our presence. She asked about our hopes and dreams. Most importantly, she always listened to what we had to say as if what we were saying was the most important thing in the world. When we were with Miss Dora Louise, we not only felt special—-we were special, and we knew it! At least we knew we were special to her. She made the most wonderful gift baskets for all the children in the neighborhood at every holiday—-every holiday except Christmas. Accustomed to being on the receiving end of her generosity, our faces showed disappointment with the lack of Christmas goodie baskets.“Christmas is different,” she explained, “Christmas is not a time to focus on what we want or what we hope to get, but it is a time to give thanks for all God has already given us in priceless gift of his son.” She continued to say, “Christmas is not in the glitz or the glitter, it is in God’s gift.” Finally she said, “One day you boys will know and understand.” To little boys hoping for toys and candy, her explanation had little appeal. We all agreed she was being a scrooge. Still we wondered, “Why only at Christmas?” She is so generous the rest of the year. Little did we know she was trying to give us so much more than a goodie basket.
Only as adults did we learn it was on Christmas Eve many years before when Miss Dora Louise learned that her youngest son, Billy, had been killed by a Japanese sniper’s bullet. Every Christmas since, she avoided the tinsel and seasonal hullabaloo. Instead, she spent her time quietly giving thanks to God for the gift of His son—-and remembering her son as she lavished her love and attention on us. She was not a scrooge but as close to an angel as any of us little boys were privileged to know. Every Christmas, it is this older adult who reminds me not to focus on what I am “wanting” or “getting” but on giving thanks to God for the priceless gift of His Son that I have already been given and asking, “Where and to whom is God calling me to be an angelic messenger by sharing my love, my time and my attention?”
Rev. Robert Beckum is Vice President of Church Relations and Development Magnolia Manor.
When Luke wrote the first story of Christmas, he deliberately told the story of God’s redeeming love through older adults and angels. Those advanced in age like Zechariah and Elizabeth or Simeon and Anna embodied the hopes, dreams and fears of all humanity. Angels proclaimed God’s response to humanity’s deepest hopes and greatest fears in the birth of Jesus. According to Luke, only two groups seemed to understand the significance of what God was doing that first Christmas—-angels and older adults. In my life journey, most of the angels (God’s messengers) I have known have been older adults. Chief among those angels was Mrs. Coulter.
Dora Louise Coulter did special things for all the children in the neighborhood where I grew up. She delighted in our presence. She asked about our hopes and dreams. Most importantly, she always listened to what we had to say as if what we were saying was the most important thing in the world. When we were with Miss Dora Louise, we not only felt special—-we were special, and we knew it! At least we knew we were special to her. She made the most wonderful gift baskets for all the children in the neighborhood at every holiday—-every holiday except Christmas. Accustomed to being on the receiving end of her generosity, our faces showed disappointment with the lack of Christmas goodie baskets.“Christmas is different,” she explained, “Christmas is not a time to focus on what we want or what we hope to get, but it is a time to give thanks for all God has already given us in priceless gift of his son.” She continued to say, “Christmas is not in the glitz or the glitter, it is in God’s gift.” Finally she said, “One day you boys will know and understand.” To little boys hoping for toys and candy, her explanation had little appeal. We all agreed she was being a scrooge. Still we wondered, “Why only at Christmas?” She is so generous the rest of the year. Little did we know she was trying to give us so much more than a goodie basket.
Only as adults did we learn it was on Christmas Eve many years before when Miss Dora Louise learned that her youngest son, Billy, had been killed by a Japanese sniper’s bullet. Every Christmas since, she avoided the tinsel and seasonal hullabaloo. Instead, she spent her time quietly giving thanks to God for the gift of His son—-and remembering her son as she lavished her love and attention on us. She was not a scrooge but as close to an angel as any of us little boys were privileged to know. Every Christmas, it is this older adult who reminds me not to focus on what I am “wanting” or “getting” but on giving thanks to God for the priceless gift of His Son that I have already been given and asking, “Where and to whom is God calling me to be an angelic messenger by sharing my love, my time and my attention?”
Rev. Robert Beckum is Vice President of Church Relations and Development Magnolia Manor.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Pathways to His Presence: Remembering My Baptism
By B.J. Funk
Whenever my mother went into the cedar chest in her bedroom, she always allowed me to gently remove the yellowed envelope with my name typed on the front. I could feel it, smell it, hold it; but I could not open it until I turned thirteen. I remember the anticipation I felt each time I saw that envelope. Opening it would be one of the highlights of my life. Would thirteen ever come?Finally, the day came. Inside was a letter from the pastor who baptized me along with the crumbled rose that had sat on the altar on my baptism day, thirteen years earlier. Was I disappointed? Not a chance. My mother had done a grand job of telling me the significance of baptism, the importance of that day. The contents of that letter were like a fragrance that had been carefully guarded until the day I could better understand the meaning of that special day. The pastor’s letter explained the significance of my baptism. The rose meant that my church took time to notice the day a baby was touched by the imprint of God. I cry now when I think of it. Nothing about my thirteenth birthday party was as important to me as that letter.
I can’t explain this in understandable language, because it is a holy mystery. But on that day, when I didn’t realize who God was, God knew who I was. Through the symbol of water, He said to me, “You are mine. You belong to me.” Isaiah 44:5 says, “One will say, “I belong to the Lord…..still another will write on his hand, ‘The Lord’s.’” On that day, God wrote on my hand, “The Lord’s.” No matter what happens in my life, I only have to look at my hand to remember whose I am. Thank you, Father, for the faded rose and yellowed letter. They are a symbol of a deep, life-changing truth.
Rev. B.J. Funk is associate pastor of Central UMC in Fitzgerald.
Whenever my mother went into the cedar chest in her bedroom, she always allowed me to gently remove the yellowed envelope with my name typed on the front. I could feel it, smell it, hold it; but I could not open it until I turned thirteen. I remember the anticipation I felt each time I saw that envelope. Opening it would be one of the highlights of my life. Would thirteen ever come?Finally, the day came. Inside was a letter from the pastor who baptized me along with the crumbled rose that had sat on the altar on my baptism day, thirteen years earlier. Was I disappointed? Not a chance. My mother had done a grand job of telling me the significance of baptism, the importance of that day. The contents of that letter were like a fragrance that had been carefully guarded until the day I could better understand the meaning of that special day. The pastor’s letter explained the significance of my baptism. The rose meant that my church took time to notice the day a baby was touched by the imprint of God. I cry now when I think of it. Nothing about my thirteenth birthday party was as important to me as that letter.
I can’t explain this in understandable language, because it is a holy mystery. But on that day, when I didn’t realize who God was, God knew who I was. Through the symbol of water, He said to me, “You are mine. You belong to me.” Isaiah 44:5 says, “One will say, “I belong to the Lord…..still another will write on his hand, ‘The Lord’s.’” On that day, God wrote on my hand, “The Lord’s.” No matter what happens in my life, I only have to look at my hand to remember whose I am. Thank you, Father, for the faded rose and yellowed letter. They are a symbol of a deep, life-changing truth.
Rev. B.J. Funk is associate pastor of Central UMC in Fitzgerald.
Aging Well: Choosing a Nursing Home for Mother
By Robert Beckum
I did something this week that hundreds of people do every day. Still, it was difficult. I placed my mother in a nursing home. She is eighty-nine years old. Her health deteriorated in the last year, she fell two or three times a week, and my father was no longer able to lift her without threat of injury to her or himself. It was the right decision. It was a loving decision. It was a heart-rending decision. As my sister said, “If this decision is so right, it seems we would feel better about it.” Her comment reminded me of a fundamental principle involved in making the tough choices of elder care for our parents: When our heart and our head are in conflict, we often have to go with our head and trust that our heart will “catch up.” Still, making decisions about a parent's care is an affair of the heart.
One factor making my decision so emotionally difficult is the same factor which affects many families with an elderly parent from the greatest generation. In my mother's memory bank of fears there is no fear greater than “going into the nursing home.” No amount of calling this place a “skilled nursing facility” fooled her. In her mind the ultimate “N-Word” was “nursing” home---a term vulgar, insulting and demeaning to her. Her anger and fear had little to do with the quality of care given and much to do with the quality of life lost---loss of privacy, loss of independence, and loss of control. While our heads can help insure quality of care, our hearts are helpless in the face of a parent's losses due to age.
In helping others make this same decision practically every day at Magnolia Manor, I have prepared a forty-eight point checklist of things to look for in choosing a nursing home. My checklist is well intended and filled with good suggestions, even if I say so myself. Things are different, however, when it involves your mother. As I began the admissions process, I was amazed at how my “checklist” narrowed to one supremely important question. As I met the admissions director, the director of nursing and the administrator, I listened carefully and asked myself silently: “Is this a person I can trust with my mother's care?” A second question I satisfied before leaving was, “Does each staff member know they can depend on me to be a vital partner in my mother's care?”
From this experience, I have learned it is most important to establish respectful relationships with the staff of caregivers within a nursing center, as it is to check out a nursing center's reputation and record. Things are different when the patient is your loved one, and after all, every elder patient is somebody's loved one. As a result of this week, I think I will be reworking that checklist I have been giving to others, making sure that establishing a familial relationship with the care giving team is right at the top...
Rev. Robert Beckum isVice President of Church Relations and Development Magnolia Manor.
I did something this week that hundreds of people do every day. Still, it was difficult. I placed my mother in a nursing home. She is eighty-nine years old. Her health deteriorated in the last year, she fell two or three times a week, and my father was no longer able to lift her without threat of injury to her or himself. It was the right decision. It was a loving decision. It was a heart-rending decision. As my sister said, “If this decision is so right, it seems we would feel better about it.” Her comment reminded me of a fundamental principle involved in making the tough choices of elder care for our parents: When our heart and our head are in conflict, we often have to go with our head and trust that our heart will “catch up.” Still, making decisions about a parent's care is an affair of the heart.
One factor making my decision so emotionally difficult is the same factor which affects many families with an elderly parent from the greatest generation. In my mother's memory bank of fears there is no fear greater than “going into the nursing home.” No amount of calling this place a “skilled nursing facility” fooled her. In her mind the ultimate “N-Word” was “nursing” home---a term vulgar, insulting and demeaning to her. Her anger and fear had little to do with the quality of care given and much to do with the quality of life lost---loss of privacy, loss of independence, and loss of control. While our heads can help insure quality of care, our hearts are helpless in the face of a parent's losses due to age.
In helping others make this same decision practically every day at Magnolia Manor, I have prepared a forty-eight point checklist of things to look for in choosing a nursing home. My checklist is well intended and filled with good suggestions, even if I say so myself. Things are different, however, when it involves your mother. As I began the admissions process, I was amazed at how my “checklist” narrowed to one supremely important question. As I met the admissions director, the director of nursing and the administrator, I listened carefully and asked myself silently: “Is this a person I can trust with my mother's care?” A second question I satisfied before leaving was, “Does each staff member know they can depend on me to be a vital partner in my mother's care?”
From this experience, I have learned it is most important to establish respectful relationships with the staff of caregivers within a nursing center, as it is to check out a nursing center's reputation and record. Things are different when the patient is your loved one, and after all, every elder patient is somebody's loved one. As a result of this week, I think I will be reworking that checklist I have been giving to others, making sure that establishing a familial relationship with the care giving team is right at the top...
Rev. Robert Beckum isVice President of Church Relations and Development Magnolia Manor.
From the Counselor's Notebook: What the world needs now
By Martha Tate
“The world needs a counterforce to disturbing thought and emotion.” - His Holiness the Dalai Lama
I was one of the fortunate four thousand in attendance at the Mind-Life Institute XV at Emory. We witnessed a respectful, compassionate dialogue when East met West as His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, conferred with western neurobiologists, psychiatrists and researchers about “Mindfulness, Compassion and the Treatment of Depression”. The intent of the dialogue was to understand depression in physiological and cognitive terms and to explore the possibility that mindfulness based therapies, such as compassionate meditation, might be useful in the treatment and prevention of depression.Depression is the # one cause of disability worldwide and can lead to suicide, physical disease, behavioral and relational problems. Rates of depression are similar worldwide. Research indicates that the complex interplay between genetics and early life experience renders some people susceptible to depression.Depression is a condition with physiological, cognitive and emotional features. People with certain personality traits are prone to depression as their habits of mind are conducive to its development.
Researchers assess causality as 1/3 genetic and 2/3 environmental. Experiences such as early childhood trauma, abuse, neglect, poverty, exploitation and insufficient bonding predispose vulnerable people to depression. The age-old nature/nurture debate is best understood as a “both/and” proposition. It is in the interplay between “mind” and “body” that both health and disease are created and sustained.A cursory understanding of the mechanisms by which experience impacts physiology is necessary to grasp how compassionate meditation could impact depression and its devastating consequences. This is found in the early research on the physiology of stress reactions.
Stress, defined as perceived threat, stimulates the increased production of certain chemicals which trigger heightened activity in the autonomic nervous system. Heart rate and respiration increase, while blood is shunted from digestive organs to the major muscle groups fueling the “fight or flight” response. Prolonged, unremitting stress floods the body with these chemicals, which in turn damage the body and prohibit the relaxation phase with its cascade of complementary chemicals normally following the excitation phase. This is a recipe for all sorts of illness, including depression, to incubate.Conversely, positive, nurturing experiences, like healthy maternal/infant bonding, produce other chemicals, such as oxytocin, which actually mitigate against the adverse effects of stress and create a sense of well being.
Via these same mechanisms, healthful activities like meditation and psychotherapy also affect the expression of brain/body chemistry and are helpful in ameliorating depression. These practices are now proven to restructure the brain.In the research on compassionate meditation, participants first relaxed the body through mindful breathing. They then focused attention on the connection between their thought and feeling states. Finally, they focused on thoughts and images of love and equanimity, the desire of all beings for happiness and well being.Interestingly, regions of the brain associated with emotional and physical self -knowledge showed increased activity. Such heightened awareness allows meditators the ability to master, or at least influence, their mental and emotional states. The connection between the thinking and feeling brain was strengthened. Empathy, as measured by emotional reactions to pictures of distressed children, was increased, as was altruism, measured by the increased desire to contribute money to charity. Researchers concluded that compassionate meditation is a prophylactic for stress and emotional disorders, including depression.
As our Western scientific method investigates spiritual practices, we are privileged to understand from a new perspective what Christian seekers have always known. Deep prayer and meditation on the scriptures change us. As changed people, we impact our world differently. Perhaps Christ’s healing miracles operated in accordance with these principles; the power of His healing touch rewiring brains, bodies and beings. Christ is our example of perfect integration of mind/body and Spirit. Living in uninterrupted communion with God, He modeled for us the potential that God ordains. We fall so short, but gain so much in the trying. In Christ there is no East nor West, but one great fellowship of love throughout the whole wide earth.”
Martha M. Tate is a licensed clinical social worker in private practice.
“The world needs a counterforce to disturbing thought and emotion.” - His Holiness the Dalai Lama
I was one of the fortunate four thousand in attendance at the Mind-Life Institute XV at Emory. We witnessed a respectful, compassionate dialogue when East met West as His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, conferred with western neurobiologists, psychiatrists and researchers about “Mindfulness, Compassion and the Treatment of Depression”. The intent of the dialogue was to understand depression in physiological and cognitive terms and to explore the possibility that mindfulness based therapies, such as compassionate meditation, might be useful in the treatment and prevention of depression.Depression is the # one cause of disability worldwide and can lead to suicide, physical disease, behavioral and relational problems. Rates of depression are similar worldwide. Research indicates that the complex interplay between genetics and early life experience renders some people susceptible to depression.Depression is a condition with physiological, cognitive and emotional features. People with certain personality traits are prone to depression as their habits of mind are conducive to its development.
Researchers assess causality as 1/3 genetic and 2/3 environmental. Experiences such as early childhood trauma, abuse, neglect, poverty, exploitation and insufficient bonding predispose vulnerable people to depression. The age-old nature/nurture debate is best understood as a “both/and” proposition. It is in the interplay between “mind” and “body” that both health and disease are created and sustained.A cursory understanding of the mechanisms by which experience impacts physiology is necessary to grasp how compassionate meditation could impact depression and its devastating consequences. This is found in the early research on the physiology of stress reactions.
Stress, defined as perceived threat, stimulates the increased production of certain chemicals which trigger heightened activity in the autonomic nervous system. Heart rate and respiration increase, while blood is shunted from digestive organs to the major muscle groups fueling the “fight or flight” response. Prolonged, unremitting stress floods the body with these chemicals, which in turn damage the body and prohibit the relaxation phase with its cascade of complementary chemicals normally following the excitation phase. This is a recipe for all sorts of illness, including depression, to incubate.Conversely, positive, nurturing experiences, like healthy maternal/infant bonding, produce other chemicals, such as oxytocin, which actually mitigate against the adverse effects of stress and create a sense of well being.
Via these same mechanisms, healthful activities like meditation and psychotherapy also affect the expression of brain/body chemistry and are helpful in ameliorating depression. These practices are now proven to restructure the brain.In the research on compassionate meditation, participants first relaxed the body through mindful breathing. They then focused attention on the connection between their thought and feeling states. Finally, they focused on thoughts and images of love and equanimity, the desire of all beings for happiness and well being.Interestingly, regions of the brain associated with emotional and physical self -knowledge showed increased activity. Such heightened awareness allows meditators the ability to master, or at least influence, their mental and emotional states. The connection between the thinking and feeling brain was strengthened. Empathy, as measured by emotional reactions to pictures of distressed children, was increased, as was altruism, measured by the increased desire to contribute money to charity. Researchers concluded that compassionate meditation is a prophylactic for stress and emotional disorders, including depression.
As our Western scientific method investigates spiritual practices, we are privileged to understand from a new perspective what Christian seekers have always known. Deep prayer and meditation on the scriptures change us. As changed people, we impact our world differently. Perhaps Christ’s healing miracles operated in accordance with these principles; the power of His healing touch rewiring brains, bodies and beings. Christ is our example of perfect integration of mind/body and Spirit. Living in uninterrupted communion with God, He modeled for us the potential that God ordains. We fall so short, but gain so much in the trying. In Christ there is no East nor West, but one great fellowship of love throughout the whole wide earth.”
Martha M. Tate is a licensed clinical social worker in private practice.
From the Editor: I’m still speaking out
By Jim Nelson
United Methodist Student day is the Sunday following Thanksgiving when most students are home from college and able to attend the worship service at their home church.Forty years ago as a Methodist scholarship recipient attending Ohio Wesleyan University, I was one of five students asked to speak at my home church on what was then Methodist Student Day.My family joined that church in 1952 when we moved into the neighborhood. For 15 years I attended Sunday school classes, was a member and officer of MYF, assisted in worship services, and worked around the church. The people in that congregation had become like family to me.
It was 1967. I spoke against the war, and in support of civil rights. I quoted scriptures and used what they had taught me in Sunday school over the last 15 years. After the service, we stood up front so the congregation could speak to us. Only one person spoke to me. Even the pastor, who had just been appointed, did not speak to me. After several weeks of being shunned, I stop attending that church or any other church for 20 years.Although I lost my faith in people, I never lost my faith in God. I still read the scriptures, spent time in prayer every day, and knew that God loved me. I still spoke out for what I believed. Yet, I wondered why they were so angry when I spoke about what they had taught me? They taught me Jesus was about love, compassion, forgiveness, and even sacrifice; that all people are equal in the sight of God.
After graduation, I enlisted in the Army and became an Airborne Infantry Officer. I served nearly three years on active duty, followed by another 10 in the National Guard and Reserves. I may be anti-war, but I believe in the idea and ideals of America.I have always tried, although not always successfully, to be faithful to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I try to use Jesus’s teachings when I preach and/or write, and as you might suspect, I still make some people angry.Recently I saw the movie “Rendition.” Admittedly, the producers had a political agenda. They, like Sen. John McCain, believe torture is immoral and ineffective. McCain, one of the few people with first-hand knowledge, said, “It’s not about them; it’s about us.” It IS about us, particularly those of us who are Christians.
In light of Judge Michael Mukasey’s confirmation hearings to be Attorney General, I asked several people, “Which teaching of Jesus justifies torture?” I understand the political rationale and our national security interests. I understand how secular humanists and those or other faiths can support it. But I am a Christian, a follower of Jesus. Which commandment of His justifies “water-boarding” to get information? As yet, no one has answered my question.Jesus said, “Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.” And in terms of preserving our way of life he said, “Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” As a Christian I would rather be arrested, persecuted and killed by an unjust government while remaining faithful to the teachings of Jesus, than to live by unjustly treating others to save my life in this world.Some would say I haven’t learned much from that Methodist Student Day in 1967.
United Methodist Student day is the Sunday following Thanksgiving when most students are home from college and able to attend the worship service at their home church.Forty years ago as a Methodist scholarship recipient attending Ohio Wesleyan University, I was one of five students asked to speak at my home church on what was then Methodist Student Day.My family joined that church in 1952 when we moved into the neighborhood. For 15 years I attended Sunday school classes, was a member and officer of MYF, assisted in worship services, and worked around the church. The people in that congregation had become like family to me.
It was 1967. I spoke against the war, and in support of civil rights. I quoted scriptures and used what they had taught me in Sunday school over the last 15 years. After the service, we stood up front so the congregation could speak to us. Only one person spoke to me. Even the pastor, who had just been appointed, did not speak to me. After several weeks of being shunned, I stop attending that church or any other church for 20 years.Although I lost my faith in people, I never lost my faith in God. I still read the scriptures, spent time in prayer every day, and knew that God loved me. I still spoke out for what I believed. Yet, I wondered why they were so angry when I spoke about what they had taught me? They taught me Jesus was about love, compassion, forgiveness, and even sacrifice; that all people are equal in the sight of God.
After graduation, I enlisted in the Army and became an Airborne Infantry Officer. I served nearly three years on active duty, followed by another 10 in the National Guard and Reserves. I may be anti-war, but I believe in the idea and ideals of America.I have always tried, although not always successfully, to be faithful to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I try to use Jesus’s teachings when I preach and/or write, and as you might suspect, I still make some people angry.Recently I saw the movie “Rendition.” Admittedly, the producers had a political agenda. They, like Sen. John McCain, believe torture is immoral and ineffective. McCain, one of the few people with first-hand knowledge, said, “It’s not about them; it’s about us.” It IS about us, particularly those of us who are Christians.
In light of Judge Michael Mukasey’s confirmation hearings to be Attorney General, I asked several people, “Which teaching of Jesus justifies torture?” I understand the political rationale and our national security interests. I understand how secular humanists and those or other faiths can support it. But I am a Christian, a follower of Jesus. Which commandment of His justifies “water-boarding” to get information? As yet, no one has answered my question.Jesus said, “Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.” And in terms of preserving our way of life he said, “Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” As a Christian I would rather be arrested, persecuted and killed by an unjust government while remaining faithful to the teachings of Jesus, than to live by unjustly treating others to save my life in this world.Some would say I haven’t learned much from that Methodist Student Day in 1967.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Guest Columnist: Clergy killers are a problem for our churches everywhere
By Randy Kanipe
G.K. Chesterton once said, “It isn’t that they can’t see the solution; it’s that they can’t see the problem.” In the October 5, Advocate the Rev. Stephens wrote about the problem of clergy incompetence. Certainly, ineffectiveness of our spiritual leaders is a serious problem. But incompetent clergy being ‘cycled through’ the system via the ‘guaranteed appointment’ is a minor issue. The larger issue is the rapidly increasing exodus of very “competent,” talented and gifted clergy. Pastors are leaving the ministry at rates never before seen. And they are being driven away by the very people who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ.
Competence is a highly subjective standard. And a witch-hunt, which is what an effort such as Stephens suggests could well turn into, is the last thing we need. When losing good clergy at a rate faster than we can replace them, we do not need to provide yet another avenue for local clergy killers to do their damage. A Duke University study found 85% of seminary graduates entering pulpit ministry leave within their first five years. And 90% of pastors currently serving churches are not expected to remain long enough to reach retirement! Why? Abusive and relentless congregational conflict aimed at the pastor.
The North Georgia clergy attrition rate runs as high as 90% for those having served 20 years or more – and so far is 70% for my own ordination class of 1994. The overwhelming majority of these pastors left not because they were incompetent or guilty of chargeable offenses, but because of the relentless abuse aimed at them in one appointment after another. They left simply to preserve what was left of their families, their sanity, their health and their faith. Statistics for female clergy are even more disturbing. They leave the ministry at rates twice as high as their male counterparts for the exact same reasons. Because of their gender, they are often maligned even more maliciously than male clergy.
The problem became so pervasive that in 2006, clergy serving the United Church of Canada joined the Auto Workers Union, to form a “Clergy Union.” They were so disgusted and fed up with the constant abuse, character assassination, and slander aimed at them – they felt they had no other choice than to unionize simply protect their ability to do ministry. “Incompetent” clergy could never have pulled off something as controversial as forming a union with all the theological, spiritual and ethical concerns such a move naturally engenders.
Watch the movie Forsaken to be released nationwide in November. The movie, a social documentary about clergy killers in the church is produced by CTLNYC Media Productions (an investigative documentary film company), highlights the actions of destructive people and groups driven by the spirit of evil. It illustrates what these people are doing to our clergy, our churches and most importantly, our collective Christian witness. The movie will also be on PBS with Bill Moyers.
And/or read Pastors in Transition: Why Clergy leave local church ministry, by Dean Hodge and Jacqueline Wenger; and Clergy Killers, by Dr. Lloyd Rediger.I personally know nearly forty friends, colleagues and mentors who have literally been shot at, physically assaulted, their families abused, driven to nervous breakdowns, spiritually abused, falsely accused, traumatized, harassed, stalked, and/or sued. Not because of their incompetence, but ironically because the work they were doing was very effective. Effective clergy are a threat to those who want to maintain the status quo.Some clergy do not do their jobs, which is inexcusable. They give all of us a black eye. But they are a distinct minority and it hardly requires a witch-hunt to ferret them out. The far greater problem is those laity who have become clergy killers; coupled with loving but silent, ‘uninvolved’ witnesses to the work of the clergy killers in their midst.
My concern is the spirit of Rev. Stephens’ article has unintentionally thrown gasoline on an already volatile situation for many competent clergy. I fear the effect of his proposal will be to empower clergy killers. He is simply uninformed as to how desperate people, hell bent on the removal of their pastor, will grasp at anything that will bolster their cause. If callously and carelessly filing charges of ‘incompetence’ on their pastor will get them what they want, then Stephens has inadvertently helped their cause. We do have a crisis in the church, but it is not incompetence on the part of clergy. The body of Christ is literally tearing itself apart over issues of ‘who will choose’ and ‘what will be chosen’ with very competent and talented clergy in the crosshairs of this fruitless debate. May God have mercy on our souls.
Rev. Randy Kanipe is the pastor of Salem UMC, Covington Ga. And the director of the Association for Stressed and Battered Clergy .
G.K. Chesterton once said, “It isn’t that they can’t see the solution; it’s that they can’t see the problem.” In the October 5, Advocate the Rev. Stephens wrote about the problem of clergy incompetence. Certainly, ineffectiveness of our spiritual leaders is a serious problem. But incompetent clergy being ‘cycled through’ the system via the ‘guaranteed appointment’ is a minor issue. The larger issue is the rapidly increasing exodus of very “competent,” talented and gifted clergy. Pastors are leaving the ministry at rates never before seen. And they are being driven away by the very people who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ.
Competence is a highly subjective standard. And a witch-hunt, which is what an effort such as Stephens suggests could well turn into, is the last thing we need. When losing good clergy at a rate faster than we can replace them, we do not need to provide yet another avenue for local clergy killers to do their damage. A Duke University study found 85% of seminary graduates entering pulpit ministry leave within their first five years. And 90% of pastors currently serving churches are not expected to remain long enough to reach retirement! Why? Abusive and relentless congregational conflict aimed at the pastor.
The North Georgia clergy attrition rate runs as high as 90% for those having served 20 years or more – and so far is 70% for my own ordination class of 1994. The overwhelming majority of these pastors left not because they were incompetent or guilty of chargeable offenses, but because of the relentless abuse aimed at them in one appointment after another. They left simply to preserve what was left of their families, their sanity, their health and their faith. Statistics for female clergy are even more disturbing. They leave the ministry at rates twice as high as their male counterparts for the exact same reasons. Because of their gender, they are often maligned even more maliciously than male clergy.
The problem became so pervasive that in 2006, clergy serving the United Church of Canada joined the Auto Workers Union, to form a “Clergy Union.” They were so disgusted and fed up with the constant abuse, character assassination, and slander aimed at them – they felt they had no other choice than to unionize simply protect their ability to do ministry. “Incompetent” clergy could never have pulled off something as controversial as forming a union with all the theological, spiritual and ethical concerns such a move naturally engenders.
Watch the movie Forsaken to be released nationwide in November. The movie, a social documentary about clergy killers in the church is produced by CTLNYC Media Productions (an investigative documentary film company), highlights the actions of destructive people and groups driven by the spirit of evil. It illustrates what these people are doing to our clergy, our churches and most importantly, our collective Christian witness. The movie will also be on PBS with Bill Moyers.
And/or read Pastors in Transition: Why Clergy leave local church ministry, by Dean Hodge and Jacqueline Wenger; and Clergy Killers, by Dr. Lloyd Rediger.I personally know nearly forty friends, colleagues and mentors who have literally been shot at, physically assaulted, their families abused, driven to nervous breakdowns, spiritually abused, falsely accused, traumatized, harassed, stalked, and/or sued. Not because of their incompetence, but ironically because the work they were doing was very effective. Effective clergy are a threat to those who want to maintain the status quo.Some clergy do not do their jobs, which is inexcusable. They give all of us a black eye. But they are a distinct minority and it hardly requires a witch-hunt to ferret them out. The far greater problem is those laity who have become clergy killers; coupled with loving but silent, ‘uninvolved’ witnesses to the work of the clergy killers in their midst.
My concern is the spirit of Rev. Stephens’ article has unintentionally thrown gasoline on an already volatile situation for many competent clergy. I fear the effect of his proposal will be to empower clergy killers. He is simply uninformed as to how desperate people, hell bent on the removal of their pastor, will grasp at anything that will bolster their cause. If callously and carelessly filing charges of ‘incompetence’ on their pastor will get them what they want, then Stephens has inadvertently helped their cause. We do have a crisis in the church, but it is not incompetence on the part of clergy. The body of Christ is literally tearing itself apart over issues of ‘who will choose’ and ‘what will be chosen’ with very competent and talented clergy in the crosshairs of this fruitless debate. May God have mercy on our souls.
Rev. Randy Kanipe is the pastor of Salem UMC, Covington Ga. And the director of the Association for Stressed and Battered Clergy .
Guest Columnist: Christians and the Dalai Lama
By Jan Love
As dean of the Candler School of Theology, I welcome the visit of the Dalai Lama to Emory. Some Christians may question the propriety of a Methodist-related institution extending a prominent forum to the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists. I have actively sought encounters with the faithful of other religions and repeatedly discovered in such experiences the wide wonders of God’s good creation as well as new dimensions of my own Christian convictions.Nineteenth century Hindu mystic and guru, Sri Ramakrishna said, “Religion is like a cow. It kicks but it gives milk, too.” Noble acts of love and self-sacrifice are often anchored in deeply held religious worldviews. Unfortunately, so are some of the worst examples of human behavior. Historian R. Scott Appleby calls this the “ambivalence of the sacred.” All religions to varying degrees face a crucial dilemma. Does the witness of their followers demonstrate the power of the “milk,” or alternatively, the potency of the “kick?”
We live in a deeply religious nation where Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and others share the same neighborhoods, schools, hospitals, supermarkets, and university campuses. Across America, very different faith traditions increasingly bump into each other in small towns and big cities alike. How can we ensure that our inevitable encounters will enrich our communities, not destroy them? Universities have a critical role to play. Through its campus-wide emphasis on Religion and the Human Spirit, Emory cultivates a religiously diverse faculty and student body and fosters a culture of inquiry about religions and their relationship to science, health, the arts, and social interaction. Those of us who center our lives in a particular faith tradition have rich opportunities to nurture and practice our beliefs with integrity. We do so, however, in a context that promotes understanding and engagement across religious differences. Emory is neither indifferent to nor embarrassed by religion. Rather, this institution recognizes its significance and seeks to ensure its positive contribution to society. Helping diverse faith traditions cooperate rather than collide has become an urgent need in this country and across the world, but very few universities allocate significant talent, money, and facilities to pursue this high calling.
The upcoming installation of the Dalai Lama as Presidential Distinguished Professor is the latest in a series of Emory’s commitments to build bridges across religions and disciplines. Faculty and staff here have collaborated with the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives to develop and implement science education curriculum as a vital element of Tibetan schooling. Other faculty demonstrated an unequivocal correlation between the practice of compassion meditation and the reduction of depression levels in students and paved the way for the formation of Emory’s Collaborative for Contemplative Studies. These and other benefits of comprehending various religious traditions and their impact can be bountiful for the academy, the community and the world.
The Dalai Lama stands among a remarkable group of leaders who inspire not only the faithful of their own tradition but those outside it, too. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 and shares this honor with Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Jr., Elie Weisel, and Shirin Ebadi. Deeply committed to drawing on the strengths of Tibetan and western civilization, the Dalai Lama will offer his unique contributions to Emory’s mission of teaching, research, and community engagement. His vision of education stresses the importance of cultivating both heart and mind.
Such a vision accords with the Wesleyan heritage of Emory University, founded in memory of Methodist minister John Emory and his commitment to “mold both character and intellect.” As one who seeks to educate faithful and creative leaders who preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in a 21st century multi-religious world, I am grateful for the presence of Dalai Lama on campus. He embodies, as he has done throughout his life, calm in the face of crisis, patient endurance in the midst of agony, determination in meeting daunting challenges, and bold hope in circumstances of seeming doom. With humor and intelligence, he reminds us of the graceful gift of human possibility. For this I give thanks to God.
Dr. Jan Love is Dean of the Candler School of Theology at Emory University.
As dean of the Candler School of Theology, I welcome the visit of the Dalai Lama to Emory. Some Christians may question the propriety of a Methodist-related institution extending a prominent forum to the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists. I have actively sought encounters with the faithful of other religions and repeatedly discovered in such experiences the wide wonders of God’s good creation as well as new dimensions of my own Christian convictions.Nineteenth century Hindu mystic and guru, Sri Ramakrishna said, “Religion is like a cow. It kicks but it gives milk, too.” Noble acts of love and self-sacrifice are often anchored in deeply held religious worldviews. Unfortunately, so are some of the worst examples of human behavior. Historian R. Scott Appleby calls this the “ambivalence of the sacred.” All religions to varying degrees face a crucial dilemma. Does the witness of their followers demonstrate the power of the “milk,” or alternatively, the potency of the “kick?”
We live in a deeply religious nation where Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and others share the same neighborhoods, schools, hospitals, supermarkets, and university campuses. Across America, very different faith traditions increasingly bump into each other in small towns and big cities alike. How can we ensure that our inevitable encounters will enrich our communities, not destroy them? Universities have a critical role to play. Through its campus-wide emphasis on Religion and the Human Spirit, Emory cultivates a religiously diverse faculty and student body and fosters a culture of inquiry about religions and their relationship to science, health, the arts, and social interaction. Those of us who center our lives in a particular faith tradition have rich opportunities to nurture and practice our beliefs with integrity. We do so, however, in a context that promotes understanding and engagement across religious differences. Emory is neither indifferent to nor embarrassed by religion. Rather, this institution recognizes its significance and seeks to ensure its positive contribution to society. Helping diverse faith traditions cooperate rather than collide has become an urgent need in this country and across the world, but very few universities allocate significant talent, money, and facilities to pursue this high calling.
The upcoming installation of the Dalai Lama as Presidential Distinguished Professor is the latest in a series of Emory’s commitments to build bridges across religions and disciplines. Faculty and staff here have collaborated with the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives to develop and implement science education curriculum as a vital element of Tibetan schooling. Other faculty demonstrated an unequivocal correlation between the practice of compassion meditation and the reduction of depression levels in students and paved the way for the formation of Emory’s Collaborative for Contemplative Studies. These and other benefits of comprehending various religious traditions and their impact can be bountiful for the academy, the community and the world.
The Dalai Lama stands among a remarkable group of leaders who inspire not only the faithful of their own tradition but those outside it, too. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 and shares this honor with Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Jr., Elie Weisel, and Shirin Ebadi. Deeply committed to drawing on the strengths of Tibetan and western civilization, the Dalai Lama will offer his unique contributions to Emory’s mission of teaching, research, and community engagement. His vision of education stresses the importance of cultivating both heart and mind.
Such a vision accords with the Wesleyan heritage of Emory University, founded in memory of Methodist minister John Emory and his commitment to “mold both character and intellect.” As one who seeks to educate faithful and creative leaders who preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in a 21st century multi-religious world, I am grateful for the presence of Dalai Lama on campus. He embodies, as he has done throughout his life, calm in the face of crisis, patient endurance in the midst of agony, determination in meeting daunting challenges, and bold hope in circumstances of seeming doom. With humor and intelligence, he reminds us of the graceful gift of human possibility. For this I give thanks to God.
Dr. Jan Love is Dean of the Candler School of Theology at Emory University.
From the Editor: Why I love Christianity
By Jim Nelson
The Dalai Lama gave a presentation on “Buddhist Teaching” during his visit to Emory University last month. As I sat and listened to him talk about the Four Noble Truths and the ultimate nature of the mind being pure light complete with the absence of pain and sorrow, I thought about why I am a Christian.I have always tried to be respectful of other people’s beliefs. We are all free, or at least should be free, to believe whatever we choose about the nature of God and our relationship with God and with others. I have the obligation to witness to my faith, but if someone else chooses to follow a different path, then I need to “knock the dust from my feet” and move on.
I even sometimes disagree with how some Christians witness to their faith, but I always try to understand them. I realize they are sincere and just trying to be faithful to how they understand the Word of God. Maybe some of us are right, maybe all of us are right, maybe none of us are right. We just have to be true to what we believe God is calling us to be.But back to Buddhism. I can understand the attraction of a religion that promises joy and happiness, and a path to eliminating pain and sorrow from our lives. However, as I listened to the Dalai Lama explain the levels of suffering and how we attain a different state of reality, I had the impression it is something we do alone or at least alone with God.It seems to me that most of the pain and suffering we have in life is caused by others. To be in the world, to love, to be vulnerable, means we will at some point be hurt or feel betrayed. We do not resolve that pain by retreating from the world and the need for others, but by turning it over to God and by forgiveness.
Whereas Buddhism seemed to be somewhat egocentric, Christianity is a communal religion. The basic definition of communion is that it is an act of sharing with others.The purpose of a local church is to be in community with one another. The primary reason people give for joining a particular congregation is the people. The congregation functions as a large dysfunctional family. And I mean that in a positive sense. All congregations have the equivalent of that weird uncle, the crazy cousin, and that older aunt who sips a little too much sherry on occasion. But, what they mainly have is a deep, abiding love for one another.
They argue with one another, yell at one another, get frustrated with one another. But when it really matters, when one of them is hurting the entire congregation gathers around and supports them. That is what makes a church a church. That is what separates us from the other religions in the world. There is a lot we can learn from other faiths. We can learn the importance of daily prayer from Muslims. We can learn about meditation and living simply from Buddhists. We can learn something from all faiths. But we can teach them a lot about community. We Christians are all of the family of Jesus Christ. We “bear one another’s burdens.” We “rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.” When you are in church this week, look around you and hear the words of Jesus, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mt 12:49-50)
The Dalai Lama gave a presentation on “Buddhist Teaching” during his visit to Emory University last month. As I sat and listened to him talk about the Four Noble Truths and the ultimate nature of the mind being pure light complete with the absence of pain and sorrow, I thought about why I am a Christian.I have always tried to be respectful of other people’s beliefs. We are all free, or at least should be free, to believe whatever we choose about the nature of God and our relationship with God and with others. I have the obligation to witness to my faith, but if someone else chooses to follow a different path, then I need to “knock the dust from my feet” and move on.
I even sometimes disagree with how some Christians witness to their faith, but I always try to understand them. I realize they are sincere and just trying to be faithful to how they understand the Word of God. Maybe some of us are right, maybe all of us are right, maybe none of us are right. We just have to be true to what we believe God is calling us to be.But back to Buddhism. I can understand the attraction of a religion that promises joy and happiness, and a path to eliminating pain and sorrow from our lives. However, as I listened to the Dalai Lama explain the levels of suffering and how we attain a different state of reality, I had the impression it is something we do alone or at least alone with God.It seems to me that most of the pain and suffering we have in life is caused by others. To be in the world, to love, to be vulnerable, means we will at some point be hurt or feel betrayed. We do not resolve that pain by retreating from the world and the need for others, but by turning it over to God and by forgiveness.
Whereas Buddhism seemed to be somewhat egocentric, Christianity is a communal religion. The basic definition of communion is that it is an act of sharing with others.The purpose of a local church is to be in community with one another. The primary reason people give for joining a particular congregation is the people. The congregation functions as a large dysfunctional family. And I mean that in a positive sense. All congregations have the equivalent of that weird uncle, the crazy cousin, and that older aunt who sips a little too much sherry on occasion. But, what they mainly have is a deep, abiding love for one another.
They argue with one another, yell at one another, get frustrated with one another. But when it really matters, when one of them is hurting the entire congregation gathers around and supports them. That is what makes a church a church. That is what separates us from the other religions in the world. There is a lot we can learn from other faiths. We can learn the importance of daily prayer from Muslims. We can learn about meditation and living simply from Buddhists. We can learn something from all faiths. But we can teach them a lot about community. We Christians are all of the family of Jesus Christ. We “bear one another’s burdens.” We “rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.” When you are in church this week, look around you and hear the words of Jesus, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mt 12:49-50)
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Guest Columnist: One Little, Two Little, Three Little….
Stacey L. Hanson
Counting heads? Have you ever wondered how many dollars are spent by United Methodists to count heads? In my church a dozen staff members and volunteers each spend a little more than an hour every Monday consolidating data from attendance pads, Sunday school rosters, UMY sign in sheets, and Bible study rolls. That info is then entered into our database which is maintained by one full time staff member. Towards the end of the year (right about now) the database is cajoled into spitting out various numbers for charge conference reports and end of the year reports which are printed and published locally and elsewhere.
If the dollar value of the costs for collecting, recording, reporting, and publishing weekly headcount information could be accurately estimated, I suspect we would be surprised. I was when I did so for my local church (12K+ annually). But the dollars spent shouldn’t be the biggest surprise to us. Relative to the cost, it’s the little value that all that head counting adds to our mission that should. That’s not to say that accountability and measuring successes are valueless exercises. They are in fact the first principles for moving a church from being good to being great as Jim Collins notes in his book “Good to Great and the Social Sectors: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great.”
But it is to say, or rather to ask, “What does head counting truly measure?” Is it effectiveness, popularity, commitment, discipleship? Possibly, but more data would be needed to prove these. Absent that further data, headcounts simply measure participation: that is “showing up”. And I don’t suspect that merely showing up (even more and more showing up) will move a church from good to great. I think we need to measure something else all together – progress. Measuring an individual’s progress through stages of discipleship would, in my opinion, provide us a much better indicator of our success at making disciples. Our head counting would then tell us how many of our people have entered into stage one, how many have left stage one for stage two, stage two for three and so on. This of course would force us to come up with a common definition of discipleship, a common process for making disciples, and name common stages of progress in that process. But don’t worry, we’ve done it before. Remember the subtle shift in Luke’s language calling the twelve “disciples” prior to their commission (The Gospel According to Luke) and “apostles” thereafter (Acts of the Apostles). He was marking their progress in the process.
Remember that the hallmark doctrine of early Methodism was Entire Sanctification (Christian Perfection) which expected a believer to progress in personal and social holiness throughout a lifetime by cooperating with God’s grace and employing various “methods.” Progress in a process was the standard. Of course such a focused effort to re-defining our present standards would amount to a new model of local church discipleship. I’ll save that one for a future column. But for now, the above examples can both encourage us to consider the hard work of defining and naming stages in discipleship as well as suggest to us how we might do so. And, until we do all the money spent on head counting will count for very little.
The Rev. Stacey L. Hanson is the Associate Minister: GROW at the Roswell UMC.
Counting heads? Have you ever wondered how many dollars are spent by United Methodists to count heads? In my church a dozen staff members and volunteers each spend a little more than an hour every Monday consolidating data from attendance pads, Sunday school rosters, UMY sign in sheets, and Bible study rolls. That info is then entered into our database which is maintained by one full time staff member. Towards the end of the year (right about now) the database is cajoled into spitting out various numbers for charge conference reports and end of the year reports which are printed and published locally and elsewhere.
If the dollar value of the costs for collecting, recording, reporting, and publishing weekly headcount information could be accurately estimated, I suspect we would be surprised. I was when I did so for my local church (12K+ annually). But the dollars spent shouldn’t be the biggest surprise to us. Relative to the cost, it’s the little value that all that head counting adds to our mission that should. That’s not to say that accountability and measuring successes are valueless exercises. They are in fact the first principles for moving a church from being good to being great as Jim Collins notes in his book “Good to Great and the Social Sectors: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great.”
But it is to say, or rather to ask, “What does head counting truly measure?” Is it effectiveness, popularity, commitment, discipleship? Possibly, but more data would be needed to prove these. Absent that further data, headcounts simply measure participation: that is “showing up”. And I don’t suspect that merely showing up (even more and more showing up) will move a church from good to great. I think we need to measure something else all together – progress. Measuring an individual’s progress through stages of discipleship would, in my opinion, provide us a much better indicator of our success at making disciples. Our head counting would then tell us how many of our people have entered into stage one, how many have left stage one for stage two, stage two for three and so on. This of course would force us to come up with a common definition of discipleship, a common process for making disciples, and name common stages of progress in that process. But don’t worry, we’ve done it before. Remember the subtle shift in Luke’s language calling the twelve “disciples” prior to their commission (The Gospel According to Luke) and “apostles” thereafter (Acts of the Apostles). He was marking their progress in the process.
Remember that the hallmark doctrine of early Methodism was Entire Sanctification (Christian Perfection) which expected a believer to progress in personal and social holiness throughout a lifetime by cooperating with God’s grace and employing various “methods.” Progress in a process was the standard. Of course such a focused effort to re-defining our present standards would amount to a new model of local church discipleship. I’ll save that one for a future column. But for now, the above examples can both encourage us to consider the hard work of defining and naming stages in discipleship as well as suggest to us how we might do so. And, until we do all the money spent on head counting will count for very little.
The Rev. Stacey L. Hanson is the Associate Minister: GROW at the Roswell UMC.
Aging Well: Elder Care
Robert Beckum
With medical science constantly extending life expectancy, baby boomers will be facing the important challenge of caring for elderly parents on a larger scale than any generation before them. The Family Caregiver Alliance estimates 22.5 million people are currently involved in elder care-giving in the United States alone. These numbers will more than double to some 50 million by 2020. There are few roles in life more rewarding or more stressful than caring for elderly parents.
Who are these caregivers?65% of elder caregivers are women.The average caregiver is 49 years old, married, and works outside of the home earning an annual income of $35,000.On average, these women spend a total of 12 years out of the workforce raising children and caring for an older relative.33% of these women decreased their work hours to care for an older loved one, 29% passed up a job or promotion because of elder care-giving demands, 16% had to quit their jobs and 13% retired early because of care-giving responsibilities.Most alarmingly, women who provide care for elderly loved ones are six times more likely than the general population to suffer symptoms of depression, anxiety and debilitating physical illness resulting from their care-giving activities.
While there are many personal and relational rewards in caring for our elders, care-giving is an extremely stressful and, from a health perspective, dangerous undertaking. Learning to care for oneself while caring for others will be the biggest challenge facing many baby boomers in the next twenty years. Ted Conover, writing for the New York Times Magazine, states the issue clearly: “The American dilemma, in the twenty-first century, is what to do about the hidden costs of longevity—-not just the economic ones, but the intimate, personal costs as well.”The truth of the matter is we need to be much more intentional about support systems and resources for elder caregivers in our culture. It is obvious family caregivers will play an expanding and increasingly important role in the care of senior adults for at least the next two generations.
One of the best resources I’ve found is a book entitled, Fourteen Friends’ Guide to Elder Caring (Broadway Books). Of course, I do not think reading a book will provide instant solutions to all the complicated challenges of elder care-giving. But this is not “just a book.” It is the sharing of personal journeys by elder caregivers that is both informative and inspiring. Fourteen women, friends since high school, share their struggles, joys and what they have learned as each cares for their elderly parents. It is written as an invitation to a fifteenth person, the reader, to join them on this care-giving journey. If you are in the role of caregiver for an elderly loved one, I can’t urge you strongly enough to buy a copy and share the journey with them. I believe it will be the best investment in self care you can make.
Rev. Robert Beckum Vice President of Church Relations and Development Magnolia Manor.
With medical science constantly extending life expectancy, baby boomers will be facing the important challenge of caring for elderly parents on a larger scale than any generation before them. The Family Caregiver Alliance estimates 22.5 million people are currently involved in elder care-giving in the United States alone. These numbers will more than double to some 50 million by 2020. There are few roles in life more rewarding or more stressful than caring for elderly parents.
Who are these caregivers?65% of elder caregivers are women.The average caregiver is 49 years old, married, and works outside of the home earning an annual income of $35,000.On average, these women spend a total of 12 years out of the workforce raising children and caring for an older relative.33% of these women decreased their work hours to care for an older loved one, 29% passed up a job or promotion because of elder care-giving demands, 16% had to quit their jobs and 13% retired early because of care-giving responsibilities.Most alarmingly, women who provide care for elderly loved ones are six times more likely than the general population to suffer symptoms of depression, anxiety and debilitating physical illness resulting from their care-giving activities.
While there are many personal and relational rewards in caring for our elders, care-giving is an extremely stressful and, from a health perspective, dangerous undertaking. Learning to care for oneself while caring for others will be the biggest challenge facing many baby boomers in the next twenty years. Ted Conover, writing for the New York Times Magazine, states the issue clearly: “The American dilemma, in the twenty-first century, is what to do about the hidden costs of longevity—-not just the economic ones, but the intimate, personal costs as well.”The truth of the matter is we need to be much more intentional about support systems and resources for elder caregivers in our culture. It is obvious family caregivers will play an expanding and increasingly important role in the care of senior adults for at least the next two generations.
One of the best resources I’ve found is a book entitled, Fourteen Friends’ Guide to Elder Caring (Broadway Books). Of course, I do not think reading a book will provide instant solutions to all the complicated challenges of elder care-giving. But this is not “just a book.” It is the sharing of personal journeys by elder caregivers that is both informative and inspiring. Fourteen women, friends since high school, share their struggles, joys and what they have learned as each cares for their elderly parents. It is written as an invitation to a fifteenth person, the reader, to join them on this care-giving journey. If you are in the role of caregiver for an elderly loved one, I can’t urge you strongly enough to buy a copy and share the journey with them. I believe it will be the best investment in self care you can make.
Rev. Robert Beckum Vice President of Church Relations and Development Magnolia Manor.
From the Bishop: Humble Place: How you can help
B. Michael Watson
The recent Wesleyan Christian Advocate article about our South Georgia/East Africa Partnership and the Humble United Methodist School in Uganda has caused several readers and churches to ask me to tell them again how they can help with this remarkable opportunity to be in Christian mission to the precious children in East Africa. I am happy to share this information with as many as are interested in joining this effort to make disciples of Jesus Christ as we minister to highly vulnerable children and battle the killer diseases of poverty such as HIV/Aids and malaria.
It is so easy to do a lot of good. By contributing through your local church to one of three South Georgia Conference Advance Special Mission Funds, you can literally make a world of difference in the lives of some of the poorest children in the world. A gift of $1,500.00 will feed, clothe, house, educate and medicate one child for one year. Humble Place, which is what we affectionately call the Humble United Methodist School, Church, Clinic, and related ministries, is currently seeking the funds to provide this kind of total care for over 200 children. Every gift of any amount is a blessing in this holy cause.
There are three funds to which you can give. Each one has a separate Conference Advance Special Mission number. They are: Humble Place Program/Scholarship Fund # 1754, Humble Place Capital Fund # 1764, and the South Georgia/East Africa Partnership Fund # 1696. Each one of these funds is a vital part of this wonderful ministry. We need money for programs and scholarships, money for buildings and upkeep, and money for the support of the partnership between our two conferences which enables us to continue this mission ministry.Surely we have 200 individuals; Sunday School classes; mission committees; other groups of children; youth, or adults; or local churches who would make a commitment to fund at least one child for at least three years. What about you, or your group, or your church?Dear God, let it be.
Bishop Mike Watson serves the South Georgia Conference.
The recent Wesleyan Christian Advocate article about our South Georgia/East Africa Partnership and the Humble United Methodist School in Uganda has caused several readers and churches to ask me to tell them again how they can help with this remarkable opportunity to be in Christian mission to the precious children in East Africa. I am happy to share this information with as many as are interested in joining this effort to make disciples of Jesus Christ as we minister to highly vulnerable children and battle the killer diseases of poverty such as HIV/Aids and malaria.
It is so easy to do a lot of good. By contributing through your local church to one of three South Georgia Conference Advance Special Mission Funds, you can literally make a world of difference in the lives of some of the poorest children in the world. A gift of $1,500.00 will feed, clothe, house, educate and medicate one child for one year. Humble Place, which is what we affectionately call the Humble United Methodist School, Church, Clinic, and related ministries, is currently seeking the funds to provide this kind of total care for over 200 children. Every gift of any amount is a blessing in this holy cause.
There are three funds to which you can give. Each one has a separate Conference Advance Special Mission number. They are: Humble Place Program/Scholarship Fund # 1754, Humble Place Capital Fund # 1764, and the South Georgia/East Africa Partnership Fund # 1696. Each one of these funds is a vital part of this wonderful ministry. We need money for programs and scholarships, money for buildings and upkeep, and money for the support of the partnership between our two conferences which enables us to continue this mission ministry.Surely we have 200 individuals; Sunday School classes; mission committees; other groups of children; youth, or adults; or local churches who would make a commitment to fund at least one child for at least three years. What about you, or your group, or your church?Dear God, let it be.
Bishop Mike Watson serves the South Georgia Conference.
From the Editor: Why the Advocate Matters
By Jim Nelson
“Hope isn’t believing that we can change things; hope is about believing that what we do matters.” Vaclav Havel, President, Czech Republic.As the editor of the Wesleyan Christian Advocate, I have a lot of hope because I know that what we do here matters. We have the privilege of writing the first draft of history. It is not just a cliché; it is the truth. Future generations of historians will view the stories we write as primary source documents. Those historians will cull through our archives in an effort to understand what happened, and to help their readers understand why the church is what it is in their day.
Without knowing what they are, we are preserving the signs and omens that future generations will focus on as the beginnings of the watershed events of their past. What those signs are can only be fully known, and fully appreciated, in hindsight. If we do not write them down, how will our descendents know what happened and why?As journalists, we do not have the proverbial seat at the table. We are not the creators of history. But we are allowed to stand directly behind the table: observing, documenting, and in some cases analyzing what happens. We record history.Often I wonder what those future historians will glean from what we write today. Is the church in a downward cycle of decay, soon to become extinct? Will they be trying to figure out what went wrong? Or, are we perhaps on the cusp of a new beginning, and are the signs we are writing about the beginnings of the next great revival? Which story that seems somewhat innocuous to us now will they see as the defining moment when everything began to change?
We know today that the division of Israel, which ultimately led to its demise began long before Solomon died, before Absalom revolted against his father David, before even David slept with Bathsheba and then had his friend Uriah killed to cover it up. It began in 2Samuel 11:1, “at the time when kings go off to war,” and David stayed home. An innocuous incident that sparked a chain reaction ending in catastrophe for the people of Israel. What are we doing or not doing today that will result in the survival, revival or demise of the church tomorrow?
My hope is that there are among the readers of the Advocate astute individuals who can spot trends, and take action to reverse negative ones and enhance positive ones. We all need to stay informed; to pay attention to what is happening, and to be able to react to a changing environment before it leaves us behind.The Good News is God will help us, but God will not do all the work for us. God gives us talents, but we have to use them. God opens doors, but we must walk through them. The Spirit will put ideas in our heads, but we must implement them.
The other hope I have is that God works through the Advocate, helping you and others to see what is happening, to discern trends, and to have the knowledge necessary to keep the church moving forward along the narrow path, toward the narrow gate.What we do matters. Help us keep the Advocate alive, and serving God. Continue to subscribe and encourage all of your friends and family to do the same. The person you get to subscribe may be the one that spots the trend that helps us all.
“Hope isn’t believing that we can change things; hope is about believing that what we do matters.” Vaclav Havel, President, Czech Republic.As the editor of the Wesleyan Christian Advocate, I have a lot of hope because I know that what we do here matters. We have the privilege of writing the first draft of history. It is not just a cliché; it is the truth. Future generations of historians will view the stories we write as primary source documents. Those historians will cull through our archives in an effort to understand what happened, and to help their readers understand why the church is what it is in their day.
Without knowing what they are, we are preserving the signs and omens that future generations will focus on as the beginnings of the watershed events of their past. What those signs are can only be fully known, and fully appreciated, in hindsight. If we do not write them down, how will our descendents know what happened and why?As journalists, we do not have the proverbial seat at the table. We are not the creators of history. But we are allowed to stand directly behind the table: observing, documenting, and in some cases analyzing what happens. We record history.Often I wonder what those future historians will glean from what we write today. Is the church in a downward cycle of decay, soon to become extinct? Will they be trying to figure out what went wrong? Or, are we perhaps on the cusp of a new beginning, and are the signs we are writing about the beginnings of the next great revival? Which story that seems somewhat innocuous to us now will they see as the defining moment when everything began to change?
We know today that the division of Israel, which ultimately led to its demise began long before Solomon died, before Absalom revolted against his father David, before even David slept with Bathsheba and then had his friend Uriah killed to cover it up. It began in 2Samuel 11:1, “at the time when kings go off to war,” and David stayed home. An innocuous incident that sparked a chain reaction ending in catastrophe for the people of Israel. What are we doing or not doing today that will result in the survival, revival or demise of the church tomorrow?
My hope is that there are among the readers of the Advocate astute individuals who can spot trends, and take action to reverse negative ones and enhance positive ones. We all need to stay informed; to pay attention to what is happening, and to be able to react to a changing environment before it leaves us behind.The Good News is God will help us, but God will not do all the work for us. God gives us talents, but we have to use them. God opens doors, but we must walk through them. The Spirit will put ideas in our heads, but we must implement them.
The other hope I have is that God works through the Advocate, helping you and others to see what is happening, to discern trends, and to have the knowledge necessary to keep the church moving forward along the narrow path, toward the narrow gate.What we do matters. Help us keep the Advocate alive, and serving God. Continue to subscribe and encourage all of your friends and family to do the same. The person you get to subscribe may be the one that spots the trend that helps us all.
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