A Letter to Tony Jones from a United Methodist

18 May

This morning emergent guru and bomb-thrower Tony Jones used Bishop Willimon’s latest UMR commentary as a justification for shutting down the United Methodist Church. He suggested that all young clergy should get out while the getting is good:

I just hope that enough of you young UMC clergy have the temerity to stand up and walk out of that system. Trust me, what you’re putting up with is not worth the health insurance — you’re getting the raw end of that deal.

I’ve known Tony for some ten years now, and he has repeatedly suggested I should bail too. I appreciate his perspective, but this morning, in the light of all the other emotions swirling through our church right now, I found myself less appreciative at an outsider suggesting we should simply give up. Thus, I wrote him an  e-mail this morning, which (with his permission) I share with you:

Dear Tony,

I’ve tried several times to think about how I could come up with an appropriate response to this morning’s post, but haven’t figured out a way to say what I really want to say without using profanities. [Author's note -- In point of fact, I did use profanity in my e-mail to Tony, a sign of my brokenness, but since this is generally a PG rated blog, I am editing myself to sound better than I really am.]

Yes, we are a very broken institution, composed of very broken people. One might even say that we are completely dead. And yet, I continue to hold on to the belief that God takes dead and broken things and transforms them into new and living things. Be careful about proclaiming the death of the UMC, for the possibility of new life arising from the ashes is always a possibility.

Should I bolt? Probably. Do I want to bolt? Very much at times.

And yet, I continue to hold on to and offer the grace that I believe that God offers us — a grace that never gives up. As a Methodist, I am an Arminian, not a Calvinist, believing that God’s grace is unlimited and while resistible, always present even when we can’t see, hear, or taste it.

Yes, our institution is a mess and may indeed be irredeemable.

But that was the same things some folks said about me at points in my life.

Take care, and know that I love ya even when you dis on my people.

jay

Tony responded later with the following promise:

Thanks, Jay. What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.

 :-)

George Tinker calls GC2012 to Repentance

27 Apr

The Service of Repentance continues as I speak, but I need to offer a quick word of thanks to Dr. George Tinker for his prophetic word which taught all of us a history that has been pushed under the carpet, and calling us to communal repentance with a gentle spirit that was challenging and yet gentle. Tinker didn’t pull any punches, reminding us of our complicity in the oppression of indigenous people . . . an oppression which has continued in many different forms throughout the history of the Americas.

This is especially important for me for I am appointed to serve a village named “Old Hickory,” the nickname of President Andrew Jackson, whose mansion known as “The Hermitage” is just a few miles down the road. As I sit in Tampa, arrangements are being made be people I know and love to honor Jackson with a special memorial in our village’s Veteran’s Park. As a pastor we believes that God has called me to engage in the community, I will be expected to attend this celebration, and the pastor in me wants to honor the energy and passion of my members . . . people who are like I was until tonight . . . unaware of the horror perpetuated on the Trail of Tears, a horror ordered by the one for whom our town and church is named.

As Tinker said repeatedly, repentance isn’t easy. Repentance calls us to cast aside our myths of moral superiority, and honestly confront the ways that we have fallen short in our relationships with others. It forces us to take our heroes off their pedestals and recognize that they were broken men who often did horrible things in the name of God. The lie of manifest destiny – the false theology perpetuated by the church – provided the cover to avoid Christ’s call of love, and to engage in acts of hate.

Where Tinker – a man with a gentle spirit and whose eyes looked through our hearts like a disappointed grandfather – recognized and affirmed that we can’t repent on our own. It takes all of us standing together to try and restore the harmony and balance of God’s creation.

The fact is that I can’t confront the legacy of the community I serve without help. It’s going to take everyone who believes that God is calling us to transformation to stand together. I need your help. I need Tinker’s help. I can’t do it on my own.

The good news is that Tinker reminded us that the Greek word metanoia really means “Y’all repent!.” I understand what “y’all” means, and it means that I am not alone. Yes repentance is hard, but y’all are standing with me.

“Be not afraid,” the scriptures say, “for I am with you.”

May we be joined together with God and with one another as we work to repent of what we have done.

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