Today

Today we went to the grocery store, played outside, changed too many diapers, ate chalk (only one of us ate chalk) and watched a movie.

Parenting

So I am going to take a short break from writing specifically about church or theology and just write some observations about my week with the boys. My wife is on a much needed vacation. She left me with the 3 boys until friday. As she walked out of the house my 2 older boys (6 and 9) were wrestling and my youngest (19months) was completely naked except for some leather shoes and there was urine on the ottoman. It is going to be a wonderful week. I will try and keep you updated.
Mark

Posting

Well I did not get to a longer post. This blogging this is harder than I thought it would be. I have been fairly busy with pastoral duties, family and whatever else it is that I do. I will try and post something more substantial in the next few days.

Mark

Annual Conference

I have been away for a little while at the United Methodist North Carolina Annual Conference. Basically, a big get together of UM clergy and laity. It was great fun. We had lots of good conversation. I will post a longer post tomorrow.

Mark

Summer Cafe

Our church last summer started a summer cafe for kids and families in our community. We provide a meal for the children in our community who are at home during the summer. On Wednesday's at 11am a few volunteers serve meals to around 60 kids. Some are from the community, some come from the summer education program at the elementary school. We want to provide these kids with a good meal. Ultimately we want them to know we love the people of our community, we are a part of this community and we want them to know God loves them.
One of the dangers for our church is the fact that we know how to feed the community but we don't always know how to be a part of the community. It is easy for the volunteers to serve the kids and then stand back, watch them eat and leave (I have done that). What if the church is called to not only feed but to "get up in people business?" I tell my congregation that it is my job to be in their business. In other words, the church is called to make the communities problems our problems. To make the trials that kids face our trials. We are called not stand far off while children eat what we have provided, but to grab a plate, sit with them and talk with them. All great events begin (and end) with a meal. So be a part (not apart).

Mark

Serving Christ in the Church

Church is always an interesting place. Many of us attend church looking for something. We want to be different. We want to be forgiven. We want to feel better. We want our children not to grow up to be serial killers. We want our spouse to be a better person. We want to meet people. Or the ever popular, there is free food (sometimes). I will admit that some Sundays, even as a pastor, what gets me out of bed, into my clergy collar and onto the chancel is the promise of Eastern NC BBQ after the service. It is who we are as people to assume that the church is here in the world to do something for us. I can't tell you how many times I have heard people say they like a church because it "meets their needs." It makes sense. Every store we go to, every restaurant we go to, almost every place we go to we go to meet our own perceived needs.  If they do not have good customer service we go somewhere else. We go to what we like, and when we do not like it anymore we go somewhere else.
Church is different. We "sign up" for church to serve Christ in the church. We go to church not to get something but to give and serve someone else. Often times we get in the habit of believing that we go to church to get our gas tank filled up. But our attendance at church is not only to get something.
I have a friend who might just be the smartest person I have the pleasure of talking with. The other day I called him to talk about J. L Austin's  philosophical understanding of performative utterances and constative utterances and I asked him first what he was doing. He told me he was at the church mowing and replacing light bulbs. It struck me as funny. Here we are talking about serious philosophical concerns while doing the simplest tasks of service.
What we do receive at church is sacramental formation. God uses the physicality of the church to train us to service. We are practiced and formed to be Christ in the world. We do receive the grace of God in  Baptism and Holy Communion (the 2 sacraments in the United Methodist Church). In that reception of God's grace we are then transformed to be in service. The final prayer that we pray at the end of our time of Communion reads: Eternal God, we give you thanks for this holy mystery in which you have given yourself to us. Grant that we may go into the world in the strength of your spirit to give ourselves for others. In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
God gives God's self, so that we can become means of grace to others. In other words, be in service to Christ through your church. If you are not in service you are denying God's gifts to you.

Mark

Methodism and Other Traditions

When it comes to discussions of doctrine, Wesleyan works are no doubt placed at the head of most Methodist theology subsequent to Holy Scripture. Wesley's practical theology provides Methodist pietist roots with plenty of fodder for discourse. Wesley's Anglican roots provides Methodism with a rich historical development of dogma.  But often times Wesley's "methodism" lacks a certain attention to metaphysics (probably because of his historical situation and the epistemological philosophy of his day). But where we Methodist find Wesley lacking, turning to St. Thomas Aquinas is particularly helpful. Read in conjunction, a fairly wholistic theology emerges.
I say all this just to remind us that we Methodist would do well to reach beyond our own tradition and seek out a more eclectic theology from Christians who provided Wesley with his own thoughts. Often times when I am faced with a theological problem I turn to St. Thomas and Catholic sources.  
Let me give you an example. Wesley's Mariology is quite thin, that is to be expected but a few months ago I was doing some reading from scripture, preparing for sermons and concentrating upon the life of Mary. The issue of Immaculate Conception came up and I was wondering how it was that Mary was with/without original sin. The Methodist sources on this question were thin, but the rich text of St. Thomas Compendium were particularly helpful. I don't want to leave you in suspense, I was not questioning whether Mary was without original sin, but I was questioning how she was without original sin. Meaning: Was she born without it or was she granted a specific dispensation (St. Thomas said the latter, but Duns Scotus made the correction later).
Now you may be saying to yourself, "Who cares?" Well...I do. I think questions like these are fun and help train my mind to think about the things of God (which I always need help with). If we focus on theological questions we might just skip thinking about who is going to win American Idol (and come on, that has to be good). Now before I go into a rant and loose you (if I haven't already) let us return to Methodism.
It would be a grave error for us Methodist to believe that our "method" is solid and fully efficient to explain the intricacies of Christian theology. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, an early 19th century theologian, wrote, "the true is the whole." The whole of Christian theology, every tradition past and present, presents us with a truer picture than one tradition can provide (I would even suggest that an non-theology can provide a measure of truth). What is my point? Don't not be a afraid, as a pastor or laity, to demand more theology from your church. More than one particular theological tradition. The richness of theological sources can provide a lifetime of thinking about the God we serve.

Mark