UMC's path not sustainable

The final report of the Call to Action Interim Operations Team, says that the United Methodist Church's way of doing business is “unsustainable,” and that the changes made during and immediately after the recent 2012 General Conference are not enough to deal with challenges the denomination faces.

• Final report: UMC path unsustainable

Open thoughts

An upcoming sermon is about Christians acting with openness. Recent sermons have dealt with boldness and generosity. Below are a few "open thoughts" about openness.

Are you:

• Boldly open to new ideas?
• Open to the Holy Spirit?
• Open to constructive comments?
• Open to people not like you?
• Boldly open to a different style of worship?
• Open in a way that lets others "in" to know you better?
• Open to forgiving others?
• Open to not getting your way?
• Open to focusing on helping others -- open to generously giving of your time, talent, and money when you have more than they do?
• Open to letting others help you in your time of need?
• Open to changing your mind?
• Open to being a true servant leader?
• Open to discovering new talents? (You have to try something new to discover a new talent).
• Open to asking forgiveness when it's appropriate?

We may think we are "open" in many of the above ways, but would our friends, coworkers, and strangers agree?

A new view of "You"

Our society constantly pushes us to desire more and buy more. We spend ourselves into debt while others in the scrape by on relative crumbs of money.

The Advent Conspiracy and Rethinking Christmas sites promote increased awareness of others' needs and decreased consumption behavior by us. Pastor Dave promoted those in a recent blog posting, "Advent Resources". The related Trade as One site promotes helping others by buying Fair Trade items. Below is one of their "Trade as One" videos.

Do you have what it takes to lower your stress and decrease the commercialism of Christmas while at the same time helping others?

The Advent Conspiracy

Here's a new way of "doing Christmas" that gets closer to the wise men and draws us away from the stress and debt of a modern American Christmas.

In the news

Below are a few links related to care for God's earth (one part of Christian Stewardship). What have you done for God's world this week?

• Government study: Climate change affects water, agriculture
• More seminaries linking religion, environmental concern
• Congo Basin - world's largest protected wetland
• Conservationists killed in Virunga Park, D.R. Congo (page 3 of the magazine PDF)

Do we truly follow Christ?

Sometimes it seems that United Methodists are not truly united. Not that we all need to be of one mind on all issues, but it often seems that we deliberately strive for unloving discord.

Most often the strife is about either social and environmental issues or else spreading the Gospel. It need not and should not be an "either-or" proposition. It needs to be a "both-and" one. We need to bring the light of Christ into a world of darkness. But we also need to realize that a strong faith and truly following Christ expresses itself through Godly actions. That certainly includes social and environmental actions.

People who truly follow Christ consider themselves caretakers of God's earth. They wouldn't dream of spoiling God's wonderful planet, harming his people, or ignoring the plight of his plants and animals. True followers of Christ would not ignore mistreatment of any of God's children. They would also prefer to use their own riches to help others rather than to add more "bling" to their possessions.

Those who truly follow Christ have an "attitude of gratitude" that shows in their everyday actions, their generous giving, their love for all God's creatures, and in their love of others who are not like them.

Membership is down - give more?

No sooner had I posted about Christian Stewardship being cheapened by equating with money than I noticed (on this blog) the news item from UM Reported, "Changing demographics impacts funds".

The article has several interesting facts and figures. One negative action popped out at me, though. The GCFA governing board, in response to the decline in giving, has penned legislation that, "among other things, the legislation aims to hold leaders at all levels of the church accountable in their responsibility to promote, support and model Christian giving."

Whoa! So let me get this straight. The denomination is seeing a decline in membership and a decline in giving. The solution is to give more? It sounds like the old semi-joke about some office managers, "Management has observed that morale is low. Beatings will commence until morale improves." Maybe we are getting more concerned with funding than with meeting the spiritual needs of the least, the lost, and the last.

Perhaps if we focused our actions on them, as Luke shows us Jesus did, we'd be getting more members, who would want to contribute to the great spiritual work being done. Are we putting the cart before the horse? Are we failing to see the spiritual forest for the financial trees?

Stop demeaning Christian stewardship!

It's fall and the most common time for "Stewardship campaigns" a phrase that makes me cringe. Christian stewardship encompasses a very broad area. As Clarence Stoughton said, "Stewardship is everything you do after you say yes to Jesus Christ.". Churches demean stewardship and ignore the many needed actions areas of Christian Stewardship when they make it all about money.

What churches usually really mean is "annual financial campaign". Using the word "stewardship" makes some people feel better about asking for money, but it seems disingenuous. Sometimes churches add little "talent" cards to justify calling it a Stewardship campaign. But that too barely scratches the surface of Christian stewardship. And it's tacit admission that the campaign is a financial campaign running under cover of the term "stewardship".

Churches do need financial support. There's nothing wrong with a financial campaign. Let's be more honest about the process and call it just that. Doing so may also defuse criticism by unchurched people that churches are sly, world-like, or hypocritical.

And let's have true Stewardship campaigns in our churches. Ones where we inform members about all aspects of stewardship and encourage their daily involvement as stewards for Christ.

Let's stop equating Christian stewardship with asking for financial support, needed though it is. Let's be up front and honest when we conduct our annual financial campaigns.

[cross-posted from Open Mind Dave blog]

Atheists, Agnostics, Believers

Atheists are pessimistic Agnostics. Deep down they are not sure (Agnostic), but they'd hate to be made a fool of by believing the wrong thing. So they claim to not believe at all. It's a buffer against being put down. Maybe they have had great trials and sadness in their lives and cannot believe that a God would allow that. They need your compassion and understanding, help and encouragement. They need to know of any change that being a believer has made in your life. Don't try to make them a believer in one big step. If they become an Agnostic, they are on headed in the right direction. Don't give up on them.

Agnostics really amount to pessimistic believers. They want to believe, but cannot bring themselves to for one reason or another. Perhaps they could become a believer by seeing your faith in action and by your compassion toward their own concerns and needs. Maybe sharing a bit of why you are a believer would help. Just don't get too "preachy" or you'll turn them off.

Believers may be strong or weak in the faith. Those who declare they are new believers may really be optimistic Agnostics. So, as Paul cautions (Romans 14), beware of tempting those weaker in the faith. Encourage the faith of new believers, offer friendship, compassion, and understanding. Include them in your Sunday Schools, but try not to swamp them with detailed Bible study right away. Give them time to grow. Water that growth with agape love. Be available to talk with other believers about their faith challenges and life's trials.

"Won't power"

I, like many people, have a fondness for sweets. Chocolate, ice cream, southern sweet tea, cookies, and more. Over the years, I have become about 30 pounds overweight. Lately I have been thinking about that "treat your body like a temple" adage. My temple needs some work on it to look more like God intended, though handsome it will never be.

So I read with interest an Atlanta Journal-Constitution article on sugar overload this week, "Hiding in plain sight". It suggests changing a soda a day to a bottle of water a day. I detest paying for water (Evian backwards is "naive", after all), but since I'm spending money on empty soda calories maybe paying for plain water would be a better decision.

The AJC article linked to another very informative site - NutritionData (ND). It has pages listing the nutrition value of foods commonly searched for (an example is raw bananas) as well as foods from varied commercial eateries such as McDonald's and Blimpie. The nerd in me is especially intrigued by the cool data displays:

• Caloric ratio pyramid
• Nutrition balance indicator
• Nutritional target map, which includes a "fullness factor"and a rating

ND also has a "better choices diet" page.

So will all this great information prompt me to clean up my eating ways instead of my plate and to clean up my temple? I am a sense-oriented person, which is why I so much enjoy music (and pretty pictures ... a nod to John the Methodist) as well as food. Maybe I can replace that bottle of soda with water. And maybe a bit less of those delicious Chocolate peanut butter Treasures. I have plenty of "Will Power" ... as in "I will eat that cookie now". What it takes is "Won't Power."

Homosexuality costs some Black pastors

Black pastors are often caught between between two bad options -- ignoring the marginalized in our society or losing conservative members, often the older, bigger donors. The March 27 NY Times article, datelined from Atlanta, elaborates. Will money or love win out?

"What does it mean to have a [worship] service that welcomes all but makes an effort to target those whom society has shunned as unclean and undesirable?" asks Becky Garrison in "Easter for the Outcasts" at the God's Politics blog.

Health articles, healthy recipes

We are to be good stewards of our God-given bodies -- of our health. Here are some links to health-related articles:

• The skinny on fat
• Popeye was right!
• Top 5 foods for women
• The 5 healing tastes
• Recipes from Cooking Light magazine
• Delicious Decisions (American Heart Association recipes)
• Healthy recipes
• Get healthy (Food Network)
• Health news (CNN)
• MedLine Plus (NLM & NIH)
• Harvard World Health News
• Current Diet and Nutrition articles
• Recent product recalls (last 60 days)

Help others through Hunger Walk

You can contribute to Atlanta's Hunger Walk/Run 2007 and get a T-Shirt whether or not you actually run. The Feb-April 2007 issue of their newsletter "Food sharing" says, "Can't make it to the event? Be a Phantom Walker! Just fill out the form [donate] and mail it in and we'll mail you a t-shirt." How can you resist being a "Phantom Walker?" You don't even have to wear purple tights.

The event supports six local non-profit organizations and walkers may choose to have a portion of their funds go directly to one of the organizations:

• Atlanta Community Food Bank
• Episcopal Charities Foundation
• Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta
• Lutheran Services of Georgia
• Presbyterian Answer to Hunger
• St. Vincent de Paul Society

At the Atlanta Community Food Bank site you can also learn about Atlanta's Table, Community Garden Initiative, Hunger 101, Kids in Need, Project Rescue Center, and TACK - The Atlanta Cooperative Kitchen.

You don't have to live in Atlanta to donate to these worthwhile groups.

Diabetics: Beware cold products

Decongestants and some other cold remedies contain sugar or else a chemical that causes and increase in blood sugar warns the American Diabetes Association.

Stay informed. You can't treat your body like a temple if you don't know what's trying to pull down your pillars of health.

WWF 2006 Annual Report

The 2006 annual report by the World Wildlife Federation is interesting for all who want to be good stewards of God's creation. But it's also kind of neat to look through.

The WWF report uses a special online report viewer program that lets you flip pages, zoom in or out on a page and even use hyperlinks to jump to sections of the report. Maybe I should call it nerd and nature nurture.

Doomsday clock creeps nearer to midnight

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has announced that the time of its symbolic Doomsday Clock is now two minutes closer to midnight -- the time representing global cataclysm. It now stands at 11:55pm.

This is only the fourth time since 1948 that the Bulletin, which focuses on manmade threats, has moved the clock forward. When started in 1947, the clock was set at 11:53 pm. The furthest from midnight was in 1991 (11:43 pm), when both the U.S and Russia were pulling back tactical nukes. The closest, 11:58pm in 1953, was in the era of U.S.-Soviet tensions.

The two main factors causing this they say is mankind's threats to human civilization posed by global warming plus nuclear tension related to Iran and North Korea. Director Kennete Benedict says the dangers of global warming are nearly as great as those of nuclear weapons.

Our challenge is to be good stewards of God's earth, even if it "costs" a little more. A legitimate Christian concern is whether a government administration's actions have eased or worsened the dangers posed by global warming and nuclear weapons.

Related article: Nuclear Doomsday: Is the clock still ticking?

God's earth slow to heal

The ozone hole over the Antarctic is the largest ever.

Despite actions to reduce gasses that deplete the earth's ozone layer, scientists have discovered that the at the current rate, it will take about 60 years to heal. Of course, if countries and corporation let their worship of money overcome their worship of God and protection of God's earth it might never happen.

Evangelicals embrace care for God's earth

Environmentalists and Evangelicals are coming together to be better stewards of God's earth.

On the other hand, the Southern Baptist Convention in June of 2006 passed a resolution denigrating environmental activism and warning that it could create divisions among evangelicals. And James Dobson has said that evangelicals should stay focused on anti-abortion actions and combatting gay marriage.

Yet a pastor af The Vineyard USA was one of 86 evangelical signers of letter urging all Christians as well as the government to combat global warming.

It was a Republican, President Nixon, who supported air and water protection, protection of endangered species, and created the Environmental Protection Agency.

A 2006 Pew Research Center survey found that 66% of white evangelicals believed there was good evidence that God's Earth was getting warmer and 32% blamed human activity for the warming.

• Original source: USA Today story (AP)

New stem cell technique raises hopes, concerns

A biotech company has found a way to get stem cells without destroying embryos. The process takes a single cell from an early stage embryo, then grows stem cells from that one cell.
Some are saying this is a breakthrough that solves the debate; others say it solves little and raises more concerns. Stem cells hold great promise for treating major diseases.

Sanctity of human life

"The Sanctification of Human Life", an excerpt from "How Christianity Changed the World" by Dr. Alvin Schmidt, addresses the value of human in Roman and Greek times. The article speaks to many areas about the sacredness of life, including infanticide as well as abortion.

Roman society's bankrupt morals included the practice of "exposure" -- placing unwanted babies on the hills and letting "the Gods" decide their fate.

Read with a critical mind, though. The author makes some assumptions that may not be valid. One example is the assumption about translating Galatians 5:19-20 and Revelations 21:8 to imply an anti-abortion stance. The NIV Bible translation has an Evangelical bias, yet neither its study notes nor the NIV Bible Commentary mention either of these passages as relating to abortion.

So use reason with your reading. Reason is one of the four legs of the Wesleyan Quadrilateral "stool", after all.