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When does a person become a Supreme Court Justice?

June 4, 2020 /

When does a person become a Supreme Court Justice?

Is it when they are nominated to the position by the President and confirmed by the Senate?
Is it when they were appointed to a lifetime appointment on the Federal Bench?
Is it when they went to work for a prestigious law firm?
Is it when they served as a clerk for a Supreme Court justice?
Is it when they were admitted to a top law school?
Is it when they were admitted to their undergraduate institution?
Is it when they graduated from high school?
Is it when they attended a well funded and supplied elementary school?
Is it when they had access to health care and food on the table as a child?
Is it when their parent was paid a livable wage?
Is it when their mother had access to prenatal care?

The answer is, YES, to all of these. And the break in any one link the chain can close the door for a person sitting on the bench. When we speak of systemic racism, it is a recognition all of life is a connected system, and injustice in one link can have dramatic implications on another.

I am not a fan of affirmative action. I think that a person should be selected based solely on their skills and ability to perform the job. I think that colleges should not be required to admit certain students but should be allowed to choose the best and brightest regardless of skin color or gender. I think that employers should be allowed to have workforces that are made up of the best for the job and not be required to consider race or gender in their hiring practices. I think that the color of a person’s skin or whether they are male or female should not matter. We should base these opinions solely on who is the best for the job.

So what do we do when we see a lack of diversity in the workforce, on our college campuses, in government jobs, in the pulpits of our churches? We say the reason a woman, a Hispanic or an African American, was not hired for the job is that none applied, or there were none qualified who applied. And it is true. But it also hides another truth. The reason none were qualified is that none were given a chance to be qualified.

I wish I could say that left to themselves, employers, healthcare, church, and education systems will choose to do what is right. But we know better. Left to ourselves, we will all choose the path of greatest comfort and familiarity. A way that will not open the door.  A path that will draw red lines around who is in and who is outside of our community. It is for these reasons these programs are put into place. On our own, we will remain blind to what we must do and have been doing.

When does a person become a Supreme Court Justice . . . today.

Blessings,
Stephen

Today’s resource is the video Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man shared with me by a friend. The video is produced by Emmanuel Acho who is a former NFL Player and current ESPN analyst. Acho answers many of the questions we have. Watch it HERE.

I Am Not the Expert in the Room

June 3, 2020 /


The old dictionary Merriam-Webster defines racism as “a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.” If you are like me, no matter how many times I read that definition, I still don’t understand what it is. And it certainly does not help me to see it in the community around me. As hard as it is to define with words, I have learned this about racism: Racism always has a better explanation.

This is what I mean, sometimes I have listened to the news and said these things myself:

  • It was not police brutality; he was resisting arrest. He should have done what the officer told him to do.
  • He may have been jogging, but he was also trespassing on a construction site.
  • When a police officer pulls a young black man over, and the first question he asks is, “what are you doing on this side of town?” It’s not racism, its just an officer wanting to ask something other than “Where are you headed to in such a hurry tonight?”
  • When a cashier accuses a man she just rang up of not paying for items as he walks out of the store, it is only a simple mistake.
  • She didn’t call the police because he was black, he made threatening motions.
  • It looked like a gun.
  • He was running away.
  • When a young dies in the back of a police van because he was not strapped in correctly, it is only a tragic accident.
  • She made a threatening motion.
  • When I feel the urge to cross to the other side of the street because a black man is coming toward me, I say I am just being careful.

This is of the muddy mess of racism that we must wade into. Sometimes the explanation is the explanation; often it is not. How do we know? I have learned that I can’t know. I have also learned that African Americans have lived under the weight of racism for so long they often intuitively know the difference. What this means for me is that I must put aside what I think I know and my explanations and be willing to listen. I must trust that my African American (or Hispanic, or Native American)  friend sees, hears, and knows better than I. I am not the expert in the room.

Blessings,
Stephen

 

Today’s resource I want to share is the book The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism by Jemar Tisby. Tisby challenges the church to see how we have often participated in and supported the systems to maintain racist ideas and practices. Tisby does more than shine light into darkness, he also helps us plot a path forward. In addition to the book, there is also a podcast episode on Fuller Theological Seminary’s Conversing with Mark Labberton, Episode 51 – Jemar Tisby on Race and the American Church I would also highly recommend.

I like to keep the peace

June 2, 2020 /

I like to keep the peace. Really I do. Conflict is painful and hard for me. I try to see the other side of things. I do not like to disturb the status quo. I do not merely dislike conflict; I feel conflict. It weighs like a million pounds upon my body. The single act of speaking up may last only a moment, but I will mull it over for days, months, even years. I have always been this way (and some of you already know my Enneagram number). What I am writing is not easy.

As a pastor, I have prided myself on having relationships and friendships with people across a diversity of spectrum from the very liberal to the very conservative. I firmly commit that all are welcome in the doors of the church. As we worship together, every one of us lays our experiences, ideologies, and commitments at the feet of Jesus to be examined and confronted by the Holy Spirit. Every one of us has sin within our hearts. Everyone one of us is in need of confession. Every one of us needs transformation of our whole being. Transformation by the Spirit of God happens within the practices and community of the church. If we cannot welcome all, then we cannot all be changed. Those of us who call ourselves followers of Jesus love our neighbor because God first loved us. We forgive because we were forgiven. We show grace because we were first shown grace. My commitment and welcome to all remains unchanged.

But because of my commitments, I also resist speaking up. Particularly in the forums of social media and blog posts when understanding is so hard to be had. I also resist speaking because I know I can never fully get away from my role as a pastor. I tell myself that I do not want to engage my church in complicated, painful discussions. I do not want to alienate. I do not like people angry with me or our church. I do not like it when people leave the church because we do not agree and feel like we cannot speak to one another.

A few years ago I had the opportunity to be in Berlin, Germany. In front of some of the homes are small square brass markers. They mark the home of a Jew who as taken away by the Nazis.

Many of us want to say, that if we had lived in those times, in Germany, Poland, and the Netherlands, we would have spoken up to stop the rise of the Nazis. We want to believe we would have hidden Jews within the walls of our homes. I want to say I would have been that person, I think I would have been the one who kept silent. Fear would have ruled the day.

All around us our black and brown brothers and sisters are crying out for us to speak up. To no longer be silent. To no longer dismiss their pain. They are dying around us. Recently, I participated in a conversation hosted by the leadership of my denomination. I offer here some of the bullet points from this conversation to help us begin to think more deeply and have the courage to speak up:

  • We cannot change our history but we can change our future. 

For over four hundred years the evil virus of racism has permeated our American culture. We can learn about our history and lament and grieve. We show the pictures of King marching arm and arm with white people in peaceful protest. We do not show the next picture of police dogs, beatings with batons, and water cannons turned on them. This is part of the story too.

  • Stop taking it personal.

As a white person, I swim the sea of my privilege. Like a fish may be unaware of the water around them I often do not feel or think of its existence. To be told that I am in the water is not a personal attack on me. It is just a statement of reality.

  • Stop minimizing another’s pain.

I do not have to understand another’s pain to be able to sit with them and mourn and grieve. Just because I don’t see it or feel it does not make it unreal.

  • Sin is the problem.
  • Favoritism is the problem.

You are not the problem, you are part of the solution. The Bible has a lot to say about sin and favoritism. Staying silent. Failing to learn. Failing to listen. Failing to seek to understand. These are not options. We can be part of the solution.

Let me say that again: You are part of the solution.

As I said in my note yesterday, each day I will offer you resources. Below are two videos (they may not be visible in the e-mail, just click the link to go to the message online and you will see them).

The first is an interview with Carl Lentz and Biship T.D. Jakes, the second is one with Charlie Dates and Beth Moore. 

Blessings,
Stephen

 

 

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Thoughts as we enter a new week

June 1, 2020 /

Good Monday Afternoon Friends,

Today’s Milkcan comes as a video post. In this message, I share an illustration I use to describe some of our current realities in our community. The challenge for each of us, as the people of God, is to look for ways to understand and turn down the heat.

Each day I will also be sharing resources that I highly recommend to aid our understanding. The first resource is the book Let Justice Roll Down by John Perkins. His book helped me to see the systems of injustice in our society. What has dramatically changed in the past few years is not the instances of injustice, but the presence of cameras to record them. I cannot recommend this book enough to you to read.

Blessings,
Stephen

It’s time to bring back the Stewardship Committee

May 23, 2020 /

Years ago, nearly every church had a Stewardship Committee. The committee’s job was to support the various ministries of the church through raising capital. Translated: Fundraising. Always on the lookout for new and creative ways to increase the income side of the ledger. Hold on! Before you delete this message, give me a few more seconds. This is NOT what I am mean by bringing back the Stewardship Committee.

Stewardship is about the management of another’s resources according to their owner’s wishes and expectations. Christian stewardship recognizes all that we have, our occupations, our resources, even our very lives, belong to God. Therefore, we are stewards charged with managing God’s resources according to his wishes and expectations.

So why bring back the Stewardship Committee? To flip the committee on its head. Rather than looking for more ways to bring resources into the church. Let’s bring back the committee to look at the resources we have and use them well. To give rather than to receive.

In this time of social distancing and restricted gatherings, many of us are tempted to focus on the things we do not have. In my church, we long for the time when we might return to in-person worship. We are frustrated by the inability to have children’s programming. We wonder when we will be able to gather without face masks and social distancing. There are many things we have lost. While we are focused on the things we do not have, we can too easily miss the things we do have. The things God has given to us to manage, to steward, well.

What are some of the resources we have? I have debated whether to list actual ideas here. I want this post to be about giving people permission to dream and do rather than to do the ideas I have heard. Still in hopes that it might help us think about what I mean. Here are some things we have:

  • We have a large field. Community Garden? Outdoor movie?
  • We have property. Make and install a Blessing Box?
  • We have a building. Food distribution point?
  • We have wi-fi. Access point for online learning?
  • We have a Transmogrifier, several of them.
  • We have paper, markers, crayons. What could be done with them?
  • We have ____________. What could be used?

Someone once said, “If you want to kill a good idea, form a committee.” After all of that, maybe we don’t need a committee, we just need to look around and dream. What do you see?

It’s not just the church. Look around. What do you have? What have you been given? How are you managing the resources of God?

Blessings,
Stephen

Missional Creed

May 21, 2020 /

For centuries the church has been guided by statements of creed. The most common being the Apostle’s Creed and the Nicene Creed. The simple statements give voice to our core beliefs and direct our actions as a church. They are not perfect statements. Many have noted that these statements tend to lack references to the life of Christ and to his missional call to his people. Jesus said he is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). He is saying not only is he the way to the Father, he is also saying he is the supreme example of how we are to live as Christians. So we should not too quickly miss the significance of his life and call in our basic statement of belief.

Recently, I came across The Missional Creed by David Gustafson. This statement seeks to give voice to the orthodox faith of the church. I offer this creed here to cause us to ponder. What do these words of creed say about the role, mission, and future of the church in the days ahead? What does it say about the way each of us interacts in our communities?

The Missional Creed

by David M. Gustafson

We believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, who sent his Son into the world, and who now sends us into the world, as witnesses to his reign in heaven and on earth.

We believe in Jesus Christ, who was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and became man, the Light of Light who entered our darkened world, to proclaim good news to the poor, to heal the sick, and to set the oppressed free. For us and for our salvation, he suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. On the third day, he rose as victor from the dead. He ascended into heaven where he is head of his body, the church, and will come again in glory and judgment, and reign in his triumphal kingdom.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the giver of life, who leads us, the people of God, on the mission of God, to join in the work of the kingdom of God. In this, we are called as Christ’s holy and apostolic church, to bear witness to God’s love, mercy, and justice, to proclaim good news in word and deed, to make disciples of all peoples, for the redemption of all creation, to the glory of God’s holy name. Amen.

SOURCE: https://davidmgustafson.blogspot.com/2014/01/missional-creed.html

Time to Get A New Phone

May 18, 2020 /
 
Recently, I listened to a sermon given by Steve DeNeff, Pastor at College Wesleyan. In his message, he told the story of his family’s plight to move his father from his beloved flip phone to a new iPhone. As I listened to the saga of the phones I began to think about the situation we are in right now. My application of the story is different than his, and I am sure I am taking some creative license with how things actually were described, but here goes.
 
The father had an old flip phone. You remember those things, don’t you? They were amazing when they came out. You could fold your phone in half. They were compact and convenient. Texting on them was a near impossibility for anyone over the age of fifteen. But they did well what they were made to do: make and receive calls. Over time, though, the father’s old flip phone didn’t quite work like it used to. It had become broken, been dropped one too many times, and it was difficult for him to hear people talking to him. So the family got together and made a decision. It was time for dad to get an upgrade. Like a parent offering candy to convince a child to change its diaper, they offered to him a new iPhone with all the features to be had with this new glorious technology. But dad, was not having any of it. His old flip phone was familiar and did, at least as far as he was concerned, what he needed to do. It made and received calls, even if he couldn’t hear everyone correctly. Of course, the iPhone could do all that and more. Still it was a hard sell to convince him to make the change. It seemed the only hope for the conversion would come if the flip phone finally quit working entirely.
 
What does this have to do with our current situation in the church? What if this time out of our buildings, unable to “do church” like we are used to, has actually given to us a new phone? What if, rather than looking to go back to our old flip phone, we have instead been given the chance to (even forced to), step into a new reality, a reality that is better than what we had before? As we dream of going back to the way things were, have we not forgotten the old phone was not particularly working that well? Engagement was down. Attendance was down. Connection was down.
 
Around the world, new models of church ministry and life have been exploding. Some call them fresh expressions. But really they have a million different names and formats. For many of us, we have seen these new expressions of church and saw them as a fringe. Much like how we looked sideways at those original iPhone users while we happily put our flip phones in our pocket. Almost overnight, however, we have woken up to a world where, out of our concern and love for our neighbor, we no longer can use our facilities. We cannot do what we used to do in the ways that were familiar to us. Out of seemingly nowhere new ways of being in community have suddenly become the mainstream. The possibilities that are before us are great. We have the possibility to engage more. To live in community more. To worship in different times and places. This time of social distancing has given to us a great gift.
 
I know it may not feel like a gift, but bear with me while I tell one more cell phone story. I remember when I got my first cell phone. I was working in a job doing technical and computer training at the time. I was excited to have make use of my first phone. My excitement quickly went away. I found it frustrating, maddening, confusing, and nearly impossible to make work. I came extremely close to giving up on ever having a cellphone. Besides, I still was not sure these things were ever going to go mainstream. They were not just not as reliable as our landlines. What I wanted to do was throw it out the window to be smashed in the street by the first passing car. What I did was persist through the frustration and learned to make and receive calls. Now, I even have an iPhone and love the many things it can do.
 
Right now, the new reality doesn’t feel like anything better than what we had before. It is frustrating. It seems broken and nearly unusable. I get it. We had to cancel our service at 10:00 am yesterday because the technology was down. And many of us are still not sure if these new expressions are ever going to become mainstream anyway.
 
As we struggle together in this new reality, with new tools and methods that seem so confusing and unfamiliar, remember we can look at what has been taken from us or we can look to what has been given to us and the possibilities. Where are we looking?
 
Blessings,
Stephen

Two Questions Before Going Back

May 14, 2020 /

Many of us are starting to experience some level of reopening of life to normal routines in our communities and are looking forward to things loosening even more in the coming weeks. As we contemplate our lives going forward with more freedom I want to offer you two questions for you to ponder before you go back to life as it was:

  • What things have you not been able to do in this time that you do not want to restart?

  • What things about your life have you learned in this time that you want to retain?

Blessings,
Stephen

Using New Tools

May 4, 2020 /

If we had conducted a survey in January asking what the greatest needs of our community are, I doubt we would have had a single person say, “What this community needs is another online church.” Or “What this town needs is for all of its churches to broadcast their services on Facebook Live. That will really help our community.” Yet, here we are. Thousands of churches have, in a matter of weeks, gone from being face-to-face only to entirely online. Most, out of necessity, have largely taken their previous worship format and moved it online, with few actual structural changes. First, this is has demonstrated the incredible resiliency of the church to change to address current cultural realities. We often feel like we cannot change and are fearful of change. We have learned it is possible and we can do it. Still, in the midst of our changes what we have not done is asked the questions, why are we doing what we are doing? Is this the most effective method of serving our church and the wider community? What new strategies, tools, and practices need to be implemented to serve in this new reality effectively?

We have all seen the pictures of people evacuating from an airplane crash dragging their carry-on luggage behind them. Despite everyone being told in the in-flight briefing to leave these items behind. The reason we are told to leave our laptops is that grabbing our stuff in a crisis slows the evacuation and threatens the life of our self and other passengers. People have died because someone could not leave their rolling suitcase behind. I recently heard of further research conducted into firefighter deaths in structural and range-land fires. What was found was that, in many cases, firefighters could have escaped the fire if they had put down their tools and gear and evacuated. What kept a range-land firefighter from getting to the next ridge from safety was their heavy packs on their backs or chainsaws still in their hands. If they had dropped the tools they were carrying, equipment that was essential for their job, and moved quickly to the next ridge without the weight encumbering them, they would have significantly increased their chance of survival. What do these illustrations have to do with the church? We are in a time of crisis, and many of us have instinctively held onto our tools, instead of dropping them and moving to the new reality. If we are going to climb the new ridge into effective ministry, we are going to need to let go of our old tools. These tools were effective and essential in our past ministry world but are no longer useful in this new crisis reality. Bluntly, many of us in the church are dying right now and will die, because we are hanging onto our old tools and trying to carry them up the next ridge to safety.

What are some tools we may need to let go of? I am sure you can think of more, and I would love to hear what you are seeing. Still, just a few I can think of include, large group gatherings, elaborate programmatic driven children’s ministries, refined efficient worship services led by professionals on the stage, and professional clergy as the dispensers of religious goods and services.

To say it all another way: A chainsaw is an excellent tool for cutting down trees, it is a terrible tool for washing your car. We would do well in this new reality, to put down our chainsaws and pick up a basin and towel and get to work meeting the real needs of our communities. And if the day should come we need a chainsaw again, we will always be able to find one.

Blessings,
Stephen

Praying at 7

April 14, 2020 /

The habits we practice give us strength in uncertain times.

Each morning we at Hope are meeting online via Facebook Live on Hope’s Facebook page to pray together for our day, community, nation, and world. All are welcome to join us.

Daily prayer guides are available for each day and may be downloaded from this page. Return here each morning to follow along as we pray.

Monday Morning Prayer (7/20)Download
Tuesday Morning Prayer (7/21)Download
Wednesday Morning Prayer (7/22)Download

Thursday Morning Prayer (7/23)

Friday Morning Prayer (7/24)Download
Sunday Morning Prayer (7/26)Download
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