Father, Forgive

Don’t you find it curious that the first word, the very first word that Jesus speaks in agony on the cross, is “Father, forgive”? Such blood, violence, injustice, crushed bone, and ripped sinew, the hands nailed to the wood. With all the possible words of recrimination, condemnation, and accusation, the first thing Jesus says is, “Father, forgive.” Earlier he commanded us to forgive our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us. We though the meant that as a metaphor. (I can’t tell you how long it’s been since I’ve uttered a really good prayer for the souls of Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden.) On the cross, Jesus dares to pray for his worst enemies, the main foes of his good news, us.

How curious of Jesus to unite ignorance and forgiveness. I usually think of ignorance as the enemy of forgiveness. I say, “Forgiveness is fine—as long as the perpetrator first knows and then admits that what he did was wrong.” First, sorrowful, knowledgeable repentance, then secondary, gracious forgiveness. Right?

Yet here, from the cross, is preemptive forgiveness. We begin with forgiveness. Jesus’ first word is forgiveness. It’s as if, when God the Father began creating the world, the first word was not “Let there be light” but rather “Let there be forgiveness.” There will be no new world, no order out of chaos, no life from death, no new liaison between us and God without forgiveness first. Forgiveness is the first step, the bridge toward us that only God can build. The first word into our darkness is, “Father, forgive.”

“Father, forgive,” must always be the first word between us and God, because of our sin and because of God’s eternal quest to have us. Forgiveness is what it costs God to be with people like us who, every time God reaches out to us in love, beat God away. Here on the cross, God the Father had two possibilities, the way I see it. One, God could abandon us. God could have said, “All right, that’s enough. I did everything possible to reach toward them, embrace them, save them, bring them toward myself, but when they stooped to killing my Son, that’s it.” God could have abandoned us at this moment. Or, two, God the Father could have abandoned God the Son, handed him over into our sinful hands. God could have left the Son to hang there as the hapless, helpless victim of our evil.

But these were never real options for God if God were to continue to be the God who is revealed to us in Scripture. God the Father cannot be separated from God the Son. God the Father stays with the Son and in the suffering and horror gets us in the bargain. God the Father stays with us and gets a crucified Son. The unity of the Trinity is maintained—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—and in so doing, the Father and the Holy Spirit take on the suffering of the Son. The Father of course could not have abandoned the Son without abandoning who the Father really is. So the Father maintains the life of the Trinity by uniting with us through massive forgiveness, for there is no way for God the Father and God the Holy Spirit to be with God the Son, the Incarnate Word, without being with us murderers of God.


Will Willimon

The Cross: The Measure of Love

Abingdon Press is publishing The Best of Will Willimon this year, a collection of some of my writing from Abingdon. As we move through Lent, season of the cross, I’m sharing some of these selections related to the theme of the cross.

To tell the truth, Lord Jesus, we weren’t that close to your cross when the soldiers nailed you to the wood and hoisted you up over Golgotha. But from where we were standing, at a safe distance, it looked to us like your arms were extended just about as far as they could go. It made us very uncomfortable to see your arms stretched out so very wide.

Yet you tended to do that, even before you got your cross. Seeing you hanging there, arms in such unnatural embrace, we recalled how troublesome was your reach throughout your ministry, a real pain. First the dirty, common fisherfolk whom you called to abandon their families and follow you, then the tax collectors, the whores, the lepers, the stumbling blind and crawling lame, cruel Roman soldiers, bleeding women, clergy, even corpses, all responding to your touch, all caught within your grasp. A Savior can’t reach that far and not expect to be punished for it. And on Friday, God knows you paid dearly for your barrier-breaking, boundary-bursting reach.

You overreached.

How wide is your reach? See, even now, the nails through your hands cannot constrain you. You stoop, strain, bend, and grab, reaching down all the way to hell itself, determined to gather, to reap, to have all us sinners, dead or alive, no matter what the sin, all in your clutch, all in your embrace.

We gather here, at the foot of your cross as those who have been grabbed, got hold of, by a Lord whose reach knows no bounds. So this day, this fateful Friday, we warn those not yet reached—Hitler, Stalin, the woman sitting next to us today on the bus, the man who yesterday cut us off in traffic and grinned about it, the one who so wronged me that I hate him and wish he were not, the Palestinian who strapped the plastic explosive to herself and pulled the cord hoping to take some Jewish children with her—beware. Take it from us sinners: His reach is without bounds, His embrace wide, determined and irresistible. He will have you, if He has to die trying. Amen.


Will Willimon

The Cross: Our Way to God

I’m honored that Abingdon Press is publishing The Best of Will Willimon this year, a collection of some of my writing from Abingdon. As we move through Lent, season of the cross, I’m sharing some of these selections related to the theme of the cross.

Despite our earnest efforts, we couldn’t climb all the way up to God. So what did God do? In an amazing act of condescension, on Good Friday, God climbed down to us, became one with us. The story of divine condescension begins on Christmas and ends on Good Friday. We thought, if there is to be business between us and God, we must somehow get up to God. Then God came down, down to the level of the cross, all the way down to the depths of hell. He who knew not sin took on our sin so that we might be free of it. God still stoops, in your life and mine, condescends.

“Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” he asked his disciples, before his way up Golgotha. Our answer is an obvious, “No!” His cup is not only the cup of crucifixion and death, it is the bloody, bloody cup that one must drink if one is going to get mixed up in us. Any God who would wander into the human condition, any God who has this thirst to pursue us, had better not be too put off by pain, for that’s the way we tend to treat our saviors. Any God who tries to love us had better be ready to die for it.

Earlier in this very same gospel, it was said, “The Word, the eternal Logos of God, became flesh and moved in with us, and we beheld his glory” (AP). Now the Word, the Christ of God, sees where so reckless a move ends: on a cross. “I thirst, I yearn to feast with you,” he says, “and behold, if you dare, where it gets me.”

When I was giving some lectures at a seminary in Sweden some years ago, a seminarian asked, “Do you really think Jesus Christ is the only way for us to get to God?”

And I thoughtfully replied, “I’ll just say this, if you were born in South Carolina, and living in America, yes. There really is no way for somebody like me to get to God, other than a Savior who doesn’t mind a little blood and gore, a bit of suffering and grizzly shock and awe, in order to get to me. A nice, balanced Savior couldn’t do much for a guy like me. I need a fanatic like Jesus. For we have demonstrated that we are an awfully, fanatically cruel and bloody people when our security is threatened. We have this history of murdering our saviors. So I just can’t imagine any other way to God except Jesus.”

Will Willimon

Sounds of Sumatanga is April 21, and it’s a great day to connect with friends from United Methodist Churches all over the Conference. The day will be filled with music and food, activities for kids and more for just a $5 admission. I hope you’re planning to support Camp Sumatanga by attending. Details are available at www.soundsofsumatanga.org .

The Cross and Ministry

Abingdon Press is publishing The Best of Will Willimon this year, a collection of some of my writing from Abingdon, edited by my friend Dr. Robert Ratcliff. As we move through Lent, season of the cross, I thought I would share some of these selections related to the theme of the cross.

I was having a difficult time in my previous congregation. A stormy board meeting was followed by a poorly received sermon, which was then succeeded by a none-too-pleasant public confrontation with the chair of the church trustees. What had I done to so badly manage the congregation? I sat in my office, going over the events of the past week, attempting to take appropriate responsibility for the administrative mess I was in. Could I have been more discreet? Why had I felt the need to bring things to a head now? Had I abused the pulpit in last Sunday’s sermon?

Then I returned to my preparation for next Sunday’s sermon. Year B of the Common Lectionary, Mark. Another story of Jesus’ teaching and healing. Another story of rejection. Then it hit me. Why was I so surprised that our congregation was full of conflict? Was the conflict a sign of my failure to skillfully manage congregational differences, or my skillful pastoral telling of the truth? I heard Mark ask, “What’s the problem? You think that you are a better preacher than Jesus?”

“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.” (Mark 8:34-35)

At that moment I recalled that just about 99 percent of Mark’s Gospel encompasses the preparation to crucify Jesus, Jesus’ crucifixion, or the aftermath of Jesus’ crucifixion. The cross, it appears, is not optional equipment for a faithful ministry. The cross, the self-giving, emptying of God in the crucified Jesus—God’s great victory over sin and death through divine suffering—is the primary ethical trajectory of the New Testament.

Will Willimon

Cross

I’m honored that Abingdon Press is publishing The Best of Will Willimon this year, a collection of some of my writing from Abingdon. As we move through Lent, season of the cross, I thought I would share some of these selections related to the theme of the cross.

Really now, Lord Jesus, is our sin so serious as to necessitate the sort of ugly drama we are forced to behold this day? Why should the noon sky turn toward midnight and the earth heave and the heavens be rent for our mere peccadilloes? To be sure, we’ve made our mistakes. Things didn’t turn out as we intended. There were unforeseen complications, factors beyond our control. But we meant well. We didn’t intend for anyone to get hurt. We’re only human, and is that so wrong?

Really now, Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, we may not be the very best people who ever lived, but surely we are not the worst. Others have committed more serious wrong. Ought we to be held responsible for the ignorance of our grandparents? They, like we, were doing the best they could, within the parameters of their time and place. We've always been forced to work with limited information. There’s always been a huge gap between our intentions and our results.

Please, Lord Jesus, die for someone else, someone whose sin is more spectacular, more deserving of such supreme sacrifice. We don’t want the responsibility. Really, Lord, is our unrighteousness so very serious? Are we such sinners that you should need to die for us?

Really, if you look at the larger picture, our sin, at least my sin, is so inconsequential. You are making too big a deal out of such meager rebellion. We don’t want your blood on our hands.

We don’t want our lives in any way to bear the burden of your death. Really. Amen.

Will Willimon

Raising Up a New Generation of Leaders

One of our church's great challenges is finding qualified pastoral leaders for our churches in the future. As you know, United Methodism historically has some of the highest educaitonal and character standards for our new pastors of any church. Our rigorous educaitonal requirements are expensive to maintain. But we think our congregations are worth it.

You may also know that we have the lowest percentage of young clergy (only about 4.5% under 35) of at any time in our history. Each year, when I ordain new clergy, I ordain close to a million dollars in educational debt along with them -- money they have had to borrow to prepare for our ministry. It grieves me that most of our precious conference resources go into financing yesterday's church -- clergy pensions for older clergy, subsidies for maintaining congregations and institutions that trived in the past but not now. Ought we be surprised that we have trouble obtaining a future for our church when so much is expended on our past?

Patsy and I have therefore established clergy scholarship funds at two of our seminaries (Emory and Duke) and I have pled for more assistance for our newest clergy. I am therefore so excited about a recent gift that we received from two dedicated laypeople, Jim and Betty Tucker, who are members of Central UMC in Decatur. A generous series of gifts by the Tuckers will enable grants to be made to seminarians who are serving in the Northwest District. It will provide aid to students with expenses incurred while going to seminary. Jim Tucker has seen first hand how even generous scholarships are not enough for seminarians, particularly those who are serving student appointments while in seminary. Mike Stonbraker, Jim's District Superintendent, has been a great leader in cultivating new, young leadership for our church. (Mike also wants me to tell you that Jim is a Marine, Mike forbidding me to say "retired Marine.")

Jim Tucker has been a successful business person in Decatur and is not only a loyal member of Central, but is also grateful for the high quaility pastoral leadership who has served Central over the years. He knows that fine pastoral leaders like Gary Formby, his current pastor, required quality seminary training. We are so grateful to Betty and Jim for leading the way with their generous gift.

God means for us to have a bright and vital future, I'm sure of that. But we must do our part. As I've often said, with Jesus Christ, we have more tomorrows than yesterdays, for we serve a living, resurrected God who leads us into the future. Let's go with him!

Will Willimon

A New World, and Its Detractors

One of the most exciting things I’ve witnessed, in the Council of Bishops, is the bishops’ “Call to Action.” The bishops have heard the plea of the UMC for leadership to do throughout our connection that which has already been done in all of our vital congregations – simplify and focus our structure and realign our resources, so that more emphasis is placed upon mission and upon fruit.

Our Council President, Bishop Greg Palmer (a student of mine at Duke and someone who spoke at our SBC21 meeting last year) states what we hope to achieve through these measures: “To redirect the flow of attention, energy, and resources to an intense concentration on fostering and sustaining an increase in the number of vital congregations effective in making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” 

All of the proposals – a long overdue restructuring of general boards and agencies, shared accountability for ministry by sharing of results from the Conferences (using the North Alabama Dashboard as the model!), a set-aside bishop to coordinate the work of the bishops, and cost cutting measures – have one goal: vital congregations.

I wondered if the Bishops’ proposals went far enough, if were being appropriately rigorous in our focus on mission, but when I read fellow South Carolinian, Tim McClendon’s attack on the bishops’ plans, I realized that we were on the right track.[1] Tim dismisses our dreams as a mere “business model” that “is a smoke screen to hand more power over to the Council of Bishops,” praising our church as organized like the Federal Government![2] Our church is now imperiled, says Tim, by an insidious power grab by the bishops. We’re afflicted with a power-hungry episcopacy who wants a set-aside bishop, a “quasi-pope,” says Tim. 

Tim has no proposals for church revitalization other than to require bishops to work more in their annual conferences (failing to note that the Discipline makes us superintendents of the whole church). He shouts that bishops ought “to be set-aside in their annual conferences!” saying, “We all know how little time bishops actually spend in their annual Conferences.”

I’m sorry that Tim thinks his conference has an absentee bishop, but I don’t think anybody would say that in North Alabama. Tim’s prescription for better leadership by the bishops is for us to spend more time staying in the homes of our people and “making personal connections” -- which Tim thinks is the chief requirement for effective leadership.

Note that Tim has little concern for the whole point of the Call to Action: vital congregations. His unfocused, rather predictable plea for the status quo, his unconcern that most of our congregations are in decline, and his disinterest in accountability for fruitfulness is the same sort of resistance we encountered a few years ago in North Alabama. Thank goodness that our conference had people who, unlike Tim, resonated with the bishops’ call to “Make Disciples for Jesus Christ for the Transformation of the World,” or we wouldn’t have gone anywhere. I’m so thankful that when I said that we could do better, that we were going to remove impediments to growth and fidelity, no one trembled in fear at a power-grabbing bishop!

In my eight years as bishop, I’ve heard no one anywhere complain, “Bishops are too powerful.” The complaints, from those who care about our church’s future is, “Bishops have got to step up and lead,” and “Someone must take responsibility for giving our church a different future than the one to which we are doomed through our present way of doing business.”

I am confident that there enough frustrated United Methodists -- who have languished at unproductive board meetings, who have watched helplessly as one congregation after another quietly slips into death, have prayed that someone would cast a vision and move forward – that the Call to Action and its proposals by the bishops will be gratefully received by General Conference. If we listen to those who ignore our plight and protect their status quo, we deserve the bleak future we’ll get.

Of course, I might think like Tim if I had not been fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to be in ministry in North Alabama. I urge Tim to see first hand what a conference looks like that takes more seriously Jesus’ mandate to make disciples than it attempts to plod along doing ministry as usual. There’s a reason why our conference was at the top in the percentage of Vital Congregations – the Holy Spirit has helped us to let go of some old ways of doing things, to hold ourselves rigorously, publicly accountable for the actual results of our ministry, and to focus our financial resources on vital congregations rather than on defense of unproductive structures, pastors, and congregations.

We’ve got a long way to go, but at least we are on the way. All that the Council of Bishops asks of the church is permission to go forward, to bless the general church with some of the practices and values that we have pioneered in North Alabama, and to give us what we need to be faithful to your call for us to lead the church.  

Will Willimon  

 [1] “Restructuring proposal is bad medicine for UMC,” Tim McClendon, United Methodist Reporter, Nov 8, 2011.
 [2] “Our polity is based on the separation of powers,” an a-theological view of our polity indeed

Storm Recovery Thank You from the Willimons

Click here to watch a video from Bishop Willimon and his wife.

Our Spanish Speaking Churches in the Aftermath of HB56

The fastest growing ethnic group in United Methodism are Spanish-speaking Methodists. North Alabama Methodists have invested huge resources in establishing nearly a dozen new congregations in the past few years. These new churches have become spiritual dynamos of our conference, leading our conference in baptisms and professions of faith – until HB56, our state’s notorious immigration law.

Though almost all of our fledgling United Methodist Christians were documented, in just two months we saw our congregations decimated and all of our prayerful work destroyed. Not only did nearly all Spanish-speaking Methodists have an undocumented person in their home or nearby but also the law -- designed (in the words of one of its authors) to tell undocumented people to get out of Alabama -- created a climate of fear.

In a discussion between me and Sen. Scott Beason on the ultra-conservative “Laura Ingraham Show,” even Ms. Ingraham called this law a heinous attack upon the free exercise of religion, and an “embarrassment,” and chided Beason. (Fortunately, District Judge Blackburn struck down the part of the law that caused so many in the church immediate concern.)

The Reverend Dr. Thomas Muhomba (himself a thoroughly documented immigrant to our country, along with six other leading North Alabama pastors), who heads our ethnic ministries, has given us a frightening report of the effects of HB56. Rev. Bart Tau tells us that on the first of September, there was a mass exodus of children out of schools in his area. While many of the children were citizens, their parents were not. One family, whose daughter is an honor student at a Methodist college in Florida, cannot come home because she is undocumented and fears traveling in Alabama. Bart says that many parents have left Alabama fearing deportation that would require them to abandon their children, making them wards of the state.

Rev. Tau says, “Our churches need to remind our Hispanic brothers and sisters of our Lord’s love and care for them as His children in this very scary time. For those that decide they must leave, we can help them to deal with the details of a move and transition. We can pick them up and bring them to church, so they don’t have to drive and risk arrest. We can help them afford legal counsel when they need it, and we can help them by taking care of their kids if they are detained. A simple Power of Attorney can give a legal resident or citizen the ability to manage the affairs of a person who is separated from their family and their possessions. We need to show our love and support by standing beside our Latino families in a very tangible way.”

At Riverchase, an established congregation that has led the way in birthing and partnering with an Hispanic congregation, Rev. Fernando Del Castillo (who despite our expensive legal efforts was deported a few years ago, my first experience with difficult immigration laws) states that HB56 fostered anxiety, fear, and panic among his people . “Four of our families have already moved to different states, leaving behind businesses, jobs, houses, and dreams.”

In Huntsville at Iglesia de la Communidad, Rev. Roblero Macedonio’s church reports that his congregation lost ten families who had to move to other states. Macedonio says that though his congregation has all but disappeared, he vows to “continue preaching the word and growing more disciples for the transformation of the world.”

By the way, nearly everyone I spoke to asked us to pray for the law enforcement officials who have been forced by our government to attempt to enforce the law. They are hopeful that the lawmakers will listen to the pleas of the business groups, school leaders, and police and sheriffs who have pled for revisions in the law.

And that’s just what we pray for too. Our Governor and legislators have admitted that the law needs change and they have promised that they would make changes in the law this legislative season that begins this week. We fully understand that when the law was devised, not all of them could know the nefarious implications of the law upon our businesses and schools.

I hope that by pointing to the effect of this law upon our churches, the lawmakers will consider the well-being of all of our people, particularly those who are attempting to practice the Christian faith in Alabama.

Will Willimon

Highest Rate of Connectional Giving in Two Decades

I am happy to report to the North Alabama Conference that we received 82.86% of the 2011 Conference budget through connectional giving this past year. This is our highest collection rate over the last 19 years (from 1993 – 2011)! Personally I am thrilled that my last year as bishop I got to witness this wonderful result. This rate of giving is particularly noteworthy considering our huge response to the Easter week storms of 2011. (By my conservative estimate, our churches gave about two million dollars in relief for victims of the storms, which makes our nearly 83% participation remarkable.)

Congratulations to the Southeast District for the highest collection rate of 89.54%. The Northwest District finished with 89.39% and the Northeast District finished with 88.07%. (These were three of the most storm-devastated districts.) The vast majority our congregations participate fully in Connectional Giving, a testimony to their pastoral leadership and our attempts to contain Conference costs, particularly administrative costs.

Connectional giving accounts for only about 11% of a congregation’s income. If fewer than twenty of our larger churches that failed to participate in mission giving had participated, we would have received nearly a million dollars more. Any church that does not participate in connectional giving at 100% invariably shows a deficit in its spiritual life and clerical leadership. We will continue to work with these pastors and churches in the coming year, reminding them of the mandate under which we work – a vital church participates in Christ’s mission in the world.

A pastor’s leadership is the key to connectional giving, so as I mention our faithful congregations, I want to note their faithful pastors. Peter Hawker and Minnie Stovall are leading a dramatic turnaround at Anniston First, putting them at 100% for the first time in years.

Some of our churches that were heavily damaged by the storms like Canaan (Ted Bryson), Lakeview (John Purifoy), Hackleburg (George Gravitte) were, despite their loss, full participants in connectional giving!

There are many pastors and churches who deserve to be recognized but I’ll highlight a few of the many that made remarkable progress over previous years’ giving: Wesley Memorial (Sherry Harris), Edgemont (Chris Montgomery), Morgan (Eddie Bolen), Christ (Paul Lawler), St. James (James Fields), Camp Branch (Frankie Jones), Hoover First (Rachael Gonia), Cullman First (Mitchell Williams), and Spring Hill (Clauzell Williams).

Obviously, there were many more who deserve accolades for this great year in connectional giving. Alabama, according to surveys, has some of the most generous givers in the nation. We have been determined to improve our Conference’s rate of participation in connectional giving and, with the hard work of our pastors and churches, we have!

William H. Willimon

We Believe in Social Righteousness

John Wesley preached “practical Christianity.” Few United Methodist practices illustrate our practical Christianity more vividly than our Social Principles(which have their roots in the “social creed” of our church which dates from the early Twentieth Century). The Discipline defines these principles as our most recent official summary of stated convictions that seek to apply the Christian vision of righteousness to social, economic, and political issues. The God whom United Methodists worship combines love with justice, is not only gracious but also demanding, not only died for you and me but for the whole world. There is for us no personal gospel that fails to express itself in relevant social concerns; we proclaim no social gospel that does not include personal transformation of sinners.

The Social Principles are a thoughtful effort on the part of a succession of General Conferences to speak to the pressing human issues in the contemporary world from a Wesleyan biblical and theological foundation. They are intended to be instructive, to teach contemporary United Methodists the best thought and practice on selected subjects, and they are also meant to be persuasive, urging the church on to higher righteousness. The Social Principles call all members of The United Methodist Church to a prayerful, studied examination of our life together and our personal lives in the light of the gospel.

Our struggles for human dignity and social reform have been a response to God’s demand for love, mercy, and justice in the light of the Kingdom. We proclaim no personal gospel that fails to express itself in relevant social concerns; we proclaim no social gospel that does not include the personal transformation of sinners.

The Social Principles begin by addressing issues in “The Natural World” – ecological concerns, energy resources, technology and space exploration, next “The Nurturing Community,” beginning with the family, moving to marriage (we’re in favor of it), divorce (we’re against it but recognize that it sometimes is a “regrettable alternative in the midst of brokenness”). There is a discussion of homosexuality (an argument that has consumed much time and attention in recent meetings of the General Conference), as well as a long paragraph on abortion (I suspect that this paragraph is trying to please everybody by saying next to nothing). There are also extensive discussions on “The Economic Community,” “The Political Community” (the person who said that the church ought to “stick to saving souls and stay out of politics” wasn’t a United Methodist!), and the “World Community.” We have churchly opinions on just about everything.

Frankly, some of these sections show the challenge of asserting the primacy of Scripture and at the same time attempting to speak on many topics for which Scripture has no apparent concern. The theological underpinnings of our social teachings are not always clear. Even though these principles are our collective wisdom on social, public, political matters, the Discipline’s scant attention to personal, individual sin, when compared with this extensive and detailed treatment of social sin is odd. Wesley certainly held the personal and the social together. But we live in a curious age in which, if we think of sin at all, we focus more on the sins of Congress or the corporate board room than sins committed by individuals in a bedroom. Sometimes it’s safer to love a whole neighborhood than to love our individual neighbors. It’s always sad when we United Methodists show our conformity to the world rather than God’s calls to help transform the world. In the great Wesleyan tradition, there is no clear demarcating between the personal and the corporate, the social and the individual. The light of Christ penetrates every somber corner of our lives, personal and corporate, and we are under obligation, as followers of Christ, to let that light shine.

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for the orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. (James 1:27)

Today United Methodists have over 80 hospitals, 64 extensive child care networks, and 214 retirement communities and nursing homes for the elderly. We have over a hundred colleges and universities in the United States and about the same number elsewhere. United Methodist agencies like UMCOR are first on the scene of disaster and calamity with emergency aid and relief. I don’t see how our Conference would have made it after the terrible spring storms last year without the millions of dollars of aid through our fellow UM’s and UMCOR.

All of this is the institutional result of our Wesleyan theological commitments to faith and good works. (John Wesley not only dispensed theology but also claims to have dispensed medicine to over 500 persons in London each week.) The term “organized religion” is not to us an insult. We believe that love is less than fully incarnational when it fails to organize and institutionalize.

In Mark’s gospel Jesus is confronted by a rich young man who asks a theological question (Mk. 10:17-22) about the inheritance of “eternal life.” Jesus responds to the man’s question by urging him to obey “the commandments.” When the young man says that he has obeyed all the commandments, Jesus adds yet another, telling him to “go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.” Maybe it would take a Wesleyan to notice, but did you note that Jesus responds to a rather theoretical, theological question with ethics? Jesus somehow connects “eternal life” with obedience – “go…sell…give to the poor”?

It is our conviction that the good news of the Kingdom must judge, redeem, and reform the sinful social structures of our time.


Adapted from William H. Willimon, United Methodist Beliefs: An Introduction, Westminster/John Knox Press, 2006.

We Believe in Discipleship in Action

This week, I return to the series of messages focusing on some of our distinctive Wesleyan beliefs from my book on that subject.

No motif in the Wesleyan tradition has been more consistent than the link between Christian doctrine and Christian living. Methodists have always been strictly enjoined to maintain the unity of faith and good works, through the means of grace… The coherence of faith with ministries of love forms the discipline of Wesleyan spirituality and Christian discipleship…. Discipline was not church law; it was a way of discipleship. (The United Methodist Book of Discipline)

Any truly Wesleyan vision of the Christian life includes direct, personal, sacrificial encounter with suffering persons – simply collecting money for someone else to work with the poor is not enough. Also, John Wesley stressed a need for understanding of the root causes of poverty. He avoided the typical moral explanations for poverty that were in vogue in his day (and our day too). Wesley also didn’t mind urging governmental officials to do their part in response to human need. Why does the United Methodist General Board of Church and Society lobby Congress? Not simply from a desire for a better functioning society but rather from our theological vision of God whose presence and love among us is always “good news to the poor” and our passionate desire to walk with this God.

Here is the summation of one of Wesley’s diatribes against wealth:

Heathen custom is nothing to us. We follow no men any farther than they are followers of Christ. Hear ye him. Yea, today, while it is called today, hear and obey his voice. At this hour and from this hour do his will; fulfill his word in this and in all things. I entreat you, in the name of the Lord Jesus, act up to the dignity of your calling. No more sloth! Whatsoever your hand findeth to do, do it with your might. No more waste! Cut off every expense which fashion, caprice, or flesh and blood demand. No more covetousness! But employ whatever God has entrusted you with in doing good, all possible good, in every possible kind and degree, to the household of faith, to all men. [1]

Wesley’s 1739 decision to go out and preach in the fields to the masses and engage in the innovative practice of “field preaching” in the open air was his dramatic attempt to take the gospel to England’s new urban poor, just as he had worked among the poor at Oxford for a decade before. He defined the gospel as “good news to the poor” (Luke 4). Right up to the very end of his life, John Wesley worked to set right what was wrong with the world, supporting the Strangers’ Friend Society to help newcomers to England’s great cities. He worked to end the scourge of slavery, as in his famous last letter to William Wilberforce in 1791. Just four years before his death he welcomed Sarah Mallet as a preacher; the first officially sanctioned female preacher of Methodism. He gave away all that he made from his books and writings, dying a pauper. Six poor men bore Wesley’s body to its grave.

-- Adapted from William H. Willimon, United Methodist Beliefs: An Introduction, Westminster/John Knox Press, 2006.

[1] Works, 2:279.

Disturber of the Peace

Our Lord Jesus preached peace, but “not as the world gives.” Peaceful Jesus was from the first a disturber of the status quo. Alas, too often Jesus’ followers have been on the side of peace at any cost, peace as the world gives in opposition to Jesus.

A remarkable moment in church history occurred right here in Alabama in the ministry of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

As you know, Dr. King was discovered here in Alabama while he was a Baptist pastor in Montgomery where the church called him to the ministry of Disturber of the Peace, the “peace” wrought by people like George Wallace and Bull Connor.

I’ve got a copy of, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” in which Martin Luther King, Jr. justifies why he has organized marches and sit-ins that “disturbed the peace.”

Why sit-ins, marches and so forth? Isn’t negotiation a better path?” You are quite right in calling for negotiation . . . Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored.

King explains that while he opposes violent tension, he believes there is “a type of constructive, nonviolent tension… the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.

The purpose of King’s protests was “to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation.”[1] The liberal recipients of King’s letter (one of whom was our bishop) hoped that Birmingham would desegregate without a fight. King eloquently told them they were wrong.[2]

The peace that King disturbed was no peace, but instead Birmingham’s police state, constructed by powerful people in order to oppress and terrorize black citizens. No transformation without disruption.

In my experience, churches always hope that it is possible to be faithful to the mandates of Jesus Christ without the pain of disruption and dislocation. We pastors tend to be reconcilers and peacemakers who are uncomfortable with disruptions.

This day let’s remember that Jesus Christ was unable to work our redemption without a disruption of the status quo that eventually led to his crucifixion in a vain attempt to silence him.

Let’s remember, as we go about our attempts to be faithful to Jesus, that few good works meet no resistance, and few transformations occur without disruption. As I’ve studied pastors who transform congregations I’ve noted that these pastors expect there to be resistance and this disruption and they learn to creatively use this dislocation as leverage in their leadership of change.

It’s good to be reminded, by recalling our history, that change is never painless, particularly if we are changing something that is sinful. One of the great blessings of being in the North Alabama Conference is that a few of our elders engaged in social activism and various forms of civil disobedience back in the Sixties and they are still around to tell us about it. Whenever I encounter institutional resistance, whether it be in our church at large or in an individual congregation, I recall the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. when he was told to ease up on Alabama. In his sermon, “Our God is Marching On,” King vowed, “No, we will not allow Alabama to return to normal.”

Of course for us Christians, the most striking example of disruption, dislocation, and painful challenge to our status quo is Jesus Christ. Since Jesus appeared among us, we’ve never been able to “return to normal.” And one of the ways Jesus continues to disrupt us in order to save us is through faithful disrupters like one-time-Alabama- pastor, Martin Luther King, Jr.

Will Willimon

For the next few weeks I’ll be focusing on some of our distinctive Wesleyan beliefs from my book on that subject.

We Believe that Faith Is Known by Its Fruits

The communal forms of faith in the Wesleyan tradition not only promote personal growth, they also equip and mobilize us for mission and service to the world. (The United Methodist Book of Discipline)

Fully a fourth of John Wesley’s Sermons focus on the Sermon on the Mount. Wesley took with great seriousness the Sermon on the Mount as a practical guide to how to live the Christian life. That’s curious because most of us today think of Jesus’ exhortations in the Sermon on the Mount – turning the other cheek, not remarrying after divorce, enemy love -- to be utterly impossible ideals. Wesley gave thanks that Jesus so simply, directly gave us practical guidance for everyday discipleship. He said that the Beatitudes were a picture of God drawn by God’s own hand.[1] These commands are not meant to forever frustrate us by their impossibility, said Wesley, but are meant to be actually practiced with the help of God. When faced with some seemingly impossible demand of Christ – such as forgiveness of our enemies -- we are to change the church and ourselves, rather than attempt to scale down the command.

In our church’s recent debate on the U.S. interventions in Iraq and elsewhere, I was impressed how infrequently anyone referred to Jesus. And when someone mentioned Jesus, most disputants seem to agree that Jesus is irrelevant to a contemporary conflict like the “War on Terror.” We had made Jesus’ command to enemy love into an impossible ideal. This is distressingly “unmethodist.”

We Wesleyans once assumed that Jesus himself combined personal righteousness with social holiness, that his ethic is not to be relegated to the personal and the subjective, the ideal and the unrealistic, but is meant to go public and be put into practice. Jesus came to teach us about the “real world” and we are called to follow him there out of the fake world where the poor are oppressed, and the strong lord over the weak, and well, you get the point. Our United Methodist Social Principles are an attempt to render the real world in the light of the love of Christ.

Early Methodists contended that the urge to holiness in thought and life can be perverted when holiness is not linked to love. Love is not sentimental syrup that we pour over everything to make our problems easier to swallow. Love is the complex, multifaceted force that drives us to engage in the world’s needs in the name of Christ. Love is the divine gift that enables true moral transformation. How sad when contemporary United Methodists attempt to scale down the dominical demand for love to the secular political possibility of justice. It is also sad to see contemporary United Methodists choosing up sides on the political left or the right and slugging it out in political squabbles that Wesley would surely dismiss as debates about mere “opinions.” Too many of us are confident that being on the “right side” of some social or political issue is more important than being there in love.

It is a constant challenge for us to think and to live on the basis of our theological convictions. Wesley cared as much for our being and our believing as for our doing. Christians are meant to serve the needs of others, in love. The notion of “Christian perfection” can be an ugly thing if not always answerable to love. And the practice of politically engaged social Christianity degenerates into just another worldly power play when it is loveless. Jesus didn’t call us simply to improve our neighbors but to love them as he has loved us.

Note that we use that word discipline when we talk of social ethics. United Methodists use “discipline” as both a verb and a noun. Discipline in the sense of a Book of Discipline is constitutive of church governance. For us, discipleship and discipline go together. In a sermon “The Late Work of God in North America,” Wesley said that the great limitation of the evangelistic ministry of George Whitefield was lack of discipline:

[I]t was a true saying, which was common in the ancient church, ‘The soul and the body make a man, and the spirit and discipline make a Christian.’ But those who were more or less affected by Mr. Whitefield’s preaching had no discipline at all. They had no shadow of discipline; nothing of the kind. They were formed into no societies. They had no Christian connection with each other, nor were ever taught to watch over each others’ souls. So that if any fell into lukewarmness, or even into sin, he had none to lift him up….

Holiness and discipline go together:

Prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed. Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had ignorance. Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves, in all your conduct; for it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:13-25)

The Social Principles, along with our General Rules, are testimony to the continuing role of disciplined holiness – personal and social holiness – in the United Methodist way of being Christian. Our church attempts to be more than simply an expression of the religious yearnings of its members. In these principles, guides and rules, the church seeks to conform us, to change us, and discipline us to the nature of Christ. As Wesley summarized the message that he expected his traveling preachers to proclaim: “Christ dying for us” and “Christ reigning in us."[2]


-- Adapted from William H. Willimon, United Methodist Beliefs: An Introduction, Westminster/John Knox Press, 2006.

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[1] Sermon 23, “Sermon on the Mount III, “ §IV, Works, 1:533. Wesley described the Sermon on the Mount as “the noblest compendium of religion which is to be found even in the oracles of God,” in Journal (17 Oct. 1771), Works, 22:293.
[2] Letter to Charles Wesley 1928 Dec. 1774), Letters (Telford), 6:134.

We Believe in Faith and Good Works

For the next few weeks I’ll be focusing on some of our distinctive Wesleyan beliefs from my book on that subject.

We see God’s grace and human activity working together in the relationship of faith and good works. God’s grace calls forth human response and discipline. (United Methodist Book of Discipline)

As Wesley encountered resistance to his revival, he issued an “Earnest Appeal” to his critics, attempting to explain Methodism:

This is the religion we long to see established in the world, a religion of love and joy and peace, having its seat in the heart, in the inmost soul, but ever showing itself by its fruits, continually springing forth, not only in all innocence…but likewise in every kind of beneficence, in spreading virtue and happiness all around it.[1]

Note that Wesley refuses to commend his revival exclusively on the basis of an experience that it engenders in its adherents. Nor does he take pride in the birth of a new institution or in his movement’s conformity to the orthodox faith. He urges measurement of Methodism “by its fruits,” by the “beneficence” it produces in the spread of “virtue and happiness all around it.” Faith in Jesus engenders good works for Jesus. United Methodists join Wesley in joyfully linking the mercy of God with the holiness of God, what we believe with what we do, who we are, with how we act, praying that our doing will be a public testimony to the fidelity of our believing, and “to spread scriptural holiness throughout the land.”

Wesley’s orientation toward the practical is evident in his focus upon the “scripture way of salvation.” He considered doctrinal matters primarily in terms of their significance for Christian discipleship.

In Wesley’s “Address to the Clergy,” in which he outlined his expectations for the performance of his traveling preachers, he stressed (of course) grace – they should show response to God’s work in their lives, gifts – they must show both God-given talents and acquired skills for ministry, and fruit – visible, measurable evidence of God’s blessing upon their ministry.[2] In countless ways, Jesus did more than ask us to “think this” or “feel this” but also to “do this.” Faith is meant to be fruitful.

Whenever Wesley cited the deleterious results of teaching the doctrine of predestination, his main fear was that predestination fostered dreaded “quietism” and hindered the transformative work of God in the individual soul.[3] Wesley sneered that if people really believed in predestination, then “The elect shall be saved, do what they will: The reprobate shall be damned, do what they can.[4] The Christian life, initiated and sustained by grace, is known by its holy fruits.

The Discipline reminds us that Methodism did not arise in response to a specific dispute, but rather to support people to experience the justifying and sanctifying grace of God and encourage people to grow in the knowledge and love of God through the personal and corporate disciplines of the Christian life.

Note that knowing precedes doing, experience of God leads to the service of God, and ethics arise out of doctrine. On the other hand, our knowledge of God is enriched and deepened in our service of God, our attempts to put the faith into practice encourage us to intellectually explore our faith. We do no good work in the world that is not subsequent to, responsive to the work that a creative God is already doing. It’s God’s world and God intends to have it back and one way God uses to get back the world is ordinary United Methodists through whom God does some extraordinary work.

-- Adapted from William H. Willimon, United Methodist Beliefs: An Introduction, Westminster/John Knox Press, 2006.
 

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[1] Earnest Appeal, para. 4.
[2] Address to the Clergy (1756), in Works (Jackson) 10:480-500.
[3] Sermon 110, “Free Grace,” §10-18, (see §11), Works, 3:547-50.
[4]Works (Jackson), 14:190-8.

A Christmas Parable

A Christmas story, can’t remember where I heard it, but I tell it to you as you begin your own celebration of Christmastide.

There was a time when all the angels where gathered about the heavenly throne for a discussion. Things were in a mess down on earth. (What else is new?) The Creator had become concerned about the state of the Creation – wars, fighting, famine, bloodshed all over.

“I’ve tried everything,” God complained. “I have spoken to them some of the most beautiful words they could ever hope to hear. Think of the glorious Psalms, the hymns, the poetic passages of Isaiah. They love to read about peace and goodwill, but they don’t like to live it!”

God continued, “Then I sent them the prophets. They love Isaiah, the promises of release from their sufferings, freedom from their exile. But do they follow the precepts of the prophets about justice and righteousness rolling down like waters? Never!”

There was widespread discussion of the sad state of affairs on earth. Many of the angels – Gabriel, Michael, and others had been on earth on many an occasion. They had seen for themselves the sources of God’s lament and shared God’s concern.

“I think the only thing left is for one of you, a member of the heavenly court, to go down to earth. Live with them, not just for a moment, but every day. Get to know them, become one of them, live with them, let them get to know you. Only then will heaven’s intent be truly communicated to them. Only then will they take notice of the great gap between the way they have been living and the way they were created. Only then will we be able to reveal to them who I created them to be.”

The angels stood in awkward silence. They had been to earth before, to deliver messages from God or to effect some momentary intervention in human affairs. They weren’t about to volunteer for long term duty in such a murderous, difficult place.

The silence lasted for an eternity. Finally, God broke the silence. Quietly, determinedly, but without resignation and no bitterness, God said, “Then I will go.”

This is a parable of Incarnation.

Will Willimon

Gifts at Christmas

Christmas is a time of giving. One of the great gifts of the North Alabama Conference is Urban Ministry. This year we celebrated the 35th Anniversary of this vital ministry to the community (West Birmingham) that has the lowest median income in the entire state with a poverty rate of over 40%. Urban Ministry serves more than 7000 each year through the Community Kitchen, Food Pantry, Homelessness Prevention and Emergency Services programs. Then there’s the Urban Kids after-school and summer learning program, the Joe Rush Center for Urban Mission (which offers exterior house painting), and West End Community Gardens (17,000 volunteer hours were given by people this year!).

Since 2010, Urban Ministry has offered Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Rehousing, a new program under the care of social worker Jeff Bowman. Jeff administered approximately $90,000 this year to assist families at risk of homelessness with rent, utilities, and housing, helping more than 250 individuals avoid homelessness and achieve long-term housing stability.

Visit www.urban-ministry.org and you will see all the good that is being done in the name of Christ and our church.

As you can imagine, this has been one of the toughest years ever in finding funds for Urban Ministry. Our new director, Rev. Melissa Patrick, has been cultivating Urban Ministry's friends and supporters in a wonderful way. Most of the people served by Urban Ministry didn’t need to be hit by the spring storms to be in dire straits; they were living on the edge of desperation long before the storms without anyone to help except Urban Ministry.

This Christmas please join Patsy and me in sending a gift to Urban Ministry. You can be sure that your gift will be used wisely and widely by an accountable, proven ministry, one of the best creations of our Conference and one of the best ways to show our active compassion for our sisters and brothers at this sacred time of the year.

Will Willimon

Urban Ministry, Inc., 1229 Cotton Ave., S.W., Birmingham, AL 35211.
Call (205) 781-0517

Union Chapel UMC- What My Eyes Have Seen

Pastor Christopher Herbert is leading some dramatic changes at Union Chapel UMC. Most of our small membership churches are in serious decline – but not all! A key to the small congregation having a viable future, from my studies of our small congregations, is the pastor’s leadership toward growth. There is nothing amiss in a congregation being small – there is everything wrong with the idea that churches have no part to play in the growth of the Kingdom of God. After seeing some of the great growth at Union Chapel, I asked Christopher to comment on what is happening there and he gave testimony to a church where “the light shines.”

Will Willimon

How can I describe a whole church that is serious about God’s mission? How can I describe these things that my eyes have seen?

How do I describe the church wrapping its arms around an unwed couple with a child and saying, “you are our family now”? Their wedding was a few weeks ago and now while the father is working to provide, the mother doesn’t miss church and serves others because of the love that they were shown.

How do I describe the many families that have decided to, in love, teach others that “playing church” must not be in the cards. How do I describe other people in the community and beyond telling me that they hear of the great things happening at Union Chapel (this doesn’t happen unless our folks go out and spread the good news of Jesus and His church that seeks to honor Him).

How do I describe a place where older people have decided to pour out blessings on the next generation? How do I describe younger people being respectful of older people, and listening intently to their wisdom? How do I describe the launch of a prayer shawl ministry and a majority of those attending those meetings are from other churches, backgrounds, or denominations? These are just a few things that my eyes have seen and any words I have right now seem inadequate in describing what is happening.

My eyes have seen God’s people do indescribable things before and it’s always beautiful. I realize that I’ve been blessed in the past and I’m so blessed today. It is always a blessing to be in ministry with people who just want to hear God say, “WELL DONE”.

All Glory is God’s Glory as we grow.

The light shines!

Until the nets are full,
Chris
Matt.19:26

The Power of Connection

“The North Alabama Conference is a model of how to respond to a natural disaster and how to keep responding over the long haul.” That’s what a fellow bishop said to me the other day.

I agree. I couldn’t be more proud of our sustained, active response to the spring storms. We have been hosts to hundreds of UM work teams every week since the storms. We have purchased and equipped staging areas and housing for these volunteers, and we continue to handle hundreds of cases. I asked Nancy Cole, who has been responsible for designing an excellent system of response.

Will Willimon

As Coordinator of Disaster Recovery for the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church, I could write any number of stories of survival and heroism during the April 27 tornado outbreak in Alabama. It has been an amazing time of strength and courage on the part of the people of Alabama. As a United Methodist Clergy who has a unique perspective on this tragedy, it has been the power of our United Methodist Connectional system that has been so impressive to me.

The first Sunday after the storm, Bishop Willimon asked to preach in a church whose pastor was impacted by the storm. Forest Lake United Methodist in Tuscaloosa had 37 members who had lost their homes and/ or businesses. The pastor was in the hospital very ill as a direct result of the storm. Bishop Willimon preached and I served as liturgist this first Sunday after the storm. Our presence was one of the first examples of our Connectional system at work. Also present in that service was Tom Hazelwood, UMCOR's Assistant General Secretary for disaster response in the United States. He addressed the congregation about the various ways UMCOR would be in partnership with us throughout our response and recovery phases. Our District Superintendent was also present that day. The Bishop and District Superintendents were available to all of our churches who had been impacted by the storm and are still very supportive of the recovery efforts.

Further power of our Connectional System became evident as UMCOR trained Early Response Teams began to pour in our state from all over our country. Early on in the disaster, I served as the Southwest District Coordinator of Disaster Response. This District includes Tuscaloosa. We had over seventy UMCOR trained teams from all over the country come to Tuscaloosa during that time. We had many other teams throughout our state as well. I could never say enough about the professionalism, the expertise displayed, and the genuine heart for ministry that was exhibited by the teams of Methodist people who wanted to be the hands and feet of Christ to us.

I have been so proud of the way our Conference has responded to the tragedy, beginning with our Bishop, his Cabinet, and Conference staff. Early on, a Disaster Response Center was set up at our Conference Center with volunteers pouring in from throughout the area to answer the 1-800 phone lines and direct incoming teams to areas that needed help.

Now, with the help of recovery teams throughout the Methodist Connectional System which include UMVIM trained teams, we have organized for the long haul. We could not have come this far in our recovery without the help of the UMCOR staff and consultants. Every one of them has helped us in some way. I am so grateful for our United Methodist Connectional System and how it has been the power that has fueled the Methodist response to recovery in Alabama.

*Rev. Nancy Cole is serving as Conference Disaster Recovery Coordinator and Natural Church Development Coordinator.

P.S. Rev. Clay Farrington and Nacole Hillman are leading a remarkable revitalization of our Conference Youth Ministry. Are the youth at your church participating in some of the great upcoming events? Click here to learn how your youth can be engaged. - WHW