Get in the long line

In college my roommate and I engaged in a number of practices that looking back on them they were odd but I am so glad that I did them. For instance, we spent several weeks sleeping on the hard floor and not in our individual bunks. We called people from the phone book in San Antonio and introduced ourselves and just said that we would be praying for them. We gave ourselves a budget of $100 a month.

The best thing we did was stand in line. 

Wherever we went we would intentionally choose the long lines to wait in. We would go to the grocery store and then begin to look for the longest line we could find to wait in to check out. We did this time and time again for months. And over time something in us began to change. 

We saw that we were less anxious when we were in a rush because we had practice waiting. We were more thankful when we did have a shorter line and things went quickly. We were more attentive to the parents of small children who needed the shorter line in order to get their tired child home. We were able to engage in conversation with others in line and learn some great stories of people (like the guy worked as a clown in the circus for 15+ years). 

So for what it is worth, take every opportunity you can to get into the long line. Wait there and see what you see. Listen to the people around you. See God in the midst of it all. Remember that lines are less a way to order people an more a way to connect with people. 

Everything happens. Sometimes there is a reason.

You have heard it, "Things happen for a reason." 

For many this mantra is hopeful because it gives a sense of security that no matter what crap they are living with right now, there is meaning behind it. That suffering is not without purpose. This can reassure us when we feel like we are alone and broken and hopeless. If we can only believe that things happen for a reason then it dulls the pain a bit and gives us breath for another day. I do not discount the comfort this provides people in time of need.  

But it does not provide comfort for me at all. 

It can be argued that if things happen for a reason than ultimately that reason is God. It is God that caused the tsunami. It is God that gave the cancer. It is God that was behind genocides and wars. When I hear "everything happens for a reason" my mind jumps to the question, "why would God not only allow but even cause this amount of suffering?" 

I do not believe that everything happens for a reason. I do not believe that God causes, green lights or approves of the suffering in the world. 

Rather than causing the suffering, I believe God is present with us through the suffering like a friend. Rather than trying to teach a lesson of how strong God has made you ("God will not give you more than you can handle") or get you to be more faithful ("God brought you to it and God will bring you through it."), I believe God weeps and struggles with us. 

As Rev. William Sloane Coffin said at his son's funeral ten days after he died in a car accident, God provides minimum protection and maximum support.

Here is what I know. Everything happens. Sometimes there is a reason, sometimes there is not a reason. Either way, God is present with you. 

And that brings me more comfort than thinking that everything happens for a reason.

Napa, Mars Rover and the UMC

I never thought my first personal experience with Napa California would be by calling a United Methodist pastor, but the phone was ringing and I was a bit nervous. I am also sure that Rev. Lee Neish had no clue what to make of it when he saw an unidentified number pop up on his cell phone with the location "Saginaw, Texas", but he answered. 

The course of the conversation moved from earthquakes, the hospitality of Seventh Day Adventist, ministry in California, Texas flooding and the Mars rover. You know just typical clergy meeting for the first time sort of conversation.

Rev. Neish shared a metaphor for his hope for the UMC as a church that is like the Mars rover. 

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He went on to say that the engineers did not know what sort of terrain the rover would encounter and so there was much talk about the different ways to design the wheels. The two axle and four wheel design was quickly ruled out because it was too unstable for an unknown terrain. Discarding wheels all together and using a track system like on a bulldozer was found to be inadequate since there would be no way to reset the track if it slipped off. 

As you can see in the above picture, they agreed on an independent axle system each with a single wheel. These six wheels were all able to move the rover forward to complete the mission even if several of the individual wheels were unable to move for some reason.

The United Methodist Church is facing a series of decisions around homosexuality, biblical authority, role of the support agencies, function of the bishop and what it means to be an poly-context denomination. Many have been thinking about these decisions and seem to be influenced by the metaphor of a two axle four wheel vehicle which needs all four wheels moving in order to be effective. Others are thinking of the denomination as like having two tracks, liberal on one side and conservative on the other. The idea that we can only move forward if we split and everyone have their own track. 

What the Mars rover metaphor offers is an alternative to these dominate ways of thinking. What if we approached the above problems and other unforeseen terrain, with the metaphor of independent structures that are bound together by mission and less by doctrine.

Is it possible to consider a denomination that can still continue in the mission even if some of the wheels are unable to move?