Month: October 2015

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Let the Children Eat and Drink

You may have noticed the children going up to the altar table after a service that includes Holy Communion and eating the bread and drinking the juice that are left over. This is in keeping with one of three options that The United Methodist Book of Worship gives for the communion elements (bread and juice) that remain after the service. Allow me to quote the relevant section:

“What is done with the remaining bread and wine should express our stewardship of God’s gifts and our respect for the holy purpose they have served.

1) They may be set aside for distribution to the sick and others wishing to communion but unable to attend. See A Service of Word and Table V on 51-53.

2) They may be reverently consumed by the pastor and others while the table is being set in order or following the service.

3) They may be returned to the earth; that is, the bread may be buried or scattered on the ground, and the wine [juice] may be reverently poured out upon the ground—a biblical gesture of worship (2 Samuel 23:16) and an ecological symbol today.”

I know that, in the past, your practice has been to pour the juice out on the ground and scatter the bread on the ground for the birds. Many churches do this. However, it seems to me that the options above are presented in the order of desirability from greatest to least.

We don’t use option number one because while the bread and juice we take to the sick and others unable to attend are often blessed during a Sunday morning or Wednesday evening communion service it doesn’t work well (for several practical reasons) to actually use the same bread and juice that were consumed by the gathered congregation during the service. Therefore, for us, number two is the most preferred means of disposing of what remains of the bread and juice after communion. Jenny and I should be part of this practice and there is no reason for adults not to join in, but children are also welcome, and it is the children of the congregation are the ones who have expressed the greatest interest.

I’ve heard some concern that the children not eat and drink of the elements unworthily, but (as I’ve discussed previously) 1. Paul didn’t mean what people often think he meant (there is more of a danger in forbidding the children from eating and drinking the leftovers than in allowing it) and 2. Because of changes in liturgical practice that occurred shortly after Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, the possibility of violating Paul’s instruction has been almost completely eliminated in our contemporary setting as long as we share what remains with anyone who wants to partake.

Jenny and I are not alone in this interpretation. Rev. Delores Williamston, our District Superintendent, was so delighted with the children coming forward after the service that she took pictures. If you have any further questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to ask. I love discussing liturgical matters.

If you would like to learn more about holy communion in the United Methodist Church, you could do a lot worse than to begin with the church’s official statement on the matter: “This Holy Mystery.”

Link: http://www.umc.org/what-we-believe/this-holy-mystery

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October’s Wonderful Wednesday

We’ll have our October Wonderful Wednesday meal this Wednesday (October 14, 2015) from 5 pm to 6 pm. There will also be a brief communion service at the same time (5 pm), but there should be plenty of time to attend the service and then eat. Following the meal, we’ll have a conversation on the United Methodist Church’s stance on Homosexuality at 6 pm. Please come and join us. Whether you can join us or not, your prayers would be appreciated.

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Voice of the Day: Stanley Hauerwas

Stanley Hauerwas is a United Methodist who teaches at Duke University and the University of Aberdeen. He was one of my favorite theologians in Seminary, and his thinking still guides mine. In 2001,  he was named “America’s Best Theologian” by Time magazine. He makes a point so simple as to be almost self-evident, but none-the-less often forgotten.

“Never think that you need to protect God. Because anytime you think you need to protect God, you can be sure that you are worshipping an idol.” — Stanley Hauerwas

God can take care of Godself.

Hat Tip: Sojourners

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The Infinite Shining Heavens

The following post was received from Clark Williamson, director of music ministries, and lightly edited:

On October 11, 2015, Anna Gugler and I will be teaming up to bring you a classical vocal solo entitled “The Infinite Shining Heavens.”   Through the years of 1901-04, Ralph (pronounced with a long “a”) Vaughn Williams composed the music and paired it with the poetry of Robert Louis Stevenson (author of Treasure Island).  The selection is one of nine pieces from the baritone song cycle “Songs of Travel”.  Vaughan Williams, like Stevenson, was from England and was often influenced by the folk songs and tunes he heard all around the British Isles.  As a composer, he is better known for his works for symphonic orchestra.  Ironically, I performed the entire song cycle exactly 40 years ago for my junior recital.

The solo is only 3 pages long but covers a lot of musical ground and text in a short time.  The mood is very ethereal and mystical as the song’s accompaniment works its way through a development of a minor sounding key with harp-like arpeggiated chords.  There is an interplay, a struggle between images of day and night, darkness and light, sorrow and redemption.

“…..Till lo, I looked in the dusk and a star had come down to me.”  The shining of that star guides the traveler through their faith journey like a beacon coming from a light house, for a safe landing following the tribulation of stormy waves.  It’s the light of Christ, who doesn’t give up on us, and “infinitely shines” on our path to show us the way home.

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Birdsey – Vinduska Wedding

Jenny and I had a great time at the wedding of Jason Vinduska and Kristina Birdsey this past Saturday (October 3, 2015). It was a wonderful thing to see two people so very happy, and it was a wonderful thing to see them again at the 8:15 worship service the next day. I was impressed.

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Food Pantry Drive a Success

This is a long delayed report, but in the month of May, First United Methodist Church collected 1,165 items, $80.00 in cash, and $100.00 in gift cards for the Abilene Area Food and Clothing Center. They sent us a nice (and more timely) thank you note. I want to pass that thanks along to everyone who participated.

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The Evils We Deplore

My heart and prayers go out to the victims and their families of yesterday’s mass shooting in Oregon. I’m extremely hard pressed to find any hope that this type of thing will end anytime soon. The United States is the only developed country where this happens on anything approaching a regular basis. The pattern is all too familiar: there is a mass shooting, followed by shock and grief, followed by no substantial change whatsoever. It sometimes seems to me that nothing will ever change. I’m reminded of the words of Harry Emerson Fosdick in the hymn God of Grace and God of Glory: “Save us from weak resignation to the evils we deplore.” I desperately need God’s help in order not to give up fighting for a country where these dreadful events don’t occur on a regular basis.

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Voice of the Day: Bear Your Cross and It Will Bear You

I don’t remember and can’t find the context in which I originally encountered this quote, but it stands on its own.

“That spark of faith which you have received is of more value than all the world. O cherish it with all your might! Continually stir up the gift of God which is in you, not only by continuing to hear His word at all opportunities, but by reading, by meditation, and above all by private prayer. Though sometimes it should be a grievous cross, yet bear your cross, and it will bear you. … His grace is sufficient for you.” — John Wesley in a letter to Mrs. Woodhouse, May 17, 1766.

“Bear your cross, and it will bear you,” are words we should live by. Faith is not always easy or pleasant, indeed it sometimes a cross to bear, but it is always worthwhile.

Link: bit.ly/1FLSosW

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On Pope Francis Meeting With Kim Davis — Updated

It seems that I’m not the only one who was taken aback by Pope Francis’ meeting with Kim Davis. Despite hewing to a traditional view of homosexuality, the Pope has projected a loving, open, welcoming attitude. Kim Davis has not. I recently shared with a friend that one of the things I like best about Pope Francis is that for the first time in what seems like a very long time, the public face of Christianity is not angry or resentful but smiling. For this reason, it seemed to me that in his meeting with Davis, Francis had made a gaffe, a public relations stumble. But over at Vox.com, Todd VanDerWerff has a different take in an article titled “Of Course Pope Francis Met with Kim Davis. Jesus Would Have.” At a few points, I would hold that VanDerWerff is a tad less than orthodox, but the main thrust of his article is right on target. Here’s an excerpt that gets to the meat of his argument:

“Christianity, at its core, is about the idea of Jesus being willing to meet with anybody in his society and about the idea of anybody being worthy of love, both from us and from God. Jesus broke bread with anybody who would have him. He took disciples from all walks of life. He was pals with a former prostitute.”

To hold, as the United Methodist Church does, “that God’s grace is available to all—that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus,” is to seek to embrace those at the margins of society, the outcasts. That embrace should include the outcasts we like and the ones we don’t. In opening our arms to everyone, we will sometimes run the risk that our willingness to embrace one person will come across as hostility toward another, but that is a risk God calls us to take.

Meanwhile, at Slate.com, Vanessa Vitiello Urquhart, a gay, married woman, shares my first reaction to the meeting in an article titled: “Why Pope Francis’ Meeting With Kim Davis Is Such a Disaster.” I’ve come around to VanDerWerff’s way of thinking, but Urquhart also has a point I would like to share. In speaking of the way the culture wars often distract us from other issues she stated:

“These minor matters have been capturing national attention month after month, year after year, for as long as I’ve been politically sentient. In that time I’ve seen the climate degrade, inequality increase, prison populations bloat, the labor market change permanently for the worse, and unwinnable wars be embarked upon (and lost). If the pope was against same-sex civil marriage but was also willing to address those other issues, I was 100-percent on board.”

I was never “100-percent on board” with Francis*, but I still find much to like and admire in the man. I have to admit that despite my disapproval, his meeting with Kim Davis was indeed something that Jesus would have done. Francis eats with the homeless instead of the powerful out of what would appear to be not mere duty, but actual preference. As such, he is a credit to our shared faith and a Christian with whom I can continue to make common cause despite our differences. I hope that those with whom I disagree can say the same about me.

Update: The Washington Post reports on “an unusual formal statement” from the Vatican that supports this position: “The Pope did not enter into the details of the situation of Mrs. Davis and his meeting with her should not be considered a form of support of her position in all of its particular and complex aspects.” (Link from the Washington Post, which limits how many articles you can read for free per month: wapo.st/1jCuoPb)

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*A relevant example of my differences with the Pope: addressing climate change means reining in the exploding human population and reining in the exploding human population means encouraging people to use birth control. As a Catholic, the Pope opposes that, but as a United Methodist, I’m all for it.

Links: slate.me/1MJlWXU
bit.ly/1JFZM49