I was once told a story about an advisor called in to help a small church establish a youth group. When the advisor asked what the current youth of the church were doing, he was informed that one was on the administrative council, one was in choir, and one was helping with church maintenance. He encouraged the church to abandon their thoughts of starting the youth group.
If you’re here because you have read the Memphis Conference reporter, greetings! If you have questions or comments, feel free to leave me a comment here or on any of the sites listed on the “follow me” link to the right. I’ll try to keep this page more updated than I have in the past. Thanks for dropping by!
You may want to read some of the Methodist tweets
Full disclosure: I received a free copy of Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola‘s Jesus Manifesto and was asked to mention it in my blog. I haven’t read the whole book yet, but from what I’ve read so far, I can agree with the great reviews. If this book is on your reading list, move it up. If it’s not, add it. Here’s the promo:
“Thomas Nelson is releasing a new book called Jesus Manifesto: Restoring the Supremacy and Sovereignty of Jesus Christ by Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola. This book will be on special discount from Amazon.com on June 1st, the date of the release. You can learn more by going to www.theJesusManifesto.com. Endorsements by Rowan Williams, Matt Chandler, Calvin Miller, Ed Young, Jack Hayford, Shane Claiborne, Ed Stetzer, Reggie McNeal, Mark Batterson, Gregory Boyd, David Fitch, Steve Brown, Dan Kimball, Margaret Feinberg, Mark Chironna, Francis Frangipane, Todd Hunter, Alan Hirsch, Chris Seay, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, Anne Jackson, Craig Keener, Ken Ulmer, Tommy Barnett, Sally Morgenthaler, and others.”
I’ll do a more complete review when I’ve finished the book.
Though we don’t do it as often as I like, the United Methodist Church occasionally sings responses to the Psalms. A leader will read a portion of the psalm, the congregation will read a portion, and then we sing a brief response. The book of Psalms is the oldest book of hymns we have, and people have been singing these hymns for thousands of years. They were singing them before there was an English language, before the world as we know it was mapped, for generations and generations.
I have recommended Avatar to many friends, and will continue to do so based on the experience of watching this technologically game changing movie. As Debra Dean Murphy and many others have pointed out, however, the story of the film lacks imagination. Look no further than this comparison of Pocahontas and Avatar to see one way in which the story has already been done. When I saw the movie, I was reminded of the Calvin and Hobbes cartoon shown below. Cameron has made a great visual experience. He missed the chance to make something even better.
As many as half of the members of our church, including me, are not lifelong Methodists. And, even though I have been a member of the church for 27 years, I didn’t know much about it until I attended Lambuth University and after graduation became a member of Trinity UMC in Murfreesboro, TN.
At Trinity a deacon taught and led music for the church. It was the first experience I had with the diaconal ministry and this was a great deacon. She taught a class on Methodism that made me realize how much of the Methodist position I agreed with, largely through my education at Lambuth.
12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.
Acts 2
Me: Do you know what that was?
Cop: I have no idea! That is the craziest shit I’ve ever seen in my life, AND I’M A COP!
Me: Ha. Yeah, it was weird.
Cop: You wanna sign up to be in the NYPD?
Me: No thanks.
Improv Everywhere
A year or so ago, Improv Everywhere did one of their famous pranks/performance art pieces at Grand Central Station. Watching the video can give you a sense of what it must have been like for these people. Consternation, amazement, disbelief were probably just a few of the different ways people reacted to the scene.
In a similar way, Pentecost threw people off completely. What did it mean? Why did it happen? Of course, the Improv event was timed, scheduled, planned, but the people watching it didn’t know that. The observers at Pentecost didn’t know what was transpiring either.
It is now around 2000 years since the birth of the church. Two thousand years. Yet we are still amazed. We are amazed at what God has done for us, in us and through us. Share your amazement. Happy Pentecost!
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