Ministry in the Middle

Like many, I was both shocked and unsurprised by the recent revelation of a lucrative effort by wealthy parents to buy their children admissions spots in prominent colleges and universities .  I was stunned by the amount of money involved, and by the payoffs that many college coaches took, in order to facilitate the efforts.  On the other hand, it has long been an open secret that wealthy people -- particularly alumni -- have enormous influence to help their children gain college admission, regardless of their academic records. Even so, this scandal has dramatically caught the public's attention.  Early on, it even pushed the ongoing political soap opera as the top story in the country.  Some of this awareness is likely due to the involvement of a couple of recognizable actresses.  Even more, the scandal points to the conventional wisdom that the rich in this country play by completely different rules. Many people have debated the injustices highlighted by t...

The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers  by Maxwell King (Harry N. Abrams, 2018), 320 pages Won't You Be My Neighbor?  directed by Morgan Neville  (Focus Films, 2018), 94 minutes 2018 was a significant year in remembering Fred Rogers, the creator and star of "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood."  Over the summer, Oscar-winning filmaker Morgan Neville released a documentary on Rogers, which had significant popularity for a documentary.  It grossed almost $23 million and at one point was screened in almost 900 theaters in the US .  (It was also well regarded, earning a 98% fresh score from Rotten Tomatoes .)  This fall, a new biography, The Good Neighbor , was released.  And, to put the cherry on top of the sundae, a new film was shot, in which beloved actor Tom Hanks will portray Rogers; currently it's scheduled to be released around Thanksgiving 2019. By happy coincidence, I read the new book and then watched the documentary in a two-week ...

This week, the delegates of the United Methodist Church gathered for a special General Conference.  Ostensibly, the purpose of this gathering was to focus on issues of homosexuality -- particularly whether LGBTQ+ people can serve as ordained clergy and whether the church can solemnize gay weddings -- that threaten to splinter the denomination. There are strong and contradictory attitudes in the church, as has become increasingly evident in recent years.  There have been multiple efforts to adjust church laws/rules: many have been trying to remove language that explicitly prevents the solemnization of gay marriages and ordination of LGBTQ+ individuals; others have been seeking to strengthen that language by making it more explicit.  In the meantime, certain pastors and entire conferences have been flouting church laws/rules with regard to LGBTQ+ individuals.  Others have been encouraging church judicial procedures against people who solemnize gay weddings or LGBTQ+ ...

There Is No Good Card for This: What to Say and Do When Life is Scary, Awful, and Unfair to People You Love by Kelsey Crowe and Emily McDowell  (HarperOne, 2017), 272 pages Many of life's challenges can be devastating, such as the death of a loved one, a serious illness, or losing a job.  When someone we care about faces one of these awful challenges, we can feel powerless and inadequate to help.  Often, we don't know what to say, and we don't know what to do. Many ministers receive specialized training to help them navigate these situations with compassion and confidence.  Personally, I cherish the unit of Clinical Pastoral Education that I took years ago, and still draw on many of its lessons today.  It was especially useful to help me learn how to be spiritually present with someone suffering by making sure my own emotional baggage does not get in the way. Not all ministers, and few lay leaders, have such training.  Instead, they simply rely on the...

Yesterday, I preached my annual Lincoln Sermon in the congregation I serve.  By my count, it is my 16th such sermon in honor of the United States' 16th President. It all happened quite by chance.  A few years ago, when I was a ministry intern during my seminary years, I happened to be preaching on Jesus' Sermon on the Plain from the Gospel of Luke.  The Biblical text reminded me of Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, perhaps because it was President's Day weekend, and I included a long section in my sermon comparing Jesus' words and Lincoln's. The response was overwhelmingly positive -- even beyond the sometimes obligatory, "Nice sermon, pastor," comments that preachers often receive after worship services.  Several encouraged me to look for other opportunities to talk about Lincoln and faith again. Looking back, I'm not sure if I touched a hunger in their own hearts or if they were responding to my passion, or both.  Lincoln is a pop...

As I write this post today, I am working from home.  The weather here is brutally cold, and all of the nearby schools are closed.  So, too, is our church office -- along with many others, I assume from several who have posted on social media that they are closed today. This hasn't greatly affected my workday.  Expecting the poor weather, I had not planned on making visits today and I had no appointments scheduled.  Instead, I've been on the computer and the phone, planning for upcoming services, coordinating details with other church staff people, catching up on email, and working on Sunday's sermon. The truth is, I can do much of my work as a pastor from anywhere, especially if I have a phone, internet connection, and computer/tablet/smartphone.  And, throughout my ministry, I have often done more than half of my work outside of the church building.  Personally, given the long and unpredictable hours of ministry, including the reality that most congr...

The current political climate has encouraged me to reflect upon how employers treat employees.  Certainly capitalism makes labor a commodity: the pressures of the market try to get the most labor for the cheapest cost.  Still, I believe that there are ethical considerations for how laborers should be treated.  This is particularly true when the church is involved.  We need to value the people who are serving as employees, not just the labor we want them to provide for our ministry.  Jesus would expect nothing less, as demonstrated by his teaching and example, which celebrated the value of each person. With such an outlook, the church should be one of the greatest places to work.  Unfortunately, many people do not have that experience.  There can be a number of complaints, including low pay, long hours, and sometimes unreasonable expectations (if the expectations are even explicitly stated). While the most obvious paid employees of the church are ...