United Church of Cracker Jack

In my new effort to lose weight and live a more healthy lifestyle, I've come to enjoy grocery shopping. Every aisle is a litany of possibilities now that I understand the dynamics of healthy eating. Occasionally I buy myself a little snack. The other day when I was grocery shopping, I came across Cracker Jack. For $1.25 you could get 3 boxes of Cracker Jack. Cracker Jack conjures up memories of my childhood for me so I bought it. I got home and unpacked my groceries, my mother remarked "oh look cracker jack". I told her the price and she said "wow i remember when they were 10 cents a box". As I enjoyed a box of cracker jack I pulled out the prize. A folding piece of paper that when folded and unfolded showed a young then an old George Washington. My mom then said "wow you don't even get real prizes in them anymore". As I laid in bed that night thinking, I began to realize something. The United Methodist Church is a lot like a box of Cracker Jacks. The prize (Jesus) is still there, but rising costs and ineffectiveness have caused the prize to be cheapened. The United Methodist Church in part due to inflation and other economic circumstances now spends more than they ever have to accomplish the churches mission while the number of members have dwindled to the point that in 20 years the UMC will not exist if the decline doesn't stop. You see much like Cracker Jack, the UMC relishes in nostalgia  People don't buy Cracker Jack anymore because of the outstanding taste or it's affordability. People buy Cracker Jack for the sheer nostalgia value. The same reason people purchase thing from the Cracker Barrel store. It's simply a reminder of better times for most people. The UMC experiences the same thing. As I said before the UMC is spending more now than it ever has. Every year the church is spending more money in an attempt to accomplish it's mission. However, the mission is not successful as it could be because of nostalgia  The old way isn't necessarily bad. The UMC could stand to get a healthy reminder that Wesley focused on both personal and social holiness to bring it back where it originally was rather than the social holiness centered ministry the church mostly engages in now. The nostalgia we hold on to is the unhealthy kind. The kind of nostalgia that says we've always done it this way even though it hasn't worked in years. For some reason, the UMC abandoned it's method of discipleship of the band,class, society system that had led to growth in membership and true discipleship among early Methodist  Instead we've held tightly to systems that haven't developed true disciples in decades. In the process we've cheapened the meaning of Jesus and what it means to our world. We've done things to help the poor, homeless, and disenfranchised in the name of Jesus without actually sharing the hope and reason that we actually are moved to that action. Many don't see much difference in members of the UMC and the outside world they live in. In that instance we've spent more money for a cheaper prize. We treat Jesus like a cheap paper Cracker Jack toy instead of the precious jewel of grace that he was. When will we move beyond the nostalgia  When will we embrace healthy change and re-adapt the things about Methodism that allowed it to grow to meet modern needs? When will we realize that we are called to both personal and social holiness not just one or the other? Until we change, we are simply the United Church of Cracker Jack. Join up, pay some money, get a cheap prize, and feel just a little bit of nostalgia about how great the UMC used to be.Cracker Jack serves a great role in American culture. It ties us back to some say a simpler time. Some nostalgia is healthy, but too much leaves us to being relegated to a bottom shelf tiny spot in American alongside the boxes of Cracker Jack.

Preach like a Methodist

One of the real joys of faith is sharing your faith with people. It gives me a great source of joy. I dare say it's my favorite thing about working with my youth is trying to answer the questions they have about faith and what it means to be a Christian in today's society. Even more enjoyable is when my peers ask me these types of questions. As I spent the last week serving with SOS in Memphis, TN. (Read more about SOS and their work in the Binghampton community HERE), I entered into a conversation with my friend Leanne. Leanne is a brilliant, smart, and funny girl. Like what seems to be a lot of my college friends, she was raised in the Methodist Church but now finds herself enjoying worship and ministry within another denomination. She asked me. " My pastor at home doesn't really reference scripture a lot in his sermons like the pastor of the church I attend while away at college. Is that just a church thing or a Methodist thing?" She asked other questions and made other statements about how when she got to college her friends had memorized scripture etc and she hadn't. Where does one begin on such a large question? I started the only place I knew. I started with the Bible. I discussed how Jesus really taught two different ways. One which would be considered "lectionary" and it led to attempts to throw him off a cliff, and the other being relationally. I discussed how both are important styles of preaching and it's really important for the pastor to know his/her audience to realize which style of preaching they would respond to best and lead to the most spiritual growth for them. It hurt as future Methodist Clergy to hear someone who was raised in the UMC feel like their pastor didn't put enough emphasis on scripture. John Wesley put Scripture above all else. Wesley too often told stories in his sermons but always brought it back to scripture.Pastors in the UMC used to preach with fire and enthusiasm.  I began to realize so many things that have worked in the past the UMC has turned away from simply in the interest of being "relevant". While I have my own theological issues with reformed theology and "neo-calvinism" ,statements like Leanne's confirm that the boldness however good or bad displayed in the preaching of modern reformed thought draws people in. There's no middle way. You might not agree with what they are saying but they hold strong to their beliefs. It used to be whenever theologians conversed about the most effective preachers at least 7 out of 10 would be Methodist. Sadly I feel that's not the case. Why did we change a system that was working? The Methodist Church I truly believe offers a theology that the "nones" so desperately seek in today's society. We offer a theology that points to the grace of God at work in our lives. We point to the work of the kingdom here and not just sell "fire insurance". We are a theology that doesn't force you to choose between science and religion. We are a theology that preaches how the love of God is big enough to draw the darkest of heart and not how God spends his time deciding who's in and who's out. If we are to claim that and stop the decline while creating disciples for Christ, we must reclaim the old "preach like a Methodist" saying.

What am I?

I used to be really into poetry, but gave it up after a while here is my foray back into it.


What Am I?
 A man without a home
a place that is empty where only me and Jesus roam
I'm too far left to be claimed by the right
and too far right for the left to say alright
I believe in saving babies
and that murderers can redeemed by grace
that I can be passionate about issues
without getting in your face
So why am I homeless
despite having my church
Because I live in the gray
and I make it work
My house sits near the middle
not the far left or the far right
I have no interest in the fight
that will continue until our church splinters
with all of it's might

I believe in change
but not just for the sake of doing it
I believe that grace helps us through suffering
because I've been through it
What am I then?
A man without a home
Not conservative or progressive enough
to avoid being stoned
What I am
is a man with a plan
and hope among all hopes
to draw folks back to the middle
to let God redeem what has broke
so we look more like the church
and less like politicians in empty suits
and a tree that is dying begins to grow
and bear fruit.