Over the past week, I've waxed-almost-eloquent about Louie Giglio, United Methodist Bishop Melvin Talbert, John Hiatt, and the nature of Scripture.

So today, I'm returning to something much more comfortable for Top Five Tuesday:  my own indiosyncracies.

Those things that I do in the name of comfort or routine but are more likely signs of a deeper obsession.  Or compulsion.   Or disorder.

Here they are.

1.  Every morning, I put in my right contact lens first.  In fact, I have been wearing contact lenses for 36 years now and in all that time, I have never put the left lens in first.  And I have no intention of doing so now.

2.  I go to the Y four times a week.  Two of those days, I exercise those muscles that push:  tricep, chest, and shoulders.  The other two, I exercise those that pull:  bicep, back, and leg.  That's quasi-obsessive.  Here's where it gets scary:  on "tricep-chest-shoulders" day, I always wear white shorts with a darker shirt.  On "bicep, back, and leg" day, I always wear dark shorts with a lighter top.  No exceptions.

3.  Every Saturday night before I'm going to preach on Sunday, I write the check we're going to give to Good Shepherd and pull out my sermon preparation and put it on the breakfast table so I can look at it while eating my breakfast.  (And the menu for that meal, of course, never changes -- English muffin with honey, hard boiled eggs, and orange juice.)  If those things aren't done the night before, I feel all out of sorts on Sunday.

4.  Lunch in the office is turkey breast (no bread), Minute Rice, cottage cheese, and a Nutrageous.  Lunch at home is turkey breast (no bread), Minute Rice, cottage cheese, and a Nutrageous.

5.  Ever since I got a new car in 2009, I've never let its gas tank get below 1/2 full.

I spent Friday night and Saturday morning at Bethelwoods Retreat Center near Rock Hill, SC, learning about leadership with the Board of Good Shepherd.

Eight men and five women gathered together to sit under the tutelage of Good Shepherd member Brent Burdick, who after serving as a missionary in the Philippines for 20 years, recently relocated to southwest Charlotte and connected with Good Shepherd.

Ironically, Brent and I had been in the same graduating class at Asbury Seminary 23 years ago, though we did not know each other at the time.  I regard it as yet another example of prevenient grace that he moved into a home literally down the street from our church and that he has been so willing to invest of himself in our congregation.

One of the things I appreciated about the weekend was that I did not lead it; instead, I sat as co-learner with the the volunteer servants who give direction to this church.

Here are some of the gems that came from our time together, some of which emerged out of Brent's teaching and others were interesting insights from Board members:

• As weather shapes mountains, so problems shape leaders.
• Good leaders take the heat but not the glory.
• There's nothing like a near death experience to make you fully alive.
• "I was a talking Christian most of my life.  I've just been a walking Christian for the last few years."  (from a Board member)
• Poor leaders drink their own Kool-Aid.
• Strong leaders take people somewhere they normally wouldn't want to go.
• A leader without followers is only taking a walk.
• Leaders create self-fulfilling prophecies in a positive way.

I'm grateful for the momentum and focus with which our church has begun 2013.  I also believe that as our Board eats together, plays together, learns together, and prays together, they will be that much more able to direct us together.



 

By now many of you may be familiar with the brouhaha over Louie Giglio's invitation to and subsequent withdrawl from from offering the invocation at President Obama's second inaugural ceremony later this month.


Giglio was originally invited to give the prayer because of his leadership in the fight against human trafficking.  However, controversy arose when audio was released from a 1995ish sermon in which he referred to homosexual behavior as sin.  (Or, as United Methodists officially say it, "incompatible with Christian teaching.")

As a result of the rising tide of opposition within the inaugural team, Giglio stepped aside earlier this week.  The invocation will now come from Luis Leon, an Episcopalian priest with more progressive views when it comes to homosexual practice. 

You can read Huffington Post's narrative of the story here.

And Al Mohler's provocative essay under the "I-wish-I'd-thought-of-that" title of "The Giglio Imbroglio"  here.

And finally, Scott McKnight's post-politcial & non-partisan piece asking whether Giglio should have ever said "yes" to the invitation in the first place here.

But those commentaries, as interesting as they are, are slightly beyond the scope of this particular post.

I want to ask the most pressing question of them all:  could Louie Giglio, champion of human freedom around the world and preacher extraordinaire here in the States, be ordained as an Elder in the United Methodist Church if he would persist in declaring that homosexual intercourse is outside God's will for his people?

(Now: I know he trends Calvinist and that alone might disqualify him from joining our ranks.  But again, that's not today's subject.)

I ask my question because, after all, one of our own bishops has encouraged ordained clergy to defy church law and perform same-sex weddings.  You can read that ordination sermon here. 

I ask that question also because one entire jurisdiction within our connection has issed a "Statement Of Gospel Obedience" in which it promises to behave as if parts of our Book Of Discipline simply do not exist  and another jurisdiction quickly followed suit.

I ask because the pastor of a high-profile First United Methodist Church calls Methodism's adherence to 2,000 years of received wisdom regarding celibacy in singleness and faithfulness in heterosexual marriage "wrong, stupid, and evil." 

As some of you have experienced personally, any candidate for ordination within the UMC has to go through a labyrinth of tests, essays, interviews, assessments, and sermons.  The process begins at the congregational level, then moves to the District level, and finally to the Granddaddy Of Them All, the Annual Conference Board Of Ordained Ministry.  These boards, comprised primarily of selected clergy in the  Annual Conference who have themselves been ordained as Elders, decide the ordination fate of each candidate.  Those who are approved as Elder receive, for lack of a better word, tenure in the system:  an all-but-guaranteed lifetime employment as a pastor somewhere in that Annual Conference.  My own ordination as an Elder happened way back in 1992.

But here's what you need to know: the theological perspectives of the Boards of Ordained Ministry in the different Annual Conferences vary widely depending on geography.  Those Boards out West and up North, predictably, lean far left.  Those in the deep South trend more conservative.

So the quick answer to the question of Louie Giglio's suitability for ordination is probably this:  in the California-Nevada Annual Conference, no.  In Alabama-West Florida, yes.  In my own Western North Carolina, maybe.

But aren't those differing answers part of the problem?  Isn't the defiance of an entire section of the country towards the rest of the connection evidence that "United" is a word with little muscle and less meaning?  As if theology, doctrine, and ethics were a matter of "you say 'tomato' and I say 'tomahto'"?

Until we come up with a consistent answer to the Louie Giglio question -- and as you might suspect, I would want the answer to be "yes!" --  I think we may well be wrestling with some other questions.

Such as:  will the United Methodist Church still exist in the year 2050? 





 

I have recently realized that much of my bible reading is in order to prove a point.  If I am in a religious or political or cultural debate with someone, for example, then I'll just pull out my Scriptures, point out the relevant verses, and voila!  Point proven.

Which in the grand scheme of things is a poor use of inspired words.

Now: doctrine matters.  Truth needs to be defended and error needs to be exposed.  If you doubt that, just read the book of Jude.  (See, I just proved a point.)

Yet something tells me that God would rather me dig into the treasures of Scripture so that my life will be stretched and pulled and formed and finally made into the piece of God's workmanship it was intended to be.

So that when I read about regarding others as better than yourself, then I'd really become less self-centered.

So that when I read what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and yet lose his soul, I'd recognize that preachers can be just as subject to vain ambition as anyone else.  And then adjust.

So that when I read about bearing with one another, my patience would grow and my ability to forgive would deepen.

What would happen if I encountered Scripture not so much to prove a point but to shape my life?

I'd win fewer debates.

But I'd be living more in the Spirit.