World as Parish

I've been thinking lately about the differences in ministry in John and Charles Wesley's day, and the present age. Is what happens through social media at any level near what George Whitefield and John Wesley stirred up when they took to the fields to preach?

Why am I thinking about such an analogy? Well, quite simple really. If you read back in this blog you'll find this little post about the start of a church community through the use of Facebook.

John Wesley found himself stirring up things quite a bit in his day. He often took advantage of invitations to fill a pulpit to preach messages that conflicted the hearers. The established Church of England had become a place for people of wealth and position, but the average man rarely stepped a foot across the sanctuary threshold.

That led to his rather unorthodox practice of preaching in fields, and public spaces on many occasion. Not only did he preach, but he even conducted Eucharistic celebrations to serve the gathered people.

What do some outside the box priests and congregants do today?
They do "Church outside the church". Sometimes to skid row. Sometimes in the subways.
They take rituals of meaning to the people instead of waiting for the people to come to them.

During John Wesley's life he spend a great deal of time visiting the sick and prisoners as well as encouraging members of the Methodist classes to do so. His admonition, "Do all the good you can, as often as you can to as many people as you can for as long as you can."  With more people claiming to be spiritual but not religious, institutional chaplains are more likely to encounter people with a need for someone to listen and offer a ministry of compassionate presence. In my own continuing discernment process I have run toward, away and then returned to this significant place of ministry, recognizing that as a chaplain, I serve from the place of my own spiritual strength, not with an intent to change the existing set of beliefs, only to help the other name them and find strength for their journey.

John was known for his intense daily schedule and his ability to maintain correspondence with a vast number of people both in and outside the Methodist Movement. He was a giant in the field of mentoring in the Christian life for both men and women. He wrote tracts that were published to help the preachers and class leaders, to equip them for their work of forming faithful disciples.

What do we do today?

BLOG! Self-publishing has become easier than ever.

We no longer even have to spend money on paper, ink or printing labor.

All a person really needs to begin to form a community online is to spend time on the computer, and engage with other people.

Being open to the Divine Dance and relevant relationships that the Holy Spirit may be inviting us into seems, at least to me, to be the key.

But one little item still seems incomplete...

Human beings need tangible human contact.

While all this online communication helps create familiarity, when the world around you begins to fall apart at the seams, most people need all their available senses to be engaged. The touch of a hand, the calm presence of another person sitting across a cup of tea or coffee. Even someone that will be moved to offer a prayer of intercession. These things cannot be fulfilled through an online community.

And in this respect, I think that John Wesley would urge each of us to find ways to commune often around a table, with Chalice and Paten, as well as Scripture to complete the work of growing in grace and giftedness to the Glory of God.

How that looks on the ground might look like one of these in the New Monasticism or in might look more like this gathering around the table in Brooklyn.

One thing I am pretty certain of. The missional focus will look beyond just the individual's needs and wants. The missional focus for the core of any such group will have a passionate interest is doing more than "hatching, matching, and dispatching" of people to "meet their maker" at the end of human life, and it won't be entirely consumed in what simply makes the members feel comfortable. It will be a place where people become proficient in listening to the Holy as She whispers and swirls among the people gathered.This kind of community will be a fountain of healing and holy living, inviting all who are thirsty to drink from the well of the Living Water.

Just my thoughts...

What do you think?

Free Time

I can remember people telling me I needed to get a life.

The people who told me that always seemed to have plenty of "free" time.

I don't have a job, I have a vocation. I have abundant masses of meaningful ways to connect with people which require scheduling my time to fit their schedules.

Writing, reading, and
bringing people together
for major projects require patience.

A man I am just beginning to know 

in the course of my work 

exploring the possibility 

of starting a community garden 

tells people that gardening teaches patience and humility. 

I wonder, 

do you suppose 

that is why Jesus 

so frequently used 

parables with 

agriculture 

built into them?

Now that I have been commissioned as a healing prayer minister for our parish I am discovering that maintaining spiritual disciplines is all the more important, and realizing a certain sloppiness in my practice

Patience to sit in God's presence is imperative; not an option, not something merely done occasionally. 

No, it must be pursued with persistence, not relegated to the chance occurrence of Free Time.        

Disciplined walking

It was cold and windy last night!

When I went to bed I remember thinking “I don’t want to go walking in that cold wind.”

I even thought that it was going to snow overnight, it felt so cold when I came home in the dark evening.

So, this morning, when I awoke, the thought of rebellion came up to the surface again.

While I love the routine of walking early in the morning, this was one of those mornings where I really wasn’t eager, enthusiastic or delighted with the prospect of stepping out into the cold morning.

Instead, I put it off, and went to check email…

And facebook….

And search the web for ideas for a paper…

And read an article about Rabbi Abraham Herschel and Martin Luther King which told about their roles together working in the civil rights movement and Vietnam War opposition of the 1960s.

Finally, something Abraham Heschel* wrote began to ignite my motivation to get up and walk.

Heschel wrote of his participation in the civil rights marches, “my legs were praying.”

Thanks God, that was the kick I needed.

Morning walks are my time of Morning Prayer. I step out the door and collect my thoughts, recalling the people my life touches that are in need of prayer. Psalm 100 is my opening verse. Holy, Holy, Holy is frequently on my lips. I dispense with the prayer book, and rely on the words of songs, prayers and scripture which have become deeply embedded to rise up as I appreciate the beauty of my surroundings.

This morning, the prayers included people that now have difficulty, due to their health, to enjoy the simple pleasure of walking. I confessed my own reluctance to face this morning’s wind and cold and offered thanks for the extra layers of clothes I could put on to keep me from shivering.

Morning walking is an important component in my spiritual life. It is both physical and spiritual care. When my schedule limits my ability to maintain this discipline, I feel deprived. I can understand why the Gospels tell us that Jesus went off alone because my soul, my very being also requires this active time of prayer.

In this season of epiphany, we are all invited to look for God manifest around us. How are you experiencing God’s presence, and how do you replenish your spiritual well?

Do you need a partner to help you find time for discerning God’s presence in your life?

May you be blessed to discover that this month is filled with opportunity and delight in God’s ever expanding presence in the world.

* January 13 is the anniversary of the death of Rabbi Heschel. Rabbi Waschow explains that in Judaism the tradition of remembering the departed is done on the anniversary of the death, rather than the birthday because “only at one’s death do we know the entirety of the person.” Anglicans also use the date of one’s death to remember our saints, which is why Martin Luther King is in our cycle of Holy Women, Holy Men on April 4th.