Prayers for our Nation upon Election Day

    I know we have all been tortured by the adds for election of candidates, and I am looking forward to the day after when those adds stop. We may not know the results of the election right away either, if you take the time to actually count all the appropriate votes properly. And, there will be challenges and denials which we will have to be prepared to wade through too.

   I love this country. I am a student of history, fascinated by the struggles that created the Constitution and the efforts to find ways to govern ourselves in a very diverse world. It isn't going to be easy to accept what happens on Nov. 5th either way. But I pray for our nation and would ask all of you to ask God to be with us, and as Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, not my will, but thine be done Oh God.

   I love the Kingdom of God more, and I know we struggle with how to make the will of God fit in with our culture and circumstances. It is not easy, and if we are honest, it is impossible for most of us to live every condition that Jesus gave us for how to live in this Kingdom, the Reign and Rule of God in our situations and expectations. We mus try, however. But we need forgiveness and a chance to try again, over and over again, to try and get this right. Neither side has a monopoly on getting it just right. Both sides have elements that God would be happy with, and elements that God absolutely would abhor. Lord have mercy on all of us.

   I am amazed how easily we have forgotten what we learned in Kindergarten or in Sunday School. Truth, respect, honoring and appreciating each other etc. Jesus said it positively when he said, "In everything do to others as you would have them to to you, for this is the Law and the Prophets."  (Matthew 7:12) and also Luke 6:31,"Do to others as you would have them do to you."

   In other words, think about what you would really like to be given, and then go first, and give that to others. Pay it Forward, in other words.

“These are the things I learned (in Kindergarten):

1. Share everything.
2. Play fair.
3. Don't hit people.
4. Put things back where you found them.
5. CLEAN UP YOUR OWN MESS.
6. Don't take things that aren't yours.
7. Say you're SORRY when you HURT somebody.
8. Wash your hands before you eat.
9. Flush.
10. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
11. Live a balanced life - learn some and drink some and draw some and paint some and sing and dance and play and work everyday some.
12. Take a nap every afternoon.
13. When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
14. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
15. Goldfish and hamster and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
16. And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.”
― Robert Fulghum, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

   The government of the United States, is not the Kingdom of God. But it ought to work to provide for each of our citizens, whether we agree with the leader or not. We decided that we wanted laws to make sure that justice and fairness was applied to all of us. I wish that was going to be true going forward. As I said, pray for our nation.

   I am praying that we recognize we have different ideas about how life ought to be lived. But I pray even more that we respect one another even in our differences. As long as we are not harming another human being, we can have differences of opinion on matters of choice and the life we live. May we treat each other truthfully and respectively and with the actual truth and facts at our disposal. 

   May the Peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ, and may the blessings of God be with you, now and always. Amen.

Pastor Jeff

Leap Year, Day

    I'm taking a leap of faith here on this special day and writing about the challenges we are facing currently. These thoughts are going to leap all over the place, since it's leap day.

   We need to pray for our country in a big way. For many reasons. We have forgotten our responsibilities as good neighbors, recognizing we all have different stories and experiences which we are rightfully entitled to. We need to restore our valuing the neutrality of the law. It must be applied across the board to be fair, there cannot be some who are under the law and some who can escape the application of the law.

   We need to make telling the truth important. It may not be convenient, but truth stands the test of what really is. We cannot make up our version of reality and call it truth. Our scripture tells us that truth will set us free, and we need to count on it being right. Law and Justice are how we take our love of neighbor and doing the right thing and apply it to people we don't know. No matter who you are, you should be entitled to fair and right applications of the law.

   I wish we knew what President John F. Kennedy said when he wrote the book about all being immigrants. Even Native Americans came across the land bridge from Russia to Alaska or along the Bering Straight, thousands of years ago. Some have come to our country because of family who were already here. Some came because of faith, they could not practice and live with their understanding in the country they left. Some came because of fear, they were persecuted or violated and had to seek a safer place to live. Some are here in pursuit of freedom, they want to participate in a nation that values differences and will allow those who wish to work hard, to do so.

   I wish in this day and age of such divisions that a third party should have the same access to participation in elections as the two established parties. There has to be room for compromise and working in the middle, respecting the extreme ends, but also recognizing their positive contributions. Primaries ought to be able to include other candidates running for office, rather than wait until the general election, and there should not be an exorbitant price applied to the candidates who don't belong to the two parties to be able to be included. We need to find a way to seek a middle way to be able to bring people together, otherwise we will fight each other until the whole house burns down.

   I am sorry that divisions occur in the churches as well. I would hope that the power of the Holy Spirit and recognition of the role the Spirit plays in the life of the church, would help us accept each other. There are so many different levels of faith and experiences of God, that to demand we all be in the same place spiritually seems to deny the very essence of the Body of Christ is many different parts and we need each other's parts to be a healthy body of Christ.

   I've told my congregations how hard it is to preach to a group of 35 different places in spiritual life. We have 4 or 5 or 6 generations (silent, boomer, gen-x, y, z, millennials) within the church. We have more than 5 church backgrounds gathered for worship (liturgical, free style, contemporary, charismatic, traditional, new age to name a few). We have a variety of musical heart languages, (Jazz, New Age, Country, Classical, Rap, Folk, Soul, to name just a few. Look at all the Sirius Station possibilities) We have people who learn better reading, or listening, or experiencing, or touching in order to comprehend. We have people who are left brained, or right brained as their dominant sphere for learning. We have people who are young, or old, married or divorced or always single. We have folks who are not yet followers of Jesus, newly baptized or committed followers of Jesus, we have folks who turned their whole life over to Jesus as Lord, not just Savior. We have people who are stalled in their spiritual progress and are wondering what comes next. Many of the folks in a church when they can't find out what they need, claim they are not being fed and try to wander off, or drift out, and really missing what God may have to offer them. I would love for people to have more acceptance and value the differences and work with that.

   We are all just children of the same God. Can we re-emphasize that and learn to live together. We will accomplish so much more.

Pastor Jeff

February 29, 2024

Upate on Mill Creek Parish

    I'm writing to update you on my life in ministry. I'm going to be appointed full time to Mill Creek Parish starting in January as the current pastor Joan Carter-Rimbach is retiring Dec. 31. We do not know how long the interim appointment will be for. They have had 5 pastor's in ten years and I hope that having been on staff for a while and moving to Senior Pastor will help them feel secure as they come out of the covid pandemic.

   Please keep this in your prayers, thank you.

Pastor Jeff

 Dear Friends

   I'm the associate pastor at Mill Creek Parish in Derwood, MD these days. I have just completed the four Sundays serving in worship while our Pastor Rev. Joan Carter-Rimbach was on vacation.

   I offer the four sermons that I preached there this summer for you to look at if you would like by going to Mill Creek Parish. org. follow the Worship button and see sermons.

   The series is on the vision of Mill Creek Parish, Disciples are MADE at Mill Creek. The four letters represent the ways Discipleship, students of Jesus develop and are encouraged at Mill Creek Parish.

   M stands for Mission

   A stands for Adoration

   D stands for Discipleship

   E stand for Embrace your neighbor

   The four week series of sermons was to high light the four letters and to give encouragement for being involved in each of those areas as those who are developing their following Jesus.

   I recommend you go and watch them.

Thank you, and blessings to you all.

Pastor Jeff

Do I Stay Christian?

    The other day I had lunch with Brian McLaren, an author of many books, and a former neighboring pastor. Our lunch the other day was with 135 of his friends, via zoom, but it did bring back memories of our occasional lunches back in the days when our churches were close by. Brian was presenting his latest book Do I Stay Christian?, coming out next week, on the issues facing Christians who are aware of how much negative publicity and public opinion have come upon Christians lately. It was a fascinating conversation, and I will put that book in my Kindle as soon as it's available. Perhaps I'll do more blogging when I've had a chance read it and reflect upon it.

   The main point is that for some followers of Jesus, the problem is the label "Christian" rather than the commitment to follow Jesus. This problem has occurred over time in other cultures, and in other times in history. We may just face more backlash now because of Social Media and piles of news and stories about fallen Christian leaders. For many very conscientious followers it is very difficult to find ourselves in so much pain. Christian has been a good label for a long time, now not so much.

   If you haven't confronted anyone who says they don't know whether to be Christian or not, or they say they are not religious, but they are spiritual, that's a part of the conversation that I am talking about. I would have to agree, it's a very tough time to be a pastor trying to encourage people to be followers of Jesus, and not be "Christians" because of the negativity associated with this word.

   To give you some ideas, the label gets put with some who attacked the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021. For some the label goes with the news that Jerry Falwell has been ousted from his leadership of the largest Christian University because of sexual scandals and objectionable behavior for a Christian University leader. Or maybe it's in the face of several major mega church leaders who have fallen from grace because of sexual unfaithfulness or other accusations of inappropriate behavior as a church leader.

   In other cases it's that there is now an association with"Christian" and racial hatred especially anti non-white people. Whether it be African Americans who have been here over 400 years or new immigrants who have fled the horrors of persecution to come to a better life in the US. Or even toward native American, who have been here for thousands of years, after coming across the land bridge between Russia and Alaska, and then wandering down the coast and across the nations. Many have decried and complained and hurt people who are not white in the name of religion. And yet, our faith is very, very clear we are to welcome the stranger, and to support immigrants as people of faith, because we are to remember, as Scripture reminds us often, that we too were immigrants in Egypt before Moses led the people to freedom.

   In still other cases, the wanting to distance ourselves from the name of Christian, is because there is a lot of anti-science and anti acceptance of truth from scientific resources. Over 1 million citizens died because of Covid. The best prevention is vaccination and yet many church pastors have spoken out in their pulpits against vaccinations. Those outside the church, yet believers, don't want to be connected to that kind of attitude if it represents their faith. Global warming is another topic which some Christians are trying to deny exists, yet Scripture clearly demands that we are responsible and stewards of our mother earth. It becomes the difference between what our Scripture teaches us and what we say and do. The farther apart this is, the more likely people are going to want to get away from Christians.

   Love One Another, is the summary of what Jesus taught. In the years before Christianity changed from being persecuted by the Romans, to making it the official faith of the Empire, was the discovery of how much Christians loved one another, and loved their neighbors, especially in difficult times. Christians nursed sick Romans back to health, when the healthy Romans fled the disease. When the sick recovered, they realized what a blessing being cared for by one who practiced loving one another really meant. It changed the world.

   Now we are in a similar opportunity. With so much strife, hatred, confusion, grief and lack of hope, we need to love one another, more than ever. Maybe we just need to figure out a better way to put a label on our love. Follower of Jesus, may work for a while, and we choose not to mention Christian, so that we don't put a barrier up to being able to share the faith. St. Paul had a lot to say about doing what is needed in order to win some who doubt, over to the Jesus follower side. Try it, you'll like it!

    Blessings

    Pastor Jeff

The Struggle of Low Morale in Churches

 Do you agree that clergy morale is currently at a low ebb? If so, what factors are contributing to this low morale? 

   I would have to agree that clergy morale is low for several reasons. The cartoon/photos of a person juggling a couple of balls to represent Seminary and the photo of several balls in the air to represent the actual church, and the hands reaching out of the ball pit representing the current situation is right on. It was on facebook, I believe.

   One of my contributing factors is that the resources we have to do the ministry we were trained to do has shriveled up. People to volunteer, money to do ministry, and the training to operate in the current situations are all extremely volatile. I was trained 45 years ago by teachers who were themselves in ministry 30 years prior to that teaching. What worked for them has not spanned the distance from their experience to ours in the world today. They taught us what succeeded for them, which I appreciated, but realized, especially recently that mindset is not really available anymore. As the church participants aged, and we are in the most vulnerable to be sick profile, they held back their participation. The loss of gathering for obvious reasons, affected the income sources. The givers in the church responded after a while, but the rental income was severely cut off. Right after the book published to help churches to diversify their income streams to rentals came out, by the way.

   Another major factor in reducing morale, I think, was the challenges related to the political atmosphere and the racial tension in the air. We've probably not been good at those, but the news and the tension in the air, certainly pushed those issues to the surface more readily. The Covid pandemic and the response, or lack of support for the common sense vaccinations and common decency to all wear masks, added to the difficulty of creating a supportive community we once knew was the congregation. The lack of support from media and the highly publicized controversy from religious leaders as well, doomed our chances of working together and hope of seeing any kind of progress. since we are being "results oriented" for so long, can really take its toll on you when all your numbers are going down and look like they will for a while as well.

   Producing quality online services required a great deal of flexibility and a change from a verbal to a visual skill, I think that hurt some who were more verbally skilled and couldn't quite get the hang of everything needed to do quality visuals. Too much was just talking heads for the online experience, rather than the amount of video that was available to help in worship. The abundance of that material required an exorbitant amount of time to review and get permission to use in an online worship experience.

   Another factor is the shriveling of the attention span for most adults. We were trained that a 30 minute sermon was required, especially to use all the background resources and research. Today 7 minutes of attention span or less is available to the average human, camera angles, changes in scenery on all forms of media makes talking to people a burden, if you are not conscious of the need to change focus every 6 or 7 minutes. Being creative in the sermon/message slot took on a whole different approach and not having real comfort in that ability has lowered the morale of preachers.

Finally, what strategies can clergy engage in to help them deal with low morale?

   Our clergy cluster group, all UMC pastors in a region, found that we needed/wanted more time together to help each other, to be a listening and supportive colleague so much more important than just gathering to coordinate church calendars and the requests from the conference for agenda and support items. We offered each other what was working and became less competitive than we had previously.

   I think we are going to need a lot more resources given to us to train us in dealing with the ever changing world views among our communities and parish participants. In our UMC world, we are going to need a great deal more support for the loss of certifiable progress, we have been so numbers conscious, baptism, conversion, small group participation, volunteers, worship attendance, finances, that are all not very good in comparison to former years, can really hurt morale. It is hard for a supervisor to say well done thou good and faithful servant, when it looks like you are seeing the destruction of Jerusalem going on all around you.

   Anyhow, enough ranting and raving. I retired, thinking I could help my church recover some of the income they were paying me. I had a promise of another appointment, thinking I could offer a whole package of ministry for a lot less being retired, that hasn't happened yet, which is affecting my morale too, is all a part of the scene.

   Thank you for listening to all of this.

Pastor Jeff

And When's the Shift Over?

 And When is the Shift over?

Thoughts on a recent Seth Grodin blog

“If you sell your time as the measure of the work you do, the work is over when the shift ends. Clock in, clock out.

If you sell your output as the measure of the work, your work is over when the inbox is empty. Once you’ve made all the pizzas that were ordered, you’re done.

But more and more, our work can be endless. One more sales call might lead to one more sale. One more cycle of innovation might lead to the breakthrough we’ve been looking for. One more post might get you the traffic you’re on the hook for.

In a competitive marketplace, self-regulating the length of our shift is a lot to ask. Given that the list of things to do is intentionally endless, it’s on each of us to decide what ‘enough’ looks like. Because more time isn’t always the answer.”  Seth Godin blog 12/16/21

This got me thinking, especially as a retired UMC pastor in this crazy Advent Season.

So much of our time and responsibility is dictated by our church expectations. Perhaps as the lone pastor almost everything falls upon you. You never get to the end of the list or the task, and you never get to invest in something new that might break the cycle, or bring you much needed help, or a new direction that brings forth spiritual life and health. Clock in, clock out. And the pandemic has added a whole new set of tasks of some kind.

We’ve just come through the Charge Conference season, the measure of our work, how many people, how are the finances, how many disciples, how many baptisms or new commitments, what’s your attendance at worship? And then on top of that, there is the evaluation, by your hand and by your SPRC and all your efforts boils down to “meets expectations” or “needs improvement”. Because that’s all the time we really have. Once, you’ve made all the pizzas, sermons, visits, meetings, you’re done.

More and more that can be endless. And yet, in reading or listening to a blog, or attending a seminar or hearing an inspiring speaker, a pastor who made great strides, you suddenly know it, the one more, call, visit, blog, program, new idea that might just be what’s going to get you above the last year’s numbers. But where does that time come from? How do we break out of the past and move forward into new life?

I have to confess that I would cheat on the to do list, because I knew the something new would make a bigger difference. Adding a mid-week worship and Bible Study would involve a lot of time, that would have to come away from some visiting, or little meetings that didn’t improve the Realm and Community of God at all. And the skipping some of those parts to bring new life, would cost me dearly in the complaints department, he/she is not doing their job, they haven’t such and such. And the new people that are coming are sitting in my seat, so it’s time to get the Bishop to move the pastor, before they ruin everything.

As Seth reminds us, we are in a competitive marketplace, and self regulating our shift or our to do list, is a lot to ask. And since the expectations are endless, it’s up to us to decide what the appropriate effort looks like. Now if we could only have support for the changes from someone who sees the bigger picture, and not just silencing the cranky SPRC person who demands a change. We might even see a new year and progress and new people blessed.

That’s my prayer, may it be yours as well.

Jeff Jones

Retired and still willing to make a difference.