I've started writing a blog entry several times this month, but something always happened that kept me from doing it. Here are some snippets of what I have been intending to write, remembering that my paternal grandmother's favorite phrase was, "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions!"
I have been asked my opinion on the United Methodist bishops statement that all troops should begin an immediate withdrawal from Iraq. First, I want to remind you that the bishops do not speak for the Church. Only the General Conference, which meets every four years, can speak officially for The United Methodist Church; they do that through The Book of Discipline and The Book of Resolutions. Secondly, I think an immediate withdrawal would be catastrophic, plunging the entire area into conflict. I believe the statement was ill-advised and harmful. I am proud that our bishop, Lindsey Davis, did not vote for the adoption of the resolution.
On to happier matters. Last Sunday was the first Sunday in the liturgical season of advent. The word Advent comes from the Latin "adventus" meaning "coming". There is a dual purpose to this season; we remember Jesus' first Advent in Bethlehem, but we also look for his final coming in victory when the Kingdom of God will be fully realized. The color of purple is used of this season to remind us of its penitential and preparational nature. These four weeks allow us to do some spiritual housekeeping as we journey to Bethlehem. It is the gift the Church gives to us once a year in order to keep our spirits healthy.
Finally, I want to encourage you to sign up on the registration pads to have a name tag made. Then, when we distribute them in January, I want to ask you to wear them. We all like to be called by name, but there is no way we can know all our members, visitors, and constituents by name. Hopefully this will be a way of being a more hospitable congregation. It will help us all learn the names of others. I remember doing this in a congregation of 500 members (we number 3,000). I actually had two gentlemen who had each worshiped together for over 20 years, knew each other by sight, but did not know each others name! That church averaged a little under 200 in one worship service, so they had plenty of time together. They were both very active in the church. They just didn't know each other's names and were too embarrassed to ask!
I'll do my best to be more disciplined in posting to this blog. And if you have a question or a suggested topic, feel free to email me at jhiggins@mceachernumc.org.
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1 comment:
glad to see you are back, i had been meaning to harass you in church about your lack of recent blogging :)
thanks for sharing your thoughts on the comments regarding an immediate withdrawal. i think that the idea of an immediate withdrawal (or not) is a sort of false dichotomy that is being presented to the public so as to divide the public and prevent any real change in course. from my perspective the more appropriate thing to do would be to examine how we got into this situation. determine if it was truly based on mistakes or if it was due to corporate influence in the upper echelon of military politics, then hold those people responsible and replace them with others who can not only garner respect from the American public, but the rest of the world. When almost 3/4 of our country doesn't trust or respect our leaders, how can we expect the rest of the world to? We need to all get on the same boat and stop choosing from the black and white options which are provided and which typically do nothing but cause a split and prevent worthwhile changes. In the end we all want pretty much the same things right?
Glad to see you back, take care :)
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