This has been a pretty crazy week, and it's not really over yet. I worked two days at Coldwater Creek and noticed on the schedule that I only work Saturday next week, which is fine. I can get caught up on other stuff around here. I have some reading to do for Polity, and I got my interview with the district superintendent done and just need to write up my paper and get it out of the way.
It's funny; I enjoyed talking with Mackey last week. Well, enjoying talking to him isn't what struck me but what we talked about. My question to him was what his perspective was on how the Book of Discipline (BOD) impacts the overall ministry of the church. As with most people I talk with, it's a two-edged sword, and if you have read it, I'm sure you will agree. I'm betting that 99.9 percent of you reading this blog haven't read it, so you really have no idea what I'm talking about. The BOD is the United Methodist Church’s "instrument for setting forth laws, plan, polity and process" on how the UMs govern themselves and remain constant. We have a constitution, doctrinal standards and our theological task, social principles, the local church, ministry of the ordained, the superintendency, the conferences, and I'm going to stop there, cuz it's making my head spin.
I am so not into this part of who we are. I like to talk about what the Holy Spirit is doing in your personal live and the life of your church. Needless to say, I need to understand it and how it works. So in talking with Mackey, he said that it helps us know who we are as Methodists. It also tells us what the responsibilities are for the pastors, church and the higher-ups. He also said that the spirit in which it was formed over 200 years ago has been lost, and I agree with him. I think if John Wesley could see what we've done with it, he would have a screaming fit. It has turned into a very legalistic rulebook that keeps us from doing a lot of what God is calling us to do. It also contradicts itself quit a bit.
I agree with Mackey when he says we as the church need to have risk-taking faith. Stepping out and believing that when given the opportunity, we will do the right thing, not just do things the right way. But so many of us are scared to stand up and even try to put into words what we believe, cuz someone is waiting to cut us to pieces. Look at who we have as president of our great nation. Why did that happen? Why did we believe in yet another person talking about change? Because we were too scared to stand up and say what we believed, because someone was waiting to call us a racist. And that, my friends, is why we are in this mess. We as Christians are scared! We are keeping our mouths shut, and we aren't finding out what's really going on. It's also known as living in the dark. Who rules the darkness? That's right, the truly foul king of darkness, Satan.
People who use words like racist, sexist and bigot are using them because they are labels and they stick, but not because they are all that true. Wouldn't you love to throw out a label that would stick to them? Pinhead, unbeliever, ignorant. Wow, those are powerful,l huh? NOT! We have someone in charge of our nation that really doesn't believe in anything that we as a nation believe in. Does that offend anyone? There is a very small minority that we are letting tell us what we need to believe. And guess what people—they could care less about what Jesus did for them or what the Bible says. I for one think we need to get as many people registered to vote as we can, not because I will be able to tell them how to vote but because I believe that if we pray and have a risk-taking faith, people will do what's right, not just do things the right way.
I will remember in November. How about you?
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