Advent - Keep Hope Alive!

Keep hope alive! This statement has served - over time – as a mantra of possibility for many. In the context of the Advent season, the statement takes on bold meaning. It is in the message of Advent that we discover the promise that help is on the way, and find encouragement to keep hope alive!

In this season, we remember the hope of the prophet Isaiah who proclaimed:“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called wonderful, counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting father, the prince of peace (Isaiah 9:6).

In many ways, our days seem to be filled with doom and gloom. Just open the newspaper - political unrest, social dysfunction, economic uncertainty, natural disasters, and community violence, not to mention spiritual demise, abounds. Just last week a young 21 year old man was shot and murdered while walking his dog in the Cherry Hill community of Baltimore.

In the midst of these realities, and uncertainty about the days ahead, the Advent season reminds us that we have to keep hope alive! We are beckoned to remain hopeful in these trying times. Hope is not something that is static, but alive. It may not even be material, but hope helps us to sense how God will be at work in our lives in the future.

Maybe that’s why persons of faith in ages past could sing even in the lowest of times –
My hope is built on nothing less

than Jesus’ blood and righteousness,

I dare not trust the sweetest frame,

but wholly lean on Jesus’ name…

On Christ the solid rock I stand.

All other ground is sinking sand…

We are encouraged today to Keep Hope Alive!

Indeed hope helps us to hold on in trying times.

The song-writer was right –
Time is filled with swift transition

Naught the earth unmoved can stand

Build your HOPE on things eternal.

Hold to God’s unchanging hand!

Invictus

by William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.


This is a poem by Brishish poet William Ernest Henley written in 1875. The title means “Unconquered” in Latin. "Invictus" is also the title of the soon to be released movie based on the life of Nelson Mandela, anti-Apartheid and civil rights leader, and former president of South Africa.

Signs of Hope - Dr. Freeman Hrabowski

Congratulations to Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, who was recently named one of the nation’s “10 Best College Presidents” by Time magazine. Dr. Hrabowski and UMBC have become nationally recognized for steering African-American students toward science, math and engineering — fields in which they have been traditionally under-represented. UMBC is one of the nation's leading sources of African-American Ph.D.s in science and engineering, and almost half of its seniors go immediately to graduate school. He has authored numerous articles and co-authored two books, Beating the Odds and Overcoming the Odds (Oxford University Press), focusing on parenting and high-achieving African American males and females in science.

Nationial Day of Outrage

On Tuesday, 24 November 2009, concerned citizens in over 20 cities gathered to stand together against this nationwide epidemic of violence in urban communities. This effort was led by the reverend Al Sharpton and the National Action Network. To read more, please go to http://www.nationalactionnetwork.net/.

Signs of Hope - The Susanna Wesley House

Another important ministry related to the United Methodist Church in Baltimore is the Susanna Wesley House. Founded in 1919, the mission of Susanna Wesley House, Inc. is to assist women in need and their dependent children; to provide a safe, clean home, and to ensure a viable program for the residents to obtain independent living. To learn more, please go to www.susannawesley.org.

Giving Thanks - Another Leagacy of Lessons

Dr. James Cecil Logan, beloved teacher, preacher, and leader in The United Methodist Church, died on Saturday, October 17, 2009 in Winchester, VA. Dr. Logan was a mentor to many of us. In the time that I've had to reflect upon Dr. Logan's life and his impact on me, I've come to realize how important he was to my intellectual and spiritual development. Dr. Logan was my major professor while I studied at Wesley Theological Seminary (I took six courses with him), and I was priviledged to have served as one of his graduate assistants. Dr. Logan's is a legacy of what it means for the church to be missional and what it means for us to be wholly committed to Christ.

Give Thanks

“In everything give thanks for this is the will of God concerning you.” (1 Thess. 5:18)

In 1 Thessalonians, the apostle Paul was enroute to Rome with a layover in Corinth when he wrote his first letter to the young church at Thessalonica. As a part of his guidance to the Christian believers there, Paul shared with them instructions on giving thanks.

Paul says to the Thessalonian church, “In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God concerning you.” What Paul was saying to the congregation is that the zenith of Christian conduct is to be able to say “thank you.” In everything give thanks, Paul says.

There's the story of a businessman, who one Thanksgiving some years ago , while watching a football game, reflected on his life and thought of all the people who had been influential in helping him become who he was. He decided to write each person a thank-you card telling him or her of his gratitude for their influence on his life.

His fourth grade teacher quickly came to mind for insisting that he and his classmates strive for excellence in every endeavor. She pounded it into her students, be it regarding homework, tests or class projects. So he sent her a thank you note.

One day, just after the New Year, he received a return letter from his former teacher. She apologized for not replying sooner, but stated that his letter took some time getting to her, since she had moved in with her daughter after retiring from teaching grade school for sixty-six years. She told him how thankful she was to have received his card and how it cheered her to find out he had learned so well his lessons in excellence. She went on to say that in her sixty-six years of teaching, this was the first thank-you card she had ever received, and how grateful she was that he had taken the time to remember her.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. shared that the true measure of our character is not how we conduct ourselves in times of comfort and convenience, but how we deal with challenge and controversy.

In all things give thanks, for this is the will of God concerning you. May each of us find reasons to be grateful in the days that are before us.

Affluence

Several years ago, I attended a college graduation ceremony where Marion Wright Edelman, founder of the Children's Defense Fund, shared her belief that too many in our society are afflicted with the dis-ease of what she referred to as "affluenza." Dr. Edelman intimated that "affluenza" is the state in which we possess too much that is worth too little. During this Thanksgiving season, let us reflect on areas of our lives affected by "affluenza," and commit ourselves to using our relative affluence in ways that are a blessing to God and one another.

Scarcity

Gustavo Gutierez, liberation theologian, shares the belief that poverty is caused not by a scarcity of resources, but by a scarcity of democracy. During this Thanksgiving season, may we continue to be prayerful for the poor among us, and seek ways to be in solidarity with those experiencing a scarcity of democracy.

Visionary Leadership

(The following Principles/Learnings on Visionary Leadership are excerpted from On Jordan’s Stormy Banks, by Rev. Dr. H. Beecher Hicks. Dr. Hicks is senior pastor of Metropolitan Baptist Church in Washington, DC.)

1. Proper Planning is Essential for Effective Visioning and Vision Implementation.
It is critical that the watchperson-priest have help from persons who are able to give critical thought to the task at hand and to the outcomes that are expected.

2. Keep the People Informed.
It is of vital importance that the congregation be kept abreast of the elements of the vision, the progress that is being made, and the manner in which the life of the church, collectively and individually, is being changed.

3. The Pastor (Leader) Is Central to the Vision-Casting and Buy-In Process.
Every vision cast before the church must be couched in ministry terms, or it will suffer the criticism that the vision is self-serving.

4. The Congregation Sees the Person Before They See the Vision.
We would like to believe that the vision and the visionary are separate. In reality, however, they are often perceived as one in the same. When casting a vision, the visionary’s perceived level of integrity is a primary concern. In fact, the watchperson and the very integrity of God are both at stake.

5. Competing Voices within the Church Make It Difficult for the Congregation to Hear What Is Truly Being Said.
While the watchperson-priest may be the only visionary who is acknowledged within the congregation, he or she certainly is not the only voice that is heard.

6. No Matter How Precise Your Language, It Will be Difficult for the Congregation to Conceptualize the Vision.
For most persons, visions are difficult to define and therefore difficult to grasp.

7. The Casting of Vision Implies Customized Change.
No matter what we are told, the last thing churches want is change… (change) disrupts their lives and removes them from their comfort zones.

8. The Visionary Must Avoid Distractions.
The watchperson-priest must always avoid distraction. Distraction is Satan’s tool; he tries to get you to take your eyes off what God wants in order to satisfy what the people want.

9. Vision Casting Takes Time.
No matter how necessary, clear, and compelling your vision may be, a significant period of time must pass before understanding, acceptance, and buy-in occurs.

10. The Congregation Has a Responsibility.
The congregation must be ever encouraged to remain open to receive the vision God has given.

11. “Everybody Talkin’ ’bout Heaven Ain’t Goin’ There!”
As with any struggle for institutional change, there will always be tragic losses along the way.

12. The Struggle Will Continue.
As the church continues to change and grow, its transitional phases do not come to an end, but continue from one stage to the next.

Authenticity in Leadership

(This article appeared in Leading Ideas, published by the Lewis Leadership Center on June 24, 2009)

By Rudy Rasmus

When I walk into a church, I can tell almost immediately if the leader is authentic, transparent, and warm. If so, the entire congregation exudes these qualities. It is almost palpable. People greet me warmly, and there is a vibrant sense of life in the air. If, though, the leader values safety over spontaneity, I sense that people don’t really know what’s expected of them. They follow the prescribed rituals of church, but they seem empty, stiff, and lifeless.

Most pastors and other leaders who are stiff and distant are not that way because they are evil people. In the vast majority of cases, they are good-hearted people who really want to please God, but they are following the only ministry model they have ever seen: wearing masks and playing roles.

But the mask of the completely competent, always in control, never-bothered leader hides the real, flesh-and-blood person who, no matter how spiritually mature he or she may be, struggles with the pain, complexity, and fears of being human. The mask tells people, "I’m okay. Don’t mess with me. You may need me, but I don’t need you." The mask has the look of authority and power—and distance.

A person who has the courage to take off the mask becomes a real person taking real risks in relationships. Trust is more important than control; warmth is a higher priority than excellence. This leader still wants to do things well, but competence is a means to the end of pleasing God and touching hearts, not a way to prove one’s worth. The authentic leader is willing to share some struggles and hurts, and people feel connected to that leader.

David was the king of Israel, and he could have easily hidden his hopes, hurt, and fears. But he did not. His poems depict clearly and permanently his highest hopes and deepest depressions, his intense fears and his greatest praise for God. David hung it all out for us to see! And Paul, the first and foremost missionary of our faith, admitted, "For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do." (Rom 7:15 NKJV)

These leaders—two of the strongest, most effective leaders the world has ever known—were honest about their struggles. If you are a pastor, I sincerely believe that God is calling you to take off any mask you might be wearing to protect yourself, and be an authentic leader. God is asking you to do what I do quite often: go to God with an honest heart and pray, "Lord Jesus, show me if I’m wearing a mask, and help me be more authentic, transparent, and warm."

Rudy Rasmus is co-pastor with Juanita Rasmus of St. John’s Downtown United Methodist Church in Houston, Texas. This congregation has grown to thousands of worshippers in recent years. Often a third or more of the worshippers are homeless or formerly homeless. The two articles in this issue are adapted from his book, Touch: Pressing Against the Wounds of a Broken World, (Thomas Nelson, 2007) and used with the author’s permission. Touch: Pressing Against the Wounds of a Broken World can be purchased at Amazon or Cokesbury.

A New Urban Ministry Launched in Washington, DC

On October 27, 2009, a new urban minsitry was launched in downtown Washington, DC at Mt. Vernon Square. The ministry is a partnership between Wesley Theological Seminary, Mt. Vernon Place United Methodist Church and Asbury United Methodist Church. To read about this ministry, please click on http://bwcumc.org/files/umc_pdf_files/20091111.pdf and
http://www.wesleyseminary.edu/mvs/.

A Year After - Obama and Holding onto Hope

(This article will also appear on the site for the General Commission on Religion and Race of the United Methodist Church at www.gcorr.org.)

by C. Anthony Hunt, Ph.D.

A year after the election of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States, these continue to be days of tremendous change and challenge in our society, amid the predictable and the consistent. From the collapse of the economy that has affected all of us – to the wars that are now being fought in at least two places in the Middle East – to the proliferation of violence that affects many of our urban communities - to the healthcare crisis that results in over 40 million Americans living without healthcare today, these are days of unprecedented change and challenge that have kept the issues of race and racism nationally and globally, at the top of the nation’s agenda.

For many, Obama’s historic election as the first president of African descent renewed (or birthed) a sense of hope across the nation and the world. The election of Obama seemed to point - for many - to glimmers of hope that our society had somehow arrived at our ideals of “E Pluribus Unum” (out of many one), and the creed shared in our nation’s Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all (persons) are created equal.” Throughout his presidential campaign, Obama offered a framework for what he termed an audacity of hope amidst the challenges we face.

Many seemed to sense (and hope) that the election of Obama would usher in an age of post-racism and post-racialism in America – and perhaps across the world. A year later, we discover that we as a nation are continuing to come to grips with the racial and racist realities that continue to afflict us.

In his book, The Audacity of Hope (2006), Obama in-fact, offered words of caution to America in thinking that we may have arrived at becoming “post racial” or that we already live in a color-blind society, and that we may be beyond the need for discourse and critical engagement as it regards racism and related forms of oppression and injustice. He wrote:

To say that we are one people is not to suggest that race no longer matters – that the fight for equality has been won, or that the problems that minorities face in this country today are largely self-inflicted. We know the statistics: On almost every single socioeconomic indicator, from infant mortality to life expectancy to employment to home ownership, black and Latino Americans in particular lag far behind their white counterparts.We also recall, that Obama, in a major address entitled “A More Perfect Union” that he delivered during his presidential campaign, offered an analysis of the prevalence of racial tensions which continue to define the relationship between the black and white communities. Obama argued that to simply shelve anger or “wish it away” (the race problem in America) could prove to be completely detrimental. Unambiguously, Obama pointed to a belief that race factors into the opportunities provided to each American citizen.

To support his belief, he noted that the inferior school systems today are often the ones that were segregated fifty years ago. Obama shared that the history of racism in America is undeniably at the root of the lack of opportunities for African Americans today. In light of this, it is both achievable and necessary for all Americans to unite and battle racial prejudices. In order to move to a more perfect union, people of all races must recognize the historically oppressive and tyrannical nature of racism and its impact on the black experience in America.

A year after President Obama’s historic election, several recent events have served to heighten awareness as to the ongoing problems of race and racism in America. Among these are the Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Justice Sonia Sotomayor; the arrest of Harvard University Professor Henry Louis Gates at his home in Cambridge, MA; debate surrounding the president’s September speech to students returning to schools across the nation; the heckling by U.S. Congressman Joe Wilson (South Carolina) during a speech by President Obama to the joint session of the U.S. Congress; and the ongoing debates surrounding the president’s efforts toward reforming our nation's healthcare system. During a recent visit to the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, AL, I and others who were a part of the visit were informed that there were over 800 hate related groups identified in 2008, and that this number is on the rise since Obama’s election as president.

In 1992, philosopher Cornel West published an important book entitled Race Matters. The book was written against the backdrop of the Los Angeles riots of April 1992, which followed the acquittal of the police officers charged in the beating of Rodney King, and the ensuing racial tensions in that city. In the book, West pointed to what he referred to as the “nihilism of Black America” – where a certain nothingness, meaninglessness, lovelessness, and hopelessness seems to have pervaded and permeated much of our society – particularly in the urban context. According to West at that time, race matters in America.

In his most recent book Hope on a Tightrope (2008,) West cautions against a false sense of security in hope, yet unborn. He points out that real hope is grounded in a particularly messy struggle and it can be betrayed by naive projections of a better future that ignore the necessity of doing real work. For West, real hope is closely connected to attributes like courage, faith, freedom and wisdom. It comes out of a history of struggle, and points to a future filled with the possibilities of promise and progress.

A year after the historic election of President Barack Obama, it is evident that there remain significant challenges to the actualization of real hope in America. Further, it is evident that race still matters in America, and that while we may be moving toward such real hope, it is a hope yet unborn in its fullness.

A PRAYER FOR CHILDREN

This past August, I was priviledged to go on another pilgimage to Alabama to study and retrace some of the steps of the Civil Rights movement. There were 20 of us who were a part of the pilgimage, and we visited various places in the cities of Montgomery, Birmingham and Selma. I am finally at a point where I can reflect on the impact of this last pilgimage.

Something that struck me differently this time is the profound level of violence perpetrated against children duringt the movement. The cases of Emmett Till in Money, Mississippi on August 28, 1955, and the four girls murdered during the bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham on September 15, 1963 are well documented. While walking through Kelly Ingram Park, I was struck by the violence and brutality perpetrated by Eugene "Bull" Connor and police officials in Birmingham against thethe children of the city.

Today, we pray for the safety of all children, and we pray especially for those families whose children have been victimized by violence.

Strengthen Us to Answer with Brave Hearts

by Ted Loder (in My Heart in My Mouth: Prayers for our Lives)

God of grace,

as you did with Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr.,

Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela and Desm0nd Tutu,

strengthen us to answer with brave hearts

your call to help shape a world

not of death and oppression

but of life and hope.

BETTER TOGETHER

(The following is an excerpt from a sermon I preached at St. John UMC in Pumphrey, MD on Sunday, October 25, 2009 on the occasion of the church's annual Unity Sunday.)

"How good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!" (Psalm 133:1)

A careful reading of Scripture points with clarity to God’s divine design for all of humanity. The assertion that God has created all of humanity in God’s image was first recorded in the Book of Genesis and reminds us that God’s purpose for humanity is rooted in our God-likeness (imago dei). And it is in our God-likeness that we find our commonality in Christ.

Because of our God-likeness, the fact of the matter is we are more alike than we are different. In-fact, scientific researchers have discovered that the DNA make-up of humans makes us more than 95-99% similar to all other human beings. There is very little that is really different about us. We are far more similar than we are different.

The challenge for us in the present age is that we tend to focus more on the things that are different among us, than on our similarities. This challenge is exacerbated by that fact that the focus and fixation on our differences tends to lead to divisions within the human family.

As we look around, it is easy to see that we are separated in many ways. Segregation, discrimination and disintegration continue to be pervasive among us.
Indeed our churches and our society in general continue to deal with the problems of racism, sexism, and elitism. We see separation in the forms of denominationalism in the church. We see it in ongoing political division and social alienation.

It is my belief that such separation leads to a form human isolation that places too many of us outside the divine order and intent of God. Such separation forces us in one of two directions.

Either we find ourselves wanting to go it alone, and living life outside of community altogether. This is what might be called the “me-my-and- I” syndrome, where we turn inward and focus mainly, if not exclusively, on ourselves and how we will succeed. Here we privatize our lives in ways that stunt our growth as social beings and turn more and more inward for meaning in life, and seek less and less to share life with our sisters and brothers as a way of growing our lives and those of others.

Or we go down the road of simply seeking to share in community only with persons who are like us. This is the “birds of a feather” syndrome, where we find ourselves flocking together with persons who look like us, talk like us, think like us, believe like us, sing like us, pray like us, go to the places that we go, and do the same things that we do.

In either case, we are like caterpillars that never leave the cocoon - stuck inside our own self – trapped within our own possibilities, lost in the midst of life itself, never able to fully realize what and who we are to become.

How might we overcome these tendencies toward segregation and isolation? It is the psalmist in Psalm 133 who gives hope and encouragement as to how we might better live our lives. The psalmist declares, “How good and how pleasant it is for sisters and brothers to dwell together in unity.”

The main theme of the psalm is the reunification of the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel. Here, family imagery is used to evoke the joy of living together in unity. It speaks to the church and the whole family of God and reminds us of God’s ideal that we break down barriers and join with those who have been estranged from fellowship with God and God’s church.

The psalmist here points to unity as a goal that we must achieve if we are to be whole. It is a vision that we must live. My grandmother used to make vegetable soup the way I think the Holy Spirit brings about unity among us. She would imagine the ingredients that needed to go into the pot to make the soup taste just right. She would add the right vegetables in the right order at just the right time, so that when it was done, the soup was mixed to near perfection.

In a similar way, God takes who we are – as different as we all are from each other – and enables us not to just live together but to blend together in a way that makes our witness nourishment for the world. God’s power in the world rests in large part in our unity. We’re better together.

In ancient Greek literature there is a story that shows the power of working together, or synergism.

“An aged, dying father called his seven sons around him. He gave each one a stick and told them to break it. Each son easily broke his separate stick. The old father then bound seven stick and gave the bundle to his eldest son and told him to break the bundle. The eldest son could not do it. Then the second son was commanded to try. He could not, nor could any of the rest.

“So is it to be of you,” said the father. Alone you are weak, together you are strong.” We’re better together.

One popular song today shares words that remind us of the very things that our lives depend on today:

I need you, you need me.
We’re all a part of God’s body.
I won’t harm you with words from my mouth,
we’re all a part of God’s body.
You pray for me, I’ll pray for you.
We’re all a part of God’s body. (Hezekiah Walker)