Bishop Wills' Life Journal Entry for May 28, 2008 -- "My Projects or God's Will"

S: Romans 9: 31 (The Message)
How could they miss it? Because instead of trusting God, they took over. They were absorbed in what they themselves were doing. They were so absorbed in their “God projects” that they did not notice God right in front of them, like a huge rock in the middle of the road.

O: It all comes down to being obedient to God and trusting where God is leading even if we cannot see the results at this point.

A: This morning I am aware of how often I try to come up with good ideas which will help churches to grow. In a way, these become my “God projects”. I can easily get absorbed in them to the point the focus becomes “me” instead of following the teachings of Jesus and being led by the Holy Spirit.

In the Bible someplace it says: “God’s ways are not our ways”. This is where I can often get tripped up. If I do not stay daily in scripture and prayer, I find myself adopting the thinking of the world and trusting my own “good ideas”.

Trusting God and trying to live the way Jesus would live if he were in my body is hard work. I would much rather trust in what I can see rather than trust in the leading of the Holy Spirit which I cannot see. I spend my day searching for God’s Will and here it is right in scripture each morning. Paul quotes Isaiah in the last verst of chapter 9 in Romans: “Careful! I’ve put a huge stone on the road to Mount Zion, a stone you can’t get around. But the stone is me! If you are looking for me, you’ll find me on the way, not in the way.”

P: Father lead me today in the living of my life. Help me to have more faith with those things I cannot see and forgive me when I live only by what I do see. Forgive me for my own thinking of how to run life. Walk with me today so I live by faith and act in the ways Jesus would act if he were in my place today. Love, Dick

Y: I give up only what I can see and will trust the leading of the Holy Spirit in what God, the potter, decides to do with my lump of clay.

Bishops can give deacons sacramental authority

United Methodist ordained deacons, with the approval of their bishop, may now administer Holy Communion and baptism in the absence of an elder. UMNS photos by Mike DuBose.

A UMNS Report
By Vicki Brown*

United Methodist bishops will be allowed to grant authority to deacons to administer Holy Communion and baptism in certain circumstances under legislation approved this spring by General Conference.

The authority can be granted to a deacon within his or her primary appointment in the absence of an elder. The change takes effect in January 2009.

"This legislation is an effort to extend the mission and ministry of the church in extraordinary circumstances when an elder is not present," said the Rev. Mary Ann Moman, a staff executive with the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry.

"The legislation is a reminder of the importance of the sacramental ministry in the church and the world. It is fair to ask why elders aren't present in the places where the sacraments are needed."

The board presented the petition through its Study of Ministry Commission, which also asked to continue a denomination-wide conversation regarding ordination and sacramental authority for four more years. Delegates voted to create a new commission to continue that conversation and also approved the legislation allowing sacramental authority.

The legislation was approved by 67 percent of the delegates voting. General Conference, the top legislative body of The United Methodist Church, met April 23-May 2 in Fort Worth, Texas.

The petition amends the Book of Discipline to add: "For the sake of extending the mission and ministry of the church, a pastor-in-charge or district superintendent may request that the bishop grant local sacramental authority to the deacon to administer the sacraments in the absence of an elder, within a deacon's primary appointment." (Paragraph 328.)

Moman said agency staff will work with the Council of Bishops as the church's dpiscopal leaders address the issues of implementation, including exactly what situations would apply.

The board plans to distribute information to deacons, chairs of orders, and annual conference Boards of Ordained Ministry about the change.

The Rev. Sharon Rubey, director of candidacy and conference relations, said the legislation gives the authority to "extend the means of grace for the missional needs of the church, and not a means of convenience."

The Rev. Anita Wood, the board's director of professional ministry development, said the heart of the ministry of the deacon remains the call to connect the needs of the world to the ministries of the church.

"Deacons are called to the responsibility to serve in specialized ways that bridge ministries of the congregation with the needs of the community. Sometimes that may call for sacramental authority, and many times, not," Wood said.

Wood said it will be important to articulate the connection between the ministries of the deacon and offering the means of grace through sacramental authority and will require much discussion and discernment. "Informal conversations have already begun," she said.

*Brown is associate editor and writer, Office of Interpretation, United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry.

Bishop Wills' Life Journal Entry for May 13, 2008 -- "Loved By God And Loved By The Larger Community"

S: I Thessalonians 2:13 (The Message)
And now we look back on all this and thank God, an artesian well of thanks! When you got the Message of God we preached, you didn’t pass it off as just one more human opinion, but you took it to heart as God’s true word to you, which it is, God himself at work in you believers!
O: Maturity in the Christian life involves the steady conviction that God loves me, that my future is with God. At the same time there must be the steady conviction that other believers love me, hope for me, delight in me. Otherwise, I can never live freely and openly in a Christian community.

A: Sometimes, I think our small churches often feel inferior, rejected, and abandoned. It is easy to look to the large numbers in large churches and their many ministries and forget the importance of our small membership churches.

Our small membership churches need to know they are loved and we have hope for them in these days. Many of these faithful small membership churches are following Christ the very best they can. They care about children and young people. They want to help when there is trouble any place in the world. Their offerings seem small, but in God’s eyes they are among the largest.

Paul’s word to the Thessalonians is not only are they accepted and loved by God because of their obedience, they are also accepted and loved by the larger Christian community, starting with Paul himself.

I believe this teaching is for all of us to love and appreciate our smaller churches who are seeking to be faithful in these difficult days in our society. I know this teaching to me this morning is important and I pray to always honor people who love God and share the gospel no matter how big or small they are.

P: Father, thank you for this teaching this morning. It is easy to see only the big things our large churches are doing in ministry and miss the important Kingdom work of our smaller churches. I am deeply grateful for each of our churches and deeply grateful for those who are the pastors and lay leaders of all our churches. Love, Dick

Y: I will be affirming of each of our churches and their people and pastors who seek to be faithful to the gospel in these difficult days.

Bishop Wills' Life Journal Entry for May 4, 2008 -- "Making Room In The Center Of My Life"

S: Matthew 21: 42-43 (The Message)
The stone the masons threw out is now the cornerstone. This is God’s work; we rub our eyes, we can hardly believe it! This is the way it is with you. God’s kingdom will be taken back from you and handed over to a people who will live out a kingdom of life.

O: Jesus is talking to the religious leaders. They have been living a life where everything is in the hands and nothing is in the heart. This is a story of many today.

A: I and others live in a time when out standard of living is so high, our ability to possess is so well developed, and out claims to ownership are so conspicuous, and yet so many feel burdened with anxiety, guilt, emptiness, and boredom.

In a strange way I and others can end up living in the church playing the role of the wicked tenants in the vineyard. But despite our sin, God is still here in love and forgiveness, exercising his gracious rule over our lives.

For me the warning is this: If I refuse to acknowledge the ownership of God and my position as a steward of life, there will be no meaning or beauty or fullness in anything I do.

This morning I get the point: God wants me (and each of us) to enjoy all that he has given us. But I (we) can’t do it unless I (we) enjoy God at the center. Every joy radiates from that central joy, just as the rays of life-giving light radiate from sun.

P: Father this morning I give to you everything I have and all that I am. I simply ask for you to be the center of my life so my life can be filled with joy. May I always point to you as the source of everything gift in my life. Help me never take credit for anything I might do which is good. Love, Dick

Y: I give to God and center place in my life.

Bishop Ward: Wait, watch receive God’s spirit

By Woody Woodrick*

Bishop Hope Morgan Ward preaches during the morning worship service on May 2, the final day of the 10-day United Methodist General Conference. A UMNS photo by Paul Jeffrey

FORT WORTH, Texas (UMNS)—As the 2008 General Conference closes, delegates and other participants need to wait and watch so they can receive the ascended spirit of God.

Bishop Hope Morgan Ward of the Mississippi Episcopal Area delivered that message in her sermon on May 2, the final day of the gathering at the Fort Worth Convention Center.

“God bless you as you go,” she said. “How glorious it is to be a witness to the way God will be in the world beyond this place.”

Ward urged the delegates as they return to their homes to focus less on the decisions made and more on the things they learned. “We learned much about God,” she said.

“Christ reigns in every place. Christ reigns over all that we are and over everything that we do. In this General Conference-ending day, we know that Christ is with us.”

Joining Ward in the worship service were the Festival Choir from Christ United Methodist Church from Sugar Land, Texas, including soloist Barbara Johnson Tucker; the St. Luke “Community” United Methodist Choir of Dallas; and jazz pianist Eugene Lowry of Texas.

Ward based her sermon on Acts 1:6-11, where the disciples gathered with the risen Christ. However, He told them to wait for the time when God restores His kingdom – that it was not for them to know the time of His coming. Christ then ascended into heaven.

Ward acknowledged that many people, especially those at a meeting such as General Conference, have a difficult time waiting and not knowing. “This was an invitation to wait, to remember there are things we are not to know,” she said. “It was an invitation to receive the spirit, to be a witness.”

Tongues from across The United Methodist Church give the invocation during the May 2 morning worship at the 2008 United Methodist General Conference.

Ward shared the story of how United Methodists affected by Hurricane Katrina in Mississippi and Louisiana were asked to bring shards of broken items to be part of a cross or handed out to delegates to the General Conference. A woman came to Heritage United Methodist Church in D’Iberville, Miss., with a bent spoon. She said she had held onto it for more than two years, not knowing why.

“Since the storm I have kept this bent spoon,” the woman had said. “For some reason, I have not been able to throw this spoon away. Until now. I’m ready to let it go; let it go to someone at the General Conference.”

“God is powerfully with us. Christ ascends. The Spirit comes,” Ward said. “So, this day, let go. Wait. Watch. Receive.”

*Woodrick is editor of the Mississippi Advocate.

Church adopts proposed creed as litany

Darlene Marquez-Caramanzana and Norma P. Dollaga participate in an August 2007 workshop in Manila, Philippines, on the Social Creed. A UMNS file photo by Kathy L. Gilbert.

By Kathy L. Gilbert*

FORT WORTH, Texas (UMNS) — A proposed new Social Creed for The United Methodist Church became a “companion litany” instead after action by the denomination’s lawmaking body on April 30.

A task force under the leadership of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society worked on the “poetic” 2008 Social Creed that was proposed to the denomination’s General Conference meeting in Fort Worth through May 2.

Even though it will not replace the United Methodist Social Creed, the Rev. Neal Christie, staff on the board and a member of the task force, said it is “a gift to the church and reinforces and reframes the creed.”

“The proposed Social Creed was a beautiful, elegant expression about hope, and I will be excited to teach it as a litany,” he said.

The proposed creed went on a worldwide tour during 2007 and 2008 and reflected hours of careful crafting by United Methodists in the United States, Norway, Africa and the Philippines.

The task force wanted to present a social creed that would be easier to use than the 1972 creed. The original creed was written in 1908 as a denominational statement decrying child labor and supporting the economic rights of workers, better workplace conditions, better wages and worker safety.

The 2004 United Methodist General Conference designated 2005-2008 as a time of celebration, education and study of the Social Creed and Social Principles leading up to the 100th anniversary of the 1908 Social Creed.

As part of that celebration, the Board of Church and Society took on the task of writing a contemporary, timeless version to offer for future generations.

The Book of Discipline, the denomination's book of law, recommends the Social Creed be emphasized regularly in every congregation and used frequently in Sunday worship.

*Gilbert is a news writer for United Methodist News Service.

Sight, sounds, movements create worship experience
By Yvette-Moore*

Marcia McFee, co-director of music and worship, leads singing during morning worship on April 27 at the 2008 United Methodist General Conference in Fort Worth, Texas. A UMNS photo by Paul Jeffrey

FORT WORTH, Texas (UMNS) —What we do in worship matters. That's a guiding principle shaping the sights, sounds, feel and movement experienced in the physically engaging worship services of the 2008 United Methodist General Conference.

"Worship helps form us. The question is what are we being formed into?" said Marcia McFee, co-director of music and worship at the quadrennial event. "It's not enough to sing the word. It's not enough to talk the word. Something happens when we act."

She believes getting physical in worship can help the church act like the body of Christ that it is. Worshippers at General Conference are clapping, singing, offering liturgies in American Sign Language, moving with songs of faith from around the world and turning en masse to face one another across the communion table in the center of the arena to enter what McFee calls "the physicality of spirituality."

"Our physical bodies have something to do with our discipleship," she said. "When we do something as simple as turning to the center to face each other around the communion table and see each other as the body of Christ across the table – especially in a place where there can be so many divisions – there's no way we can then turn away from one another."

Collaborative work
From the start, the music and worship of this General Conference has been the collaborative work of McFee and Mark Miller. The two learned they'd both applied to direct music and worship at General Conference while crossing paths at Drew Theological School where McFee teaches and Miller is director of music and instructor of church music. Their joint response was, "Let's have lunch," according to McFee.

Mark Miller, co-director of music and worship, leads singing during worship at General Conference. A UMNS photo by Paul Jeffrey.

"We talked because this is a huge job -- together, we could do something special," she said. "One of the wonderful things about the collaboration is I've gotten to focus on worship design, pulling together ritual and the dramatics, and writing liturgy."

McFee and Miller put out a call for artists of all kinds for General Conference worship. They reviewed each video, CD and script submission, considering how each artist's offering could fit with the General Conference's theme, "A Future with Hope."

For example, the Strangely Warmed Players' "Crossing to the Other Side" comedy skit, featuring a captain who for safety reasons refused to undock his ship, challenged the church to risk being in mission on the day General Conference participants were called to remember their baptisms.

"I'm not a big fan of worship as a showcase," McFee said. "Artists are there to proclaim the word. In all of the services, we worked hard to integrate the theme and speak to the word proclaimed."

Dramatic, full-bodied worship is a hallmark of McFee's work around the church. The author, preacher and worship designer has developed worship for church events, such as the quadrennial United Methodist Women's Assembly, and regularly led retreats and seminars on worship.

"I started out as a dancer -- and dance is a part of my life that I love -- but it's not about watching people dance," McFee said. "Worship is about asking people to enter into the physicality of spirituality. If worship never moves us to sync up with each other, we're less likely to feel that we are the body of Christ."

*Moore is an executive secretary of communication for the Women's Division, United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.