An Angel at Whole Foods

In the Bible, angels take many forms including regular people, prophets, and priests.

Today, it’s about those regular angels. I met an angel in Whole Foods a few hours ago. We happily cried together in an aisle over shared interests and concerns. She is a regular person, flesh and blood, who is an angel. Aggelos, in the Greek, means messenger. She brought me the good news as a messenger that she understood what I said before I said it.

Angels are real. It says so in scripture. (Job 1:14; Luke 7:24; 9:52)

When was the last time you encountered and angel? What happened?

DISCIPLINARY QUESTIONS FOR PROVISIONAL MEMBERSHIP AND COMMISSIONING

 Western Pennsylvania Conference, United Methodist Church

Questions may vary from conference to conference

See 2012 Book of Discipline for Questions

(1)            Describe your personal experience of God and the understanding of God you derive from biblical, theological and historical sources.

(2)            What is your understanding of evil as it exists in the world?

(3)             What is your understanding of humanity, and the human need for divine grace?

SECTION II

(4)             How do you interpret the statement “Jesus Christ is Lord”?

(5)           What is your conception of the activity of the Holy Spirit in personal faith, in the community of believers and in responsible living in the world?

(6)            What is your understanding of the kingdom of God; the Resurrection; eternal life?

SECTION III

(7)            How do you intend to affirm, teach and apply Part II of the Discipline (Doctrinal Standards and Our Theological Task) in your work in the ministry to which you have been called?

(8)           Discuss your understanding of the primary characteristics of United Methodist polity.

(9)            How do you perceive yourself, your gifts, your motives, your role and your commitment as a provisional member and commissioned minister in the United Methodist Church?

SECTION IV

(10)        Describe your understanding of diakonia, the servant ministry of the church, and the servant ministry of the provisional member and commissioned minister.

(11)         What is the meaning of ordination in the context of the general ministry of the church?

(12)         Describe your understanding of an inclusive church and ministry.

(13)         You have agreed as a candidate for the sake of the mission of Jesus Christ in the world and the most effective witness of the gospel, and in consideration of their influence as ministers, to make a complete dedication of yourself to the highest ideals of the Christian life and to this end agree to exercise responsible self-control by personal habits conducive to bodily health, mental and emotional maturity, integrity in all personal relationships, fidelity in marriage and celibacy in singleness, social responsibility and growth in grace and the knowledge and love of God.  What is your understanding of this agreement?

SECTION V

(14)        The United Methodist Church holds that the living core of the Christian faith was revealed in Scripture, illumined by tradition, vivified in personal experience and confirmed by reason.  What is your understanding of this theological position of the Church?

(15)         Explain the role and significance of the sacraments in the ministry to which you have been called.

(16)         Describe the nature and mission of the Church.  What are its primary tasks today?

Elder Commissioning Resources, United Methodist Church

So you want be an elder? Over several years, I’ve learned it is not quite that simple. A better way of phrasing this is: has God called you to the ministry as a pastor through the Word—preaching and teaching, Sacrament—communion and baptism, Order—administration and service—to the local congregation and larger community? God sent me on quite a journey that led me to be a local pastor in Pittsburgh Metro and prayerfully an elder in the United Methodist Church in the future.

Right now, I am working on commissioning questions and answers. I thought a collection of resources would be a start in gathering my thoughts and helping others too.

Resources for Commissioning Questions

 

Bibles

Harper Collins Study Bible (NRSV)

Wesley Study Bible (NRSV)

 

Class Notes (variations of these classes required):

UM Theology

UM Polity

UM History

Christian Theology

Christian Ethics

 

Books

The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church (2012)

The Book of Resolutions of the United Methodist Church (2012)

Abraham, William J. and James Kirby. The Oxford Handbook of Methodist Studies

Barth, Karl. Dogmatics in Outline

Campbell, Ted. Methodist Doctrine: The Essentials

Collins, Kenneth J. The Scripture Way of Salvation: The Heart of Wesley’s Theology

Foster, Richard. Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth

Frank, Thomas Edward. Polity, Practice, and the Mission of the United Methodist Church

Hamilton, Adam. Confronting the Controversies: Biblical Perspectives on Tough Issues

Heitzenrater, Richard P. Wesley and the People Called Methodists

Heitzenratner, Richard P., ed. The Works of John Wesley Cd or Hardcover

Jones, Scott. United Methodist Doctrine: The Extreme Center

Langford, Thomas A. Practical Divinity: Readings in Wesleyan Theology

Langford, Thomas A., ed. Doctrine and Theology in the United Methodist Church

Long, Thomas. What Shall We Say? Evil, Suffering, and the Crisis of Faith

Maddox, Randy L. ed. Rethinking Wesley’s Theology for Contemporary Methodism

Maddox. Randy L. Responsible Grace: John Wesley’s Practical Theology

Matthews, Rex D. Timetables of History for Students of Methodism

Migliore, Daniel L. Faith Seeking Understanding: An Introduction to Christian Theology

Outler, Albert C. ed. John Wesley’s Sermons

Outler, Albert C. John Wesley

Plancher, William C. Essentials of Christian Theology

Proctor, Samuel D. and Gardner C. Taylor. We Have This Ministry

Richey, Russell E. ed. The Methodist Experience in America: A Source Book

Richey, Russell E. The Methodist Experience in America, Vol. 1: A History

Ricoeur, Paul. Evil

Runyon, Ted. The New Creation: John Wesley’s Theology Today

Watson, David Lowes. God Does Not Foreclose: The Promise of Universal Salvation

White, James F. Sacraments of God’s Self Giving (ordered)

Willimon, William H. Pastor: The Theology and Practice of Ordained Ministry

Willimon, William. United Methodist Beliefs: A Brief Introduction

Yrigoyen, Charles, T & T Clark Companion to Methodism

CD’s

Heitzenratner, Richard P., ed. The Works of John Wesley Cd or Hardcover

The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church (2012)

 

Websites

Ministry of Elder

Pastoral Appointments: Overview

Kentucky Conference, United Methodist Church Commissioning Question Tips

 

When asked specifics I plan to focus on Care and Creation so will be using the following:

Barnett, Tanya Marcovna. Greening Congregations

Gottlieb, Roger S. This Sacred Earth: Religion, Nature, Environment

Hessel, Dieter T. Christianity and Ecology

Facing the Future: Clergy Cross-Racial/Cultural Network

As clergy, as a pastor, I am attending a United Methodist (UM) Conference. Doesn’t say much because I could be at any UM gathering anywhere in the country. Well, I am attending “Facing the Future: A Clergy Network for Cross-Racial/Cross-Cultural Appointment Ministry” sponsored by the General Commission on Religion and Race (GCORR) in Baltimore, Maryland from July 26-28, 2012.

What a rich experience we are having together. I met a Tongan gentleman doing missions, and based in a suburb outside of New Orleans. I heard the Lord’s Prayer in Korean. I listened to a man from the Caribbean who cried out that the focus should not be limited to African Americans but that language and actions should more broadly integrate all people of African descent. A layperson who is in discernment about being ordained as a deacon serves at Kingdom House. His wife is a coordinator of The Mozambique Initiative.

So many people . . . So many stories . . . So many opportunities for support one another in the next steps for ministries in diversity.

Watch videos of the meeting.

Photos by Dianne Glave

Goodbyes: Crafton United Methodist Church

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It is the way of the United Methodist Church in which . . . it is that season in June when . . . many pastors across the country prepare to leave for an appointment elsewhere, at another church. I am one of those pastors.

And so I say goodbye to the members of Crafton United Methodist Church in these last days before my new appointment starting July 1. With these often traumatic changes comes anxiety, sadness, and disappointment. This is the way of things when people depart from one another, when we enter the unknown. I am grateful that so many faced and embraced these feelings with me in the midst of so much change.

As I said in my last sermon at the church on Sunday, June 24th, “Crafton UMC is a David, a boy vanquishing the giant Goliath.”

Photos by David Maier

The Womb of God in the Pews

Is God a man, woman or both? I do care about this question because if a young child has been molested by her father, then it’s hard to see God as male as positive. And the opposite is true for those who have had positive experiences and images of men, including father and father figures. In giving pastoral care to others, I strive to be sensitive to feelings around gender. With that said, I experience God as male, female, and genderless, without getting one of the theological debates of the ages.

So looking at one aspect of God’s gender or “genderlessness,” I often crawl into God’s womb. Metaphorically being in the womb is a form of worship for me and an encounter with God as female. As a pastor, I have the luxury of being in the sanctuary alone during most days and times of the week. When I feel the need for nurturing, I stretch out on those smooth pews feeling cocooned in the cool semi-gloom of the sanctuary. And I worship God.

Gender matters. I also know that crawling in God’s womb has no boundaries, experiencing a personal spiritual moment so close to God. Ultimately, God defies humankind’s limited definitions and labels. This includes God’s relationship with us. And that can be in God’s womb.

In the Bathroom: A Letter to Anyone on United Methodist Annual Conference?!

To Whom It May Concern,

I know this may sound odd . . . I know this may lack decorum but might I suggest we squeeze everyone into the bathroom with feet tucked into the sink and belongings carelessly scattered about for the many United Methodist Annual Conferences across the country. I know: scandalous.

We might face a logistical problem squeezing thousands into bathrooms but I think we can get around that for the sake of corporate intimacy.

On the agenda: What’s your name? Where are you from? Why are you here? I REALLY want to KNOW!

Legislation: On this day, June, 11th, 2012, everyone must climb up on the sink, sit down, and talk to this smart grown 17 year old woman at Annual Conference. We will engage her, and others like her, in conversations in the bathroom until she is sick of talking to us and wants us to go away at least for now.

We don’t even need to take a vote.

When I saw this young woman tucked in the sink, I thought of Johannes Vermeer’s The Girl with the Pearl Earring. Can Annual Conference be so luminous, so infused with life much like Vermeer’s painting, much like this teen in the photo? Can we take it to the bathroom, a place in which we are most stripped down and most vulnerable?

I wonder. I hope.

Photo by Dianne Glave on her iPhone

PBS’s Sherlock: What no Redemption for EVIL Moriarty?

I shouldn’t say this but I will: Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes’ meanest baddest adversary, is one of my favorite characters on television and film. I root for Sherlock too because he’s one step away from being the meanest baddest too, perhaps a mirror of Moriarty’s evil nature. So you ask, WHY?

Sherlock Holmes has become part of our modern mythology, much like the Greek gods and goddesses of ancient times. Moriarty is the twentieth and twenty-first century Hades, the Greek God of the underworld. Does it get more evil than Hades? Yup, Moriarty.

So can Moriarty be redeemed? I keep hoping so though I’ve seen many incarnations where he never comes back from the evil edge.

I’ve seen many incarnations on television. There’s the Moriarty in Star Trek: Next Generation. This Moriarty was not redeemed. Don’t remember? Take a look:

Being a sentient holographic image FOREVER is worse than death!

I gladly revisited Moriarty this weekend because of PBS’s Sherlock. Briefly, I went back mentally to the Sherlock Holmes in black and white films of the 1930s and 1940s starring Basil Rathbone,  the more recent incarnation starring Robert Downey, Jr and the television show House loosely based on Holmes. All of the versions, except House who was actually a Sherlockian Moriarty, had their own glorious Moriarty. No happy ending . . . No redemption . . . At least for Moriarty.

I have to say though that PBS’s version has been the most compelling because this Moriarty is damaged, co-dependent, attention-seeking, and oh so crazy. He is Jim Moriarty. He’s the CRAZY uncle, the engine that drives the dysfunctional family; strangely, even in his nuttiness he’s missed when he skips the family BBQ.

I was hoping by the end of the second season of PBS’s Sherlock, that THIS Moriarty would be redeemed. Partly, because Moriarty’s co-dependency was fueled by Sherlock’s desperate need to have a sibling in which they mirrored one another’s sadness, mental illness, and brilliance. Ying and Yang, with Sherlock’s crazy Ying, one block from Jim’s nutty self-absorbed Yang.

And partly because I so wanted Moriarty to live on, to be redeemed even when I know in EVERY version of Sherlock vs. Moriarty that Moriarty has to go, I mean die. Don’t we all deserve redemption? Would it be the worst thing in the world to re-write some of the greatest mysteries written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle where the bad guy, where Jim Moriarty finds some grace, justification, and sanctification? I’m all for it.

Watch both seasons of Sherlock even though you know the answer. Season 1 is available on DVD. Sherlock is compelling TV.

A Silver Lining: Race, Racism, & Ethnicity

In Christ’s family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ. (Galatians 3:28, The Message)

Hey, I am the first to say I don’t view church life through rose-colored glasses. I’m a pretty practical feet-planted-on-solid-ground person. So it makes sense I am guarded but hopeful about all of the modern issues concerning race, racism, & ethnicity in the US.

This month’s conversation, perhaps this year’s conversation concerning race relations took place on the street outside the church. I walked out of the church to be greeted by the street’s handy-man. He did odd jobs at the parsonage over the last several months. He texted me every holiday.

Well, today, he was landscaping a neighbor’s yard. He pulled himself up from his knees and crossed the street to talk to me.

He said, “I hear you are leaving. Is it because you wanted to get away from us white folks.”

I responded, “No, I’m actually headed to serve at another church so I have some new white folks.”

I went on to explain some of the internal financial issues at the current church that led to my new appointment.

As I walked away, I said to myself, “My how SOME things have changed.” Just 10, maybe even 5 years ago, an African American woman appointed to a United Methodist Church would have to assume that the congregation did not want her and there would be attempts to drive her from the church, instead of people wanting her to stay on. Even today, that is still the case.

Everyone once in a while people surprise you. And I can say I was happily surprised by my first appointment as a United Methodist pastor in the Western Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church.

We still have much to do, but thankfully there are silver linings, here and there.

Departure || New Appointment

My letter to the members and friends at Crafton United Methodist Church . . .

March 18, 2012

Dear Crafton United Methodist Church,

Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it? There it is! I’m making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands. Isaiah 43:19 (The Message) speaks to change, suffering, and hope. Brand new things call for change often coupled with the book-ends of suffering and hope. The desert, the badlands are in-between places taking us on difficult roads and treacherous rivers that lead to a cool breeze threading across the sky or can look like a goblet beaded with and filled with crisp refreshing water.

When I learned last week that the Western Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church was appointing me as an associate pastor at Ingomar Church effective July 1, 2012 change, suffering, and hope came to mind.

With this news some may be considering the road, the desert . . . the river, the badlands. I have served at Crafton UMC since September 15^th 2011 for about six months now, struggling with all of you in the desert or the badlands.

I pray as I continue as the pastor of Crafton UMC during the next three months or so that God leads us through these times of change, suffering and hope, and that we grow and are transformed spiritually.

It has been a blessing to be your pastor even in our short time together. I am grateful for the loving presence and service of each of you here at Crafton UMC. May God continue to lead us on the paths, the road or the river, He has in store for us as individuals and as a faith community.

Love,

Pastor Dianne