Preside or Celebrate

A friend of mine, Rev. Raul Gutierrez

, brought up in conversation that there is a difference in presiding over a ceremony and celebrating it. Seminary and the ordination process of the UMC teach people how to preside over the table and at funerals and weddings and baptisms. That is the mechanisms are taught and the the protocol is followed. But the fact of the matter is a community does not need anyone to preside over a table or a ceremony, the community needs and desires someone to celebrate it.

We do not need people to read a liturgy like it is the 1000 time they have read it - even if it is so! We do not need clergy thinking for one moment that we are "in charge" (as the dictionary defines the word 'preside'). Churches know that God is the authority in the room. Clergy are called to celebrate it.

So let us all learn to celebrate and give up presiding over our lives.

Stop seeking balance

Recently it was shared with a group I was in facilitated by Rev. Ed George that Christians should not seek balance in their lives. Seeking balance will only get you sea sick.

Rather than seeking balance, Christians are called to seek centered-ness in Christ.

Not a bad thought.

What if being a disciple was actually to be a di(e)ciple

I found myself in a very interesting conversation the other day about what it means to be a disciple. It sounds like a silly question, but what does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus Christ? 

The odds are that everyone who is in a worship service on a Sunday thinks that they are a disciple of Jesus. No Christian thinks they are wrong when it comes to understanding Jesus, but lets face it: everyone in Jesus' day was wrong about what it meant to be a disciple and I am not convinced that we have made much headway on having a better understanding.

There are a great number of conversations about having a clear discipleship pathway for church members. The underlying assumption is that we all know what a disciple looks like. But do we really? 

For most of us, being a disciple is having a combination of some of the following qualities:

• Nice, pleasant, non-confrontational, cordial 
• Does some sort of service, but not necessarily very demanding on the person 
• Involved in a small group or Bible study
• Attends worship regularly 
• Gives money to the church
• Refrains from doing "really bad things" 

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The list can go on, but the point being that discipleship is generally seen as a number of actions that a person does that enhance/better their lives. And so being a Christian is primarily about being happy and doing good. 

I would like to submit that this way of understanding discipleship actually leads us to a place where Christianity is nothing more than painting a crumbling house. It looks nice and it masks the structural flaws, but the structure is still in disarray.

Rather, I would like to submit that discipleship is not about living your best life now or having everything roses and peaches in your life. It is not about joining a group of people to learn how to be better people or do nice things for others.

Following Jesus, being a disciple, is about dying. It is about dying to yourself. Thus, I submit we consider becoming Di(e)ciples.

Not sure when I will post more about Di(e)cipleship, but I hope more will come and perhaps a book thesis.