Moving Forward

On the album, Songs in the Key of Life by Stevie Wonder, there is a powerful track entitled, “Pastime Paradise”. In the haunting melody, Stevie sings;

They’ve been spending most their lives
Living in a pastime paradise
They’ve been wasting most their time
Glorifying days long gone behind
They’ve been wasting most their days
In remembrance of ignorance oldest praise

The young are naturally inclined to look toward the future – most of their life lies ahead. As we grow older, the largest portion of our lives is behind us, which calls us to look back. If we aren’t careful, we find ourselves trying to live in the past at the expense of losing a vision for the future.

The future is always moving toward us, calling us to re-creation. This re-creation is uncertain. It demands change. “The only constant in the universe is change”, Heraclitus of Ephesus said. God may remain the same, but God doesn’t want us to remain the same. God desires that we continue to grow and expand. Since God’s work on earth is done through the church, I think it is safe to say that God is calling the church to grow and expand.

The church must never get lost “glorifying days long gone behind.” It’s a hard lesson. After all, what is the church if not a collection of faith-filled friends who journey through life together? The memories of the past are our connection to the saints who came before us.

Jesus said in John chapter 4, “look around you, and see, the fields are ready for harvesting.” There is much work to do. We will not succeed in this work if churches fight to remain more like museums and less like mission stations. We must be open to change – we must look to the future.

Paul wrote, “What we sow does not come to life unless it dies.” (1 Cor.15:36) For people of faith, death is not the end; rather, it is the beginning of new life. We may need to bury some things in the dirt, allow them to die, and allow God to spring forth new life. Let’s bury inflexible minds and allow God to open us to new voices that cry out for revitalization. Let’s bury routinized worship practices and allow God to open us to revitalize our communal practices. Let’s bury unhealthy attachments to names and buildings and allow God to restore a right understanding that the church is the people.

In one of my favorite movies, The Outlaw Josey Wales, a bounty hunter approaches Josey, “You're wanted, Wales,” he says. Josey replies, “Reckon I'm right popular. You a bounty hunter?” The bounty hunter says, “A man's got to do something for a living these days.” Josey looks back at him and says, “Dyin' ain't much of a living, boy.”

I agree. Let’s not live in the pastime paradise. Let’s move forward to a new future in Christ. After all, dying ain’t much of a living.

Kingdom of God or Kingdom of UMC

I recently shared lunch with a friend of mine who is a pastor in another denomination. We shared ministry stories together and then the conversation turned to denominations. My friend did share a penetrating insight about the United Methodist Church with me.

He said, “You know, as I observe the United Methodist Church, my opinion is it has one fundamental weakness.”

I thought for a moment, “Here we go, I have no doubt he will point to the theological dissention.”

My friend continued, “You may think I believe the biggest issue facing the United Methodist Church is theology. But I don’t think that’s your biggest issue. The biggest issue I see is that the United Methodist Church is more concerned about the United Methodist Church than it is about the Kingdom of God.”

That stung. I spent a few moments in my defensive posture and we shared some give and take. As I processed my friend’s compassionate criticism, I started thinking, I’ve learned through the years that when someone says something to you that stings, we should ask, “What is true in what they said?”

The United Methodist Church is guilty of what many large institutions all struggle with – the creation of a large, bulky system that takes on a life of its own. This large system can do great things – reach more people, provide more mosquito nets, send more flood buckets. But a large system also demands more resources to continue its existence.

In the coming years, our denomination will need to do some soul searching. We are a great denomination and we are capable of impacting untold numbers of people in our country and around the world, but I believe two things will need to happen for that to occur.