Tag: Preaching

“George of the Jungle” aka Third Time Is a Charm

My family and I were enjoying a much needed vacation at a little resort in the Virginia mountains. Not long after lunch we decided to move from the indoor water park to the outdoor area that included a wave pool and water slide.

I vaguely recall hearing a sound that resembled a gong at the very same moment I recognized a couple of colleagues who were vacationing in the same place came into sight. We were walking one direction and they were headed the other but I certain that I saw them just as that gong sounded.

I really wanted to tell my family that I had spotted them. I really, really, wanted to call out to my colleagues and say, “Hello!”, however, it was then that I realized the “gong sound” I heard was actually coming from the sign post that the side of my head had  made contact with as I walked along.

The sound was followed by a blinding bright light and I really could not understand how whole family was able to see me and grab hold of me when this light was so bright. I couldn’t see them. How could they see me? But they did. And they gently – but laughingly – led me to a place that I could sit down and assess the damage.

My vision cleared quickly and it was pretty apparent that I had suffered no lasting damage, and so I told my family that the only reason the pole and my head met was because I had seen these friends there.

“Was that before or after you smacked your head?” one of my loving, caring, daughters asked.

I didn’t answer but just let it go until we ran into…wait, bad word choice there…until we met the folks I saw a little later in the other part of the water park.

 

 

I love this story about myself, Perhaps my love for it goes back to my childhood love of the cartoon “George of the Jungle.” Perhaps I like it because it reminds me to be humble because its hard to tell when I will next make a fool of myself.

I love this story so much that I used it in my sermon this past Sunday. When church was over, Pam, my mom, and I got into the car to head to lunch. As I drove, Pam said, “You know, Scott, you have told that story before.”

“Of course I’ve told that story before,” I responded. “It’s one of my favorite stories and I have used it everywhere we lived.”

“No,” Pam continued, “you’ve told that story here in Huntington.”

“No way! I’ve only preached seven sermons here. I may not have been updating my story database but there is no way I have used the same story twice in seven weeks!”

Pam was silent.

Later that evening, as I carefully made note of the “Massanutten Head Smack” story being used TWICE at First United Methodist Church in Huntington – July 21 and August 25 – in my now very up to date story database, I could almost hear a gong…almost see a blinding light.

But I could definitely remember that there is nothing that will humble a person more completely than the act of preaching.

To Pam…thanks for setting the record straight. You were right. I was wrong. Bet that happens a couple hundred more times in our lives.

To my congregation…I’m sorry I assaulted you with the same story twice. I hope it was better the second time around.

To poles and illustrations everywhere, I pray I don’t run into you more than once. If I do, just know I will be thinking of my old hero George.

Twenty Five Years too Late

Greenville, NC was booming in the early 1990’s. A growing college campus, a regional hospital and pharmaceutical companies were making the area of Pitt County NC a destination for many new people.

The United Methodist Church saw the growth and new that a new congregation would be the best way to tap into the new people coming into the area. After several months of ground work by a planting team, Easter 1992, they launched their new service of Covenant UMC in a local Boy’s and Girls Club.

By the summer of 1992, the attendance at Covenant had hit 800 and was climbing. The pastor reached out to Duke Divinity School for a summer intern and somehow I ended up going there for the summer before I started my first year of seminary. It was a dream placement. I got to see the church at its most exciting. New people were coming to faith every week. Folks who had fallen away from “Church” finding their way back. The pastor was dynamic. Their music was phenomenal. And the felling around the gathering of this new congregation was one that was filled with hope – there was nothing God couldn’t do.

I was given the opportunity to preach a couple of times at Covenant that summer. On the first occasion, I had slipped into my white alb prior to arriving at the Boys and Girls Club and was just out mingling with the folks showing up for worship. I felt a tap on my shoulder and then a voice in my ear said quite clearly, “Hey, where’s your hood?” And then they laughed and walked off.

I didn’t get it at first. I wondered why anyone would need a hood in the humidity of Greenville. After a couple of steps and watching the end of my white alb sway as I walked, I froze at the realization of what this man meant. I couldn’t believe this came from one of our wonderful new congregation members. How could they possibly think that this sacred outfit was “that kind of robe.”

But they did. That is exactly what they saw.

I never wore it again in Greenville but I was quite comfortable wearing it once I returned to West Virginia. Had I been given the chance, I would have worn it to my ordination. But alas, in those days, we had to wear black robes.

This week, I saw the alb hanging in my office closest and thought I might bring it out for this week’s worship service in Princeton. It had been a while since I had worn it.

And then Friday night happened in Charlottesville. And then Saturday’s horrors.

I took the alb to the sanctuary Sunday morning but I was not wearing it. I simply hung it up where it could be seen.

The text I preached on that morning was Matthew 11:22-33. You may know it as the one where Jesus walks on water. And the one where Peter sinks. The disciples all get called people of “weak faith.” What had struck me that week was the fact that Jesus used people of weak or little faith to build the Kingdom. As I thought about the weekend’s event and my holding onto that symbol that could be so easily misunderstood, I realized that I too was a man of weak faith.

I told the story of that morning in Greenville and my inability to say anything in return. I told my congregation that I was a man of little faith. Then I picked up the alb and ripped it in half and placed it on the chancel rail of the church. Here is a picture of the destruction for now. Here is a link to the video…It is silent, but I think it speaks louder that way – you already know the story!  https://vimeo.com/229491973

Torn Alb

I know that not every white person in our churches see albs and think immediately of the Klan. But some of them do. Some of them do. I did not want anything of my already white privileged life to become a confusing symbol to anyone. Anyone. We have allowed symbols to lead to hate. Hate lead to speech. Speech lead to the disaster that hit a beautiful college town in Virginia. I will no longer wear a symbol even closely resembled to white hate in any way. I hope to find somewhere, some way that I can send the pieces of this alb to be refashioned into something of peace. Don’t know if that’s possible but I’m open to ideas.

I also offer a challenge to my fellow white clergy anywhere.

Ditch the albs.

Sure, I know they have other meanings. I know that they symbolize so much. But I also know that our actions here could speak much louder than anything else. Ditch the alb…Take up the preaching robe with love, justice, and peace. Let’s make a change that no one can miss. It took me twenty five years to gain the little bit of faith I needed to make a statement with this piece of white clothing. I pray it takes you less.

Thanks for reading. Thanks even more for joining me if you wish.

To see the entire sermon…go here.

 

Clergy School 2015 – An Interview with Our Preacher

The West Virginia Annual Conference sponsors an annual continuing education event for Clergy. This year our event will be from October 13 – 15 at Blessed John XXIII Pastoral Retreat Center in Charleston. A link for registration is right here.

In order to introduce you to one of our primary speakers – our preacher for the event – I have done an email interview with Rev. Tim Craig. Please use this to get to know our preacher a little better and keep him in your prayers as he prepares to bring us God’s Word for this event.

 

Scott: “Tim, tell us a little bit about yourself – your background, your family, your work history, and even some of the things that you do that make your unique?”

Tim and Ann CraigTim: I grew up in an Irish Roman Catholic family and attended Loyola University in Baltimore, Maryland. It was there at Loyola that I started to feel a call into the ministry. But at the same time I wanted to get married and have a family … things you can’t do or have as a priest. When I talked with a priest, he recommended that I look into other denominations. That was a real gift from that priest.

I attended a United Methodist Church and felt right at home. What sealed the deal for me was when the pastor said that the communion table was open to everyone and not just members.

I met my wife Ann through mission work. We both served in youth ministry.

Ann and I have four kids; three daughters and one son. I have three in college. My son and my youngest daughter go to VA Tech. My middle daughter is at George Mason University. My oldest daughter graduated from Mason and now works as a Program Director at Wesley UMC. Ann is a first grade teacher. We have been married for 25 years.

After college I taught high school algebra for a few years. I went into the business sector for a few more years and worked for ADP (Payroll Services). I started seminary (Duke Divinity) in 1991. I was a student pastor while in seminary. I served an “eventful” two-point charge in southern Virginia. From there I served as an associate pastor of a large church in Richmond. From there I went to serve a mid- sized congregation. After only two years in that appointment I was appointed to a church in Northern Virginia that had significant conflict. I stayed there for eight years. The church worked through the challenges and turned itself around. I was then appointed to serve a large church in Arlington, Virginia. After five years of ministry in the hustle and bustle of the metropolitan DC area, I am now serving Great Bridge UMC in Chesapeake, VA.

I love the Chesapeake area. It is much slower paced and I am 30 minutes from the beach. My family and I love the beach. We go to relax, fly stunt kites, collect shells, walk, and hang out with friends. The beach truly rejuvenates my soul.

I love music and I love being around people. Love Jesus with everything I have.

A few years ago, I was inspired by Rev. Sue Nilson Kibbey’s work with Gallup Strength Finder. She uses the StrengthsFinder 2.0 test to help you see your strengths in ministry. My top five strengths are: Connectedness, Positivity, ideations, Achiever, and Adaptability.    

 

Scott: “How much do you know about West Virginia? (You can be honest…as long as you don’t say that you didn’t realize it was a separate state!)”

Tim: Well … I know some. Great Bridge UMC takes about 2 to 3 mission trips to Iaeger, West Virginia every year. I’ve been on two trips so far. We work with Little Sparrows Ministry. I even attended the McDowell County fair last year. I ate fried oreos! Quite a treat.  

Scott: “If I am not mistaken, you are the one who introduced my family to Bar-B-Que Oreos…I still have the mouth burns to prove it, actually! Glad you picked on the Southern WV Oreo tradition!

I also understand that you were a recent participant in the Royce and Jane Reynolds Program for Church Leadership in North Carolina. What was that experience like and what was your main take-a-way?

Tim: I attended the Royce and Jane Reynolds Program for Church Leadership. It is a great program sponsored through the Western North Carolina Conference and taught through the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, North Carolina.

The program is two part. The first part consists of developing one’s leadership potential. The second part focuses on leadership needed in the local church.

My main take-a-way was the need to really focus on and develop clarity around mission/ vision and core values. We find ourselves stuck in maintenance mode so many times because we overlook these things in the local church. Busyness is often the culprit.

If your conference ever gets chance to work with Russ Moxley or Janice Virtue from the Center for Creative Leadership, I highly recommend it. I know the Virginia Conference has put together a leadership program with Russ. It is in year two. Participants from last year really enjoyed it and learned a lot. (Tim Tate took the program last year. He would be a good point of contact too.)

 

Scott: What have been some of your formational moments in building relationships with people who have greatly different theological positions than you hold? How is that going to be helpful to you as you prepare?

Tim: I have to tell a story to answer this one. My mother and father divorced when I was young. My father and I were not close. He was a strict Roman Catholic. I know. I know. Divorce and strict Roman Catholic do not go together on paper. Then there is life.

Both my mom and father remarried. My father and his wife had more children.

My mom would call my father when I needed some fatherly chastising. When I left the Roman Catholic Church to unite with the United Methodist Church, my mom called my father. We talked and the last words that he said to me where these, “You are no longer my son.”

My father died of pancreatic cancer. When he was passing he said to his children, “Tell Tim I love him too.” They had no idea who Tim was and so my oldest brother began to ask questions and started searching.

A few years after my father’s death, my brother tracked me down. We met and I now have 5 new siblings as well as a mother-in-law.

My father’s last words were not “you are no longer my son”; they were words of love. And that is the theological position that is by far the greatest and the one that is formational and foundational for me.

It is tested often but love is the greatest and love conquers all.

A few years ago, Westboro Baptist Church came to picket the congregation I was serving because we had a woman pastor. In response, we changed the preaching schedule around and she preached on the Sunday that they came to picket. We had record attendance that Sunday. While they shouted obscenities filled with hate, we responded with love. It was a great day. The headline from the newspaper that covered the event stated “love drowned out the hate message”. Amen to that!

 

Scott: As you know, the theme for this year’s Clergy School is “Passing the Bread, Keeping the Peace” – a reference to the times that we live in as United Methodists. There is a lot of division and much of that division is centered on the church’s policies and practices concerning LGBT issues – same-sex marriage, ordination, membership, and full inclusion are all being discussed quite a bit. As the preacher for this event, what do you hope to bring to the pulpit that would help those of us who are on very different sides of these issues to maintain a “common Table?”

Tim: The writer of Hebrews once sermonized, “Make sure that no one misses out on God’s grace.” (Hebrews 12: 15) Whatever the side we take this needs to be who we are. Period. And this becomes even more important to us as United Methodists who believe that God’s grace is prevenient, justifying and sanctifying.

Grace is where I see hope. Always have and always will. While homosexuality is the hot topic sin of the day, I am sure that it isn’t the only sexual sin that is out there. And for that matter, I am sure that it isn’t the only sin that is out there. Of course someone is going to read this and say “he just called homosexuality a sin” and that’s not the point that I am making. If you see homosexuality as a sin then I have to ask; what are doing to make sure that these children of God do not miss out on the grace of God? Are you willing to have a heart like Christ that from the cross proclaims “Father forgive them”? If you see homosexuality as not a sin, can you offer grace to those who have been taught by the Church for centuries that it is? Can you come alongside these folk and have honest conversation without being equally judgmental toward their position?  

In a nutshell, what I hope to bring to the pulpit is a reminder of the importance and power of grace and that this grace is what is needed for both sides as we come to the common table.

 

Scott: If you could recommend a book in the Bible for participants to read in preparation for this Clergy School, which one would it be?

Tim: I would recommend that you read the gospels. I know you asked for one book but read all four of the gospels. In addition, read them in such a way that the words about Jesus live for a purpose other than preparing a sermon! We get so used to reading the Bible for sermons; I think it is important to read the Bible from time to time as God’s story.

 

Scott: If you could recommend a non-biblical book to be read – which one would it be?

Tim: Wow- this is a tough one! I read a lot. I think for the topic of grace I would read Phillip Yancey’s “Vanishing Grace.” For leadership principles I would ready Ron Heifetz’s “Leadership on the Line” or Russ Moxley’s “Leadership and Spirit.”

Scott: Tim, thanks for taking time out of your schedule to share with us! I’m sure this will help everyone prepare for our time together. I will take your suggestions about the Bible reading seriously and will look into the leadership books as well.

Once again, you can register for this year’s Clergy School right here. We look forward to seeing as many WV Clergy there to welcome our Virginia colleague!!

Scott: Oh, one more question: How do you feel about a back-to-back championship for the Blue Devils this year?

Tim: Do you have your final four tickets yet? If you are a Duke fan, I would start booking now. And somewhat prophetic to the theme of the clergy school, if the new recruits play together as a team, it will be another championship for coach K.

Homecoming Thoughts

Gray Rock UMCI sat in the pew and watched the Youth Choir of Gray Rock UMC stand in front of their microphones and sing a praise song immediately before I was to get up and preach. I listened to the beautiful harmonies they made. I watched as the young woman directing them smiled as she led and I was transported back almost twenty years…

The Gray Rock Youth choir was singing for a Maundy Thursday service. The director I had just been watching was one of the singers and this group was being led by her mother – a second generation member of the church who was married to a fifth generation member of the congregation. They had history. When the youth were singing in the 90’s, I was listening closely to the words – “We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord…” and I was thinking about what I was going to do next.

Earlier in the week, the director and I had a little “clash” over when the youth should sing. I wanted it during communion. She wanted it before communion. She wasn’t mean about it at all…just firm. But it was also a clash that made me feel so disconnected from this group of worshipers that I decided then and there that I would not partake of communion with them again. I would pray for the elements. I would serve them. But I was NOT going to share with them. We just did not see things the same way and I knew that this was the only way I had of separating myself from them. Perhaps, just perhaps, if I could get the director to see things my way, it would be different. But this was a battle I would not win.

And I thank God for that.

I listened to them sing those words and my heart was strangely warmed. Not heartburn. Not conversion. But it was warmed with conviction. I heard Jesus saying to me: “I love these people just the way that they are. Who do you think you are to find yourself better than them…righter than them…separated from them. I love them and I love you.”

When the song was over, I walked to the communion table, said a prayer of Great Thanksgiving and served the youth choir director. With tears in my eyes, I asked her to serve me. She did.

Even then, I didn’t know how profound a moment this was but over time it has taught me that there is probably a much greater concentration of grace in the pews of any church than I will ever find behind the pulpit on any given day.

When I found myself back in the moment of 2014 and watched the new director smiling as her daughter sat beside her and a cousin (or two) sang in the choir I was overwhelmed with a feeling of connection. Not my own connection, mind you, but the connection that these generations of people could count on to share the gospel, build the faith, and be the Kingdom. I was teary again when I walked into the pulpit. I was overwhelmed with happiness for them at the moment but I was also filled with quite a bit of jealousy.

I am an itinerant United Methodist Elder. I live in a home provided by a church congregation and I serve congregations at the will and pleasure of my Bishop. I actually have very little to complain about in this regard. The congregations that I have served have been loving and accepting of me and my family and they have challenged me to grow in my faith and in my calling. I love the life of a United Methodist pastor.

However, every once in a while, my heart longs for something that it has trouble naming.

I found the name for this on, October 28, as I stood among the people of Gray Rock UMC and proclaimed God’s word for their 160th Homecoming Celebration.

I served Gray Rock (along with Bethel UMC) while I was a student at Duke Divinity School. Churches that have the courage to accept a student pastor into their midst have a special place in God’s Kingdom. Student pastors are constantly being shaped and changed by the theological education that they are undertaking. I was NOT an exception to the rule. From the story above I think I could make a case for becoming the 1990’s poster child! There were weeks when everything that I learned in school that week came regurgitating out of my mouth in something that I would call a sermon. And my leadership decisions…well, we will let the one above speak for itself.

The word I found as I walked into that pulpit for the first time in twenty years was connection. They had it each and every week when they gathered. I did not. I was the outsider, sent by the Bishop, connected by an appointment but not connected by generation after generation.

However, as I preached about Paul’s love for the Church in Philippi that morning and remembered, with no hint of sarcasm, the true love that I have for this little church in Kittrell, North Carolina, and as I looked at the proud – yes, proud eyes of the congregation watching this preacher who had continued on in the journey for twenty years, I was suddenly more than just an itinerant preacher. I was part of their family. I was connected.

And I thank God for that. I thank God for that.

It was a beautiful day…conversations after that were wonderful. The food was even better than I remembered. The walk through the grave yard reminiscing about people who had gone on to their reward was bittersweet.

I stood for a moment by myself at the grace of the last person I helped bury at Gray Rock. I thought of the family she left behind. I thought of the grace with which she faced her death. I thought of the grace I saw being lived out in her husband, his new wife and all their children.

My God…was I blessed to have been a part of that church twenty years ago and even more blessed to have been a part of it this year.

Gray Rock UMC…I thank God for you everyday in my prayers! You taught me grace. You taught me love. You taught me!

Suspenders

suspendersSometime in my early teen years, I just had to have a pair of rainbow colored suspenders. I begged my parents for this article of clothing until someone finally broke down and got them.

Did I need them because I didn’t like to wear belts? No. Did I need them to keep my pants up? Not really…I usually wore a belt anyway. Why did I need them, then?

Because Mork from Ork wore them.

For those who are not old enough to remember or for the select few who didn’t watch television in the late seventies, Mork and Mindy was a television show about an alien from the planet Ork who somehow ended up living in the suburbs of Denver. And unless Mork had on clothing from his native planet, he almost always wore rainbow colored suspenders. And just in case you haven’t figured it out yet, Mork was played by Robin Williams, an actor who recently lost a battle with depression and ended his life. (As a side note, I try to avoid using the word suicide. I don’t like it for many reasons but you can read more about that on my blog if you really want to do so.)

Robin Williams was one of my earliest role models and heroes. He made people laugh and I found that making people laugh was not only fun to do, it gave an otherwise short and awkward teenager a way to be noticed amongst his peers and even by some adults. For several years I had the very unrealistic dream of becoming a stand-up comic.

That dream led me to do both community and school theater. That dream gave me the drive to actually be employed professionally as an actor – ONCE. That dream of standing in front of people, telling stories and jokes and hearing them respond with laughter is one that kept me going through much of my high school years. Even after I retired the suspenders (but didn’t throw them away, mind you) and had quit idolizing Robin Williams for some other comic I can’t even remember now, I still held on to the dream of making a livelihood out of comedy.

But a lot of life happened between that early dream and where I am today. I consider myself fortunate, very fortunate indeed that at some point in time I realized that there was a different plan for my life. Although I cannot paint a picture of the long road I took to get there in this article, I can at least say with a great deal of certainty that I ended up where I was supposed to be headed all along – in pastoral ministry.

In some ways, I still get to live part of that early dream – I stand up in front up people on a regular basis and I get to tell stories. However, they often are not funny ones and even when they are funny I hope that they point to something else. I hope they point to the God who loves us all enough to send his Son to die for us.

I get a little sad each and every time I hear of someone losing a battle with depression that ends in death. As far as I am concerned, the disease rids people of their ability to make good and rational choices. Instead, they just want the hopelessness to end and can really only see one way out of that hopelessness – to be present with God.

We worship an incredible and awesome Savior. Jesus was, is and always will be part of the Trinity known as God. When Jesus walked among us, he was fully human and fully divine. His death would not have been a sacrifice on his part if he did not have the power to prevent it. Yet even with the power to prevent his own life from being taken, Jesus chose to give it up. Why? So that we could have life that is ever-lasting – both now and after our own deaths.

Sometimes, I am afraid, we concentrate so much on the gift of “life after death” that is a promise of the sacrifice of Jesus that we forget about ever-lasting life that is available to us now. Please don’t jump to conclusions here…I am not talking about people with mental illness forgetting that promise, I am talking about perfectly normal and mentally healthy people forgetting it.

That, to me, is why it is so tragic when someone loses their life to a battle with mental illness. There are so many of us around who have life to spare, who drink from wells that never run dry, who walk on paths made smooth by the grace of God, who have hope beyond measure that we should be able to at least talk about mental illness in such a way that it would offer life and hope to others around us.

I am not offering any grand solution here. Now am I asking you to find some way to be in ministry with those who are mentally ill.

I am asking that we all take a moment and thank God for the life and hope that we have because of Jesus. And maybe in that thankfulness, we will be just a bit more cognizant of those around us who are struggling and we can show them a new way to hope…a different way to be close to God. One sacrificed his own life so that we could all have life abundant! In being thankful, we are in the position to help those who can’t be thankful because of mental illness.

I can’t say that this will work every time, but I won’t stop hoping that it does.

Nanu…Nanu.