We were a group representing several  Christian faith traditions, represented a range of ages as well, but united with some common sense of calling of engaging the needs of the worlds, in particular with this group the issues of hunger and poverty. Though I am sure some of us share together desires for engaging in other aspects of social justice as well. As we shared together in formal and informal ways, I found myself filled with joy and wonder. Being with a group with a desire to engage and seek needed change to help address the issues from local to global. I found as well as I looked back over it, how wonderful it was once more to be in that ecumenical setting engaging one another, sharing one another. Diversity is wonderful, one Catholic there that I share in a few small groups with expressed a similar joy of engaging this issue of hunger in an ecumenical level. I look forward to what this group might be able to accomplish as we move forward and figgure out what it is we will do.

It also brought to my mind the wonders and joys I had in seminary as I gathered around tables with people of various traditions and we shared and grew together. Ecumenical community is amazing. I think perhaps one way to sum it up is to say, each tradition has its gifts and talents, all of which are needed to truly be the body of Christ and engage the issues of the World, so let us celebrate our diversity and recognize our interconnectedness and work together and with other faiths to heal the broken world we live in.

Peace,

This morning I started one for here about giving and stewardship, however I accidently lost the post, but plan to re-craft it in near future. Also some reflection on what is church, with a primary focus I think upon the local expression is also in the works, and has been for a week or so. If it gets finished I am sure it shall appear at least in part here, as I see it a continuation of the “Building the peaceable community (Zion)” series. In fact it is currently titled “Building the Peaceable Community (Zion): pt4 Church.” I am also starting to work on a couple of sermons, (31 Jan and 21 March) both which are primarily in the “thought and early reflection stage” I doubt I will get further on either until after the webcast on Sunday by Prophet-Present Steve Veazey as he shares words of guidance and inspired council to the church. I am also working on a few things  things about liturgical theology, peace and justice…  Mixed in this as well are things that may come to form as I reflect upon the congregation and work with my fellow pastors in helping to serve with the Kirtland Community of Christ.

So yes there’s a lot on my plate writing wise. the struggle is less with the thoughts, but bringing them together. As often of late the ideas are running through my head, when I’m in the car, spending time with friends, working on 6 in pipes with a friend, watching a child or two run around and play, or in the shower…  where I can’t just write the thoughts down, and when I get to where I can the wonderful metaphors, explorations, and thoughts are not as full and refuse to take shape again. But I’m going to try and set aside time to write. As I try and arrange things I may also end up re-arranging my dwelling place, and perhaps that shall lead to a more productive environment… or is it just a new distraction?

Beyond all this I have also realized I haven’t been reading a lot lately, well not reading a lot of long pieces, you know long journal articles or books… So I’m going to start tackling that as well. I think I’ll start by reading through some of those books on the bookshelves’ that I never finished either as they were not assigned or I just ran out of time…. Or perhaps the one sitting on my bedside table, a book never assigned which I started a while back and then kinda forgot it was there till today when I saw it there along with a roll of electrical tape…. no I have no idea why the tape is there.

Time to reflect on other things,

Peace be with you,

I think perhaps my understanding was based on a misunderstanding of principles expressed in sacred texts that Community of Christ holds as scriptures. It was also not a fully embraced belief, for in many ways I applied it only to myself. That is receiving payment for ministerial services. I had no problem with the campus minister being paid, the denominational leaders…. But I struggled greatly with the $17.25 I received  for each week I served as Head Deacon at Graceland University in my last two years there. I struggled as I started to understand that part of my calling was to peruse graduate education in theology and ministry, and that ministry was my calling, and likely it would have to be paid, in order to provided the basics and be able to place all my energy and focus into serving with others in seeking the peaceable community.

Community of Christ has a strong history of self-sustaining, multi-vocational ordained ministers and an understanding even the un-ordained are called to ministry and service as well. At times we pushed away from anyone being paid for their official ministerial duties which sometimes led them to be paid for other jobs they had for the church in addition to those seen as their ministry (I would argue it all was part of their ministry) eventually over time we did develop a system and acceptance of a paid ministry, though primarily at the denominational and mid-level jurisdictions, very few at the congregational level.  In recent times however it also seems to be that many of the  ministers who have received formal theological training and employed by the church have ended up in heavily administrative ministry roles rather than missional ministry… in some places shifts are being done to move them back into the field of missional ministry and move the administrative duties and roles to self-sustaining ministers. In part leading to hopefully a better use of the resources, and a better alignment of persons gifts and callings and the roles they serve in.

Today as I was struggling with the sermon I am trying to write I read the lectionary passages, one of which was from II Nephi  (I thin 11:95-110 or close to that)  some of the verses (106-109) drew my mind to reflecting upon this issue of paid ministry. Those verses slightly adapted for readability and inclusivity are:

The Holy commands that there shall be no priestcrafts, for behold, priestcrafts are that people preach and set themselves up for a light unto the world, that they may get gain, and the praise of the world; but they seek not the welfare of Zion. Adonai has forbidden this thing; where for the Holy One has given a commandment, that all should have charity, which charity is love. And Except they should have charity, they were nothing, wherefore if they should have charity they would not suffer the laborer in Zion to perish. But the laborer in Zion shall labor for Zion; for if they labor for money they shall perish

As I read this my mind wonder back to those struggles and conversations I had as I was seeking things out. Pondries which I think I never turned to the written word for guidance or inspiration, but rather relied upon myself, prayer, and others to aide me through the journey. However here on this day as I struggle with a sermon, I found myself reading these words as I sat and watched people and ate, and found perhaps finally a path to understanding for me regarding this belief of mine that had been shifting for some time.  Here in these words I find today the Holy speaking out to me. it is not the “payment” that it at issue it is the reason.

If one is seeking to be a minister because they want the focus, attention…. that rightfully belongs to the Holy One, than one is doing it for the wrong reason pay or not. If one is laboring for Zion, but only for the pay rather than for the cause, then it is wrong. However if One is seeking to honor the Holy One, is laboring to share the Peace of Christ and building the peaceable community,and receives payment so that she or he may have food, shelter…. It is a different story, and in that case I find acceptance. 

Or in other words, I currently have a job to pay the bills, I do it for the money primarily so I can pay the bills, and also to encounter and interact with others, as I seek something in my field. If someone was to do ministry for the reason I do my paid work that would be wrong, however if they did it because they cared for people, felt called by God, and were seeking to build the peaceable community and accepted the payment because without it they could not give fully of themselves and their time to that which they are called to, the building of the peaceable community, then it is in those places I find acceptance. Most of the paid ministers I know personally, or who are seeking that route, those who i went to school with and others, fall in that category though their understanding of mission and goal may be different depending on the tradition they are part of.

I’ve got more to think about, more to reflect. I also know that in some ways I wish that when the day comes that I find someone to spend my life with, she will have a job or resources that could potentially lead me to be a full time self-sustaining minister, though I know the reality is I will probably have to receive some payment to ensure the bills are paid and food, shelter, healthcare, clothing are available as we seek to ensure and strive for the day the the same is true for all 6 billion plus people around the globe.

Peace,

Lyle II

In some ways I had been preparing for that calling even before I had an conscious awareness that I was being called to ordained ministry, in some ways I was already serving in that office as well. However I also know that in the time that would follow I would see skills and abilities needed for serve in that role grow and develop. A few days after I was ordained I would find myself on an airplane for a few days in Independence, MO and then a week at Graceland University in Lamoni, IA for my final year at Spectacular. It was a mixed time in my life however. Just a couple days before I had ended a week of  being a counselor at Junior camp, an amazing week, but also on the last day of camp just before the closing activities learning my cousin had taken his life. So it was a time of joy and sorrow, a time of growing in many ways. just prior to Junior camp I believe was the last time I had a haircut my hair until the Sunday before I graduated from Graceland in 2003, though not having any idea that would be the case then.

After my return from Spec, I packed and was home for a couple of weeks before I found myself once more on a plane and heading back to Graceland University. While there I would soon find myself become the Chaplain for Agape House, I would struggle as I watched my roommate make poor choices, and remembered the words his mother had said to me when she learned I was going to be his roommate, and in some ways feeling as I had let her and him down. I would serve with other deacons in campus ministries, and at the end of the year I would find myself accepting the job of head deacon, find myself being a religion major and on a path much different than I envisioned a year before when those hands were placed on my head.

Over the next two years I would minister to and with the deacons at Graceland. I would step beyond the job description and try to provide and do more. I would grow in my role, would learn others saw me as mentoring others in their ministry, saw me serving truly in that role of deacon, even when I felt like I was just going through the motions and not truly living up to that calling.

I graduated, and soon found myself in seminary. The first one was not a good fit for me, the second was, though I became ill and required time away. Then returned not back, but rather to a third school far away. During this time I served several congregations, sometimes more than one at a time, though rarely with official titles for what I did. Once almost stepping into the possibility of being the pastor of a congregation, just before I became aware of my illness.

I’ve served at Community of Christ Historic sites  five of the summers of the past nine years, along with another year and a half of volunteer service with them or so. Helping to develop some of the spiritual formation ministry of Community of Christ at the Kirtland Temple, sharing and listening to the life stories of many coming from a wide range of faiths and non. I shared and learned with those from many faiths in my schooling, being blessed by their insights as they have helped me see the wonders of my own. In times of struggle also found, once more the possibility of the role of congregational pastor, though once again things worked out otherwise.

Over the past four or so years I have found myself sensing my calling changing from that of deacon to that of another ministerial office. I struggle as I see myself drawn to particular ministry that falls outside of my present office, and also see myself ministering in ways that does fall within it. As I have shared with others and reflected I have come to greater understanding, and greater confusion. Some have shared with my their sense of other calling for me as well. As I seek to serve my calling, embrace the education I have taken upon myself for the past 9 years, education that 9 years ago today would never have crossed my mind, I find myself struggling. It’s a time when many in my field have lost their jobs due to the economy and resulting downsizing. The positions that are open which I feel drawn toward, often require someone holding an office other than that which I hold, sometimes one which I do feel though may be the office I am called to.

Thus I find myself struggling, having this sense and desire for service, having ideas but yet not full clarity. Felling yeas I am a Deacon but I’m also called to…. I’m feel called to this postion or that, and feel that I have the ability, gifts, talents for it, that one in the office of Deacon could serve in it, and yet they want another office… so I apply anyway in hopes they might see possibility, and to aid me in preparing.

I look forward to the next nine years of ordained ministry, as I serve with others to help share the Peace of Christ, restore broken relationships, uplift the the worth and dignity of all, and pursue the peaceable community that is, was, and will be that we in Community of Christ call Zion.

Peace be with you,