Author: Scott Carnes

Compelling Care

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Compelling Care

This is coming from a guy who just paid a guy to cut a hole in his head, so take it for what it’s worth. I may not be the most accurate source of information. Yesterday was a wonderful day. Oh, it was filled with pain and a few tears (don’t ever think you can’t cry), but it was also filled with friends and family.

I think of myself as a pretty independent person. I am usually stubborn enough to think I can get through things on my own, but it turns out that brain surgery is just one example of something I could not get through on my own.

Over the past few days I limited the people who would be with me, wisely, i think, because just my wife, parents and in-laws coming into a room in 2’s and 3’s was overwhelming at times. Yesterday, though, something happened I suddenly had visitors all throughout the day: Brooke Gulledge (my father’s cousin) and her son, Beau; Greg Weeks, the Senior Pastor at Manchester United Methodist Church; my District Superintendent, Leah Pogemiller; and, of course, Rev. Ray and Mrs. Susan Owens.

Each visit wore me out in its own way. Who would have known that lying in bed while people sat in a room could be an exhausting task? I didn’t! I thought I could handle it, and, really I did, I guess, but by the time Ray and Susan came late last night I was still, somehow, glad for this last visit. Carrie asked if I wanted her to turn them away because she could tell I was exhausted, but it was Ray and Susan! I so wanted to speak with them.

My wife, Carrie, wheeled me down to a lounge (my roommate was sound asleep and we didn’t want to wake him) and down the hall in the lounge we were able to have a lovely conversation with Ray and Susan. When I gave them an occasional word-in-edge-wise: apparently that tumor didn’t affect my ability to talk people to death! They told me of the outpouring of prayers, fasting and support that has been widespread across the church. At the 10:45 am worship service I have spoken of “signs of hope” for our church and this is one of them!

How incredible it has been to be surrounded by such prayer and support and I’m very proud of this church and it’s response, but I was thinking. (And that usually gets me into trouble…)

As your pastor, my medical condition has been very public, but how many people do we have in our midst who are suffering without feeling as though they have been thoroughly and overwhelmingly surrounded in prayer? Don’t worry, though, as your pastor I have some suggestions:  (Would you not except me to give you advice?)

  1. We must talk with one another about concerns that we know of: our own and others of which we are aware. We should never do this in a gossipy or negative way, but ask people who have trouble before them,asking, “Can I share this with a caring community of faith!”
  2. We must be willing to be people of fervent prayer. That prayer list in our bulletin is not just a list of names, but list of people who don’t just need a cognitive list of things said about them, but who need to be surrounded emotionally and spiritually.
  3. And, I’ve said this often before, but we need to actually surround one another.  We need to pick up the phone, we need to stop by, and we need to make sure that we have cared physically for one another.

Over the past few weeks the Pontiac First United Methodist Church has done just this! You have surrounded your pastor in love and support and with emotional and spiritual concern, now I ask: How many have suffered silently during this time? Who else can we raise up in prayer. Will this be just a one time out-reach for a public figure in the church or can we ensure that all who walk into this church feel loved and supported just as through they were the pastor?

I know I am putting a large task before you, but I believe this church is up to it!  I’ve watched as new friends have walked through the doors of Aflame Worship and been welcomed affectionately and invited to Bible studies and Sunday Schools.  I’ve watched as other members of the church have been cared for in crisis and new ministries have started for visitation services and grieving.  I have watched as this church has taken the initiative to begin a new “Fruitful Congregations” Initiative.  That means we are leaders in our conference stepping out in faith!  There are signs of hope at this church:  Prayer and compelling care for others will be at the center of our success.  Let us step out in prayer, care and ministry!

Looking Inward.

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Looking Inward.
Yes, this is my MRI from two months ago and that is my tumor.
We still don’t have a proper name for it.

In just a few hours (at noon) I will be undergoing a special MRI.  The doctors are going to be placing small sensors all over my head and doing a scan that will let them see what they are doing during the surgery.  If you’ve ever seen Dr. Shepherd on Grey’s Anatomy doing a TV version of brain surgery, I imagine it will be a lot like that: without all the distractions, sex and death.  This MRI will be loaded into their equipment on Monday morning and they will be able to see what they are doing inside of my head.

What we were not aware of, until Friday, is that these sensors are kind of like green lifesavers.  That’s not the good part.  Wait for it.  They stick them on my head before the MRI at noon on Sunday and I have to keep them on until (and throughout) the surgery.  Okay, I know that in the grand scheme of things that doesn’t seem like such a big deal, but we planned a big dinner out with some of our family Sunday night.  You know, a last nice meal before the surgery.  Now it appears I’ll be going to a nice restaurant in Saint Louis looking like some sort of Star Trek alien.

Well, at least I won’t actually see anyone that I know.  That’s the upside.  Oh- and it’s the Super Bowl, so we’re likely to be alone in the restaurant, so no one may see me anyway!

On a related note I learned something else recently.  One of my mother-in-law, June Berry’s, friends had a brain surgery and had a stressful experience as she was coming out of anesthesia. As she woke up she found that she was being put into an MRI.  You can imagine that it was all very disorienting for her!  It was a very stressful experience and June’s friend wanted me to be warned about it, especially because it was a similar surgery with my same surgeon at the same hospital.  I have good news.  Well, they do it differently now.  This is the cool part:  They now have an MRI right in the operating room so when they are finished with the surgery and I’m still on the operating table (and still knocked out) they will do an MRI right there and then to make sure there is no swelling, bleeding, and to make sure that no part of the tumor remains.

Isn’t it remarkable that we live in an age where my surgeon can scan my brain and see what he is doing as he operates?  Isn’t it remarkable that we live in a time when we can have MRI’s, which were on their own so rare even just two decades ago, right in the operating room?

Anyway, I just wanted to share a quick update. I hope that this note finds my friends and family doing well and I will be praying for all of you!  May God’s blessings be evident o you all on this Sunday morning!

I am especially praying for those of you at First United Methodist Church Pontiac who are working through the Fruitful Congregations material in my absence.  I pray for the Holy Spirit to be upon you all in this discernment process, to show you a way forward, and to build up your passion and excitement for ministry in our church, community and the world!!!

Blessings & Peace!

Scott

Weighing In.

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Weighing In.

Some of you know that Carrie and I joined Weight Watchers last November.  A lot of people seemed confused about it.  They asked why I would need to diet…well, I was overweight!  Yup, my poor eating habits and lack of exercising were slowly but surely catching up to me in a big way and I wanted to make a change.  Okay, I should be honest: my wife wanted to make a change for herself and she insisted that I do the program with her.  Either way, it was the best decision of my life.  With diet and exercise I have hit the middle of my “healthy weight” range, my doctors are happy, and I feel great.  This isn’t just an issue of vanity.  My growing body and bad cholesterol numbers were a symptom of a mistreated body.

This didn’t happen suddenly.  I gained the weight slowly, over time, and when something (like weight change) happens slowly we don’t realize how bad it is getting.  The other thing with being overweight is that we live in America and it is mirrored by many people around us.  In fact, we were less-overweight than many of the people around us.  When we are surrounded by a problem, like obesity, it is easy to feel a false sense of security.  It is easy to feel as though this is “the norm” and so it is okay.

I say all of this, not as a guilt trip.  Lord knows I, of all people, can’t fault anyone for craving pie and over-eating.  I have done plenty of that!  No, I bring this up because my recent experience with weight loss helped me to realize that I had ignored a problem (my weight) because it was all around me (in Wisconsin, at seminary, and now in Pontiac) and it happened slowly over time (I used to be a skinny high school kid, you know).  Eating the way I ate and saying that I was ‘too busy’ to exercise was normative and, yet, I should have been appalled.  I bring this story to you, because it seems to be me that our weight and health are not the only problems that are like this for us.

I think about first about poverty.  It isn’t an easy issue to tackle and lack-of-money, like being overweight, is a symptom of so many underlying causes.  It is ever-present and seems to be an overwhelming issue to tackle.

I think about racism in early America.  People looked at slaves, and, later, freed black people, and because the oppression had grown steadily and because it was so prevalent, it seemed like it was and should be the normal order of things.

I think about civil rights that began to find footing during the middle part of this past century.  Of course, it broke forth suddenly in the sixties, but since then we have struggled as a nation with our racism.  What we fail to see, far too often, is that the racism exists still today, in fact, especially today: Because racism is passed from generation to generation, it is often less overt, and because it is deeply cultural, it is easy to pretend it doesn’t exist anymore when we really should be horrified by it.

I think about genocides that have occurred in places like Rwanda.  It seemed so distant and Americans tended, at the time, to ignore the horrendous crimes against humanity that were being perpetrated because it was so far away, it was happening to “other” people, and, when it was finally shown in the media, it was made “tv-friendly.”  We should have been appalled, but somehow we have an idea that for people in other countries “these things happen.”  It seems normative when we should be disgusted…and appalled!!!

How is it that we allow problems like this to be “normal?”   How is it that we allow ourselves to become used to obesity, racism, poverty, or murder?  How is it that we so often set aside what we know is the right thing to do, and instead, do the comfortable thing.  Why do we allow ourselves to become comfortable with destructive behaviors when we should. instead, be appalled?  Why is it that we would ignore a problem when we should begin re-educating ourselves and our community?

My weight crept up on me.  I ignored the signs of unhealthiness and, even after a stern talk from my doctor, I ignored the problem.  It wasn’t until I had a supportive wife who pushed me and who insisted that I learn and grow (shrink, actually 🙂 that I began to be appalled by the things I had been eating.  If I eat too much grease, now, I feel sick to my stomach- and when I see people standing in lines at walmart with carts filled to the brim with junk food I recoil, even though that was recently me.  Why?  Because I looked at the problem through a new lens, I allowed myself to “get outside” of where I had recently stood and I began to look at myself with a more objective eye.  I began to realize that whether I was “used to it” or not, it was wrong and bad and hurtful:  Hurtful to myself and hurtful to others.

We have become desensitized to any number of troubles in this world.  We have chosen to think of them as normal or usual when we should be appalled.  This is where church is ultimately important.  We are a community and, just as my wife pressed me until I joined Weight-Watchers, good church people must press one another to look at injustice and oppression in this world, learn to “feel” the problem, educate one another and the community, and find a way to act out and improve the situation.

Most importantly, we must not act in judgement or hate, but in love and grace because that is the kind of God we follow.  We have a God who is ready to accept us and work with us no matter how fat we get, how complacent we become, or even how uncaring.  Our God doesn’t, from what I read of the Bible, dwell upon our short-comings, but our God encourages us to grow in love, joy, forgiveness, mercy, and peace.  My wife exemplified that as she encouraged me towards loving and respecting my body.  She regularly helps me grow in acting for justice and showing mercy when she introduces me to any number of concerns in this world (even though I am sometimes reluctant to listen when it makes me uncomfortable or challenges my old ways of thinking), and she shows me love and forgiveness any number of times a day when I act like an idiot with her.

We don’t have to be spouses to play this role for one another.  I pray that all of us will take a moment to look at ourselves and the people around us with new eyes.  I pray that we will surround one another in community and find do-able steps so that we can act out in faith to re-order this world and grow the people and communities around us so that we will leave this world healthier, happier and more faithful!

blessings and peace,
Scott

The Power of Prayer

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The Power of Prayer

Tonight we were watching the movie Stranger Than Fiction.  There is a part of the movie where the narrator says, about Harold Crick, “Harold’s life was filled with moments both significant and mundane, but to Harold, those moments remained entirely indistinguishable, until this moment….”  Significant moments are like that, aren’t they.  Things like surgeries, weddings and births are moments we expect and plan for, yet the extraordinary can’t be planned for.

My wife and I planned our wedding down to the smallest details, yet when I looked into my new bride’s eyes the moment caught me off-guard and filled me with a joy I could not have expected.  I imagine that it is much the same with an expectant parent who has planned the route to the hospital and has a bag packed, but the first moment of holding your child is a moment that knocks you off your feet and makes grown men cry.

An extraordinary moment occurred for me yesterday.  It was in the midst of the mundane and unexpected.  I stopped by the church to finish up a few things.  I had walked in and out of the office at least twice never paying any attention to an innocuous piece of paper on the counter.  Finally my bag was packed, my work was done and I was on my way out the office.  I had walked well-past that piece of paper with names upon it and I would never have seen it, except by chance.

Cheryl, our administrative assistant, called out after me, “Oh, Scott, wait.  I still need [someone]’s phone number.”  I turned and pulled out my cell phone giving her the number and just happened to glance down.  There on the counter top was a piece of paper with names all over it.  At the top it had my name and said “Prayer Vigil.”  Had I been thinking of it or had I been watching the list grow I might not have given it a second thought, but in an unsuspecting moment I was thrown off my feet.  I stared at it and needed a moment before I spoke in disbelief, “This is for me.”  For a moment I thought I might cry as I found myself overwhelmed by this outpouring of love and support.

What prayer will do cannot be known.  It is mysterious that way.  Yet, I know that prayer has very real power.  Yesterday prayer filled me with peace, hope and joy.  Prayer brings communities together and, I believe, helps us to see where God is leading us- when we take time to listen and watch.  And, most importantly, prayer draws us closer to God and helps us make sense of what God is doing in this world.

My sincere hope is that we would not just pray when we see something big headed our way (something we can plan for), but that we would find time for God in the mundane moments of life.  That we wouldn’t just pray in advance of a surgery or impending trouble, but that we would pray in a way that makes us more familiar with God and opens us up to those extraordinary moments when God will knock us over with peace, love and joy.

New Year. New Blog. New Life.

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New Year. New Blog. New Life.
June 2012, Cancale, France



I have blogged in the past, but the service where I’ve hosted my blog is going away.  So it is time to start over.  Well, that can be a blessing sometimes.  First of all, I’m inviting my wife to contribute to a blog that will belong to both of us.  I thought it might be fun and it will make updates more regular.  Secondly, I’m about to have a major operation.  What a better time to start a blog.  I find myself, more and more, reflecting: on life, God, and my family.


Two years ago I had a very big year.  I graduated seminary, started a new time of ministry at First UMC Pontiac, and got married to my beautiful wife, Carrie.  The past two years have brought a lot of new experiences.  I know what it is to love someone so very much as I love Carrie and yet I’ve experienced the difficulties of learning to be married to someone so different from myself.  I’ve had deep frustrations with the church where I am in ministry and yet found incredible joy in serving there and coming to know these faithful people.  I left a place that I loved (Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston) and went to a very different sort of place in rural Illinois…and I’ve loved living here and found good people and good ministry here in Pontiac.


Suddenly, though, I have found myself in the midst of trauma over the past few months.  This church finally faced their financial reality, and so we will be leaving the church as it right-sizes itself from two pastors to one.  In the midst of that process, we discovered that I had a brain tumor.  Then, as had long been planned, the directing pastor left town for more than three weeks for vacation and a renewal of wedding vows with his wife along the Gulf Coast (we had three funerals over ten days during that time).


It’s funny how these things work.  I was so busy running a church of nearly 1000 members that I didn’t have time to consider my own condition.  If you had asked me if I wanted it that way I would have said, “hell no!”  Yet, God has a funny way of putting things in order, sometimes.  With so much transition and so much to do, I found that I was better able to cope.  I was filled with energy and filled with purpose over these past few weeks.  I was also surrounded by an outpouring of love and support by my family of faith as they walked with me during these last weeks.  I am thankful beyond words for the blessings God has shown me over these past weeks.


Now that I am officially on medical leave and I await a surgery in just 7 days I have had a moment to catch my breath and to ponder what is coming.  I can’t imagine my brain surgery failing.  All I can imagine is a year that will be filled with excitement like I experiences two years ago.  I will be sad to leave the people of Pontiac, but I look forward to the adventures that God will give me in a new church, living in a new community and living alongside a strong, confident, and talented wife.  I look forward to the wedding of my sister-in-law to her fiancé and I look forward to a family vacation next fall.  God has given me many great things to look forward to and I look forward to sharing them with you here on our new blog!


God is good, eh?


Scott

Facing the Reality of the Facebook.

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Facing the Reality of the Facebook.
I’ve talked to a number of pastors and other Christians who have taken a stand.  They say, “that’s why I don’t facebook.”  And those who do facebook, seem to struggle with just what it should be.  They find themselves frustrated by a social media that is so popular (and even essential) yet doesn’t work for them or their church in terms of evangelism.  What a shame that our church is unable to share such an important story as Christ when companies are able to use facebook and twitter to so effectively to market cheetos and radio talk shows.
What is wrong with us?  Well the problem is not in the social media.  I mean, social media has its problems, but it has the potential to be a highly effective tool and it has the potential to be used for the greater good of growing people in faith.  So it seems that ignoring it is to turn our backs on a new frontier of evangelism.  Now, having said that, I don’t blame any pastor for turning their back…up until now.  This new frontier is scary and confusing.
The problem is that as churches we have become confused over which story it is we are sharing.  Too often we use social media to share the story of the institution.  Worse yet, it isn’t even really the “story” we share but information (and begging).  The primary story that we are to share is a story of faith, that is, the story of Christ told through our: lives, faith, circumstances and our reactions to those circumstances.

My suggestion to Christians, and especially pastors, is to share your life authentically using Facebook as a spiritual practice.  It isn’t until you have built relationships with your facebook friends that you should ever consider announcing an event or making invitations, because that story is secondary to the story of Christ as told through your life!

Good Theology?

Scott Carnes Communicating Christ, Finding My Way
Good Theology?

   There is a war raging in the church right now between so-called “liberals” and so-called “conservatives.”  I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit lately and I have come to a conclusion…  We are not asking the right questions.  Before we even get-to-know a person we want to give them a litmus test to find out their short-answers on faith and theology.  We ask bad questions.  We make terrible assumptions.  We want to know “Are you a conservative,” “Do you believe homosexuals get into heaven,” “Do you believe in a literal heaven,” “Do you believe that Noah built an ark or that Adam and Eve ate the apple as a historical act?”
    In the war between liberal and conservative we have people on both sides with “bad theology.”  Bad theology is not about which theological position you take, but how you struggle with it.  The right question we should be asking is whether Christians are being faithful by growing in faith and we grow in faith by struggling in our faith.  That is good theology.  Good theology is about questioning our own faith, reading scripture and trying to look for God in places we never have before.
   Bad theology is taking a hard-and-fast ideological position and then sitting in our corner never allowing our faith to be challenged and never inspecting our faith from new angles.  When we have a bad theology -an unquestioning theology, such inspection of faith can seem like an attack because we don’t have the language or the practice of struggling in our faith.  But such an inspection of faith will actually help us grow in our faith, help us better understand other people’s faith, and give us the practice and language to go even deeper in our faith.

That practice will help us get to the right questions and that is Good Theology!

Title Photo:  Worship while on mission in Montana.  Photo by Scott Carnes, 2008


My wife, Carrie Carnes, left the following comment on this post on April 13, 2011 (before I moved the blog to blogger.com to be archived):



I believe that theological struggles and studies are a means of grace and therefore ought to reflect the life-giving, invitational and creative traits of God. Certainly, theological positions which are damaging to people’s lives need to be challenged and rejected; but perhaps, its not so much that we need to re-define “good and bad theology” and more that we need to reject these labels entirely. I have never experienced a situation in which telling someone one that they had “bad theology” was helpful. Certainly, there are theological positions which are damaging, outside of orthodox tradition(s) or illogical. Certainly, I value the sort theology that leads to deeper questions rather than quick answers as I believe that that struggle is a sign of faithfulness. 


Having said all of that however; I think that it is only fair to acknowledge that we all or at least most of us (including you) hold specific positions which are so core to our understandings of God that we won’t really question or re-think them. For me, God’s identity as rooted in love: invitational, creative and relational love, would be be one such position. I suspect the same it true for you…that if a belief or position is not consistent with a loving God you most likely will reject it. For others that core concept might be the infinite power of God, or the infallibility of scripture. I think these are the discussions we need to have and never do because of the labels of “Good” and “Bad”, I think that it is only fair that we begin not by being open to just anything but by acknowledging which positions we will not compromise so that we can then have an authentic discussion.

Just What Is Needed

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Just What Is Needed

   Like I’ve already written, people, today, don’t need to sift through large amounts of information.  If I want to find out the top news stories of the day I can just bring up my personalized igoogle page and I can see the top viewed news stories according to the search engine, I also have a module that shows me the featured CNN stories and Al Jezeera.  I no longer have to go to multiple websites, not to mention a newsstand.  I also no longer need to leaf through all the pages of a newspaper or watch an entire news program at 6 or 10.  This may make me lazy, but it also makes me a twenty-first century young man.

    Hulu has further developed this trend with entertainment programming.  I no longer need to be at home at a particular time during the week to see my favorite show, nor do I need to worry about missing an episode.  I simply login to Hulu and all of my favorite shows are queued up and ready to go.  It doesn’t matter if it is CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX, Comedy Central, etc.  It also doesn’t matter if it is a Monday night or Thursday night show.  I get what I want, when I want it.
    The newspaper industry is floundering because they are still operating on the old paradigm that people will pay 75 cents to get the news from their paper.  Many people, of course, have subscriptions that the paper would come directly to them, but in our information age news the next morning it is already old.  More importantly, people have to seek that information through a subscription or going to a newsstand.  And it is only from one source for each purchase or subscription.
    As a church we still see the world through this old paradigm.  We think people will seek out a particular church and only be concerned for what that church’s materials and perspectives.  Even more peculiarly we, as churches, still seem to think that people will tack up the calendar from the bulletin or newsletter on their fridge; will surf to the web calendar several clicks into the church site; or, more surprisingly, think that people have a paper calendar they are writing everything on.  What people really have in their pockets -many at least- are PDA’s, or more likely internet connected cell phones.  What people are beginning to really value is calendars that are delivered directly to them.  Our church offices should be using calendars that can be subscribed to directly by our congregants so that our calendars are sitting side-by-side with theirs (such as google calendar)….but I’ve partly digressed from my point.  And the whole staff and leadership, more importantly, has to buy into this system.
    The church needs to stop using proprietary website stuff.  No more calendars that can only be viewed online or need to be updated by one particular person with web design expertise.  Videos should not be put on the site in such a way that people must go to the website to see it.  Youtube (or vimeo), google calendar and other avenues of communication that people are already using should be implemented, instead.  If we do this then, yes, the website can be more dynamic and more up-to-date for people who go there, but more importantly the stories and content are out on the web for people to stumble across, to subscribe to, and to share on social media with friends.  Why not setup the church website with “share” buttons so that stories, photos and videos can easily be shared to their facebook, youtube, twitter and email friends?

    The church has to get outside of the old paradigm.  We have to take our story outside of the new boundaries of church:  the church website.  …and don’t forget we’re taking stories and faith, not information!

Blogging As Spiritual Discipline

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Blogging As Spiritual Discipline
    As I’ve begun to consider how the church (the people of Christ) must re-imagine how it shares its story with the world and one another, I keep coming back to blogging.  Blogging has been around for quite some time now, but it is not going anywhere.  If anything, it is gaining in popularity.  I think we have underestimated this form of communication.  Let me share a non-church example:
    One of my professors, Dr. Brook Lester, integrated blogging into his Introductory class on the Hebrew Scriptures.  He is convinced that the blog is going to become mainstream for communication in education. You see, so far there has been a sense that PhD’s are not taken seriously if they blog, yet serious -even ground breaking- work is being shared through blogs.  There are several reasons that blogging could be a powerful tool to education:
  1. First-of-all professors have access to new and exciting projects and work instantly, there is no waiting for publishers.
  2. Because the work of these academics can be tagged and searched, “pipes” of information can be setup so that all of the most cutting edge research (down to the moment) can be seen side-by-side in, nearly, real-time.
  3. The communication is raw and narrative in style…but more importantly it is two-way. Comments and photos can be quickly posted by others so that a new collegial environment can be formed.
    So, let’s break this down for the church.  The church website has always been far too static to do the church much good.  It is just another way for the church to put up information in hopes that people will come looking for it.  Imagine, instead a church that encouraged interested members and leaders to begin blogging as a spiritual practice.  Using Yahoo “Pipes”, they setup the church website so that church members whose blogs have a certain tag in them are piped into the website.  When ‘edna’ blogs about how she was spiritually transformed through a recent bout with cancer…. or John blogs each day of a church mission trip; the stories are being shared with the community of faith.  Best yet, their friends are seeing faith stories naturally.  You see, our church member’s friends can see these blogs in a number of ways and it is not just another avenue to creating ‘dynamic, emotive [and narrative] content’ but also an avenue of bringing people to the website and even to the church, perhaps.
    To get there: FIRST, pastors and other church leaders must begin blogging about their lives and need to make it part of their spiritual practice (not just something to check off a list at the end of the week).  SECOND, as we talk with our congregations about spiritual practices and Christian witnessing…. we need to talk seriously about this new, American schizophrenia where we lead two lives a “real life” and, then, a virtual facebook life where we say things or post pictures we would otherwise never show!  We need to begin modeling what it means to have an authentic witness not just during an hour on sunday morning but out in the world and even in the cyber-world.  THIRD, we must be willing to let go of content control.  Someone may post something inappropriate or, perhaps, not-flattering about the church….but as a community of faith, that is always possible right in the sanctuary of our church.  We must trust our communities to respond to negativity with optimism and love.

    As I understand it, John Wesley kept two journals:  one set of private journals and one set of public journals.  These were both for his own spiritual growth, but the more public journal was also intended that others would grow in faith.  If we are to continue this Methodist legacy, it seems that blogging is the twenty first century solution.  Let us grow our faith as well as help others as they seek to grow in Christ. Hmmm…Let’s take our faith outside of the church walls!  Let’s not just tell an ancient bible story yet again, but tell our own stories relating them to faith!

Biking High

Scott Carnes Finding My Way
Biking High

I’ve been bicycling over the last few weeks.  Last year I hit it far too hard right at the beginning.  I was sore for days.  This year I’m starting slowly and building up.  Today, though, I got a phone call and ended up heading back to the apartment way too soon.  On the way home I was gliding down the street and realized I just really didn’t want to stop.  I think that bicycling has become a spiritual practice for me.  It’s not just exercise anymore.

When I bike I find my mind can wander freely.  It’s a time when I can think about whatever is most important in that moment.  Sometimes that is something unexpected that I didn’t even realize was on my mind.  I can daydream about my new job in Pontiac.  I can think about the next sermon topic or scripture for preaching class.  Perhaps, though, I find myself thinking about something as asinine as my car’s squeaky brakes or the laundry that I need to do.  But, increasingly often I find myself, simply, by myself.

Over the past few years of bicycling, my prayer life has been increasing as well.  It is not always intentional prayer, but sometimes it is better than my best prepared or most earnestly said prayers.  When I’m out on my bike, I find myself asking questions, considering my own life, and looking for answers.  I find myself [silently, i hope] talking to myself, no one, and God…all at once, sometimes!  When I go bicycling I am growing in mind, body, and spirit -it turns out.  Who would have thought?

I believe in this world of constant contact it is sometimes difficult to just be alone.  Perhaps, though, we need to find times and activities that allow us to be self-reflective.  We need to allow our minds to wander…and when we least expect it, perhaps, we will find ourselves meditating and growing in prayer…even talking to God without realizing it.  I think that each of us should find an activity that we love and as we practice it (like taking long bike rides with an iPod blasting) we will find God listening to us…perhaps we will even discover God somewhere within ourselves!