Faith Challenges: It Ain't All Comfort

We’ve known for decades that alcoholism is a disease. We treat it as a moral failure. Sure, some people can drink and not become alcoholics. Others cannot, despite how hard they might try. We’ve known for decades that nicotine is addictive. We still allow it to be sold openly, despite it’s delivery systems being known to cause cancer. Then we want to treat people who have become addicted as morally failed, as too weak to stop. We've known gambling is often an addiction. We allow gambling venues to advertise publicly, even as they announce treatments are available for gambling addiction. It’s like telling people, “Yes, you can gamble. If you become addicted, however, you have a problem. Shame on you! Here’s a number you could call if you weren’t so morally corrupt as to need help.” We wield shame to condemn and ostracize people for addictions we know are a disease. They fall into the same real as Substance Use Disorder. [Not Substance Abuse Disorder: people are...

What limits do you place on loving me? How far does it go? If I mess up, would you still love me? If I forgot your birthday, would you shun me? If I embarrassed you, would you kick me out of the family? If I were caught speeding, would you turn your back on me? If I bought the wrong item at the grocery store, would you forgive me? If we disagreed on a point of policy, would you expel me for it? If we could not agree on interpreting a Biblical passage, would you still be my friend? If you did not like the clothes I wore, could I still come home? If I failed my math test, would you still be seen with me? If I did not do my chores, would you still feed me? If I made a mess in the living room, would you banish me from home? If you disapproved of my marriage partner, would that end our relationship? If I did not like your favorite book, would you still talk to me? If I chose not to attend your church, wo...

I grew up Baptist. My parents were Southern Baptist missionaries. We lived in Brazil, where the main religious affiliation was Roman Catholic. I noticed a major difference between Roman Catholicism and Baptists, especially with moving back and forth between Brazil and the US. Baptists were focused on a set of things to believe. While we talked a lot about the Bible as the only source of authority for faith and practice, there were a list of correct answers that went along with our reading of Scripture. Not all Baptists thought alike on the correct answers, but there was a certain foundation that was taken as immutable. If you believed these particular things, you could be or were saved. Catholicism in Brazil, however, looked very different from Catholicism in the US or in Mexico. I understood that it pretty much adapted to what it found as it entered countries around the world. It was not so focused on a set of concepts one needed to believe, however. It could adapt, because...

Interpretation is basic to any communication. You have to make decisions regarding how I am using the words you read. Even simple things like, “The car is red.” Is the car completely red? Does it have a red paint job? Is the engine red, the windows, the tires? We hear the words and make quick associations to how we have heard the words used in other contexts. If someone tells you I have red hair, you will make allowances for it being anywhere among a range of color with some orange orange tint, possibly interspersed with white or gray. I’ve been called a red-head all my life, but my hair has never actually been red. We interpret the term differently in regard to a car than in regard to hair or a rose. As the United Methodist Church has taken a step towards the affirmation of the LGBTQ+ community, it is not from ignoring the Bible in any sense. Rather, this inclusion and affirmation comes from what we call the Wesleyan Quadrilateral. Along with our reading of Scripture, we ap...

The devil made me do it. That is of the devil. Don’t fall into the devil’s snares! We do an awful lot of blaming the devil in ways that are completely unjustified. Generally, blaming the devil has just been an easy way to rationalize a gut reaction against what we don't understand, makes us uncomfortable, or possibly fear. In the 1600s, women who could swim were witches and thus of the devil. Through the 1800s, people who were left-handed were sinister (siniestra = left) and thus of the devil. Galileo was seen as doing the devil's magic when bending light with glass lenses, making objects appear unnaturally clear. Rhythmic music was of the devil at one point. (Gregorian chants, anyone?) Only music written in 3/4 time was holy, as it spoke of the Trinity. Music in 3/4 time was of the devil, because people danced the waltz, in which partners touched hands. Rock music was of the devil; women wearing pants was of the devil; make-up was of the devil; reading and writ...

I had lunch with fellow interpreters and delegates from the UMC General Conference (official meeting of the United Methodist Church, akin to a regular constitutional congress). We were speaking of transportation around the world, and a question was raised about transportation in Mozambique. An interpreter from there began addressing the difficulty of transportation outside of the cities. When Mozambique gained independence in 1975, war for independence gave way to a civil war. As a child in this war, this interpreter saw 6 of his brothers gunned down. Like many others, the family fled their rural home, heading to the relative safety of the cities for survival. The cities offered the hope for jobs, for survival. Soon, returning home to their rural subsistence farms became impossible, due to a proliferation of land mines. Those lands that once supported life now promised death. War. How can we talk about the glories of war when we pause even a moment to consider ...

[Comments to Monroe, NC City Council, 09 April 2024] As clergy, prayer is important to me. Jesus taught us to pray. Jesus modeled prayer. Jesus also talked about performative prayer, prayer wielded as a public promotion of one’s piety. He said that kind of prayer short-circuits prayer’s validity. Rather than directed to God, it is directed only to a human audience. He did not mean all public prayer is performative. He warned us of praying to be seen, praised, applauded. Jesus prayed in private. Jesus prayed when performing miracles. Jesus prayed with and for his disciples. He invited them into his dialogue with the Father. He deemed prayer conversation with God, taking multiple forms in diverse settings. Jesus’ other public prayers were from the cross. Those were communication with God inviting people to bear witness to that communication for their benefit. Before the Sanhedrin, Pilate, and Herod, Jesus does not pray. He never coerces his understanding of God u...