Meet Pastor Scott Gilliland

Get to know Pastor Scott a little more through this fun and inspiring interview! Pastor Blair tries to be Krista Tippet again (if you don't know her, check out the On Being podcast from NPR) and asks Pastor Scott about the religious and spiritual upbringing of his childhood, his call to ordained ministry and his favorite scripture passage. Near the end, Pastor Scott does a rapid-fire question round where he answers: what is your favorite restaurant, what is your favorite concert, what are you reading right now, and more!

Book Review "Native"

Native: Identity, Belonging and Rediscovering God

Review by Lindsay O’Connor

“Decolonizing our table means recognizing that sacredness moves and breathes all over the place, in all people, in all creatures, in all things, so communion becomes the space in which we say everyone and everything is loved.”

—Native: Identity, Belonging, and Rediscovering God, by Kaitlin B. Curtice

In her new book, Native, Kaitlin Curtice shares her unique perspective as an Indigenous Christian woman. She shares her journey of rediscovering the parts of herself that had been pushed down or dismissed because they didn’t fit the dominant narrative of the white evangelical spaces in which she spent the latter part of her childhood. She speaks with a combination of boldness and gentleness as she invites us into new, more expansive ways of understanding ourselves, God, and all of creation. 

Curtice tells about the ongoing work of decolonizing her faith by disentangling the parts of her belief system that were tied to white, western/European culture. She challenges systems of oppression that have been upheld by the Christian church but communicates very clearly that we all must do this work together; everyone belongs. At the same time, we see her reconnecting with Indigenous ways of understanding the Divine, which she often refers to as Mystery. Throughout the book, she weaves language and stories from her Potawatomi heritage, along with her own original poetry. 

As she tells her story, Curtice makes space for readers to consider their own journeys. She shares personal experiences vulnerably, emphasizing the importance of all people entering into the work for the common good, whether you are part of a marginalized group, a dominant group, or some combination. This was an important read for me as I work to separate out my culture from my understanding of Christianity, God, and the Bible. In experiencing God through a different cultural lens, we are given the gift of a broader, richer, more beautiful understanding of the Holy that is sure to be transformative. 

This is a textured, beautifully written book that challenges and inspires Christians to envision new ways to make more room at the table. In the words of Kaitlin Curtice, “Our work is to call each other home, to call to one another’s spirits and say, ‘This is for you. This is what it means to be human, to love and be loved. Let’s learn from one another as we go.’”

Click Here To Purchase The Book

Faith As A Jenga Tower

Reconstruction Calls Podcast

Spiritual Director Aaron Manes, calls his friend Kenton Self to talk about the process of deconstruction, and they talk about René Girard, Brian McLaren and Amy Grant. You might find Kenton singing in the Arapaho UMC Choir, teaching a class or talking about faith in Room 2.

Holy Envy Book Blog

Holy Envy by Barbara Brown Taylor

A Book Blog by Rev. Cathy Sweeney

Barbara Brown Taylor refers to herself as a writer, speaker, and spiritual contrarian. She’s also an ordained Episcopalian priest whose daily vocation is professor of Religious Studies at Piedmont College in North Carolina. 

In Holy Envy, Taylor’s fourteenth book, we are treated to another memoir of a sliver of Taylor’s life. The question she answers for herself in this one: 

How does one teach mostly Christian conservative undergraduate students a required “Religious 101” curriculum? Taylor writes about her life in the classroom – and in synagogues, temples, and sanctuaries. As she conducts classroom lectures and organizes field trips to other religious sites, she brings the action alive with student questions, commentary, and experiences.

What is it that Christianity and other religions have in common? How is our worldview restricted, and how can we expand that view to better understand and experience other religions? As Taylor reminds us: It’s “safer to read about religion in a textbook, but being present in the services, ceremonies, and holy places is how we really risk” vulnerability to understand those who do not hold the same faith as we do.

At the Hindu temple, Taylor shares thoughts about similarities in reincarnation and resurrection. That is, that each has a similar pattern; there is no new life without destruction or death. Students observe a prayer ritual, challenging their core beliefs about Jesus as the only way to know God.

At the Buddhist darmha-hall, students are exposed to bright orange robes and bowing motions that show respect to the monk teacher. When the monk begins the lesson, one student reveals, “This is just about life.” Back in the classroom, the students are challenged to experience singing bowls, which Buddhists believe speak to different energy levels in our bodies (known as chakras). Is this music of the Buddhists, the singing bowls and chants, similar to hymns sung in our worship services? Taylor challenges the students to find such similarities.

And that’s when she finds the words to describe the admiration of many of the practices encountered in the studies and trips of other religions: Holy Envy.

“Buddhist meditation is not the same as Christian centering prayer, but my envy of the discipline required by the former increases my desire to put more effort into the latter. A Muslim goes to Mecca for different reasons than I go to Bethlehem or Canterbury, but my envy of the Hajj causes me to wonder why I make my pilgrimages alone.”

Buddhist, Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Hindi. Do all have spiritual or other practices which prompt our Holy Envy? How do we grow spiritually, ourselves, as we learn more about those other religions? Perhaps the author states it best herself, when speaking of embracing religious diversity: 

“This is how far my holy envy has brought me: from fearing that Jesus will be mad at me for smelling other people’s roses to trusting that Jesus is the Way to embrace all ways.”

Perhaps there’s something to this “Holy Envy.” What might you find, if you, too, join in the conversation? 

Flunking Sainthood

“Flunking Sainthood”

A Book Blog by Rev. Cathy Sweeney

I first read Jana Reiss on social media. She has a wicked sense of humor, as I learned when she undertook the task to tweet the Bible. Yes, tweet the Bible. Over a three-year period, Riess summarized the Bible into 140 characters a day. For example, her #Twible for Luke 2?  

#Twible Lk 2: “Ma’am, we have no rooms available, but there’s a rustic barn out back that is, um, quite charming. The hay is free today.”

So it was that I began Flunking Sainthood, expecting a humorous attempt at …. something. Turns out, Riess had committed to a book on spiritual practices, and determined that her best research would come from self-imposed spiritual practices.

She begins with a thesis: We can’t really hear what God is saying unless we do what God is saying. That points to spiritual practices, and Riess vows to select twelve practices, continuing each for a month, to grow closer to God (the old-fashioned way, like the martyrs, but she adamantly cross martyrdom off the list of options). 

First is fasting. Next, cooking as a spiritual practice. In both, she cannot complete the month. One gets the feeling – given the title of the book – that this failure will be a recurring theme.

Another attempt at lectio divina has her curious how one stays awake during the process, but she perseveres and learns to enjoy the silence. Abstaining from shopping, or practicing simplicity, is another monthly practice that doesn’t last.

Riess begins the summer months committed to contemplative prayer, returning often to her quieting phrase, “Peace. Be Still.” In this practice, she learns a critical component to any spiritual formation activity: make it your own. If contemplative prayer isn’t working, tweak the practice. Riess does this by reciting a prayer during the day, often: “Lord, Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” We Methodists might change the words a bit (“Jesus Christ, son of God, pour out your grace on me.”) But in making the prayer her own, a short prayer can be prayed often during the day, and becomes a practice of its own: humility, confession, forgiveness, all at the same time.

There are lessons in observing a Sabbath, embracing gratitude, and practicing hospitality as St. Benedict encouraged. Eating as a vegetarian for a month becomes a tribute to St. Francis, who valued all of creation. Praying the hours could be a worthy spiritual practice, once we get past the absolute order of the clock’s mandate. Flex-time prayer becomes a more soothing practice. And finally, at year end, the practice of generosity is an appropriate end to the year, as she focuses on the spiritual practice of giving.

Of all the chapters, the epilogue is my favorite, so you must read to the end. Turns out, one of the best ways to be in relationship with God? Be in relationship with others. Don’t overlook the opportunities to love your neighbor, or your family. And perhaps, after a year of flunking sainthood, we might all realize that being a saint is not at all what God asks of us, anyway.

Tell us what you thought of the book - leave us a comment below…

Podcast: #Thanksliving and Gratitude

Pastor Blair and Spiritual Director Aaron Manes sit and talk about what Tim Ferriss, Brené Brown, Robert Emmons and several others have taught them about gratitude.

Click Here to listen on Apple Podcasts.

And if you don't use Apple Podcasts, you can always find our Podcast on our RSS and these apps too:

Google Play: http://bit.ly/AUMC-On-GooglePlay 

Spotify: http://bit.ly/AUMC-On-Spotify 

Stream It on this website: https://www.arapahoumc.org/aumc-sermons/2019-podcast-thanksliving

Book Blog: Meeting Jesus Again For The First Time

Meeting Jesus Again For The First Time

by Diane Bricker

What are your earliest images of Jesus?  Divine Savior? Teacher? Are these early images the images that you still carry with you today? 

In his book, Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time, Marcus Borg challenges us to expand our images of Jesus.  In his view, most of us form our images of Jesus early in our faith lives, and do not continue to refine or expand them as we grow older. If our images of Jesus are limited, so will the shape of our lives as Christians be limited.  

Does Borg have your attention yet?  He certainly captured mine the first time I read this book many years ago. My early image of Jesus as an object of belief was so limited it caused me to simply walk away from the church for many years, despite still feeling a hunger to know God.  

In this book, Borg invited me to look at Jesus in some new ways, drawing me into a lifelong, adventurous, and profoundly meaningful faith journey. 

Borg believes the two most common images of Jesus are divine savior and teacher.  The divine savior image leads us to focus on “believing” doctrinal claims (my experience); the teacher image (often adopted by those who struggle with doctrinal claims) leads us to focus on being good, on seeking to live as Jesus lived.

So, what are these additional images?  They are images that would have been in the hearts and minds of both Jesus and his followers, Jews steeped in the Old Testament. After all, Borg reminds us, in the days of the early church there was no official Christology. 

So, Borg introduces us to Jesus as a spirit person, who has an intimate relationship with God, his Abba, and thus, can help others to know Him; and to Jesus as a movement founder who introduces compassion and inclusivity as central to this new religion; and to Jesus as a teacher of alternative wisdom who challenges the conventional wisdom of the time and offers an alternative understanding as to how to live; and, finally, to Jesus as the incarnation of divine wisdom, the child of Sophia, who in the Old Testament book of Proverbs, is a female personification of divine wisdom.  Does this whet your appetite to learn more details?

With these images before us, Borg helps us to see that a Christian life is not just about believing or about being good, but that it is about a relationship with God that involves us in a journey of transformation. 

===

Leave us a comment:

What images of Jesus do you have from the different times in your life?

How has your understanding of what it means to be a Christian changed throughout your life?

Podcast: Faith And The Arts

Podcast: Faith And The Arts

Pastor Blair Thompson-White sits down with Dana Effler, who is the Director of Music & Arts at First United Methodist Church in Dallas, to talk about music, the arts and how Broadway Musicals can be spiritual.

Listen On Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/arapaho-umc/id1391205091#episodeGuid=57a8d094893fc076d9ecd8bb%3A5aef4ae0758d4670efa64167%3A5d792afc306bff05aaca2d60

And if you don't use Apple Podcasts, you can always find our Podcast on our RSS and these apps too:

Google Play: http://bit.ly/AUMC-On-GooglePlay 

Spotify: http://bit.ly/AUMC-On-Spotify 

Stream On Our Site: https://www.arapahoumc.org/aumc-sermons/podcast-faith-and-the-arts-with-dana-effler

God And The Gay Christian

Book Review: God And The Gay Christian

By Rev. Dr. Blair Thompson-White

When I think of a word to describe this book, the word that comes to mind is ‘compelling.’ It was so compelling, in fact, that I had to reschedule an appointment because I was so caught up in reading it that the time got away from me!  Why is this Matthew Vines’ work so compelling?

Because it is personal. When we talk about ‘the issue of homosexuality’ we can easily get caught up in language and lose the most important point: this is about people. Matthew shares his personal story; his narrative is so open and relatable, you feel like you are listening to a friend tell you his life story. 

Matthew grew up in a mainline church where he was taught that God is against homosexuality. He watched his sister’s friend Josh bravely ‘come out’ and share his sexual orientation to his family, only to be completely rejected. Although Josh grew up in the church and was a beloved son of the congregation who sang in the choir, the church couldn’t accept him as gay. Matthew could sense people’s shame about Josh’s sexual orientation…and so could Josh.

Josh felt rejected by the church and alienated from God because he was taught that the God of the Bible required him to hate a core part of himself. He left town and left the church. Years later, Josh’s family would embrace him but Josh never returned to the church, the wound was too deep and damaging. 

Josh’s experience is unfortunately all too common and Matthew feared it would be his experience, too:

For a young kid who realizes she is gay and has no one at home or church she can talk, it can be an impossibly heavy burden. For a young man like Josh, who internalized rejection from our church with barely a word spoken, it can drive a wedge between him and God. And what would become of me?

What became of Matthew is he took on the church’s teachings head on, with his un-affirming dad by his side. Together they explored scripture and tradition and by the end of their journey, Matthew’s dad changed his mind. He no longer thought homosexuality was incompatible with Christian teaching.  

Which leads to the second reason why this book is so compelling.

Because the theology and scriptural interpretation is spot on. Because the message of Scripture is NOT what non-affirming Christians have said it is. To put it more plainly: there is another way to interpret scripture.

If you are like Matthew’s dad and you are genuinely open to having your mind changed, this book will guide you through all the questions / objections you may have to same-gender relationships, such as “What is the meaning of marriage according to the Bible? And, can same-sex unions fulfill that meaning?”

Or, if you are LGBTQ+ affirming but you have always struggled with how to respond to someone who says, “but the Bible says homosexuality is a sin” this book will take you through each passage and give you the tools and resources you need and overarching Biblical themes that are—well, compelling—

The Biblical scholarship, historical evidence, and reason in this book is compelling—but what is perhaps most compelling is why, in the end, Matthew’s dad decides to ‘make some changes.’

Because when you take a closer look at Scripture you are compelled to advocate for the equal rights of our LGBTQ+ siblings.

The changes that Matthew’s dad makes include deciding not to renew his membership in a national organization for Christian lawyers because “I no longer agree with their position on gay Christians,” he said. He also became a vocal advocate at his church for LGBTQ+ inclusion. 

We, too, are called—no, we are compelled—by our faith to be agents of transformation until our churches and our world not only welcome all but embrace all and celebrate all as God’s beloved.

---

In 2012, Matthew shared his experience at a United Methodist Church. His speech went viral and became be the foundation for his book God and the Gay Christian. Click Here To Listen

Podcast: A Place At The Table w/ Eric Markinson

Pastor Blair Thompson-White sits down with Chaplain and Grace UMC Member Eric Markinson to talk about what it means to be LGBTQ+ and a Methodist.

How To Listen:

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/arapaho-umc/id1391205091

Google Play: http://bit.ly/AUMC-On-GooglePlay 

Spotify: http://bit.ly/AUMC-On-Spotify 

Website: www.arapahoumc.org/sermons

Three Simple Practices for Everyday Mindfulness

Three Simple Practices For Everyday Mindfulness

By Aaron Manes

Why is it that mundane is funny on tv or in a movie? I recently rewatched the classic film “Office Space” where every day seems to be a Monday. It seems like the absurdity won’t end until the main character, Peter, goes to a hypnotist and becomes mindful of the insanity that goes on around him. From there, he does everything that most of us only dream of doing and he begins to truly live. 

We all can’t skip work, unscrew the wall of our cubical or take baseball bats to that piece of outdated technology that will never work correctly. So what can we do?

In his book, “The Power Of Now,” Eckhart Tolle says the greatest threat to your presence is your future and your past. If we are going to be present in our everyday life, we have to practice it.

So here are three simple ways to practice presence while doing mundane, everyday activities.  

1: Take A Shower Break

Right before you are ready to get out of the shower, take a presence break. Step into the water, take 3 deep breaths and breathe in the humid air. Then spend one minute with your eyes closed feeling your feet on the floor and the water hitting your skin. Work on clearing your head by just feeling your breath. If it helps you, say a prayer to close. I like the St. Patrick’s prayer (or really an excerpt from it) for this practice. 

Christ with me,

Christ before me,

Christ behind me,

Christ in me,

Christ beneath me,

Christ above me,

Christ on my right,

Christ on my left,

Christ when I lie down,

Christ when I sit down,

Christ when I arise,

Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,

Christ in every eye that sees me,

Christ in every ear that hears me.

Amen

2: Waiting as a Practice

Is there anything worse than waiting in line or in a “waiting room?” If you don’t have something with you it is often the most boring thing you can do. But it also presents an opportunity for mindfulness. Instead of going into the eternal clickbait of social media on your phone, see it as a time to make a real connection with a quick gratitude practice. 

Take three deep breaths and feel your feet on the floor. Breathe normally and think of three things you are thankful for and three people you are grateful for. Then take the next step and text those three people and tell them why you are grateful for them. It will most likely spark a good conversation and bring a little light to your day. 

3: Only Putting Your Kids To Bed

For many parents, bedtime is the hardest part of the day. It becomes the back-and-forth game with your child who just won’t go to sleep. If you are like me, I just want them to go to sleep so I can get some of my own time. We all need that time so don’t hear me blaming you, but what if you could just be present during bed time and use that as a practice. 

This idea is a little less guided but basically you can practice losing the concept of time during bedtime. Put out of your mind your future “me-time” and just be present in bedtime with your kids. Just do one thing at a time - lose the urgency to get them to sleep and stay a little longer in their room. 

Here are a few things to try: 

• Sit on their floor in the dark and listen to them breathe

• Listen to a meditation with them

• Tell them a long story that you make up (this one takes some practice)

• Sing them your favorite songs

• Tell them something from your family’s history (maybe it’s just a childhood story)

By just practicing bedtime with your kids, your evenings will be better. 

Ok, that’s it. Three simple mindfulness practices that you can use to make better use of everyday tasks. Leave us a comment below and tell use how these worked for you. Remember that even in the mundane we can practice mindfulness - oh and please put a cover sheet on your TPS report… did you get that memo?

Podcast: Eco-Spirituality and Electric Vehicles

Pastor Blair sits down with Aaron Manes, Arapaho UMC’s Communications Director to talk Eco-spirituality, life experiments and what it is like to drive an electric car.

How To Listen:

Click Here To Listen on our site

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Podcast: Women In The Bible w/ Rabbi Elana Zelony

Women In The Bible w/ Rabbi Elana Zelony

Go deeper into the Grace and Grit/Women In The Bible series as Pastor Blair Thompson-White sips tea with Rabbi Elana Zelony on a stormy morning and talks about the women of scripture in this episode of “Practicing The Presence.”

How To Listen:

Click Here To Listen on our site

Listen on Spotify
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Listen on Google Play

Use a different podcast app?
Search for “Arapaho UMC”

Let Your Life Speak

Let Your Life Speak

By Brittany Burrows

When was the last time you found yourself “off track”? Maybe you were working on an assignment or home project and got distracted. Or maybe you found yourself on Facebook when you intended to be paying the bills online. Maybe you were taking care of the children or grandchildren, and found yourself focused on answering emails on your phone instead of being fully present with family. When this happens to us - when we find ourselves off track - at some point, we “wake up” and realize that we need to make a shift back to what we originally meant to be focused on.

Sometimes we can also end up “off track” from where God has called us to be in our lives. In his book, Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation, author Parker Palmer writes that we are born with wholeness and integrity, with no separation between our inner and outer lives. But as time goes on, and we become more concerned with surviving and succeeding in the external world, we can slowly lose touch with our souls, and disappear into our roles. We can get off track from who God created us to be.

We are each born with a God-given identity and unique gifts. Palmer shares about a time when his daughter and infant granddaughter came to stay with him at his home, years ago.

He writes, “Watching my granddaughter from her earliest days on earth, I was able, in my early fifties, to see something that had eluded me as a twenty-something parent: my granddaughter arrived in the world as this kind of person rather than that, or that, or that. She did not show up as raw material to be shaped into whatever image the world might want her to take. She arrived with her own gifted form, with the shape of her own sacred soul.”

Palmer reminds us that God creates each of us in God’s image, with a distinct identity, gifts and talents, unlike anyone else on earth. We often live freely into our unique identities as children, but as we grow up and try to fit the expectations of others and of the world, it becomes common to drift away from our true selves, getting lost in all of our doing and performing.

God calls us to return to ourselves - to discern and remember who we are at our core, to rediscover our passions and gifts, and to use our passion and gifts to serve the world in ways that give us joy.

Each May, I give a copy of Let Your Life Speak to each of our graduating Synergy Wesley Foundation seniors because it is a reminder of the importance of listening for the voice of God within themselves. As our college graduates go throughout their lives, they may at one point or another find themselves “off track,” and I want them to always know that they are invited by God to return to themselves, and to rediscover their passions and gifts.

When each of us lives fully into our true selves, and when we share the gifts we have been given by God, we can transform the world together.

Podcast: Why Did Jesus Have To Die?

Have you ever asked the question of why did Jesus die on the cross? Maybe this is something that you have let go of in your deconstruction or maybe you haven’t ever given it much thought. Pastor Blair sits down with Dr. Gary Fox to talk through the differing atonement theologies and how they play out in our lives in this episode of “Practicing The Presence.”

How To Listen:

Click Here To Listen on our site

Listen on Spotify
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Listen on Google Play

Use a different podcast app?
Search for “Arapaho UMC”

Book Review: Shameless

Book Review: Shameless

By Dr. Blair Thompson-White

Shameless is a book challenging the traditional teachings in the church about sex and giving us the tools to build a new theology around sexuality that makes sense to our experience...do we need this right now or what?! Thank you, Nadia Bolz-Weber!

Dear United Methodist Church, please read this book.

I have sat with many people who have shared with me how the messages from the church about sex and sexuality have caused harm to them. Women who have had premarital sex wonder if they are condemned to hell; LGBTQ+ wonder if they are loved by God; couples who struggle with intimacy because they grew up hearing from the purity culture that sex was bad. The messages received from the church (who claims to speak for God, making the wound so much more deeper), about sex and sexuality have caused so much harm to so many. 

Bolz-Weber writes that "If the teachings of the church are harming the bodies and spirits of people, we should rethink those teachings." This is exactly right. I am committed to help our church to rethink those teachings and this book is an excellent resource in that endeavor.

Here are three takeaways from Shameless:

1) We can reclaim the Bible as a source for inspiration and guidance on the gift of sexuality.
The Bible has been, for lack of a better word, hijacked by the Purity Movement on matters of sexuality and interpreted in a way that causes harm to the bodies and spirits of people. The tendency is to want to throw out the Bible because it has been used as a weapon for so long; Bolz-Weber invites us into it again to show us how to read it better.

2) We must create spaces in our churches where honest conversation about sex and sexuality can happen. 
I grew up in the Methodist church, and thankfully was not exposed directly to harmful teachings about sex and sexuality as some of my friends who attended more conservative churches were; some of my friends had purity rings and had to sign purity pledges. Although I wasn't exposed to shameful messages about sex, I also wasn't exposed to any messages about sex. Apart from a weekend in 4th grade in which we learned about the anatomy of bodies, the church was silent on the matter...so the conservative culture I was surrounded in seeped into my way of seeing sexuality. Like so many in my generation, I grew up thinking sex was shameful and not to be discussed.

We need progressive churches especially to equip children and adults with the tools and resources they need to build a theology of sexuality that is life-giving. We are implementing a new holistic curriculum "Wonderfully Made" for our 5th and 6th graders this spring and looking to offer a class for adults this fall so that our church can continue to be a place of help and healing.

3) Let your shame go. 
This book may help you discover the fear and shame you've felt about sex that you've been carrying around for so long. If we don't discover the shame, no doubt we will continue to live out of it, not even realizing the power it has over our ways of being and doing. Bringing our shame to the light helps us to examine it and eventually let it go. 

At the end of each of her book tour events promoting Shameless, Nadia Bolz-Weber invites people to complete the sentence "I'm ready to be shameless about..." on a card and turn it in. She then invites the audience to respond, "Let that stuff go!" after each card is read aloud. (I've substituted 'stuff' in place of a curse word...note about Nadia: if curse words offend you, maybe don't read this book.)

That is the invitation and the hope of this important work: to move from feeling shameful to being shameless. How freeing to let our shame go!

It is not too much to say that the gift of this book is freedom: through Biblical analysis, personal stories, and beautiful writing, Bolz-Weber constructs a theology about sexuality that ultimately offers a much-needed message. There is healthier way to talk about and teach about sex and it begins with this basic premise: you are beautifully and wonderfully made and celebrated by God for who you are in body and spirit.

Click Here To Purchase “Shameless”

The Three Practices Of "Sticky" Faith

The Three Practices Of “Sticky” Faith

By Rev. David Finley

A friend forwarded an article from a web site I’m not familiar with, The Federalist, about a religious revival that is all too familiar.  Inside America’s Largest Religious Revival You Know Nothing About is Heather Smith’s look at the religion that has been thriving despite America’s decades-long decline in religious devotion, the religion of Athletica.

Although it is difficult for Christians to attend one or two meetings per week, devotees of Athletica attend almost daily meetings.  Children show up early to school or stay late to practice their faith. This is with good reason. Athletica is a demanding religion with harsh penalties for missing regular meetings.  Worship can run long on weekends and going into extra time is particularly exciting for worshipers.

Parents in Athletica teach their children its rituals as soon as they can walk.  Children practice these rituals with implements scaled to their size. Parents encourage them all along the way.  Children anticipate the day they can fully participate as adults. Thousands aspire to Athletica’s high priesthood, a level only 2% of the faithful will actually reach.

Denominational loyalty is fierce in Athletica, with people displaying their commitments on their vehicles and houses.  Members dress to resemble their priesthood. High priesthood rituals are nationally televised events and devotees make time in their packed schedules to participate by television.  

Smith’s article is obviously satire, but it captures our experiences.  It also captures the collected wisdom of those who work in ministry to teenagers, in books like Kara Powell’s Sticky Faith or Kendra Creasy Dean’s Almost Christian.  Each describes Athletica-like ways to build faith in students that will stay past high school, which I’ve called The Three Practices.  

Practice One:  The Faith That You Show.  Just as children in Athletica learn from their parents and other adults, our children need to learn from adult faith role models.  The best predictor of a child’s faith after high school is their parent’s participation in the faith. Dean’s and Powell’s work shows each student needs five adult faith examples.

Practice Two:  Learn to Say What You Know.  Children begin to own their faith when they can express it, especially talking about it.  Children in Athletica spend their lives with its practices and are encouraged to express their abilities.  In the same way, we should encourage students to participate in our practices and to talk about their faith.

Practice Three: Watch Yourself Grow.  The ability to step back and look at yourself is an essential tool for adulthood.  Children in Athletica measure themselves at every game and every move into a different league.  The value of church retreats and mission trips is in removing students from their usual surroundings to take a fresh look at themselves and what truly matters.

The Three Practices are things we already do.  In applying the tools of Athletica to raising children in the Christian faith, we run counter to the decline of religion in our culture and teach our children a faith they will keep into adulthood.

Arapaho Is A Place Of Welcome To All

A video message from Rev. Dr. Blair Thompson White, Pastor of Arapaho United Methodist Church.

By now you have heard the news that our denomination, The United Methodist Church, in it’s General Conference Session doubled down on its stance against same-sex weddings and against LGBTQ+ clergy. This decision is incredibly disappointing and once again we have hurt the LGBTQ+ community. At Arapaho we are here to say that we are sorry and that we welcome all.

Podcast: Bumping Up Against Grace

Practicing The Presence is a podcast from Arapaho United Methodist Church. This episode features Pastor Blair Thompson-White and Perkins’ School Of Theology Professor Dr. Mark Stamm as they talk about John Wesley feeling “strangely warmed” and the practices that we can use in our daily lives to get close to God or as he puts it, to “Bump Up Against Grace.”

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AUMC's Next Steps

Dear Congregation,

The United Methodist Church’s Special Session of the General Conference to discuss our denomination’s position on questions related to sexuality concluded yesterday. Over 800 delegates from around the world met for four days to debate and vote on legislation for a way forward for our denomination, which has been divided and debating about homosexuality since 1973. 

Many of us had hoped that the One Church Plan, a plan that representatives from around the world spent over a year working on and that the Council of Bishops endorsed, would be passed, allowing churches and clergy to offer same sex weddings and Annual Conferences to have the option to ordain LGBTQ+ persons.

The One Church Plan did not pass at General Conference. Instead, the Conference voted by a slim majority (55%) for the Traditional Plan. The Traditional Plan maintains our denomination’s current position. 

I am heartbroken by this decision. I dream of a church where all are welcome and embraced as beloved. 

To our LGBTQ+ members and friends: You are God’s beloved child. God loves you, accepts you and includes you. Your relationships are sacred and blessed. No decision by any legislative body will ever change that. As a representative of the church, I am sorry for the ways the church has caused you harm in the name of God. I grieve the wounds you have received. I am committed to continue to advocate for LGBTQ+ rights until there is full inclusion in our church.

There are several takeaways from this General Conference that may be helpful as we try and understand what happened and how we move forward.

First, it is estimated that 2/3 of the delegates from the United States voted for the One Church Plan, which received 47% of the vote. Although the church in America is growing more united in a desire for inclusivity, the rest of the world continues to strive to maintain our current position. Of the 864 delegates, 43% are from overseas. The takeaway: we are a very divided church and that doesn’t look likely to change anytime soon.

Second, although the Traditional Plan is a ‘win’ for those who support it because it attempts to tighten restrictions on same-sex weddings and LGBTQ+ clergy, the Judicial Council has deemed it largely unconstitutional. The takeaway from all my sources is that nothing major will change as result of the Traditional Plan. This is not going to change anything at the local level.

Third, no legislative body can change who we are at Arapaho UMC. We are fully welcoming of all LGBTQ+ people. We will continue to do the ministry God has called us to do. We will continue share the good news of Jesus Christ with all. We will continue to share the message of Christ’s inclusive love with all. We will continue to follow the Holy Spirit’s lead in guiding us to work for justice for all in our church and society. All means all.

I am so grateful to be part of a church that is such an authentic witness of the love of God in this world. As one of our day school parents said in a Facebook post: “(Our children) are welcomed every week and we leave them knowing they are loved and cared for while they are there. Thank you, AUMC for welcoming and loving the LGBTQ community.”

We welcome and love the LGBTQ+ community as God does. We worship a God who has never let anything get in the way of God’s love. Certainly what happened this week at General Conference can’t get in the way of God’s love. 

What are our next steps now? 

First, come to worship this Sunday at 8:30 or 11:00 am. We are concluding our Faith and Justice series with a sermon on the “Prophetic Imagination.” This is a message that I hope will inspire us to continue to work together make God’s vision of ‘thy kingdom come’ a reality.

Second, come to one of our “Listening and Learning Sessions” to hear more about the General Conference and to share your thoughts and ideas for what our collective response might be. These sessions will last one hour and take place in Room 4. Join me and Rev. Lisa Greenwood on Sunday, March 10 after worship, Sunday, March 17 after worship, or Wednesday, March 27 from 6:00 - 7:00 pm.  

Third, join me in praying for our denomination. We have failed to be an obedient church. We have lost our way and loved doctrine more than people. May God forgive us and lead us into being the church God wants us to be.

We at Arapaho will continue to say to all persons: God loves you, accepts you and embraces you, and so do we. I hope you will share this message with all, especially our LGBTQ+ brothers and sisters, today.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Blair