Sermon: What Are You Committed to, Really?
March 19, 2023
How good is your geography?
That is what one city was left asking themselves. In a very public way the city of Newark was humbled.
The city of Newark had signed a sister city agreement. I myself was asking what exactly is this a sister city agreement? Here is what I found about the history of the program on Sanatanio.gov’s website:
Sister Cities International (SCI) is a national initiative begun by Dwight D. Eisenhower shortly after World War II, to develop economic, cultural and technical exchanges between US cities, counties, and states with corresponding communities worldwide. The goal of the Sister Cities program is to involve people and organized groups at all levels of society, establishing productive, people-to-people relationships through global community partnerships and volunteer action.
Today, the SCI represents 1,200 US cities, counties and states and their 2,100 partners in 125 countries worldwide. As international cooperation gains importance, city-to-city programs continue to play a significant role in overall global development and cultural understanding.
So a pretty cool program. I saw in Georgia there are around 35 sister city agreements. And while Glennville does not have a sister city agreement we do share a high school with Reidsville does not count as a foreign sister city.
The reason Newark made the news is the signed a sister city agreement here is a quote from the story:
“Earlier this year, Mayor Ras Baraka invited what he thought was the Hindu nation of Kailasa to Newark’s City Hall for a cultural trade agreement, but it turns out Kailasa is no nation at all; it’s a fake.”
This was from a CBS News story titled: City of Newark falls for Sister City scam: “Whose job was it to do a simple Google search?”
Series Recap
We have been in this series during the season of lent. Each week we are studying an aspect of Jesus’ prayer life. So far we have seen
- In Luke 10 Jesus prayer of praise about God revealing himself to the disciples
- Matthew 6:5-15 we saw how if we pray in public for praise that will be our reward, but if we pray sincerely to God he will reward those prayers
- We saw Luke 18:9-14 and the juxtaposition of the pharisee’s egotistical prayers compared to the humble prayer of a text collector and our call to pray humbly.
- Biblical Scholar Brian Russell taught about finding God in the stillness as we reflected on Psalm 46 “be still and know that I am God” and we also heard about Jesus withdrawing to secluded places.
- Last week bringing God glory where in John 12 Jesus, even though his heart was troubled about his death on the cross, said, “God, Glorify Your name.”
Context of Today’s Passage
Today we enter the last two Sundays of this series (with a youth-led service in between). Both of our final lessons are words Jesus said from the cross.
Jesus had seven phrases said from the cross. Let’s lean in as we hear Christ’s words today from Luke 23:44-47:
44 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. [Read together]
47 The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.”
Where are you committed, really?
Today, I have one simple question. Where are you committed, really?
We all have things we are committed to.
- I am committed to the Glennville Methodist Church
- To my wife Brandy
- To Luke and Lydia
Some of us are committed to
- Getting out of debt
- Our family (children, grandchildren, parents, siblings) and helping them flourish as humans
- Some of y’all have bravely committed to serving in the US military and we thank you for your service.
But the question before us is what are we committed to, really? It’s the “really” at the end of a question I want us to ponder. If there were a documentary crew with multiple cameras (even a drone for overhead and location setting shots) what would the audience think we are “really” committed to.
The Trouble with Us
You see, the truth is, if I can be honest, if we all can be honest, we can admit there are times we have been committed to the wrong things.
We have been more committed to
- Building our wealth (our own little empire)
- Our careers over our family
- Our own social standing with our peers
- Our doing for God before we spend time with God
The Roman Soldier
This passage today is beautiful for so many reasons. One of those reasons is what happens with the Roman soldier mentioned. This soldier has an amazing opportunity. He is working for this up and coming governor Pontius Pilate.
If this soldier can keep his head down and do his brutal tasks he might be able to climb the ladder in the Roman military… maybe he might even be a governor or a general in his hopes and dreams.
Yet, something happens on the cross. What he sees gives him pause. He might even realize what he has committed his life to is conflict with what he is seeing and the God he is praising.
Jesus Changes Him
Jesus changes him with his dramatic prayer from the cross. When Jesus cries out, in possibly the hardest moment of the crucifixion, “Into your hands I commit my spirit”.
Jesus shows the greatest place we commit to, in the hardest moments of our lives, is God.
Jesus actually is quoting Psalm 31 which is this beautiful Psalm we can all pray in tough times.
1 In you, Lord, I have taken refuge;
let me never be put to shame;
deliver me in your righteousness.
2 Turn your ear to me,
come quickly to my rescue;
be my rock of refuge,
a strong fortress to save me.
3 Since you are my rock and my fortress,
for the sake of your name lead and guide me.
4 Keep me free from the trap that is set for me,
for you are my refuge.
5 Into your hands I commit my spirit;
deliver me, Lord, my faithful God.
The Torn Veil
Finally, this passage describes how the temple veil was torn. The veil was what separated the Jewish people from God. Symbolically this is showing how nothing can separate us from God.
You have access to God. You have the ability to commit, to put your life in God’s hands today.
Conclusion
Friends, don’t be like the Newark city government and realize that you have been tricked and committed to the wrong things. Let’s ponder what we are committed to, really?
Let’s put our entire life into Christ’s good and loving hands, let’s listen to the Spirit’s leading, and commit to serving, loving, and enjoying God our Father. Amen.
What will the future of Methodism and the Global Methodist Church have in store for the rest of 2023?
I would like to take a moment and share some topics which may be given clarity over the next several months.
Let Me Be Clear
Let me be clear, this is not a criticism of the Transitional Leadership Council or our Bishops. They have done an amazing job of working incredibly hard to get a new denomination up and running. This also is not an attempt to pressure anyone to make decisions any quicker than they feel led.
I also want to highlight that this is a conversation about larger church administration. While we still have important work to do in the wider arena, I celebrate that we have hundreds of churches and thousands of Methodists who are disciples of Jesus Christ who worship passionately, love extravagantly, and witness boldly. We have provisional annual conferences on four different continents.
We have men and women clergy who are appropriately credentialed, have health insurance and pensions. We have pastors who are “responsible for ensuring that members are cared for by implementing a discipleship process focused on helping members to ‘go on to perfection’ by loving God with all of their heart, mind, soul, and strength, and by loving their neighbor as themselves. They are charged with equipping all the members of a congregation to be in ministry by meeting people at their point of need and offering them Jesus.”
We have significant governance with our Transitional Book of Doctrine and Discipline with accountability from the Transitional Leadership Council and our Presidents Pro Tempore (acting in similar roles of bishops).
The larger church work to be done should not keep us from singing praises to the Lord for the great things happening.
Sneak Peak
Even with all the mission and ministry happening, there are some important chores we need to do before our first convening conference. I am looking forward to clarity around these areas.
#1 Convening Conference Date and Location
At some point there will be a historic convening conference in which delegates representing all the Global Methodist Church from around the world will come together. Much is still to be decided about this conference. I have not seen any clear confirmation on the date (please correct me if I am wrong).
During an interview on Dr. Sterling Allen’s Show Thursday Night Live transitional connectional officer Rev. Keith Boyette said, “we won’t be in a place to hold the convening general conference most likely until the spring of 2025.”1 However, there are others hoping for a 2024 date.
I would like to humbly offer up Glennville, Georgia as the location for the convening conference.
A more serious possibility are cities with international airports to help our overseas brothers and sisters. It is also not outside the realm of possibility that we could hold the convening conference outside of the United States as a way of cementing the global nature of our church.
#2 Annual Conference Sizes and/or Geography
How large will an annual conference be? Will the size of the annual conference be measured by geography, number of churches, number of members or some sort of combination of the three.
This would be helpful to know for administrative purposes. If a transitional annual conference wants to expand or pair up with another conference how would they accomplish this? On the other hand, if an annual conference needs more episcopal oversight how could that be accomplished? Would there be room to appoint an auxiliary bishop to assist an area with a bishop already? Would a conference need to split if it needs more episcopal leadership?
#3 The Role of Bishops
The role of bishops is ongoing. I’ve been impressed with all the interviews I have seen with our bishops so far. I thought Bishop Webb was candid in an interview with John Lomperis:
“One thing I think that Bishop [Scott] Jones, Bishop [Emeritus Mike] Lowry, and I all agree on is that we are not interested in continuing a royal episcopacy. We believe that the role of Bishop, the role of the episcopacy [in] the Global Methodist Church, must be first and foremost a model of servant leadership. And then it needs to be a model where Bishops…defend the faith, cast vision for the church, and come alongside others to help equip them […] to be a part of what God’s already doing uh in their lives. And helping to stir up the gifts that the Holy Spirit has already placed within them to carry out the mission in this transitional time.
You know I keep reminding folks that the convening conference will have a conversation about the role of the episcopacy. The convening conference of the GMC will take what is in the transitional book of doctrines and disciplines, they will add to it, they’ll delete from it [and] they’ll keep some of it the same. So I think the nature of the episcopacy is yet to be fully formed or shaped in the global Methodist church. I’m fully aware that you know in this season all I can focus on […] and I think our commitment as Bishops right now is to try to help lay foundation and groundwork for the things that we want to see move forward moving forward initially and in this season.”2
In Multiplying Methodism Rev. Dr. Jeff Greenway and Bishop Mike Lowery lay down some admiral aspirations:
“We strongly recommend a redefinition of the episcopacy from that of institutional maintenance and leadership–to reclaiming the teaching office of the church… the role of Bishop in the Global Methodist Church will be primarily spiritual–teaching the faith, ordaining clergy, and fixing appointments–but the operational leadership of the more temporal affairs will be delegated to a Connectional Operating Officer.”3
Rev. Dr. David F Watson has nine powerful revisions to the office of Bishop in his Firebrand Article “A Spirit of Governance”: On Bishops in the Global Methodist Church.
In his third point Watson says, “we should not conceive of bishops primarily as managers. We should not hobble them with unending bureaucratic responsibilities. Rather, we should conceive of bishops as pastors, evangelists, and defenders of the faith. The bishop is an office within the order of elders, and the Spirit of governance God pours out upon bishops is for the church’s spiritual care. Let business managers handle business. Let attorneys handle the law. Let bishops lead the church in word, sacrament, and order.”4
#4 The Election of Bishops
The process for electing bishops is still not clear. In the former denomination the elections happened in the jurisdictional (regional) conferences.
Again from Multiplying Methodism the argument is made:
“We recommend the elimination of jurisdictional conferences (which are the residue of institutional racism and the source of the move to regionalized expressions of faith in the United Methodist Church), and that bishops be elected at the General Conference. We recommended bishops be elected for a maximum 12-year term, and if the bishop is not of retirement age, their title is ‘Bishop Emeritus’ when their term ends, and they return to serve a local church.”5
Election at the General Conference is a fascinating possibility. Will there be time to approve the process of electing bishops and have elections in the same convening conference?
#5 The Election of Delegates to the Convening Conference
The process for electing delegates to the convening conference needs to be formalized. It could be as simple as the Transitional Leadership Council asking each conference to develop their plan. However, there will need to be a way to determine how many delegates each area gets.
In conclusion, I have full confidence in our leadership structure in the GMC. We certainly have a firm foundation laid. The future is bright and will only get better as we get clarity on these topics.
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Footnotes
1 Global Methodist Church Thursday Night Live. GMC Thursday Night Live State of the Church 2022 with Rev. Dr. Sterling Allen & Rev. Keith Boyette. Youtube. Rev. Dr. Allen, Sterling. Posted November 17, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFjXkU3pQgc
2 The IRD. Global Methodist Bishop Mark Webb interview with John Lomperis. Youtube. Lomperis, John. Posted January 18th, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVuHVm_fzhM&t=1045s
3 Greenway, Jeffrey E., and Mike Lowry. Multiplying Methodism: A Bold Witness of Wesleyan Faith at the Dawn of the Global Methodist Church. 313 Publishing, 2022. p.111-112
4 Watson, David F. “‘A Spirit of Governance’: On Bishops in the Global Methodist Church.” Firebrand Magazine, Jan. 2023, https://firebrandmag.com/articles/a-spirit-of-governance-on-bishops-in-the-global-methodist-church?rq=bishop.
5 Greenway, Jeffrey E., and Mike Lowry. Multiplying Methodism: A Bold Witness of Wesleyan Faith at the Dawn of the Global Methodist Church. 313 Publishing, 2022. p.111
In 2012, I met the Rev. Dr. Ted Goshorn as my classmate at license to preach school. Ted was one of the nicest humans I have ever met. Since our licensing school, our families have become great friends. I’m also honored to have him coming on season two of the David Donnan Podcast.
In November of 2022, Ted released his first published book Prayer Changes Us. As Ted’s friend I did my duty to read it. I was blown away by the depth and practical application offered.
Here are four reasons Prayer Changes Us can transform your understanding of this vital Christian practice.
#1 Ted Models Continual Learning in the Journey of Prayer.
There is no master teacher here. Instead, we catch a glimpse of someone who is still on the journey with us. Ted shares stories about his personal and professional life. He explains the journey he has been on that has led him to move into more contemplative practices
#2 Ted is a Powerful Storyteller.
One of my favorite stories is about losing power and the lesson he learned about God. Here is what he says:
“It’s like when the power went out one night at our house. A storm raged such that the only light in the house was when a flash of lightning struck. But in the laundry room, where I thought the flashlight was stored, there was absolutely no light because there were no windows. I grasped around the cabinet, trying to find the flashlight, but to no avail.
Jackson, my oldest son, knew just where the flashlight was. Had been playing with it, but had (not) always put it back where I’d left it: not in the laundry room but the pantry. He went into the pitch-black pantry and came back out with the flashlight, knowing exactly where it was.
That’s what life is like in the darkness when we’re disciplined in prayer during the good times. We know just where the flashlight is because we’ve been going to it over and over again before the darkness settled in. God is our light in the dark times. If we’re good about going back to the light in prayer over and over again when times are good, if we maintain discipline, it’s very easy to find the light when the darkness settles into our lives. And finding the light means we’re safe, secure, unmoved, unshaken, unterrorized.” (34)
#3 Ted Has One of the Greatest Practical Appendixes of Any Book I have read.
In the back of the book Ted has summarized different forms of prayer, has historical Wesleyan small group questions, and offers ways to read through the Bible in a year. It is a great reference tool for a seasoned pastor as well as a guide for a beginner.
The Prayer Changes Us appendix includes:
- Different types of prayer and resource guide
- Elements of prayer form the Lord’s prayer
- John Wesley’s Self-Examination Questions for Holy Clubs
- Praying the Psalms Schedule
- Daily Bible Reading Schedule
#4 Ted Connects to the Overall Narrative of Scripture.
One theological skill that is undervalued is having the ability to show how a certain passage connects to the wider Biblical narrative. Ted does this throughout his book. Here is one example:
“Throughout scripture, we hear this pledge from God: I am with you, always. In the garden, God is with Adam and Eve. Even after sinning and being banished from the garden, they still have God with them. God is guiding the generations that followed, through Abraham, through Joseph, through Moses and Joshua and David and the kings and the prophets, including Elisha.” (p. 55)
Overall, Prayer Changes Us is an enjoyable read that adds value to the spiritual formation of the reader. It will help almost anyone learn more about prayer and how to practice prayer.
David Donnan 