after everything that's been said (not just here, but in close to one hundred e-mails) after the ill-fated disciples council/administrative board/trip to hell two sundays ago, it's hard to find original ground or thoughts concerning the fallout worth publishing on HACAM. this is truly unfortunate. why? because come monday night, whatever part of our congregation that shows up could
if it sounds like a lot to cram into two hours, well, it is. too much. and depending on how emotional the discourse becomes, it may not all be covered. and that would be a shame. because all of it and the impact of the discussion needs to be covered. unfortunately, it falls into the "rome was not built in a day" category. the hispanic thing has been festering for three years. we can not solve the hurt feelings that are streaming through the bloodlines of the church in half an hour. the lack of orgainization and leadership has been a problem for longer than that. the man responsible for running the meeting monday night has become a caricature of himself, one that holds himself in such different regard than the rest of the universe that it will be difficult to stray from an already manipulated forum. the "where do we go from here?" should have been in place by now. by the church. by us. but for twenty years, we have allowed ourselves to be so pastor-driven and not lay-driven that when we are appointed with a pastor that can't cure all of our problems for us, we continue to stumble down the hill we've been stumbling down for several appointments consecutively. is it all our fault? of course not. our conference doesn't know what to do with us either. our bishop(s) have made terribly short-sighted and misinformed decisions while considering our "spiritual directors", but we have to take some of the blame too. we've allowed it to be this way. we have to own our part.
the good news is that there seems to be some momentum toward this last part actually happening. whether it's just my sunday school class or us and other groups that are beginning to understand what the stagnant water, breeding ground for filth that is our church looks like, change feels as if it is afoot. i don't know if you can call it a movement quite yet. for, to move, you must have a direction and we still aren't there yet. but there is a feeling brewing that part of our church is unhappy barreling downhill into the darkness. if we have enough strength to put on the brakes and momentarily stop our descent, that is something, right? we might not be a movement or have somewhere to move just yet, but maybe we can stop long enough to know that we don't want to keep falling. and that is something worth having a discussion about. but we won't have time for that either.
i don't know what is going to happen monday night. sarah will represent the o'kelleys after rearranging her own schedule. i am still incredibly unhappy at the thought of having to hear what went on second-hand. but i don't have to be there and speak for my thoughts to be heard. sarah knows where i stand. so do the weeds. i'll be well-represented with like-minds. maybe that's enough.
i am often fond of hyperbole, but make no mistake. if you are wasting your time by reading this blog and have any sort of pull towards huffman united methodist church, you should dvr whatever you were going to watch on tv monday night and be in the sanctuary at 630. this could be the night that we take our church back. take it back from the hands that have apathetically led us for years. take it back from the lack of mission that has plagued us. take it back from ourselves that have stood idly by and let it all happen.
this crap didn't happen overnight and we won't fix it in two hours. collectively, though, we can tell each other that we plan to. and during this stewardship season, that may be the most important pledge we can make to the church that we love.
viva "HUMC".
6 comments:
Kevin, you've said a lot here ... and evidently have been saying a lot before now. With you being so vocal, I would say it would make the congregational meeting Monday night far more important than softball ... though I could certainly understand how that would be much more "enjoyable". Since you have put yourself in the position of a spokesman, I believe you have made it so that your presence is mandated. I call upon you as I have everyone to allow the wisdom of Romans 12 to guide all that you say and do, especially on Monday night. I write this sincerely in Christ, Chris Denson
Whoo! Go Mr.Kevin! :D
thanks for the comments, chris. it's always nice to hear from a reader.
mandate, huh? that's a pretty serious word. to be fair, i suppose you could argue that i've used some pretty serious words myself. i did, and i have. you are right. the mandate will have no bearing on my presence at the meeting, but it is duly noted.
i wonder, chris...if this meeting is of such dire importance (and i am in agreement with you), why are you urging your congregation to change their plans? why is the church not changing theirs? is this not more important than the picnic? is it not more important than the first lesson in our wed. night series that begins next week? our congregation, for the most part, already has scheduled themselves to be available on "church" days and nights anyway. maybe these things were considered and decided against. maybe not.
also, thanks for the scripture suggestion. the context of romans 12 is certainly not the only passage of scripture, though, that would be worthwhile to our church or any church in this kind of matter.
i'll encourage you here and hopefully soon face to face to be less quick to feel some of what your current congregation is sharing as personal attacks and look to see that they are cares and concerns for a much broader problem.
have we considered you part of the problem? absolutely. do i consider myself a part of the problem? as i noted in the post, i do. absolutely. we all have played a role. the only thing i've ever wished for on this site and off is that there be as much accountabilty on the church and it's leaders as there is on the congregation.
we'll see you soon, chris.
Perhaps I put to the wide-open space of your comments here something I should save for say, an e-mail, but I feel as though it has some merit beyond that.
First, an anecdote. Something about this post, or perhaps what has come to transpire here, or what I see it standing as - if not a charge, then in parts a wake up call - just screamed in resemblance to something. At a train stop in Gotham City, Batman saves Rachel Dawes and explains to her just who she is, who she has become. Who she ought to be. The "cage rattler" spiel. I'm not sure why, but let me digress.
What I came to say in principle was that, for whatever the presence of a near-20-something 8-ish-years-since "newcomer" to Huffman United Methodist would be worth, I wish I could be there on Monday night. I have an engineering lab session I don't think I can reschedule that will last through 5:30. So it goes. As you well noted, though, Rome was neither built nor destroyed in a day. Maybe what I can offer is not hitting the snooze button on the alarm that's been sounding around the place for years now, so to speak. Or I can take out my stubborn earplugs. You get the idea.
In my typical fashion, I begin to think, "I don't have much right or place to voice my opinions on these matters."
Then reality downright slaps me in the face. I do, too. Anyone does, anyone who "[has] any sort of pull" to this church. Who was made a little bit of someone there. Who met a little bit of someone there. Who learned a little bit of something there.
If it ever comes down to a scarcity of testimony or opinion, I'll come running.
Yeah!! go mr.kevin!:D even though i'm not sure excatly what to say, but i think joseph summed it up perfectly as to what i'm thinking.
Hmm. I have no trials this week. Monday night is open. So which HUMC sport would be more entertaining: softball or extreme fighting?
You certainly named the problem I have been screaming about. Churches (not just HUMC)give their power away. Do you remember when I angered Charles by daring to say a church member needed to chair the committee for a contemporary service? But the council let Charles head the committee, so nothing happened until he left. Then HUMC blindly let Rick bring in the Hispanic ministry with about as much as a long-term plan as Bush had with Iraq. Congregations forget that they are the church. They allow or even expect their clergy to call the shots and run the show. To add to this problem, a lot of clergy get high on the power and control.
I hope your team wins at both events Monday.
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