The Long Hard Work of Racial Reconciliation

The long hard work of racial reconciliation is exactly that, long, and hard and work.  But, it is work that we must do. 

What is it about America that our long national nightmare, the legacy of slavery, the civil war and Jim Crow continues to haunt our national soul?  Yes, other nations have their legacies, but our calling is to look at our own.  I believe this work to be both an inward journey, as well as an outward one.  We are called, each of us, whether we call ourselves Christian or not, to explore the internal workings of bias, hatred, racism, dislike for the ‘other’, suspicion for those who are different.  We all have them.  That soul work is deep work that we are each called to explore, understand and heal.  We are equally called to exercise the external work of ending racism and challenging the systems and causes that perpetuate racism.

In the video above, I am speaking without a script.  It is my admittedly raw attempt to help begin not only a conversation, but a time of learning.  A time to begin to understand what it must be like to live in this country as a person of color.  I begin with the parable of the Good Samaritan because it is so widely known, and yet, not everyone knows how radical the message.  Jesus tells a story in which the hero is the ‘other’.   I have re-told this parable in other settings, and gotten in trouble. In the 1980’s I retold this parable in a worship setting and made the heroic character, the Good Soviet Communist.  In the early 2000’s, I retold this parable as the Parable of the Good Islamist.  Clarence Jordan practiced this form of re-telling the gospels better than any.  “By rewriting the gospel in a southern idiom, Jordan placed the ordinary reader in the midst of the action and flow of the narrative, thereby making the reader a “participant” rather than an observer. In this way, Jordan sought to recreate the Jesus event and help southerners experience the God Movement as news rather than history. A good example of this practice is Jordan’s translation of the parable of the Good Samaritan. By replacing Samaritan with black man, Jordan recaptures the original setting of the good “outcast,” which potentially becomes world reversing. In so doing, Jordan challenges cultural images and mythic models of the good person. Through the work of Jesus the rebel, myths are redescribed and thus rewritten. Now the good person is the person who lives with unlimited love and can stand against cultural stereotypes that demean and denigrate.” (Frederick Downing SBL) 

My attempt to begin this conversation with a biblical passage is intentional, however clumsy I have described it in the video.  It is my intention that we call on the vast resources of God’s Word to help and guide us forward.  There are many resources, and we should make use of those that will be helpful, but I believe we must define this conversation with biblical language and imagery. 

I have no doubt that the conversation will be challenging, and we will say clumsy, awkward and stupid things.  I know I will, I know I have.  We are all fallen and broken people, and we do not have the resources on our own to do this work.  But, by God’s grace, we have the capacity to live differently, to affect change, and to help heal the church. 

May God grant us the courage and wisdom to do what will make a real difference.  It will be long-term, and it is also urgent work—the most difficult and necessary combination.   But with Christ patient and persistent voice, we will be lead forward.

 

Tragedy in South Carolina

Our hearts are breaking today as we take in the news of another mass shooting. Today’s crime, apparently motivated by racial hatred, has taken the lives of nine innocent victims while they were gathered in prayer and Bible study. Among those Rev. Clementa Pinckney, a state senator, pastor of the church and close friend of several ELCA bishops as well as our Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in South Carolina. Pastor Pinckney was a graduate of that seminary.   
 
I have joined with other religious leaders in the state of Rhode Island in issuing the following statement:
 
We reach out in loving concern to the people of Charleston, South Carolina, and especially the members and friends of the individuals who were slain while attending a Bible study at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church last night.  We not only honor the life of the Rev. Clementa Pinckney who lost his life shepherding his flock, but we also honor those who were gathered in prayer and reflection.  Houses of worship must be safe havens for all who are in distress and seeking God.  When any sacred space is violated, all faith communities are diminished.  
Churches and synagogues and temples across this country are responding with various forms of worship, prayer, church bells or moments of silence.  I ask that all of our congregations, consider setting aside a moment of silence this weekend in worship in order to honor and remember those who have died in this tragedy as well as those grieving the loss of loved ones.  In this long year of racially related tragedies, I am mindful that the work of racial reconciliation, the prophetic call of justice and the task of being the people of God is before us, perhaps, in  ways we have not seen in years.  As I reflect on my years in the ministry, I realize that I never feared for my safety while conducting a bible study or leading worship.  I suspect for many of you reading this email, that is true as well.  We do live in two societies, and among our many challenges is the task to be faithful people of deep reflection, honest assessment and seekers of reconciliation that is possible in Christ.

Best summary of the Pope's Statement on the Environment

“The basic idea is, in order to love God, you have to love your fellow human beings, and you have to love and care for the rest of creation,” said Vincent Miller, who holds a chair in Catholic theology and culture at the University of Dayton, a Catholic college in Ohio. “It gives Francis a very traditional basis to argue for the inclusion of environmental concern at the center of Christian faith.”

Advertisement

Continue reading the main story
He added: “Critics will say the church can’t teach policy, the church can’t teach politics. And Francis is saying, ‘No, these things are at the core of the church’s teaching.’”

Six Simple Things a First-time Church Guest Likes

Six Simple Things a First-time Church Guest Likes

Thanks to Thom Rainer for this guest blog post.

I have written rather extensively on first-time church guests at this blog. Even more importantly, I have received hundreds of responses from church leaders, church members, and church guests about this issue. I took the opportunity to look specifically at the comments from first-time guests. After completing this exercise, I was surprised to find that the preferences of these guests can be categorized into six simple groups.

Keep in mind, you are hearing only from the self-identified first-time guests. Each category has one or more direct comments I received. Here are their six simple requests.

  1. Be genuinely friendly. “I can tell when someone has a genuine smile and a genuine concern for me.” “I don’t like the stand-and-greet time because it seems like many of the members are forced to be friendly.” “I love churches where people are smiling.”
  2. Don’t put me on the spot. “Don’t ask me to raise my hand.” “Don’t stand up and greet each other while I’m asked to sit down.” “Please don’t ask me to introduce myself before the entire church.”
  3. Provide clear directions. “Make certain your websites have the church address and the times of worship services on the home page.” “Have clear signage in the parking lot when I enter.” “Please have clear signage once I enter the building.”
  4. Please be empathetic. “I am a single mom with four young children. Please understand it’s a struggle to get to church.” “I am an introvert who is scared to death when I visit a church. Please don’t invade my personal space too much.” “I can’t afford the clothes many people can. Please don’t look down on me.”
  5. Show joy in your lives. “I came to church expecting people to have obvious joy in their lives.” “Your ushers look like grumpy old men and women.” “There was something intangible about the third church I visited. I never went to another church after that.”
  6. “Don’t be rude.” “Don’t tell me I’m in your seat. If you do, I will be happy to get up and never return.” “Don’t make me walk over you to get to a seat.” “Why did they tell me I didn’t look like I belonged here?”

I wonder what it would be like if all of our first-time guests found our churches joyous, courteous, informative, and friendly. Think about how God might bless them and us. It’s really not that difficult. These first-time guests are only asking for basic courtesies and considerations.

A Brief Review of our Synod Assembly

The New England Synod Assembly concluded on Saturday evening with a worship service in which we welcomed two new congregations.  Sanctuary of Marshfield, MA, the first ever joint Lutheran and United Methodist congregation in the country.  Grace Lutheran in Naugatuk, CT, a consolidation of two Lutheran congregations in the Naugatuk Valley.

The assembly highlight for me, was listening to our keynote presenter Molly Phinney Baskette, pastor of the First Congregational Church of Somerville, MA and author of the book, Real Good Church. She brought forward the ancient/fuutre practice of conferssion as a tool for both theological reflection as well as a public reminder that we are all broken people.  The freedom people find in that acknowledgement is transformative, as well illustrated in two testimonials by Katy Roets and Pr. Ross Goodman.

We also celebrated the graduation of our School of Lay Ministry students, including graduates from our first ever Latino School of Lay Ministry.

Our theme of Holy Experimentation was lifted up in a series of You Tube videos.

 

You can watch the others on my You Tube Channel here 

 

A Holy Experiment

Sasha Dichter has a practice in which he will make a commitment for a period of say four weeks to respond positively to everyone who asks him for money. Whether it's someone on the street or a charity, doesn't matter he gives them something. It may not be a lot, but he says yes. Over time the effect on his psyche and soul is that he begins to see himself as a generous person, a philanthropist.

How would this experiment impact you? What would you discover about yourself? How would it change your views of generosity and self?

You'll never know unless you try it.

A New Day

Guest Blogger today is Jeffrey Jones. 

It’s time to start asking new questions. Better answers to the same old questions about the church will not get us through the tumultuous times in which we live. This is a time for out-of-the box thinking. Old questions keep is in the box. New questions invite us to move outside.

Phyllis Tickle, in The Great Emergence, talks about the need for today’s church to have a rummage sale so we can rid ourselves of all those practices, beliefs and ways of being that are no longer effective and get in the way of being the church we are called to be.  

Many of the questions we have asked for centuries in the church need to be put in that rummage sale. They need to be replaced with new questions that lead us into new ways of being and doing – ways that are attuned to the time in which we live.  

It’s not that the old questions weren’t valid at one time or even that they have no place in the church today. Rather, the new questions, if they are the questions that form our approach to ministry,will lead us to new insights and new learning.

One question that has been asked consistently through the years, and even more so in these days of declining church membership is, “How do we bring them in?” It would be better for us to ask, “How do we send them out?”

In these days of changing roles and responsibilities many wonder, “What should the pastor do?” But a more important question for congregations today is “What is our shared ministry?”

When congregations focus on strategic planning they ask, “What’s our vision and how do we implement it?” What would happen if they instead asked, “What’s God up to and how do we get on board?”

When congregations have financial struggles, they ask, “How do we survive?” Instead they might ask, “How do we serve?”

When congregations think about their mission, they often ask, “How do we save people?” or perhaps, “How do we help people?” A better question might be “How do we make the reign of God more present in this time and place?”

There are no “right” answers to these new questions that can be applied to all congregations. Every congregation needs to live with the questions, because it is only in living with them that new ways being and doing church emerge. The familiar line from Rainer Maria Rilke in Letters to a Young Poet can guide us: “Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, one distant day live right into the answer.”

If you ask these questions there is no assurance that you’ll find the way to renew, revitalize or redevelop your church. It may happen. But you may just as likely discover that asking these questions takes you down a road to some other alternative that you hadn’t even thought of before. What I feel pretty confident about, however, is that asking these new questions will bring us closer to discovering what God is seeking from us in this time. I also believe asking these new questions will help ensure that whatever the future holds for us and our congregations we will be more faithful in the work we are about right now.And that is a pretty wondrous thing!

Jeffrey D. Jones is a pastor in the American Baptist Church and the author of several books, including Heart, Mind, and Strength: Theory and Practice for Congregational Leadership. His latest book, Facing Decline, Finding Hope: New Possibilities for Faithful Churches, will be published by Alban Books in February 2015.

Better or Safer?

If you could only choose between those two, which would it be?

Seth Godin introduced this question to me in his recent audiobook, Leap First.

If you choose safer, the odds are, you'll choose comfort, security, repetition, boredom.  But, you'll be safer. If you select better, the odds are, you'll experience adventure, threat, challenge, experimentation, risk.  But, things might be better.

Most of people, most organizations including churches, most groups will choose safer. Why?  Because the risk of standing out, the vulnerability of exposing yourself is too great, if we choose better.  Better means, "holy cow, I'm out there and someone might criticize me or judge me."  Yup.

Irony is that in the church today, where most people are choosing safer, it's having the opposite effect.  The choice for safer is yielding smaller churches, with more fragile structures, and diminished mission capacity. In the NeXt Church, the church that is being born, we need better.  Which means risking, experimenting and exposing.  As we risk and try new things, something happens, people are attracted to this new bold adventure.

Other bishops ask me if I'm concerned that our emphasis in New England on experimentation is leading to problems.  I say, "No.  If anything I'm dissapointed we haven't had bolder experiments with more failures. Cause the only way forward into the church God is birthing is through the new adventure of discipleship."

What new BOLD thing will you do this year?

 

New Issue of ekklesia - our Synod News Magazine

The Spring 2015 edition of Ekklesia is now available! A copy is being sent to each of our congregations, as well as our mission support donors, but you can also read it right here as a free, downloadable PDF. 

 

In this edition:

  • Our Saviour's in East Boston has become a hub of activity for its neighborhood, but newly ordained pastor developer Britta Meiers Carlson is hoping to make it a hub of spirituality, too, through a focus on the many cultures that surround it.
  • The Synod offers several grants for ministries that need a little help achieving their goals. We take a look at a few ministries that have benefited from grant money, and how they've put it to good use.
  • When the Episcopal congregation nearby was forced move its worship out of its old, drafty sanctuary, Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Augusta, Maine, offered itself as a new home, and now the Lutherans and Episcopalians are learning and worshipping together, with a blend of both traditions.
  • Give Bishop Hazelwood 103 minutes, and he'll give you a plan to make your congregation's stewardship better, faster and stronger. That's the pitch for the bishop's "Crazy Stewardship Consult," which has been a big hit throughout the region. 

How your congregation can save $ on health insurance

Are you a lay leader of a New England Synod congregation?  Would you like to have your congregation save 2% on it's health insurance costs?  If your pastor or other staff who receive their coverage through Portico Benefit Services, take a short survey by April 30, you'll save money.  Plus the pastor or rostered leader will get $150 to spend on medically related expenses.

Ask your pastor and his/her spouse today

 

April 30 is our deadline to save! 

We need 65 percent of our eligible ELCA-Primary health plan members and spouses in to complete the confidential Mayo Clinic health assessment by April 30. Taking the assessment will help all of our synod's congregations and organizations save a collective $35,000 on ELCA health contributions this year.

And remember, by taking the assessment, you'll be taking stock of your health and earning $150 wellness dollars. Healthy leaders do enhance lives and ultimately create a healthier ELCA community. If your spouse has ELCA-Primary health benefits and completes the Mayo Clinic health assessment, too, you'll receive another $150 wellness dollars and will help us earn our synod-wide 2% discount on health contributions.

 

"But," you say, "I'm not on an ELCA-sponsored health plan!" That's OK, your pastor probably is, and you can help us out, too! Ask him or her if he/she has taken the assessment. If the answer is "no," remind him/her that there's real savings at stake for each of our congregations. For the cost of a small amount of time and effort, you and your pastor will help us all save big!


New this year: To take the Mayo Clinic health assessment, access Mayo Clinic Healthy Living online directly through myPortico - no separate Mayo Clinic ID and password necessary. Go to PorticoBenefits.org/HealthyLiving for details. 

Help Celebrate my Birthday

Today is my 56th Birthday. I am hoping to raise $1,000 between today and Sunday for our brothers and sisters in Honduras. In the midst of political turmoil, economic injustice, a severe drought they are struggling. For ten years, we have partnered with the people in the town of Yuscaran, to build a small multi use building that serves as grocery store, worship center, sewing cooperative and community organizing space. In addition, we have sponsored many many children with educational scholarships, so they can attend elementary school and make their way out of poverty in a country where the average income is a little under $2 per day.

If 56 people would make a donation of just $18, we will reach our goal and help the people of Yuscaran. You can donate any amount in one of two ways. 1. You can wish me Happy Birthday here in the comment section, and say, Count me in to help. Then I'll message you with options on how to make your gift. 2. You can do the same and go directly to nesynod.org/donate and make your gift their in the general donation area indicating Bishop's Honduras Birthday

On this Good Friday, A powerful religious holiday in Honduras, I invite you to pause a think of the people of the Central American country of Honduras. 

Thanks everyone.  This would be the best Birthday gift you could give me, by giving to people of Honduras.

Great Resources from our Forward Leadership Community

Forward Leadership Community

Re-Cap: 
This is Broken: Technical and Adaptive Change

Perhaps the best thing to come out of our last seminar is a renewed focus on noticing; noticing the broken, the thriving, the complicated, the simple, the systemic,  and even the mundane. Noticing the way we've always done things and asking "why?" Noticing when we're afraid, anxious or uncomfortable and instead of hiding from it- naming it. Noticing when the quick fix isn't going to cut it and that there are deeper issues to address.

We like to refer to the Vital Signs report as the CAT scan because it makes you stand up and take notice.  We see under the surface to where those adaptive changes are needed in order to increase the health and vitality of the whole system- not just one or two parts. The temptation is that we try to tweak one or two things to effect adaptive change when really we need to question and re-evaluate the way the whole system operates. That will mean different things for each congregation and the path of change will be show itself in a variety of ways. Yet we as a community can learn from one another; the art of noticing is not a solitary activity. New and different perspectives widen our vision and, with God's help, we'll move from noticing, to questioning, to implementing change, and moving forward.

Resources:

This is Broken: Adaptive and Technical Change Power Point Slides
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0h6JObwjMQAcTFVdHBWRHNZVFk/view?usp=sharing

This is Broken Video
http://www.ted.com/talks/seth_godin_this_is_broken_1

SHIPIT Journal Audio
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/freeprize/2012/05/an-audio-introduction-to-the-shipit-journal.html

SHIPIT for Congregations
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0h6JObwjMQAdXp4eHpLMlAyS1k/view?usp=sharing

Technical Problems vs. Adaptive Challenges (Chart)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0h6JObwjMQAUzc5QURyYzUxZHc/view?usp=sharing

The Harvard Experiment- Adaptive Challenges (Article)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0h6JObwjMQAQmZ1SThZME9TQ2s/view?usp=sharing

DWM Smart Goals Workbook
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0h6JObwjMQANWVGY0xLZkl6VkU/view?usp=sharing

Leadership Zones: Emergent, Performative, Reactive (Article)
http://nextreformation.com/?p=2727

If you haven't already discovered it, David Lose has a wonderful blog called "In the Meantime..." Lots of different categories and thoughts, but you'll find some great articles about adaptive change and innovation under the heading of "Leadership". Here's a few to get you started:

 

Finally, after our conversations about shame  and dancing with fear someone mentioned that they were reminded of the TED talks on vulnerability and shame by Brene Brown.

Data vs Stories

The article below is from a recent issue of the Chronicle of Philanthropy, which is essentially THE journal of the Non-Profit world.  I include it here today as part of my efforts to help our congregations retool around stewardship.

Just last night, i was at Immanueal Lutheran in Meridan, CT for my Crazy Stewardship Consult.  Their Pastor Chris McKinstry is doing a bang up job at this congregaion, and he invited me.  During the course of the 103 minute session, I talked about the fact that budgets and spreadsheets don't motivate people to be generous stewards of God's gifts.  Yes, you need them to run an organization, and you need them to insure financial integrity and transparency.  But, don't hold them up on sunday morning as a motivator to get people to give.

Instead, tell stories about your ministry.  Tell is the third leg of the three leg stool ASK THANK TELL.  Buy Chalres Lane's book ASK THANK TELL - best thing out there in congregational stewardship.

TELL stories about your ministry, who you impacted and how you impacted their lives.  The following article elaborates on the value of telling your story.  How would you take this article and use it in a ministry setting?

3 Tips for Telling Stories That Move People to Action

By Paul VanDeCarr 

COURTESY OF THE JOHN D. AND CATHERINE T. MACARTHUR FOUNDATION 
Heard any good social-change stories lately?

 

Did they move you to action? Did they make you think different about the meaning of justice?

“For purposes of advocacy, a story is only as good as the impact it has on how audiences understand an issue or get involved,” says Susan Nall Bales, the founder and executive director of the FrameWorks Institute, a research group that helps nonprofits communicate about social problems. “It’s an empirical question whether a story moves audiences to support policies or engage with an issue.” 

Ms. Bales’s team of cognitive and social scientists conducts research on how to frame stories about social issues and trains advocates to create change based on that research. Last month, the group won it a $1 million MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions.

Here are a few of the organization’s findings, which include some unconventional ideas.

Data are more powerful when woven into a story. 

The United States puts more people in prison than any other country. Black men have a 32-percent chance of spending time behind bars at some point in their lives compared to a 6-percent chance for white men. During 2010, 18 of every 1,000 men in the U.S. were in prison.

What does that tell you?

Depending on your beliefs, it might indicate that we put too many people in prison or that men commit lots of crimes or that our criminal-justice system is keeping us safe. It may tell you that black men are more than five times more criminal than white men or that our criminal-justice system has a racial bias.

The data alone don’t tell you anything.

Given only data, the audience is more likely to mold that information to fit their beliefs than allow it to change their minds.

But when you combine facts and values in a narrative, you’re more likely to change public opinion and policy.

That’s the conclusion of a 2013 FrameWorks Institute paper on “Framing and Facts” in criminal-justice issues.

“Advocates use a lot of numbers, expecting that those facts will lead to a breakthrough,” Ms. Bales says. “It’s by embedding the facts into a narrative that gives the data a value. And you need to test the data and the values to get the right story.”

Be careful when using vivid examples. 

How big a problem is homelessness? And what should we do about it?

Your view depends partly on the kinds of stories you hear.

If you hear a clinical case study of a man who is laid off, gets addicted to drugs, and loses his home, you might have one idea of how common homelessness is. But if you hear that same man’s story told with vivid details and a strong emotional appeal, you’re more likely to think the incidence of homelessness is higher.

Homeless advocates might take that to mean they should tell vivid stories to make their audience grasp the problem and take action. Not so fast, say the folks at FrameWorks. Yes, such stories increase the salience of the issue in the public’s mind, but there may be a cost.

A dramatic account of one homeless man’s experience may lead listeners to empathize with him, or it may also lead them to think his homelessness is his own fault rather than the result, in part, of bad housing policy and other problems in the economy.

This conundrum about personal stories also works the other way, says FrameWorks. If you highlight the story of a man who works his way out of homelessness, then you risk suggesting that anyone who works hard enough can do the same and that people who don’t succeed have themselves to blame.

Stories of exemplary individuals should be used only with caution. Before using such a story, FrameWorks says, ask yourself if it would be likely to distort the reality of your issue, to focus on individual rather than social responsibility, or to activate stereotypes in your audience.

Tell success stories about groups of people.

Let’s say the man crawls his way out of homelessness, perhaps with the help of a social-service organization. On the surface, it’s a perfectly nice success story.

But what is the audience likely to do with that story?

FrameWorks research says people might say, “Good for him!” and leave it at that.

That’s why the group recommends against telling “episodic” stories, or stories that zoom in on a particular individual or event. Instead, tell “thematic” stories, ones that zoom out to show a whole issue in context.

Episodic stories tend to de-politicize an issue, while thematic ones highlight the social and political nature of problems like homelessness. The notion of “episodic” and “thematic” frames was pioneered by Shanto Iyengar and Donald Kinder in their 1989 book News That Matters.

To help people understand social problems and inspire them to take action, you might tell another kind of success story. It’s one that tells of a community of people — homeless people, their advocates, neighbors, and local legislators — who work together to create sensible public policy to reduce homelessness. Such a story could include shared values that people can unite around; it may put the social problem in context; and it may show the importance of teamwork, so your audience feels capable of making a difference.

By telling success stories about collective triumph, you will prompt your audience to action rather than just sympathy.

To learn more, visit the FrameWorks new page of storytelling resources.