Today’s Lectionary Readings: Psalm 92; Jeremiah 31:23-25; Matthew 13:1-9; 1 Corinthians 13:1-7; Psalm 48
Back in the spring of 2000, I had a transformative experience that changed my life. As someone who was raised Methodist (I arrived on the scene about a year before the Methodist Church’s merger with the Evangelical United Brethren Church) and was attending a United Methodist seminary at the time, I was chosen to serve as the student assistant to a gentleman who was organizing a caucus of progressive delegates to General Conference (the worldwide meeting of United Methodists that happens once every four years). Some of the biggest issues before General Conference that year involved sexuality. I went to the Conference thinking that it would be a time of what John Wesley (the founder of Methodism) called “holy conferencing” as we would build new relationships and listen – REALLY listen - together for the call and the movement of the Holy Spirit as we faced the difficult issues. What I found when I arrived at General Conference, however, was that there was very little listening and discerning going on. Most of the delegates who arrived had been elected to attend the Conference were chosen not on their openness and willingness to be led by the Spirit. No, most of the delegates were chosen because of their previously held positions. They would not budge on practically any major issue. I had never been around a more intractable group of people – from the left and from the right - in my entire life!! I left the Conference spiritually bruised and battered because of that pervading sense of spiritual rigidity; ten months later I left the denomination. All of those feelings came back to me as I read two of today’s passages. The passage from Matthew that raised the issue of where the seed fell made me wonder: “What is the condition of my heart? Am I so set in my ways and in my convictions that my heart has become the equivalent of the road? So arrogant that I feel I no longer need the Spirit to grow and transform the seeds planted in my heart?” The passage from 1 Corinthians challenged me to think about what one word would best describe the way in which I lead my life. Is that word “love” or something else? My prayer for today is that each of us will pay attention to the condition of our heart so that we’ll make sure our heart will provide the fertile ground the seed needs in order to grow. Once the seed begins to take root all we have to do is open ourselves to providing the most effective plant food available: love. Til next time…
Back in the spring of 2000, I had a transformative experience that changed my life. As someone who was raised Methodist (I arrived on the scene about a year before the Methodist Church’s merger with the Evangelical United Brethren Church) and was attending a United Methodist seminary at the time, I was chosen to serve as the student assistant to a gentleman who was organizing a caucus of progressive delegates to General Conference (the worldwide meeting of United Methodists that happens once every four years). Some of the biggest issues before General Conference that year involved sexuality. I went to the Conference thinking that it would be a time of what John Wesley (the founder of Methodism) called “holy conferencing” as we would build new relationships and listen – REALLY listen - together for the call and the movement of the Holy Spirit as we faced the difficult issues. What I found when I arrived at General Conference, however, was that there was very little listening and discerning going on. Most of the delegates who arrived had been elected to attend the Conference were chosen not on their openness and willingness to be led by the Spirit. No, most of the delegates were chosen because of their previously held positions. They would not budge on practically any major issue. I had never been around a more intractable group of people – from the left and from the right - in my entire life!! I left the Conference spiritually bruised and battered because of that pervading sense of spiritual rigidity; ten months later I left the denomination. All of those feelings came back to me as I read two of today’s passages. The passage from Matthew that raised the issue of where the seed fell made me wonder: “What is the condition of my heart? Am I so set in my ways and in my convictions that my heart has become the equivalent of the road? So arrogant that I feel I no longer need the Spirit to grow and transform the seeds planted in my heart?” The passage from 1 Corinthians challenged me to think about what one word would best describe the way in which I lead my life. Is that word “love” or something else? My prayer for today is that each of us will pay attention to the condition of our heart so that we’ll make sure our heart will provide the fertile ground the seed needs in order to grow. Once the seed begins to take root all we have to do is open ourselves to providing the most effective plant food available: love. Til next time…
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