A time for every purpose under heaven

I've lived my entire life below the Mason-Dixon line, so I'm not used to a great deal of winter weather. In the towns and cities where I've lived - in Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina - you can usually expect autumn weather to extend to the end of November, with spring picking up sometime in mid-February. The "cold" months of December and January rarely see temperatures in the 30s lasting more than 2 or 3 days in a row.

That changed last weekend. We got about 7.5 inches of snow in Durham, and it is sticking around. Readers from more northern climes might read that sentence with a yawn, but Southern blood tends to be of a thinner sort. The pictures attached to this post are of our house and neighborhood on Saturday morning. It has felt bitterly cold.

It's nice, in a way, to see evidence of that elusive fourth season of the calendar year. It's a reminder that, as Ecclesiastes speaks about so eloquently, "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven" (3:1).

This blog is right at 3 1/2 years old. The writing that I began on it at the same time my wife and I moved to Durham has been profoundly enjoyable, and it has put me in touch with people from all over who I would never have known about otherwise.

But in blogging, too, there are seasons and times. And right now I'm entering a season where I need to turn my attention to some other tasks that will keep me from being able to post as much. I'm not going to shut the blog down, and I may pop up from time to time over the coming months. I do need to back away from writing in this medium as often, as a way of prioritizing my time. So keep me in your reader if you subscribe that way, or just drop by every now and again. I'll let you know when I can start posting again more regularly.

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Note: If you've been following my posts on Haiti, then you ought to take a look at this excellent story in the New York Times that gives some historical perspective on Haiti's struggles.

You need to read this article

My colleague at the United Methodist Reporter, the Rev. Don Haynes, has written an extremely important column.

His latest in the Reporter, entitled, "Call for GC special session is reality check," offers a lucid and articulate view on the issues likely to face a specially-called session of the General Conference in the coming months.

One of Don's paragraphs that particularly struck me goes as follows: "Whether we have a special session of General Conference or not, this is the time for a painful reality check. We can no longer copy the corporate culture of the 20th century; connectionalism can no longer mean an obsolete, hierarchical flow chart."

In casting a critical eye at the United Methodist Church's present organization, Don suggests needed changes in everything from guaranteed appointments to the mission of the publishing house, and from the size & role of the general boards and agencies to the prevailing anxiety over the pension fund.

But he's also not making cheap shots. Don's commentary is realistic, and it is respectful to the institutional arrangements that served the Church so well in the last century. He's just not willing to let inertia dictate the Church's future course.

Don writes quite self-consciously as a member of the Church's older generation. But he offers a fresh critique that provides a ray of sunlight into our current discussions on the Church's top-heavy bureaucracy on every level from local church to annual conference to general board.

I'm not anti-institutional, and you shouldn't be either. The Church is an institution, and it is a Christ-created institution. We need the Church to be a strong institution in order to give us a community where faith can be formed and discipleship can be developed.

And that's why Don's article is so important. He's asking the right questions - questions that can help us move strongly into the future. Go read the article. You'll be glad you did.

Calling all Hogs fans

I try to stay on topic in my blogging, but every once in awhile something random pops up that's too good not to post.

As those of you who know me personally can attest, I am a die-hard Arkansas Razorbacks fan. I let that show through here and there - like when I couldn't contain my excitement at the beginning of the 2009 season and when I highlighted Tight End D.J. Williams' stellar character.

And truth be told, living away from the great state of Arkansas for the past four years has only made me pine away for my homeland even more.

(I mean, did you know we are the only state in the union with an active diamond mine? And that Arkansas produces more rice than any other state, accounting for well over 40% of all rice production in the U.S.?? And that we've got the Hogs besides all that??? It's a great place to live.)

Anyway, Razorback fans everywhere breathed a collective sigh of relief a few days ago when our highly talented QB, Ryan Mallett, decided to forgo the NFL draft and return to the U of A for another year. The Hogs would have had a good time lined up for next fall in any event, but the prospect of having Mallett around means a good season could potentially be a great one.

When I saw Mallett's decision announced on a blog co-owned by my childhood friend Adam Butler, I left a comment suggesting he should write a commentary on the Hogs' prospects for next season. He did, and the commentary is fantastic.

But wait ... let me give you a little background. At present, Adam is an upstanding attorney in the law firm of Butler & Green, P.A., in North Little Rock. But when we were raising Cain back in high school in our hometown of Paragould, Adam somehow found time to be a sports writer for a local newspaper called the Northeast Arkansas Tribune. (Did you know it's the only town named Paragould in the whole world?? Talk about awesome.) He was darn good at it, too. Adam went on to work for the sports information department at the University of Arkansas for several years while he was a student there, which only sharpened his insight into the world of sports.

So now go check out his commentary on Ryan Mallett and the Arkansas Razorbacks. It's funny and insightful, as well as even-handed. You won't find any better. If Adam ever gets tired of practicing law, maybe he can angle for Chris Low's job.

And Adam - thanks for taking up the challenge!

Sad news from UMCOR

The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is now reporting that two mission leaders at the agency have died as a result of injuries sustained in the Haiti earthquake.

Early reports that Sam Dixon and Clint Rabb had been rescued and were safe were apparently premature. Both men were removed from the rubble of the Hotel Montana. But follow-up reports indicate that UMCOR head Sam Dixon had passed away before he could be pulled out of the collapsed hotel. And while Clint Rabb was successfully rescued and airlifted to Miami, he died from injuries sustained in the earthquake in a hospital there.

The UMCOR website has posted stories about the lives and ministries of both men. You can find the story on Sam Dixon here. The story on Clint Rabb is at this link.

The devastation in Haiti has been disheartening to watch on television and the Internet. Receiving word that two Methodist pastors have been killed brings the sense of loss home in a certain way. But the deaths of Dixon and Rabb should also serve as witnesses to the gospel. Both men gave their lives in service to Jesus Christ, and because of that their ministry will continue to echo throughout the Church as signs of the coming kingdom.

Additional links:
-- Online site to donate to UMCOR relief efforts in Haiti

-- NY Times story in the role of faith in sustaining Haitian earthquake survivors

-- Recent update by the NY Times on continuing rescue and relief efforts

Friday Miscellanies

Here are a few notes that might interest you. Consider it suggestions for weekend reading! I wanted to highlight a few articles that touch on important issues in faith and discipleship -

Steve Rankin, the university chaplain at Southern Methodist University, has a great article in the United Methodist Reporter looking at the doctrine of Christian perfection, character formation, and contemporary higher education. As Steve rightly points out, higher education that aims only at increasing the knowledge of students and does not nurture formation in moral virtues is both impoverished and un-Wesleyan.

Two articles on leadership have caught my eye recently. One is this interview with Stanley Hauerwas which is available from Faith & Leadership. Hauerwas comments on whether "leadership" can be understood as a theological category, and he also makes some interesting insights into the role of leadership in institutions and the role of institutions in leadership.

The other article on leadership comes from Covenant Discipleship Connection, where Steve Manskar connects Wesleyan leadership with the deep Wesleyan understanding of faith in Jesus Christ and the ongoing process of sanctification. Steve wants to invite folks into an ongoing conversation about the character of Wesleyan leadership, and he has started a new blog to facilitate that.

Finally, after a writing sabbatical of several months, I'm back in the pages of the United Methodist Reporter. My new column - available at this link - starts a series on the means of grace in Christian practice. This is the subject of my academic research at Duke Divinity School. So I'm excited about presenting some material related to it in my regular column. I believe - as John Wesley did - that our growth in holiness of heart & life is impossible apart from disciplined participation in the means of grace. And I'll be explaining that conviction column by column over the coming weeks.

Help for Haiti

The stories about Haiti's earthquake paint a dire picture of what the Haitian people are facing. Some accounts speculate that perhaps 100,000 people have lost their lives. As the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti isn't well equipped to cope with the fallout from the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck two days ago.

The most recent reports point out that, added to the challenge of finding survivors and getting food and water where it is needed, there is also the looming problem of untreated disease that could claim many more lives if proper nutrition and medical treatment are not available.

I traveled to Haiti on two different occasions about a decade ago to work with the Christian Mission of Pignon in the small town of Pignon on Haiti's north central plateau. The country I experienced was remarkably lacking in basic infrastructure. And with no resources to fall back on in times of emergency such as this, the suffering of Haiti's people will only be multiplied.

The United Methodist Church is gearing up to respond in anyway it can. I want to invite you to prayerfully consider making a contribution to the relief efforts in Haiti. The United Methodist Committee on Relief - or UMCOR - is already working to get needed supplies into the country. UMCOR has got a special advance fund set up to provide Haiti with immediate crisis relief. You can give an offering via UMCOR's online giving service at this link.

For anyone reading this post in the Durham, North Carolina, area, you should be aware that Epworth United Methodist Church has volunteered to serve as a clearing station for emergency relief supplies that will be sent to the MERCI station at Goldsboro this weekend. The specific supplies that are needed right now are related to triage care, so you'll need to contact the church to get that list before you start gathering donations. Epworth UMC is located at 4002 Hope Valley Road in Durham, and you can contact the church during the day by calling 919-489-6557. The church is asking that donations be brought either during normal business hours on Friday or during the morning on Sunday.

Other links:
-- Link to Haiti donation site for the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR)

-- Link to Haiti donation site for the American Red Cross

-- Listing of UMCOR stories on the Haiti earthquake

-- Listing of news stores and blog posts at the main UMC website

-- Op/ed article on the earthquake disaster by Tracy Kidder, the author of an excellent book on Dr. Paul Farmer's work in Haiti entitled, Mountains Beyond Mountains

-- Link to the homepage of Partners in Health, which is the organization probably doing the best healthcare work in Haiti. Provides a way to donate to earthquake relief through PIH on the site

Worth reading, part VI

I want to conclude this series of blog posts by recommending one more periodical in the Wesleyan/Methodist world. It is the Asbury Journal, which is the official publication of Asbury Theological Seminary.

The Asbury Journal is a biannual publication, which means it comes out two times per year (in April and October). Like some of the other academic periodicals I've recommended, the Asbury Journal is a peer-reviewed publication. That means all its articles have been read, critiqued, and approved by scholars. And that, in turn, means that it is going to offer solid content on topics in the Wesleyan and Methodist tradition. That's good news for you, the prospective reader!

Here's the description of the AJ offered on the journal's title page: "The Asbury Journal publishes scholarly essays and book reviews written from a Wesleyan perspective. The Journal's authors and audience reflect the global reality of the Christian church, the holistic nature of Wesleyan thought, and the importance of both theory and practice in addressing the current issues of the day. Authors include Wesleyan scholars, scholars of Wesleyaniusm/Methodism, and scholars writing on issues of theological and theological education importance."

My sense of reading articles from the AJ is that they are often aimed at the point of intersection between theory and practice. The above description mentions that emphasis, and what it means is that articles will often look at some aspect of Wesleyan theology or Methodist history with an eye to how it can inform current ecclesial practice. So in that sense, the AJ's articles have relevance for both the professor and the pastor, the seminary student and the church member.

The AJ is the successor journal to both the Asbury Seminarian and the Asbury Theological Journal. The latter title, in particular, was on the masthead until just a few years ago. So don't let that confuse you. From what I can see, the Asbury Journal is essentially the same publication and I imagine taking the word "theological" out of the title was simply to encourage the submission of articles beyond the realm of theology & doctrine (e.g., in history, various areas of practical theology, etc.).

I'll admit that the Asbury Journal is the one publication I've recommended in this blog series to which I do not personally subscribe. But that's mainly because the Duke Divinity School library subscribes to the AJ, and I can have access to its most recent issue anytime I like. It's an important periodical for our tradition, and I highly recommend it.

The subscription price for individuals is $20 per year, and you can find information for ordering a subscription at this link. So take advantage of it - then read, and enjoy!