May 26, 2006
Dear Resurrection Family,
I want to thank those of you who prayed for me last week while I was speaking in Atlanta - your prayers mean more to me than you can know. Included in today's e-mail are a couple of exciting bits of information, a prayer request, and an answer to an important question. When you get to point 6 - the question of what United Methodists believe, if this is not of interest to you, you may simply want to save it for future reference - the article is a bit lengthy. Here's what I'll cover in today's e-mail:
1. This Weekend: God's Word to Bosses, Employees, Customers and Co-Workers.
2. 20,000 Pounds of Food Collected in Neighborhood Food Drive!
3. B'nai Jehudah Synagogue Members Volunteer at Resurrection.
4. Well Done, Rosemarie!
5. Resurrection Sunday School Teacher to be Deported?
6. What Do United Methodists Believe?
1. This Weekend: God's Word to Bosses, Employees, Customers and Co-Workers.
This weekend I will preach on Faith at Work as a part of our I and Thou sermon series. We'll consider just a bit of what the Bible has to say to us about the connection between our faith and the workplace. Invite a friend, co-worker, boss or employee to join us for worship this weekend. I have grown in both my faith and my understanding of leadership in doing research for this message, and gained insights for my relationship with my co-workers here at the church. I believe you will be challenged and blessed by this weekend's message.
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2. 20,000 Pounds of Food Collected in Neighborhood Food Drive!
A huge thank you to each of you who participated in our neighborhood food drive two weeks ago! You collected ten tons of food - 20,000 pounds! Wow! This food will be delivered to area food pantries to share with persons who are in need here in Kansas City. Thanks to each of you who collected food, and all who helped sort and deliver it. You are amazing!
3. B'nai Jehudah Synagogue Members Volunteer at Resurrection.
Several weeks ago the church received a call from Congregation B'nai Jehudah saying that as a part of its annual Mitzvah (its annual service day) the members of the synagogue wanted to volunteer at our church to bless us. You may recall that we open our building for the synagogue to use for their high holy days each year. Twenty members from the synagogue came and helped sort thousands of cans of food from our neighborhood food drive. What a blessing this was to us, and to others here in Kansas City who received this food. Thank you, B'nai Jehudah, for giving your time to assist us with the food drive!
4. Well Done, Rosemarie!
I want to offer a word of thanks for Rosemarie McGee, who is retiring from her incredible work with our Stephen Ministry. Rosemarie has faithfully given her time and energy to leading our Stephen Ministry over the last ten years. She has literally touched hundreds of lives in our church and given thousands of hours of her time. I love this woman and am so grateful for the many ways she has provided leadership and care for our congregation. If you know Rosemarie, join me in expressing your appreciation for Rosemarie's ministry in our midst.
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5. Resurrection Sunday School Teacher to be Deported?
Where is your family from? I don't mean in the recent past - but how did your family come to be in the United States? Aside from those of you who are Native Americans, the rest of us are all immigrants. Part of my family came to America from Ireland. If memory serves me, they were a part of the masses who came over during the famines of the 1800's. They were poor people and many in the U.S. did not want them here. I don't know if they arrived here legally, or illegally; they were originally the Lorsong family, they dropped the "g" so their family name sounded more "American." Others of my family arrived from Europe prior to the Revolutionary War, risking everything to come to this new land of opportunity and, though immigrants, they ultimately fought in the revolution.
Perhaps you've followed the story of Myrna, Brady and Zachary Dick. Myrna is a more recent immigrant. She came to the United States from Mexico with her family when she was 12, entering the US on a medical visa. Myrna is 31 today. After her visa expired her family remained in the U.S. illegally and she grew up in this country. She returned to Mexico in her early twenties to attend her grandmother's funeral. To re-enter the U.S. - to come back to what was her home, she sold everything she had and paid a "coyote" to help her and 37 of her fellow villagers to come to the U.S. illegally. This country was the only home she had known from the age of 12 on - she wanted to come back.
She is among the 11 million immigrants who live in our country illegally. She is married to Brady, who is an engineer with Sprint, and they have an 18-month-old child. Myrna has been a member of our church for the last four or five years, and has served as a Sunday School teacher, a nursery worker, and volunteered in other areas. She is kind, caring, encouraging and enthusiastic. I had no idea she was an illegal immigrant until two years ago when she was arrested. It was said she falsely claimed to be a U.S. citizen (she denies that she ever claimed this). Falsely claiming citizenship is a crime requiring deportation with no possibility of re-entering the U.S. in the future. I met with Myrna, Brady and Zachary this week to hear their story. At this point they are hoping for a reprieve. At the same time they are looking at how to begin a new life in Mexico should the deportation occur in June as the INS plans.
I want to invite your help on Myrna's behalf in three ways: First, pray for Myrna, Brady and Zachary. They are seeking to take their case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Second, if you would like to know more about their story, or would like to register support for her, Myrna's friends have set up a website for her in the hope of helping her stay here with her family. At the website you can find a sample e-mail you can send to your congressman as well as a listing of how to contact congress or the President. There are numerous articles on the site from the Star and Ingram's magazine. Click on this link to visit Myrna's site. Thirdly, in the event that Myrna is deported in the next month Brady will be seeking employment in Mexico. If your company conducts business in Mexico and might be searching for an excellent employee to work there, or if you have any other connections that might help the Dick family get a new start in Mexico, please contact Rev. Karen Lampe.
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6. What Do United Methodists Believe?
This week I was asked what we believe as United Methodist Christians. I thought some of you might also appreciate my response:
The answer begins by asking what the earliest Christians believed. The first Christian "creed" was very simple: "Jesus is Lord." Paul said in Romans, "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved." United Methodists confess Jesus as Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead.
In the early second century another creed of the church developed - it was captured by the symbol of a fish and it is believed that the fish was used as a secret sign identifying one as a Christian. The Greek word for fish is, ICHTHUS - in Greek IXThUS - this was taken as an acronym for what Christians believed: I stood for Iesous - the Greek word for Jesus. X stood for Xristos - the Greek word for Messiah. Th stood for Theos - the Greek word for God. The U stood for uious - the Greek word for "Son." The S stood for soter - the Greek word for Savior. Early Christians believed that Jesus was the Christ, God's Son and the Savior; United Methodists believe this also.
By the end of the first century, as persons were converting to Christ and being baptized, a basic affirmation of faith was developed - only after making this profession of faith was one baptized. It was a bit simpler when it was first used, but over time it came to include all of the following statements, and became known as the Apostle's Creed in part because the legend was that each of the twelve apostles contributed one phrase, but more accurately, because it was thought to be the summary of what the apostles taught:
The Apostles' Creed
1. I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth;
2. And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord;
3. Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary;
4. Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and buried; He descended into hell;
5. The third day he rose from the dead;
6. He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
7. From thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead;
8. I believe in the Holy Spirit;
9. I believe in the holy catholic church; the communion of saints;
10. The forgiveness of sins;
1l. The resurrection of the body;
12. And the life everlasting. Amen.
There has been debate, throughout church history, about the phrase, "descended into hell." Some versions of this creed have this statement, others do not. United Methodists include both versions in our hymnal. United Methodists believe the statements of faith in the Apostle's Creed. It is a summary of what we believe. Every new member who joins this church at Coffee with the Pastors is required to profess their faith using this creed - said together as a part of the joining ceremony.
As we learned last week in church, the first universally agreed upon statement of faith by the early church was the Nicene Creed. The first part was written in 325 and it was modified later, reaching its final form in A.D. 381. Here is the text:
The Nicene Creed
We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
In both creeds, when Protestants profess faith in the "catholic church" we use the word catholic not to signify a denomination, but as the word was originally used in the creeds - signifying the universal church, meaning all who profess Jesus as Lord.
United Methodists hold to all that is contained in the Nicene Creed. These early creeds of the church, while not used in every church (some conservative Protestant churches do not use creeds as expressions of faith), are held by nearly all Christians to contain the essential beliefs of a Christian as held by the earliest Christians, and agreed upon by nearly every major denomination. Roman Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants alike affirm them (though the Orthodox and Western versions of the Nicene Creed differ slightly - a difference that led to the division of these two branches of Christianity in 1054. Orthodox believe the Holy Spirit proceeds only from the Father, as stated in the original Nicene Creed while Western Christians affirm that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and from the Son - a phrase added much later to the Creed.).
These early statements of belief are considered the essentials of the faith. Is this all that we believe? Of course not. It would be impossible to summarize all of our fundamental beliefs in one statement of faith. In seminary we were required to write our own creed - what was called a "credo" - we were limited to 35 pages in length and I found this to be a great challenge to summarize the essence of what I believe in 35 pages. In a sense, to capture what I believe as a Christian you'd have to listen to 16 years worth of sermons - about 3,500 pages of text - and this wouldn't even be a complete summary!
Several years ago I preached a series of sermons entitled, "What Christians Believe and Why" - for those interested in hearing this outline of the Christian faith, check with the bookstore. The Alpha Course is a basic introduction to Christian beliefs that we teach here at the church as well.
For more information on what United Methodists believe you can read the Basic Affirmations of a United Methodist as found in our Book of Discipline. Click here to read them, there are three pages, so keep reading after the first page.
As some of you know, I develop a two-year preaching plan. Last summer as I laid out my sermons for 2006 and 2007 my plan was to take you back to the basics as a congregation. 2006 I planned to focus on Jesus - hence we began the year with a study of Jesus' life in Mark's gospel. Then we focused for six weeks on his death and the meaning of his suffering for us. This fall we will study the parables of Jesus. And then we will end the year with a study of the Second Coming of Christ. In 2007 we'll look at the basics of the faith - what Christians believe.
One of the things I value about United Methodists is the fact that while we are orthodox, holding to the essentials of the faith, we also have what is sometimes called a "catholic spirit" when it comes to the lesser matters of faith - that is, a graciousness toward those with whom we disagree and a willingness to say that as long as our hearts are together on the essentials, we are brothers and sisters in Christ even if we disagree on the lesser matters. John Wesley grew up in a time when, for 200 years, Christians in England had been persecuting and even killing one another over differences of doctrine - not different viewpoints on the essentials, but on what he considered debatable matters. Wesley, following the lead of others, indicated that in essential beliefs we should have unity, but we should allow for varying viewpoints on the non-essentials, and in all things we should always show charity (grace, kindness and love toward those we disagree with). Contemporary evangelical theologian Stanley Grenz captured this idea in a phrase since popularized by Brian McLaren: Generous Orthodoxy.
The history of Christianity, particularly since the Protestant Reformation, is the unfortunate story of Christians adding to the essentials in such a way that rather than promoting unity, instead divided the church, rendering her impotent. Today it is not enough for many to hold to the historic affirmations. It is not enough to believe Jesus died for our sins. In some denominations one has to hold to a particular theory of the atonement in order to be a part of their fellowship. It is not enough to believe Jesus will return one day but rather, you have to believe Jesus will return in a particular sequence of events. In some churches it is not enough to believe in the Holy Spirit, one must believe tongues are the evidence of being filled with the Spirit. It is not enough in some churches to believe the Bible is inspired by God and our primary and most important authority for faith and practice, it is necessary to hold that it is "inerrant." And so the Church continues to divide and diminish its effectiveness as we try to determine who are "real" Christians and who are not.
I appreciate the "generous orthodoxy" and the "catholic spirit" of Methodism that claims Jesus as Lord, that holds to the truth of the gospel as claimed in the creeds, that has strong convictions on a host of other theological topics, but which demonstrates charity toward those who don't share these convictions and does not see them as issues over which Christian's divide.
Sorry for the long-winded response! If you're still reading this, way to go! I look forward to seeing you in worship this weekend as we consider how we live our faith in the workplace!
In Christ's Love,
Adam Hamilton