Reflecting God's Light

And now back to our regularly scheduled routine…

I love routine. I love the assurance of knowing what is going to happen next. However, as a parent of school aged children, routine changes with summer vacation. Summer gives me the opportunity to be challenged with the unexpected opportunities that exist outside my family’s regular routine. It has been challenging, but also a growing opportunity to live in the moment with my daughters and greet each day looking for the unexpected joy and surprises. This past summer, I have been meditating on one of my favorite verses from Scripture. Lamentations 3:22-23 says, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. God’s mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is God’s faithfulness.” What a joy it has been to greet the morning looking for the Spirit of God’s love during this summer season. God has been at work and what an incredible gift it has been to recognize all that God has been doing.

Now we move back into the season of routine. A time to schedule ourselves with the gifts and graces God has given us to use in our school work, our jobs, our relationships, our play, and our worship and service at Dayspring and the world. As we prepare for our journey of “routine” together, I invite you to consider how you and your family will schedule your worship, spiritual formation, and play at Dayspring. Dayspring is full of incredible opportunities to serve and grow in faith. Prayerfully discern how you will use your gifts and receive spiritual formation in your routine. If you need help in your discernment, you are not alone, please contact anyone of the staff and we would love to pray and talk with you.

Have a great routine this year at Dayspring.
Pastor Joel

“Through the years of human struggle walk a people long despised,
    Gays and lesbians together, fighting to be realized.”

Those lines were written by my friend Julian Rush – musician, composer and former United Methodist minister. I met Julian in 1989 at the 2nd Annual Reconciling Ministries Convocation in San Francisco. He retired to the Phoenix area a decade later and joined Asbury UMC, where I served as pastor.

Julian Rush was the first openly gay minister appointed to a United Methodist Church after the UMC institutionalized discrimination against LGBT persons in its 1976 Book of Discipline. In 1981, Bishop Melvin Wheatley appointed Rev. Rush to St. Paul’s UMC in Denver. There would be hell to pay. Julian was soon forced out of the ordained ministry and Bishop Wheatley was admonished and ostracized by the Council of Bishops.

Julian’s rejection by the church only served to strengthen his faith. In 1985, he wrote a hymn called Ours the Journey. It is a stirring anthem, a testament to God’s persistent desire to help us move beyond ignorance and hatred, through tolerance and acceptance, finally to embrace and celebrate persons of all backgrounds, colors and orientations – “each a gift in your creation, each a love song to be sung.” The hymn would included as “In the Midst of New Dimensions” in The Faith We Sing, a hymnal supplement of the UMC published In 2000 – but only after Julian’s willingness to omit the lines quoted above: “Through the years of human struggle . . .”

This has been a watershed week in the LGBT struggle. At home, our annual conference voted by an overwhelming margin to petition the General Conference of the UMC (which meets in May 2016) to remove discriminatory language against LGBTQ persons from the Book of Discipline. And nationally, the Supreme Court has ruled that same-gender marriage is the law of the land. I recognize this represents dramatic change for some. For others, it has been a long time coming. Hopefully all of us can affirm, with Julian, our faith in the God who goes before us, calling us into a vision of our shared humanity:

“In the midst of new dimensions, in the face of changing ways,
who will lead the pilgrim peoples wandering in their separate ways?

God of rainbow, fiery pillar, leading where the eagles soar,
we your people, ours the journey
now and ever, now and ever,
now and evermore!”

On May 3 we will receive the Confirmation Class into the membership of the Church. It seemed fitting for me to share with you “Why I Am a United Methodist” on that day. And since May 24^th falls on a Sunday this year, I thought it might be nice to do a month focused on Methodism. What’s the significance of May 24^th, you may ask?

As you probably know, John Wesley started the movement that became the Methodist Church. May 24, 1738, was a watershed day in the life of the Anglican priest. Wesley had a life altering experience that he came to refer to it as his “heart-warming experience at Aldersgate Street.”

That morning he read from 2 Peter, “There are given to us exceeding great and precious promises, even that you shall be partakers of the divine nature.” Later he opened his Bible again, and his eyes were fixed on these words: “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” He felt God was telling him that his search and coldness of heart were nearly over. He walked the streets of London all morning, while the words echoed in his mind: “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” He later wrote in his journal, “At three in the afternoon I went to St. Paul’s Cathedral where the choir was singing the 130th Psalm — their cry being my cry: “Out of the depths have I cried to you, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice!” Yet there was no answer to my plea. He was encouraged by a friend to attend a meeting that night on Aldersgate Street. He wrote, “I shudder to think what might have become of me had I not gone. Someone was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change that God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for my salvation.”

My prayer is that we all will have such heart-warming experiences of God’s love and acceptance. When we can affirm, with Paul, that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ!

Blessings,

Pastor Jeff

One of my favorite Easter stories is the encounter with the Risen Christ at Emmaus. We made sure to go to Emmaus when I went to the Holy Land. Well, two Emmauses, anyway. There are at least two others we didn’t get a chance to visit. Four towns claiming to be the spot: Amwas, Abu Ghosh, Mozah and el-Qubeibeh—not one with any better historical claim than another. And it’s just as well. We were never meant to venerate a literal Emmaus.

To paraphrase John Dominic Crossan, Emmaus probably never happened. Emmaus always happens. It’s an encounter for all times, in all places. It’s a strange and mystical story showing what it means to have our eyes opened to the presence of Christ in the simplest of things: in a walk with a friend, in the midst of mourning, in the sharing of table, in the breaking of bread together.
Thomas Merton writes,

A true encounter with Christ liberates something in us, a power we did not know we had, a hope, a capacity for life, resilience, an ability to bounce back when we thought we were completely defeated, a capacity to grow and change, a power of creative transformation.

The message of Easter is simple: new life is ours. Transformation is possible. And the Divine breaks in and reminds us of that in the simplest of things we so often take for granted: spring at the end of winter, light after the time of darkness, healing and recovery after destruction, singing after sorrow, forgiveness and mercy after alienation, and new beginnings after failure and defeat. God gives us Easter after Good Friday, and along our Emmaus road the Risen Christ is revealed to us.

Pastor Jeff

In early January I invited Rev. Cynthia Langston Kirk to help us create a beautiful worship space in the fellowship hall for our new service called The Table. An ordained United Methodist minister, Cynthia is a creative who offers spiritual formation, liturgical arts retreats and worship resources through piecingstories.com. She also toured our sanctuary, and was thrilled about the prospect of creating new paraments for Lent and Easter. (“Paraments” is a churchy term that includes banners, tablecloth and stoles.) We have lovely paraments fashioned by Patti Lewis 25 years ago, and some are holding up better than others. Within six weeks Cynthia designed and created Lenten paraments for Dayspring’s sanctuary, which we consecrated on the first day of Lent, Feb. 22.

Cynthia wrote the following poem (which we sang to the tune of “Sanctuary” at the dedication) to ground the paraments in words of grace and help guide her in the design:

Holy Myst’ry, guiding our inward journey
Deep and healing, fed by Grace.
Then may we shine outward compassion
Blessing others with Christ’s love.

Faithful Icon, window to divine mercy
Teach us kindness, courage fueled.
Justice people dismantling walls
List’ning, serving, living peace.

Cynthia’s poetry and art remind us that Lent is a time of self-reflection, a journey inward, that leads us to outward compassion and love. I pray your personal Lenten journey, as well as our collective one, grounds us in the Source of Life as we become more nourishing for the world, “List’ning, serving, living peace.”
Blessings, Pastor Jeff

Iona is a tiny island off the Northwest coast of Scotland. I’ve had the privilege of making a pilgrimage to Iona twice over the years. There has been a continuous Christian presence on the island the since the year 563, when Saint Columba came from Ireland to initiate a process of evangelization throughout Scotland and England. The modern Iona community began in 1938, helping to foster a renaissance of Celtic Christianity.

Celtic Christianity is creation affirming – honoring the interconnectedness of all life. It emphasizes hospitality: welcoming the Spirit and the other – whoever that might be. Marks of Celtic Christianity include contemplation and mission – recognizing the need to go both inward and outward. Hence the modern Iona community’s commitment to worship renewal and social justice, much like John Wesley’s emphasis on personal and social holiness.

I invite you to join with me on Wednesday nights during Lent to experience Celtic worship, followed by a shared light supper. When I was on Iona, each day I benefited from morning and evening prayer services in the rebuilt 12-century Benedictine cathedral. Our Lenten Wednesday evening services will draw on the rich liturgical and musical traditions of that cradle of Celtic Christianity.

Blessings, Pastor Jeff

Philips Brooks, who gave us “O Little Town of Bethlehem” for Christmas, has given us another gift for the New Year. Discovering in his own experience that life was too short to nurse grievances, harbor grudges, remain resentful, he made this confession to his congregation:

You who are letting miserable misunderstandings run on from year to year, meaning to clear them up some day;

you who are keeping wretched quarrels alive because you cannot quite make up your mind that now is the day to sacrifice your pride and forgive;

you who are passing someone. . . not speaking . . . out of some spite, and yet knowing that it would fill you with shame and remorse if you heard that the other died this morning;

you who are letting your friend’s heart ache for a word of appreciation or sympathy which you mean to give someday;

if you only could know and see and feel, all of a sudden, that time is short, how it would break the spell! How you would go instantly and do the thing which you might never have another chance to do.

Here’s to a New Year and a New Slate. An opportunity to start afresh, mend bridges and heal rifts. “Behold,” says the Spirit of Life, “I am making all things new!”

Blessings,
Pastor Jeff

Go tell it on the mountain . . .that Jesus Christ is born!                      

African-American Spiritual

‘Tis the season of gifts and giving! More than that, Christmas is a time to get in touch with what it means to give. When we give, something happens to us, as well as to the recipient!

Many of the gifts we give at Christmas are wrapped and placed under the tree. But there are so many others . . . the gift of friendship to someone who is lonely, the gift of compassion to someone who is hurting, the gift of forgiveness for someone who has hurt us, the gift of patience for those who are anxious. These gifts are everlasting. Long after the toys have been cast aside, the sweaters worn out, the perfume used up, these gifts will remain. They are eternal. Continue reading “Tis the Season!

What Is Progressive Christianity? from Dayspring UMC on Vimeo.

I must confess that I was a little nervous about teaching a class on Islam early in my tenure at Dayspring. There is so much fear, prejudice and even hostility aimed at Muslims in our world today, based on the actions of a limited few and fomented by the media. But what an amazing and positive experience it has been!

Over 100 people began the exploration together, all but filling our fellowship hall. Many of us shared dinner beforehand. We were then privileged to witness our Muslim guests observe evening prayers at sunset. As I introduced Imam Ahmed Shqeirat of the Islamic Community Center of Tempe, I looked out upon 12 tables of eight persons, each with one or two Muslims along with members of Dayspring.

Continue reading The Jesus Fatwah: Love Your (Muslim) Neighbor As Yourself