Dream Big

Some of my friends and I (all clergy or prospective clergypersons) have been having this email conversation for the past month or so. The initial thread essentially asked a question regarding the relevance of Wesleyan theology for the 21st Century.

This has led us down a number of paths, but one path in particular has caused me to sincerely wrestle with some issues:

1. Is “professional” ministry Biblical? And if not, what am I supposed to do now that I have invested tens of thusands of dollars on a seminary education with the sole purpose of becoming a “professional” minister?

2. Is the lure of financial security i.e. the “3 P’s”  (paycheck, parsonage, pension) ultimately more harmful than helpful with regard to the furtherance of the Gospel?

3. What does true “holiness” look like in the 21st Century?

4. Is it possible to pursue this type of holines while working within the bureaucratic structure of American denominationalism?

I could go on, but I’ll stop here. These types of questions haunt me and my friends (many of whom have been working within the “system” for many years and are just beginning to wrestle with some of these questions).

I am preparing to enter my first pastorate on April 1. I want nothing more than to live out the rest of my days doing the work that God has prepared me to do from the foundations of the world, to take care of my wife and children, and to pursue holiness by loving God and loving others. I confess I have concerns though.

I pray that God can use dysfunctional systems just as he uses dysfunctional people.

Only time will tell. 

I have recently returned from the Humana 2.0 Conference in Orlando, FL. where I met some fascinating people, and learned some things about myself, my vocation and my world.

I am a creative type by nature, and I was particularly interested in hearing what David Arcos had to say about “Creative Sweat” yesterday. He asked us to imagine heaven for eight minutes, to clear our minds of any and all preconceptions and to simply IMAGINE …

Here is what I imagined:

the heartbeat of all that I AM
the real, the surreal, spacious and yet
close at hand
peace and beauty surround us
as we live
and move
and have our being
music and melody and color and imagination
personified
mesmerized and yet relaxed
their is a sense that my journey -
our journey -
has just begun
laughter fills the air and community -
true community - reigns
all are known
love is the source of being
pain is unknown and
time is non-essential
we move in rhythm
rhythms of before unknown
impulses
eyes lock
hearts mesh
an intertwining of all that is
Beauty
and
Truth
and
Love
Joy unbelievable is tangible -
and tasteable
we see all Love
hear all Peace
feel all Hope
smell all Joy
touch all Truth
we live and
move
and
have our being
as One
United
Body
with Father, Son and Spirit
eternally and unending
Eternal
Wild
Abandoned
Love

He also said a couple of things that I really liked. He said that “creativity is the natural outflow of spirituality” and that everyone is creative, but not everyone is passionate.

I have much to think about after this conference, not the least of which being a statement that Erwin Mcmanus made in his first session on Leadership in the Mosaic Future. He said essentially that our theology has stripped us of our ability to imagine … God forbid! … May we continue to imagine and dream and create and think outside the box, and push the envelope, and create the future … Selah!