Intrigue Expands

Last week, I wrote of the intrigue within the Ohio Conference of the United Church of Christ and its five component Associations. You may recall that the Ohio Conference Council decided to either ratify for implementation or ratify for study a proposal from a task group that had been named to study the systemic issues of Ohio's middle judicatory. Whether the proposal is ratified for study or implementation is a matter of debate, depending upon the source of information.

 

Last May, a group of those responsible for strategic planning within SONKA travelled to Columbus to meet with the Conference Minister and representatives from the other Ohio Associations. The theme was just such an investigation of the middle judicatory structure in Ohio. During that meeting, the SONKA contingent, of which I was a part, suggested that the Conference/Association dilemma in Ohio be resolved in favor of the Associations, and that the Conference be reformed as a collegium of the five Associations, thus reducing redundancy and unneeded overhead.

 

The Conference proposal recommended the centralization of staffing and OCWM collection and control  to the Conference level, thereby eliminating those actions from the Association level. This proposal was made without Association input or participation, outside of those representatives that sit on the Conference Council.

 

The intrigue expands. Last week, churches and leaders received a letter of resignation from Conference Minister, Bob Molsberry, who is moving to St. Louis, where he will serve a local church and be nearer to his children and grandchildren. We wish Rev. Molsberry all the best in his transition and future service in the Webster Groves community. But we wonder what the Conference Council will now do with the proposal that was made just weeks before. Will the Council adopt the proposal as implementable direction, or will it now construct as thorough study in and throughout the Conference? Will the conversation or implementation include Association leadership? How?

 

As the music rises in the background, SONKA's strategic planning team suspects a coming crescendo. If we are to avoid the coming cymbal crash, maybe it is time that Conference and Association leadership sit and work through some of the details, as the strategic planning team from SONKA attempted almost a year ago.

 

Ohio and northern Kentucky cannot yet claim with certainty the shape and structure of its future middle judicatory. What we have is not working, that is for sure. Just what we will shape as a result remains a matter of intrigue and contention.

 

See You Sunday!    

Intrigue in Ohio

Ohio is unique across the national United Church of Christ. Of the thirty-nine Conferences that make up the UCC, Ohio is the only one with strong Association organizations and a strong centralized Conference. There is a fair amount of resulting redundancy in the functions of the Associations and the Conference. Due primarily to shrinking OCWM dollars and the diminishing numbers of those involved, the middle judicatory level of our denomination must either change or die.

 

At a recent meeting of the Ohio Conference Council, the group heard a proposal from a task force that had been named to study the dilemma. Their recommendation, and that of the Ohio Conference Minister, has been interesting to those who have been in leadership in the Associations. The proposal seeks to further centralize the staffing and financial control of the Associations under the rubric of the Conference. No longer would monies flow through Associations to the Conference. If this proposal were established as practice, all OCWM contributions would flow from the Conference to Associations. Staff configurations would also be determined by the Conference. Associate Conference Ministers would be responsible for the regional and area functions now performed by Association Ministers. The number, site placement and function of each Associate Conference Minister would be determined by the Conference.

 

As one might imagine, there is a fair amount of push back coming from Association leadership. Association leadership wants to maintain control of OCWM financial contribution, as well as function, site placement and number of staff.

 

The process of developing the Conference proposal did not include Association leadership. Many of the Ohio Association leaders are planning alternative proposals that reverse the control and judicatory function to Associations instead of the Conference.

 

There is great intrigue in the Ohio Conference of the United Church of Christ. How will the middle judicatory change to meet the challenges of decline and diminishing dollars? Will we have a centralized Conference or reasonably autonomous Associations? The local churches can no longer support both.

 

I invite you to become part of the conversation by planning now to attend the Spring Association Meeting of the Southwest Ohio Northern Kentucky Association, where we will discuss in plenary and small groups, both the Conference proposal and any that might come from a joint effort of Ohio Associations. That meeting will take place on Saturday, April 27. It is to take place at one of our congregations in northern Kentucky. Why not make an overnight of it and combine it with some fun and fellowship?

 

See You Sunday!

Marching on Jerusalem

Lent begins on Wednesday. As unbelievable as it might seem, Ash Wednesday is this week. Shiloh Church will recognize the change of liturgical season with a special evening Ash Wednesday service, which will start at 7:00 p.m. in the church's sanctuary.

 

Because Ash Wednesday is this week, Shiloh is suspending its Bible @ Boston's program for a week. There will be no session on February 13. The program will resume on the 20th, with an examination of I and II Timothy, followed on the 27th, with study of I, II and III John. The two-year chronological walk through the books of the Bible will come to an end on February 27. Thanks to all who have taken part, to Dave Boston, who allowed us the back room at his bar, and to people bold enough to think about and allow Bible study in a bar.

 

But Lent is upon us. Throughout the season, we will walk with Jesus toward Jerusalem, where he will sacrifice himself for the salvation of people everywhere and throughout time. This year's Lenten theme is "Marching on Jerusalem." By using the term, we mean to suggest that Jesus' march on Jerusalem is about the liberation of God's people from the dual powers of sin and death. It is the ultimate act of liberation.

 

Because we are in year "C" of the Revised Common Lectionary, and because I choose, as a personal and professional discipline, to follow that lectionary, our focus will remain on the Gospel According to Luke. Written sometime after the fall of Jerusalem in 70, probably during a time of persecution, like that under Domitian, in the 80's and 90's, Luke's Gospel is written to a Gentile community. Its agenda is the recruitment of Gentile followers for Christ. Its Christology is unique among the Gospels. in Luke, Jesus is superhuman, sent from God to serve as Savior of all humankind, universal and cosmic.

 

Luke's Gospel is also concerned with social justice and civil rights. This Gospel is as much about the equality of those who had been systemically rejected in Jesus' day, as perhaps now, as it is about the reformation of the synagogue and Temple. Jesus seeks in Luke to change the people and systems that reject the lame, the blind, the oppressed, the prisoner, the poor and the genetically "other." Luke's Jesus leads us on a march on Jerusalem, where we demonstrate concern and care for those who suffer at the hands of our systems and cultural prejudices.

 

Join us each Sunday through the Lenten season. March on Jerusalem with us, and with Jesus. Be a part of the movement that claims equality and justice for the invisible and unmentionable populations of our age. Come and walk beside us, as we accompany Jesus in the work of universal liberation.

 

See You Sunday!

Spiritual Evolution

I have been thinking lately about the possibility of spiritual evolution.

 

Accepting the science of physical evolution, that species, through time, develop in ways that better suit survival in changing environmental systems, I am interested in the notion of the same survival mechanisms in the realm of spirituality.

 

Let me explain my curiosity.

 

The recent inauguration of an African-American President, juxtaposed with the celebration of the ministry of the champion of the Civil Rights Movement in America, has led me to wonder about cultural change. Is cultural change actually an aspect of a spiritual evolution? Is the move toward wider acceptance and embrace of cultural diversity less about cultural maturity than it is an indication of progressing spirituality?

 

Since around 1968, American culture has been undergoing seismic shift. Characterized, as such cultural shifts seem to be, with means of communication, (This new age is often referred to as "The Digital Age," or the "Technological Revolution.") the shift in which we find ourselves is about electronics and technology. While it is dehumanizing and isolating, at least at its onset, the shift is also characterized by a renewed acceptance of ethnic, behavioral, racial and gender diversity.

 

Perhaps, our culture has matured to the point where we sense that it is in our best interest to accept persons who are different from us. Maybe the acceptance of diversity is simply a utilitarian aspect of communal life. Thomas Friedman may have approached suggesting such a thing in his 2005 book, "The World is Flat." As our communities expand, due mainly to improvements in information and communication, our experiences of other cultures and life-styles expands. As our experience expands, our acceptance increases.

 

Perhaps there is something more powerful afoot here. Maybe the correlation between expanded communication and increasing acceptance is simply part and parcel of our improved spiritual existence. More than simple utility, maybe a spiritual relationship with a progressive divinity is compelling us toward, forward, outward.

 

Is spiritual evolution as much a part of the human story as a physical evolution? Does our sense of being improve through time, and is its culmination qualitatively different than what our religious tradition refers to as "The Kingdom of God?"  I choose to entertain the possibility, if not the probability, of a spiritual evolution that accompanies or leads our physical one. Maybe there is not much difference between the worlds of science and spirituality.

 

What do you think? Spiritual evolution?