6 Questions for The United Methodist Church

Clergy and lay leaders of the United Methodist Church face a huge challenge over the next several years, uniting a largely divided denomination. This division comes at a time when the United States has become the third largest mission field in the world, and when economic hardship has given us fewer resources to work with. Our unity is critical for our churches to survive, however unity can not come from the top but must come from local churches partnering in ministry. We also must put our differences aside with other denominations in order to serve the cities where we live well and see many come to Christ. This can only be done by hard working lay men and women developing creative ideas and voicing them to our clergy. United Methodist Young Clergy have given those lay leaders and local pastors a medium to voice ideas and questions for the entire denomination at www.umcyoungclergy.com/6qumc. There you can browse through a list of topics for questions that have been submitted. You can vote on questions and even submit your own. Every two weeks a new topic will be voted on until September 30th. As a layman in the United Methodist Church I encourage you to pray for your local churches and for The Church, to seek wisdom from the Holy Spirit, and to respond well by serving in your church and uniting with other christian in your city to see the Fathers will done.

You's a Ho!

Sometimes truth doesn't come clearer than from the mouth of a fifteen year old boy. Lately I have been enacting disciplines on my life to help me stay away from sin. I have taken the electronics out of my bed room and substituted them with books and my Bible. I gave up caffeine and sodas for Lent and replaced it with sleep and prayer for energy. I have also leaned more on my fasting Wednesdays to get me through the crazy night at Youth. But with all of these disciplines in line I still fall into sin (hopefully shallower and less frequently than before but it happens). John, my small group confidant and fearless youth pastor, knows this all to well as we let it "all hang out" in our men's accountability group. So I guess he prepared his mini youth sermon in mind for me, but John was not the way the Word spoke to me tonight. As John bible thumped about sin and our faults and Jesus's love for us, he reverted to the story of Hosea and his prostitute wife. Josh, a teen from the block, looked at me with a shit-eating grin on his face and said "she's a ho". John continued with an analogy of God's love even in our unfaithfulness. Josh's grin turned as his eyes light up and he said, "We're all some ho's." Thank Jesus he washes us clean so we may wear white next to our Groom.

Loving is Knowing

So this whole love thing has got me confused. I have such an idealistic view of life and love and such that when things go wrong I can’t stand it. When things aren’t right with me and Amanda, it must be her fault for messing up the plan, ‘cause I already figured it out. When friends let me down or aren’t there, they must not be with the program. I am a closet obsessive compulsive. My mood rides on things going as plan more often than not. My thoughts and ideas must be conveyed clearly so that one can know exactly what I am thinking. (You wouldn’t disagree with me if you knew what I was thinking, or would you? I disagree with myself all the time.)

So, love. I am thinking that loving someone is like knowing someone deeper, caring about their thoughts and ideas. Marriage seems to be the most tangible idea of two people learning and knowing everything about each other, loving each other. When you get that close you have to find things that are wrong with each other, right? We are all human, aren’t we?

I guess what I am saying is, is that this love thing is hard. I can’t do it! I am so selfish. I want people to love/know me but not have to do the same. Is that the way I treat my friends; my family; the woman I want to marry me and know me more than all of them? Is that the way I treat Jesus, my King? He calls me to love him the most, more than myself, and to love others as much as myself; to want to know their ideas and thoughts as much as I want them to know mine; to want to dive in to their world as much as I long to have time to myself. (Which is a lot!) I attempt to do this on a daily basis and always end up more selfish with my time and more set in my thoughts.

Don’t get me wrong. My thoughts are GOOD. I have spent plenty of time dwelling on them. But shouldn’t my thoughts on any matter be equal to another that sees and understands the matter? Shouldn’t all thoughts be dwarfed in light of God’s? Isn’t that why we say “Your will be done, on Earth and Heaven”? Maybe I care too much what I think and not enough about what God thinks. Maybe I love myself more than those around me and God. I guess this whole blog thing is about what I think. If I am to love Jesus and his people the way I am asked, I cannot love my self more than either. That’s hard for me, well all of us. But, if I am to mimic God’s love for the church with my love for Amanda, I must enter that relationship loving her more than I have ever known. If I am to love people and love God, I need a model and power from God. We all need Jesus, to strengthen us when love gets tough, when knowing someone means making room, when our idealistic world is shattered by reality. We all need Jesus, to empower us to love the way we so desperately need to be loved. I need to know Jesus more! (Instead of Blogging I should be Bibleing.)

Of Turkey and Football

To the Fam,
I can't wait to see y'all this weekend. A nice (paid) holiday with everyone I love.... except for Amanda. We decided that this Thanksgiving she would stay in Frankfort and we would figure out this whole mess next year when we can drive together and only kill half the amount of trees. I am so proud of our family, all grown up getting jobs, and married, and following dreams. This holiday season will be much different than last year's, even more so than the years past have been. I want to say or type, that I am thankful for all you guys. I have a lot going on in Lexington (more than just wedding planning, though it will be taking increasingly more time up). My work is going real well though very challenging, and the ministries that Amanda and I are involved are just as difficult though seem to use a different part of me. It's like I have to use one half of my brain for part of the week and be ready to switch to the other half at any moment. I just want to thank you, mom and dad, for preparing me and supporting me even while far away. You and the grandparents have laid the foundation of my faith and my work ethic (granddad and pappaw) and my love for others (all the women in my life).
To see Paul take a leap and move to Lexington has inspired me to say the least and added an aspect of my life that has been missing for several years. And watching Meagan turn into the smart, dedicated woman she has become gives me so much joy. I can't wait to see you guys and be thankful together. I pray that Jesus continues to work in our lives and that we may continue to be in the position to bless those that don't know our joy. Please pray that I can continue to stay focused on the call on my life and that Amanda and I are able to make decisions that are in line with God's will.
My favorite thing about football is hanging out with the men in my family.
Burto