Discussion Forum

Quran Burning

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 14:00:00 -0400

Meeting with Christians, Muslims and Jews in Jerusalem in May 2009

Probably enough has already been said about Pastor Terry Jones of Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, declaring September 11 as international Quran burning day. I can’t let this offensive un-Jesus like behavior pass without commenting. In the words of Jesus: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also” (Mt 5:38-39). 1 Thessalonians 5:15 states, “Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and everyone else.”

My good friend Dan Johnson pastors Trinity United Methodist Church in the same Gainesville area as the Dove Church. I am thankful for Christians who are proactive in demonstrating Christ’s love and truth in the face of insanity. Here is Dan’s response:

"There is a time to be silent and a time to speak," so says the writer of Ecclesiastes (3:7). Normally, when a very small fringe group acts or plans to act in disturbing or hateful ways, I am inclined to "ignore it and it will go away," and wish that the news media would do the same. That was my thought when the Westboro Baptist group, who gained infamy by picketing military funerals picketed our church, along with St. Augustine Catholic Church and the Hillel synagogue downtown a few months ago for no apparent reason. At that time they were joined by The Dove World Outreach Center. Again, we adhered to the wisdom that it was a time to be silent and not add fuel to their fire. And such was our position when The Dove World Outreach Center announced plans that they would host an International Day of Burning the Qur'an on September 11.

But, because this sinister action has been picked up by the international news media, the time for silence has passed, and the time for Christians to speak has come. There should be no doubt around the globe that the Christian Church does not condone or support such an action. To remain silent would mean complicity to a terrible wrong. As the Senior Minister and Church Council of Trinity United Methodist Church, we feel compelled to raise our voices to proclaim that the action the Dove World Outreach Center is proposing is absolutely wrong and counter to the Life and Teaching of the Jesus whom we love, follow and call Savior and Lord. The Jesus that the vast majority of Christians know is a person of extraordinary love and compassion. He extended grace to persons of other faiths and treated them with respect and understanding.

Since the Dove group began its campaign against Muslims over a year ago with signs and t-shirts, several of us have come together to create the Gainesville Interfaith Forum, which is made up of persons from the Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, and Christian faith. Our goal is to foster understanding, mutual respect and peace, while recognizing and appreciating our own particular faith understandings. In times like we find ourselves now, we see how tremendously important such an Interfaith Forum is.

We at Trinity, along with the support of the Gainesville Interfaith Forum, would like to invite the entire Gainesville Community to a very different kind of event on Friday evening, Sept. 10. We invite you to a Gathering for Peace, Understanding and Hope from 6 - 9 p.m. We are opening our entire worship center and campus for a time to embrace our unity as members of the human family. We will have activities for children of our different faiths to play together, arts and educational crafts, cultural displays, foods from various regions of the world, and a time of prayer for peace, understanding and hope.

We will also be opening our chapel the next morning, Saturday, Sept. 11 from 8:30 - 10:30 for a time of prayer and remembrance, as we honor the memory of those who perished on 9/11, 2001, and pray for their families and all who have been and are in harm's way since that day. We will light candles and pray also for all those who have been placed in harm's way since that day. Believing that prayer is the mightiest force in the world, we invite you to join us.

We call upon the news media to give this as much attention (or more) than the attention they have given to the disturbing actions planned by the Dove World Outreach Center, so that around the globe, all people will know that the Gainesville community, made up of Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus and more, can be both deeply committed to their respective faiths and at the same time, live in harmony and peace with one another. We dare to believe and hope that this disturbing action by a very small and misguided group might become the catalyst for one community, Gainesville, to model a way of living in harmony, mutual respect and peace. The God I know is in the habit of taking "what was intended for evil and turning it into good (Genesis 50:20), and I believe God will do it again.

Please come, Gainesville, to A Gathering for Peace, Understanding and Hope: Friday, September 10, 6- 9 p.m. at Trinity United Methodist Church, 4000 NW 53rd Avenue, on 53rd Avenue next to 43rd St.

Very Sincerely,

Dr. Dan Johnson, Senior Minister
And The Church Council of
Trinity United Methodist Church

God bless…

Thirty-Eight Years

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 10:00:00 -0400

From the Appalachian Trail 8/24

• I woke up this morning next to my best friend whom I have been married to for 38 years today. We had a 7:30 p.m. wedding, August 26, 1972, at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. I love you, Carolyn!

• Carolyn and I spent my 59th birthday on Tuesday hiking in the North Georgia Mountains. I started out with the objective of spending at least half of the day working on my book, Christmas Is Not Your Birthday. I received so many Facebook greetings reminding me that it was my birthday “so go and celebrate,” and we did. Thank you for all the birthday messages of encouragement!

• We are heading to Park City, Utah, on Sunday to meet with 90 pastors from the largest United Methodist Churches (UMC) and 33 active UMC bishops. Our goal is to work together for the revitalization of our denomination. I am giving a presentation on Wednesday morning with Bishop Stanovsky from the Denver area on Creating Outwardly Focused, Missional Churches. Please keep this important meeting and the future of the United Methodist denomination in your prayers.

God bless…

Almost Fall!

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 10:00:00 -0400

Kids are heading back to school, Friday night football games…where has the summer gone? Carolyn and I are anticipating and praying for this coming fall season and the focused work of God’s Spirit in the life of God’s people. In the vernacular of my grandparents, we are praying for revival!

One week ago lightning struck our well during a brutal thunderstorm. We were thankful that it missed our house. Our granddaughter was sleeping only 15 feet from the point of impact. A gracious neighbor is allowing us to run 200 ft. of hose from his well, which has been our only source of water for the last eight days. How easy it is to take the daily necessities of life for granted until they are suddenly lost. I am so thankful that Ginghamsburg Church and our partners have been in the business of bringing safe water to people in Darfur who lack this necessary resource. Since 2007 we have completed 15 water yards serving almost 100,000 people. Jesus used water, the most basic essential element of life, as a metaphor for our relationship with him. We all fail at times by seeking life and meaning from other sources than through a relationship with God. Loving God with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength becomes a second, third or even a lesser priority. Notice the sobering words of God given through the prophet Jeremiah: “For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water” (Jer. 2:13). We all fail way too often in keeping the main thing the main thing. I have to be intentional, on a daily basis, in practicing this directive of Jesus: “Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and everything else will be taken care of” (my paraphrase of Mt. 6:33). The fall season is an opportunity for new beginnings, to get down to business and get serious in Jesus’ school of discipleship. Life is way too short to waste another year.

Carolyn and I enjoyed time with our children, who stayed with us in the mountains last week. I hope you have had some meaningful family times this summer. Family is truly a God gift! I have been praying for those of you who are dropping your kids off at college for the first time. I cried like a baby for both of ours.

I am currently spending my days working on my next book, Christmas Is Not Your Birthday, due to be released by Abingdon Press for Christmas 2011. I would appreciate your prayers!

God bless…

My Recommendation for an Essential Read

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 14:48:00 -0400

I am currently reading Untamed: Reactivating a Missional Form of Discipleship, by Alan and Debra Hirsch. Alan grew up in a Jewish family and was born and raised in apartheid South Africa (he is also keynoting our CHANGE the WORLD Network kick-off event in October). Deb found Jesus in her twenties along with a cousin and sister, "while living reckless lives of drugs, sex, and partying." Deb is a minister at Tribe of Los Angeles, an eclectic bunch of missional artists and vagabonds in downtown L.A.

I first became aware of Alan as I read Exiles by Michael Frost, who served as Alan's co-author on ReJesus and The Shaping of Things to Come. Alan's first book that I read was The Forgotten Ways – reactivating the missional church. Alan and I then later connected through my book, Change the World: Recovering the Message and Mission of Jesus.

In Untamed, Alan and Deb cut to the quick of Jesus' Kingdom of God missional focus and the foundational work of discipleship. "The fact that discipleship in the church is considered a somewhat lost art ought to disturb us profoundly. On the odd occasions we have actually managed to engage in some form of discipleship, we have tended to limit it to issues of personal spirituality (prayer times, Bible study, God's leading, tithing, etc.) and not conceive of it as something that has direct ramifications beyond the individual's privatized religious sensibilities." They articulate Jesus' focus of discipleship that is much more comprehensive and life demanding. They rightly challenge the Jesus follower to go beyond orthodoxy (right belief) to orthopraxy (right practice). "Serious believers who want to go deeper in their discipleship must be willing to constantly critique both personal and cultural assumptions [I would add political] for the sake of becoming more like Jesus."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship, which I read four decades ago, and Leroy Eims' The Lost Art of Disciplemaking and Robert Coleman's The Master Plan of Evangelism, three decades ago, were the last books on discipleship I've read that I would place this high on my list. Carolyn and I are going to use Untamed this fall with our Tuesday evening discipleship group. It is time for the professed to get serious!

What are you reading this summer?

God bless…

Teaming in the Mountains

Thu, 05 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0400

The worship planning team has been spending the week in the Western Carolina - North Georgia Mountains working on sermon series for the coming months. We begin each morning in Bible study and prayer. The remainder of the morning is spent outlining weekly themes from Jesus’ five sermon discourses in the Gospel of Mathew. We have been focusing on the first, Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, for the last 3 months. We will move into his second discourse in September. The team also worked on this coming weekend’s worship celebration. Pastor Brian has a great message on persistent asking, seeking and knocking. You won’t want to miss it! Afternoons are team building times for mountain hiking and boating on Lake Chatuge. Ask Pastor Dave and Jason Moore about waterfall rock climbing, and ask Catherine Crowell how she cut her foot slipping off a rope swing too soon before dropping into the lake.

I will be spending most of the rest of the month working on my next book project, CHRISTMAS IS NOT YOUR BIRTHDAY. I would appreciate any personal stories concerning how Christmas has become more meaningful for you by your sacrificial giving for the Sudan Project or other missional focuses. We will also have some time with our family next week (picture with Poppa and Nana with our granddaughter to be posted soon).

God bless…