Faith and the Election

Now that the two political conventions are complete, our nation turns its eyes toward electing the next leader of the free world. But what kind of leader shall we choose?

The year Senators Obama and McCain were running for the presidency my congregation in Colorado teamed up with the League of Women Voters, a notoriously non-partisan organization, to host a series of conversations for the community called "Faith and the Election." The ground rules were simple: one person would share the ethical values and principles that guided her or his perspective on the evening's topic and then the person from the other party would do the same. Responses were exchanged and then written questions from the audience were presented, having been adjudicated by the women of the League prior to handing them to me, the Moderator.

What struck me during our series of four "conversations" was that both presenters and audience seemed more comfortable "thinking politically" rather than theologically, ethically or spiritually. That is, folks seemed to parrot (insert media outlet here) more than Jesus or Paul, Moses or Micah. This experience has stayed with me the last eight years as I continue to hear folks struggle to connect their faith to the public realm in meaningful ways.

Now some of you reading this blog may be thinking, "Brad, please, stay out of politics!" If you are thinking this, please know my concerns are rooted and grounded in our Reformed faith that views God as Sovereign in love, "the earth is the Lord's (Psalm 24:1), which means we are responsible to live our faith in the public realm. The question is: how?

My invitation to you, Dear Reader, is this: I invite you to write a brief statement of one way your faith informs you this election season. I will publish each statement I receive at bradmunroe1963@gmail.com. Please know, however, there are certain ground rules to our little game:

1. No Naming a candidate or party affiliation by name!

2. Keep your statements to 50 words or less.

3. Vitriol (in either direction) will not be published.

Examples of what I have in mind are things like, "Jeremiah 22:16 says...therefore, I am inspired to care about...." Or, "In Matthew 5:9 Jesus says… therefore I appreciate candidates who support...." Or, Kant's categorical imperative suggests to me...." Or…well, you get the idea.

How do you bring YOUR faith into the election booth? What ethical principles energize your convictions? In what ways does your being a Jesus follower lead you to choose one direction rather than another?

Praying for our nation’s conversation,

Brad Munroe

Feeding the 5,000:Youth Triennium 2016

This week at Purdue University 5,000 Presbyterian youth, twenty of whom are from our presbytery, have been blessed to be a blessing. I have been receiving daily reports via Facebook and the verdict is in: the worship is amazing, the small groups transforming, the relationships deepening with Jesus and with one another.
We are not known as a denomination as being harbingers of the youth culture; more that we are “demographically challenged.” Yet God breathes new life and new spirit into the Church from generation to generation, and our generation is no exception. This week, at Triennium, God has inspired, called forth and led our young people to go deeper into relationship with Him in practical and pragmatic ways.The key word in the previous sentence is “go.”
Using the Great Commission text from Matthew 28:19 as the theme verse: “Go into all the world making disciples.” Our youth are being challenged to go beyond mere knowledge of the story. Rather, our calling as Jesus followers is to go and see for ourselves the Author of the story; go and tell others the story; go and show others what the story means in our lives; go and live the story in practical ways.

The Church cannot move forward unless and until it goes somewhere. The question, of course, is “Where should the Church go?” The Psalmist tells us, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go” (Psalm 32:88), which is another verse the Triennium youth have learned. In Jesus we have been shown the way to go. The answer to the question regarding where we should go is always the same: “Follow Jesus.” Follow Jesus into the world of brokenness and bring a healing presence. Follow Jesus into the world of darkness and shine a loving light. Follow Jesus into the chaos of shouted vitriol and whisper kindness until others are compelled to listen. Follow Jesus out toward “the highways and byways” and welcome the uninvited to a great feast of blessing.
Jesus also invites you and me to that same great feast of blessing. But in the economy of God, we are never blessed merely for our own sake but always blessed to be a blessing for others’ sake. It is a joy to be a part of a presbytery willing and able to bless our youth at Triennium. Now that they have been blessed, how will they now bless others? Let’s go and find out!

Blessed to be a part of you,

Brad

P.S. Upcoming opportunities for blessing include Synod’s Stewardship event, Nurturing Generous Hearts, Presbytery’s Ignite the Spark! event with Tom Tewell, and Presbytery’s Big Event educational gathering. Look for more information in this newsletter! 

Presbytery is on the Move…Literally

            We’re moving! We’re moving! We’re moving!

For a change, I am not waxing eloquent. Nor am I writing with a Red Bull infused literary flourish, (as a colleague teasingly described my style recently). I mean that, literally, the presbytery offices are moving from one physical location to a different physical location.

“Where are you moving?” you ask. Good question, and I kind of have an answer. But I’ll get to that in a moment.

It has been a while since I have discussed our presbytery’s Season of Discernment. To remind you, O Gentle and Faithful Reader, the presbytery’s Leadership Team and Resources Committee have been in conversation with a budget task force that has been asking questions about how to craft a sustainable budget from year to year to year. And, specifically, the task force was to give input to the Combined Finance team and Combined Personnel team of the two presbyteries as together they negotiate an extension of the shared staffing plan.

Presbytery’s budget task force has given input during the first half of this year, and now, during the second half of this year, the two combined teams will discuss with one another the details of the shared staffing plan and its extension, to be presented at our combined presbyteries meeting of January, 2017. While the details are yet to be finalized, the broad outline for the Presbytery of Grand Canyon looks like this:

·         A commitment to continuing the shared staffing plan,

·         A desire to keep per capita the same,

·         A plan to bifurcate the budget into separate categories: a mission budget and a connecting budget (administration and operations),

·         A plan to fund the mission budget through church gifts and by establishing a mission endowment from which we will draw 4% per year, with 100% of mission gifts going toward mission,

·         A plan to fund the connecting budget through per capita and by establishing a connecting endowment from which we will draw 4% per year,

·         A plan to take the sale of the Verde Valley church and put the proceeds into an account designated for New Worshipping Communities, with a term-limited, sunset clause after which time we will reevaluate the designation,

·         A willingness to discuss modifications to staff expenses related to continuing education and participation at General Assembly – (we think we can squeeze some cost savings while continuing effective service),

·         A commitment to relocate into office space hosted by a local church, which will save us $7,000 annually.
“What church?” you ask, “and when will this happen?” Thank you for asking: Memorial
Presbyterian Church in Phoenix will be our new home. As for specifics, I am sworn to hold my tongue, as Carolyn McBurney is negotiating with the postal service, internet providers and the phone company all such details. Anything I write today is as likely as not to be incorrect. What I can say is that the move will happen in about seven to ten weeks and that Carolyn will blanket your inbox and your church’s mail box with all the specifics you need or want.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Rev. Cynthia Jennison, CRE Marta Lopez, and Session of Memorial for their gracious offer to host the presbytery offices. The finances of the deal are that, for “rent,” they are asking us to split their utility expenses. The Memorial Session believes that, as a connectional church, we seek to resource one another as best we can, and this was an opportunity for them to serve their brothers and sisters within the presbytery. What a great spirit!

Thankful for generosity,

Brad Munroe

No Words Worthy…

I write today in the shadow of officer assassinations and police brutality and no words of mine are worthy to express our corporate feelings. I write in the afterglow of yet another outburst of outrage on broadcast and social media. I write to tell you the story about how John Cheek became the most important pastor in either of our presbyteries and to ask that you pray for John and his work, for it is more necessary now than ever.

“Who is John Cheek and why is it urgent for us to pray for him?” Thank you for asking.

To look at John one would not suspect that he is a retired police officer; he lacks the chiseled physique many of us imagine for our stereotypical cop. To listen to John one would strain to imagine how one with such a gentle and kind demeanor could have prospered for 20+ years on the mean streets of Tucson. To see him now, serving in one of his two churches, Northminster Tucson or First Silver City, one encounters a healer, a caregiver, an exemplar among those who follow Jesus.

As a pastor and retired police officer, John Cheek is uniquely positioned to facilitate a conversation between law enforcement and the communities they have sworn to protect and to serve. Such a conversation, if it occurred, could create the kind of dialogue that might lead law enforcement agencies to allow growth, transformation and real, institutional change. In a sense, John has in his training, life experience and personal character the ability to serve as a bridge in this most necessary of conversations. And John feels called by God to be that bridge.

How can one person, one pastor, help create the kind of dialogue where events in Baton Rouge and Dallas become the exception rather than the rule? I don’t really know. What I do know is that God is in the business of working through people, often a single person: Moses, Naomi, Elijah, Esther, Elisha, Mary and Paul. What seems inevitable is that once that one person says “Yes” to the solitary call of God upon their lives other folk, a remnant, present themselves and then, before we know from whence it came, a movement.

As we pray for John, that his sense of call to be a peacemaker along the Way of Jesus be blessed of the Spirit’s wisdom and courage, let us also ask ourselves: what is the one thing that I can do with my training, life experience and personal character to be part of the solution? I ask this question without prejudice in this debate: for me, the Black Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter movements are not mutually exclusive. In the eyes of God, everyone matters. You matter. And what you do matters. So what will you do?

What I will do is this: I commit to learning more about what some call “white privilege.” I want to deepen my understanding of the ways my life is privileged and the ways that my lifestyle or choices may be unintentionally contributing to the problem of unequal justice before the law in this country. I do not consider myself a racist but am willing to wonder what attitudes and actions may be contributing to racism as a systemic expression of our American culture.

I do not ask you to make the same commitment that I am making. I only ask that you ask God to show you what He has for you to do. And if you can think of nothing else, pray for John Cheek.

Grace to you today and always,

Brad Munroe