A couple of ideas for Celebrating the Season

I have just recently become acquainted with this new organization that is calling for Christians to celebrate Advent and Christmas more authentically this year. You can find out more by accessing the website: http://www.adventconspiracy.org/ We are being asked to

Worship more

Spend less

Give more

Love all

which of course sounds fairly Wesleyan to me.

In years past, I have used resources put out by Alternatives for Simple Living, especially the "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" info. Over the years, I have tried to help the churches where I serve become involved in the "real" Saint Nicholas story, which is told in many ways through the Alternatives stuff. Website for on line catalogues: http://www.simpleliving.org/~simpleli/osCommerce/catalog/index.php

Just was thinking about all of this and thought I'd share

Bowling Together, Bowling Alone

It was cabinet today, and as members were encouraged to share blessings in their lives, I heard my colleague and friend Cody Collier tell what a blessing it was last month to have a time of fellowship with the pastors of his district as the went "bowling together." A good time was had by all. I had heard Cody talk about this before and I will admit I was a little jealous. I, like Cody, like to bowl, but I simply am not very good at it. Today, when Cody used those two words, "bowling together," I thought of the Robert Putnam book Bowling Alone published in 2000 in which he shares data that shows how "social capital" has become less and less important in the lives of Americans, and that the isolation of the suburb, the automobile, the competition of business, and many other issues have left many with no real connections in their lives.

Hearing about the Heartland South pastors bowling just makes my heart sing. We are not meant to bowl alone (unless we are working on skills so we can bowl with others). We are not meant to be lone rangers in ministry.

However, I am too often made aware that pastors, in reality, do bowl alone. Sometimes they do so because they don't know any other pastors around them with whom to relate and build a relationship. Sometimes their confidence is so low they do not really want to share their ministries because they do not feel as if they want anybody else to see either how poor their skills are, or how demoralized that they are. Sometimes our arrogance keeps us from bowling with anyone else---we can't find anyone who can bowl as high a score as we can. Or we can't get anyone to bowl with us because we have turned everybody off by telling them that the only way to approach the lane is the way we do it. Or their bowling ball is the wrong weight. Or the wrong color. Or we don't like their shoes.

I guess I hope that part of my vision for our district is that our pastors will grow in trust of each other and of me. That I will deserve that trust. That I will find ways to hold our "lone bowlers" accountable to engage with others while also holding up their spirits. Are there better ways that we can learn to play and work beside each other that would encourage us to not only bear each others' burdens but to encourage us to share our strengths without others feeling as if we "one-upping " them? I am still thinking on this...

Thanksgiving evening

I like you have been thinking about all the blessings for which to give thanks this day. Somehow I think that as creatures of the living God, saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, what is most pleasing to God is not that we put together a long litany of the many blessings we individually identify, but that our lives are turned into an offering of praise every day. I want to be thankful for not just those things that I consider good and right in my life, but to be grateful for my life. I certainly don't always live up to that wish. And I must say that on this Thanksgiving evening there are many blessings I can identify for which I am grateful. So, after what I just said, I still want to say thanks for:

---Dr. Blake Cooper, with Retina Specialists of Shawnee Mission Medical Center, whose name we did not even know this time last week, who performed retina surgery on Caleb yesterday. And who came in this morning, Thanksgiving, to check him; who said these phrases today which tentatively, at least gave us hope: "macula in tact"; "retina laid down nicely'; "I was afraid that wouldn't happen but it did"---and the precautionary: because of scarring behind the retina, we may need to do further surgery; and it will take a month to six weeks before we see if the vision has improved.

--For the many prayers, calls, and emails we have received in the last 48 hours from so many---and from just about all the people I love most in the world. Especially grateful for Hubert and Yolanda who came and sat with us during surgery; for Barbara Garcia wishing she could get on a plane and come and cook Thanksgiving for us; for Mike King's gorgeous prayer from the Orthodox tradition for healing of the eyes which he re-wrote for us. I have been so blessed over these last three years with having my own personal tradition and vocation proudly and firmly placed in the United Methodist church while at the same time being a part of the Jacob's Well community and to have acquired many friends and brothers and sisters in Christ in the emergent conversation. Thanks to you all.

--For Caleb's fine spirit---A few things I will always remember about the last two days: We discussed what it means to pray for healing---He said that he thinks that when we pray for a burden to be lifted, what we are given is not so much a lifted burden, but enough strength to be able to shoulder whatever we are given; I will remember the nurse writing above his left eye in black Sharpie "Yes" just before surgery; the way that he waited with good humor and kindness to the four nurses and two doctors whom he saw, and who kept poking drops and such in his eyes on Tuesday over the course of 4 1/2 hours at the doctors' office (mothers, I would suggest you point your children to a specialty in retinal problems---if the waiting room Tuesday is any indication, there aren't enough doctors doing this here); and for the smile that went away from about 1:30 yesterday until this morning when it reappeared again after the shield and patch were gone.

--For a former husband Philip that, though we did have some moments this morning, continues to be supportive and a much beloved father to his children. That he saw how exhausted I was today and completely cleaned the kitchen after our Thanksgiving meal (which, yes, I did cook) and that turned 49 on the same day his son had major eye surgery.

--For a marvelous district full of strength and hope and where the two evidences of the Spirit that I believe we need the most---compassion and creativity---are being exemplified by churches and pastors every week.

--For Kevin Buckrucker, best district lay leader in the world; for Barbara, Tracy and Coni who put up with three d.s.s with different styles and different work habits every day and do it with grace and class

--For the hands of love which have squeezed ours in prayer; which have picked up phones and tapped out messages by computer; which have hugged and patted; that have moved with mysterious accuracy in surgery; that have folded in prayer; that have, each pair in its own way, administered healing to this family, this mother, this boy the last two days, and which in the fullness of time, we will hold if not now, in another time, on another shore, where we will no longer see in part, but then in full--where there will be no more need for surgery, or distance or circumstance to keep us from being all together in one place. Where we will all understand each other. Where mother Cox will have prepared asparagus and all will eat it and love it; and where father Cox will have a pan full of cracked walnuts ready to shell for Christmas baking and where every day will be thanksgiving as we stand around the throne of God.

Prayers please

Blog world friends: I sent this out earlier tonight by email and now I send it out to you:

Hello all:
This is to ask for prayers for my 16 year old son Caleb who is having serious retinal surgery tomorrow. He has a severely detached retina (left eye) that will try to be repaired. He has already lost most of his vision in that eye, and we are not being promised any change in that, but in order for the eye to not further deterioriate or physically “shrivel” as the doctor said today, Caleb needs for this to be given a try. You can find out more about the procedure at http://www.webmd.com/eye-health/scleral-buckling-surgery-for-retinal-detachment if you want. However, because his retina is so scarred already, our doctor warned us that another surgery may be required, which involves a more extensive surgery and recovery.

Caleb’s spirit, as usual, is very good. He has his mind around all this pretty well, and has been living with the vision difficulty for so long, without realizing how bad it is that he is adjusted to having sight in one eye. He does have a couple of weak areas on his right retina too, but these are not serious and he will have them lasered tomorrow while under the general anesthetic.

I have asked Hubert Neth to come by to be with us during surgery---emails of course are welcomed. We are asking for prayer.
Susan C-J

District Conference Celebration

This afternoon was just incredible for me. It was the Heartland North District Conference Celebration at North Spring. We did business, heard from Buckner, a part time student charge about the Baby Grace program, which was started last year as a mission to teenage mothers at Fort Osage High School; and we had beautiful music from the bluegrass/gospel group Right Choice out of Faith UMC Grain Valley. And then a "son of the district," Steve Cox, preached a very memorable and biblically sound and proddingly appropriate and authentically delivered sermon, on Luke 5:1-11... we often are like the disciples standing to the side of the crowd that pressed in on Jesus by the shore of the Sea of Galilee--- it is not that there is no one that needs and wants the hope and grace Christ gives, it is that we are working in the wrong place, sometimes literally, sometimes metaphorically. I wish we had recorded it. Really.

Steve is one good guy. He is our conference director of connectional ministries in the annual conference, and as I said today, much that he does goes unattributed (that is simply the nature of his work), but not unappreciated. He is a servant minister, trying to anticipate the needs of the conference's new direction in order to be out in front of facilitating response. The http://www.5practices.org/ website has come together only through Steve's work. He is a fine writer, too. And he really is a son of the district. He grew up at Cowgill, served Grain Valley and Oakland, and then of course First: Blue Springs for many years. His mother is a member at First: Excelsior Springs and his daughter and son in law and grandbaby at First: Blue Springs. I am very grateful for his leadership, and especially for his preaching today.

This picture was taken just after the celebration. This is Steve talking to the current pastor at Cowgill, Amanda Ross. Amanda is a daughter of the Heartland Central District out of the Fairmount church. Now a student at Saint Paul, she recently left her work at the Hotel Phillips in order to be a part time local pastor at Polo and Cowgill. I had the pleasure of hearing her preach before the charge conference at Polo earlier this fall. She has a heart for the ministry; the brains to figure out how to resource herself around things she needs to know; and simply has a winning way about her that her church folks really appreciate. I am glad we had a good place for her to begin her ministry. I am glad that Cowgill still nurtures not only its own children and student pastor, but also offers tutoring for the town children as well. I am glad, very glad tonight that this is not an isolated case in our district.

I am a proud d.s.

A day that changes how We see the world

"The common ground between music and painting seems to lie in the organisation of their abstract qualities. In music, it's very clear, such things as the accumulation of sound, the dispersal of sound, the ebb and flow, the rise and fall, the contrasts and harmonies are arranged according to certain principles. In picture-making, the masses, the open and closed spaces, the lines, tones and colours can be organised in a parallel way. It's as though these relationships are built up in all their complexity in order to provide a vehicle for all those things which cannot be objectively identified but which can nevertheless be expressed in this way. Music articulates this indefinable content and it seems to me that this also applies to abstract painting, or at least to the best of it."

Quotation from artist Bridget Riley

Painting by Roy De Maistre, entitled

A Painted Picture of the Universe

I found this picture just now as I searched for an image in Google of "seeing in a mirror dimly." It reminds me of pictures I have been looking at all night on line--pictures of retinas and maculae. And it reminds me of Caleb's blue/gray/hazel (mostly blue) very large and gorgeous eyes, with, as one of the doctors who saw him today said, "quite long eyelashes." We saw THAT doctor after we had seen another doctor, who gave us the news that Caleb's left eye was "uncorrectable" with glasses, and he thought, after taking a good look, that Caleb had a detached retina, which he had been living with, and which had been getting worse, for a long, long time...probably many months. He pushed us off to Lee's Summit to the other doctor, who looked at both gorgeous peepers, and said, yes, it was true, there was not much peeping going on out of the left eye; said it was 300 degrees detached (as opposed to 360 degrees a-ttached); this doc called another doc, this one a retina specialist, who said though it didn't SEEM to be an emergency, he wanted to see Caleb on Tuesday to decide WHEN to do the surgery---surgery that has a slight possibility of a slight improvement in vision of his left eye, but probably not much if any; however the sugery could possibly stop any further damage. Caleb cannot see much more than what this doc called "hand movement." As I watched him give Caleb a vision test, I saw Caleb unable to detect how many fingers the doc was holding up in from of his face no more than three feet away; everything looks "black" especially in anything but the brightest light, and, in short, Caleb is nearly blind in his left eye and probably will not have vision return. The right eye apparently has a hole in the retina, but has self-sealed and no one seems overly concerned (but me, of course). How in the world could I be a good mother and not know this was happening with him? Apparently he didn't know if was happening to him either, though now we both can't figure out how either of us didn't realize it.

Three days ago, Caleb wrote a song with these lyrics..."The doctor says there's something wrong with my eyes; so I looked through his screens ...Maybe the world is supposed to be blurry..." Caleb is taking this all in stride, and we are both benefiting from the Cox-Johnson "bounce"--after the initial shock at the first doc's office, I said, "well, at least this will improve your blues playing." And coming home after treating him to a large steak that was, as he said, "the best steak I have ever had in my life," he and I theorized on the possibilities--he wouldn't ever be drafted; the second doctor said that a driver's license was no problem and in Kansas he could even drive a school bus with vision in only one eye; would this qualify him for some college scholarship help?; later in life when he gets married, he'll always have his wife sit or stand on his left side so no one can literally blind-side him...and he will always be her right hand man, he said. The second doctor made a real point of telling both of us not to be too upset about this---that apparently Caleb's right eye had been compensating so well that he had not even realized how bad his vision was in his left eye.

"Seeing through a mirror, dimly" took on a new meaning around here today. And Caleb's artistic eye is still very well intact. He has inherited some of it; has been nurtured in it by a Bohemian high school; was born with a will of iron and very little care as to whether or not he was "in with the in crowd" ever; and he has within his heart and soul the ability to articulate through music and poetry what the indefinable in life is, an ability that expands and deepens with every life experience. And I am glad for me and glad for him.

And we do request prayers.

A shout out for my son

Here is Caleb at his school concert tonight. Unlike the high school music concerts I sang in, where the edgiest thing we ever did was a Charles Ives arrangement of "Circus Band," he is singing an original composition called "The Adventure" with his band Sidewalk. You really just have to experience Caleb's music to really "get it"---he is extremely intense, he sings from his gut, the music is obviously written by somebody who has worked with a fine musician for five years (Bill Larsen) who has given him the freedom and courage to find his own music. The quality of the Advanced Music class's arrangements were something else tonight.

Of course, he goes to Kansas City Academy, which is a 6th-12th grade school in the Loretto tradition. When Cana, in 8th grade, visited the school for the first time she said, "Mom, it's SO Bohemian!" which should have told us right them it was the school for us. The kids call their teachers by their first names; the school is VERY strong in fine arts, theater and music, and the theme continues to be "responsible freedom," and from this theme arises the issues you might imagine 12-18 year olds might have when presented in a school setting with the word "freedom." There were 13 in Cana's graduating class, which was great for Cana and her learning style. I really think Caleb would prefer a larger pond, and one inhabited by curvaceous girl fish....but he loves music, he is growing aesthetically, he is reading "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" as well as his Nietzsche, is writing pretty interesting poetry and is looking for work. I guess things could be a lot worse.

Cana is off on the School of the Americas Protest Trip with the above mentioned KCA in the morning; they are letting her attend as an alumni. She was instumental in starting the Amnesty International chapter at said KCA two years ago.

PS Dear North district pastors and churches: You KNOW I love you, but I must say I am looking forward to December 10, which is not only my birthday, but also the day after my last charge conferences of the year. How can it be that I can love something so much as I do, going into the churches in the district, meeting great lay folks, hearing about really neat ministries, and get so very tired at the same time??? Ah, another paradox in the United Methodist Church. By the way, if you have not yet read "Methodism: Empire of the Spirit" by David Hempton, do.

Only two more days until the "District Conference Celebration" at North Spring at 3. Be there or be square!

Wednesday night blog-bytes

For the few in the reading audience who might be linear in their thinking its the every-once-in-a-while blog byte nyte!!!

1) Tonight was the First Kearney charge conference. I believe there were seven present, and that is counting the two pastors, the recording secretary, the pianist and the church secretary. What one learns in her third year of d.s.ing: Wednesday charge conferences let you see how much is going on in a church, and if you schedule one at Kearney, don't expect anyone to show up because everyone is so busy doing other things. In fact, we did not tarry long because the folks there needed to be at cantata practice and other various and assorted ministry settings. I am SO PROUD of this congregation and its pastors (Fred and John) for keeping their heart for mission while growing at nearly 10% a year in attendance over the last three years.

2) If it's Wednesday, it must be MisKnits night. How the Cox-Johnson women LOVE Misknits! It's "open knitting" nights on Wednesdays. We sit and knit (well, actually I crochet) and the knitters share ideas, and most are pretty fun, and are our kind of folks. Amber, the owner, opened the shop last summer...it is at 39th and Terrace. Her website is:

www.misknits.com and she has a blog you can get to there too. Of course I have not been much the last several weeks....I try to go in for a bit anyway early or late and Cana stays throughout.

4) I am super excited about our District Conference Celebration Sunday!!! I must soon do an entry on Kevin Buckrucker, our co-district lay leader who is God's gift to the Heartland North district and its superintendent. More on Kevin another time.

5) No sign of Maggie. Thanks for all the kind words

6) Prayers please for the Buckner church and its pastor Robb Webster as he anticipates surgery in December

7) Thanksgiving for the Buckner church as it brings us news Sunday afternoon of its Baby Grace program, a neat ministry with high school single moms at Fort Osage High School. As I tell district churches, I used to drive past the Fort Osage building and say to myself, "That's where Albert Pujols went to high school!" and now I say to myself, "That's where our Baby Grace program is!" More about that later, too.

Enough.

The love and loss of kitties

I have been meaning to show you Mel. Here he is, now 5-6 months old. I took this tonight. This is a usual pose for him. He loves me like no cat I have ever had. He has a very quiet soul- and often just sits and looks at me and reminds me of an owl. Remember Mel is named for Mel Torme to whom we were listening the day we got him (and besides he has a tuxedo look to his gorgeous fur), and was the kitty who was in danger of euthanasia when Caleb and I went to the shelter back in August. Caleb and his dad wanted to name him Miles Davis instead, because Mel is one cool cat. Danger is our other cat, is physically a little smaller and younger, and his name says it all. I call him Power Ranger Danger...he thinks he is much larger than he is. He and Mel do play together, but where Danger is hardly ever content to gaze, Mel likes to often. He runs in and jumps on me and purrs in the morning. If I am gone more than an hour, he runs to greets me when I come in the door. Mel has a substantial meow; Danger has a squeak which we think is funny, since he lives so large.

So that is the pleasure. The loss is this: last Tuesday, when I brought the boy kitties home from getting their shots at the vet, I had intended to take Maggie, our older female, immediately to get hers. But when we returned, alas, Maggie was gone. We could not and cannot find her. She was healthy, no illness, except manic depression brought on by two additional felines in the house. We think she had developed wrinkles around her eyebrows (anger lines) since the boys came to live with us. She never adjusted. We didn't know what to do...Mel, she would tolerate, but Danger was just a huge pain to her. So I guess she just got fed up and walked away sneaking outside while I was getting the young ones in the carrier to go to the vet. She has not been an outdoor kitty, but the kittens had gotten her reflexes in good shape over the last couple of months, since she always had to be watching her backside, literally, since Danger liked to play with her tail. Where Danger thinks of himself as much bigger than he is, Maggie had begun thinking herself much smaller than SHE is. She had started trying to get up on my desk, for example, even though she is gargantuan and would often knock off my pictures and papers, since she saw the boys doing it. She still got a lot of love, believe me.

We keep thinking she will return, though Philip is being rather matter of fact about how she has gotten hit by a car and crawled up someplace and died (aren't former spouses kind...I make him promise not to share that with Cana but I know she has thought of that too.) I prefer to think she went to a chubby kitty spa to lose the 10 or so extra pounds, or that, as Cana said, Prince has called to her in a special kitty voice only they can hear and told her of a fair land where there are no menacing would-be assassin small cats to make a mature cat miserable; a place where there is salmon every day and where milk doesn't give one indigestion; and a place where there is always sun coming through the windows and saintly hands to scratch that favorite spot. We can hope. I just hope her frown lines have gone away and that although we knew she wasn't the brightest kitty God ever made (yes, I have called her stupid) she is/was quite a nice soft cat who was a shelter kitty too. We'll see.

Day #3 The United Methodist Way--Those who lose their lives, find them

Hope: A Council of Bishops who understand that we must change and gives some real direction for how to get there

Melancholy: Is it too little too late?

Hope: Gil Rendle reminding us that change starts at home...we d.s.ers and other conference staff types need to make sure we are living the change that we want to see in the world.

Doubt: Can 847 mostly gray haired over 55 types really do what it takes to change when we are all so entrenched in the "system?" Is there a way that we can listen better? How can a church that is so shaped by modernity find its way out of one paradigm and into another? Can it? Those who are willing to lose their lives will find them. The test of any of us at any time: Are we willing to give up who we are for who we may become?

Hope: Biblical stories: Dry bones that live; wilderness times that finally yield to fulfillment of God's promises of new life; Lazarus risen; nothing can separate us from the love of God; we are not yet what we shall be; we must be willing to lose our life in order to find it (woops, that last one might not seem like such good news.)

Okay, I leave it there. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto us.

Day #2 The United Methodist Way

I am a bit of a tired emerging d.s. tonight but here it goes...

Not a great picture but I think you can see basically what is going on. Tonight there were multi conference meetings--Missouri met with Greater New Jersey and the Philippines. When I sat down next to Bishop Sudarshana Devadhar )who in the picture is sitting on Bishop Schnase's left) and introduced myself he said something like this, "Oh, Susan, I read your blog.." and then he began describing a couple of entries I had posted recently!!! A surprise, but probably not the most significant thing to happen for the life of the UMC today.

What was the most significant thing that has happened today? Probably that lots of folks have expressed their gratitude that the Council of Bishops have offered specific help for conferences, districts and local churches that point a way forward---7 pathways, 5 practices and more.

Tonight at our multi conference meeting, one of the Filipino d.s.s expressed what I often think about---is the UMC really an old wineskin into which the new wine of today cannot be poured? Bishop Schnase made a brief remark about what that new wine really is. For me the new wine are the postmodern gen xers who are looking for authenticity and relationship; it is Jake, Caleb's friend who is a great pianist and who the other night as he finished playing a Chopin etude and then a Gershwin tune, saw the book of hymn arrangements I had on the piano and asked "what's a hymn?"; new wine are those young adults up in the Northland that Megan Sly, a new wine woman, is trying to reach with the Encounter worship service, birthed out of Platte Woods; new wine, new wine.

Can we be made new? With God, dear friends I know all things are possible. I think it is a lot more possible for God when we are willing to give up who we are for who we might become. I know that it is a lot easier to believe when I look at my students and I see the grace with which Jamie, and Amanda and Jill and Emily many others have answered their calls by serving churches of this district

Ah, Cynthia Wilson ... I wish everybody I know could have heard her sing "He Touched Me" this afternoon.

PS: Somebody tell me when you get to the point in this life that you are spiritually healthy enough and psychically well enough that it doesn't hurt when you are either misunderstood by someone whom you want to understand; or that it doesn't hurt when somebody whom you care about and whose opinion matters either intentionally or unintentionally is hurtful. I still don't get this ... Ah well. Change our hearts oh God, make us ever new. Change our hearts oh God, make us be like you....

DAY #1 The United Methodist Way...And Lovett's Ten Provocative Questions

This was the look I had of the dusty colors of autumn at Lake Junaluska this morning as I took a little walk. Last week was probably the color peak, but there is something exquisite about the trees just after they have begun to fade. I thought about making an analogy to the UMC right now but hopefully I would be proven wrong. Not that we aren't still beautiful in some ways, but hopefully our fading will be really a rebirth, or something like that.


We had three bishops and Lovett Weems talk to us this afternoon---Bishop Huie, Bishop Oh (I know I spelled that wrong), Bishop Brown and Bishop Palmer. All were authentically inspiring---Bishop Palmer preached a rousing sermon about fear and love and dancing and thanksgiving which was wonderful. In the midst of the bishops, Lovett Weems spoke. He had been present on Tuesday and gave a response to the State of the Church which I think the bishops produced very recently. His response was in the form of 10 provocative questions which can be accessed at = http://www.churchleadership.com/ I guess by question is one that I believe that Bishop Palmer asked, do we love our Christ and the world which God sent him to save enough, to do the changing we have to do to offer Christ in the manner we need to do it in our specific places of ministry at this particular time? That is my restatement of Bishop Palmer.
Worship this evening was a REAL blessing...Cynthia Wilson is leading music. I forget how wonderful she is until I am where she is again. Communion was lovely. Lord, DO listen to your children praying...

SUNDAY NIGHT 11/10 addendum: I have removed the Ten Provocative Questions since the above link will now get you to them.

Off to learn about the United Methodist Way

I am sitting at KCI waiting to fly out to the United Methodist Way event at Junaluska. All extended cabinets OF THE CONNECTION will be meeting together for three days. I will admit I have been a bit skeptical about this----the "WWWD" (What Would Wesley Do) part of me keeps saying that I am not at all sure Wesley would have us spend the $500k plus that this must be costing all us folks to get there. But the HHTGAH (Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here) part of me is sort of looking forward to it. We all are supposed to have read some documents sent to us in preparation; there will be time to hear from some of our best leaders on the state of the church and what we can do (Bishop Schnase is speaking); and we will get to meet "folks like us" in fellowship and learning. I will do my best to blog each day, but I think the internet connection is not very good at the Lake. Let's hope we are rising the occasion and that not only do new occasions teach new duties, but we managment types might be eager to learn them.

Shaved head day 1 and ccs #37, 38, 39

No, the picture isn't of some crazed hitch hiker I picked up in Ray County today. It's my son (that's glare on his forehead and he usually smiles more than you would think looking at this picture) who called me about 6 and asked if we could spend "some quality mother-son time together" tonight. I held my tongue, since I was just arriving home from 3 charge conferences and had an agenda for my evening of getting some stuff together to send to Steve Cox for the 5 practices page. When I picked Caleb up at his dad's, and told him about my 3 charge conferences that he had forgotten I had (where had he thought I was all day???) he was terribly apologetic, but I had energy tonight so I wanted to do what he wanted to do. Caleb wanted to go to Barnes and Noble on the Plaza and then to Sonic in Westport, and to sit outside and just chill as he would say, for our quality time. Which we did. With coupon and gift card in hand, I bought a book on Nietzsche (God help us); a book which comprises the complete works of Edgar Allen Poe; a book by a a Buddhist author that is something like Practicing Peace in a Time of War; and a magazine on meditation for Caleb. And three Christmas cooking magazines for me. His favorite Friday night late night activity is going to poetry readings, where he reads his own and others' poetry. It kind of reminds me of Maynard G. Krebs and bongos, but then again, I kind of like Maynard G. Krebs and bongos. They can never say our kids are boring.

It was #37, 38 and 39 today in the charge conference count: Richmond; First: Excelsior Springs; and Orrick. I was late for the last two. I was especially sorry to be late at Excelsior, since there were two extra business items, both important, that drew a bit bigger crowd than usual. I hope it isn't an insult to say I knew the Orrick folks would understand when I realized I would be late there too. My general sense about this day is how pleased all three churches are with their pastors. Yea! I continue to urge more involvement in the local communities "you are not here by accident" I say, which I hope is not too terribly Calvinistic. One of my favorite happenings of the day was at Richmond when 90 year old Alice Jones (is that name right?) whose father was a presiding elder, talked with me for a bit. I want to go over and visit with her---she lived in Canton, where I served for 5 very good years in the mid nineties...but she was there from 1928-1930 while her father served as pastor to the English speaking congregation...there was a German Methodist church there as well. I also am so pleased at the optimism at Excelsior Springs...just a very positive spirit, and they are talking about building. Good folks there, good folks everywhere.

And a son who shaved his head today, "because he needed to do it" he told me. Thus the picture.

Life is interesting.

My week, medically speaking

It has been an interesting week medically for me. I chipped a tooth last week and after procrastinating for two and a half years (this is to make my brother and sister procrastinators know they have company) about going to the dentist, first thinking I would establish myself with a Liberty dentist and then after moving back to the city, I found other excuses and anyway I finally HAD to go, and I went back to Dr. Karen Rethmeyer, with whom I had a several year-good relationship, due to a shared faith (hers more of the conservative kind...we can see her church, Colonial Pres, outside her dental office window) and the fact she always takes time for me and even if it took months, I always paid my bill. Four crowns, two fillings and a bridge will either make a relationship or break it. And she has been known to pray with me when I have been anxious about the fact that I tend to need LOTS of Novocaine to get numbed. A long description, but probably helpful to what comes next. Dr. Karen was great on Wednesday. I do have to have some work done, but, after she took my blood pressure, and saw how high it was (I will not say how high) she said she wanted me to get to my doc ASAP and get some help. Then she'd see me again. I called my doctor's nurse yesterday, and she called back today, after hearing my blood pressure reading (and I had been in for my yearly check up two weeks ago and the bp was a little high) my doctor wanted to see me tout suite. Which she did today. And I now am on bp medication. Joy.

Dr. Rethmeyer, the dentist (and me to0) think the chipped tooth thing was a God thing. She advised me to get an inexpensive blood pressure measurer for home, which I did Wed and between then and today, the pressure kept going up a little. I developed a headache and ringing ears, and whether that was because I was worrying myself into it or what, it still was a very good thing I got to my doctor today.

Does God work like this? Some would say that my subconscious somehow knew I had a problem and my tooth chipped so that I would go see my dentist who would help identify the high blood pressure. To that, I say, "bull hockey"...as Philip C-J has been known to utter. I know there are so many other major concerns in this world that my blood pressure might not seem the greatest problem---I have been thinking plenty also this week about the homeless on the streets in Westport, or those moms who are in class with Cana who bring their babies with them, or the thousands of others in the city who do not have healthcare insurance and for whom these two appointments this week would seem a terrible luxury.

But I guess deep down, I do believe that God loves all of us like there is just one of us. And I am thankful, for a dentist who prays and invited me to go on the Guatemala mission trip next year that she takes every year and for a family practitioner who knew I needed help and worked me in today. I am feeling better already, as my doc said I would, and I am grateful.

Asbury and Leadership

Yesterday we had a really neat morning in the Heartland North District. Our full time pastors are in the midst of a series of book studies. This month is was Taking Heaven By Storm by Dr. John Wigger. Dr. Wigger teaches at the University of Missouri at Columbia, and our district's Ph.D-in-residence and pastor at Excelsior Springs, Jonathan Cooney (no slouch at church history himself) invited Dr. Wigger over to co lead the discussion. The book recounts the stories of leaders and ordinary persons who were swept up in the early Methodism of America. A very interesting study it was!

I found even more fascinating Dr. Wigger's presentation on his new book, a definitive biography on Francis Asbury. Wigger offers his premise about why Asbury was such an effective leader. Many of us who have taken a Methodist history class have heard about what a stern and autocratic leader Asbury was. Wigger does not dismiss the strength of his leadership, but he lifted for us four traits that he sees in Asbury that made in so great.

1) Piety: Asbury was a man of true piety, and he obviously walked his talk. He was very sincere in what he believed. He never owned his own house, but instead lived in what is estimated to be 10,000 persons' homes on his circuit travels. Lots of people got to see him up close and personal, and they could see that he lived what he preached.

2) Ability to connect with people: Asbury was not a strong preacher, to put it mildly. His connecting with folks was not so much in his preaching, but in the small group and one on one meetings he had with people. He made intimate friends quickly. The closer people got to him, the better people liked him. Wigger tells the story of John Dickens, who was part of the group of Southern Methodists who wanted to break with the north early in the 19th century. This group was truly at odds with Asbury's leadership. Asbury went south with the express intent of visiting with Dickens, which he did for two days, and after those two days, not only had the Southern branch of the church decided to stay a part of the North (at least for a couple of decades) but Dickens and Asbury had becomes close friends.

3) Ability to use culture: Dr. Wigger gave us an account of Methodism in the southern colonies in the early 1770s. These Methodists were SO loud---shouting and barking and falling down and such. Many in the northern colonies found this to be shameful, but Asbury's attitude was that if this was the way that they wished to express their religion then he was not going to castigate them. Asbury also saw how the camp meetings, which were really a product of the wilds of the frontier in many ways, were a very effective way to reach lots of people, and so he advises his preachers to be a part of the camp meeting movement.

4) Organization: Asbury was quite good at managing the day to day, year to year details of the movement. That leadership ability was vital to the growth of Methodism during Asbury's lifetime.

Whaddya think? I have not unpacked all of this but I think it may give a very interesting model for leadership today. It is interesting that the first trait that Wigger lifts is piety and the second ability to connect.

John Wigger's book has not yet been published. I look for it with eagerness.