Come visit some Sunday

Here's a response to a blogger who has his doubts about St. John's in Atlanta. See his post at http://hillbillywhitetrash.blogspot.com/2007/02/one-cannot-serve-two-masters.html

Lemuel,

I would like to invite you to come visit St. John's, my home church. It's only a 4 hour drive from Ashville to Atlanta. You can see for yourself what is going on.

For me, it's a beautiful congregation, wonderful fellowship with lively and sincere worship. Pastor Brad is a truly gifted minister. He's excellent in preaching (which is always Bible-based), working with children and youth and providing attentive pastoral care. This is a place where God is transforming lives, drawing us into grace, wholeness, and discipleship.

It's growth, by the way, has been predominantly among families with young children. We certainly welcome gay folk, but the vast majority of our membership is straight. We're not looking for a place where "we can just go on sinning and it's all ok." No, we do not justify sin. Rather, in hope, we look to Christ to justify us sinners, to bring us into right relation with God and each other.

To be clear, it's about Christ justifying sinners, not justifying our sin or justifying ourselves. A gay person could live his entire life completely celibate, but that would add nothing his salvation. You and I can spend our whole lives living up to Biblical standards, but it adds nothing to the righteousness we find in Christ. Worse yet in trying to make ourselves righteous, we only become self-righteous which means we do not really have any faith at all. We are all sinners, whatever our sins may be, but the best we can do is trust Christ's righteousness and allow the Holy Spirit make us whole.

Well, I could go on preaching at you. But really I just want to let you know that we welcome you. You can be a conservative among us and you won't be the only one. You can be whoever you are and grow in Christ with us.

Don't believe me? Put us to the test, come visit some Sunday.

Peace, James

Proposal to Delay the Gospel until 2009

My unworthy response to “The Resolution to Wait for 2009 Social Statement” put forward by the Lutheran Churches of the Common Confession. See text at http://commonconfession.blogspot.com/2007/03/resolution-to-wait-for-2009-social.html.


If this [resolution] could be amended to suspend Pr. Schmeling's removal from roster until after the 2009 Churchwide Assembly, you may get broad cooperation. It would remove urgency created by Schmeling's case.

The final "whereas" should also be re-written. The Synod's counsel prosecuting Pr. Schmeling could have presented "evidence supporting the current guidelines" had they deemed it useful to their case.

Counsel for Pr. Schmeling presented evidence and expert theological testimony against the current guidelines. So the prosecution had opportunity to call counter witnesses. Why would they choose not to?

Without such modification, this proposed memorial smacks of personal attack against Pr. Schmeling and the congregation of St. John's Lutheran Church. This is not about abstract principle, godly or otherwise. It is about real persons and real congregations who are seeking to live out the gospel.

To say that these people should be swept aside because this addressing conflict is "divisive and distracting" is an affront to the gospel.

Did not our Lord instruct us to leave our offering at the altar until we first go reconcile ourselves with our brother? You hypocrites who want to brush your brother aside so you can go play church!

Do you not understand that with brushing aside Pastor Brad you are driving out thousands of baptized believers and placing stumbling blocks before millions? How many souls are you willing to deprive of the gospel so that you can feel secure in your legalistic reading of scripture?

I speak only as a layperson with no authority in the church. What do I know of the gospel?

Tell me you experts in the confessions and scripture. What shall I say to my Lord when he says, “I was hungry, but you sent me away, saying, ‘The bible clearly says homosexuals will not inherit the kingdom’”?


This “continuing conflict” is no less than a first-order question of the gospel.

The importance of youth ministry

Sing it! [All that's green PDF]

Taizé restored my faith and Christian identity. I grew up a spirit filled youth, but lost my faith in early adulthood. The anti-intellectual stance of my church background was at odds with my growing intellectual awareness. Honest questions were construed as doubts, doubts as rejecting faith, rejecting of faith as sin. In the end I had to choose between faith and honesty, even sanity.

This was a choice that no sincere youth should have to make. And ministers within my denomination were not competent to help me see other alternatives.

So I became a reluctant atheist. I wanted to believe, but I could not. I experienced this loss of faith as bereavement and lasting grief. It took me about a decade to work through this crisis.

The close of this decade came as my wife and I decided to start a twice-monthly Taizé prayer service at our "do-it-yourself" Unitarian Universalist congregation. Music had always remained a way for me to connect with some vestiges of faith. There was enough that we ventured into exploring Taizé music and prayer. The experience of leading these services for three years had stripped away years of confusion and pain. I began to reconnect with the simplicity of the gospel. I came as a child and found rest sitting in God's presence with Christ.

It was not about resolving academic debates, eliminating doubts, finding new twists on doctrine, cleaning up my own life, or any such contortion or effort on my part.

Rather the answer is simply in the presence of God. Christ makes an opening in our hearts and the Spirit enables us to trust.

After a few years of leading this little Taizé group, my prayer life became more contemplative. I used to watch single votive candles as they melted night after night. Through their ebbing away they were becoming entirely transformed into light. There emerged within me new songs, new little contemplative songs.

In time I began sharing these songs with my Taizé group. "All that's green" reflected my awakening and was one of the first I shared.

All that's green will sing for you, alleluia!
And my heart will echo true, alleluia!

Alleluia, alleluia!
Alleluia, alleluia!

I continue to write and share these songs as the Spirit. My latest venture is to share them in my blog, AfterMyOwnHeart.blogspot.com. My hope is that these songs will be a welcomed--and free--resource to small groups, churches and individuals.

Blessings to all youth ministers who are learning how to share the presence of Christ with young people who really are intelligent and spiritually sensitive.


This post was a response to http://rethinkingyouth.blogspot.com/2007/02/contemplation.html
Please visit this blog by Youth Pastor Brian for views on progressive youth ministry.

It's morning time

Hear it! [It's morning time MID]
Read it! [It's morning time PDF]

There’s nothing quite like sleeping in on a Saturday morning. But my 22-month-old daughter is too full of life to let that happen. Zoe climbs up on our bed with toy cups in hand. In her pre-verbal way, she announces that it’s morning time.

A song comes back to me. It first came to me several months ago, but I had forgotten all about it and hadn’t written it down. This morning it awakens me again.

When a forgotten song comes back to me time and again, I take it as a sign that it is worth writing down and sharing. I hope you like this little wake up song.

To you I give this day
O lead me in your way
My heart would give you praise
It’s morning time!

Well, I suppose it’s my turn to watch Zoe, so my wife can catch a little more sleep.

Entering the vulnerability of prayer

I have come to believe that the essence of Christian faith is vulnerability. It is definitely not to meet the world on our own terms of power, prestige or security.

Rather we enter the world as little babies and learn to follow Jesus' example of vulnerability. We trust only the will of the Father and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Prayer is one entry point. To pray is to become vulnerable.

Sometimes we are dull, distracted or hardened and do not touch vulnerability in prayer. To break through this, we can pray the Jesus prayer:

“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

Following the spiritual traditions of the Orthodox Church, we can repeat the Jesus prayer until it sinks in. Over time the prayer will plow into our hardness until we come to compunction of heart. We will experience a tangible soreness near our physical hearts.

Compunction of heart is true vulnerability in prayer and openness to work of the Holy Spirit.

At other times, we may have the opposite problem. Rather than hardness of heart, we may be all too fearful or anxious. We withhold ourselves from prayer because we are afraid of what we may find. We do not want to feel our own vulnerability.

But we do not enter prayer alone. The Holy Spirit will go with us as guide and protector. Mother Teresa taught a wonderful little prayer to get us started:

“Come Holy Spirit, guide me, protect me.
Clear out my mind so I can pray.”

This was the starting point for one of my favorite opening songs.

[Come Holy Spirit guide me PDF]

Come Holy Spirit, guide me
Come Holy Spirit, protect me
Clear out my mind so I can pray
Pray Holy Spirit within me

Try this song and see if it helps.

You are my child

Hear it! [Abba’s Lullaby MID]
See it! [Abba’s Lullaby PDF]

Romans 8:14-16 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" 16 it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

How do we know that we are following the Spirit of God? We are the Children of God when we recognize a deep longing within us, a spirit that cries out, “Abba! Father!”

How do we know when we are not following the Spirit of God? We fall back into fear. The spirit of slavery traps us in fear. We discount, even reject, the witness of the Spirit within us.

But God’s Spirit has not rejected us, but continues to cry out within us. Our struggle is between a spirit of adoption and a spirit of fear. Still the Holy Spirit cries out, “You are my child.”

The ministry of reconciliation is hopeful. It is does not induce fear, shame or despair. Rather the spirit of reconciliation encourages a deep trust, a deep listening, and a deep awakening. The Spirit bears witness within us that at our deepest self we are the children of God.

Those who are enslaved by a spirit of fear have not heard this for themselves and cannot speak this to others. This is why our ministry fails.

Those who are led by the Spirit of God are hopeful. They recognize within themselves the work of the Spirit, and they recognize in others that same working of the Spirit.

So it is that the Spirit sings to me and through me Abba’s Lullaby:

You are my child, my beloved
In you I am well pleased
You are my daughter, you are my son
All my beloved, be as one

May we sing this to each other. May we hear this from each other. And may we sing it more confidently for those who most need to hear it.

Children of the vine

a hymn to the tune of “In the Bleak Midwinter”


We your children look to you, O root divine
Not a mouth would you refuse simple bread of life
Your love pours out for us, pours out for all
That we may taste life anew, children of the vine

Come now all you people to this bread and wine
Not a soul would we exclude where our lord says, "Dine!"
Come you wounded and you scorned, come and be whole
Anointed life now welcomes you, children of the vine

We who walk upon this earth mindful of our time
Look for justice and some bread, some will never find
Yet in mercy we may live, in mercy may we die
Till justice press upon our lips, children of the vine

When the spirit calls to us, time will be no more
Hearts that look upon the latch tremble at the door
Come my wounded, come my loved robed in radiance fine
Your beloved waits for you, child of the vine

Children of the vine, Copyright © 2004 by James Hilden-Minton

We proclaim Christ more boldly

Today I am grateful for the conclusion to my pastor’s trial. [See trial update at http://www.stjohnsatlanta.org/.]

I thank the hearing committee for their careful work and their thoughtful and thought provoking decision. They have clarified the situation and laid the core issue in the hands of the whole of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. They recommend that the judicial appeal process or the churchwide assembly correct what they see as "at least bad policy, and may very well violate the constitution and bylaws of this church."

I thank Bishop Warren for his pastoral concern in this matter. In the face of a highly politicised issue, he has pressed for accountability in ministry. I truly believe that he works for the wholeness and unity of our synod and the greater church. He stands as an example to the opponents of homosexuals in ministry of how to confront faithfully a brother in Christ.

I am also a member of St. John’s Lutheran Church, Atlanta, GA. I am proud to call Pastor Brad Schmeling my pastor and equally proud to call the congregation of St. John’s my church home. We, too, are working for the wholeness and unity of the church. With humility before Christ, we seek to speak truth with our brothers and sisters, to confront what we veiw as harmful policy and to not let the sun go down on our anger.

Together we have witnessed an amazing outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

This outpouring of which I speak is not that the hearing has effectively challenged problematic church policy against recognizing the calling of gay ministers who are faithfully partnered.

This outpouring of which I speak is not that the ELCA as a whole body will be engaged to discern God's will on this issue. We will be speaking truth to one another and listening all the more.

This outpouring of which I speak is not the prayer and support of thousands for Bradley and our congregation as we faced this trial. We pray that God's word will be spoken and that we will have the courage to listen and be changed.

This outpouring is not our immediate hope of urgent justice that has been denied to too many for too long , but is an outpouring that began a long time ago.

No. The outpouring of which I speak began when our Lord Jesus took the cup, and having given thanks, he gave it to us, saying,

“Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sin.” Mt 26:27b-28

By faith, our congregation takes this cup. We do not trust in our own ability. But only at Christ’s bidding, we hold forth that this covenant is extended to all, especially to those who have been called sinners, to those who have been estranged from church and sacrament, to those who have been shamed for their sexual self-understanding.

At St. John's, we have seen the bad fruit that comes of legalistic readings of the Bible. We have witnessed the loss of faith, despair, suicide, abuse, violence, and utter abandonment to sin. This happens in the lives of both gay and straight people. Biblicism directed against homosexuals does not lead to faith; rather, by its devastating fruit, it is sin with grave and eternal consequences.

When we participate in our Lord’s supper through the ministry of one such as Pastor Brad, we proclaim Christ more boldly. The old ways have died, and we are born anew in the Holy Spirit.

At St. John's, we bear witness to the positive fruit that comes when faith is restored. We have seen the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit that leads us to seek Christ presence among the faithful, to love the neighbor and welcome the stranger, and to leave behind the empty and destructive works of the flesh. Come and see.

We trust that the Holy Spirit comes with the power to heal, guide and sanctify the entire church.

We pray for the wholeness and unity of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

We know that the world watches us to see how we live out the gospel together.

My personal prayer for those who faithfully disagree with St. John’s is that you not give up on us or dismiss us out of hand. We are your brothers and your sisters. Follow the example of Bishop Warren; confront us in love in accordance with Scripture. But do not give up on us. Do not let the sun go down on another brother or sister. Otherwise, we shall both be handed over to Satan. Rather, let us confess our brokenness and our need for reconciliation.

May the Spirit empower us to speak truth to one another wherever we each may stand. And as one whole body, may we proclaim Christ more boldly. Amen.

My heart has trusted

[My heart has trusted PDF]

Wherever you go, be the presence of Christ, be the flesh of the gospel—not with words or actions that draws attention to yourself, but with an inner smile, a lowly heart and loving eyes.

Learn to see what the Spirit sees. See what it is that God loves in each person, what it is in your own soul that moves God’s Spirit to empty Godself to take the form of a servant.

Remember that God looks continually and attentively to your heart. No matter how dark or clouded our souls may be, God sees clearly with no obscuration. Meditate on this.

The essence of prayer is attentiveness. Pray with eyes that look to Christ in every situation. Pray patiently with a trusting heart.

With watchfulness and prayer, you will come to see how the Shepherd watches over you. Catch his eye and see eternity.

Make me whole again

Hear it! [Make me whole again MID]
See it! [Make me whole again PDF]

Lord to you I lift my wounds
my sickness and my sin
for I know, if it be your will
you can make me whole again
O Christ if you want to
you can make me whole again

Know, my child, I have heard your cry
your heart I cannot refuse
I will place my spirit in you
and your face I will renew
O child how I want to
and your face I will renew

The earth cries out for renewal and justice. The earth bears our sin and is our partner in wholeness. “For, creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God.” (Romans 8:19) Indeed, the earth groans in labor pains for us, even as the Spirit, like a skilled midwife, intercedes for us “with sighs too deep for words.”

The song “Make me whole again” was motivated by my reading of Psalm 104. God takes delight in creation and delights to care for all living beings on the face of the earth, in the sky, and in the waters below.

“These all look to you to give them their food in due season; when you give to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.” (Psalm 104:27-28)

This is life as we would hope it to be. However, death is also in God’s hand.

“When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.” (v. 29)

So we find ourselves broken, dependent, in need. Earth, too, is carved up and scarred by our restless actions. What we need, however, is not merely the goods of this earth, the goods we clamor for in this world and kill each other to have. No, what we long for and most truly need is the breath of God.

“When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the earth.” (v. 30)

I take this as a promise. God says to us and all creation, I will send forth my spirit to enliven you, and your face I will renew.

Renewal is God’s justice, a creative justice that restores, heals and uplifts our face.

I can trust this God who creates. Without shame, I can lift my wounds, my sickness and my sin to Christ, my Lord and Midwife. One little breath and I shall be radiant.