Hugh's Views

Every month, well, almost every month, for the last 2 and a half years, I have written a letter to my friends and the people who support the work we do at Love Wins. It is not your typical newsletter – some months I cry for help, other months I celebrate joy as I talk about one of our victories. It is one of the things I most enjoy doing.

For people who are interested in what I do, who are interested in the peculiar type of ministry I work in and who want to know more about the philosophy that under-girds our work, there is no better source for that than to sign up for my little newsletter.

If you do sign up, no one will spam you, no one will harass you for money and no one will ever share your info with anyone else. I promise.

Last weekend, Renee and I went to Washington DC for the Transform East Coast Gathering. Many folks have asked me exactly what it was – their website described the event like this:

We are gathering missional practitioners on the East Coast to learn from each other and to mobilize others for forming new missional communities.

Whether you’re a pastor, prospective “church planter,” or simply interested in finding out more about transformational missional communities of practice, this gathering is designed to inspire and equip you to go and do likewise!

Anyway, Renee and I rode the train (Love the Amtrak) and to keep the cost as low as possible, stayed with our friends the Merritts in Arlington, just over the river. They were incredible hosts and went out of their way to make us feel at home. Thanks so much, guys!

On Saturday, I spoke on a panel, along with my friends Reverend Vince Anderson, Angela Harms and Kathy Escobar, on being “Missional at the Margins”. In short, we talked about reaching out to the people who often get looked over in church planting plans.  I thought it was going to be recorded, but, I was wrong. (I really need to get a digital recorder like this one so I can always have a copy of my talks.)

My friend Kathy had the keynote address at Transform, and she was just incredible. She held the audiences attention and at least six times during her talk, I wanted to shout “Amen!” If you are at all interested in the “Missional Church”, this is a must watch.

Her overall point? That being faithful to the Gospel is a path of “Downward Mobility”. And that this Jesus thing is really, really hard.

NB: Due to the craziness that is Ustream, I tried and tied to highlight only the clip of her talking. Alas, I failed. Or maybe Ustream did. In any event, her part of the video starts at 32:10.

So much happened at Transform I would love to talk about, but honestly, I just do not have the time right now. However, it will probably inform several blog posts in the days to come.

Today in the United Sates of America, a country that is prohibited by law from establishing any religion, is the National Day of Prayer.

Now, I have nothing against prayer. I pray. Some of my best friends  pray. But I must confess that some of the most vocal people who are talking about prayer leave me confused.

For instance, on September 25 of 2009, 50,000 Muslims gathered on Capitol Hill to pray to their God, but the religious right was not happy that these American citizens were exercising their constitutional right to assemble and pray. Yet, today, Christians want that same right, as American citizens, to assemble and pray to their God.

This, despite the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth (the ostensible founder of Christianity) who said:

And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. ¹

So, if I get this straight, it is ok for Christians to assemble and pray and draw attention to themselves, despite the fact that their founder clearly said not to. It is, however, wrong for Muslims to do this.

I am not sure why this would be wrong. It cannot be that the government should not allow it, because the government is prohibited from preventing it. And it cannot be that they are concerned Jesus would be upset about it, since they decided it is OK for them to do the same thing, when Jesus clearly warned against it.

But then again, this is one of many reasons I find myself confused about Christianity as it is practiced in America. But maybe this somehow makes sense to you. If it does, please explain it to me, would you?

¹ That was in the Gospel of Matthew, the 6th chapter, the 5th and 6th verse.

In the last 48 hours I have:

• Negotiated with a landlord on behalf of someone else.
• Held a crying mother of two who was facing the fact the kid’s dad had left her.
• Advised a man how to avoid being arrested for something he was surely guilty of.¹
• Visited a lawyer with someone to determine the status of a lawsuit.
• Had a meeting with three other pastors to work on ways faith communities can help with the coming post-traumatic stress disorder crisis that is going to hit when all the soldiers come home ²
• Tried³ to track down someone who was arrested while I was out of town.
• Spent several hours counseling a couple that just moved into their new apartment after a year of homelessness.
• Visited a friend’s new restaurant.⁴
• Spent two hours with my fellow theological misfits at the Raleigh Emergent cohort meeting.
• Booked two upcoming speaking gigs.
• Prepared the first of four lessons I am teaching at a local Baptist church over the next month on poverty and the Civil Rights movement.
• Sketched out the beginning schedule for an ongoing podcast for our ministry
• Adopted a 2 week old kitten.
• Narrowly averted the power company from shutting our lights off at the house.
• Researched options for arthroscopic knee surgery for someone who has no health insurance ⁵
• Walked a total of 5 miles as part of my new exercise regime.

No wonder I am tired.

¹ This is the sort of ethical struggles my particular form of ministry requires. If you must know, it is a victimless crime that he will be better able to resolve in a few months. Right now, however, he has a wife and kids who utterly depend on his income.

² PTSD will affect 20% of them – roughly 400,000 people who are five times more likely to seek help from their minister than all other sources of help combined.

³ I was unsuccessful at this

⁴ It is the new Market Restaurant on N Blount St. The food is incredible. He also hired the man in the couple mentioned above, which made them getting the apartment possible. We really need to support Chad and his new restaurant if we at all can.

⁵ The short answer is, there seem to be none. Medicaid is only an option in NC if you are disabled or have dependent children.