WITH the Poor

Posted on November 11, 2011 by Tom Bolton

We had a Missions Celebration Event throughout the Wisconsin United Methodist Church this month.  I was really invigorated by the message of Dr. Thomas Kemper, who is the general secretary of the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM).  It is exciting to me that he is a lay leader and that he is from Germany rather than the US, giving some emphasis to the global in GBGM.

“We think it’s all about money, but it’s about people, giving of ourselves,” Kemper said. As Christ sends his people into the harvest, which Jesus describes as “plentiful,” he said, “Let us work together that so the Kingdom of God is right at the doorsteps of people we meet and serve.”

I really appreciated his emphasis on ministry with, rather than ministry to or ministry for the poor.  Dr. Kemper used a new video that was fantastic at making this very point.

http://www.ministrywith.org/download/intro_video.mp4

With* is a United Methodist campaign to raise awareness, educate, and inspire people around Ministry with the poor  . With*, including a website, which provides resources for learning, mobilizing, connecting, and engaging with ministries and people to eradicate poverty. The goal is :

1) to create a space for visitors to encourage, share with, and challenge one another as we transform how we view and talk about “the poor” and

2) to go out and transform communities.

Ministry with the Poor is about answering Jesus’ call to discipleship in God’s mission of love and justice. Following Jesus’ example of servant leadership, those who enjoy greater privilege are called to listen to, learn from, walk humbly with, and empower those at society’s margins. We are called to work as partners with the marginalized in eradicating poverty and transforming this world into a just and caring Kingdom of God.

The video is great, and it made me aware that some of the most effective missions I see in action, do have this emphasis on *with.

Click on the video link above.

It was very moving for me.

I believe that the cold weather intervention on the south side of Milwaukee exemplifies this principle very well.  http://tippechurch.org/DivineInterventionColdWeatherMinistry.dsp

With a committed,  small group of people, in discipleship with Jesus, wonderful ministries are happening.

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Like a Moth and a Flame, or Not

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Tom Bolton

I wrote this while at a Faith Alive retreat at the Moravian Converence Center in Mt Morris, Wisconsin, in September 2011.
We were contemplating thoughts involving inclusiveness, and looking for new thoughts (new to us individually) about theology.
I have struggled through Job over the years, and this just seemed to flow for me.
Originally, I wrote for 15 minutes as an essay, and suddenly, the words just looked like a poem, so I shifted and started over that morning.

Hummingbird Moth

Like a Moth and a Flame, or Not

I hear Job. He bellows and seethes and
from his tear and chastisement, he erupts.
What is fair and what is not?
Am I burned by God now?
The law, the comfortable, legalistic disciplines
(sometimes)
I am pulled there (sometimes)
Too often?
Like the moth drawn to the candle–
first in small flame, and then–surprise –in big flames–
The moth doesn’t think (does it?)
as it sees the brightness and anticipates the warmth

and may be burned.

But things seem to happen all around me this day.
Unjust
Unfair!
hurtful things
Happening to strangers and people I love (moths?)
I blow up (or fret)
God, how can you do that?
Why do you allow that?
Is this your way?
And then I remember (for a while at least)
that sometimes these dangers and
the hurt that happens,
Happen
when we–mere men–tell God
to judge, tell God how how to judge.
Ah, I remember now–to listen,
to bask in the love, the comfort, the soft-bright
Hope of God.
I recall–at an instinct–that God is with us–
close and comforting, hugging and caressing,
lighting us up and guiding
Toward the gentle, beautiful Path in the light,
and not pushing us off the path.
Not shoving me out.
Not burning us.
In our dark moments, we may light the flames
that consume.
Creating God lights the the flames that produce:
Light and comfort-
Illumination and warmth,
Light in the loving moments.

As the flame burns to ash, we are moths, unthinking,
(or thinking too much?)
And the New Flame is softly torched, warm, and vital,
inviting.

–Tom Bolton 9-18-2011 Mt Morris, WI

Like Job, I often blow up about what is fair and what seems unfair.  On the one hand, I am pulled toward the law and legalistic discipline like a moth to a candle; I don’t think the moth thinks much about the flame, but it sees the brightness and is drawn toward the warmth, and may be burned.  But when bad things–unfair, unjust, hurtful things–happen to people (or moths), I blow up (or I fret) about how could God DO that?

And then I am reminded of the dangers and the hurt that happens when we–mere men–tell God to judge, tell God how to judge.  Then, I may remember to listen, to bask in the love, the comfort, the bright Hope of God.

I wrote a good bit more about God and flames and consuming versus comforting production, but I think the poetry is better, and shorter!  When the flame burns to ash, we are the moth, unthinking.  Or thinking too much?

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Man Problem?

Posted on November 4, 2011 by Tom Bolton

I read Patrick Morley’s post last week at Michael Hyatt‘s Intentional Leadership blog. He says “Everyone knows we have a “men problem.” You can hear about it on CNN, read about it in the New York Times, and watch the destruction it creates on Dr. Phil.
The stats are jarring. For example, 80 percent of men are so emotionally impaired that not only are they unable to express their feelings, but they can’t even identify their feelings. The collateral damage is staggering. One-third of America’s 72 million children will go to bed tonight in a home without a biological dad.

“But perhaps the greatest cost to the physical absence of dads is the practical absence of moms. Essentially, one person must now do the work of two. A young woman said, ‘When my mom and dad divorced, I didn’t just lose my dad. I lost my mom, too, because she had to work long hours to support us.'”

It made me reflect on some of the ministries I have pursued over the past ten years, because of my observation that there are few male role models in Sunday School classes for young children and tweens, for instance.  That led me to teach 4th and 5th graders and to help with Junior Church.  It led me to work on Parent’s Night Out and to help design the Seder Meal day in our worship.  It led me to learn how to work with bigger varieties of youth and to “just be out there, praising God publicly.”

Morley observes that we have many ministries and social programs that deal with the consequences of men failing—teenage crisis pregnancy centers, prison ministries, and rehab programs, for instance. Truly we will always need pregnancy centers and prison ministries. Unfortunately!  Morey asks, “wouldn’t it be great if we could go upstream and devote some resources to help men get it right before there were “babies in the river?” Cancer treatments are essential, but how much better to prevent cancer in the first place?”

Like Morely, I am thankful for the models and mentors who helped me over the years–men like Tom Brown and Gerry Cheske. But I wonder if a program like Morely envisions would make a difference.  I am inclined to believe it will.

I’m hopeful, that my new group at First Church —Learners Leaders and Relationships–may make a difference too–with young and old leaders–as we develop relationships like the one between Timothy and Paul.

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As Eli, Restore Me, a Parent

Posted on November 4, 2011 by Tom Bolton

I wrote this poem when I was co-leading a youth mission trip last summer. We usually think about Samuel when we read the stories about him, but I was thinking about Eli one morning, and about being a father/encourager of youth:

As Eli, Restore Me, a Parent

These days in the Psalms,
Not just in funeral meditation, but
Comforted, Truly restored, Daily restored in the Psalms
Of our Lord,
I seize refreshment.
I yearn for restoration, joy and glowing in the Lord.
Possessing, seeing provision, peaceful,
Pardoned, always pardoned—so near to restoration—
And Partnered, Prepared, and praised by my Father,
Pardoned and prepared—for Paradise.
Am I here as Eli,
Surrounded by new and also known
Samuels and Sammies?
Have I come here as Eli—
More a priest, and now pulled back again
As a parent?!!
Am I now restored to Give my children
in service with a thankful heart?
These Samuels again are prophets so
Often—the fresh mouth-piece of our Lord.
Was I Eli so often?
Have I missed the focus with my kin,
In my daily work clans?
My expectation too modest?
My example—what is it I live?
Do I show it?
Do I walk the path with the visible gait
of going with God? Am I too tied
up in the trappings of career and rite?
Is my job today to listen to Sammy, to help
her practice, to obey?
To help him assume the position—to be quiet
and listen to our Lord?
To help them be proximate, embraced by God!

Lord, help me to see, to guide and coach the
Next Wave of Prophets.
Restore me Lord, a Father.

–Tom Bolton June 29, 2010

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Hello World!

Posted on February 17, 2011 by Tom Bolton

This will be my blogging place, as I think through issues of discipleship and contemplate some scripture–often through poetry.

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