A Huge Wow

West Ohio Conference Rides the Crest of the Missional Wave

By Melissa Hinnen
"God has got to be super happy," Bishop Bruce Ough emotionally declared after a miracle offering at the West Ohio Annual Conference. The goal was to raise $500,000 "following the lead of our missional partner in Africa, the North Katanga Conference, to purchase a Cessna Caravan plane," Bishop Ough wrote in a pre-conference letter. By the close of the meeting, the West Ohio Conference had raised more than $1 million for the Wings of the Morning aviation ministry.

"To raise over $1 million through an annual conference miracle offering is astounding. No one in their right mind would have predicted that. We thought our $500,000 goal was audacious," said The Reverend Dee Stickley-Miner, who leads the Conference's connection mission and justice office. She continued: "What we experienced, however, was the Biblical truth that nothing is impossible with God. We participated in a current-day miracle--one of extravagant love and generosity that is not possible except through the power of God's spirit."
Responding to the miracle offering, Thomas Kemper, the top executive at the General Board of Global Ministries, said: "The West Ohio Conference goes beyond financial giving. They develop sustainable and personal partnerships in the four corners of the world--creatively connecting with Global Ministries as a resource to facilitate mission." Kemper spoke at the gathering and thanked the Conference for their missional spirit. He presented them with an award from The Advance for the highest financial contribution in The United Methodist Church. For five of the last six years, the Conference has led the denomination in designated giving, supporting ministries around the world.

In his episcopal address, Ough commented on the Conference's "recession-proof mission," describing them as "riding the crest of the missional wave." He continued, "The Cessna Caravan [made] possible through your extravagant generosity will literally allow medicine, doctors, nurses, malaria nets, Bibles, and evangelists to go to villages in the Congo where the roads do not go."

With the density of rainforests, scarcity of resources, and lack of infrastructure, aviation is the only means of accessing hundreds of remote villages. Gaston Ntambo, one of three missionary pilots in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), expressed the importance of aviation ministry. "Every medical flight has a life-saving moment. But at the same time, it also has a spiritual saving moment. You are never the same once you have flown on Wings of the Morning."

In his message to the Conference, Bishop Ntambo Nkulu Ntanda, who leads the North Katanga episcopal area, thanked the West Ohio Conference for their offering: "Every pregnant woman will not have to be afraid to give birth because of Wings of the Morning. Any village can call for Gaston to come and bring them to get healthcare. It is a blessing for Gaston and a blessing for all of North Katanga. It is a blessing to all of us."

Campaign of Hope

Following the Conference, Gaston wrote a letter of thanks: "You have just opened the biggest door for mission work and for a country, maybe even countries, to come to know and seek the face of our Lord Jesus, and thank-you is not the word I am looking for. It is not enough!"
In addition to the cost of purchasing a new plane, the maintenance and fuel require additional funding. The United Methodist Church has come together to raise support for Wings of the Morning, laying a sustainable foundation for the North Katanga Conference to continue this vital and transformational ministry.

 In a letter asking for support, Thomas Kemper wrote that in the DRC, "An airplane can make the difference between life and death. United Methodist missionary pilots provide a link to people living in remote villages--in fact they provide hope--hope with wings."
The Greater New Jersey Annual Conference has committed nearly $300,000, and other conferences have also made significant commitments. $25,000 has been raised within the North Katanga Conference--a region of the world where the average income is less than $10.00 a month. To support the North Katanga Wings of the Morning, please make a donation to UMCOR Advance #08597A.

Photos: (Top) Jacques Umembudi Akasa, a United Methodist missionary pilot for Wings of Caring Aviation. (Bottom) Stephen Quigg (left), a United Methodist missionary assigned to Mission Safety International, consults with pilot Jacques Umembudi Akasa (right), a United Methodist missionary assigned to Wings of Caring. Credits: Paul Jeffrey

Joy

Jeremiah 9:23-24

1 John 1: 1-4., Philippians 2: 1-4

John 16:19-24

JOY

According to Scriptures, God has certain attributes:  Love, Peace, and Joy are the three most sited.

Think for a moment about what gives you real joy. Not what makes you feel good, or even what makes us happy, but what kinds of things give you that deeper down feeling that just fills your heart to overflowing?

I bet you have been to parties like I have where people have been "happy". Lots of laughter and fun.  And of course there are the "happy hours" at bars.  A passing grade on a school test, a merciful State Patrolman who doesn't give us a ticket when he has reason to,  or a well cooked meal--all reasons for being happy.  5 pm on Friday can be a cause for happiness for many working people..

Many things can make us unhappy too.  An argument, a failing grade on a school test,  a speeding ticket,  burning the lima beans. Unhappiness, or a series of unhappy events, can lead to serious consequences.  Higher insurance rates for too many speeding tickets, ineligibility for sports because of too many poor grades.  Or perhaps divorce because of too many arguments and burned lima beans.

Happiness is something we sometimes devote lots of energy to finding, only too often to have it slip through our fingers rather easily almost as soon it is experienced. 

The Declaration of Independence and our Constitution declare our human rights to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. But the pursuit of happiness can be a wild roller coaster ride, and in the ride some people wind up going up and down between feelings of great highs, and the depths of despair.   In the process of riding the highs and lows, sometimes people hit lows they cant climb out of. Or the lows lead to disaster. 

There is a huge difference between happiness and joy. Happiness is often confused with joy, and the two words are too often used interchangeably. Happiness is elusive, here today, gone tomorrow.

A cold March wind danced around the dead of night in Dallas as the Doctor walked into the small hospital room of Diana Blessing. Still groggy from surgery, her husband, David, held her hand as they braced themselves for the latest news. That afternoon of March 10, 1991, complications had forced Diana, only 24-weeks pregnant, to undergo an emergency caesarean to deliver the couple's new daughter, Danae Lu Blessing.

At 12 inches long and weighing only one pound and nine ounces, they already knew she was perilously premature. Still, the doctor's soft words dropped like bombs. "I don't think she's going to make it", he said, as kindly as he could. "There's only a 10-percent chance she will live through the night, and even then, if by some slim chance she does make it, her future could be a very cruel one". Numb with disbelief, David and Diana listened as the doctor described the devastating problems Danae would likely face if she survived. She would never walk, she would never talk, she would probably be blind, and she would certainly be prone to other catastrophic conditions from cerebral palsy to complete mental retardation, and on and on.

"No! No!" was all Diana could say. She and David, with their 5-year-old son Dustin, had long dreamed of the day they would have a daughter to become a family of four. Now, within a matter of hours, that dream was slipping away. Through the dark hours of morning as Danae held onto life by the thinnest thread, Diana slipped in and out of sleep, growing more and more determined that their tiny daughter would  live - and live to be a healthy, happy young girl. But David, fully awake and listening to additional dire details of their daughter's chances of ever leaving the hospital alive, much less healthy, knew he must confront his  wife with the inevitable.

David walked in and said that we needed to talk about making funeral arrangements. Diana remembers. "I felt so bad for him because he was doing everything trying to include me in what was going on, but I just wouldn't listen, I couldn't listen." I said, "No, that is not  going to happen, no way! I don't care what the doctors say; Danae is not going to die! One day she will be just fine, and she will be coming home with us!"

 As if willed to live by Diana's determination, Danae clung to life hour after hour, with the help of every medical machine and marvel her miniature body could endure. But as those first days passed, a new agony set in for David and Diana. Because Danae's underdeveloped nervous system was essentially 'raw,' the lightest kiss or caress only intensified her discomfort, so they couldn't even cradle their tiny baby girl against their chests to offer the strength of their love. All they could do, as Danae struggled alone beneath the ultraviolet light in the tangle of tubes and wires, was to pray that God would stay close to their precious little girl. There was never a moment when Danae suddenly grew stronger.

But as the weeks went by, she did slowly gain an ounce of weight here and an ounce of strength there. At last, when Danae turned two months old, her parents were able to hold  her in their arms for the very first time.  And two months later - though doctors continued to gently but grimly warn that her chances of surviving, much less living any kind of normal life, were next to zero - Danae went home from the hospital, just as her mother had predicted.

Five years later, Danae was a petite but feisty young girl with glittering gray eyes and an unquenchable zest for life. She showed no signs, whatsoever, of any mental or physical impairment. Today, at age 21, she is everything a young woman can be and more. She is bright and feisty and making her way well in the world.

But that happy ending is far from the end of her story. One blistering afternoon in the summer of 1996 near her home in Irving, Texas, 5 year old  Danae was sitting in her mother's lap in the bleachers of a local ballpark where her brother, Dustin's, baseball team was practicing. As always, Danae was chattering nonstop with her mother and several other adults sitting nearby when she suddenly fell silent. Hugging her arms across her chest, Danae asked, "Do you smell that?" Smelling the air and detecting the approach of a thunderstorm, Diana replied, "Yes, it smells like rain." Danae closed her eyes and again asked, "Do you smell that?" Once again, her mother replied, "Yes, I think we're about to get wet; it smells like rain.

Still caught in the moment, Danae shook her head, patted her thin shoulders with her small hands and loudly announced, "No, it smells like him. It smells like God when you lay your head on his chest."  Tears blurred Diana's eyes as Danae then happily hopped down to play with the other children. Before the rains came, in that moment her daughter's words confirmed what Diana and all the members of the extended family had known, at least in their hearts, all along. During those long days and nights of her first two months of her life, when her nerves were too sensitive for them to touch her, God was holding Danae on his chest and it is his loving scent that she remembers so well.

There is joy in knowing God no matter what the circumstances. How wonderful is God's healing!  But, it is still more wonderful when healing is no longer the vital issue.  The really important issue is this matter of our having taken in "the fellowship with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ."  It is in trusting in the love of God as he is concerned with every slightest detail in our lives. It is in trusting God and doing as he wishes that brings us much more than happiness..... it brings us lasting joy

 The difference between happiness and joy is:

Happiness is a feeling that comes out of circumstances around us that are momentary, and from circumstances over which we often have no control.  Outside influences can change our happy feelings to unhappy or depressed, or anger or bitterness all too easily.

But Joy is an attribute of God's presence within us that we can come to experience continuously once we accept God and choose to follow his wishes.  Joy comes despite circumstances. Joy transcends circumstances and fills us with the peace of knowing that we are truly loved by God.

With Joy we can see the sunrise and know God's awesome beauty. With Joy we can see the stars and moon at night and realize that even though each of us is a tiny speck on this tiny earth, God is present within us always. With Joy we can become true and lasting friends with someone, and share a friendship that will be there despite all kinds of troubles. With Joy we can find a 50th wedding anniversary to be more wonderful than the day of the wedding.  With Joy we can hold a baby and see God in her giggles and bright efforts to learn.

Yielding to God gives us Joy despite circumstances. Yielding to God gives us the power to overcome all circumstances and find lasting peace.

"Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be made complete."

Amen

Birth Control Issues and the United Methodist Church

Religious liberty, the church and the pill

A UMNS Report
By Heather Hahn*

4:30 P.M. ET June 4, 2012

The debate over birth-control insurance coverage has traveled from the presidential campaign trail to the church pews. And now it’s heading to the courts. The Obama administration mandate that employers provide workers with contraception coverage is not a United Methodist issue per se. But church members often speak up when issues of religious liberty enter the national conversation.

For many, the debate boils down to this: Does the mandate violate religious freedom, or is it expanding access to an important aspect of women’s health care? Not surprisingly, individual United Methodists answer that question in varied ways.

The U.S. Constitution “guarantees religious expression in all aspects of life, so it’s broad enough to encompass religious institutions and religious-sponsored institutions in the exercise of their religious beliefs,” said the Rev. Keith Boyette, founding pastor of Wilderness Community Church in Spotsylvania County, Va. He is an attorney and the chairperson of the board of Good News, an unofficial evangelical caucus in the denomination. Boyette is also a former member of the United Methodist Judicial Council, the denomination’s equivalent of the Supreme Court. Boyette and some other United Methodists said they think the plaintiffs — including 43 Catholic groups in the U.S. — have a good case that the federal government is infringing on their First Amendment rights. 

Still, others in the denomination disagree. 

“I don’t think that this is a religious liberty issue at all,” said the Rev. Cheryl B. Anderson, a former practicing attorney, a United Methodist elder and an Old Testament professor at United Methodist-related Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Ill. Her research has focused on women and biblical laws.

“The government is not requiring that all women use contraception,” she said. “The provision simply means that, under the circumstances specified, if a woman does use contraception, the expense will be covered by an insurance company.... It seems to me that, by filing lawsuits, these conservative denominations are attempting to impose restrictions on the use of contraception by any and all women.”

How the dispute reached this point

The Obama administration announced in January 2012 that most health insurance plans must cover contraceptives for women free as part of preventive care. The mandate, part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, covers birth-control drugs and procedures approved by the Food and Drug Administration including emergency contraception, which some Americans view as inducing abortions.

The rule, from the beginning, has exempted religious employers such as houses of worship but not religiously affiliated employers that do not primarily employ or serve people who share their religious tenets, which includes educational institutions and hospitals. After a public outcry, President Obama announced in February what he termed an “accommodation” for religiously affiliated employers with moral objections to artificial contraception. For such employers, he said, the insurers would cover the costs rather than the employers themselves. 

Within hours, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops rejected the revised rule. Weeks later, Sandra Fluke — a United Methodist and third-year law student at Georgetown University, a Jesuit institution — caused a stir when she testified in support of the compromise, focusing on the medical uses of contraception beyond pregnancy prevention. 

At least 55 individual plaintiffs have filed 23 suits in U.S. federal court to block the Obama administration action. Roman Catholic and evangelical Protestant organizations are among the litigants. Those suing on religious-liberty grounds include seven states, religiously affiliated hospitals, universities, schools, businesses and 13 of the 195 Catholic dioceses in the United States. 

The suits could prove moot if the U.S. Supreme overturns in entirety the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The high court’s ruling in that case is expected this month. For now, the new federal regulation is scheduled to take effect in August 2013 for most religiously affiliated employers.

Birth control and theology

The Roman Catholic Church and The United Methodist Church have different views of where birth control fits in God’s plan.

Catholic teaching, reaffirmed by Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae, rejects artificial contraception as an obstruction to the divinely willed life-giving power of marital relations. In short, the church teaches that a couple’s intimacy should always carry the potential for procreation unless God’s design prevents that possibility, such as a wife no longer being of childbearing years. Because of this emphasis on natural law, the Catholic Church has moral objections not just to the use of birth-control pills and sterilization procedures but also to in vitro fertilization.

The Social Principles of the United Methodist Book of Discipline, the denomination’s law book, discuss family planning in the context of “The Right to Health Care.” It affirms “the right of men and women to have access to comprehensive reproductive health/family planning information and services that will serve as a means to prevent unplanned pregnancies, reduce abortions, and prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.” The passage cites John 10:10b, which quotes Jesus: “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

The United Methodist Church diverges from Roman Catholic thinking in “the importance it gives to individual conscience as well as its recognition of the complexities involved,” said the Rev. Gary B. MacDonald, the director of Advanced Ministerial Studies at Southern Methodist University’s Perkins School of Theology in Dallas. He leads workshops on the Social Principles. He also is completing a doctoral dissertation on the church’s social function.

“The Principles’ view of sexuality as a gift is also at work here,” he said. “It seems to leave open an understanding of the sexual act as related to human fulfillment and dignity, putting such values on par with procreation.” 

Another Social Principle specifically prohibits using abortion as a means of contraception or gender selection.

As a practical matter, this means United Methodist-affiliated clinics and hospitals around the globe offer contraception to patients and most United Methodist institutions provide insurance for artificial birth control. Linda Bales Todd, director for the Louise and Hugh Moore Population Project for the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, said the denomination’s stance also affects advocacy work by her agency and annual (regional) conferences. 

“Because we have a position that advocates strongly and, historically, family planning, we are able to take grant money to advocate on Capitol Hill (on this issue),” she said. 

Birth control and ethics

 

Even if they personally support the use of contraception, some United Methodists still view the adjusted mandate as too intrusive on faith. Boyette, the Virginia pastor, said the regulation would set a troubling precedent that might one day lead to government interference in United Methodist teaching. He said he sees Obama’s proposed compromise “as a shell game.” Insurance companies, he said, likely will raise their premiums for the institutions to cover employees’ birth-control costs. 

“It’s not materially different from saying this religious institution itself should provide the benefit directly,” he said. Boyette pointed out that the new rule also does not address the many religiously affiliated institutions that self-insure — that is, provide health insurance directly to employees and pay the health care claims of their workers. 

What The United Methodist Church teaches:

• The Social Principle on health care and family planning
• The Social Principle on church and state relations
• A resolution “Maternal Health: The Church’s Response” approved at the 2012 General Conference for the United Methodist Book of Resolutions

Administration officials told the New York Times in March that final rules for “self-insured employers” would be issued after the November elections. 

Jim Winkler, the top executive of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, and others contend the health benefits of birth control should outweigh consideration of objections of religious leaders.

The nonpartisan U.S. Institute of Medicine recommended the new federal mandate in July 2011 after multiple studies showing that unplanned pregnancies are more likely to lead to low-birth-weight babies, higher mortality rates for children under 5 and more maternal death.

Winkler also pointed to studies, such as a 2009 report by the nonprofit Guttmacher Institute and the United Nations Population Fund, which found contraception use reduces abortions. 

When religious groups reject contraception in their related institutions, they “in essence, neglect the protection of women and children’s health,” Winkler said, “and this results in unnecessary death and illness.

“Every 90 seconds, a woman dies of birth-related complications,” he added, citing the United Nations Foundation. 

The legal arguments

Michael J. Perry, Robert W. Woodruff professor of law at United Methodist-affiliated Emory University in Atlanta, said he thinks the plaintiffs will face a tough legal battle. Perry specializes in U.S. constitutional law and the role of religiously based morality in the law. Oral contraception should not be confused with abortion, says a United Methodist physician.

Much will depend on how courts interpret the 1993 federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, Perry said. The act says religious institutions can challenge federal laws that would put a “substantial burden” on their ability to exercise a religious belief. He said he thinks the Obama administration’s accommodation for religiously affiliated employers would make it hard for institutions to argue that their religious beliefs are being impeded since they will not be paying for it directly. 

Courts also would face the question of whether providing more access to birth-control coverage is a compelling government interest, and, if it is, whether it can be accomplished in a way less intrusive on faith. However, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a nonprofit firm representing at least four of the plaintiffs in the lawsuits, argues that its case is persuasive.

“The question is: Who is being coerced in this situation?” said Emily Hardman, an attorney and communications director with the Becket Fund. “And, the only entity being coerced to violate its conscience is the religious entity. A woman working at those institutions is free to get birth control. No one is blocking anyone’s access to birth control. All we’re saying is we’re not going to pay for it.”

*Hahn is a multimedia news reporter for United Methodist News Service.

News media contact: Heather Hahn, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 and newsdesk@umcom.org

Jubilee

Leviticus 25: 8-12

Romans 5 6-11

 Matthew 26: 26-28

Jubilee

What would you get if you crossed Civil War Generals Jubal Early and Robert E. Lee? "Jubilee", of course.  This weekend England—the British Empire—is celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.  She has been monarch for 60 years.  Now traditionally, a Golden Jubilee celebrates 50 years of something, like a wedding anniversary, and a Diamond Jubilee celebrates 75 years of something, but for kings and queens an exception is made, so 60 years is the diamond celebration. That became official in 1897, the 60^th year of Queen Victoria’s reign, when it was decided by the powers that be in England that they needed a celebration. Things had not been going well for awhile there, so to bring about unity they celebrated her 60^th anniversary as Queen as the Diamond Jubilee.

Jubilee has since become a time of celebration, and we are tempted to think that Jubilee is a trip down memory lane; that Jubilee means looking backward and patting ourselves on our back for what we have done. For example, it is wonderful to celebrate 50 years of marriage.

But what is Jubilee all about anyway?  Well, it has biblical roots. We go back to the reading in Leviticus, chapter 25:

"Count off seven Sabbaths of years. Seven times seven years. So that the seven Sabbaths of years amount to a period of 49 years. Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land. Consecrate the 50th year and proclaim liberty throughout the land and to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you. Each one of you is to return to his family property and each to his own clan. The fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee for you. Do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines. For it is a Jubilee and it is to be holy for you. Eat only what is taken directly from the fields."

The Biblical concept of Jubilee has nothing to do with looking back, it has everything to do with looking forward to where God is leading.  Biblically, Jubilee was about starting over.

We, as a church, and as Christians, are trying to be biblical. God told the Israelites to mark off fifty years and to declare a Jubilee. He told them, when the 50th year rolls around, blow the trumpet, the ram’s horn called the Shofar, and do it on the Day of Atonement. Fifty years from then, hopefully, the temple would be built, and on the Day of Atonement, the great high priest on that one day out of the year would go into the Holy of Holies in the Temple and make sacrifice for the people, bringing them together once again with their Lord and Maker.  Jubilee would be a celebration of starting all over, with no baggage from the past.

Atonement means reconciliation, becoming one with God, being made whole with him. Jubilee and atonement or reconciliation mean starting over again. For us as Christians, every day is a day of atonement where through the once, for all, sufficient, perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ, you and I can come into the holy of holies and be restored, start all over whole once again in our relationship with God. For us as Christians, Communion Sundays are an extra special day of atonement, for it is on Sunday that we gather together as the body of Christ and confess our sin (as we will do here) and be assured of God's pardon and forgiveness and gracious love. Through Holy Communion we are made at one with Christ again.

There is no evidence in scripture or anywhere else, that the children of Israel ever kept the year of Jubilee! Why?

Jubilee was to consist of basically 3 things. Three things were to happen on that 50th year that would make year 51 radically different from year 49. The first thing was this:  Release-- release of all of the slaves and bond servants.  The second was Reversion. The land was to revert back to its original owners.  The third thing was that the land was to lay Fallow for a year. They were not to cultivate. They were only to eat what grew wild in the field.

Now do you understand why the Israelites balked at ever celebrating the year of Jubilee? Release all the slaves and servants?  How on earth would they be able to get the work done, and live as they had been living for 50 years?  Turn all your land back over to the families from whom you had purchased it with hard earned money? How stupid an idea. And then, not plant, not cultivate for a whole year?  Even more stupid.  After 50 years of living with slaves and servants on land you purchased, depending upon what you grew for your food and income, how could you possibly give it all up and trust God for a whole year to provide while knowing you have to start all over with nothing? 

When you have built your whole way of life on a system of your own doing, when you think you know who you are and what you are doing, especially when you think you are comfortable, secure, it is difficult—almost impossible—to think of the kind of commitment that Jubilee requires.  But it is exactly what Christ calls us to do—be willing to give up everything if needed to serve God. Commit to starting all over, trusting that God will provide all we need.

So this is a special day. It is Holy Communion Sunday, and Christ is calling us forward into a new life, into an exciting new future. God is calling us to Jubilee. To step out and do some radical things for Jesus Christ. And the big question before us this day is "Will we balk?" By God's grace, we will not balk, but we will move forward into Jubilee, to make a difference in this world for Jesus Christ.

This table is the table of Jubilee. This morning, as we come forward for communion, I want you to make that your radical act of Jubilee if you are a Christian - you are coming forward because you are giving your life to Christ, you are reverting your life back over to Him, you are releasing your life into His care, you are seeking renewal, but also I want you to come with these words in your heart, "Lord I come here to trust you with everything I am and everything I have. I come turning the deed of my life over to you as my radical act of Jubilee." And Christ has amazing plans in store for those who do.

Amen