Beyond Belief

Peace Through Music

2010-07-27T23:18:00.001-04:00

By Kirsten Browning

Dictionary.com says that peace is the normal lack of conflict between people or groups (nations); a state of mutual harmony; silence; tranquility. It also says that music is organized tones; an art form in time that expresses ideas and emotions through form, rhythm, melody, harmony and color.

The word “harmony” comes up in both definitions, so focusing on harmony might be most useful to understanding the concept of peace through music. The dictionary says that harmony is agreement and a consistent, orderly or pleasing arrangement.

Obviously, music can be produced with only one person; however, we often think more of groups of musicians. Playing in ensembles like duets, quartets, or orchestras allows us to be part of something that’s bigger than just you or me. Playing music together is what it’s all about. Musical training teaches you to listen – to yourself, to others playing with you, to how your part fits into the whole. If a musical group is playing together but they’re not listening, the piece is ruined.

In the group classes I teach, we play a game called the Ruining Game. I choose one person in secret who becomes the “ruiner,” doing something (playing a wrong note or rhythm) that doesn’t go with the way the piece is being performed. The rest of the class has to try to figure out who the person is that’s ruining our piece. It demonstrates to everyone present how important it is to be in agreement and to work together to play the piece.

A friend of mine is getting a communications degree and has been exploring how a working string quartet can illustrate relationships in business. Take the example of a group project in school or work where one person isn’t pulling their weight – I’m sure many of us have been in that frustrating circumstance. When that happens in a quartet, as you can imagine, there is a part missing. The piece cannot be performed without that one part. It sounds hollow. And if that person were to suddenly show up for the concert, he wouldn’t know how to fit into what the group had decided in terms of dynamics, or what melody needed to be brought out when. It just doesn’t work. Or how about the person who bosses everyone around and takes charge and talks over everyone – let him try to play a symphony by himself, or imagine the soprano in the choir whose voice always sticks out over the rest of the ensemble.

In learning an instrument and playing music with others we learn the abilities of relating to others’ feelings, understanding our role within the piece, and knowing when to back off and when to be heard so that everything is in its proper place. There is order, harmony, and yes, peace. If everybody had these abilities, we would know how to get to peace in the world. And these skills can and need to be taught to our children from the moment they are born.

Don't Rock the Boat?

2010-07-26T10:44:00.000-04:00

Check out lay leader Dan Browning's latest column in Decatur News Online about congregations taking a stand on issues of LGBTQ inclusion.

DHUMC Considers Next Steps in LGBTQ Outreach

2010-07-23T19:31:00.003-04:00

On July 14, 2010, DHUMC Pride coordinator Michael Vaughan and Beatitudes Society fellow Emily McNeill led a Wednesday evening program to share information about Reconciling Ministries Network, an organization of congregations, individuals and other church groups working for the full inclusion of LGBTQ persons in the United Methodist Church. Twenty-one people met in the Fellowship Hall to learn about RMN and discuss the possibility of Druid Hills affiliating with the organization.

Discussion about joining RMN is the latest initiative in Druid Hills’s ongoing outreach and ministry to the LGBTQ community. For the past 5 years, DHUMC has had a presence at the Atlanta Pride Festival and parade. In recent months, leaders of the church’s LGBTQ outreach have been considering how to expand and deepen this area of the church’s ministry. To affiliate with RMN, Druid Hills would need to adopt a “reconciling statement” that explicitly affirms and includes people of all sexual orientations and gender identities in the life and ministries of the church.

At the July 14 program, participants watched a video about RMN, which featured a diverse group of United Methodists explaining the process of joining the network and sharing their experiences of why publicly welcoming LGBTQ people is important to congregations and the denomination. The video also stressed the significance of the process congregations undertake to join. As the name of the organization suggests, reconciliation is fundamental to the education and discussions that would precede affiliation with RMN. Addressing congregants’ concerns and questions and building consensus and mutual understanding are vital throughout the process.

In the discussion following the video, members raised some initial reservations and questions about RMN. While everyone was supportive of welcoming LGBTQ people in the Druid Hills community, some people worried that RMN could be a divisive force in the denomination and might actually hurt efforts to change people’s hearts and minds. Others responded that Druid Hills needs to be more visible in welcoming people of different sexual orientations and gender identities and that Reconciling Ministries seems to be an effective way to do so. Some also see Reconciling Ministries as an opportunity to take a stand against discriminatory United Methodist policies.

While the group did not reach consensus about joining RMN, it did unanimously endorse continued discussion and education. “I believe that this process will be enlightening for us as a congregation, regardless of what actions we decide to take as a result of the conversations we'll have,” said lay leader Dan Browning.

Member Jean Ewing agreed. “I really appreciate the DHUMC prophets leading us in this process,” she said after the event. “It is so easy for me to continue accepting customs (like segregation) as they are, unless I am pushed to consider what should be.”

Over the next months, the LGBTQ outreach team will organize more opportunities to learn and reflect on the future of Druid Hills’ ministry and witness regarding the inclusion of LGBTQ people. Stay tuned – and feel free to contact Michael Vaughan and Dan Browning with questions, ideas and concerns. Email vaughanm10[at]gmail.com or danielabrowning[at]gmail.com.

For answers to frequently asked questions about RMN see www.rmnetwork.org. More information can also be found at www.rethinkinclusion.org.

ICM Food Pantry needs your donations!

2010-07-22T16:14:00.000-04:00

Laura Cushing stocks the food pantry

Since March, DHUMC has been hosting a food pantry through In-Town Collaborative Ministries. To date, the pantry has provided over 500 people with emergency food, as well as information and connections to other social services.

While the pantry always needs donations, the fourth Sunday of each month (this Sunday!) is when DHUMC has committed to collecting food (or money). As the pantry distributes food to more and more people, we need our donations to keep up with their growing impact. This week the pantry is out of cold cereal, powdered milk, canned fruits and vegetables, macaroni and cheese, peanut butter, granola & fruit bars, and juice. They are running low on canned chicken and crackers. Bring your donations with you to church or, better yet, drop them off during business hours Friday or before 10:30 am Saturday so they'll be available for Saturday's distribution. And while the food pantry is on your mind, take a moment to sign up to volunteer.

A Radical Librarian for Peace and Justice

2010-07-09T08:00:00.004-04:00

By Pat Ziebart

Our volunteer work is important but usually doesn’t approach the number of hours we spend at our day jobs. I’m convinced that Druid Hills UMC is a force for peace and justice in the Christian vocations (any vocation to which a Christian is called) of our members. So when Emily asked me to write my vocational story, I was happy to share. (I hope many of you will, also.)

For over twenty years, my work as an education director in the local church was to connect people to the liberating Word of the Gospel. I once heard a preacher describe Christianity as a bird with two wings: one representing the spiritual dimensions of faith and one the social dimensions of service. Both are needed for that bird to fly! (That’s certainly preaching to the choir to those of you reading this blog.)

What that meant to my ministry was that besides learning the stories of Jesus, our children also learned about the lives of kids on the other side of the world – and sent them some chickens or goats. Our youth not only talked about typical topics like dating and school, but also about consumerism and call –and went to Appalachia to fix up houses and meet folks who had much less stuff but very rich lives. Our adults got deeply into the Bible and also into Habitat for Humanity, homeless shelters, and food ministry. It was a privilege to be part of that dynamic experience of learning and serving.

Then my life changed radically, and I became a librarian. How could that be about peace and justice? For one thing I work in a theological library for students training to do all the things—and more—that I did in my first career. But no matter what kind of library I serve, to me librarianship is a peace and justice career. Why? Because ignorance (a sad lack of knowledge and understanding) breeds fear and hatred, while information and education usually enlarge not only mind, but heart and spirit as well.

Dorothy Vickers Shelley, the librarian in my kids' grade school, started each library visit by having the kids stand tall and recite a statement she wrote: Life is short, therefore I shall be a crusader in the fight against ignorance and fear, beginning with myself. And hearing those beautiful young voices from my little volunteer corner, I often felt compelled to say, “Amen.”

Responding to the Call

2010-07-06T09:55:00.006-04:00

By Cliff Richards

I am currently in my second career. I enjoyed a 15 year stint as a retail store manager of several clothing stores. I thoroughly enjoyed going to work every day. As someone who lives with Attention Deficit Disorder, working in a clothing store was exciting because you had to constantly shift from sales to merchandising to managing staff. It kept me on my toes. However, as I became more involved at Druid Hills UMC, my devotion to my retail job began to change. Selling sweaters to people who have a closet full of sweaters became less fulfilling for me.

Several years into my membership at the church, I was asked to serve on the Outreach Team. It was through that team, I became involved at Intown Community Assistance Center. It was there I started to see gifts start to emerge as I assisted clients who were looking for clothes, needing a sack lunch or advice about how to receive needed services. I saw myself connecting with the clients I served. I was intrigued by their daily challenges of food, clothing and shelter, something I often take for granted. I also saw myself becoming more impressed with the director of the center, Judy Powell. I would watch her enormous heart at work in serving our neighbors in need.

However, I would have to say the most powerful influence moving me toward my second career would have to be my first Gifts and Talents Retreat I attended at Camp Glisson almost 15 years ago. The retreat gives the participants the opportunity to share stories of life experiences that guide you to identify God given gifts and talents. One of the exercises allows you to articulate heroes and mentors that have had an impact on your life. It is through the qualities and attributes of those heroes and mentors that you begin to see qualities growing in you. At the end of the weekend your small group helps you identify several gifts. My gifts were helping, hospitality and exhortation.

So after a 15 year profession in retail, it was time to find a fulfilling career that could use my newly discovered gifts. This required a return to school to get a degree in Sociology and Psychology to better prepare me for a new position as a social worker. In late 2001, I was introduced to the executive director of Decatur Cooperative Ministry by someone at Druid Hills UMC. I have been with DCM for over eight years now excited to go to work, everyday. I am using my gifts of helping, hospitality and exhortation to prevent homelessness in metro Atlanta. I am very grateful to my church family for guiding me, supporting me and encouraging me to live a life of integrity and fulfillment as I live out my calling to serve our neighbors in need.

Community of Hospitality

2010-07-02T08:00:00.006-04:00

By Brad Schweers

My main peacemaking and social justice work these days is through the Community of Hospitality (COH). The COH is an intentional-living community, with shared values of spirituality, simple living, and social change. I lived in the house as a full-time volunteer from 1997-2000 while working for Café 458, a non-profit restaurant for homeless people on Edgewood here in Atlanta. I served as a case manager for homeless guests at Café 458 and have stayed connected with the COH group, worshipping with the interfaith Worship Circle weekly. I now have the pleasure to serve as Chair of the Board for the organization, which is a 501-c-3 non-profit.

As I have continued to volunteer with the COH, one of the roles I have been passionate about is supporting the community of young adult volunteers who come to the COH for 1-2 years of voluntary service. We have had volunteers ranging in age from 18-75 and from all over the US as well as Japan, Germany, and the Netherlands. Living in community was and is hard work, but so rewarding. It’s a change to live simply, to live in a place that matches the values I believe in, like relationships, responsible and sustainable practices like gardening and composting, and a balance of work, play, rest, and contemplation. I learned that peacemaking starts with the people who are around you, your community. When you live with people, you have to learn loving ways to support, listen to, and, when needed, confront people. All in a spirit of love. Hard work, but so rewarding! And these are the skills that transfer into larger peacemaking in the world.

The COH has recently formed a partnership with the Friends of L’Arche Atlanta. L’Arche, for those not familiar, is an international organization founded in 1964 in France by a man named Jean Vanier. Henri Nouwen, the great spiritual writer and professor, famously lived the last decade of his life in a L’Arche house in Toronto. L’Arche houses are places where people with intellectual disabilities—“core members” as they are called—live together with “assistants,” those who do not have intellectual disabilities. The idea is simple—bring those who are so often on the periphery of society into the very center. Of course this counter-cultural upside-down value (those at the margins are to be in the center) is straight out of the New Testament. Jesus the Savior came not as a warrior king, but through an unwanted pregnancy to an unmarried teenager. The Kingdom (Reign) of God was most alive, not in the rich, the powerful, the educated, and the upright, but in the outcasts, the poor and the women, the cheaters and prostitutes, the Samaritans and lepers and the demon-possessed.

The Community of Hospitality has always been about life in community with those on the margins, and now L’Arche will begin open their first house in Atlanta at the COH house. We are all excited about this merger, a merger that continues to have a foundation in radical hospitality and to live out the upside-down values of Jesus.

Our Ministries

2010-06-29T08:00:00.002-04:00

Ministry in our community is taking place inside and outside the church - through people's jobs, volunteer work, artistic pursuits, relationships, families, etc. Over the next few weeks, we'll be publishing reflections from people at Druid Hills about their ministries - however they define them. We want to acknowledge, learn from and support the various ways that our community embodies its faith. Look for new posts every Tuesday and Friday, and send an email if you'd like to contribute!

Here's an initial post from Beatitudes Society fellow Emily McNeill:

Back at Union Theological Seminary, where I just finished the first year of my M.Div., I’ve been involved with the Poverty Initiative, a 7-year-old organization dedicated to building a movement to end poverty. That founding mission, which takes inspiration from Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Poor People’s Campaign, is a bold, audacious vision. The folks at the Poverty Initiative are certainly idealists, but they’re also seasoned organizers who are committed to this work for the long haul. Already in my few months working with them, I’ve witnessed the transformative impact that their coalition building and leadership development have had on people from poor communities around the country.

Willie Baptist, a veteran homeless organizer and the PI’s scholar-in-residence, constantly drives home the importance of developing leaders, not primarily among outsiders who want to help poor people, but within poor and marginalized communities. Through PI’s Poverty Scholar program, hundreds of low-income community organizers from urban and rural areas around the country have gathered to build relationships and learn from one another’s struggles. This network understands the interconnectedness of the issues facing their different communities, and they support one another. This May Day, when United Workers staged a major action to draw attention to worker abuses on Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, fellow Poverty Scholars from the Poverty Initiative and Domestic Workers United of New York City, the Media Mobilizing Project and the Philadelphia Interpreters Collective of Philadelphia, and an anti-mountaintop removal activist from West Virginia were all in attendance.

When the Poverty Initiative hosted Strategic Dialogues this past spring about media and religious strategy, I saw even more clearly the importance of these relationships. Not only was the weekend about sharing best practices and planning next steps, it was for so many people a time of spiritual and emotional rejuvenation. The Poverty Initiative, though it’s housed in a seminary and has a number of seminarians and clergy on staff, is not explicitly religious. Throughout the weekend, though, it was clear that for the religious and non-religious participants alike, that gathering was a spiritual community. We were immersed in conversations about the things we valued most and about our visions for how we could create more just and loving communities. Perhaps most importantly, this community shared in each other’s victories and bore one another’s sorrows and fears.

My most meaningful experience that weekend was helping to lead a worship service on Sunday morning. At the end, people shared both requests for support and commitments to support each other. People committed to pray for one another, to share stories, to take phone calls, and to support actions. Many people returned home to deal with intractable problems of foreclosure, wage theft, youth violence, and environmental degradation, but they returned reminded that they are part of a group larger than themselves and have a support system that extends across a nation.

Peace with Justice Sunday, June 13

2010-06-18T12:42:00.005-04:00

Sermon by Bradley Schweers

II Samuel 11:26-12:10, 13-15

I am honored to be a part of this service today at Druid Hills. Some people might not know, but it’s not uncommon for preachers to be “protective” of their pulpits, never allowing others to preach in “their” church. Sad but true. But not here. So thanks, Rex.

Today is Peace with Justice worship, a time to reflect on our work and God’s work in the world towards wholeness, peace, and justice. Peace with Justice to me means relationships, right relationships—between all of us in this sanctuary, this city, this country, and this unlikely and fragile spinning ball we all have to live on together. Relationships between us and our sisters and brothers, between us and our Creation. And between us and ourselves. It’s easy to think that peace and justice is out there, with others. People of all stripes—the Libertarians and the Communists—will talk about peace, talk about justice. But it’s all too often out there. There are good people who do good things, and bad people who do bad things. The polarization of our politics today is a sad testimony to our entrenched attitudes towards all who are Other. We and our people are pure—those over there are.

Which brings us to today’s Old Testament lesson. The message from II Samuel is part of an amazing story, a story unlike any other in the entire Bible.

This is the story of David. Our David, the King, the Anointed one. Christians’ and Jews’ and Muslims’ David. David the embarrassingly ecstatic Lover who danced before God with all of his might. David is Coltrane and James Brown, the artist and mediator—like all artists are: mediators—between the divine realm and us, soaring, taking us high and bringing heaven down to the rest of us. David, king of all kings, the father of the Messiah, the Son of God. Our pure, holy, sacred David.

Just Listen to David, the holy and anointed artist, the shaman, and hear him confess with his Psalm my sins to God, praying for the salvation I cannot bring to myself:

“Create in me a clean heart, Oh God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free Spirit.” (Psalm 51)

Hear David weep for you in your despair, in your dark places with no hope:

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?” (Psalm 22)

And let David sing for us, to the God we want to know, we try to believe in, we long to be loved by:

O LORD, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away… You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me…. Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast. (Psalm 139)

Oh yes, this is David, God’s gift to God’s people.

But this is not the David of our passage. Elsewhere David is the hero, the archetype of the underdog, the shepherd-musician who slays Goliath . But not here. When King Saul’s jealousy threatened the Israelites, David stepped up as protector of the weak and the debtors. But not here.

No here is a very different David. Here David is cold and ruthless, scheming and calculating. He’s an adulterer, a murderer, likely even a rapist. Turns out, like all of us, there are many sides to David, and not all of them noble.

Let’s look at the context for our story, as told in II Samuel chapters 10-12. David is the King of Israel and Judah, a hero, righteous. A new king comes to lead the Ammonites, and David has every intention of dealing “kindly,” as we are told, with them. But war breaks out and the Ammonites flee, finally to be defeated in chapter 12. It is in the context of this battle that our story is told.

II Samuel 11 begins: ” In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel with him.” So it’s the time of year when kings go to battle, but King David doesn’t go. He sends his top general, Joab, to deal with the Ammonites. David is napping in the afternoon on his penthouse balcony overlooking the city. He sees the figure of a beautiful woman. He can’t see her face, but he is captivated. He’s got 5 wives already, but man, just look at her. He asks his men who this woman is and is told she is Bathsheba, wife of one of his most loyal soldiers Uriah the Hittite. Now David the military commander acts swiftly. Verse 4-5 read: “ So David sent messengers to get her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she was purifying herself after her period.) Then she returned to her house. The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, "I’m pregnant."

So David freaks out. Even for Kings, the penalty for adultery is death. So he schemes. Bathsheba was menstruating while her husband Uriah was fighting in the battle outside of Jerusalem. So there’s no way that Uriah could have gotten his wife pregnant before he left for battle. The troops are out in the field and won’t be coming back to town for some time, so David needs to get Uriah back, have him sleep with his wife, the kid will be born, everyone will be happy for the new parents, Bathsheba’s girlfriends will squeal and throw her a shower, they’ll get a car seats and diapers, and no one will suspect a thing.

So David sends for Uriah and tells him, “Uriah, buddy. How’s the war going? Look, Joab tells me you’ve been kicking some serious Ammonite butt out there. Now why don’t you go spend some time with your cute wife, kick back a little. You can head back to the fighting tomorrow.” Uriah, the loyal soldier, will have none of it. His men are in battle and he wouldn’t think of enjoying pleasure with his wife while they are in tents preparing for more combat. He won’t go to Bathsheba. The next day, David finds that he hasn’t gone, and again, insists. Uriah refuses and David gets him drunk—even a loyal soldier will start longing for his wife after a few Budweisers. But Uriah still will not abandon his troops. Uriah’s loyalty, in the end, is his downfall.

Now things begin to spiral out of control. David is desperate. Uriah must be taken out of the picture. David sends word to his general Joab to order Uriah to the front lines, then pull back to abandon him and make sure that he dies. The plan works. Uriah is cut down in battle—no matter that some other loyal servants of David’s die also—“Collateral Damage.” David hears word of this and knows now that he can take Bathsheba and her unborn child—which everyone will assume is Uriah’s—as his wife, and no one will be the wiser. When Bathsheba mourns the prescribed seven days, David sends for her, she becomes his wife, and they have a child. But, as our Scripture lesson today tells us, “the thing that David had done displeased the LORD. “Displeased” doesn’t actually quite capture it—a better translation would be evil—David, the anointed King, has done evil in the sight of God.

In comes Nathan. At great risk to himself—he wouldn’t be the first prophet to end up in the graveyard—Nathan entraps David with a simple story and riles up the righteous indignation of the King. How could someone with everything take the one precious thing from a poor man?

Will Willimon asserts that Nathan’s rebuke of David reveals a “collision of narratives.” David has created his narrative—royalty is his, as are power, riches, the favor of God, and vast military might. But the narrative of God is one of covenant and gift. Nathan speaks for God, saying to David: “I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul; I gave you your master's house, and your master's wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more. “ Can’t you hear a father’s cry? I loved you so much, gave you everything—and would have given you even more—why? why have you done this?! To his credit, David realizes what he has done and makes no excuses: "I have sinned against the LORD." Whether it was Nathan’s story or the reminder of all the gifts he had been given by God, David repents and is changed. David and Bathsheba’s first son dies--a troubling, troubling part of our story. And yet, from Bathsheba and David comes Solomon, the Temple-builder, just king, and wise ruler over God’s people.

In the end, David’s self-narrative returns to the covenantal narrative of God. God’s covenant with David remains, but it is tainted—the sword will always be over the house and family of David. We can see this in Palestine and Israel today, in the waters off of Gaza and in fundamentalism in all of its forms. Yet, somehow, from David the humbled one of God, comes the redemptive work of God.

It is striking how laid bare the sin of David is in our passage today. It’s an uncomfortable passage. The books of Chronicles take the easy way out and simply skip over this story in the account of David. But in II Samuel, there is not attempt to explain David’s misconduct, no sympathetic recounting of the events. Was it lust? Secret Love? An assertion of male power? A mid-life crisis—David was, after all, getting old? Interpreters speculate, but there is no speculation in the text. The text is short and direct: “the thing that David did was evil in the sight of God.” Nathan is also terse: “You are the man!” and David’s confession is equally concise and unequivocal: “I have sinned against the LORD."

Ted Smith, former preaching professor at Candler and now at Vanderbilt, comments on the raw presentation of our story today:

Acknowledging the sin of David threatens a whole worldview. It shatters a vision in which saints and sinners can be neatly divided, a vision in which God works through the good actions of good people to establish peace and justice. If David sinned, then the world is not like we thought it was.

That is exactly what this story does. We all develop stories, visions, narratives of how things in this world work. I was at Centennial Park recently, watching scores of kids laugh and play in the fountain. Have you seen the fountain, where hundreds of water jets are set into the ground along the shape of the rings, and the water spurts into the air, high and low, in complicated patterns and sequences. And I saw this one boy Command these two jets in front of him to rise—like The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. He would command—and the water would come. He would command again, and nothing. But he kept commanding and commanding and eventually, sure enough, the jets obeyed him as Commander of the Water.

We all have narratives of the way this world works. We have a view that good people do good things and bad people do bad things. Just people bring justice, evil people bring evil. We might not think quite so dramatically, but we construct a vision for this world works and then we act according to that construction. I do at least.

I think Ted Smith is right that this full and troublesome story of David has great potential to open us up, to refocus our eyes and lives, to open us up to the ways that God is working in the world in the most unexpected places. Smith writes,

Preaching that tells this story in all its fullness will push us beyond the polarities that often order our thinking. It will remember David as murderer, adulterer, and predatory king as well as hero, beloved of God, and singer of psalms. It will break up the stories we tend to tell about others and ourselves, stories in which we are either good enough – not perfect, but good enough – that we have no real need of grace, or so bad that we are beyond the scope of grace. Remembering David's sin can also push us beyond the poles of cynicism and naivete in our political and institutional lives. The politics of David's court are brutal. But – often in spite of themselves, and almost always in ways the actors do not fully understand – these power politics are caught up in God's redeeming work.

There is a time to speak Truth to Power, a time to be Nathan. When our churches and denominations discriminate against people who are gay, we need to speak truth to power. When there is sex trafficking rampant in Atlanta, we need to speak truth to power. When our government spends $200,000 a MINUTE on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and yet we cut grants to poor college-bound kids, we need to speak truth to power.

But I think the story in II Samuel has something to teach us about ourselves and those around us. That is, there’s a time to acknowledge the David in all of us.

Ugandan Bishop Brings Call for Equality to U.S.

2010-06-16T11:52:00.001-04:00

Anglican Bishop Christopher Senyonjo, a longtime supporter of Uganda's LGBTQ community, has been an outspoken opponent of a Ugandan bill that would impose life imprisonment and in some cases the death penalty on lesbians and gays. He was recently in the United States and spoke at an event with America's first openly gay Anglican bishop, Gene Robinson. Read about their conversation here, or watch the video.

21 Myths About Immigration

2010-06-16T10:40:00.001-04:00

Teresa Circle, one of Druid Hills's United Methodist Women groups, met last night to discuss Aviva Chomsky's book "They Take Our Jobs!": and 20 Other Myths about Immigration.

Chomsky's book challenges the following ideas:

Myth 1: Immigrants take American jobs.

Myth 2: Immigrants compete with low-skilled workers and drive down wages.

Myth 3: Unions oppose immigration because it harms the working class.

Myth 4: Immigrants don’t pay taxes.

Myth 5: Immigrants are a drain on the economy.

Myth 6: Immigrants send most of what they earn out of the country in the form of remittances.

Myth 7: The rules apply to everyone, so new immigrants need to follow them just as immigrants in the past did.

Myth 8: The country is being overrun by illegal immigrants.

Myth 9: The United States has a generous refugee policy.

Myth 10: The United States is a melting pot that has always welcomed immigrants from all over the world.

Myth 11: Since we are all the descendants of immigrants here, we all start on equal footing.

Myth 12: Today’s immigrants threaten the national culture because they are not assimilating.

Myth 13: Today’s immigrants are not learning English, and bilingual education just adds to the problem.

Myth 14: Immigrants only come here because they want to enjoy our higher standard of living.

Myth 15: The American public opposes immigration, and the debate in Congress reflects that.

Myth 16: The overwhelming victory of Proposition 187 in California shows that the public opposes immigration.

Myth 17: Immigration is a problem.

Myth 18: Countries need to control who goes in and out.

Myth 19: We need to protect our borders to prevent criminals and terrorists from entering the country.

Myth 20: If people break our laws by immigrating illegally, they are criminals and should be deported.

Myth 21: The problems this book raises are so huge that there’s nothing we can do about them.

Joining the Discussion

2010-06-14T15:50:00.002-04:00

Beyond Belief is about encouraging conversation, challenging and supporting one another. The content comes from you!

Here are ideas for what you can contribute (email posts to druidhillsjustice[at]gmail.com):

Reflections - What does the church mean to you? What is your idea of justice? What are you struggling with in your ministry and work? How does your spirituality feed you? What questions do you have or what insights can you share with your community about working for peace and justice?

Issues - What issue is speaking to you right now? What do you think about it? What is the latest news and where can we find helpful resources? What are your questions? How are you involved or how would you like to be? Where do you see the church at work?

Conversations - What do you want your church community talking about? Throw out a question or discussion topic - about this church, about local issues/events, about theology/ministry, whatever is on your heart and mind!

Posts can be anywhere from 200-1000 words (roughly). And please comment on posts to keep the discussions going!

'Rethink Church'

2010-06-11T16:45:00.000-04:00

"What if church was a verb?" asks a new marketing campaign from the United Methodist Church. The premise of the campaign, "Rethink Church," is the acknowledgment that our churches are called to be more than a Sunday gathering place - no matter how traditional or edgy our liturgy. Theologians have long identified the church as the Body of Christ in the world, a vessel of God's continuing activity, redemption and grace. "Church is a verb - requiring transformative, collective action," declares the UMC material. As a denomination, the United Methodist Church is asking what that means for us today. As a congregation, Druid Hills United Methodist is exploring similar questions.

We are a people both seeking God's presence and seeking to reflect that presence in our lives. We are humble in the face of God's mystery, but bold in following God's call for us. There is a tension here that we try to navigate in community. We know we can neither discern nor embody faithful living on our own.

This blog is an attempt at facilitating community, in particular among people connected to Druid Hills United Methodist Church. As this congregation seeks to deepen and expand its ministries, we recognize that we need the insights, gifts and support of one another. This will be a place for people to share stories and resources, struggles and successes, as we ask the question, what does it mean to be the church? How do we work for justice toward the fulfillment of God's kingdom (or, as liberation theologians prefer, commonwealth) on earth?