NOTE: This is a digest of news features provided by United Methodist Communications for Nov. 24-26. It includes summaries of United Methodist News Service stories and additional briefs from around the United Methodist connection. Full versions of the stories with photographs and related features can be found at umc.org/news.
Top Stories
Photo by Sam Hodges, UMNS
Bishop Elaine Stanovsky speaks about Sand Creek Massacre at the Rocky Mountain Annual Conference in Pueblo in June while holding a rock from Act of Repentance from the 2012 United Methodist General Conference.
United Methodists to observe Sand Creek 150th by Linda Bloom, NEW YORK (UMNS)) — When United Methodists join with Native Americans and others in Colorado this weekend to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Sand Creek Massacre, their participation will mark another step in a denominational process of “setting the historical record straight.”
The historical record includes the fact that Col. John Chivington, a Methodist clergyman, ordered the cavalry charge on Nov. 29, 1864, on an unsuspecting, peaceful village of Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians, slaughtering more than 160 Cheyenne and Arapaho women, children, and elderly men.
Since then, all most tribal descendants knew about Methodists “was they were responsible for this massacre,” said Mountain Sky Area Bishop Elaine Stanovsky, who has taken a leading role in trying to heal the church’s relationships with Native Americans.
The church’s efforts, which include adoption of “An Act of Repentance Toward Healing Relationships with Indigenous Peoples” by the 2012 United Methodist General Conference, the denomination’s top legislative body, give it “an opportunity to demonstrate we are life-affirming people,” Stanovsky said.
Many church members in the Mountain Sky Area, which includes the Rocky Mountain and Yellowstone conferences, will participate in Nov. 29-Dec. 3 events organized by the Sand Creek Massacre Commemoration Commission.
“There’s been, I think, an unprecedented focus throughout the metropolitan Denver area and really across the state on this piece of history,” said Stanovsky, who is a part of the commission.
Some of the focus has come from the United Methodist-related University of Denver, founded by Colorado Governor John Evans just two weeks before the massacre. The university has sponsored a number of educational events about Sand Creek as part of its anniversary observances, the bishop added.
The University of Denver also recently released a report about the involvement of Evans in the massacre, which finds the former superintendent of Indian affairs “culpable for the Sand Creek Massacre.”
Starting with ‘prayerful preparation’
The 150th anniversary events Nov. 29 in Eads, Colorado, and at the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site, 160 miles southeast of Denver, include:
Prayerful Preparation for Opening Ceremonies at 9 a.m., sponsored by the Rocky Mountain Conference, Eads United Methodist Church.
Departure by bus from Eads to Sand Creek Massacre Site, noon.
Opening Ceremonies for the 150th Commemoration, 1 p.m.
The National Parks Service, which maintains the massacre site, is providing educational resources for the Saturday morning service and has scheduled two viewings of a new Sand Creek documentary at an Eads movie theater that day.
All congregations in the Mountain Sky Area are encouraged to remember this tragic event during worship Nov. 30 with 150 seconds of silence and other liturgical acts, including Holy Communion. The Rev. Michael Dent, of Trinity United Methodist Church in Denver, a congregation with direct ties to the Sand Creek Massacre, put together worship resources.
The Spiritual Healing Run & Walk for the commemoration begins at sunrise Nov. 30. Stanovsky, her husband, Clint, their three sons and other family members will be among those who run or walk on any or all days of that event through Dec. 3. By mid-November, the Rocky Mountain Conference had raised $16,000 to support 32 Native American participants in the run/walk.
About 100 United Methodists are expected at the Eads service. The congregation has “pulled out all the stops this year” to support the run and enlist other congregations to help provide meals to participants, the bishop said.
Local churches are making 500 boxed lunches for runners and walkers over the four days of the run, and the United Methodist Church in Limon, which has supported the event for many years, will serve dinner on two nights.
June pilgrimage to Sand Creek
In June, the Rocky Mountain Conference turned its annual gathering into a two-day teach-in on the Sand Creek Massacre, ending with a caravan of 13 buses carrying some 650 conference members and guests, including descendants of the massacre’s survivors, three hours into eastern Colorado, to the historic site. It was the largest single day of visitation at the Sand Creek site since its 2007 dedication.
The Rev. Stephen J. Sidorak Jr., who helped lead the denominational work on the Act of Repentance, took part in the June pilgrimage and said that journey “set the stage for the events that would follow this November and educated or reminded people of the historical facts of Methodist involvement.”
Sidorak also joined the Rev. Alfred T. Day III and the Rev. Robert Williams – the current and former top executive, respectively, of the United Methodist Commission on Archives and History – at an Oct. 9 symposium on the Sand Creek Massacre at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington.
The commission has been supportive of the Act of Repentance and Day, who will be in Colorado on Nov. 29, said it was important for the agency “to be physically present and represented in continuing to work through the process of healing and reconciliation.”
One of the presenters at the Washington symposium was Gary L. Roberts, a historian who also is preparing a report about Sand Creek for The United Methodist Church. The Commission on Archives and History is funding that report.
The denomination must come to terms with the way Native Americans have been treated and with Sand Creek in particular, Sidorak said. “Gary’s research will reinforce and underscore that there was direct Methodist involvement in this atrocity,” he explained.
Bloom is a United Methodist News Service multimedia reporter based in New York. Follow her at http://twitter.com/umcscribe or contact her at (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org
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Churchgoers' offering accumulates to support the work of bishops and general agencies, among other global church efforts
.Bishops to get a 3 percent raise in 2015 by Heather Hahn
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) — Most United Methodist bishops will see a 3 percent salary boost next year, a higher raise than they’ve seen in five years.
“To put that in context, over the last several years, that (raise) has been in the range of 2 percent,” Charlie Moore told the board of the denomination’s finance agency, the General Council of Finance and Administration. Moore, a member of the Baltimore-Washington Conference, chairs the board’s committee on general agency and episcopal matters.
During the global financial crisis, U.S. bishops voted to forego a raise altogether in 2010 and roll back their pay to 2008 levels.
The General Council of Finance and Administration board on Friday, Nov. 21, approved the following salaries for 2015:
$145,665 for U.S. bishops
$71,565 for most bishops in Africa and the Philippines; two African bishops face reduced pay because of auditing issues.
Based on the recommendations of episcopacy committees in Europe, the GCFA board also approved an aggregate 3.7 percent raise in U.S. dollars for bishops in Europe and Eurasia. In 2015, the pay for these bishops will range from $64,688 to $127,960.
Different costs of living accounts for much of the variation, said Dana Joki, GCFA’s episcopal services manager. In Europe, some bishops’ pay is capped at a certain amount based on pastors’ salaries or other local rules.
Bishops also get housing allowances, but those amounts will be unchanged next year. Significant variation exists in what bishops receive, so the finance agency staff plans to do further study before recommending any changes.
GCFA approved the raises after commissioning a bishops’ compensation study earlier this year.
That study found U.S. bishops’ compensation was on average 4 percent lower than that of large church senior pastors. The study also recommended GCFA do further analysis of compensation in the central conferences — church regions in Africa, Asia and Europe — where salaries and living expenses vary dramatically.
GCFA staff also looked at market conditions and private industry trends. In a sign that U.S. economic conditions could be improving, Rick King, GCFA’s chief financial officer, said a number of business analysts are forecasting an average of 3 percent pay hikes in the U.S. secular work force in 2015. They include Mercer, Hay Group and Bloomberg.
United Methodist general agencies also have budgeted for 3 percent raises next year.
“We’re trying to be equitable in bishops’ pay,” said Valarie Willis, chair of the GCFA board’s Committee on Personnel, Policies and Practices. She is a lay member of the West Ohio Annual (regional) Conference and a leadership development consultant.
It’s still too soon to know what the average 2015 pay raises are for U.S. clergy, said Dale Jones, who oversees church relations for the United Methodist Board of Pension and Health Benefits.
Each year, the pension board publicizes a denominational average compensation to help calculate clergy retirement benefits. The number averages the salary and housing of full-time U.S. clergy in the pension board’s clergy benefit plans. By necessity of the budgeting process, the average is on a two-year lag, Jones said.
So, for example, the 2015 denominational average compensation is actually based on compensation in 2013, which averaged a 1.6 percent increase from 2012. Jones noted some churches are still finalizing staff pay for next year.
When the pension board makes long-term projections for pension benefits, the agency usually uses 3 percent compensation increases, which is in line with increases averaged over the last 15 to 20 years. But since the 2008 market crash, raises have been lower.
The Rev. Elijah Stansell, a GCFA board member and treasure of the Texas Conference, noted many areas of the United States are still recovering economically. But he supports the bishops’ pay increases.
“I think it’s an incentive, a way to encourage them to continue to be faithful to what they are assigned to do,” he said.
In other actions:
The GCFA board approved a total spending plan of about $226.7 million in 2015 for the work of nine general agencies and the Connectional Table. These church entities receive support from United Methodist giving. The Connectional Table, which coordinates the denomination’s ministry and resources, also approved the total spending plans earlier this month. Agency budgets also must receive approval by individual agency boards.
The GCFA board approved a spending plan of about $10.3 million for the work of the finance agency.
Hahn is a multimedia news reporter for United Methodist News Service. Contact her at (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
East Africa Area Bishop Daniel Wandabula
Bishops face penalties for auditing issues by Heather Hahn, NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS)
The board of The United Methodist Church’s finance agency is taking separate actions against two African bishops over financial and accounting issues.
In one instance, the General Council on Finance and Administration board decided Nov. 21 that the finance agency will withhold funds from East Angola Area Bishop José Quipungo’s episcopal office until he provides “a satisfactory episcopal office” audit.
The finance agency’s board also continues to sanction East Africa Area Bishop Daniel Wandabula, who faces longstanding questions for how his episcopal area has used more than $757,000 in church funds.
The board set Quipungo’s salary at $5,865.42 a month for the first quarter of 2015 — $100 less than what other African bishops will be paid. After the first quarter, his salary could be reduced to $1,000 a month if GCFA still does not have a complete accounting.
Quipungo’s accounting issues are not as extreme as Wandabula’s.
In 2012, the GCFA board took the unprecedented step of setting a lower salary for Wandabula until he provided a satisfactory accounting. Since then, the bishop’s salary has been $1,000 a month. On Nov. 21, the board set his 2015 pay at an amount equal to his monthly health plan and pension contributions, but did not give a dollar figure for that.
Additionally, GCFA will not pay Wandabula’s housing or office allowance. The agency will continue to reimburse his reasonable travel expenses.
The board’s earlier formal complaint against Wandabula remains unresolved.
Quipungo did not respond to emails from United Methodist News Service seeking comment. Wandabula also did not immediately respond to inquiries either. GCFA delayed announcing the decisions until the bishops were notified.
GCFA authority
General Conference, the denomination’s top policymaking body, requires bishops’ offices to submit to an audit each year based on approved International Standards on Auditing.
If a written report is not provided to GCFA by July 31 of the following year, the agency will “have the right to suspend funding to the episcopal area.”
The finance agency also has the power to modify amounts within the Episcopal Fund, which supports bishops within and beyond the United States.
This is the second time this year the GCFA board publicly urged a bishop to account for the use of church money. In May, it asked the West Angola Bishop Gaspar João Domingos to account for how his office spent $100,000 designated for theological education.
Since then, GCFA has announced that the bishop and the agency have made progress in resolving the issue. The board expects work on the Bishop Emilio DeCarvalho Theological Center — the funds’ intended use — to be completed by the end of March next year.
Bishop Wandabula’s situation
The Wandabula case is different.
The GCFA board took action against Wandabula after three unfavorable audits of his East Africa Conference office’s use of funds.
"The financial procedures, record keeping, and internal controls as practiced by the East Africa Annual Conference Office were found to be lacking in virtually every area,” said the last audit by the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries. It was conducted in June 2012.
In August 2012, Global Ministries — the denomination’s missions agency — suspended funding through the Advance, the denomination's designated-giving program, to the East Africa Conference.
A month later, the GCFA board followed that up by advising all United Methodist bodies to withhold funds from the East Africa Conference office until the resolution of the auditing issues and said it was filing a formal complaint against Wandabula. It then took the step of lowering his salary.
Wandabula in an October 2012 email blamed the actions of the denomination's mission and finance agencies on a campaign “of malice, mudslinging, character lynching and insurrection.” He contended the agencies were siding with a blackmail attempt by an anonymous emailer who used the name "Journey Jonah."
In August 2013, the GCFA board listed steps for resolving the audit issues in East Africa. Those steps included Wandabula repaying unaccounted for money and his resignation as bishop.
Separately, the Western Pennsylvania Conference had asked for several rulings from the United Methodist Judicial Council, the denomination’s top court, regarding the use of more than $100,000 in funds the conference gave to the East Africa Conference.
In October 2014, Judicial Council made two separate rulings related to the ongoing dispute between Western Pennsylvania and East Africa.
In one ruling, the Judicial Council said that the partnership between Western Pennsylvania and the East Africa Conference does not fall under its jurisdiction. However, it also noted that Wandabula’s office had repaid $3,000 owed to the Western Pennsylvania Conference.
In another ruling, the Judicial Council said a complaint by a conference member against Wandabula “was resolved when the College of Bishops of the Africa Central Conference verified that they had dismissed the charges against Bishop Wandabula.”
However, the GCFA board is still pursuing its complaint against the bishop.
Indiana Area Bishop Michael J. Coyner, president of the finance agency’s board, and Moses Kumar, its top executive, met recently with Wandabula to discuss the complaint. Representatives from the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries as well as African bishops also attended the session.
Retired Bishop Peter Weaver, executive secretary of the Council of Bishops and former chair of the audit committee of Global Ministries, served as moderator.
“There was no resolution, so the complaint process continues,” Coyner told the GCFA board on Nov. 21.
Hahn is a multimedia news reporter for United Methodist News Service. Linda Bloom, a United Methodist News Service multimedia reporter based in New York, also contributed to this story. Contact Hahn at (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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Christ's Foundry United Methodist Church in Dallas, an Hispanic congregation, held a watch party Thursday night for President Obama's televised address on immigration. Afterwards, many present held hands and sang "We Shall Overcome."
Many United Methodists praise president's immigration order
by Kathy L. Gilbert and Sam Hodges, NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) —
President Barack Obama’s immigration plan offers “a word of mercy and a measure of justice,” said United Methodist Bishop Minerva Carcaño, co-chair of the denomination’s interagency task force on immigration reform.
The plan means undocumented immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for more than five years and have children who are U.S. citizens or residents “can now come out of the shadows,” said Carcaño, episcopal leader for the California-Pacific Conference.
The United Methodist Council of Bishops has long supported immigration reform and encouraged local communities “to participate in ministries of mercy and justice,” said Bishop Julius C. Trimble, co-chair of the interagency task force on immigration reform and episcopal leader of the Iowa Conference.
Trimble said critics have attacked the president’s action before, saying reform is the responsibility of Congress.
“Nevertheless, the question remains unanswered as to why the House of Representatives will not act on a Senate-approved bill,” he said.
The United Methodist Board of Church and Society's top executive, the Rev. Susan Henry-Crowe, has written a letter to Obama commending him on extending deferred status to more than 5 million undocumented immigrants. But she emphasizes that this is just "a critical first step."
The letter thanks the president for shutting down the Secure Communities program that has “increased racial profiling” and further increased an atmosphere of fear among immigrant communities.
Obama said the immigration system has been broken for decades and he challenged Congress to pass his plan or “Pass a bill.”
Answer to prayers
At Christ’s Foundry United Methodist Church, a Hispanic congregation in Dallas, about 200 people gathered at a watch party for Obama’s address.
They applauded at times, and afterwards held hands and sang “We Shall Overcome.”
The Rev. Owen Ross, who leads the church and was a Peace Corps worker in Ecuador, praised Obama’s actions.
“A lot of our prayers were answered tonight,” he said. “It’s a great first step, and a great night for America.”
Ross pointed to an undocumented woman in his congregation named Rosa, a single mother whose young daughter does have legal status.
“She is who the president is doing this for,” he said, noting that she shares a room with her daughter in another family’s house, and has had trouble keeping a job due to her lack of legal status.
Rosa, speaking through an interpreter, said she’s looking forward to being able to move about without fear of deportation.
“My sister died last year in Mexico, and I was not able to go,” she said. “So many families have been separated.”
Ross said he was disappointed Obama’s order did not cover the parents of undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children and who through a 2012 executive order got temporary relief from deportation and work permits.
“That would be another large group,” Ross said.
But he repeated his appreciation for the president’s new actions. And he said Christ’s Foundry United Methodist would be helping Rosa and others fill out the paperwork necessary to gain legal status.
Continuing support
Carcaño urged United Methodists to call and send letters to their congressional leaders supporting the president’s plan. She also called on United Methodists to contribute to the cost of legalization processes for immigrant families.
“Immigrants are some of the hardest working people in this country yet they are also among the lowest paid,” she said. “Immigration application fees must be set within their economic reach. We have seen this need as we have encouraged young people to apply for DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). Many qualify but have not applied because they cannot afford the application cost.”
Eligible immigrants will need a “massive level of assistance” in the months that follow, agreed Rob Rutand-Brown, director of United Methodist National Justice for our Neighbors.
“These vulnerable immigrants will be targeted by unscrupulous people eager to take their money,” he said.
Brown said the national organization which offers free legal assistance to immigrants will be stepping up its efforts.
“We will strengthen our partnerships—both within The United Methodist Church and beyond—throughout the cities we serve,” he said.
Justice for millions more
The executive order is a cause for celebration, but there are still more than 7 million left out of the plan, said Carol Barton, United Methodist Women. She coordinates the Immigrant & Civil Rights Initiative.
Barton said that includes the Central American women and children who arrived this summer fleeing violence, only to be detained, forced to wear electronic ankle bracelets, or served pending deportation papers.
“That includes the parents of DREAM students, who have risked so much for this day only to be disappointed. That includes those who have committed non-violent crimes in the past, have paid their debt to society, are important members of our families, yet face deportation. As Christians we believe in forgiveness and restorative justice, not perpetual punishment,” Barton said.
The executive action is also partial and temporary, Barton said.
“It does not guarantee permanent status, nor health care and social welfare benefits. It can be revoked at any time. Thus, as we work to assist all those eligible for deferred status, we will also continue to advocate for just immigration reform that includes all currently in the U.S. and addresses future flows of migration.
“And we will continue to accompany those facing more intense criminalization, detention and deportation, until they, too, can celebrate,” she said.
Gilbert is a multimedia news reporter for United Methodist News Service. Hodges is a Dallas-based writer for UMNS. Contact them at (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
A United Methodist story of welcoming the immigrant by The Rev. Alfred T. Day III, MADISON, N. J. (UMNS)
They were strangers in a strange land.
The story is as old as time, as biblical as Genesis and Revelation and as contemporary as today's headlines. Human history is a story of migrants and immigration.
People left home, wherever or whatever home was, in search of safety, economic betterment and a fresh start.
They arrived alone, friendless, perplexed and poor. Often they were sick and in need of comfort or a guiding hand.
Beginning around 1885, the Women's Home Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church in New York City (predecessor of today's United Methodist Women) identified a serious problem. Immigrant women, often traveling alone or with children in tow, arrived on American shores to join their husbands, brothers, fathers or other relatives who had come to the U.S. ahead of them.
Alone, they had to navigate the challenges and complexities of the immigration system and the dangerous docks of New York. Alone — except for Helen Mathews; her husband, James; their daughter, Alma, and another person who found a small house to rent in lower Manhattan where they began a new ministry.
Two managed the house while the other two combed the docks seeking single women disembarking the ships. Without regard to language barriers or concerns for their own safety, they approached these women and their families and guided them through the immigration process. They offered them free lodging at the house — now called the Immigrant Girls’ Home. They helped them on the next stage of their journey, getting them to the train station or helping them to connect with family in New York or beyond.
Alma Mathews helped found a home for immigrant women in New York and later worked as a greeter at Ellis Island.Photo courtesy of the United Methodist Commission on Archives and History.
Single women at deadly disadvantage
Why bother? The Methodist women in New York realized that single women in a strange land were at deadly disadvantage. There were people who would steal their luggage and their money. The women themselves might then be forced into a life of prostitution.
The goal of the Immigrant Girl’s Home was to prevent such injustices and help immigrant women transition to a new life in America.
When Helen and John Mathews had to leave this ministry, Alma and others filled their place.
Alma worked in this ministry for a generation — from the 1890s to 1922.
By 1887, the work had grown so much that it was turned over to the Woman’s Home Missionary Society. The successful program was replicated with houses in Boston, Philadelphia, Charleston, New Orleans and San Francisco. The matron in San Francisco, Katherine Maurer, was described by newspapers as the “Angel of Angel Island.' Angel Island is the largest island in San Francisco Bay and was home to the Angel Island immigration station.
Back at the Immigrant Girls’ Home in New York, the work continued to grow. In 1887, there were 482 lodgers. By 1897, the two women met 808 ships and there were 3,004 lodgers at the home. They served 10,823 meals. In 1908, they met more than 970 ships (a little less than three a day) for the year. The reports filed by these women and now kept at the United Methodist Archives and History Center, are brief, but touching.
Today, the brownstone that once served as the home for immigrant women and girls in the early 20th century is now the Alma Mathews House.
Christmas at Ellis Island
Shortly after Ellis Island was opened in 1905, Alma Mathews writes, “I wish I had space to describe taking Christmas presents to the detainees on Ellis Island.”
There was also the oddly humorous. Alma came across a young couple who had been swindled by a thief who exchanged the money they brought from ‘the old country’ for only pennies. Ms. Mathews writes that she knew where the thief was and went to his ‘office’ with her umbrella and got their money back!
The 1889 diary of a Mrs. S.M. Ford, then manager of the house, tells a story of meeting a young homeless woman one evening who needed a job and a safe place to sleep.
Ford talked with the young woman, making plans for the next day to see if she could help her find employment. She learned that the young woman had no money.
“I made her a bed on a lounge (couch) and gave her a bowl of cold oatmeal to eat — as I had nothing else prepared.” The following morning the woman said she needed to step out to see a friend for a moment and never returned.
Why the young woman chose to abandon the house and hope of a job for the streets of New York will never be known.
What is true is that this young woman, and all of these immigrant women, were touched, even if only for a night, by the ministry of those Methodist women.
When visitors come to the United Methodist Archives and History Center in Madison, New Jersey, they are greeted by a banner that once adorned the 1968 General Conference as a reminder of United Methodist history and heritage. One of the banner's panels depicts two women in a reflective pose, representing the struggle of women for representation and ordination.
The current debate in the United States over immigration brings that banner and these stories of long-ago immigrant women into focus as we connect and reconnect with our denominational DNA.
Considering the personal and social holiness that is in the deepest, most intertwined strands of our heritage, nothing frees that holiness more than when we are in relationships that banish fear, loneliness and alienation.
Day, top executive of the United Methodist Commission on Archives and History, reflected on this history of Methodist work with immigrants the day after President Obama spoke about executive orders relating to undocumented immigrants. Dale Patterson, archivist for the commission, contributed to this story.
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Filipino church members walk for accountability by Gladys P. Mangiduyos, CABANATUAN CITY, Philippines (UMNS) — Some 500 church members and students from United Methodist Middle Philippines and South Nueva Ecija Philippines conferences gathered Nov. 17 to express their indignation about graft and corruption in the country.
Led by Manila Area Bishop Rodolfo A. Juan, with the support of his cabinet, the people gathered for a short liturgy in the Wesleyan University gymnasium before walking a mile to the Plaza Lucero to hold a candle-lighting for good governance, truth, justice and accountability.
Len Carreon from the Church People's Alliance Against Pork Barrel said that Juan and Carlos Cao, an attorney and United Methodist lay leader from the Philippines East Conference, represent United Methodist Church in the alliance.
Education is a “significant aspect” of the People’s Initiative to Abolish Pork movement, which is gathering signatures to scrap the public fund, she noted. “We believe that one advocacy of the church is engaging in societal issues like this one," said Carreon.
Pork Barrel is a lump sum public fund assigned by law, regulation or practice with sole discretion given to the President, legislator or group of legislators, or any public officer.
A scandal over pork barrel funds has attracted national attention, with lawmakers and ordinary people prosecuted and jailed.
In an interview last December, former Philippines Chief Justice Reynato Puno, a United Methodist, said all forms of pork barrel should be scrapped and added that “the Methodist people should speak on this because this is a moral issue.”
Marching and gathering signatures
The march offered one way to speak out. "We are here to express our support by signing our names, our signatures will signify that we are against the pork barrel." said Zenaida Candelaria, a lay woman from San Leonardo United Methodist Church.
"I believe this is a call to everybody, a call to support scrapping of the pork barrel system, the fund shall be given to where it should go, it should serve its purpose,” added the Rev. Casiano Sta. Maria.
Deaconesses were among the marchers as well. Rachel de la Cruz and Beng Azurin said that targeting corruption can help ensure that the funding of education and health agencies “shall be properly managed and with accountability."
De la Cruz added, "More people shall be granted this assistance, not only in the hands of the few, making people greedy and selective."
“Moving on to good governance is the great outcome of this call," said Gene Coronel, chair of the Middle Philippines Board of Church and Society. He believes the church will not tolerate the ill behaviors of politicians and policy makers in the government.
United Methodist Women and young adults, who were in the queue for signatures, unanimously said that they are firm in their belief that their presence and signatures show their commitment to the cause the bishop is leading.
The liturgical call
Three of Juan’s district superintendents – the Revs. Rommel Franco, Apol Cunanan, and Marlon de los Reyes – also expressed their solidarity. "Social holiness is the admonition of John Wesley," said Cunanan.
United Methodists are not callous, "we don't just shrug off our shoulders on these issues, we will do something," said De los Reyes, extending the support from the provinces of Pampanga, Bataan and Zambales.
Two guests from the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry, Gerald Lord and Amos Nascimento offered greetings and expressed solidarity during the liturgy.
Nascimento said he is grateful to be with the group addressing an important issue.
"When the church is following Wesley's social justice against corruption, you are bringing new dimension of witnessing to heal the nation and live a better life, not only in Asia but in the whole world."
Juan emphasized in his homily the lack of integrity among leaders and because of decadence which is ubiquitous, moral regeneration and transformation is greatly needed.
"This people's initiative for good governance will bring back integrity, this will be a wake-up call to everyone."
*Mangiduyos is a deaconess in the United Methodist Philippines Central Conference and a professor at Wesleyan University-Philippines in Cabanatuan City.
News media contact: Vicki Brown, news editor, newsdesk@umcom.org or 615-742-5469.
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BMCR response to Missouri grand jury decision by the Rev. Cedrick D. Bridgeforth, FERGUSON, Mo. (UMNS) —
“As long as justice is postponed we always stand on the verge of these darker nights of social disruption. The question now, is whether America is prepared to do something massively, affirmatively and forthrightly about the great problem we face in the area of race and the problem which can bring the curtain of doom down on American civilization if it is not solved.”--"The Other America" Speech by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. at Grosse Pointe High School - March 14, 1968
The sad fact here is that I do not believe anyone is surprised that the nearly prophetic words of the people of Ferguson have come true: “The grand jury will not indict a police officer.” It seems as if the people who struggle to make a life in Ferguson knew something about their city that those of us on the outside did not know. They knew politics and good ole boy systems would prevail. They knew justice lurks around the corner in their town, but they can’t ever seem to make that turn to experience it. They knew the heat of the summer would give way to cool breezes of autumn just as it always does. They knew the media outlets would abandon the streets of Ferguson quicker than they checked out of their hotels. They knew the black people from around the country who were outraged and boisterous in person and online would grow weary and return to the mundane existence and comfort of employment and political capital provides. They knew. We presumed it, but they knew it. They knew it because they lived it.
The greatest tragedy here is not that the police officer may never face charges for what happened, but that America, especially Black America, may not take this opportunity to band together and work toward solutions that will pave the way for future generations to experience a different reality.
Lives have been lost. Families have been destroyed. Communities have gone up in flames. All the while, America fights wars around the globe to ensure freedoms and liberties for people who have been pushed out or otherwise annihilated due to their religious, ethnic and/or economic realities. There were tanks in Ferguson and people were outraged by the presence of such machinery and weaponry. Questions were raised about the necessity of such fire power, but all one needs to do is watch the news reports coming in from around the world to see that this is the response waged against supposed terrorists or those in opposition to whatever regime is in power or attempting to gain power. The presence of those tanks were tangible signs or even poignant expressions of the laws stacked against the disenfranchised of this nation and the certain acknowledgment that black people rising up and speaking out are in fact enemies of the State. Those tanks roll when empires are threatened. Those tanks roll when economic engines are at stake. Those tanks roll when young people challenge the status quo. While the tanks roll so does the cameras and rhetoric about change and the need for justice and unity. Now the tanks are gone and so is the hope of some who saw this as a way for people of America to wake up and to own up to its need to do better and to be better.
Whether the local officials of Ferguson or Missouri make any changes that will impact other communities in America, we have options we can choose and we can each do our part to begin to bring about change in every community. We can choose to continue to destroy the businesses in our communities that may never return. We can choose to lash out at the media in hopes they will take us seriously. We can choose to keep silent as crimes are committed on our doorsteps and in our homes. We can choose to remain home on election days - believing our votes mean even less than our voices. We can make those choices and we can live with the consequences for another generation or two, but will that make room for a generation that has yet to be born? Will those choices free us from slavery, sin and ultimately death? Will those choices help us to rise to a place where we are truly at the tables of power and influence as true participants in the reshaping of America’s race agenda, as opposed to being items on its delectable menu?
Of course we can make such choices, but we know if we do, we are postponing justice while fast forwarding the whole of America to an abysmal future. A few direct and deliberate actions you can take now, wherever you are and whatever your feelings about the inaction and decisions in Ferguson are as follows:
Sign the NAACP’s petition urging the Department of Justice to complete their federal, criminal civil rights investigation into Michael Brown's slaying.
Host town hall meetings. Invite your local political leaders, law enforcement personnel and the community to discuss how we can address this problem together.
Reach out to persons who are in the fields of law and law enforcement, behavioral specialists, and elected officials to participate and provide expertise on how to address these issues. Click here for resources on this topic.
Pray with your families, especially your children so they know you care and are with them in the struggle. You should never pray more at church or with your church family than you do with your own.
Read the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech with your book club, Bible Study class or social club and generate questions and actions that make his words from over 40 years ago relevant to our current situation.
Beyond signing petitions, praying and holding open forums, we must begin to look inward and ask the tough questions about our people and our communities as much as or while we ask similar questions about our nation. The answers and the prospect of gaining such insights may be daunting, but it is work that must be done. We must hold ourselves accountable to police ourselves and protect our own families and communities. We must write our own headlines and novels that tell of our true pain and suffering because unless there are tanks rolling, no one else will.
*The Rev. Cedrick D. Bridgeforth is Chairperson of Black Methodists for Church Renewal.
News media contact is Heather Hahn, at 615-742-5470.
DISGRACE AND GRACE: OUR RESPONSE TO THE FERGUSON GRAND JURY DECISION by 
F. Willis Johnson“We worship God through our questions.” -Abraham Joshua Heschel
In the wake of a St. Louis County grand jury’s decision related to the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson, we seek strength, direction and resolve through our faith. The decision, in and of itself, brings no resolution for those of us who live in Ferguson, for any particular demographic segment of our nation, or for humanity as a whole. Two families remain forever changed. A community is left struggling to coexist. The people of Ferguson will continue the hard work of reconciling differences as we strive to understand, trust and listen to each other. And we will continue searching for ways to sustain our hope in systems, leaders and practices.
Yet, whether we acknowledge it (or understand it) or not, every single one of us—inside the city limits of Ferguson and out—remains subject to a series of longstanding historical and cultural problems. Look at the faces of the children in your family, your neighborhood, your congregation. This generation, like yours and mine, is forced to wrestle with the unresolved issues and questions of the generations preceding us. There are more questions than answers.
This is the inherent nature of faith.
One biblical account in particular keeps coming to my mind in these days. It is one that raises suspense and suspicion, and leaves its readers with more questions than answers. It is a story of two brothers, Cain and Abel. As brothers they are linked together in a variety of ways, and are meant to be a community of two. But, for some unexplained and unclear reason, Abel is regarded differently than the other. Animosity exists between them.
These brothers’ relationship is representative of humanity. As humans, we too are linked together in a variety of ways. And yet as a community we are irresponsible, inattentive and insensitive toward our very selves—the brothers and sisters in our human community. We continue to mimic Cain’s morally reprehensible interrogative, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
The rhetorical but relevant question posited by God, “Where is your brother Abel?” remains unanswered. Abel’s blood still cries out, along with the blood of too many young men, women, boys and girls of diverse races in near and faraway places. They are cries of retribution, cries of retaliation and cries of reprisal demanding a response. That is why…
When faced with disgrace, God dispenses grace. God’s response to Cain’s disgraceful act and remonstration of Abel’s blood from the ground is a powerful witness. It reveals how Christians can exercise grace while grappling with the complexities of unresolved and unjust issues.
God acknowledges a wrong has been committed, yet responds righteously.
Under no pretense does anyone deserve to lose life. Each of us holds inalienable and civil rights, but they do not privilege us to infringe upon the rights of others. We cannot legislate love or adjudicate right relationship. Justice often is interpreted as what benefits a small group of ‘just us’, but our interpretations are only interpretations. Neither the world nor systems have final say. What is politically correct, socially conscious, even legally warranted may be right, but not be righteous—not aligned with God’s will. Ultimately, God alone executes judgment. God is the final authority—and may grant judgment or allowance—in all matters of human existence.
God affirms the sacredness and pain of persons.
God asserts Cain’s significance with an identifying mark. The mark was not a scarlet letter. It was a sign of God’s divine affection and Cain’s vulnerability. Truth be told, God loves us in spite of ourselves. Confirmation of that love is the willingness to meet each of us in our condition with unconditional love. Affirmation should not be viewed as complacency on God’s part. In fact, God’s affirmation is an act of assertive compassion, particularly for the disinherited. There is no one manner in which to think or behave. People who are hurting need to be affirmed in their hurt; people who are angry need to be affirmed in their anger. This way of listening and hearing one another is called empathy, a core value of human relationship and community.
God advances the cause.
Cain, representative of the worst in each of us, is given another chance. We are extended opportunities by God to advance the cause. Our words and actions should not turn us against one another. Instead they should draw us closer together. Our words and actions should demonstrate true community, as we search for and expect to find the good in one another, as we lift each other up. This is not only a shared reality, but also a collective responsibility. It is a human imperative that we not act selfishly, but strive towards furthering our collective interest. As Martin Luther King Jr. posited, “We are inextricably connected to each other… caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied together into a single garment of resting.”
We must recognize that all lives matter. Our faith assures that peace while it is beyond our understanding is not beyond our grasp. As disciples of Christ we are called to express our hope by means of grace.
Do you have questions about how to address these issues in your church, with your friends and peers, in your spheres of influence? What tools and resources would be most helpful to you as a Christian leader in the midst of this ongoing conflict and conversation? Please respond in the ‘Comments’ section below.
F. Willis Johnson is the senior minister of Wellspring Church in Ferguson, Missouri.
National Council of Churches statement on the grand jury action in Ferguson, MO
Washington, DC: The National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA expresses its deep disappointment with the decision of the grand jury, sitting in Clayton, Missouri, not to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the murder of Michael Brown.
An indictment would not have been a conviction nor a judgement of Officer Wilson’s guilt; rather, it would have permitted him to be tried before a jury of his peers where his innocence or guilt would have been appropriately decided. Without an indictment it now seems unlikely that justice will be done.
Nevertheless, we reiterate our call in this time of serious tension for the city of Ferguson and its citizens, law enforcement officials, justice-seekers, and others to respond in a nonviolent manner. We join with Michael Brown’s father’s plea that protests not become violent.
All hope is not lost. We will not forget Michael Brown nor cease to advocate for justice to be carried out in the matter of his death. His death has helped galvanize across the country a moral will to address the crisis our country faces in the systemic marginalization of young men of color.
Recall the words of Jesus, “And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them.” (Luke 18:7-8, NRSV)
We are especially thankful to the churches and faith community in St. Louis, Missouri who have declared themselves to be ‘sanctuary churches’ and ‘sacred spaces’ as well as to many others who continue to advocate for justice and peace. Many of these churches and individuals are part of our member communions. We surround them with prayer and love.
See also: National Council of Churches issues statement on the upcoming grand jury action in Ferguson, MO
St. Louis area UMC youth workers discuss how to help children and youth during unrest in Ferguson
What do you tell the kids?
United Methodist Church children and youth workers in the St. Louis area took up the topic of Ferguson during their monthly meeting on November 20 at Kirkwood UMC. Most hadn’t been asked about the situation in Ferguson directly, but they know it is an issue the children and youth are facing.
“Even if they aren’t asking about it or talking about it with their parents, they are seeing it on the news every day,” said Andrew Jones, director of Next Generations at Morning Star UMC in O’Fallon.Jones was a public school teacher during the Columbine shooting, during which he saw children begin to question their own security in places they had always felt safe. This was even more pronounced when he was a school counselor during the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. He knows that although things are relatively quiet in the St. Louis area at this time, the palpable tension anticipating civil unrest following the grand jury announcement related to the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson can have an impact on children and youth.
For some the situation has already hit close to home. Assistant Pastor Michelle Shoger of New Hope UMC in Arnold said a girl in her group’s mother was called into active duty in the Missouri Army National Guard this week as the governor declared a state of emergency and activated the troops. Others mentioned that they know children with family members in law enforcement who have been putting in long hours policing protests.
Jennifer Finley, director of children and family ministry at Manchester UMC, related how the situation is on children’s minds, and they can draw their own conclusions.
“We were teaching the story of the good Samaritan, and asking the question of who is your neighbor, and one of our kids responded, ‘What about the people in Ferguson?’” she said.
The youth workers have seen posts from parents on Facebook that are sometimes disturbingly divisive.
“The kids are taking sides that mirror their parents, just like with politics,” said Ryan Gibbs, director of youth and growth ministries at Webster Hills UMC.
Jones offered two documents to the group relating to talking to children about tragedy and the situation in Ferguson (http://fulleryouthinstitute.org/blog/talking-about-ferguson#). He also suggested setting up prayer stations for youth to pray over and reflect on the situation, and set up several examples of low-cost prayer stations, using things like a scrabble board or a notebook, that could be used in a youth meeting (http://practicalyouthministry.com/prayer-retreat-for-high-school-students/ ).
“These prayer stations allow youth to express themselves in a way that is intimate and personal, yet anonymous,” Jones said.
The regional monthly meeting of youth workers has been taking place for years, but was adapted to include all of Next Generation Ministries (children through college-age) three months ago. People interested in learning more or participating in the meetings can contact Jones at andrew.jones@mscwired.org.
Comments:
1. Pastor Nick Rochester Jr wrote on 11/25/2014 7:22:25 AM
When I was growing up, I was always told by my parents and other adults to respect & obey authority...as in this case, those who enforce the law. I learned there are consequences for me when I did not follow the law and obey an officers' instructions. I'm afraid that in our world today, "most" of us adults are not doing this and as a result our youth learn disrepect.
2. Scott Moon wrote on 11/25/2014 9:22:20 AM
Fred, thanks for this story. The parable Jennifer Finley's group was studying (the Samaritan who proved to be a neighbor to the man suffering on the side of the Jericho Road) provides perhaps the clearest and simplest guidance for responding to all persons concerned and/or affected by Michael Brown Jr.'s death and subsequent reactions. We might ask ourselves, "How can we be true neighbors to those who are suffering?" As communities of faith, we might go on to ask, "How can we join in the work of extending God's peaceable and just reign of Shalom?"
3. Martha Berry wrote on 11/25/2014 11:10:26 AM
This generation and the generation of their parents have not been taught to follow the law and to have respect for others. Their law is whatever they feel. This goes right back to the unrest and lawlessness of the fringe population of the 60s. ("If it feels good, do it") And we are now suffering the consequences. Until and unless our younger people are taught respect for authority it can only get worse.
4. Rev Ron McCreary wrote on 11/25/2014 11:24:30 AM
How can we reasonably expect children to learn to respect authority when authority is killing so many people? Get real, folks.
5. John Donaldson wrote on 11/25/2014 1:35:58 PM
What to tell the kids? (1) don't rob a store. (2) don't attack a police officer .....
6. Mary Earle wrote on 11/25/2014 3:41:31 PM
Responding to Rev. McCreary -- How can we expect children to respect authority when authority is killing so many people? -- " •Every day in the U.S., an average of 289 people are shot. Eighty-six of them die: 30 are murdered, 53 kill themselves, two die accidentally, and one is shot in a police intervention, the Brady Campaign reports." DID YOU GET THE PART WHERE ONE IS SHOT IN A POLICE INTERVENTION? This would not qualify as "authority killing so many people." == From the Post Dispatch 10-23-14 ST. LOUIS • "The tragic number is four. When four more people die violently in St. Louis in the next few days or weeks — which is statistically likely — the city will top last year’s total of 120 homicides in what has become another deadly year here. From Jan. 1 through Wednesday evening, 117 people had been fatally shot, stabbed, run over, beaten to death and strangled in St. Louis. Homicides here are up 27 percent this year over last. Through Oct. 21 of last year, the total was 91. And this October has been a particularly bloody month, with at least 16 people killed." == FROM WHAT I READ THESE ARE NOT "AUTHORITY" KILLINGS. The shooting in Ferguson was tragic for many reasons but a GRAND JURY declared the shooting legal. ================ The sad thing is that everyone is mad over one death. What about all the others? Are you even the least bit upset about them? How about calling out those killings? ============ Know what I see? I see a society that is willing to overlook gang shootings. Overlook the deaths of innocent people. Overlook laws being broken but this time you are angry because it was a white officer that shot a black man. And I for one am tired of that card being played. I am tired of hearing poor-me but no I did not make sure my kids went to school. I am tired of hearing poor-me, poor-me, poor-me. And I am tired of hearing you owe me because I am black. Yes, I am white but let me tell you something. My dad was a truck driver. He worked to support his family. My husband and I have worked our entire lives to support ourselves. We have obeyed the law. We made sure our children went to school. We supported the school with making sure homework was done and attended activities at the school. We made sure our children were in bed at night. We have paid our taxes and we have helped others. We were taught to obey the law and that the law should be applied equally. And before you put the race card out there again - It is just plain time we quit looking at skin color as an excuse for bad behavior and breaking the law. Thought about not posting this and it might not be posted, but had to have my say.
7. Rev Ron McCreary wrote on 11/25/2014 8:12:57 PM
In Tallahassee and Leon County "The rash of police-involved shootings has sparked community-wide concern about not only gun violence but the way law enforcement is handling it on the street" according to the local paper. To his credit Police Chief Leo is seeking to change this, but that's a long way from done. Meanwhile, what do you tell your kids about the police? It's starting to remind me of the events around the Democratic Convention in Chicago in 1968.
8. Jody wrote on 11/26/2014 7:31:04 AM
The teenager robbed a store ("robbery" is what they call it when you appropriate merchandise without paying for it). The teenager assaulted the store owner ("assault" is what they call it when you shove the proprietor out of the way as you exit the shop). The proprietor called the police (this is called "recourse"). A police officer arrived, and the teenager got physical with him also (this is what they call "Assault on a law enforcement officer": a felony). The teenager got shot in the scuffle, and died. He sustained no shots in the back; he was not fleeing, he was exhibiting the same aggression he'd exhibited in the store. Lessons to be learned: Do not steal. Do not commit assaults. Do not attack authority figures when they attempt to detain you for stealing and assault. There is no epidemic of police brutality or police killings, and imagine what we would have in this society without the protection of law enforcement. As Richard Pryor used to say in one of his comedy routines: "THANK GOD for the police!" Stop making such occurrences into racial incidents. The vast amount of interracial crime is black-on-white violence, and you'd figure that out if you put your soggy and dishonest "social justice agenda" aside and consulted the statistics. Your worldview is warped and disingenuous.
9. Charles Spickard 'United Methodist Lay Speaker' wrote on 11/26/2014 9:04:14 AM
Responding to Rev. McCreary. First, let me say that I agree wholeheartedly with Mary Earle's post. And further let us address the lawless, misguided mob in Ferguson, Mo. An analogy woul be, "if I stub my toe, I should cut off my foot for spite". Don't these people know that they are hurting themselves by upholding a criminal act which ended in tragedy? They are no better than the crimional, Michael Brown, nor no more right than the officer they are accusing, even if he were guilty of murder.
10. Rev Ron McCreary wrote on 11/26/2014 10:17:42 AM
Let's all take a deep breath. We're hearing a lot of frustration and anger. I wonder if that couldn't help us understand why others in this story are frustrated and angry, even if the object is different? This is a United Methodist site. As Christians we are tasked with being salt and light in a hurting world; to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem. That will require some Sermon-on-the-Mount grace toward those with whom we disagree, and some trust in the God who is father of us all. Following John Wesley's admonition to do Christian conferencing as a spiritual practice the Florida Annual Conference published some ground rules. They may be helpful here. The can be found at http://flumc2.org/pages/detail/997 .
11. Gail Byrd wrote on 11/26/2014 2:28:51 PM
I'm all for taking a deep breath. And then I'd like someone to explain to me why, in its efforts to make the world a better place, the UMC always comes down on the side of whichever throng of rabble is busy rioting in the streets. To me, it smells less like religious motivation and more like a drift toward cultural Marxism. It makes me wonder what is being taught in our seminaries, and I no longer sit through diatribes promoting white guilt. I get up and walk out.
12. Mary Earle wrote on 11/26/2014 4:38:13 PM
Again to Rev. McCreary -- My frustration and, yes, anger, come from the fact that no where does this article mention that Michael Brown broke the law. That he had robbed a store and threatened a store owner. No where does it mention that he tested positive for drugs. No where does it mention that he hit the officer. Twice and reached in the car. No where is there any expectation that he was responsibility for his actions. HIS actions resulted in his death.
13. Jody wrote on 11/26/2014 9:41:44 PM
What I find deeply troubling are attributions of racist intent where none can be substantively established. And even more troubling to me is the threat of "We'll burn the cities if we don't like the verdict," and no subsequent condemnation of that form of extortion, which is damnable under both secular and traditional/religious moral codes. Yes, I am a Christian, but I still have a spine. I wish my church still had one. Unfortunately, it sniffs the political winds like every other institution in our society, and is greatly influenced by a pathology called political correctness. I don't want my church to be a bully pulpit for political correctness. I get enough of that swill from my government, the media, you name it. I don't want it sold to me under the guise of religion.
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Kassig remembered for humanitarian service By: Skyler E. Nimmons*, INDIANAPOLIS (UMNS) — To Pat Engel, a diaconal minister at Epworth United Methodist Church, Abdul-Rahman Peter Kassig was a bright young man who lived a life guided by Micah 6:8 to “love justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.”
Engel was among the speakers Sunday, Nov. 23, when hundreds gathered at an interfaith memorial service at Butler University to remember Kassig, a 26-year-old Indianapolis native who lost his life while providing humanitarian aid in Syria.
His parents, Ed and Paul Kassig attend Epworth United Methodist Church, Indianapolis, and the Rev. Dr. Bill Hoopes, Epworth’s senior pastor, participated in the service.
Throughout the service, speakers -- including Christian and Muslim leaders and Kassig’s family, friends and mentors -- shared what led him to leave a comfortable existence in Indianapolis to start an extraordinary journey of selflessness to provide aid to people of Syria.
Hoopes noted that those gathered were separated by diversity, but bound together in common grief.
“One of the blessings of Abdul-Rhaman’s life is the opportunity to begin a new way of being with each other,” he said, pointing to the need for further dialogue among Christian, Muslim, Jewish and other communities of faith to work for peace and understanding.
“We are not gathered here because of how Abdul Rahman passed; we are here because of how he lived,” said Hazem Bata, executive director of the Islamic Society of North America.
Bata noted that Abdul-Rahman’s life was dedicated to helping others who had been forgotten. Turning to Kassig’s parents, he said, “Life is a test and your son got an A+.”
In a prayer, Bishop Michael Coyner, resident bishop of the Indiana Conference, said, “We gather from divergent backgrounds united in grief, but also united in your ways of peace and justice. And remind all of us that we are all children of Abraham.”
A college friend, Joe Dages, offered more insight into why Kassig would leave his friends and family to work in Syria by sharing a quote from him: “I’m at my best and feel the most at peace among the chaos.”
Kassig was destined to do something great, Dages said, and he accomplished that destiny by dedicating his life to humanitarian aid.
Abdul Rahman Peter Kassig was abducted and taken hostage Oct. 1, 2013 while on a medical aid mission to Deir Ezour. Initially held in the same cell as a Muslim cleric, he converted and chose the name Abdul-Rahman, which means “servant of the most merciful.” His death was confirmed by the White House on Nov. 16 after a video surfaced claiming that the Islamic State group, also known as ISIL or ISIS, had killed him.
A memorial fund has been established in Kassig’s name to support the Syrian American Medical Society’s work in providing assistance in Syria. Click here to donate.
*Skyler E. Nimmons is the Communications Director of the Indiana Annual (regional) Conference of The United Methodist Church and resides in Indianapolis, Ind.
Abdul-Rahman Peter Kassig was executed by the Islamic State group, but his parents want people to remember his dedication to assisting Syrians suffering during the civil war.
Kassig family remembers hostage son’s desire to help by Linda Bloom, NEW YORK (UMNS)
The United Methodist parents of the latest hostage executed by the Islamic State group are remembering his dedication to assisting those who have suffered during Syria’s civil war.
“We are heartbroken to learn that our son, Abdul-Rahman Peter Kassig, has lost his life as a result of his love for the Syrian people and his desire to ease their suffering,” said Ed and Paula Kassig, members of Epworth United Methodist Church in Indianapolis, in a statement posted Nov. 16 on the family’s Twitter account and Facebook page. “Our heart also goes out to the families of the Syrians who lost their lives along with our son.”
The Rev. Bill Hoopes, Epworth’s senior pastor, told United Methodist News Service Nov. 17 he would be meeting with the family in the evening to start planning a memorial service. Kassig was 26 years old.
The White House confirmed Kassig’s death after a video surfaced claiming that the Islamic State group, also known as ISIL or ISIS, had killed him. The Indianapolis native was taken hostage on Oct. 1, 2013, while traveling in an ambulance to deliver medical supplies and equipment and provide medical first-responder training to civilians in eastern Syria.
In a statement, President Barack Obama contrasted the “act of pure evil by a terrorist group that the world rightly associates with inhumanity” with Kassig’s work at a hospital treating Syrian refugees and the aid group he established to further assist Syrian refugees and the displaced in Lebanon and Syria.
Kassig converted to the Muslim faith while in captivity, and the president noted that his actions represented his adopted faith while ISIL’s actions represented no faith at all.
“Today we grieve together, yet we also recall that the indomitable spirit of goodness and perseverance that burned so brightly in Abdul-Rahman Kassig, and which binds humanity together, ultimately is the light that will prevail over the darkness of ISIL,” Obama said.
“We are incredibly proud of our son for living his life according to his humanitarian calling,” his parents said. “We will work every day to keep his legacy alive as best we can.”
Inspired by grandfather
Kassig’s inspiration to pursue humanitarian work, according to a recent story by Indianapolis Star reporter Brian Eason, came from his maternal grandfather, the Rev. Jerry Hyde, a United Methodist pastor who died in 2008.
Hyde was a leader of the Indianapolis Committee for Peace and Justice in the Mid-East, now known as Christians for Peace and Justice in the Mid-East, and an advocate for Muslim victims of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
His grandson, who briefly served as an Army ranger in Iraq, took a leave of absence in 2012 from his studies at Butler University in Indianapolis to work with the Syrian people through an aid group he founded, Special Emergency Response and Assistance or SERA. Kassig was interviewed by CNN in June 2012 while assisting Syrian refugees at a hospital in Lebanon.
According to the United Nations, some 2.5 million Syrian refugees are living in neighboring countries, and at least 10.8 million people – including 6.5 million who are internally displaced –need assistance inside Syria.
In an email message, the denomination’s Indiana Conference encouraged all its members “to pray for the Kassig family and the Epworth community.”
Those wishing to honor Kassig’s dedication to the Syrian people can contribute to the Syrian American Medical Society, his parents said.
They also remembered the families of the other hostages executed by ISIL– James Foley, Steven Sotloff, David Haines and Alan Henning.
“We ask people to continue to pray for the safe return of all captives being held unjustly and all people being oppressed around the world, and especially for the people of Syria, a land our son loved,” the Kassigs said.
Bloom is a United Methodist News Service multimedia reporter based in New York. Follow her at http://twitter.com/umcscribe or contact her at (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org
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Take part in #GivingTuesday on Dec. 2 by Kathy Noble, NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) — On Dec. 2, United Methodists will be part of #GivingTuesday. A growing global movement to begin the holiday season, #GivingTuesday celebrates generosity and focuses on helping others.
On the third-annual #GivingTuesday, charities, churches and other not-for-profit organizations worldwide will invite people to make special donations. United Methodist entities – local churches, annual conference-related missions, general agencies and others – are encouraging making it a time to extend the spirit of thanksgiving into Advent.
Several denominational agencies are seeking support for projects and ministries on #GivingTuesday this year
Discipleshp Ministries (General Board of Discipleship) and General Board of Higher Education and Ministry: E-readers for theological education for seminarians in Africa and the Philippines, www.umcereader.org. Each e-reader is preloaded with the textbooks and reference books students need in seminary. The content is now available in English and Portuguese.
United Methodist Board of Discipleship: The Upper Room Chaplains' Ministry, www.upperroom.org/CHAPLAINS. Gifts will supply prison and military chaplains with more than 45,000 copies of The Upper Room daily devotional guide for men and women in the military and behind bars.
General Board of Global Ministries: Support any of more than 850 projects and 300-plus missionaries through The Advance. Search for projects and donate at www.umcmission.org/give. Up to $1 million in gifts made between 12 a.m. and 11:59 p.m. EST on Dec. 2, will be matched. One hundred percent of the donation goes to the selected project.
United Methodist Communications: ICT4D (Information & Communications Technology for Development), www.umcom.org/global-communications/giving-tuesday. The ICT4D Church Initiative supports using technology to enhance the well-being of millions in the developing world.
United Methodist Communications: Imagine No Malaria, www.imaginenomalaria.org. Join the global effort to raise $75 million by General Conference 2016 to end preventable deaths and suffering from malaria in sub-Saharan Africa. Up to $25,000 in gifts to Imagine No Malaria made online at www.umcmission.org/give (Advance Project #3021190) on Dec. 2 may be matched.
United Methodist Men: Strength for Service devotional booklets (Advance Project #3021221), www.umcmission.org/give. The project provides a daily devotional booklet to military personnel and some first responders. Up to $25,000 in gifts may be matched.
United Methodist Publishing House: Ten percent of all sales made through www.Cokesbury.com on Dec. 2 will be divided between the Christmas Room at Red Bird Mission, a ministry and service provider in Appalachia, and the UMCOR reponse to Ebola in West Africa.
Begun in 2012 with major support from the 92nd Street Y in New York and the United Nations Foundation, #GivingTuesday has quickly become a global event. United Methodist churches, mission organizations and other 501 (c) (3) corporations can still become #GivingTuesday partners. Find information and resources at www.givingtuesday.org.
The Rev. Kathy Noble is editor of Interpreter and Interpreter OnLIne, ministries of United Methodist Communications.
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Youth gather on Wednesday evenings at Fruitful Vale “Feed and Seed” to eat, share Bible stories and play games
In Jamaica, PAPA'S faithful do hard work of mission
KINGSTON, Jamaica (UMNS) — Gifts to PAPAS Ministries Helps Local Pastors in Ministry by Sandra Brands*
On a day set aside to give back to others, United Methodists donated more than $15,000 to Pastors and Priests Available for Service (PAPAS) Ministries, Advance #3021286 on UMC #Giving Tuesday last year.
“Those gifts took some of the stress off of faithful Jamaicans who have been funding ministry out of their own pocket,” said the Rev. Kay Pratt, co-founder with her husband, the Rev. Merlin Pratt, of the ecumenical PAPAS Ministries.
“The stress load is heavy,” Pratt said, “especially as many, even the Methodists, try to keep church buildings physically viable … and to be able to pay for transportation. Many preachers don’t have vehicles, so they charter taxis on Sundays just to get them to their congregations.”
Many of them, according to Pratt, are local preachers or lay speakers. Currently, there are 43 active pastors serving 172 churches on 27 circuits, which include about 12,000 members and adherents. “Methodist ministers here in Jamaica are extremely overloaded,” she said.
Members of the Michigan State Wesley Foundation Team help build a ramp at Port Antonio Methodist Church in Jamaica.
For more than 500 years, Jamaica has been in mission and ministry with sisters and brothers from outside the Caribbean country. “We can ‘help the church be the church,’ but this can only happen with real hands-on training that will take years of hard work with foreign missionaries working in the background, and allowing dedicated indigenous preachers and leaders to continue totake the forefront,”said Pratt.United Methodist Volunteers In Mission teams visiting from the United States have worked to make buildings accessible for those with disabilities, trained Sunday school and Vacation Bible School teachers, offered classes in parenting and music, and supported other training events and construction costs.
Donations Support a Variety of Ministries
Donations from last year’s UMC #GivingTuesday campaign provided milk for school lunches throughout Jamaica, installed a sewer system at St. Peter’s Methodist Church in Hellshire and St. Catherine — a new church start — and funded repairs to the Methodist Primary School on the Port Antonio Circuit.
In addition, handicap ramps were built at two churches and supplies were provided at basic and primary schools, as well as a Vacation Bible School. PAPAS Ministries even helped develop a children’s choir and sponsored last year’s Christmas Cantata, which toured the Port Antonio Circuit.
UMC #GivingTuesday also allowed PAPAS Ministries to start a new phase of ministry: establishing The Sheffield Methodist Education and Resource Centre, PAPAS’ new headquarters.
The Centre, Pratt said, “is being birthed to reach out with practical and tangible means so people might come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Monies received through #UMC Giving Tuesday allowed us to repurpose a former Methodist Primary School facility, and make structural and modeling repairs to make the facility green by using wind and solar energy. We will also provide a new media center with up-to-date technology, a ‘Stationary Shop’ where school children can access school supplies, and an up-to-date kitchen to provide meals for day camp and family camping needs.”
#UMC GivingTuesday, Dec. 2
This year, Global Ministries will again provide matching grants, up to $1 million**, for online donations made to any project through The Advance as part of UMC #GivingTuesday, Dec. 2, “When Methodists Are United.” One hundred percent of gifts given go to projects designated by the donor through The Advance, The United Methodist Church’s giving channel.
For resources to promote and share UMC #GivingTuesday click here.
*Sandra Brands is a writer and regular contributor to www.umcmission.org.
**Global Ministries will allocate the matching funds dollar for dollar up to the first $1 million in gifts to Advance projects received online on Dec. 2, 2014, between 12 a.m. and 11:59 p.m. EST. A maximum of $2,500 per individual gift to a project will be dispersed as matching funds. A project may receive a maximum of $25,000 in matching funds.
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Rethink Church offers resources for ministry with prisoners
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) — Currently, there are more than 2.3 million people incarcerated in the U.S. prison system. United Methodists are called to be peacemakers and healers. Rethink Church shares information on how to be in relationship with prisoners and returned citizens.
http://rethinkchurch.org/articles/restorative-justice
RESTORATIVE JUSTICE
WORKING TOWARD A SYSTEM THAT REDUCES INCARCERATION
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Restorative justice opens the opportunities for personal and community transformation. This transformation cannot be mapped, planned, or put into a program or structure. Nevertheless, it can be encouraged and nurtured.
READ MORE
In this 9 minute video, hear from returned citizens and their mentors about the impact that relationships make in the life of someone in prison or newly released.
Who has been hurt? What are their needs? Whose obligations are they? These are the questions that restorative justice asks.
Tommy Fisher reflects that in prison, a lot of people say they're dead. But within the walls of the prison, he found life. Here's his story.
Côte d’Ivoire United Methodist Women bow their heads in prayer at a service celebration the women’s partnership with the social media network Pubcell CI.
African women earn money via cellphone subscription by Isaac Broune
ABIDJAN, Côte d'Ivoire (UMNS) — Cellphone advertisements are generating income that women of The United Methodist Church in Côte d’Ivoire hope to use to start small businesses.
The Côte d’Ivoire United Methodist Women received a check this month for $1,000 U.S., earnings on a social media network, and the network also awarded another $1,000 as a grant to the women’s group.
Pubcell CI made the payment as part of a profit generated by 400 women who joined the social mobile network in December 2013. The check was presented at a ceremony on Nov. 16 at Nouveau-Koumassi Cité de grâces United Methodist Church in southern Abidjan. The women earned the money for registering their names, addresses and cellphones numbers in the database of the company.
Dorcas Adou, national president of Côte d’Ivoire United Methodist Women, said this win-win partnership can help alleviate poverty among women in Côte d’Ivoire.
“This will give women a purchasing power that can lead them to overcome the defects associated with poverty such as prostitution, begging …” she said.
Pubcell’s members share the advertising revenues. When a member of Pubcell CI gets an advertisement on their mobile phone, that member receives part of the profit. Groups as well as individuals can benefit.
M. Oponou Wilfried, Pubcell CI’s director of communication and marketing, gives Marcelline Beda, Côte d’Ivoire United Methodist Women vice president, a check for $1,000 U.S. The money was the group’s share of proceeds for commercials on their phones. Photo by Isaac Broune, UMNSIndividual business plans
Georgette N’Da, president of the women’s fellowship of Israel Treichville United Methodist Church, said that for each sponsored message that she receives on her cellphone, she gets the equivalent of one penny for each dollar of advertising. She now has $20 US in her cellphone account.
N’Da, a widow with two children, is hoping to save $100 in order to open a small food business.
M. Patrice Diaho, Pubcell CI director, donated the additional $1,000 grant to help women who want to start small business projects that can generate income.
“United Methodist Women have trusted us and we want to do more for them,” Diaho said.
Vincent N’Goran, top executive of Pubcell CI Board of Administration, gave the second check to Adou.
“If with this little loaves and fish of U.S. $1,000 you are able to sponsor women who will reimburse in order to help other women, we will multiply the amount by the end of next year,” he said. That was a reference to the afternoon’s sermon by the Rev. Aurélie Gnagne, the company’s chaplain, on the story of Jesus multiplying the five loaves and two fish in John 6:9-13.
Though it may seem a drop of water in the vast sea of the needs of women, Adou sees it as “a drop that can leave indelible traces in the church and the society.”
She promised that the women would work harder for next year’s check to be $100,000. Her executive committee will select projects in all the 17 districts of the Côte d’Ivoire United Methodist Church to receive funds.
Bishop Benjamin Boni praised the initiative of the young Africans who started PubCell CI, and said Africa needs more role models like them to help people be optimistic about the future of Africa. Pubcell CI has won many international accolades, including the World Bank award for the best social network in Africa.
“What you have done . . . proves that young Africans can create things that can change the world. Don’t be an Afro-pessimist, " Boni said.
Broune is the communicator for The United Methodist Church in Côte d’Ivoire.
News media contact: Vicki Brown, news editor, newsdesk@umcom.org or 615-742-5469.
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Religious groups support EPA rules on carbon pollution
WASHINGTON, D.C. (UMNS) — 7 faith groups meet with EPA Administrator
Deliver over 10,000 comments in support of Clean Power Plan
by Wayne Rhodes, Editor, Faith in Action
Faith groups meet with EPA
Seventeen religious organizations, including the United Methodist General Board of Church & Society, met Nov. 18 with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy to indicate support of proposed rules to address carbon pollution from power plants. (USEPA photo by Eric Vance)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The United Methodist General Board of Church & Society (GBCS) was among representatives from 17 religious organizations that met Nov. 18 with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy. They met to indicate their support of EPA’s proposed rules to address carbon pollution from power plants.
Susan Henry-Crowe with EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy
General Board of Church & Society chief executive, Susan Henry Crowe, listens as Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy discusses new carbo pollution rules for power plants.No limits on carbon pollution from current power plants exist, but EPA has proposed first-ever standards. The proposal will limit emissions by 30% by 2030, compared with 2005 levels.
The comment period for this rule ends on Dec. 1.
Protect communities
During the past year, the faith community has advocated to influence and support the Clean Power Plan. Religious leaders testified at EPA hearings across the country. People of faith also gathered outside the EPA headquarters twice to bless the hearings and those offering public comments.
Susan Henry-Crowe, GBCS chief executive, and John Hill, the agency’s director of Economic & Environmental Justice, attended the meeting with McCarthy at which the faith leaders delivered thousands of comments in support of the Clean Power Plan.
Our organizations have worked for decades together to advocate for shared priorities around peace, poverty and the protection of creation.
On behalf of the faith delegation, Henry-Crowe thanked McCarthy for hers and the administration’s leadership in tackling the challenge of climate change. She welcomed McCarthy’s willingness and determination to use her legal authority to protect the well-being of communities.
“We represent diverse faith traditions with a common commitment to care for creation and to love our neighbors,” Henry-Crowe said. “Our organizations have worked for decades together to advocate for shared priorities around peace, poverty and the protection of creation.”
Share moral witness
Henry-Crowe emphasized that the delegation came to the table not as scientists or technical experts, but as “people of faith called to share our moral witness and stand in solidarity with all those on the margins who struggle daily in the face of a changing climate.”
Ours, however, is a ministry not of numbers and statistics but of names and stories.
The EPA, no doubt, has been flooded with information and numbers and statistics, all of which are critical to the rule-making process, Henry-Crowe acknowledged.
“Ours, however, is a ministry not of numbers and statistics but of names and stories, of communities whose very survival is threatened by a changing climate,” Henry-Crowe said. “Our faith communities are on the front lines feeding the hungry, tending to the sick, welcoming the migrant and refugee, and rebuilding disaster-struck communities.”
Henry-Crowe emphasized that these relationships inform and inspire the faith leaders’ commitment to reducing emissions and supporting a just transition to a clean energy future.
17 faith-based organizations
Besides GBCS, others meeting with McCarthy were U.S. Baha’i Office of Public Affairs, Church of the Brethren, Church World Service, Coalition on the Environment & Jewish Life, Columbian Center for Advocacy & Outreach and Creation Justice Ministries.
Also at the meeting were Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Friends Committee on National Legislation, Interfaith Power & Light (IPL), Islamic Society of North America, Maryknoll Office of Global Concerns, and National Religious Partnership for the Environment.
Others present included Presbyterian Church (USA), Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism, Sadhana Hindu and Sojourners.
Move forward
“We urge the EPA to move forward with the proposed standards for existing power plants so that we can reduce carbon pollution as quickly as possible to address climate change, protect human health, and care for all of Creation,” said the Rev. Sally Bingham, founder and president of IPL.
Karen Leu of the Greater Washington, D.C., affiliate of IPL, said:
“People in our religious communities understand that climate change is real and are heart-sick about the suffering it causes our neighbors close to home and around the world. With today's delivery, we're giving Administrator McCarthy not only over 10,000 comments from the faith community, but abundant hopes and blessings for the EPA to take decisive action and limit climate pollution.”
"The diversity of faith communities actively advocating for the Clean Power Plan is both broad and strong,” said the Rev. Stacy Martin, director of National Policy & Advocacy for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. “While we sometimes come at the issues of climate change and clean air from different religious purviews, we share a common moral call to care for the planet in order to serve our most vulnerable neighbors, and future generations."
Important step
The General Board of Church & Society had submitted a comment to McCarthy that described the proposed rule as “an important step for the United States to meet its responsibility both to communities living in the shadow of polluting power plants at home and to the global community as together we work to reduce emissions and curb the effects of the unfolding climate crisis.”
“The proposed rule is an important step in what must be a multifaceted, multisectoral approach to confronting the climate crisis,” said the comment, which was signed by Henry-Crowe and Hill. “As we seek to reduce carbon emissions, we must also ensure care for and be attentive to the particular needs of low-income consumers and communities heavily dependent on fossil-fuel-extractive economies.” “Many in the Christian community are excited and hopeful about the Clean Power Plan,” offered Tricia Bruckbauer, program director for Creation Justice Ministries. “We view clean air as a gift from God, and advocate for the right of all God’s people to breathe freely.”
Editor's note: You can read the comment submitted to the Environmental Protection by the General Board of Church & Society at “Proposed Carbon Rules.”
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Advocacy group calls for boycott of settlement products
WASHINGTON (UMNS) — Boycott of settlement goods
United Methodist Kairos Response issues call
United Methodist Kairos Response (UMKR) has announced a global boycott of six product lines produced in illegal Israeli settlements of the West Bank.
These are:
- Ahava cosmetics,
- Keter plastic products,
- Royalife linens,
- Ram Quality toys,
- SodaStream drink machines, and
- Smart-Fab disposable fabrics.
These products are falsely labeled “Made in Israel” and sold in the United States by stores as diverse as Williams Sonoma, Home Depot, and Toys R Us, according to UMKR, which adds that they often they carry the stores’ own brand names.
U.S. tax exemptions
All these products are granted U.S. tax exemptions intended to stimulate trade between the United States and Israel. Instead, they help sustain illegal settlements Israel has built in the occupied territories, which the United States has criticized as an obstacle to peace.
They help sustain illegal settlements Israel has built in the occupied territories.
These imports also undercut products made by American firms that obey U.S. environmental and labor laws.
Israeli laws to protect workers and the environment are not enforced in the settlements, where companies frequently pollute farmland and exploit workers.
The boycott campaign follows the United Methodist denomination’s call on all nations to prohibit imports of settlement goods. This call was part of a formal resolution adopted by the church at its General Conference in 2012. It follows many years of United Methodist resolutions condemning Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land.
Urgent plea
The Rev. Alan Kinney, chair of the UMKR Boycott Committee, said:
Boycott is one of the steps urged by Palestinian Christians, who are struggling to keep the Church alive in the Holy Land. Thousands of indigenous Christians who deal daily with Israeli oppression have signed an urgent plea to churches of the world, asking for tangible actions to end the occupation. Boycott, which has been used by churches in other situations of injustice, is a nonviolent, moral response to their request.
The UMKR boycott does not apply to goods produced by companies within Israel’s internationally recognized borders. It only targets products made in illegal settlements.
For more information, visit the Kairos Response website at www.kairosresponse.org or contact info@kairosresponse.org.
Editor's note: United Methodist Kairos Response is a global grassroots movement in denomination responding to the urgent call from Palestinian Christians for action to end Israel’s occupation. With its interfaith partners, it seeks a just peace for all the people of the Holy Land.
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History of Hymns: 'Let All Things Now Living' by C Michael Hawn, DALLAS (UMNS) — "Let All Things Now Living"
by Katherine K. Davis,
The Faith We Sing, No. 2008
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Katherine K. Davis
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"Let all things now living
a song of thanksgivingto God the Creator triumphantly raise,
who fashioned and made us,
protected and stayed us,
who guides us and leads to the end of our days.
God’s banners fly o’er us;
God’s light goes before us,
a pillar of fire shining forth in the night,
till shadows have vanished
and darkness is banished,
as forward we travel from light into light.*
Sometimes a hymn begins as another musical genre. Such is the case with “Let all things now living.” Katherine Kennicott Davis (1892-1980) published this text as an anthem in 1939 under the pseudonym of John Cowley. She wrote the single stanza above earlier, perhaps in the 1920s, to fit the Welsh tune, THE ASH GROVE.
Katherine Davis was born in St. Joseph, Missouri. Following her high school education, she studied at Wellesley College (BA, 1914), where she won the Billings Prize for Composition, named after the New England composer, William Billings (1746-1800), usually regarded as the first choral music composer in America. Following further study at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Ms. Davis returned to Wellesley College to teach piano and music theory. Like many American composers during the twentieth century, she studied in Paris for an interval with the famous composition teacher and conductor Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979). The list of Boulanger’s students included luminaries such as Elliott Carter, Aaron Copeland, Philip Glass, Daniel Pinkham, and Virgil Thomson.
During the 1920s, Katherine Davis taught at two schools, Concord Academy (1921-1923) and Shady Hill High School (1923-1930) in Philadelphia. She suffered a breakdown in her health and shifted her efforts to composing, resulting in more than 800 vocal and instrumental compositions, including shorter pieces, operas, and cantatas. As a music educator, she edited the “Concord Series” of music books for the E.C. Schirmer Company. Ms. Davis is best known for her popular Christmas song, “The Little Drummer Boy” (1941), originally known as “Carol of the Drum,” a song made famous by the Von Trapp Family and the recording by the Harry Simeone Chorale (1958). Simeone’s recording went to the top of the Billboard charts. The song was recorded by a number of vocal artists, perhaps most famously as a duet by Bing Crosby and David Bowie in 1977.
“Let all things now living” is most popular during the Thanksgiving season. The text can be read in different ways. The final line of the first stanza – “as forward we travel from light into light” – might reflect confidence in the ultimate progression of human endeavors for the better under God’s providence, an extension of eighteenth-century Enlightenment thought, and nineteenth-century philosophers John Stuart Mill (1806-1973) and Herbert Spencer (1820-1903). This certainly would have been consonant with early twentieth century New England liberal philosophical thought. Mission hymns of the era employ a similar idea reflected as a Christian extension of Manifest Destiny. Drawing upon the Exodus narrative, the first stanza alludes to the “pillar of fire shining forth in the night” (Exodus 13:21-22). Appearing between world wars, such optimism might have seemed premature.
Another way to view this text would be from an eschatological perspective as seen in the phrase, “who guides us and leads to the end of our days.” The direction of the Christian life is ultimately consummated in heaven. The beauty of hymn texts is that they may be read in several ways.
The second stanza, much like hymns on creation for over 200 years, reflects on the natural created order, “stars,” “sun,” “hills and mountains, the rivers and fountains,” and “ocean.” All creation joins with humanity to raise a song of “glad adoration” to God.
Much of the popularity of this hymn comes with its paring with the buoyant Welsh folk tune, THE ASH GROVE. The roots of this melody may be found in the eighteenth century. Arrangements published in England in the early and mid-nineteenth century increased its popularity. The tune had been in limited use in evangelical hymnals in the United States with the text “The Master hath come” by Sarah Doudney (1841-1926). Davis’s use of the tune in her 1939 anthem brought the tune to broader denominational prominence in the United States.
Many of Ms. Davis’s anthems and arrangements have been a part of many music libraries in congregations across the United States. Three of her hymn tunes were included in The Methodist Hymnal (1966), though none were continued in The United Methodist Hymnal (1989).
Many of her works were for church use. Her own denominational journey included her upbringing as a Congregationalist, followed by affiliation with Christian Science, finally becoming an Episcopalian. Failing eyesight made it impossible for her to compose after 1977. Following her death in Littleton, Massachusetts, in 1980, her will provided that the royalties and fees from her many compositions go to the Wellesley College Music Department for the support of instrumental music instruction.
**1936, 1966 E.C. Schirmer. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
C. Michael Hawn is University Distinguished Professor of Church Music, Perkins School of Theology, SMU.
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| Looking ahead Here are some of the activities ahead for United Methodists across the connection. If you have an item to share, email newsdesk@umcom.org and put Digest in the subject line. Advent Sunday, Nov. 30- Wednesday Dec. 24 Celebrate the start of the Christian year and prepare for Christ's birth with:
Tuesday, Dec. 2 #GivingTuesday — The United Methodist Board of Global Ministries will match up to $1 million in giftsmade online to any project through The Advance, the designated giving program to United Methodist-supported mission and ministries. See resources. You can see more educational opportunities and other upcoming events in the life of the church here. |
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