Author: FUMCWP Admin
5 Things to Get Excited About!
A Story from Belfast by David Witwer
This past June, a group of leaders from our congregation traveled to Belfast, Ireland to learn from its history and how those lessons apply to our context and church community. Below is a story about this experience from one of our lay leaders, David B. Witwer, as well as some of his photos.
“These things have a long tail.” So said Judith Thompson, speaking about promoting victim-centered healing in the aftermath of the Troubles. As former Commissioner for Victims and Survivors, Thompson shared examples of how the legacy of violent conflict shaped contemporary events a generation later. It wasn’t hard for us to see how legacy shaped public spaces as well. Hours after arriving in Belfast, we stood on Shankill Road, one of the hardest-hit Protestant arteries, looking at pervasive scars. Hundreds of tiny Union Jack flags hung over our heads and building-sized displays lined each alley—ranging in tone from pictures of the dead to invectives equating Sinn Fein and ISIS. Forty-five-foot barricades still stood, barbed wire outlined churches, and back porches were fortified against projectiles. Here, history was bleeding.
While the Troubles were certainly an up-close affair, they were also dominated by a culture of silence. “Say nothing” was the rule, as Patrick Radden Keefe’s insightful book details. For some of the fighters, desensitization to violence and dehumanization became the norm. One teenage paramilitary member described the numbing process as “touching ice.” A culture of silence may feel familiar to those of us raised in the church, particularly non-confrontational flavors. Belfast, however, has shockingly transformed into a city with monuments and murals and graffiti everywhere you look, all trying to proclaim heritage and identity in the loudest way. In such a context, perhaps any sort of speech is progress, even if it’s often the wrong message or tone.
Perhaps what is most evident in Belfast is the principle that peace is never a completed process. Like John Lewis’ assertion that “democracy is not a state, it is an act,” Belfast reminds us of the fragility of peace and the way that past wounds are passed down through generations. More than one local told us that the conflict would be over once people their age died out, apparently forgetting the ways in which they inherited the fight from their own parents and grandparents. Peace must be chosen, and in Belfast peace has meant a power-sharing agreement where no one community may dominate the other. There are strong opposing poles, and a middle ground. The future, like the past, is not simple, a complication that pushes beyond binary thinking and zero-sum logic. To see these dimensions, however, you have to do what Bryan Stevenson’s grandmother told him: “You have to get close.”
Getting close was exactly what Gary Mason and others like him did. “Faith should be about bringing hope into a situation of despair,” he said. Churches like his own Methodist congregation as well as the monolithic Clonard Monastery were pioneers of dialog and connection. For years, even decades, they simply listened, offering their sacred spaces as neutral and common ground to foster improbable dialogs. They engaged the sufferings and fears of their enemies, who responded in turn with trust. This was how peace was brought to Belfast—not through political or military domination of the “right” side over the “wrong” one, but through dialogs that invested in a shared future.
Churches were at the center of this process, although not most churches. Some churches were decidedly part of the problem; for instance, one of the most vitriolic supporters of Protestant terrorism was the Reverend Ian Paisley. Most churches, however, tried to stay out of the thick of it. Peace found them, despite them. Churches have similar choices in the American landscape today. There are plenty of ways in which churches are inciting violence, and plenty of ways that churches are turning a blind eye. What ways remain for churches who feel called to be peacemakers? Who can be our teachers, whether individuals, communities, or even other cultures? How can churches prepare for and sustain uncomfortable work? These are some of the questions that I’ve returned from Belfast with, along with a solidified commitment for myself to work for peace in whatever ways I can.
Devotion: God and the Other Nations – A Prophetic Call to Anti-violence
Retirement Announcement
Devotion: King Jeroboam
Welcome to our first weekly devotion in the Amos Series. Over the next 9 weeks, the church will be reading together the 9 chapters from this prophetic book and unpacking it together in worship, in our Sunday School classes and in our small groups. If you haven’t joined a small group yet, it isn’t too late and one is starting this Sunday from 10-11am in between the services. If you haven’t already, please download the reflection journal with weekly guides to read ahead of time before arriving to worship each Sunday. It is our hope that you will read ahead of the Sunday’s sermon and come with your own insight, questions and convictions from your weekly study. Click here to learn more about this series!
During the pastoral weekly devotions, the pastors will be unpacking characters critical to the story of Amos. About 100 years before Amos started prophesying, the Northern and Southern Kingdoms had split, and Amos lived close to the borders in the middle of both Kingdoms. At the time of Amos, Jeroboam, son of Jehoash was the leader of the Northern Kingdom. He was considered a military leader who had won new territory and generated wealth. But, in the eyes of the prophets, he was one of the worst kings ever because his wealth had led to apathy and idol worship, which led to injustice and the neglect of the poor.
Let’s learn a little more about King Jeroboam and what his character might reveal for us. Jeroboam lived and ruled from 785-745 BCE, so roughly 40 years. He was the 13th King to rule over the ancient Kingdom of Israel in the 8th century. What immediately struck me as I sought to learn more about this character is not that he was particularly good or bad, as that could be decided by the perspective of the writers of history, but how one defines success. How would you define a successful ruler? Would success be defined as acquired wealth, more materialism, military power, increased natural resources or influence? Or would you define success in other ways? How, for instance, would you gauge a successful president or Prime Minister? How would one be a successful business owner, pastor or community leader? How do you define a successful marriage, family, raising of children and overall a successful legacy?
For me, the character of Jeroboam begs the question of defining success. Over the last 2 months I have had the privilege of facilitating a Parenting Class during the discipleship hour from 10-11am on Sunday mornings. The book we are reading and studying together really calls into question what raising a “successful” child really is. Is a successful child growing to adulthood about getting good grades, acceptance to the top schools, star team player, and eventually providing for themselves? Or is success about their character, their integrity, their ability to be kind and brave and ultimately to be a shining light of Christ’s love in this broken world? As you might guess, “success”, in the upside Kingdom is different than what was displayed by King Jeroboam in the 8th century. While the world may look at a military leader who has acquired much wealth and allowed everyone to worship their own gods as a “successful” leader, the book of Amos tells a different story. We will come to find out together that the “successful” ruling of Jeroboam lead to a divided nation that worshipped gods of their own choosing, paid little attention to the morality of how the wealth was acquired, created a hypocritical religious class of people and ultimately neglected the poor. And so, it didn’t take long for God to use the prophet Amos to speak a convicting truth to the people under his leadership and not more than 40 years later were they conquered by an even more evil and brutal enemy, the Assyrians.
My prayer for us today as we make this holy word a part of our own story is to begin asking the questions about success.
- Do the leaders in your life exemplify success that is of God’s Kingdom, or the Kingdom of this world?
- As you look back on your life and evaluate success, has your definition changed and if so, why?
- Have there been things in your life that felt like a success in the midst of it, but later you learned had missed the mark?
- Can you look back and see things that felt like failure actually redeemed and restored by God’s grace that later seem like success?
May God add God’s blessing to the reading and praying through of this word.
Christ-like Servants Update
Check out today’s update to hear about the ministries within our Christ-like Servants Pillar! To learn more and to get involved email Pastor Rachel at racheld@fumcwp.org.
Devotion: Manna
Half- Year Financial Update
Devotion: The Greyhound Bus
I want to tell you a story; so grab your morning coffee or afternoon cup of tea and see if you can picture where God was at work in this experience.
This past weekend I had a little adventure. One of my dear friends from seminary is getting ready to get married and once she gets married, she will move down to Florida to join her husband. In seminary, we had a Covenant Group of 7 women, all young United Methodists, all on either the deacon or elder track and we have seen each other through a lot. I was the first one of us to get married and the first to become a mother. Each of us has been at or in each other’s weddings and we have thrown countless showers in support of each other over the years even though I am in Florida, four are in North Georgia, one is in California, and one is in England. My seminary sister Brittany is the last of us to get married, and so the rest of us wanted to throw her a Bridal shower. We decided on having it in Alpharetta right outside of Atlanta and so began the quest of getting there at 8 months pregnant. I immediately vetoed driving myself 16 hours this close to my due date and flying didn’t seem like a possibility either, so I bought a roundtrip bus ticket on the Greyhound.
Yes, you read that right. I headed out Friday morning and came back at 1:30am on Sunday morning. People thought I was CRAZY! Maybe you do too while reading this but let me tell you all of the ways Jesus showed up on the Greyhound bus this past weekend.
First, this idiot pastor of yours thought there was such a thing as “long-term” parking at the Orlando Greyhound station. (I clearly didn’t do my research). When I arrived Friday morning and realized that there were only Tow-Away zones on the property, I immediately began to pray for a solution. I found a woman in an official uniform and explained the situation. I told her that this was my first time at Greyhound (obviously) and did she know of another property within walking distance that I could park at? I explained that my husband is a pastor and we had two small kids and so coming to pick me up in the middle of the night early on a Sunday morning wasn’t ideal. She stopped what she was doing, asked me where my car was parked and wrote down my plate details. Then she told the Security Guard, while pointing at my car, “You see that black car with the Florida plates and the missing hubcap, don’t tow it. This pregnant woman will be back for it early Sunday morning!”
I was in awe of this and asked her how she was able to pull such strings and she said, “Sweetie, I’m the manager here!”
…Okay, thank you Jesus!
When it was time to board, I vigilantly watched my blue suitcase to make sure it got loaded onto the bottom of the bus, which it almost didn’t, but at the last minute a handler retrieved and threw it on right before we backed away from the station.
…Okay, thank you Jesus!
I managed to secure a seat all by myself and keep a seat to myself which gave me much more room than I would have gotten even on an airplane. And every time we made a stop and more people got on, I silently prayed, “don’t pick the seat next to me, please” and for 8 hours there and back, I kept a seat to myself.
…Okay, thank you Jesus!
When I returned to Orlando early on Sunday morning, low and behold, my car was still there, but right beside it was a giant branch that had fallen and broken apart and had I parked one spot over, would have cracked my windshield.
…Okay, thank you Jesus!
I share this story with you because I saw God show up a whole lot more this past weekend because I was in an uncomfortable situation. While I will choose faster travel means in the future, I marveled at the opportunity it presented me to see a different part of God’s people. Don’t get me wrong, I have traveled extensively across Europe and have always been open to new adventures. I usually travel with others though and never at 8 months pregnant. What God reminded me so clearly this weekend is just how much God loves His people. Not just the people I interact with at First United Methodist Church of Winter Park or my children’s school or in the Central Florida region. God loves the Haitian man that sat behind me and the man with face tattoos and the woman with a broken cell phone and the family who had to carry their belongings in a plastic bag. God loves me as much as God loves them. They may never have other means or resources to be able to travel as I do, but they are no less light bearers in this world. The woman from New York who was trying to get to Brunswick who had been on a bus for 30 hours offered me part of her meal because she could see I am pregnant. You see, God’s light and grace is all around us if we have the courage to look into its eyes and see the face of Christ.
What I am beginning to see more and more, is that the rest of the world does not live like you and me. Most of us are living in a privileged state and comfortable with our resources and means. This is not a state of judgment, only observation. And I would say that when we live with means, we need experiences like I had this weekend to be reminded about the vastness and wide diversity of God’s love. I think there is also something to be said about when we are uncomfortable or in less than comfy situations, it CAN open us up to seeing God at work in ways we never expected.
And so my prayer for you and my challenge for those in this faith community is to never turn down the opportunity to be in less than ideal situations because, in my experience, that is when God shows up in mighty ways. If you don’t believe me, look at a majority of the stories of transformation in Scripture and you will see a God that came to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. I believe Jesus came to shake things up in our lives with people not like us to show us just how high, how deep and how great is His love for us…for all of us.
…Okay, thank you Jesus!
August Sermon Series: Overview
Watch this update to learn more about our upcoming sermon series on the Book of Amos from Pastor David! For more information about how to join a small group during this series, email info@fumcwp.org.