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Soul Force on MLK, Jr. Day
Soul Force on MLK, Jr. Day
Lory Beth Huffman
Senior Pastor
As I reflect on the life of Martin Luther King, Jr., while watching it snow I never cease to be amazed at what a brilliant wordsmith he was. Part of the power and influence he had in moving a nation forward towards racial equality came from his masterful use of words to convey powerful ideas. Many of his ideas we can only aspire to because we don’t seem to have the will to actually achieve them although we could if we truly desired. I wish I could put words and ideas together that would have a fraction of the impact that he did.
While I am still trying to understand and make sense of what is happening in our country today and while I am genuinely trying to comprehend what is on the hearts of friends, colleagues and fellow citizens who are expressing their concerns through violent and disruptive actions, I admit I am struggling. I recognize that there is a wide gambit of perspectives being expressing right now, but what I am specially reflecting on today are those that believe what happened at the Capitol 2 weeks ago was ok and who continue to make plans that include something more than peaceful protest and expression of 1st Amendment right differences of opinion. When in the 21st Century did it become ok to build gallows on the lawn of the Capitol Building? When did it become ok in the name of Jesus Christ to bash in windows, storm and overwhelm uniformed officers in order to kidnap some of the highest elected officials in our country in order to prevent the peaceful transfer of power in our country?
I preached yesterday about the strange sense I have that we have lost our Due North on our collective compass. Instead of having a moral and ethical guide that we could all orient to and guide our decisions, it feels like individuals and groups can determine their own Due North that suits the outcomes they most desire. What one person says has crossed a line, another says is the pursuit of freedom or justice. We have lost our collective, agreed upon sense of what is right and what is wrong, what is ok and what is not ok. This crosses all religious and political stripes.
What breaks my heart most about this is that we Christians have no excuse. We have been given this moral compass with a clear Due North and yet we are all a bit lost. I watched a video yesterday of some of the people who broke into the Senate Chamber on January 6th and wrote on VP Mike Pence’s pad of paper at his chair “It’s just a matter of a time, we are coming to get you.” and then stood up and led a prayer in the name of Jesus Christ thanking God for helping them do what they did that day. It chilled me to the bone. In no way was God smiling down on the events of January 6th. Which takes me to a powerful quote from MLK, Jr.
“In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.”
–Martin Luther King, Jr., “I have a Dream” Speech, August 28, 1963
What a powerful call to anyone striving to seek genuine freedom or justice to do so in a Christlike manner. I love the phrase “meeting physical force with soul force.” Where is the soul force when you need it? I imagine the soul force would help us to reestablish Christ as our Due North on the collective compass. (I can almost see a bevy of super heroes maybe named Michael, Gabriel and Mary intervening to show us how NOT to drink from the cup of bitterness and hatred – but that might be too much Netflix talking.). MLK, Jr. used the term Soul Force to mean countering hatred with love and letting love be the motivating power behind our actions.
I truly don’t know what the solution is for getting out of this divisive mess we are living in right now. I pray that the violence is behind us and that no one else gets hurt but I’m nervous that might not be the case for a while. I pray that those who are upset will feel like they have been truly heard. But I also pray that truth will prevail and where there is confusion, misinformation, and hatred that is fueling this movement, the tank will become empty. I pray that we can find a way to deescalate this situation. I pray that we can realize that breaking the law has consequences. Just like we believe accountability is an important aspect of our spiritual practice to follow Jesus more closely, accountability is necessary when laws are broken and people are killed and hurt.
It pains me to be reflecting on these thoughts today instead of something a bit more optimistic. But as a spiritual leader, I cannot be complicit with silence while I watch a complete dissolution of our spiritual, moral and ethical fabric, that which has held us together as a society for 200 years unravel.
I invite you to join me in creating a “Soul Force” to do a couple of things. Pray like you have never prayed before for a path forward that ultimately leads to unity and peace for our country. Model for others that even if you disagree or are disappointed, we are capable of accepting both differing ideas and defeat with grace and dignity when our perspective is not the majority. Finally, join me in realigning our Due North back to the moral compass that Christ outlined in the Gospels – love and not hate should prevail above all else. Jesus’ kind of love is defined as serving others instead of serving self, caring for those who need help, and recognizing that everyone has value and is invited to the table. Everyone.
Please join me in prayer,
Lory Beth
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A Covenant Prayer in the Wesleyan Tradition
I am no longer my own, but yours. Put me to what you will, place me with whom you will. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be put to work for you or set aside for you, Praised for you or criticized for you. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and fully surrender all things to your glory and service. And now, O wonderful and holy God, Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, you are mine, and I am yours. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, Let it also be made in heaven. Amen.
* Contemporary Version, used in Crossroads worship service on Jan. 3, 2021
Dreaming of a White Christmas
Dreaming of a White Christmas
Lory Beth Huffman
Senior Pastor
It’s long past midnight and the baby has been born. As I settle into Christmas Day during the quiet of the night, I am watching it snow outside my living room window. I know. A white Christmas has nothing to do with welcoming the Christ child. But for this southern girl, I can only remember one other white Christmas in my adult life. It’s special. We sing about it and long for it (in the south) knowing every year it’s a long shot.
Feeling the exhaustion of one of the most important seasons of the church (even during COVID) brings a “good” kind of tired with it. And before the time with family and presents and food and naps can begin, I always have to transition from the theological and physical work of the church to a place of rest. It’s interesting to me in a year that has delivered blow after blow and during a season of my ministry that has been personally draining, this happens. A small little thing that causes me to stay up late, sit in the peace and quiet of the parsonage, listening to all of the strange creaks and moans that the house makes trying to keep us warm in this bitter cold snap, while I watch it snow.
And in that moment, I think of Mary. After all is said and done, the excitement of the moment has transpired, the animals have settled back down, Joseph is taking a cat nap, and even baby Jesus is resting contently in her arms, I imagine her sitting there in the quiet. Listening to the sounds of the barn, unfamiliar to her, but maybe the sound of sleeping animals is comforting. A sense of not being alone. The peace and quiet that is probably balm to her weary spirit settles upon her. No more shepherds or angels or curious residents at the inn. Just Mary, her family and her prayers, maybe the sound of some snoring animals and some extra special light from the bright star in the sky. I imagine she was doing some more “pondering in her heart” the events of the past few hours and months.
As I ponder a few things in my heart, I am filled with a deep sense of peace. This is much appreciated because the roller coaster that has been 2020 has not seen much peace, or it has been fleeting at best. I pray for each of you a little bit of time this day to pause and absorb the full scope and meaning of the birth we celebrate. That even if there is no snow wherever you are reading this from, there is some peace and quiet so you can hear the still quiet whisper from God that is trying to remind you that it’s all for you. This incarnation, this in-breaking of God into this chaotic world- is all for you. And that God longs to bring you a sense of peace to calm your fears and restore your spirit this Christmas.
Merry Christmas my friends. May the peace and quiet of a blanket of snow find you this day.
Lory Beth
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Stories to Warm Your Heart
Stories to Warm Your Heart
Lory Beth Huffman
Senior Pastor
Happy Thanksgiving Eve. As we enter into the Holiday season and make our adjustments for how we will be celebrating with family this year, I know this comes with it some grieving at not being able to gather or do the things we long to do. My family will not be gathering together in one place this year but we are trying to figure out how to play a few games via Zoom and still laugh and spend time with one another.
I figured that in this crazy time of continual adaptation you might like to hear about a beautiful adaption BUMC made this year. Because we could not do our Annual Fall Bazaar like we normally would have, we instead did a winter clothing drive. Stacey Harris chaired this project up and she has shared with us her story of last Saturday’s events. Thank you to each one of you who donated clothes to make this happen. Listen to her stories- it will warm your heart and remind you of how much you have to be thankful for.
Happy Thanksgiving,
Lory Beth
Winter Clothing Drive
Back in the summer when it looked like the Bazaar was not going to happen, I knew in my heart that I had to get some type of coat/clothing drive together for the community. Working at Hospitality House I also knew we were not going to get to have our annual coat drive at the end of October because of COVID and our safety protocols. I was so thrilled when I took the idea to Lory Beth and she said let’s present to Church Council as an option since the Bazaar will be cancelled. After much discussion the Council gave me their blessings to do the Winter Clothing Drive. So my little team (Lynn Dobson and myself) went to work. I came to each drive thru blessings collecting the items and Lynn each Thursday would show up to fold, sort and pray over each piece of clothing. As the weeks went on we outgrew our space and expanded. I would come by and set out more racks and hangers. I sent out an email to all the social workers/guidance counselors at the schools and talked with the coordinators with Hospitality House and Hunger and Health Coalition about signing people up by appointment. However, the best way we got most of our sign ups was over the past two weeks I put flyers in the food boxes that we at Hospitality House and Hunger and Health Coalition were handing out reaching the people who really needed this clothing drive the most. These were not the people in the community that we normally help from the school social workers from the bazaar. These were new people who didn’t even know how to find our church and I had to email them directions. These were some who would have probably been too intimidated to have even walked into the bazaar because of how massive our church is. But this winter clothing drive was a small setting with just a few people with lots of clothes. Before the drive church members kept asking me if I was going to give people a limit on what they could get but I didn’t have too and I knew that. They all said “Thank you” over and over because they were so appreciative for what they got. Now for just a few of the stories: We gave clothing away to 75 people.
A single mother shopped for her son who had one pair of pants that fit before the drive. She kept washing them every night so he could wear them clean the next day. This mother also normally got the boy’s coat from the school social worker who comes to the bazaar and when he gets his new coat for that year she wears his old one for herself. She was thrilled when the counselor called her from the school and told her that she could come this year and get not only his coat but clothes for the whole family. She works in food services so money has been tight.
One of our regular guys that eats Thursday night meals with us that lives in the woods came shopping. He got a pair of pants, a coat, one shirt and two hats. He told me that he is going to go to Florida to his Grandma’s because it’s just too cold up here.
“A little 18 month girl got a Carthart coat just like her daddy’s and bib overalls to match. She was one happy little girl.”
One woman of a large family signed up with 8 in the family but that was 8 kids (2 sets of twins) and 3 adults in the home. She had a death in the family this week and was grieving but still came because she said “you have no idea how bad we need clothes.” The kids ranged from 2-18. We helped her go down her list she had so that she made sure she got what everyone needed.
We had two single mothers come in together just trying to make ends meet. The look on the little girl’s face when she found the jacket she wanted and then the mom saw that it was brand new made it even better. My daughter, Maddey, and I almost started jumping up and down with the little girl. It amazed me how much joy I found in my heart when someone else found a coat they liked and put it on. This same mom after she got the kid’s clothes taken care of said “Now let’s go look for Mommy some clothes” and the little girl said “Yeah cause yours clothes has holes in them mommy.” The mom replied, “That’s because mommies wear the rags.” So I thought that I was going to lose it there and cry.
The afternoon was pretty quiet until I received an email from an older gentleman. His email was long, he couldn’t get to the church but was in desperate need of clothing . He just needed a couple of pairs of jeans, some t-shirts, and some sweatshirts. He had a coat. I asked if he could send me his sizes so I could make him up a bag and leave it for him to pick up later in the week. He replied back that would be great. In his email he told me he only had one sweatshirt that he has had for the past 6 years and has not had any new clothing from a retail store in years because he lives on a fixed income and that does not allow for things like that. However, we did not have any jeans his size because by this time it was 4pm and we only had 4 pairs of men jeans left. So I sent, Abbey, Scotty and Darrell (my children and their father) to Walmart to buy this man 3 pairs of jeans and a pack of t-shirts. We made him up a bag of sweatshirts from the table and he will have new clothes from a retail store. We emailed back and forth a couple of times and each time he would say thank you and blessings to you and hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving. He picked his new clothes up Monday afternoon from the church office.
This winter clothing drive was such a blessing to me and I did not have time for it. I am working 50 hours at my job each week, I am a single mom with three kids, two in middle school remote learning 3 days a week. This would have been very easy for me to say I am too busy; I don’t have time for this and no one would have blinked an eye to that. But God would have known I wasn’t too busy to do HIS work. It was laid on my heart for a reason. I never worried for a minute about the clothes getting donated, we had more than enough. I never worried about the setup, (thank you Tony Graham and Lynn Dobson), we had it set up completely in 4 hours. I never worried that I didn’t have but one volunteer on the afternoon shift. Thank you Anna Grace Anderson, you are an amazing young lady! I never worried about the people signing up it worked out perfectly. Only one time did we have the max 10 people in there. I didn’t hit my goal of 100 people clothed but 75 isn’t that far off. God had HIS hands all over this project from beginning to end.
-Stacey Harris
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