Author Archives: jledmiston

The opportunity to read with total abandon (i.e. I’m not reading for a sermon or class) is so sweet. I’m reading/have read:

• The Song of Significance by Seth Godin (thanks Landon Whitsitt)
• Sustainability Through Soccer: An Unexpected Approach to Saving Our World by Leidy Klotz (thanks Leidy Klotz)
• Awe: The Transformative Power of Everyday Wonder by Dacher Keltner (thank you Sandra Smith)

Each is mind-blowing in its own unique way but they have common themes about life’s purpose and transforming the world. Some of my favorite things to ponder.

As I head into the second month of sabbatical, traveling as lightly as possible, I’m obsessed enough with Awe to carry it in my backpack even though it weighs a solid three pounds. I love this book. The author, Dacher Kelter was a consultant on the Pixar movie Inside Out and he teaches “meaning of life” classes at Berkeley. I strongly recommend this book.

Wonder, the mental state of openness, questioning, curiosity, and embracing mystery, arises out of experiences of awe. In our studies, people who find more everyday awe show evidence of living with wonder. They are more open to new ideas. To what is unknown. To what language can’t describe. To the absurd. To seeking new knowledge. (Chapter 1)

As I sit in the sun and read, I’m noticing new awe-inspiring things. The hummingbirds have returned to our balcony – even though we haven’t put our feeder out this summer – and they seem to hang in the air longer, sometimes right in front of my face. The other birds seem more interesting too. There are five bunnies that live in the woods where I walk our dog every evening and they are beautiful as they freeze in place, hoping Spense doesn’t notice them. (He doesn’t.) The view outside my favorite coffee shop is alive with conversation and a most beautiful diversity of humans that either Harvard or UNC Chapel Hill would be delighted to matriculate.

All these books and thoughts speak to what I’m writing too. (It’s a book.) If you are so inclined, I ask for your prayers as I write this summer. Short blog posts are less intimidating.

Blessings to you as you consider the wonder that awe produces. More later in August.

Hi there. I’m Jan and I’m an evangelical Christian even though some people don’t include me in that cohort. I wrote about this in 2015 but would like to elaborate now that our siblings in the Southern Baptist Convention have removed our sister – the Rev. Linda Barnes Popham – and her congregation – Fern Creek Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky from their denomination. I feel deeply sorry about this – mostly for the Southern Baptists.

According to the National Association of Evangelicals website:

Evangelicals take the Bible seriously and believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. The term “evangelical” comes from the Greek word euangelion, meaning “the good news” or the “gospel.” Thus, the evangelical faith focuses on the “good news” of salvation brought to sinners by Jesus Christ.

• Evangelicals take the Bible seriously. Check. I take it so seriously that I even read the less familiar parts – in Greek and Hebrew.
• Evangelicals believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Check. Jesus has saved me, is saving me, and will save me.
• The term “evangelical” comes from the Greek word euangelion, meaning “the good news” or the “gospel.” Check. Again, I can read the Greek. My denomination requires it.
• The evangelical faith focuses on the “good news” of salvation brought to sinners by Jesus Christ. Amen and amen. I am a sinner in need of a merciful God and so are you. Also – if you read the Bible – you know that God doesn’t rank sin. My gluttony is no better or worse than your adultery. And yet we are called to confess, repent, and try to do better. Here’s the tricky part: when we do better then we invariably sink into the sin of Pharisee-ism. Dang it. We can’t win.

Do I believe in conversion? Absolutely. I’ve watched the hard hearts of mean people melt. I’ve seen people broken by addiction continue to recover. I’ve watched estranged family members come back together. We are drenched in sinful behavior and God makes it better. I want that for all people. I need it for myself.

Do I believe in Biblicism? Sure, but I also want to be clear. We don’t worship the Bible. The Bible is more than “the words of God.” We don’t believe God recited all the words (that would be Islam, my friends) and we acknowledge that humans wrote it (often using only consonants back in ancient Hebrew) and so there is room for interpretation. Also, there are no “original scrolls” that we can check to be sure we’re correct about abominations and how everybody was feeling about animal sacrifice. The oldest scrolls look like this and they were written on papyrus during the Second Temple Period (about 516 BCE–70 CE.) If you don’t know about the Second Temple, please read your Bibles. (Note: Moses didn’t write the Torah. If he did, there’s that tricky part in Deuteronomy when Moses died.) And I believe that the Bible is true – even inerrant in that it always points to the Truth. But it is not always scientifically or historically true. And – this is a serious suggestion – if you believe in scientific and historic inerrancy – please read your Bibles and note that the mustard seed is in fact not the smallest seed and Judas historically died in two different ways. This is not a problem. Jesus told parables which are stories he made up because he was a rabbi and that’s what rabbis do: they explain who God is through stories. (This also means there wasn’t a real Good Samaritan or Prodigal Son even though those stories are totally true. See?)

Do I believe in Crucicentrism? Yes, although I don’t ordinarily use that word. My theory of atonement is that God loved us so much that God would die for us and be raised for us. Because Jesus lives, so do we. And do I believe that people who don’t claim Jesus as Lord and Savior are doomed? Not. My. Role. I believe in a loving God (see above) who is just and I’m very glad I don’t get to judge who’s in and who’s out. Not worried.

Do I believe in Activism? Definitely. We are called to actively seek God’s will so that it will be “on earth as it is in heaven.” We are supposed to be like Jesus who touched lepers and bleeding people and even dead people. And the Spirit moves us to baptize eunuchs and heathens and include them in leadership.

A couple other things:

I am pro-life. I believe that the life of a minor child who’s pregnant is at least as valuable as the embryo or fetus growing inside her. I believe that children in refugee camps are at least as valuable as the unborn. I believe that women and non-binary people were created in the image of God, along with men. I believe that God not only loves us; God calls us to serve and lead.

How do I know this to be true? The Bible. And if God wants to call a murderer, a cheating twin, an adulterous king, a tax collector, multiple women shamed by their community, a blind beggar, or any of us – God gets to do that. Because only God is God. I trust that God calls all kinds of people we would probably not expect in leadership. It’s in the Bible.

So when anyone in the Church excludes those who don’t fulfill their own human understanding of who God is, who God loves, who God calls, it makes me nervous. I thank the LORD for having mercy and grace beyond measure. And I pray we’ll do better.

God bless the Southern Baptist denomination today. I think you got it wrong, though.

Image of the Rev. Linda Barnes Popham and this post is dedicated to Jeff and David. Happy 9th Anniversary, brothers.

Less than two weeks into my sabbatical, I see themes that pull these days together in holy ways. One can plan a sabbatical, a vacation, a wedding, a life and – as we all know – the unexpected always happens. I’m leaning into that.

After reading this article by Tish Harrison Warren, I discovered Andy Crouch who works for an organization I want to know much more about. They sound like my people.

Chapter 12 in Crouch’s new book is The Chain of People and he quotes my own worship professor from seminary – Horace Allen – who was so brilliant and lovely. (Horace lived in a train car in Boston.)

Each of us is only a couple chain links away from huge historic moments in world history. Only four generations/chain links before me were family members engaged in the U.S. Civil War. Just a few chain links before that were ancestors who took a ship from Ireland to Philadelphia who would later die in battle during the Revolutionary War.

But Horace Allen – according to Andy Crouch – taught that . . .

“all of us who read the Bible are just one generation away from the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. When we read the Bible, we are hearing of his life and the first-century church from those who were at most one or two steps removed from the ones who could personally describe, with the writer of the first letter of John what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands.”

Yes. We are connected more closely than we realize.

I didn’t plan this, but my sabbatical thus far has been about connecting with the people in the long chain of those who have made me who I am today. I had a meal with TBC’s best friend from age 8 and there is something about spending time with a young adult who grew up before your eyes that’s particularly special.

Today I zoomed with a couple whose wedding I will be honored to officiate in September and – when the bride was a toddler – I watched her and her sister in Arlington, VA while her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother (who was a member of the church I served) had a ladies’ lunch. The connections to this bride’s family will be with me for the rest of my life.

I spent a day in the Augusta County Historical Society offices in Virginia reading sermons that my 5th Great-Grandfather – David Turk Edmiston – would have heard sitting on a hard wooden bench in a church he chartered with several other settlers from Ulster, along with his wife and six children.

I’ve spent quality time with FBC and his oldest friend as we thanked God that they were raised in such an extraordinary place (Northern Virginia) with friends and neighbors from all over the world.

I’ve got other plans coming up to spend time with college friends, cousins, clergy colleagues and of course HH – who is the most essential link on my chain of people. God is teaching me how to help us thrive as the Church in these conversations – whether I’m planning for that or not.

We belong to each other. At least this is what God intends.

For all the missteps and heinous acts of the Church through the years, I still don’t know a better way to be a community than being The Church – at least as God calls us to be the Church. Although we have conflated “church” with stained glass windows and choir robes and even Bible studies, the Church – as God intends – is about defeating dehumanization and showing what God’s love looks like.

These are priceless days to relish such ponderings. Our connections make us who we are and there are so many other connections to make.

That’s all for now.

Image of a sculpture created with bike chains by Drew Evans.

I might be writing a couple posts this summer and I might not. Blessings to each of you and thanks for reading. In the meantime, check out blueminding.

Congregations flourish when we love people and use things.

Congregations die when we use people and love things.

I wrote those words in 2016 in this post and as I leave for sabbatical, I’m mindful that the Church I love often confuses what we are suppose to love and what we are suppose to use. People are created in the image of God. Things are created as tools for ministry. Jesus died for people. Jesus didn’t die for things.

[Note: I thought I made up that quote about loving people but using things but actually lots of folks from Drake (the rapper) to Spencer Kimball (the LDS leader) to these people said it too.]

Ministry is exhausting when we love things more than people, and I’d love to tell you that This Never Happens In Faithful Churches. However, I’ve known too many congregations who loved their cemeteries, windows, steeples, pews, church playgrounds, communion sets, rose gardens, fencing, front doors, pulpits, choir robes, parlor furniture, and history more than they’ve loved people.

Please believe me when I tell you that thriving congregations are the ones who love the people. All. The. People. The broken ones. The pale ones. The brown and black ones. The poor ones. The ones who don’t smell good. The ones with addictions. The ones with dementia. The ones with cancer. The ones with crooked teeth. The ones with no teeth. The ones with perfect hair. The ones who get around in wheelchairs. The ones who drool. The ones who don’t speak our language. The ones who snore in worship. The ones who swear. The ones who are terminally cranky. The ones we hate.

Some of us are confused. We use people instead of love them.

• We use the one or two people of color in our white congregation to show that we are diverse.
• We use the wealthy members who bail us out when there’s a financial shortfall.
• We use the young families who are burdened with “our survival.”
• We use the church staff to do the things we’re all supposed to do (e.g. pray, visit the sick, study the Bible.)
• We use nice people to perpetuate our bullying behavior. (They’re too nice to stand up to us.)
• We use weak people to maintain our control. (See above.)

I’m profoundly grateful for the privilege of taking a sabbatical this summer and I hope to return with a fresh soul. In the throes of summer, I hope we’ll find our love for God’s people fills our souls. Because loving things more than people leaves us empty and exhausted – especially in church.

The only Zelda I knew as a child was F. Scott Fitzgerald’s wife. Although I’m not really into video games, I understand many people love The Legend of Zelda (not Fitzgerald.)

In the third grade we moved to a neighborhood that – from the sky – would have looked like a boxy number 8. There were two loops each with four sides with a forest in the middle of each loop. This means that everyone’s backyard had a couple acres of woods behind their house.

One day while wandering in the woods behind our home I discovered an abandoned log cabin. I had discovered it. (The Doctrine of Discovery was already deeply embedded in my Western Christian psyche.) I was going to be an explorer because – obviously – I had a knack for discovering things.

Subsequently, my third grade birthday party had an Explorers’ Theme and – with my friends and homemade treasure maps – we “discovered” the cabin again and sat out there and made up stories about who built it and where we might put a sofa.

We still need explorers and discoverers, but not the kind who claim cabins and lands that actually belong to other people. We need storytellers who spark our imagination. We need curious people, artists, and dreamers.

Although Jesus didn’t say it, I believe that the kingdom of God is like a treasure hunt full of wonder and surprises and beauty. I imagine Jesus weeping over the dearth of wonder among his followers. I imagine Jesus slapping palm to face over those of us who are satisfied with the plain, the lifeless and the irrelevant. The Architect of all creation who designed The Victor Hugo Rose and peacock feathers and electric blue coral and the human vena cava and the beautiful brain of Shigeru Miyamoto must wonder why we squander our own God-given creativity.

If one more person suggests we try a bake sale fundraiser, I think I might lose it. We can do better.

God created us to grapple with ideas and try out new paths and be curious. But we have become People Who Settle for less. We elect political and religious leaders who are not passionate about How The World God Made Can Be Different. Instead we choose People With Pulses or People with Money. Instead of finding questions to be thrilling opportunities to get to know God better, we fear failure.

I thank God today for Shigeru Miyamoto – the 70 year old creator of The Legend of Zelda and other games that our children and grandchildren have grown up on. He has been named – officially – “A Creative Fellow” (2015) and A Person of Cultural Merit (2019). I have no idea what his spiritual life is like. But I have no doubt that God rejoices in how Mr. Miyamoto has used his gifts.

This is a lovely article about The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. We need more “curiosity-rewarding” and less rote. Or as the articles writer offers – as a hope for his own child:

May we “remember this — the feeling of a world that feels lifted, not collapsed; conquerable, not corrupted; joyful, not terrifying.”

There is a kingdom, a kindom, a reign of God that is beyond our wildest imagination. And it’s very good. Alleluia.

(Note: there are no spoilers in this post.)

Rebecca Welton is my favorite.

Billionaire Owner of AFC Richmond, ex-wife of The Devil, imperfect godmother of Nora, perfect daughter of Deborah, and BFF of Sassy and Keeley. Love her.

It occurs to me – as we who love Ted Lasso have observed – that Rebecca has finally come into her blessed bad-@$$ery and we in the Church have plenty to learn from her. Conflict avoidance is one of our most destructive sins. Niceness is our most destructive tyrannies. We need to be more like Rebecca.

Examples from Rebecca’s life:

When she needs a moment to discern what’s really happening, Rebecca says, “I Need To Reapply My Lip Liner. Men Don’t Know What That Means And Women Understand It Requires Time And Focus.”

When choosing a team: “A Bit Of Advice For Being A Boss. Hire Your Best Friend.”

When she sits in a room full of greedy rich old men hearing a pitch to make more money while ruining the lives of everybody else, “Are You #%*! Joking?”

Here’s what channeling Rebecca might look like in Church World:

When the elders are afraid to fire a beloved organist who comes to worship drunk every Sunday morning: “Sorry but we can’t have you on staff no matter how perfectly you can play Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in E minor as long as you smell like you’ve been beaten by a bung flogger.”

When a church bully is caught spreading false information about the pastor: “You can either support the leaders or you can try to destroy them. You can’t do both. Which will it be?”

When a long time church member can’t let go of the fact that the new carpet color is not her favorite: “Jesus didn’t die for this bloody carpet. Let it go. Here’s the sign-up sheet for volunteering at the shelter.”

We are doing our congregations no favors by refusing to taking a literal or figurative Power Pose in the name of Jesus to stand up to destructive forces in our congregations. It’s okay – and holy – to speak faithful words in the presence of evil. It’s our calling to shed light on darkness. It’s life-giving to stand up for those who are persecuted for wanting to address dysfunction.

I love Rebecca. We can learn from her.

Image of the actor Hannah Waddingham as Rebecca Welton teaching Nate and Keeley a Power Pose.

“My job doesn’t give me a sabbatical. Why should you get one?”

Yes, it’s an enormous privilege to receive time when you can step away from the everyday rigors of one’s vocation and do a deep dive into spiritual reflection and rejuvenation. Sabbath is a commandment – not a suggestion – for many people of faith and a sabbatical is a Biblical principle meant to give even the fields a rest.

Especially in professional ministry, sabbath time is not guaranteed (you wouldn’t believe how many people die on the pastors’ “day off”) and working 46 weekends a year plus five-day work weeks can chisel down one’s soul.

I wish everyone got a sabbatical.

If a professional minister is effective, they are serving in daily tasks (unending administration, random duties, shepherding God’s people in random ways), occasional tasks (weddings/funerals/special services) and global tasks (the big picture/the Vision/the Lens through which do Everything in the name of God.) The burdensome privilege of being a spiritual servant to a congregation and community is a lot. There are few vocations like it, if you ask me.

On June 1 I begin my sabbatical. I am trying to do sabbatical better than I’ve done it before.

First sabbatical in 2008 – Had cancer surgery and spent 12 weeks in recovery. (Not really a sabbatical, so my congregation generously offered another one a year later)

Second sabbatical in 2009 – Got a Lilly Grant and did some meaningful things, but was also still a spouse and mom, so much of that time was spent including them in travel, making sure they were having fun, etc. (This was the topic of subsequent therapy conversations regarding why I tend to ignore my own needs for the sake of others. #Women)

Third sabbatical in 2023 – Taking June 1-August 31 away, and by “away” I mean I’m shutting down my cell phone, social media, and email. Can I do it? We’ll see, but it’s my plan and I have a burner phone (thank you PBP.) I might be spending time on the Amalfi Coast thanks be to God. I plan to talk with God, stare into space, read novels, drink coffee with people who don’t do church, and write a little.

A couple things:

• If you have a pastor, please encourage them to take a sabbatical at least every seven years for at least 3 months. Make it possible by helping to find funding, being a cheerleader to naysayers, and realizing that you can live without that person for a period of time.
• If you are a pastor “who can’t take a sabbatical” you are in denial, even if you have little kids, caregive a loved one, and are irreplaceable on your staff. Talk to your colleagues. We can help you.
• If you are a pastor near retirement age and you’ve never taken a sabbatical in your 30-50 years of ministry, do not tack “a sabbatical” onto the end of your years as pastor, expecting to be paid for those months you never took every seven years. That was your choice 99% of the time. I have multiple examples of churches in serious financial trouble because they paid their retiring pastor 3-12 months after they retired while also paying their replacement. Frankly, some congregations were willing to do this (pay off the pastor) just to get them to retire. Retiring colleagues: please don’t do this if you love your church.

And if you happen to serve as a teacher, plumber, farmer, counselor, sanitation worker, administrative assistant, financial advisor, social worker, artist, journalist, or any other profession and you are exhausted by your work to the point that you forgot why you love it, please take a break – even for a small chunk of time. Ask for help in making it happen. And help make it happen for someone else.

Thank you Presbytery of Charlotte for making it happen for this pastor.

Imagine of the Amalfi Coast which I hear is a lovely place to stare into space.

I hope Mothers’ Day was okay for you. Okay depends on several factors and while I didn’t love all the Mothers’ Day articles, I loved this one: Want to Make Your Mom Happy? Tell Her She Was Right by Jancee Dunn. It inspired me to ask my own kids what I advised that turned out to be true now that they are all in their 30s.

Here’s what they told me:

• Don’t trust a woman with no woman friends. I shared this with my sons when they started dating, but it also works for daughters, and it’s the only advice my siblings and I can remember that our own mother shared, except for “Sit up straight.” I have no opinion about men with no man friends but feel free to share if you do. And yes, this is very binary.
• The three most important life choices you will make are: Who or what will you worship? What will be your life’s work? Who will you spend your life with? All our kids mentioned this as Truth.
• You’re allowed to marry anybody you want as long as that person loves you as least as much as we (your parents) love you. This was first advised by my husband’s parents. It’s still an excellent word.
• Don’t wear pants that say “Juicy” on the butt. Care more about your personality and brain than your appearance.

The Dunn article mentioned motherly advice like “take first aid training” and “always be running toward something, not away from something.”

What advice did your mother offer that’s proven to be absolutely right? If possible, let your Mom know.

Image of my Mom. I wish I’d had more time to ask her for advice.

Many things matter more than numbers – especially in Church. And yet in order to be the Church God created it to be we need to pay attention to a few numbers:

• Numbers in terms of financial income and outgo (Are we spending beyond our means?)
• Numbers in terms of people participating (How many human connections are being made?)
• Numbers in terms of space capacity (How many people can fit into the sanctuary?)
• Numbers in terms of hours it takes to do something. (Are there enough hours for one person to do all expected pastoral duties?)

I previously wrote a post about the problems of magical thinking for congregations and in these post-covid days, magical thinking about numbers is also killing us.

• Too many of our congregations are unaware or in denial about their financial numbers believing that since they could afford a multi-staff team ten years ago, they can afford a multi-staff team today – when actually several positions need to be eliminated.
• Too many of our members believe they belong to a larger congregation than reality is revealing. “How big is your church?” is a common question among church people. The answer to that question is likely exaggerated.
• Too many of our sanctuaries look empty because they are. And yet church leaders don’t dare consider reconfiguring pews or removing them altogether in order to rethink how to use those spaces.
• Too many pastors are telling me that what they “signed up for” is not what they are actually doing in ministry. They imagined spiritually shepherding God’s people both inside and outside the walls of the church, but instead they are printing church bulletins, vacuuming the floors, and untangling church dysfunctions.

These are the things that happen when churches are living in survival mode and this article offers a clear explanation of what happens when we lead by fear and not faith.

Creating numbers to make us look good is a spiritual problem. And we are really good as making ourselves look good. We point out that ___ new people came to a Bible study or somebody died and left the church $____. But let’s look at the bigger picture.

How is our congregation making an impact in our communities, especially to those who are not already in our flock?

What do strangers see about how we treat each other?

Are we clinging to our history to the detriment of our future?

It all boils down to our congregation’s culture. Do we have a culture of spiritual growth, service, forgiveness, and grace? Or do we have a culture of fear, exclusiveness and survival?

As I prepare for Sabbatical this June 1- August 31, my prayer is that I can create an accessible tool for guiding congregations who want to be The Church God created us to be. (Please pray with and for me about this if you would.)

Our culture in post-COVID 2023 is totally different from our culture in the 1970s which is so different from our culture in the 1950s which is so different from our culture in the 1860s which is so different from our culture in the 1700s which is so different from our culture in the 1500s which is so different from our culture in the 1100s which is so different from our culture in the 300s which is so different from our culture in the 30s after the death and resurrection of Jesus. But we are clinging to so many things that Jesus never died and rose for.

By God’s grace, our numbers can swell again, but only if we are willing to see numbers in a new way. Stay tuned.

P.S. This article from The Washington Post might be of interest to those who say that Mainline denominations have lost members because of becoming too liberal.