The Jesus Door

In my last post I referenced the choir door at First UMC that has the image of Jesus in it. Apparently, there is a consensus at this church that by revealing the "miracle", every "crazy in the country" would come through. Now, the Bible I've been reading tells me that that's who Jesus spent a lot of his precious time with. But more importantly is the implication one congregant made when she said, "You have no idea the good that door has done this church. It's really let us know Jesus is right here with us." That's right. Jesus is right here with us, but we are going to keep him locked up in a building (my paraphrase). I don't think that's right. So, without much further ado, here is the Jesus Door:







I don't have any of the appropriate filters for my camera, so the fluorescent lights have created a bit of a glare in these pictures that you don't actually see in person. So... the invitation is out. If you want to come see the Jesus Door, feel free!

If You're Looking For Jesus (We Have Him and You Can't Have Him!)

Last Sunday evening I was facilitating our current discipleship study, The Way of Prayer,and we were focusing on the chapter that deals with prayer by gazing. As we spoke about icons and other visual aids used in prayer, Catherine reveals that we have a door in the church with Jesus on it.

"Like a picture?" I ask, "Or in the grain?"

"It's in the grain," she answers, and I am intrigued. I have been at this church for four months now, and I haven't seen Jesus emblazoned on any doors.

The very next morning, when I came to the church I headed straight for the choir room, which is where Catherine claims the Jesus apparition is. As I stepped into the room, I squinted at the door, but couldn't see anything. So I reached out and flipped on the light switch for a little added illumination... and there it was! This wasn't something you had to stare at for a moment to see. This wasn't something that required imagionation. This was Jesus, bright as day, standing there in the wood of the door. He had a big burly beard, two eyes, a heart in the center of his chest, two hands at his side. Where the stigmata should have appeared were two pieces of some sort of adhesive tape. I wondered what had once been posted there.

I stood in breathless wonder. I had seen things like this in the paper and on the internet... but somewhere deep inside I wondered if those images were doctored. But this... this was real and it was awesome.

I later told another member of the church, Joan (name changed for privacy) that I had witnessed this door. I expressed how amazed I was and I said we should take a picture of it and let people see it.

"Ted was the the one who noticed it," she said, referencing an old pastor who had served a 13 year stint back in the eighties and early nineties and seems to be a saint to this church, "He told us not to tell anyone because we'd have every nut in the world coming in here."

I stood in dumbfounded silence. Joan is prone to exaggerations and had a tendency to put her own words into other people's mouths, so I couldn't be for sure if the pastor had actually said that, or if Joan was trying to persuade me not to reveal it. This is the same woman who does not want me help they poor when the come in, so who knows?

However, the implications of what she said was staggering: We have Jesus and we're going to keep him to ourselves! What is that about? No wonder American churches are dwindling. No wonder we can't grow. We have Jesus, but we won't share him with you. We'll beat you over the head with our Bibles and demand you live, act, dress, talk, and think like us... but Jesus is ours and until you conform to us, you can't have him.

So, if any of you out there is looking for Jesus, he's at First UMC in Welch, WV.

Returning to the Blogosphere

Things have been insanely busy lately; so, I have unfortunately neglected my blog. However, I am back to the blogosphere this week, and with nothing much to say!

As far as my ministry goes, I can’t help but feel that I have spent so much time in meetings talking about ministry that I haven’t been able to do ministry. It seems every week I am on the road (you can’t get anywhere from Welch, so everything’s a half-day drive). It doesn’t help that the West Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church seems to have realized in the last months of 2008 that this was supposed to be a year about evangelism and that we need to have lots and lots of workshops and retreats about it.

So, in September I was off to a two-day clergy mentoring retreat that was supposed to teach us “provisional members” how to respond to mentors while our mentors learned how to be mentors. (It was a 4-½ hour drive to get there.) I’m not sure what I was supposed to get out of it aside from two days lost from my ministry. As soon as that ended we began our “residency” program. This two-day event was slightly more beneficial (as far as “getting-to-know-you-sessions” can be). When that came to an end we had to jump into our cars and rush to Summersville for “Commission Possible.” This was an event that was really pushed by our Bishop and I desperately wanted to go, but that sermon wasn’t going to write itself. I opted to bail out of that event and made the long drive back to Welch so that I could “sermonate.”

I had a week to catch up on all that I could not accomplish during the week on the road and then I was back on the road to attend “Pastor’s School.” This was an event that I did get a lot of useful information out of, and I did thoroughly enjoy worship that I didn’t have to lead… but it was another week away from my church, and ultimately, away from my ministry.

Since then I have been in no less than two meetings a week and have been frantically filling out forms for our yearly charge conference…

And then, this past Thursday, we had to hit the road again for a district pastor’s meeting at which the District Superintendent gave us a parable about “fishermen” who talk about fishing, study fishing, think about fishing… but never actually fish. The question was, Are they really fishermen? It was a jab at us… if all we do is talk about evangelism, are we evangelists? I say no… but why pass out a parable that makes fun of people who meet to discuss “fishing”, when you yourself have called the meeting?


On a lighter note: The leaves are changing. A little east of Welch the leaves are at their peak, so I took a drive this weekend to enjoy them. Colorado had Aspen gold, which is beautiful… but that Aspen gold just doesn’t hold a candle in the wind to the bright vibrant colors of the East. Eye-popping red, fire orange, day-glo yellow… I have missed this palette of colors and am so grateful to see them again.

Today, I grabbed take-out for lunch and ate in the car as I drove through the county, taking in the scenery. I couldn’t help but think about the difference between living here and living in Denver. In Denver, I had to give a ten-digit phone number when I handed it out. Here, I give the last four digits. Currently West Virginia only has one area code (soon to be two) and Welch only has one prefix (not changing any time soon). In Denver I felt suffocated by the constant stream of traffic, noise, and buildings. Here, a good number of the buildings are abandoned and being overtaken by the forests and I can sit on my front porch for an hour and not see a car go by. In Denver, I had to climb in my car and drive over an hour to get to scenery that felt more at home (the mountains.) Here, I am always in the mountains. No matter where you are or where you are going, if you are in West Virginia, you have to navigate a mountain: you go up the mountain, down the mountain, around the mountain, over the mountain, and sometimes through the mountain… I love it!

Peace and blessings!