Tending the Home Fires

This newsletter is delayed this week because of this column, right here.

As often happens, when there is big news in the world, I’ve been struggling with what to write to you all.

I could discuss political theory, and economic reality this past year…but that seems off.
I could lament my own sadness…but that also seems off.

I think the most important thing for me the past few days has been to listen to some of you. And so, either online or on the phone, I’ve talked with many of you.

More than anything, I want you to hear this: However you are feeling about this election, please know that we want to be here for you. We want to walk with you through this time, and continue to be a place of spiritual respite and renewal.

For me, the most challenging thing in a time like this is:

To pause, to reflect, to listen, and not to immediately assume I know the answers as to *why* an election like this turned out the way it did.

The more we can do this, the more I am fairly certain the answer to “what happened Tuesday?” will be: “It’s complicated…”

So, let me tell you what I am listening to…

First, I hear great sadness from many of you. You had great hopes for this election, and for many of you, the candidate you supported did not win. And so, I am trying to listen to your anger, hurt, confusion…and all the complicated feelings in between.


Let me assert clearly that this election changes nothing about our underlying commitment to being open and welcoming to all at Kessler Park UMC.



Nothing has changed about our mission statement:

“We are a community of hope,
founded in faith,
fostering spiritual growth
and meeting human needs
by reflecting God's love
in Christ's name.”



That means: We intend to be a community hub, a place of refuge, safety, and connection, for all of our Oak Cliff neighbors.

That said, and in the midst of our own sorting out of feelings and values, I am also listening to what this election tells us about our neighbors, and our neighborhood.

And what I’m seeing simply confirms something complicated that I think we already knew: That our deep political, social divisions cut through every single neighborhood in America, including ours.



Our divisions are no longer in Balkanized “North/South” states, but in neighborhoods and blocks. Yes, some track more “Red,” and some track more “Blue.”

But the reality is: Like Jesus’ parable of the “Wheat and the Weeds,” both grow together. (Each side, I assume, might believe the other is the “Weeds”).

Take our own situation in Oak Cliff. Yes, on average, Oak Cliff tends to vote “Progressive.” And yes, for many years (well prior to my arrival with you) our Church has explicitly identified as “Progressive Christian.”

But I am meditating on the fact that ⅓ of those who voted at Kessler Park on Tuesday voted for Donald Trump. I’m neither defending or blasting their vote…just looking at that fact, and meditating on it.

I’m meditating on the fact that half of all American Latino Men voted for Donald Trump…and the fact that many of our Oak Cliff neighbors are Latino.



And I’m meditating on the fact that White People…and White Evangelical Protestants…continued voting in shockingly high numbers for the Republican ticket.
Fully 82% of all Evangelicals did.
Majorities of White Men and White Women did…and of all the other voting groups we can analyze, they are still the greatest group with the most far-reaching impact.

I’m thinking of all these things…not with any specific agenda in mind…or assumption about “what it means,” other than the one I said at the start:


“It’s complicated…”

and

“We’re divided…”

That may be unsatisfying for somebody wanting immediate answers.

Let me also say this: I remain convinced that our political system could well be in peril these next few years. Some of us have been saying this for past decade now, since the populist Trump-fever first emerged.



Well, these next two years…maybe even these next two months…will tell us a lot. I hope I am wrong in this fear. 

As for gratitudes…I am grateful that the white-hot political violence I feared after the voting…from either the Right or the Left…did not materialize. Political violence only leads to more violence.

That said, after sitting with all of the above for a few days, I return to some very basic thoughts I often remind you about.

I hope you’ve heard me preach enough to remember my view that the American President is the leader of a vast Empire. The American President is —whether they are an older White man, or a middle-aged Black Woman— like the Roman Emperor in our Bible stories.

I hope you’ve heard me say that modern Christians, especially Evangelicals, have become like the “religious collaborators” with that same Roman Empire…making deals with political power in OUR day. The parallels are stark.



I hope you remember my sermons when I reminded us:

 “Jesus is Lord, and Caesar is not.”

And I hope you remember my insistence that this is always true, regardless of who sits in the Presidential Chair.

No matter who won Tuesday, I was going to come here and remind you for all those truths…
That we are divided.
That our loyalty is, first, to Jesus.

Meanwhile, we’ll be starting our Fall Stewardship Campaign this week. Our theme this year is: “Keep the Home Fires Burning.”

Hopefully, you’ve also heard me use this metaphor about our ministries at KPUMC. We spent a lot of time “tending little fires,” stacking tiny pieces of kindling, and wood…hoping to slowly build great things from small beginnings.

Almost eight years ago, KPUMC leadership made commitment to focus on children and youth ministries.

That has meant many years of tending very small little stacks of twigs and branches…hoping that they burn brighter and longer.

Little home fires such as….

Wednesday Night Live (With more than 60 kids there, often!)
Younger visitors coming back to us in worship…
Five baptisms of children and infants this year…
Three weddings of couples…

All these things are examples of things that started as small, little ministries…tiny kindling, barely lit at all…but that are now starting to grow larger, warming, and more hopeful.

On Wednesday afternoon, I hugged the neck of several post-election, grieving Wednesday Night Live parents.

That same evening, Ken and I helped keep our sanctuary open for anyone who wished to pray or light a candle.

These small little connections may seem like nothing.
But they are our calling in difficult times. To do the little things that matter. 
To tend the home fires of our congregation and its ministries. To trust that God is still God, and we are still here…in the face of whatever comes in these next months and years.

It’s always easier to tear down than build up.
It’s always easier for the wind to blow out tiny campfire.

But we shall persevere here, through the Holy Spirit resting on us, and lighting our way.

God is still God.
You are still you.
Your Church is still your Church.

We’ll tend the home fires, in good times and bad, in hopes of nurturing a light that helps heal our broken world.

See you Sunday,

Eric Folkerth

Trust in Community at Stressful Times

We had about 500 Trick or Treaters at our house last night. Not a “preacher number.” It’s pretty much confirmed by our neighbors too. Over near Kessler Park UMC, our members there report similar —if not higher— numbers. Check out a pic of kids leaving our porch, and of a busy scene in front of a church member’s house. My theory is that both neighborhoods benefit from proximity to streets where Halloween is truly insane. (Swiss Ave, near our home. Colorado Blvd, near KPUMC)

But I’ve noticed a typical reaction both here in East Dallas, and from our North Oak Cliff church members.

Every year, those of us who get hundreds and hundreds of kids post about this online…only to have friends who don’t believe us.
Because, in *their* neighborhoods, they’re lucky to get ten kids. So, it seems impossible, almost like an…ahem…trick to claim that this many children visit your house at Halloween.

Nope. Not a trick. Really what happens, every single year. Last night both our neighbors two doors down, and on our porch, we hosted family members who hadn’t seen our neighborhood Halloween lately.
At both house, the reaction was, “I had no idea it was like this…”

Which gets me to our church, Kessler Park United Methodist Church.

With regularity, we get visitors who —like the new porch-guests who helped us with candy last night— tell us, “I didn’t know a church like this existed.”
That’s because in far too many evangelical churches where there is always a “trick.” In those churches, visitors are often lured in the door with a friendly vibe that eventually evaporates. In far too many churches, there is a hidden judgmental hammer —some narrow view of the role of women, or LGBTQ folks, or some dangerous Christian Nationalism— and suddenly those visitors realize “it was all a trick.”

And so, just like being in a neighborhood with no Halloween kids, if that’s the kind of church where you were raised, if that’s your own true experience of “church,” then of course it’s hard to imagine anything different exists.
So, I’m posting a screenshot of what we actually say on our website about Kessler Park UMC.
Here’s the section I thought of this morning, on the day after Halloween:

“We are an inclusive and diverse congregation, open to all people regardless of creed, color, culture, gender, and sexual identity.
We believe this, because we believe that God, and God’s word, calls us to this welcome.
WE MEAN IT WHEN WE SAY “ALL ARE WELCOME!” No tricks. No gimmicks. No hidden “gotchas.”
We know that many church-seekers have been burned other place, by churches who hide their true theology, or harmful rhetoric, behind a “friendly” welcome.
So we seek to be transparent about who we are, and what we believe.”

Again, check out the screen shot for the whole “What We Believe” page from our website.

“Trick or Treat” has, at its heart, a belief that either things are going to end up sweetly…or, with a bitter taste.
A “treat.” Or, with a “trick.”

Please know that WE at Kessler Park UMC know that, when far too many people visit a church, that’s the experience they end up with too.
So all I can say to you is what I say to my friends before Halloween: Stop on by, sometime, and see for yourself. The only way to believe we are not trying to trick you is to come see for yourselves…like a little kid on their first Halloween who tentatively approaches the porch. Come dip your toe in the water, come see us for worship soon.

We’re about to have an election Tuesday that, one way or the other, will likely leave us with a stressful aftermath. Therefore, our upcoming holiday season might a good time to find a new real-world community, like we can offer you or your family at Kessler Park.

I am increasingly convinced that, like Halloween, we built trust in our communities by SEEING each other, in the real world, not just virtually.
As a Methodist Minister colleague put it this week…

“Halloween: A day when we get it right.
Strangers come to us, beautiful, ugly, odd or scary,
and we accept them all without question,
compliment them, treat them kindly, and give them good things.
Why don't we live like that?”
—Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Yes…why don’t we live like that?
Why don’t we connect in CHURCH like that?
So, dear Oak Cliff Friends: We hope to see you soon.
And we promise: No tricks.

Eric Folkerth

Two Remarkable Women

I want to talk about two remarkable clergywomen, and two changes to our church-law that affects both them, and all of us…in a good way. Telling these stories is, in a tangible way, how to describe the changes afoot in the United Methodist Church, and why I continue to be deeply hopeful about our future:


Rev. Jane Graner.

And our own, Pastor Kay Ash.

Jane Graner has been a friend of mine for a long time now, and at one time I not only knew her, but was blessed to be pastor to her brother-in-law.



As I hope you’ve heard, Jane will be with us next Wednesday night, October 16th, for our screening of the documentary film: “1946: The Mistranslation That Changed Culture.” 
(more details below…)

But for a few years now, I’ve also been describing Jane as “our own Jackie Robinson.” It’s not every day you’ll get a chance to meet a figure like Jackie Robinson. But if you come on Wednesday, you will.

I call Jane that because in the UMC she was the very first “out” lesbian, ordained in our part of the United States.
Not just in the North Texas Conference…
Not just in the seven states of the “South Central” Jurisdiction…
But the first out lesbian ordained in the entire SOUTH of the United Methodist Church.



That happened, just a few years ago now, right here in North Texas.

Like Robinson, Jane Graner broke a barrier many feared could not be, and one some people worked to make sure never would.
And, also like Robinson, she did it with a great deal of patience, personal spiritual strength, and fortitude.



Because, as you cannot have forgotten, at that time there were forces in the UMC who sought to keep any member of the LGBTQ community from being ordained and serving in the UMC. That said, even under our own UM church law of that time, it should have been possible for an out lesbian to be ordained under very some specific circumstances.



Jane absolutely qualified under our church law. But, as in the time of Jackie Robinson, what was technically legal under “the law” was still quite challenging to enact, because of intense social pressure and very real opposition and fear.



I was proud to be in a group of folks who helped Jane through this process, sometimes quietly, sometimes not. And as we look back, I personally believe it is important to note that many people in the “hierarchy” of the North Texas Conference, also helped to make this happen.

We can’t reiterate enough…no church law was broken in this process. Quite the contrary. Those involved here actually worked WITHIN the system to accomplish this, under church law. I can’t speak for everyone involved. But my sense is that some on the Cabinet, the Board of Ministry, and others, sense saw what they were doing much like I am sure Branch Rickey saw the choice of Jackie Robinson to join his team. And, as in that day, the mere fact that it happened —even though totally “legal”— infuriated the opposition.



We are now some years past all of this.

Mercifully, the “church split” of the United Methodist Church has been affected, and many of those who would have ever grumbled against such a gifted pastor have now left our denomination. And the proof is in the pudding. Jane is beloved by her church, and is a wise LGBTQ clergy member in the United Methodist Church.

I am in awe of her, and her story. And —however much PTSD she no doubt carries from that time— I’m grateful that we all now get to tell that story with a happy ending for her, and for the United Methodist Church.

The second clergy woman I want to talk about is our own Pastor Kay Ash.

On Sunday, those in worship witnessed something that, before our recent General Conference, would have been forbidden under church law: Pastor Kay presided over the blessing prayer for holy communion.

Again, this gets in to hyper-technical UM church law…so bear with me…

Prior to last General Conference, “Elders” in the UMC (I am one) were the only ones authorized to pray this important blessing prayer. 


“Deacons” (Pastor Kay is an ordained Deacon) could not.

But the last General Conference —the very same one that banished the restrictive and harmful language about gay people— also voted to allow Deacons to preside over holy communion.

Pastor Kay first did this at our Annual Conference, standing alongside Bishop Ruben Saenz (at his invitation…). And last Sunday, on World Communion Sunday, without much fanfare at all, Pastor Kay presided at the Kessler Park communion table.



As you might imagine, when I noted it afterward, the congregation gave her a well deserved round of applause.

I’m going to believe the applause was not just for Kay, but also for a new sense of our denomination… one that would change with the world, the way the new United Methodist Church is now doing.

To be completely clear:
We United Methodists still believe in the Bible, and take it seriously (just not, “literally”).
We United Methodists still believe in our historical United Methodist doctrines.
And we take THOSE seriously too…so seriously that when we find others using them as weapons, we stand up against that.



I personally still affirm our traditional Christian teachings.
(Despite things that were said about me, publicly and privately, by some of those who left for the GMC during our split…).

These stories, and this commitment of the new UMC is why I am so hopeful about our future.

I believe the United Methodist Church is doing what we Methodists are always called to do: Serve our mission field in Jesus’ name, and adapt to the times, while embracing our tradition.

That’s what we saw on display in our recent “Horizon Texas” Annual Conference meeting. In our day, that means, as my dear friend Mark Miller sings that we “Draw the circle wide…draw it wider still.”



There were times I have sung that song with great hope.

There are other times, I have sung it in great despair.


But it was always true, either way.



We now get to sing it as a dawning reality for us that through God’s help we will do the hard work of ministry, welcoming an ever-more diverse group of God’s children to the table.



This NEVER means we reject all our doctrines. But it does mean we model a ministry that is relevant for each historical time and place, which means things like welcoming LGBTQ clergy, and affirming an expanded role of Deacons.



These are the hopeful, positive signs I hope you can see, as I tell you the stories of these two remarkable friends and colleagues.



The film “1946” will also be an important step in unwinding our own tortured past with issues of human sexuality in the United Methodist Church.

While our harmful church law has been stripped from our polity, in addition to assuring regionalism (more Inside Baseball Methodism) we must now ALSO honestly look back and continue to name the tragedy and harm that anti-gay theology and practice affected within our denomination, and also within the wider Christian world.



Join us on Wednesday night for part of this journey, at this important gathering.

Eric Folkerth