How to Spend 52 Extra Hours

Thanks to Payton Climer for giving me this henna tattoo at the Pumpkin Patch to remind me of my stewardship pledge!

They say that good leaders don’t ask their followers to do things that they wouldn’t do themselves. That’s a rule I try to follow.

Thus, I have challenged myself to come up with an extra hour per week for service to God in the coming year, too.

I’d already decided that it was time for me to roll off the Refugee Services of Texas Board of Directors at the end of the year. I’ve been on that board for over seven years, the last two of which I have been President. I sense that it’s time for new leadership in that position. Besides, this last year was lots of work, given that I had to lead the way in hiring a new CEO for the organization.

It’s time to let some new people take the lead, and I gladly hand it off. My commitment to refugees and immigrants remains as strong as ever, but I’ll maintain that concern in a new way.

What will I do with my “free” time next year?

Glad you asked. I’ve agreed to two new responsibilities — see, that’s where the extra hour is going to be spent.

First, I’ve agreed to serve on the Lobby Corps for the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (TCADP), which is an organization I’ve been excited about for years. In fact, back in 2014, shortly before taking the pastorate at Kessler Park, I walked from the Dallas DA office to the Fort Worth DA office in one day with two other members of TCADP to deliver letters against the death penalty. Don’t worry — I’m not planning on repeating that stunt.

However, I do plan on making several trips to Austin during the 2019 Texas Legislative Session to meet with lawmakers about death penalty legislation. Over the last few years, fewer and fewer counties in Texas are pursuing capital punishment, and the tide has slowly been turning against the practice. Eventually, the death penalty will become obsolete in America again. I’m just going to do my bit in bending the moral arc!

And second, I’ve agreed to serve as the chair of the Crisis Management Committee for Faith Forward Dallas (FFD). FFD is an interfaith group which meets at Thanksgiving Square to unite faith leaders for justice and compassion.

My particular committee will be responsible for responding in times of crisis during 2019. When an act of injustice or tragedy takes place in the Dallas area, I’ll be contacting appropriate parties and organizing the faith response.

Both of these responsibilities are close to my heart and I look forward to sharing what I’ve learned with all of you.

I’m interested in knowing what you are planning to do with your extra 52 hours in 2019. If you are willing to share, leave a comment and let me know. Or you can send me an email or text message, and I’ll share in a future newsletter column.

52 hours is a lot of time — use it wisely!

A Mini-Resurrection

By the time you read this, a refugee family of seven from Afghanistan will be safely settled in their new home in Dallas, Texas.

Over the last week, a Catalyst Group from KPUMC has been hard at work getting a two-bedroom, two-bath apartment in north Dallas ready for their arrival. Oscar Brown and Mary Ann Climer went shopping for furniture at some resale shops and found a beautiful dining room set, couches, and other assorted pieces. Mary Ann found housewares at Goodwill, and bought fresh groceries to fill the refrigerator and pantry. Bev Sladek and I made up the beds, put contact paper in the kitchen shelves, and put books and toys out for the children. Sally Climer had a meal prepared for their arrival last night (Wednesday).

I think of the preparation work as especially appropriate for Holy Week. During these days in which we observe the suffering and death of Jesus Christ, our church has been working on behalf of a family which has suffered much in the preceding years. We know very little about this family, except that they are from Afghanistan, have five children — four boys from the age of 13 to 6, and a two—year old daughter. We also know that the father had worked alongside US Special Ops forces, and for that reason, his identity must be kept secret as much as possible. We don’t know yet what they have experienced over the past seventeen years — since the US began military operations in Afghanistan — but we can safely assume that things became untenable for them to stay.

And even though we can also safely assume that they are Muslims, I would like to suggest that their arrival in the US is a kind of Easter moment for them. They are about to experience a sort of mini-resurrection, a chance for them to start again. Here in Dallas they will be able to enroll all their children in school, find meaningful employment, and begin to dream of the future.

That’s what Easter is about, isn’t it? In the resurrection of Jesus, we have the perfect symbol and guarantee of the possibility of new life. What our refugee family from Afghanistan is experiencing right now, is something that you and I can experience as well right now.

New life, setting aside the past, repentance, leaving behind old ways of being and thinking — all of this is possible because Jesus has broken the power of death and sin. We don’t have to remain mired in the muck of the world’s dysfunction. We are renewed and empowered by the Holy Spirit to be “resettled” into a new place, a safe space that we recognize as home.

Come home to Jesus this Easter. Come home to yourself.