6A
FAITH forum
REFLECTIONS
On landing safely
B
I wrote and rewrote my sermon
Y B ISHOP ROBERT S CHNASE
Special Contributor
for the first Sunday, and practiced it
in the pulpit, marking and remark-
Our family recently celebrated ing the text. Early Sunday morning,
milestones, such as the graduation an older colleague called me to say
of our youngest son from high he was praying for me, and telling
school and the 25th anniversary of me that first Sundays are always
my first appointment after graduat- anxiety-producing and that it
ing from semi- would go well. The phone call was
nary. grace, a sustaining gift.
I had worked On Monday, I prepared my part
an internship as of the church newsletter and
an associate pas- started to organize my week. Late
tor and had that morning, Rob Rumbo, a deeply
served a circuit committed, lifelong United
of churches for a Methodist, albeit with a cantanker-
year in the ous edge at times, called me.
COURTESY PHOTO
Bishop
British One of our inactive members
Schnase
The campaign “I am second” points to the fact that God should be first in our lives. But that’s easier
Methodist had died from cancer. Rob gave me
said than done, says Shannon Vowell.
Church, but in the family’s address and instruc-
June 1984 I received my first full- tions on how to find the house on
time, post-seminary appointment: the outskirts of town. He could hear
to Wesley United Methodist Church the anxious pause on my end of the
Living out ‘I am second’
in Harlingen, Texas. phone as I contemplated my first
It was a General Conference death call in my first appointment
B
aims and objectives will fall under prize much that the world shrugs off.
Y S HANNON VOWELL
year, and the cabinet was running with a family I had never met.
Special Contributor
one category: honoring, serving and This costs.
late on making appointments. In Without hesitation, this wonder-
glorifying God. The whole intent of If we truly believe that God is first
those days, fresh seminary grads fully generous layperson filled the
In the city where I live, an adver- our lives—the whole basis for our de- and we are second, actions of love
were the last to be appointed. I did- gap: “Pastor, how about if I come
tising campaign has been generating cision-making and our priorities and and service to neighbor will be part
n’t hear where I would serve until a pick you up at the office and let’s
considerable interest and attention: our pleasures—will be God. This is of our daily round, not optional ex-
week after my graduation service at drive out there together to see the
Diverse faces peer down on passing big stuff. This is hard. This demands tras for which we feel we need to re-
Perkins School of Theology. family?”
traffic from billboards, featuring the attention and perseverance and sacri- ceive credit. (Scripture has many
All my friends knew where they What a gift! His encouragement,
caption “I am second.” fice. This costs. suggestions and not a few mandates
were going, but Esther and I waited his spiritual intuition and his sense
“Looking out for No. 1” is so ubiq- And if we truly believe that God is on the God/neighbor connection.)
and waited. People were moving out of mutual ministry eased my anxi-
uitous as to be a first and we are second, that belief This is big stuff, too, hard and de-
of the dorms. We tried to reserve a ety. He was with me in the room,
cliché. So “I am
U-Haul trailer, but when the dealer praying for me as I prayed for the
second” really pro-
asked where we would take it, we family over their father’s deathbed.
vokes people. In
‘If we truly believe that God is first and
had to tell him that we had no idea: In the years to come, I would
fact, it’s such a rad-
Our destination was somewhere help perform the funeral of Rob’s
ical statement that
we are second, our stewardship will
between Sterling City, Texas, and mother, and later his granddaugh-
this local campaign
Brownsville, Texas—an expanse or ter and his son, and finally his own.
has garnered global
be held accountable to one agenda:
more than 400 miles! Not long ago I was on a flight of
interest (see
Shannon
Remember Abraham and nearly a thousand miles. The pilots
iamsecond.com).
the business of being God’s people.’
Sarah? “They set out, not knowing landed the plane safely and we tax-
Vowell
United
where they were going . . . ” ied to the gate. And then we waited.
Methodists pre- will have implications for us every manding and costly. This changes
Two weeks later, we moved into And we waited some more. The
sumably don’t need to hear the punch day of the week, not just on Sunday who we are and how we exist in the
the parsonage in Harlingen. The ground crew was trying to maneu-
line of the “I am second” campaign. morning. God-first will render us dis- world.
first day in the office, I gathered the ver the jet bridge to the door of the
We may even feel smug as we fill in satisfied with merely knowing the Perhaps we should just remind
names of the most seriously ill aircraft but it was stuck about a
the rest: “Of course! God is first; I am right answers in Sunday school. We ourselves of how God puts it: “‘You
members and immediately visited foot from the plane. We could not
second.” We get it. will only be satisfied with God and in shall love the Lord your God with all
them. I wanted to see them before deplane.
But perhaps this is one of those God, 24/7, no matter where we are or your heart, and with all your soul, and
the first Sunday service, since I did- We had made it safely for more
instances when knowing the right an- whom we are with. This is big stuff. with all your mind.’ This is the great-
n’t want to receive a death call and than a thousand miles, but we were
swer isn’t the whole point. Let’s face This is hard. This demands obedience est and first commandment. And a
then have to work with a grieving one foot short of the necessary con-
it. Knowing why the statement “I am and purity and humility. This costs. second is like it: ‘You shall love your
family without ever having met nection to complete the trip. Only
second” is a Christian statement is And if we truly believe that God is neighbor as yourself.’ On these two
their loved one. the ground crew could help us with
not the same as living as though God first and we are second, our steward- commandments hang all the law and
I also invited the church secre- the last 12 inches.
is first. ship of all our treasure will be held the prophets” (Matthew 22:37–40).
tary into the sanctuary, and we In like manner, through their ap-
My children joke rather cynically accountable to one agenda: the busi- “I am second.”
walked through the worship service pointment process Bishop Ernest
that the right answer to almost any ness of being God’s people. Our tithe If that became not just the rallying
so I would know what people had Dixon Jr. and the cabinet had landed
question in Sunday school is “Jesus!” I will be the first check we write. Our cry but also the life’s work of every
been accustomed to. Later I re- me in Harlingen, Texas, 25 years ago.
would submit regretfully, but equally family vacation will be planned United Methodist in the U.S., what
peated the process with the head But without the ground crew that in-
cynically, that most Christian adults around our mission trip. We will pri- couldn’t we achieve in God’s name,
usher, bulletin in hand, walking cluded the secretary, the usher and
know the “right answer,” too, but that oritize our family commitments through God’s power!
through every element and rubric Rob Rumbo, I might never have
we, like my children, sometimes use around worship and service and time “I am second.”
of the service. I changed little, and completed the connection.
the right answer to dodge the impli- in the Word. Our Sabbath will be sa- Lord, be first! Be first.
only over time began to reshape the
cations of the questions themselves. cred. This is big stuff. This is hard.
service gently and slightly to match Missouri Bishop Schnase blogs
Because if we truly believe that This demands a willingness to shrug
Ms. Vowell is a Dallas freelance
my own style.
at www.fivepractices.org.
God is first and we are second, our off much that the world prizes and to writer. savowell@att.net.
J UNE 26, 2009 | UNITED M ETHODIST R EPORTER
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