Part Three: Inclusion and Encouragement

In my previous two posts, I covered the morning part of the 2017 Heck Lectures at United Theological Seminary. Now we move to the afternoon, which began with worship, led by Rev. Dr. Sherry Gale. Gale drew on Elaine Heath’s God Unbound to address the question: How we are sustained in our faith? She noted how questions about law have remained at the center of the Church’s discords. No one is ever drawn to the Church on the basis of behavioral expectations. For the Church to maintain its witness, the whole of the Church must embody Galations 3:1-9 and 23-29 in ways it has not imagined before. That means fully including and embracing all in the church, regardless of gender, race, and sexual identification [her word].

For the afternoon session, there were two breakout groups. One was to invigorate those who have been serving in ministry for some time. The other was to encourage those who are new to ministry, or have not yet begun serving. Since I fit the latter category, I attended the session on encouragement. Dr. Kent Millard, president of United, led this session.

After the members of our small group introduced ourselves (apparently far more attendees were in need of invigoration), Millard spoke about the importance of encouragement for pastors. He noted that, though the apostle Paul did not start the church in Rome, he wanted to encourage it. Millard listed four ways that pastors find encouragement: spirituality, leadership, stewardship, and church renewal. Because of our limited time, Millard chose to go deep on the first point, rather than try to cover all four. This was an intentional choice, since, according to Millard, everything else about our faith arises from our relationship with God.

Millard noted that centrality of spiritual disciplines, even though pastors can unfortunately believe that they are “too busy” to practice them. Before preachers can prepare a sermon, they must prepare themselves spiritually. Millard candidly shared his own journey with God, noting the importance of spirituality along the way. Despite what we may learn, we never “outgrow” the need for spiritual practice. (This echoed a final concern of Dr. Park’s from the morning session. Park noted that a seminary education must not be limited to the mind and body. A full education is holistic, including the role of the Holy Spirit.)

Millard suggested five spiritual practices: 1) setting aside time for prayer each day; 2) journaling, or another practice to “get things out;” 3) having a spiritual friend you talk with at least once a month; 4) reading scripture; and 5) learning to meditate. He then practiced #5 with us, leading us in a powerful guided meditation.

The Heck Lectures were an enlightening demonstration of the importance of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church. Theoretically, the Church is one, but the reality of its brokenness cannot be ignored. As Christians, we are united by our commitment to follow Jesus, led by the Holy Spirit. By remembering and honoring that, we can reach across lines of male/female, sinner/sinned against, progressive/evangelical, and find a true unity in our diversity.