Table of Contents

- An Invitation to Journey with Howard Thurman
- Recommendations of Books by Howard Thurman
- Resurrection Power (sermon from Dr. Larry Stookey's retirement service)
- There's Still Time to Register for Lay Education Courses
- Grad News and Notes
- About eCalling for Graduates
- About Wesley

An Invitation to Journey with Howard Thurman

By Dr. Beverly Mitchell, Wesley's professor of Historical Theology

In this season of new beginnings, when some of us aspire to become more disciplined in our spiritual practices, I invite you to consider the writings of Howard Thurman for your devotional reading this year. In breathtakingly beautiful prose, Thurman will satisfy your desire for powerfully evocative, theologically substantive reflection on the presence of God and the meaning of a life responsive to the divine invitation to communion.

Thurman has been known as a mystic, prophet, preacher, teacher and prolific author. Although he did not participate in acts of civil disobedience during the modern civil rights movement, he was a spiritual mentor to noted figures of the movement who did. One of his most famous spiritual disciples was Martin Luther King, Jr., who reportedly always carried with him a copy of Thurman's most well-known book, Jesus and the Disinherited.

Thurman's religious experiences were framed in the context of the Black Baptist church and a life of poverty within the segregated Black community in Daytona, Florida, at the beginning of the last century. Inclined toward long periods of solitude as a young boy, Thurman found solace in the presence of God as he communed with nature at the mouth of the Halifax River, the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, and the huge old oak tree in his grandmother's backyard.

At the heart of his spiritual reflection is the conviction that human beings, created in the image of God, have been given an inner hunger that can only be satisfied by God. Three major themes permeate his writings and are as relevant today as they were in Thurman's day:

- the unity of all life, which serves as the foundation for the human need for community;

- the importance of cultivating the experience of the presence of God through regular periods of silence and meditation; and

- the possibility of genuine fellowship between the races.

As an astute observer of human nature and as a witness to the transformative power of God, Thurman was convinced that the foundation for true reconciliation is the inner spiritual preparation that empowers us to live out our divine call to be in community. He found the religion of Jesus indispensable for living a way of life committed to obeying the double commandment to love God and neighbor.

With his keen insight into the dynamic of racism in American society, Thurman had a special word for the disinherited: the cultivation of a healthy view of one's worth in the sight of God could be a powerful, life-giving antidote to those who live with their backs pressed against the wall. This knowledge could enable the oppressed to withstand the big and little assaults to their dignity and strengthen them to prevail in non-violent resistance for change.

If you long for devotional reading material that will deepen your meditation experience and nurture your engagement in acts of compassion, justice and community formation, give the writings of Howard Thurman a try.

Recommended Books by Howard Thurman:

With Head and Heart: The Autobiography of Howard Thurman
Jesus and the Disinherited
Disciplines of the Spirit
Meditations of the Heart
Deep is the Hunger
The Inward Journey
The Centering Moment
The Search for Common Ground
The Creative Encounter

Resurrection Power

Note from the editor: When I heard this sermon at Dr. Stookey's retirement service, I knew I wanted a copy of it to refer to often. It was absolutely wonderful! This sermon is funny and incredibly inspiring. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

Paul Scott Wilson, professor of homiletics at Emmanuel College, University of Toronto, wrote and delivered the following sermon at the service marking Professor Laurence Hull Stookey's retirement. It is based on Philippians 3:4b-16. It is edited for print. Copyright Paul Scott Wilson, printable only with the author's permission.

From the first time that I knew of this service, I heard that Professor Laurence Hull Stookey did not want it to be about him, he wanted it to be about everyone's ministry. I am honored to be here, honored to preach in this service. If this sermon were about Larry, it would celebrate the pastoral and teaching ministry of a dear friend and colleague whose wisdom and depth have meant so much to so many of us over the years. If only this sermon were about Larry, then I could speak about him. I grew up out west and have a healthy respect for cowboys. Larry is from Illinois, and I do not know if he would know a horse if he sat on one, but he is a bit of a cowboy. It is not just the lanky Marlboro man look, it's the grit and determination. For him the open range isn't just the back forty, it is anywhere he can drive by car. He came to visit my wife and me up in Ontario on Lake Huron and said, "It's not out of the way, I'm heading to St. Louis." If this day were about Larry, I might take time to recall that when Wesley Theological Seminary hosted the Academy of Homiletics here in Washington in 1993, Larry was the local arrangements coordinator and never did we have a better-organized event. He is a liturgical cowboy: he has never met a wild event he could not tame. If today were about Larry, I would say that he is one of the most well-published and respected teachers of worship and preaching in North America, and also one of the most humble. So in respect for Larry's wishes, today is not about him, it is about the power that accompanies all our ministries, a power we might call resurrection power.

The Philippi to which we refer today is not the one in West Virginia that has the annual re-enactment of the Blue and Gray, but that other one in northern Greece where Paul fought the battle for the hearts and minds of what would become one of the earliest established Christian churches. This Philippi is the city in which Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, and her household were baptized (Acts 16:15); this the city where Paul was beaten and imprisoned for exorcising a demon from a slave girl depriving her owners of income (Acts 16:16-24): this the city where God caused an earthquake to open Paul's prison (Acts 16:25-40); and most of all this was a church dear to Paul's heart and that supported him financially throughout his ministry. How much he loved them is clear in his letter written to them from his prison in Romans, sometime near the end of his life--it reads like a love letter.

If Paul has one lesson to give his church in Philippi it is this: ministry is not abstract. It is not mainly ideas of God. It is a relationship with the living God who gives us what we need to minister. The power God gives us is power that enables us to go on no matter what. Paul has received this power: "For [the sake of Jesus Christ] I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him..." (3:8-9). The word rubbish (scubalon) here literally means sewage, all the things I have lost, I regard them as sewage. To what does he refer here? What has he lost? Gone is the privilege that comes of his birthright as an Israelite of the tribe of Benjamin, as a lawyer among his own people, as someone who is in all things perceived as righteous in the law before God. Instead he became a manual laborer. Gone also is the life he might have lived in his own homeland in the comfortable surroundings of property with his own family. Gone is much of his health from the various and many physical hardships and floggings he has endured. Gone is his freedom. All of this, he says, I count as sewage. "[F]orgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil 3:13b-14). Already Paul has tasted the power that comes from dying to self and living for Christ. He has tasted resurrection power and he hungers for the life to come.

Most of our experiences of suffering and loss do not move us quite so readily to praise and faith. Since the 1960s, the United Methodists are down by 20 percent from roughly 10 million members to eight; the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) are down by between 40 and 50 percent.[i] My own Methodist branch, The United Church of Canada, has many healthy churches, but it also keeps closing church buildings, as demographics change. We have become good at amalgamating congregations, blending names, sometimes to regrettable humorous effect. In Toronto, the union of St. James Church and Bond Street Church produced St. James-Bond Church --  a union that pre-dated the 007 James Bond movies, but newcomers to the city did not know that. Now even amalgamated churches are closed, including that one (perhaps even God breathed a sigh of relief). Losses like this lead most of us to lament, not praise, "O God it feels like we are sinking. Help us to reach those who need your transforming power."

Gail Sheehy in the '70s gave us a fancy term for losses in our own lives: she called them "passages." A young adult goes off to university and in all of the excitement of new freedoms suddenly realizes in sadness, "I've left home. That way of living with mom and dad and the family is over, I can't go back again." These days a lot of parents just wish that were true. A woman experiences a passage when she suddenly realizes, "Half my life is gone. I've become the CEO/administrator I hoped I would never be. What about the part of me that wants to do social justice and change the world?" Or a good, kind and wonderful man retires, a caring and generous father and grandfather, a devoted professor at a seminary, someone who values friendship, who will do anything for you, who knows everything there is to know and then some about his chosen fields, who publishes books that are actually worth reading. It is a step into a new stage of life for him, it is a passage, but it is a loss for the institution that feels to many like a personal loss. If today were about Larry, I would be speaking about him instead of Professor Not-Larry.

Today is about ministry and God giving us resurrection power for it. The cross, Paul says, is fullness of life. That is what Paul testifies, that all the suffering and losses are sewage compared with "the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord" (Phil 3:8). For Paul, when we willingly enter someone else's suffering, we follow God in Christ who became human, entered our suffering, and when he died he took it to the cross with him and emptied it of its final power. "Being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death-- even on a cross" (Phil 2:7c-8). In sharing in his death, we also rise with him. We participate in the power of his resurrection right now. We press on toward the resurrection goalposts.

Ministry is about seeing the tank run down to empty and discovering that God fills it up. You run out of love to give and Bam, God gives you a refill. Sometimes it is less of a Bam than a slow and steady re-supply. You are working for justice and short on hope, and then you have more. That is resurrection power. Therein is service; therein is fullness of life.

I do not pretend fully to understand this mystery that our greatest power is in weakness, but part of what I believe is that our lives conform to the shape of the cross, and God in the Holy Spirit gives us a power that is not our own. That power was seen recently. A man who recently experienced the death of his wife of many years made his first trip to the grocery store. He did not know what to buy or where anything was on the shelves. He finally stood in line at the cash register uncertain about whether he had even the right items in his shopping buggy. When it came time to pay he did not know how to use his card in the credit machine. He was aware of others in the line behind him. Finally he said to the young woman at the cash register, "I'm sorry, I have never done this. My wife just died, and she always used to take care of all these things." The cashier immediately reached over to him, touched his arm gently and spoke, "Don't you remember that He said, 'Lo I will always be with you.'" And she showed him how to use his bank card.

That is resurrection power at work. We've seen it in our own ministries when our lives take the form of the cross. God employs us to advantage. Which brings us around to Not-Larry. Anyone who knows the selfless way in which he works, giving humbly of his time and effort has seen evidence of resurrection power in him. Perhaps some words should be said on this day about him completing his call to ministry just at the time when some students here are just starting out on theirs. But it is not true. His ministry at Wesley in many ways is ending, but his ministry continues. In whatever form it continues, it will still be in the shape of the cross and the power of the resurrection, because that is who he is, that is whose he is. In Christ and through the Holy Spirit we remain united in ministry and love, no matter where we may be.

When we get down to it, all of our ministries are changing every day, even if that ministry is expressed only in being human, but they are still exercised in resurrection power. We do not have adequate words to define this power. It is I-died-and-rose-for-you-power, I-love-you power, fullness-of-life power, faith power, life-over-death power, joy-over-sorrow power, hope-over-despair power, weakness power. This is ministry-in-Jesus's-name power, feed-the-hungry power, clothe-the-naked power, visit-the-prisons power, heal-the-sick power, house-the-homeless power, welcome-the-outcast power, overcome hatred power. This is not power by the world's standards, it is preach-the-gospel power, baptizing power, justifying power, sanctifying power, and confessing Christ power. This is what the world needs because it is reconciling-the-enemies power, justice-making power, forgiveness power, freedom power, peace power, love power, fear-conquering power. This is everything-as-loss-because-of-the-surpassing-value-of-knowing-Christ-Jesus-my-Lord power, behold I make all things new power, God-at-work-in-you-enabling-you-both-to-will-and-to-work-for-his-good-pleasure power. That at his name every knee should bend in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Not that we have already obtained resurrection from the dead or have already reached the goal; but we press on to make it our own, because Christ Jesus has made us his own (Phil 3:12). Press on. Press on. Praise God. Praise God. Give God thanks and praise. Amen

Register Today for Lay Education Courses

There's still time to register for many of Wesley's lay ministry courses. The seminary's Equipping Lay Ministry program has a stellar schedule of courses lined up for Spring 2008. For a complete schedule, more information or to register, go to http://www.wesleyseminary.edu/ and click on Equipping Lay Ministry, or call (202) 885-8720.

Grad News and Notes

For and About Wesley Alums

Please send information you'd like to share with other Wesley alumni to Graduates@wesleyseminary.edu. 

Carol Crawford Rowe, M.Div. '99, wants to be in touch with fellow graduates. Rowe pastored for several years and then worked as a mental health therapist in public facilities and in private practice. She is currently living in West Virginia. Her housemate, Abigail Reynolds, M.Div. '93 is now on permanent disability, following a cardiac arrest a year ago and a miraculous recovery. Their address, for anyone who chooses to contact them, is 1020 1/2 East Main Street, Mannington, WV 26582 and their phone number is (304) 986-2982.

The Rev. Dr. C. Anthony Hunt, M.Div. '93 led a peace and justice forum at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. on January 18. The forum, "Hope for the City: Martin Luther King, Jr. and Beloved Community in Contemporary Perspective," celebrated the life of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Gil Wilson, M.Div '76 is living in New Orleans and running a not-for-profit child care center in a low income area. Learn more at http://www.wesleyseminary.edu/cmsadmin/internet/alumni/www.fellowschildrensacademy.com. Wilson is also involved with St. Augustine history (http://www.wesleyseminary.edu/cmsadmin/internet/alumni/www.drbronsontours.com).

Dr. Sandra Bochonok, D.Min. '99 of Silverdale, Washington, will lead "Labyrinths, Cloisters and Chants," a profound Lenten pilgrimage experience to Northern France. The trip is scheduled for March 4-13, 2008. The trip includes: powerful opportunities to pray, play and ponder in Paris; the beloved medieval labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral; Mont-St. Michel Benedictine Monastery; quality time at Normandy D-Day Beaches; and a prolonged stay at the Hermitage of St. Therese of Lisieux. For more information, please visit www.beipellegrini.com/trips2008.htm or call toll-free (877) 377-3557 or email info@beipellegrini.com

The Rev. Pat Marks, M.Div. '05 has collected 8,960 postage stamps for the women at Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women in Virginia over the past two years. This year, Marks hopes to collect 400,000 stamps -- three for each of the more than 130,000 women incarcerated in federal and state prisons in the United States. She is hopeful the stamps will be instrumental in restoring some broken family relationships and thus bring about a small measure of reform. To learn more, contact Marks at Patmos Ministries at 8201 Blairton Road, Springfield, VA 22152.

On January 14, United Methodist News Service ran an article featuring the Rev. Cynthia Belt, M.Div. '97. Belt is pastor of Centennial Caroline Street United Methodist Church in Baltimore and she served as one of 300 participants in the United Methodist Racial-Ethnic Clergywomen's Consultation.

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