I love doing children’s sermons at Concord. In addition to teaching our young folks at church, this also helps me summarize and simplify the overall theme of my sermon. Hopefully everyone in church gleans a bit of truth from these children’s moments!

During the children’s sermon yesterday, I mentioned a lengthy school assignment I did while in seminary (and said it might put someone to sleep to read all 30 pages of it!). I figured on the church blog this week I would briefly recap exactly what I wrote during my seminary studies. This paper was one of the final assignments and was called a Credo–which is Latin for the phrase “I believe.” The Credo was an assignment for all Master of Divinity students to articulate their own personal theology. As you can guess, this took quite a while for me to write.

The word theology essentially means the study of God–theos meaning divine and the suffix –ology meaning the study of. We all do theology in one way or another, regardless of whether you’ve been to seminary or not. When we talk, read, or think about God, we are actually doing theology. And as I pointed out yesterday, we all have to answer the questions of faith (like “Do you believe in God?”) in one way or another.

In my Credo I focused on one central theme: God is revealed to us through Jesus Christ as a God who suffers. What we can read and experience about Jesus is the most important thing for our faith. All other theological concepts (such as the Holy Spirit to the work of the church) further emphasize this truth. Jesus came to our world, showed us how to live, and experienced profound suffering. He shed tears for friends who had died, wept over the lost city of Jerusalem, and felt the pain of hunger and thirst. Ultimately, Jesus suffered death on a cross, proving God’s love for us. Jesus knows exactly what it is like to suffer since he underwent terrible things to show you and me that God wants to be with us.

It is my hope that every part of my ministry reflects this invaluable truth. Jesus truly understands you and wants to always be with you… so much so that he was willing to die for you.

In re-reading my Credo paper last week, I was struck by a quote I had found by theologian Jurgen Moltmann. (I’ve previously written about Moltmann’s own personal testimony on the blog). He once wrote in his book The Crucified God that “if anyone wants to become a Christian, don’t send [them] into the churches, but into the slums. There [they] will find Christ.”

Now don’t get me wrong, churches obviously play an important role in our faith journey. But the ultimate point of following Jesus is to spread that good news to other people. Likewise, we need to be going outside the walls of the church to truly live out our faith. We need to carry that message of hope forward instead of keeping it in the pews.

My own theology leads me to focus on missions and outreach. Jesus hung around the poor, hungry, and needy in order to share God’s love with them. We ought to be doing the same every single day.

There are many ways to categorize the different covenants of scripture. Perhaps you’ve heard of terms and phrases like the Mosaic or Davidic Covenant (references to Moses or King David), dispensations of history, or the Old vs. New Covenant. This is obviously a complicated topic in biblical studies. But the broader truth of the matter is simply this: The bible is full of promises from God to humanity.

Covenants usually have some sort of physical symbol or act to help humanity remember the importance of these divine promises. For instance, a rainbow was the symbol of God’s promise to Noah to never flood the earth again. For Abram (or Abraham), God used circumcision as a physical symbol to remind people of the covenant of being “set apart.” You might remember the stone tablets Moses received–they were tangible signs of the holy law that God granted the Israelites. And in David’s time, the temple itself was a big part of God’s covenant, with God promising a future everlasting kingdom. These physical objects and/or practices helped to remind people of God’s promise to humanity.

One thing I notice while reading the bible is that we see how God’s character is constant throughout. We see in scripture that God has always shown love, compassion, and care for the lowly and marginalized. God wants a relationship with all people. For this reason, when we connect and relate the various biblical covenants one another, we see how God is continually pursuing humanity all throughout history.

You might have a hunch as to where bible covenants lead to. Ultimately, we find God becoming incarnate in Jesus Christ. Jesus not only taught us how to live, but showed us the true heart of God. And of course, Jesus died for us on the cross. It could be said that Jesus’ sacrifice on Good Friday was the sacrifice to end all other sacrifices. Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, we have hope and are reunited with God. The covenant Jesus granted us was yet another renewal of God’s promise to all humanity. (And as Christians, we believe it to be the most universal and important!)

One of the beautiful things about the grand biblical covenant is that God continually reminds humanity of his promises and devotion to us. God will never leave us nor forsake us. Even during tough times of exile or idolatry, God still pursued God’s own people. And that covenant continued to grow. God promised Abraham that through his ancestors, all the families of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:1-9). God promised David of a hopeful future where God’s kingdom would be enthroned forever (2 Samuel 7). And with the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God continued to pursue us and grant us salvation (Hebrews 10:15-18).

We might label some covenants as “old” (for instance, we don’t follow every Mosaic law from the book of Exodus). But these covenants still show us who God is and how God never abandons us. When you reflect on biblical covenants, remember this… God is not far from you–we just have to seek the comfort and hope of Christ. God will always be there for you.

If you follow the news, you are probably well-aware of a scandal plaguing another Christian denomination. Hundreds of religious leaders are accused of abusing over 1,000 children. And if you really follow the news regularly, you are familiar with the fact that unfortunately, stories like these are common in the religious world. The abuse in other scandals might not be as statistically widespread as our current news cycle, but many churches, communities, and entire denominations have struggled with sexual sin. A senior pastor might harass a subordinate. Church leaders could fail to report incidents. Entire organizations might attempt to “cover up” abuse.

Child abuse is tragically prevalent in our culture, regardless of state, class, or other social group. Because we are called to bear witness to the love of Christ, the church ought to be the safest place for anyone. What saddens me about reports of abuse is that if allegations are indeed true, then leaders of the church have valued institutional reputation over human lives.

I wanted to address this in the church blog this week by briefly detailing what we in the Methodist church are doing to address the sexual abuse epidemic:

• According to our Book of Discipline, we believe that sexual abuse and harassment within the church are incompatible with biblical teachings of hospitality, justice, and healing. Misconduct of a sexual nature within the life of the church interferes with our moral mission to make disciples. Abuse is sin. Abusers need to repent. We absolutely should never mistreat other people.
• All Methodist churches are required to have a “Policy on Misconduct” signed by pastors, staff, and committee chairs (updated yearly). Concord’s one on file details practices such as documenting and reporting cases of abuse and/or harassment.
• I’ve worked in two Methodist annual conferences (here in Arkansas and one in Texas). In both environments, I was required to attend sexual ethics training every couple of years. Pastors are also required to undergo background checks and psychological evaluations.
• In any pastoral role, I’m required to report any instances of child abuse/neglect–even suspected or suspicious circumstances, too.

To read more about the Arkansas Conference’s “Safe Sanctuaries” protocol, click here.

One last point I want to emphasize isn’t very “theological” but much more practical. If you see or suspect something, say something. Scandals of abuse don’t simply happen overnight. They are often the result of people ignoring or thinking “not my problem” when others experience harm and trauma.

So with that said, here are also some resource numbers to keep in mind, too:

• Arkansas Child Abuse Hotline: 1-800-482-5964
• Adult Abuse Hotline: 1-800-482-8049
• Reporting elder abuse in long-term care facilities in Pulaski County: 501-682-8425
• Reporting elder abuse in long-term care facilities outside of Pulaski County: 1-800-582-4887
• Arkansas Domestic Violence/Battered Women Hotline: 1-800-332-4443