Today in the Mission Yearbook - Using our setbacks as steppingstones

Using our setbacks as steppingstones

September 24, 2022

Photo by Robert Linder via Unsplash

The Rev. Dr. Jerry Cannon used his prodigious and engaging hermeneutical skills to cap a NEXT Church National Gathering that has taken a deep look at rest and restoration.

Cannon, the senior pastor and head of staff at C.N. Jenkins Memorial Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, relied on Isaiah 43:18–19 for his rousing sermon, “When God is Doing a New Thing.”

At the outset, Cannon asked worshipers to read the two verses out loud along with him. Their first take didn’t quite measure up. “Now,” Cannon told them, “I need you to read it like gas dropped down to $2 a gallon.”

“I have discovered,” Cannon said, “that the God of Creation and the universe is always doing wonderful things. The God of our existence and the God of the future is always showing up and showing out when it comes to extraordinary events and supernatural appearances.”

Only God, Cannon said, could turn defeat into victory, leftovers into a banquet and bring a community out of Covid. “That’s the God we worship, serve and honor,” he said. “Only God can speak things into existence — and give comfort when we are discomforted.”

Cannon even had a “Tweet for the Week” anyone can use: “God is more than a God of second chances. God is a God of new beginnings.”

“If we can get the context, we can get the content,” he told those in attendance at Montreat Conference Center and online. “Work with me this afternoon.”

While serving as “a mouthpiece for God,” the prophet Isaiah spoke to people “more concerned about the things that were happening in the world than they were with Almighty God,” Cannon said.

Here, Isaiah says, “forget about the former things. In my etymology, ‘forget’ means ‘stop talking about it. Stop relishing on what was then. You’ve got to forget some things.’ It’s not saying, ‘Don’t discount your experiences.’ You’ve got to have some Sankofa moments every now and then, but don’t dwell on the past. The text says we should not let the old thing become the main thing in our lives.”

“Past failures and past accomplishments stop us from going where God wants us to go,” Cannon said. “God says, ‘I’m going to give you a new kind of faith,’ one that will allow you to use your setbacks as steppingstones, a faith that tells you that every good gift comes from above.”

The Rev. Dr. Jerry Lytle Cannon

Cannon said a friend told him we’re in a VUCA moment, for Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity.

But “when you understand these terms, you need to have a response,” and here’s Cannon’s: We are in a VUCA moment, but to him VUCA stands for Vision, Understanding, Clarity and Agility.

And here’s Cannon’s summary of the Bible’s prophetic witness: “God gave them a Temple, and they gave God idol worship. God gave them wealth, and they used it against the poor. They gave nothing back to God, and God still loved them regardless.”

With that, he launched into the first verse and chorus of the Stylistics’ “Break Up to Make Up.”

“That’s the way God keeps coming back to us,” Cannon said. “God says, ‘I love you so much, I ain’t gonna give you the old thing. I’m gonna give you something new.’”

“God says, ‘I am doing some things new, but you’re gonna have to do some things differently,’” Cannon said. “The sanctuary with no pews makes a wonderful place for people to sleep who are homeless. That playing field is a wonderful place for public housing.”

Pulling the word “perceive” out of Isaiah 43:19, Cannon said “decree” and “declare” are possible translations.

“We Presbyterians don’t decree and declare a lot, so I will go all Pentecostal on you,” he said. “I won’t go home the same. The good news is it’s a new season, a new day. I feel this anointing flowing my way.”

“Not only do I owe it to my church community, I owe it to myself,” Cannon said. “God has been too good to me. I believe in a God who helps me see it’s a new season, a new day.”

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Rosemary Gallagher,  Vice President & Controller, Finance, Board of Pensions
Louisa Gallup, Project Associate, Director’s Office, World Mission, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray

God of the old and the new, the great and the small, thank you for the warmth of your love and the inspiration of your Spirit. May you continue to bring new life into your churches, that we might proclaim in a myriad of ways the wonders of your love. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - Rest is resistance

NEXT Church keynoter Dr. Chanequa Walker-Barnes puts to rest the excuses that drive some clergy to toil too much

September 20, 2022

Dr. Chanequa Walker-Barnes

After earning a PhD and teaching for a few years, Dr. Chanequa Walker-Barnes decided to enroll in seminary, where her eyes were opened in an unexpected and unpleasant way.

“I was astounded by ways the professors expected us to essentially not sleep,” she said during the first of three keynote addresses she was delivering for the NEXT Church National Gathering. “They piled on so much work. If we complained, they said, ‘This is what ministry is all about.’ … If we said we had no time for personal prayer or Bible study, they would look at us as if we were not faithful enough to get everything done. Apparently ‘faithful’ means ‘not sleeping.’”

Walker-Barnes, Professor of Practical Theology and Pastoral Counseling at Columbia Theological Seminary, said it’s “no better in ministry,” where for many church leaders, “it’s all about the numbers,” including new members received and new programs begun. “Very often,” she said, “churches pile it on.”

Rest means ceasing from activity, motion or labor, she said, and having “peace of mind, body and spirit. It includes sleep and the pacing of your life.” But “why rest when there are so many reasons not to? There’s so much justice work to be done. I struggle with rest, even as a person who writes and teaches about it a lot.” Many of us make little trade-offs, she said: Maybe there’s no time to exercise today. Maybe dinner will be something I can pick up.

“I have been conditioned to ignore my own needs and prioritize those of other people and institutions,” Walker-Barnes said. “Even when I try to rest … I have to fight the urge to compare my productivity with others’.”

Photo by Rodolfo Sanches Carvalho via Unsplash

What’s helped Walker-Barnes remain committed to rest is knowing why she rests. “Claiming that right is a form of resistance against the powers and principalities of the world,” she said.

Here, says Walker-Barnes, is why rest is resistance:

• Rest is defiance to a death-dealing culture, a culture increasingly marked by mass shootings, a rise in hate crimes and the effects of the pandemic. “Covid exploited pre-existing vulnerabilities,” she said. “They are embodied realities that affect Black and brown bodies on a day-to-day basis. … I often say death stalks Black people in the U.S., and racism plays a large role in that, more than economics.”
• Rest is an affirmation of our sacred worth. Churches and other institutions — and those who populate them — “continue to evaluate people based on their productivity, that they can be and do more,” Walker-Barnes said. “The church capitalizes on this, using Jesus as a suffering servant to get us to do more.” The thing is, “we serve a God who also rests.” In Exodus and Deuteronomy, “God mandates rest in the form of sabbath — in the middle of the Exodus! They are running for their lives, and God says, ‘Every seven days I want you to sit down and not do anything.’ That’s how important it is. Jesus naps in the back of a boat, and he got on boats to get away from people. He constantly resisted the urge from others to do things on their timeline. We serve a God who modeled rest and needed rest. We are created to rest.” Rest and sleep, she noted, are the most frequently cited bodily needs in Scripture.
• Rest is a way of stewarding our creative potential, “which we desperately need in a world where our justice movements and churches need to figure out new ways to be community,” Walker-Barnes said. She asked: Have you ever had to solve a problem and you were overwhelmed? You get angry at the people asking you to solve it. Then you wake up the next morning and you solve the problem in five minutes. “Why was I freaking out?” we ask ourselves. It’s because “you needed rest to tap into your creative potential,” Walker-Barnes said.

“I hope you will think about your own need to rest, your barriers to rest and ways you can reclaim rest as an act of resistance,” Walker-Barnes told the NEXT Church crowd. “If you do that, you’re not just doing it for yourself. You’re doing it for all of Creation.”

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Shawn Ford, Senior Internal Auditor, Internal Audit Administrative Services Group (A Corp)
Lynne Foreman, Mission Engagement Advisor, Mission Engagement & Support, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray

O Lord, help us to see the light and gifts of others. Teach us as we teach your word and love. Place your strong hands upon us and lead us as we lead your children into a life of compassion and service. Amen.