Coronavirus Response

  • Contact the District Office
  • Districts
    • District Office
    • Beacon
    • Capital
    • Corridor
    • Fairway
    • Gateway
    • Harbor
    • Heritage
    • Sound
  • Employment
  • Forms & Reporting
    • Clergy
      • 2020 Compensation and Personnel Polices
      • Annual Report of Retired Clergy
        • Annual Report of Retired Clergy – pdf
      • Moving Forms
        • Clergy Moving Expense Request for Advance
        • So You’re Moving – Itinerant Clergy Checklist
        • Itinerant Clergy Moving Expense Requisition
    • Safe Sanctuaries
      • Conference Background Checks
    • Superintendents
      • Appointment Change
      • Appointment Percentage Time or Salary Change
      • Office of Ministerial Relations
    • Church Financial
      • District Remittances
    • Called Charge Conference Minutes
  • NC Conference

Capital District

Our vision is to partner in spreading the good news of Jesus Christ. Our mission is to work together in ways that promote healthy congregations and effective leaders in every place, making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

  • Capital District
  • About Capital
    • Churches
      • Sub Districts
    • District Officers
      • United Methodist Men
        • Understanding Men’s Ministry
        • UMM – Current Newsletter
          • UMM Info Archives – 2013 to current
      • United Methodist Women
      • Youth
    • Leadership Team
  • Ministries
    • C4C – Congregations for Children
    • District Disaster Coordinators
    • Disaster Response Resources
  • Service
    • Lay Servant Ministries & Lay Speaking
      • LSM Classes
  • Calendar & Events
  • Contact
    • District Office
    • Treasurer’s Office
    • Conference Staff
  • Resources
    • Charge Conference Resources
      • Clergy Compensation
      • 2021 Pastor Compensation and Personnel Polices
      • Charge Conference Tools
    • Ministry Assessment 2020
    • NCCUMC dCOM Resources
    • Appointment Book
    • Center of Leadership Excellence
    • Sign up for Conference Communications

HELLO FROM HARVEY: IT HAS COME TO THIS AND THAT’S A GOOD THING.

February 3, 2021 Leave a Comment

Connor Hughes is an outstanding young man:  a member of 519church in Cary and recipient of a full scholarship to Appalachian State University, he graduated with a degree in political science and a minor in religious studies in three years.  Connor is now a candidate for a Masters in Political Science and needs material for his thesis.  So he called me.

I used to be the lead pastor for his entire church community and have always enjoyed Connor.  He wants to do some research about how religious convictions shape our views of government, of federal spending in particular.  He asked me how to get church support of what I know will be a carefully vetted, closely reviewed, and well-thought survey of church people about their understanding of biblical mandates for our actions.  What he wants – the survey – however well-done and well-intentioned could be viewed with suspicion in this hyper-partisan time.    I blinked. 

Blinking was embarrassing.  I’m one of this great guy’s former pastors.  I have urged him to act on his convictions, respect those who disagree, but to push forward.   And I blinked.  I blinked because I don’t want to fuel the fires of divide in our country and, frankly, in the churches in my care.  I blinked because I hear lots of folks, lay and clergy, people with very diverse views, sometimes castigate those who disagree with them without the grace of self-restraint that used to characterize civil discourse.  I blinked because I hear so much suspicion in people of each other.

Fortunately, I had to go to a meeting.  And though I was present at the meeting, my prayer and mind during that meeting were constantly centering on my stepping around Connor’s initial request for help in his research.  God convicted me that it has come to the point where it’s probably wise to re-reflect on our actions related to how we live out our faith.  More than ever we need to pray.  More than ever we need to hear voices we might prefer to ignore.  And we must act to honor God.  We honor God by living out what we know to be right without violence, threat, or false accusation of our neighbor.  We act by living out our faith and living it out in the public market place.  That’s always been true but who in our culture hasn’t grown weary of these debates and doesn’t occasionally wonder about backing off, not engaging, checking out.  It has come to this: that we must act in a right way now more than ever and call others to do the same.

And so I hope you will engage in respectful discussions in and out of the church – about church questions – and about what you as a Christian are called to do in the larger world.  For Jesus’ sake:  remember the question “WWJD?” which I always have understood to mean not just what would Jesus do in personal moral decisions but what would Jesus DO?   What actions would he take?  WWJD in our country and in our world?  In the words of our nation’s poet laurate, Amanda Gorman, now so widely quoted, “For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it.  If only we’re brave enough to be it.”  As Christians we know Jesus is always there for us as the Light.  He asks us to be a light for the world.

Blessings,
[Harvey] Gray

P.S.  Connor’s survey is available at https://capitaldistrictnc.org/survey-from-connor-hughes/ 


If you would like to view past editions of Hello from Harvey, follow this link: https://capitaldistrictnc.org/category/from-the-ds/ 

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn

Filed Under: from the DS Tagged With: Amanda Gorman, Connor Hughes, I blinked, research, survey, WWJD

Subscribe to District Updates

Sign up below to receive email updates from the Capital District.

The NC Conference respects your privacy. See our Privacy Policy.

Subscribe to District Updates

Sign up below to receive email updates from the Capital District.

The NC Conference respects your privacy. See our Privacy Policy.

Find Us On Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter

NC Conference of The United Methodist Church · 700 Waterfield Ridge Place · Garner, NC 27529
Phone: 919.779.9435 · Toll-free: 888.661.4941 · Fax: 919.882.8460

Copyright © 2021 · Privacy Policy · Powered by WordPress · Site Admin

  • e
  • k