Column 1: Summer Space

I hope you are staying cool amid the oppressive heat we are experiencing in Texas! As I write this, the Weather Channel app on my phone says that the current heat index is 111 degrees. Having lived in Texas since 1986, I keep thinking I will come to welcome this kind of heat, but it just hasn’t taken yet.

I have, however, come to appreciate one element of Texas’ summers: the heat forces us to slow down. If we allow it, the heat can create a kind of space in our busy lives. I am ever more convinced that, to grow spiritually and to mature into the people God dreams for us to become, we need more space in our hectic lives for the Holy Spirit to work in and through us.

In the last nine months, I’ve experienced the benefit of new space in my life, though it was not brought on by the summer weather but rather by a cancer diagnosis and resultant treatment. This new space was not something I would have chosen for myself; it was a phenomenon that happened to me. But, in what can only be accounted for by God’s amazing grace, God found a way to work something good out of something terrible by creating this space for reflection and growth.

One of the things the Holy Spirit is doing in my life in this newfound space is that she has planted and nurtured within me the seed of an idea: I need to write more, specifically, to write to you more. In speaking with others, I have had this conviction confirmed, and it is now taking shape in the form of a weekly column for our church. This writing is the first fruit of the conviction borne in this new space in my spiritual life.

I intend to write a column nearly every week for a year; some will be brief, others perhaps longer, and we will explore a wide variety of subject matters. I intend to write about what’s going on at UPUMC and the UMC, spiritual matters and spiritual practices, the saints in our stories, life lessons, and whatever else seems germane now. The column will help keep us connected and help you to continue to know the story of what God is doing in and through UPUMC in new ways. I have no doubt my writing will grow and improve as well! I am thankful for the work of the Spirit in this new space in my life: I woke up yesterday morning thinking about this project, and before I knew it, I had written down fifty different topics to cover before breakfast!

All of this leads me to wonder, what kind of space is God inviting you to shape in your own life? The mid-summer heat provides an excellent opportunity to take a deep breath and assess your life. Is your relationship with God what you would like it to be? If not, what plans might you consider to create a few more minutes with God daily for the fall? Like the father in the story of the Prodigal Son, God is scanning the horizon, eagerly looking for you.

Why not start now? This Sunday, we will discuss how to stay connected and grow our relationship with God through spiritual practices. We will explore God’s invitation to grow with God in worship and the Pastor’s Summer Sunday School Lesson. I look forward to seeing you in the 8:45 or 11:00 services and at 9:45 in the Fellowship Hall for our all-church Sunday School time.

Have a wonderful weekend, and may you find some space to take a deep breath and rest in the fact that God loves you more than you can imagine!

Grace and peace,

Rev. Joe Stobaugh

A New Writing Adventure!

Hello friends!

Wow, it's been a long time since I last posted a blog! This year has been one for the ages. In November of 2022 I was diagnosed with Stage IIIC Colon Cancer and I spent most of the year fighting for my life. IN December of 2022 I underwent a nearly eight hour surgery to perform a colectomy and then I underwent a grueling 12 rounds of FOLFOX chemotherapy. While it has been the longest and hardest year of my life, I am so glad to say that on December 7th of this year my oncologist uttered those magic words, "You are cancer-free!"

I'm so thankful for everyone who has accompanied me and prayed for me on this journey. If you ever said a prayer for me or sent a text or message or gift or card, thank you. You have changed my life and I love you.

For real.

One of the gifts that has come out of this hard season is that I've felt a calling to write more and so I've taken up the discipline of writing a weekly column for the church I serve. The topics are wide-ranging and I thought I'd post them here! I've written twenty so far so I've got some catching up to do! I will post a new one every few days until we are caught up. God bless you and may your Holiday season be filled with rest and joy.

A Brief Review of Rev. Nat Dixon's new album "Made in New York"

I had the great opportunity to review a new cd by New York-based jazz saxophonist and United Methodist Minister, Rev. Nat Dixon. It's a beautiful album! Here's a link to the article containing a few of my thoughts on the project:

http://www.umc.org/news-and-media/jazz-playing-pastor-keeps-the-faith-and-the-beat

A prayer for worship after a week of shootings...

Oh God, we come before you again with broken hearts, with a heavy burden, and with tired souls. We find ourselves joining the ancient prophets who asked you the question we now ask: “How long, oh Lord, how long?”

         How long will humanity continue to believe in the myth of redemptive violence? Jesus your death on the cross shattered once and for all the temptation to believe that violence is our only answer to the wrongs of the world.

         How long will we misunderstand your will for us, which is to be one people, the human family, united in the strength and beauty of the diversity that you authored in each of us?

         How long must we all, black, white, yellow, red, and brown, endure the horribly alienation and tragedy of the racism inherent in our society?

         How long will the black men in our country feel hunted?

         How long will our law enforcement officers have to live in fear at every traffic stop they make?

         Enough is enough.

         How long, oh Lord? How much longer must we wait?

         And yet…we must now embrace the pain, the loneliness, the isolation, the anger, and the rage, which we feel. We must embrace it, sit with it, and live with it for the valid human experience it is. Through this pain we can be taught deeper lessons of compassion, even wisdom.

         And then, oh God, after sitting with it, after reckoning with this week, move us to be a people who take up the ministry of reconciliation that you, Jesus, have entrusted us. We are to be your hands and feet in the world.  We must work with you for change in our hearts, in our lives, and in our world. The only way these emotions can truly and permanently hurt us is if they do not lead to action. Help us God, empower us Spirit, guide us Jesus, as we seek to be the peacemakers that you call us to be.

         We pause now, in the silence of our hearts, to pray the prayers we need to pray….

Give a few minutes of silence….

Together we lift these prayers as one people, praying the prayer Jesus, the crucified and risen one,  taught us to pray, saying, “Our Father…

Packing for the City of Roses, GC 2016, or Maybe it's About What You Leave Behind

A disturbing amount of neckties…check. Suits & clergy collars…check. Funky socks (got to have some vibrancy somewhere amidst this sartorial sea of black!)…check. Horn, fresh reeds, mouthpiece, etc. (stoked to play some Brubeck with the great Dan Damon on Saturday, May 14th in worship)…check. Kala Brand Music Co. ukulele, pedalboard, sweet hat, etc.(still can’t believe we have 30 people coming to jam with @GraceAveUkes the last day of General Conference at lunch!)…check. Book of Discipline and Book of Resolutions…check…

Rain Jacket…definite check!

Hope (and a massively notated and crossed-off checklist) that I’ve remembered everything at home and @GraceAvenueUMC so that no one has to do too much extra work in my absence…check.

A prayer-soaked attitude that God isn’t done with us Methodists yet, coupled with the hope that we will leave Portland in two weeks with a church that truly lives up to its advertising slogan of “Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors”…check!

The time has come to pack for General Conference 2016: the plane is wheels up 12:25pm Monday. Packing for two weeks away, as a member of the North Texas Delegation and as a musician who will play a few times at GC, is complicated. How am I going to get all this stuff into a manageable arrangement? I remember having this same feeling when I played bass and soprano sax in the house band in 2012. What can I leave at home? What are the essentials?

Over the course of the last four years I’ve become a bit obsessed with traveling light: this recent obession may or may not have something to do with doing more gigs on the ukulele! Perhaps packing light is a good metaphor for all that is to come in Portland.

How can we travel lightly in heavy times?

Continuing my packing list, I’m packing conviction, hope, a passion for justice and inclusion and a healthy sense of humor, to be sure. I’m also packing my ears: the opportunity to listen to many people abounds. Perhaps wisdom may be found? I’m packing an open heart and a prayer that the Spirit will continue to open the church to new ways of being, of loving, of pursuing justice, of sharing the good news of the Reign of God in the world. I’m packing light because I hope to be able to fill up my bags on the way home with some hard-earned wisdom, hope and evidence of a changed church, and a deepened compassion for all of God’s people.

Thankfully, the aforementioned pieces will not count against my 50lbs. weight limit!

Maybe it’s what we choose to leave behind that really matters.

As Miles Davis, B.B. King, and so many other masters of improvisation were quick to point out, it’s about the notes you choose NOT to play…

I’m not going to pack a heart filled with judgement for anyone. I am not packing the need to demonize those who disagree with me. I’m not going to pack one of my favorite Gen-X indulgences: that easy and, at times, lazy cynicism that is so comforting. (I would love to promise I won’t be purchasing any for the return flight when I’m up there but it is a habit that has been three decades in the making.) I’m not bringing plans for finding time for a lot of sleep. And I’m not going to pack my (at times substantial) pride in my point-of-view. I wonder, if all of us traveling to Portland could steep ourselves in prayer, listening to one another’s stories, and humility, perhaps we could discern the movement of God’s Spirit among us, muster up the courage to find Jesus out in the world, and join in the work that he is already doing? I’m also going to leave at home that crushing feeling, that horribly heavy sensation, that nothing is going to happen in Portland. Yes, the UMC is a big ship and it takes time to turn a big ship but big ships ARE capable of turning, and in the right set of circumstances, big ships can turn quicker than we might be inclined to think.

It’s time for us to pack light, to be open to new movements, to humility, wisdom, kindness, and improvisation. God isn’t done with us yet!