Of the many objections that some members of the Board of Ministry of The UMC lobbed at me one after another over the final three years of the nine year journey in its determination to thwart my pursuit of ordination, perhaps the most amusing was that I lacked “self-awareness”. As I have said again and again, I am quite capable of “self-awareness”, but God has called me to “other-awareness”, to think in terms of what is good for more than simply myself….like the others who were being hurt by the demeaning and attacking way some on the Board were pursuing their authority and responsibility to qualify others for ministry. If that kind of dismissive and deliberately misrepresentative judging of others is “self-awareness”, no thanks. I’ll stick with the “other-awareness” that God called me to have when he taught me that any word to which I could add the suffix of “self-” was a weakness and a pitfall that could lead to idolatry.
In just the last day or two the music and lyrics to an old hymn came across my desk…..”Others”
Lord, help me live from day to day
In such a self-forgetful way
Then even when I kneel to pray
My prayer shall be for OTHERS.
Help me in all the work I do
To ever be sincere and true
And know that all I do for YOU
Must needs be done for OTHERS.
Let self be crucified and slain
And buried deep, and all in vain
May efforts be to rise again
Unless to live for OTHERS.
And when my work on earth is done
And my new work in heaven begun,
May I forget the crown I’ve won,
While thinking still of OTHERS.
Others, Lord, yes, others —
Let this my motto be;
Help me to live for others
That I may live like Thee.–
“Do a search and replace operation on the text of your mind, and wherever you encounter the word “self,” substitute the word “other.” So instead of self-help, other-help; instead of self-esteem, other-esteem. And if you do that, you will begin to feel the power of what for me is one of the most moving sentences in all of religious literature. “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” We can face any future without fear so long as we know we will not face it alone.” Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sachs, speaking of the power of community with God and one another.
Some on the Board confused my preference for the opinion of God over their opinion with my being incapable of recognizing the difference between the two! CBB 7/13/17