A UMNS Commentary by Thomas H. Phillips: Praying for the names behind casualty figures

An Army soldier salutes a grave in Arlington (Va.) National Cemetery. A UMNS photo by Spc. Lorie Jewell.

About three years ago I signed up to receive casualty reports from the U.S. Department of Defense.

I was looking for people from the local area that might have been killed. One of my responsibilities is to prepare for upcoming funeral missions as a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs chaplain and a member of Rolling Thunder, Chapter 1, Tennessee, a nonprofit organization devoted to publicizing and educating the public on POW-MIAs.

I didn't know how receiving these reports would alter my life. Here's my attempt at describing it.

After the first 100
Each day they appear on my screen. I find myself just wanting to place the cursor over them and press "delete" rather than open each one.

But they blink before my eyes, begging to be read and remembered.

So I click my mouse and there they are. The name, the rank, where they died, how they died: small arms fire, rocket-propelled grenade, or the now famous improvised explosive device. The language is so sterile.

I sit and stare. I read the name, wondering how it is pronounced. Sometimes I say it aloud just to make sure it gets heard.

Thomas H. Phillips (right) meets with clinical pastoral education students in August 2007 at Veterans Affairs Tennessee Valley Healthcare in Nashville, Tenn. A UMNS photo by Libba Gillum..

No place is left untouched. Alaska, Hawaii, Connecticut, Louisiana, Iowa. Some days I wait and read them all at once. Usually I read them as they come in. I tried to save the names in a file, but I kept getting over the limit and had no place to put them.

Now, I open them, read them carefully - men, women, young people, middle aged - all persons who left someone somewhere. I say a prayer for each one as they appear and disappear on my screen. Some days, it seems that is all I have time to do. There are so many. I've lost count.

The names keep coming
When I am having a really bad day, and I think I'm about at my wit's end, I read those little e-mails and am reminded that a terrible day is just beginning for someone.

Someone is getting a message that there will be no more visits, no more phone calls, no more listening to stories or playing ball in the front lawn. Just a missing face at holiday gatherings and family meals and anything that seems to matter. Just memories.

I wish the names could appear in the corner of everyone's TV screen as they watch the "Price is Right" or "House." Maybe they would slow down some then.

I wish the names would just stop coming.

But I know better. So I watch and read and say a prayer. God be with them. God be with their families. God watch over us all.

*Phillips is chief chaplain service program officer, integrated ethics, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Nashville, Tenn.

Chaplain helps troops readjust to home life

Capt. Colin Fleming is back home in Minneapolis with his wife, Ann, and daughter, Morgan, after a two-year deployment to Iraq. A UMNS photo by John Gordon.

By John Gordon*

MINNEAPOLIS (UMNS)-After two years away from his family for training and a tour of duty in Iraq, Capt. Colin Fleming of the Minnesota Army National Guard was in no mood for a homecoming party.

"Being in a crowd is something that's taken me awhile to work on," Fleming says. "People will talk to me every once in a while and say, 'Hey, where have you been?' It's kind of complex - not avoiding you, it's just going to be awhile."

But Fleming knew about many of the adjustments he would face on his return, thanks to the Minnesota Guard's Beyond the Yellow Ribbon program. The project, led by a United Methodist chaplain, helps returning citizen soldiers reintegrate with their families and communities.

Lt. Col. John Morris, a full-time state support chaplain for the Minnesota Army National Guard, was deployed to Iraq in 2003 and 2004. He knows the challenges confronting soldiers as they return home.

"This is like having your house burn down when you send somebody to war," he says. "This is a long-term engagement for people who are dealing literally with a form of trauma."

Fleming poses with villagers in Al Batha, Iraq, during his tour of duty. A UMNS photo courtesy of Colin Fleming.

Ann Fleming has noticed changes in her husband since his return from Iraq.

"He's a different person than he was two years ago," she says. "And our daughter is different, and I'm different. And it's normal for us to go through that."

As a result of his duty in Iraq, Colin Fleming doesn't like loud noises. Going from the sound of artillery fire to listening to his daughter, Morgan, practice the saxophone took some adjustment.
So did adapting to family schedules after his wife spent the two years of his deployment as a single parent, raising 10-year-old Morgan.

"After being in charge of our (military) group across the board, I had very definite expectations about what the schedule should be, what our activities should be," Fleming says. "And both Morgan and Ann have, for the last two years, been running their own show."

Morgan, a fifth-grader, joined a local hockey team during her father's deployment.

"It was weird when he came back because there were three of us walking around the house," she says. Her dad's absence was tough at times. "It was pretty hard," she says, "and there were some times when I really missed him."

'Significant work' needed
Morris developed Beyond the Yellow Ribbon in January 2005. The program includes classes on marriage, parenting, coping with depression and adjusting to changes that occur in family dynamics while soldiers are deployed. The courses are offered in the first 90 days after soldiers return home.

"No relationship gets better by being gone a year to two," Morris says. "All relationships that are being put back together again need some significant work, and the skill set needed to do that work is sometimes lacking. Yet we expect guard and reserve soldiers to figure that out on their own."

If it takes a village to raise a child, Morris says it takes an entire community to bring back soldiers. He meets with local government officials, law enforcement officers, pastors and veterans' groups to offer advice.

"It takes the local church, school, local law-enforcement agent, social service providers, employers," he says. Avoiding past mistakes

Finding a job is a major challenge for many returning National Guard troops and reservists, Morris says. He notes that nearly four out of five soldiers also want to continue their education.

Beyond the Yellow Ribbon has become a national model for reintegrating National Guard and reserve troops on their return. Morris is hoping it will help society avoid mistakes of the past.

"In Vietnam, we shamed, shunned and spat upon our soldiers," he says.

"So what we tell community leaders is we're not asking for support of the foreign policy, that's not our issue. We're asking for support of your fellow citizen, who we all want to have come home and become a very productive citizen."

*Gordon is a freelance producer and writer based in Marshall, Texas.

NCC sets Middle East peace as a top priority

By Linda Bloom*

NEW YORK (UMNS) - A focus on the Middle East will be among the social priorities for the National Council of Churches over the next few years.

But the council also will look at strengthening the relationships among its 35 member communions, including The United Methodist Church, and re-energizing the ecumenical movement as a whole.

Those were among the topics discussed as the NCC Governing Board organized itself for the 2008-2011 quadrennium during its Feb. 25-26 meeting in New York.

Archbishop Vicken Aykazian, installed in November as the council's new president, spoke about the possibility of an official visit to Middle Eastern countries to meet with civic and religious leaders "as well as to show our solidarity with the Christian minorities."

Bishop E. Earl McCloud Jr., ecumenical officer for the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, suggested that the council's efforts on Middle East peace might be better spent working with U.S. officials in Washington.

It was agreed that both types of advocacy are needed as well as coordination with other faith-based groups to foster peace between Israelis and Palestinians. The governing board affirmed the Middle East crisis as a focus during Aykazian's tenure over the next two years and authorized the executive committee to explore options for action.

Leaner organization
The NCC's reduced program staff - the result of last fall's reorganization plan and prompted by financial reasons - was addressed by both Aykazian, who leads the Washington Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern), and the Rev. Michael Kinnamon, the council's new chief executive.

It was announced last September that 14 program staff positions would be eliminated, but some of the current staff members applied and were hired for the seven new positions created under the reorganization.

In the council's new configuration, the efforts of the chief executive and staff alone will not be enough to accomplish goals outlined in its strategic plan. "We, the board, have to contribute our time and our talent to this work," Aykazian said.

Kinnamon pointed to a tension that exists within the ecumenical movement as to whether it is a forum where conflicting viewpoints meet in dialogue or a renewal movement. He believes both descriptions are true. "A crucial part of this (NCC) community is the convictions we hold together … and the witness that we make together," he said.

Commitments outlined in the NCC's strategic plan, he added, include strengthening relationships among member communions, integrating programmatic work, giving energy to U.S. ecumenical life, sharing resources, nurturing young adults for ecumenical leadership and being "truly prophetic in our social witness."

Bishop William B. Oden, ecumenical officer for the United Methodist Council of Bishops, pointed to the need for support by all of the NCC member communions. "If we're to give legs and heart to the goals that have been stated, there is going to have to be a re-energizing of all our commitments," he said.

Oden told United Methodist News Service that he was optimistic about what he considers to be a "fresh start" for the NCC.

"The reorganization was very painful, but we've become a leaner organization. As such, we'll depend more on board members and less on staff, and that's healthy," he said.

The council's stable financial situation "will raise the confidence level among the member communions," Oden added.

Renovation plans
The NCC hopes to begin a physical transformation of its New York headquarters as well. Clare Chapman, a United Methodist and the council's chief operating officer, noted that the NCC was the largest tenant of the Interfaith Center, located at Riverside Drive and West 120th Street, when it was built in the 1950s. Although the NCC's space has been much reduced since then, the remaining offices never have been renovated.

In order to keep its lease, a renovation is necessary, according to Chapman. The previous governing board had approved a capital campaign for the renovations, now estimated at $800,000, and the funding raised is near the 50 percent level required to start.

United Methodists pledged $125,000 for the renovation, paid over a four-year period, and total payment should be finished this year, she said.

Besides Oden, the ecumenical officer, United Methodists on the 2008-2011 NCC Governing Board are Bishop Albert "Fritz" Mutti, interim chief executive, United Methodist Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns; Diana Eck, Harvard University; Raul Alegria, Southeastern Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church; and Deborah Bass, United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.

British Methodist keeps Parliament in order
By Kathleen LaCamera*

Ruby Beech, assistant sergeant at arms in the British Parliament and vice president of the British Methodist Church, poses with her ceremonial sword during the State Opening of Parliament in London in November. A UMNS photo courtesy of Ruby Beech.

LONDON (UMNS) - Ruby Beech's "day job" is a position that dates back to at least the 15th century.

As an assistant sergeant at arms in the British Parliament, she helps look after the security and administration of the House of Commons. When Beech is not making sure British lawmakers can do their jobs in a safe and efficient environment, she can be found doing her other job: serving as vice president of the British Methodist Church.

Appointed in 2005, Beech is only the second woman to hold a sergeant at arms job in the Commons' 700-year history. Her workdays can stretch from morning to past midnight and encompass responsibilities as diverse as corralling rowdy elected MPs (Members of Parliament) to issuing photography permits.

Last July, she was elected to a one-year term of office by the national church's annual conference. British Methodist vice presidents (always a lay person) and presidents (always a clergy person) represent the church at a range of events and undertake many leadership responsibilities within the denomination.

As Beech moves with ease through the ancient halls of Westminster Palace (home to Parliament), nodding to MPs and Commons staff, and then attends a reception celebrating 60 years of the Methodist Ministers' Housing Society, it's clear she thrives on her dual life.

"Politics is a way of helping people work in communities. It's a way of looking after the least well-off and protecting those who can't protect themselves," Beech tells United Methodist News Service in the Commons tearoom while on break during a legislative session. She is wearing her sergeant at arms attire, which includes a ruffle collar and black suit.

An unapologetic idealist, Beech, 51, says that even though both church communities and politicians make mistakes, at their best they work toward many of the same worthwhile goals.

Centuries of tradition
The word "serjeant" is derived from the Latin "serivens," which means "servant." While in medieval times, the sergeant at arms undertook administrative tasks such as "collecting loans and impressing men and ships," Beech explains that the administrative side of her role today includes elements of "facilities management" work.

"I do general management things like overseeing special stationery, issuing permits for car parking and bike racks - what someone once called 'high level trivia.' I also do big contract negotiations as well," she says.

"It's that Bible thing about if your neighbor is cold, give him a coat. My job is about trying to help people with their basic needs, making sure there are the clean toilets and hot food and car parks space. You hope that your presence means that those basic needs are being met and that you're someone to talk to if not. It frees (MPs) up to do the things they need to do."

The other component of her job has both a ceremonial and a security dimension. Many of her predecessors have been members of the armed forces. Beech and her four sergeant at arms colleagues are responsible for safety and order inside the legislative chamber.

When the House is in session, the sergeant at arms sits near the Speaker of the House and monitors the security inside the chamber. Should any unauthorized person get into the chamber (as a protester did in 2004 when he threw flour over then-Prime Minister Tony Blair) or should MPs get out of hand during a particularly lively debate, it's up to the sergeant at arms to sort things out.

"I always go in with a smile," Beech says. She describes situations in which she has to "encourage" MPs to stop delaying a vote by congregating in the lobby outside the chamber or engaging in other disruptive behavior.

This historic security role means that the five sergeants at arms are the only people in Parliament authorized to carry a sword, even though pegs for the swords of MPs still exist in the Commons cloak room. Beech says she wears her sword primarily on big state occasions, such as the State Opening of Parliament, though she notes that her male colleagues tend to wear theirs most of the time.

In the future, this dual role of the sergeant at arms is likely to change, and she will be moved either towards a role involving more security or more facilities management, according to Beech.
Carrying the Mace
Beech also has been trained to carry the Mace, which symbolizes the authority of the Speaker of the House. "The Mace," a ceremonial staff, is carried into the chamber when the daily session begins and out at the close.

As an assistant sergeant at arms, Beech only has carried the Mace out at the end of the day. Her colleague, Jill Pay - the first ever female sergeant at arms appointed in 2004 and now the most senior sergeant at arms - is the person who brings the Mace in at the start of the day.

Beech says a key element in all aspects of her Commons job is dealing fairly with everyone regardless of her own particular views or allegiances.

"I have to remain impartial," she explains. "Being here, I've had my prejudices challenged. I grew up thinking one party was all right and others all wrong. I've discovered that people from all parties have shared values and aims. They are not all in little boxes, not clones of each other. Everyone deserves to be treated with respect."

That conviction also has informed her role as vice president of the British Methodist Church and her previous professional life as a human resources specialist working with the YM & YWCA, businesses, local government, a college and the national church. From 1998 to 2005, she held the post of connexional secretary for the denomination, looking after its human and financial resources. During that period, she saw the job listing for the sergeant at arms position in the newspaper and applied.

Lay preacher at 17
Beech grew up in a small village near Nottingham, where her father worked in the local mines and her seamstress mother taught her that there was "nothing a woman couldn't do that a man could that was worth doing."

While attending a Methodist summer youth event at age 15, Beech says she "recognized God in Jesus for the first time." By the time she was 17, she was a local preacher in training, though she admits being grateful that she kept no sermon notes from those early days. The congregations where she preached were "very gracious," she adds with a laugh.

"I grew up with a confidence to go out (into the world) that was nurtured by the church and at home," she remarks. "While other people feel the church is all about what you can't do, for me it was all about what you could do."

Wanting to encourage that sense of possibility and confidence in succeeding generations, she and her husband, Pete, became volunteer church youth workers. When, at 36, Pete died from a brain tumor, it was the young people with whom the couple had worked who reached out to Beech.

"It was a reversal of roles," she remembers. "They took on the pastoral role. When a lot of people didn't know what to say or how to deal with you, they were more accepting. They'd come round to the house and invite me to the cinema. They were fantastic."

Evangelical faith
While some people asked Beech if her husband's death had destroyed her faith, she replies that it is difficult for her to imagine how to get through such a loss without faith. She calls herself an evangelical, which she likens to "one beggar showing another beggar where to find bread."

"It means sharing the faith - feeling this is something wonderful and transforming in my life, a framework to live by, the belief that I am loved and cared for, that there is something more going on than just the niggles of everyday life," she explains. "I want to share that with other people."

That is exactly what she has been doing as she has traveled the length and breadth of the United Kingdom and beyond as the denomination's vice president.

British Methodist President Martyn Atkins - who shares a "presidential team" blog with Beech - calls her "one special woman" whose liberal theology genuinely and skillfully combines "a deep love of Jesus, historic evangelical experiences of Christ and a desire to be a better disciple."
"She speaks her mind, but never in such a forceful way that it prevents dialogue," Atkins says.

Desire for inclusive church
That openness has been important as she has frankly and publicly discussed human sexuality and her hope for a more inclusive church. Beech recounts how people have come up to her during her travels to talk about homosexuality in their families. She says they tell her this is the first time they have been able to tell anyone in the church about it. However, Beech also realizes that some people find her position "challenging," and she works hard to make room for all points of view to be heard.

Rachel Lampard, the British Methodist Church's secretary for parliamentary affairs, calls Beech a "groundbreaker" and reports that "the House" is "chuffed" (pleased) to have such a high-level Methodist representative working in the Commons.

She explains that most Methodist vice presidents are retired from full-time work, so Beech is an exception to the rule.

"It's good for people in the church to see her linking life with faith, holding together her job and her commitment to the church," Lampard says. "It's really impressive."

Beech is quick to credit her husband Garry, whom she married in 1994, with great patience and understanding in the face of her demanding service to both church and country.

Having used most of her leisure and vacation times with vice-presidential duties (including trips to India, Australia, Eastern Europe and Africa), the couple is planning a proper vacation in France with friends after her term is up, where she says she plans to do "very little."

To log on to Ruby Beech and Martyn Atkins' Presidential Blog, go to: http://www.methodist-presandvp.blogspot.com/.

*LaCamera is a United Methodist News Service correspondent based in England.

A UMNS Commentary by Paul Black*: A new generation rises above tragedy

Flowers and tokens of remembrance decorate a makeshift memorial to students killed Feb. 14 in a campus shooting at Northern Illinois University. A UMNS photo by Stacey Huffstutler/Northern Star.

"That was the best of the American spirit, I thought--having the audacity to believe despite all evidence to the contrary that we could restore a sense of community to a nation torn by conflict; the gall to believe that despite personal setbacks … we had some control--and therefore responsibility--over our own fate. U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. -Hebrews 11:1

In offering my personal reflections on the recent tragic shooting at Northern Illinois University, I cannot help but think about my ongoing conversation for months with Howard Daughenbaugh. I had the privilege of being a colleague of Howard's for eight years as we served as assistants to Bishop Sharon Brown Christopher in Illinois. An area of common interest is politics, and the meteoric rise of U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., has been fascinating to watch.

Even before the Kennedy clan endorsed the first-term senator in his presidential run, comparisons already were being drawn. Howard saw Obama's visionary call as similar to President John Kennedy's, although I had to tell Howard that I wouldn't know; for I wasn't born when John Kennedy ran. I drew the comparison to younger brother Robert Kennedy's presidential run in 1968, noting that U.S. division over the war in Iraq is similar to the Vietnam conflict and that the struggle for civil rights is similar to immigration issues that are front and center in today's national debate.

We both noted how such calls to face our country's problems are fueled by a new generation of leaders. We noted that, in our history, once we turn the page to a new generation of leaders, we never go back to an older generation for leadership.

And then, noting the tragedy that occurred in Dallas in 1963 and Los Angeles in 1968, Howard said, "You know, as Americans we can only take so much hope, and then we kill it."

Those prophetic words haunted me on Feb. 15 when I received a call that Ryanne Mace--one of five students killed at Northern Illinois University the day before--was the granddaughter of two of our retired United Methodist pastors.

As I listened to the Rev. Miley Palmer talk about his granddaughter, I realized the idealism of today's generation who are asking for a place at the table. "Ryanne wanted to make a difference in her world. She would throw herself into a variety of things and she felt most fulfilled when she was helping others."

Ryanne's death hit close to home. While Columbine High School in Colorado and Virginia Tech seem remote, campus tragedy has come to the American heartland. And perhaps because I have a son enrolled in a state university and a second son who will attend another university next fall, I have struggled to understand what appears to be a senseless act: a life filled with hope taken from us before it reached its full potential.

And yet, in the midst of the tragedy, I believe this generation is once again showing us how to live. As scores of young people enter the political arena for the first time, they want to make a difference. Their idealism is truly inspirational, and their lives have been tested in the fire of a violent world that has tended to teach them to look out for number one.

We as a society feel we have done a good job of managing life. We ask the question, "Are we doing things right?" But the younger generation pushes back with a much deeper spiritual question: "Are we doing the right thing?" For them, the premise of what we are doing in life will determine whether we make a difference, rather than how well we do it.

The United Methodist Church is struggling with these questions as well. We find fewer and fewer young people answering the call to ordained ministry. In 2005, it was reported that 850 of the 18,141 probationary or ordained elders in the United States were age 35 or younger. And since 1985, the percentage of elders had dropped from 15.05 percent to 4.69 percent. Leadership development has become one of the four churchwide areas of focus for program development and funding for the next four years.

What young people ask is whether the amount of time and energy spent by specific interest groups to mold the church in their particular theological stripe or to make the church in their image is the right thing to do in the first place.

For the church, the challenge is to find ways to bring these young voices who are far more talented and creative than any generation before and allow them to be the salt, the light and leavening for the loaf. And may their audacity to hope in the midst of tragedy truly light our church and world.

Thank you, Ryanne, for having journeyed our way, if but for a few short years.

*Black is director of communications for The United Methodist Church's Illinois Great Rivers Annual Conference

A UMNS Commentary by W. Astor Kirk*: Reflections of three careers in civil rights

Why did I write my memoirs?

Family, friends and an editor of my recent book approached me, sometimes with pressure, arguing that hidden in my 85 years are stories that could benefit or inspire others. I finally agreed to write them down. I especially wanted to share my experiences with young professional blacks who feel overwhelmed by seemingly insurmountable challenges.

W. Astor Kirk

After committing to write One Life: Three Professional Careers--My Civil Rights Story, I had to attempt to relive the many character-shaping challenges of my life. As I did, my mind became fixed on three life-changing experiences:

.The mysterious voice that spoke to me at the age of 15, while I was walking behind a mule and a plow in my dad's cornfield in East Texas. The voice said loud and clear, "If you accept the existing circumstances of your life, then that means denying your God-given ability to visualize something radically different and much better."
.During my freshman year at United Methodist-related Wiley College, three professors challenged me to think some new thoughts, critically examine old ideas and develop new premises of my own. One of those professors was Melvin Tolson, whom Denzel Washington portrayed in the movie "The Great Debaters."
.There are six lessons I learned or values I internalized when I began my professional career after graduating from Howard University's graduate school in 1947. Those six lessons provided a broad conceptual framework for approaching my professional careers.

Those lessons are:
.What determines who we are and what we believe, as human beings, is the character of our minds and our souls--not race, ethnicity, skin pigmentation, gender or sexual orientation.
.In our interactions with other human beings, it is not the reality of differences that matters most but rather the socially constructed meanings we associate with that reality. If the "meanings" are positive, we will respond one way; if negative, we will behave another way.
.Knowledge is power. In and of itself, power is neutral. Our values determine how we use power and the ends toward which power is directed.
.From time to time, the human condition may generate issues that cannot be resolved for all times, for all peoples and in all places. However, we can gain new insights regarding their dynamics, achieve new understandings of the contexts in which they are nested, and develop new levels of consensus in dealing with such issues.
.As human beings, each of us is in a state of perpetual becoming. None of us exists in a state of perfection.
.One cannot achieve and sustain wholeness of mind, body and soul without forgiving those who inflict pain, cause misery and sow seeds of discord--even when one is unable to forget what these others do.

Since 1947, I have had three professional careers: 14 years as a political science professor at Huston-Tillotson University, a historically black institution supported by The United Methodist Church; five years as a senior program manager at United Methodist Board of Church and Society; and 16 years as a regional director of the historic "War on Poverty" program of the U.S. government.

As a professional who happens to be black, I was confronted in each of my careers with a number of complex, difficult and delicate challenges with critical "civil rights" implications.

In writing One Life: Three Professional Careers--My Civil Rights Story, I decided to reflect on how my six lessons for life or internalized values generally influenced the choices I made and the manner in which I attempted to carry out those choices.

In each of my careers, I always fought against the disparaging stereotype of being perceived as a "black" or "African-American" professional. I wanted to be viewed, liked or disliked, and praised or criticized on my merits as a professional who incidentally happened to be black or African American.

With respect to my family's interest in my conveying a positive message to today's young black or African-American professionals, my desire is to share some of the benefits of my personal experiences. I want them to know that when I intentionally and responsibly took charge of my own destiny, my actions radically affected how others perceived and behaved toward me.

I especially want to share the fact that in my professional careers, and particularly in my desegregation of the University of Texas' graduate school, a basic strategic objective was to avoid giving others the tools with which to negatively define me.

No matter how good or exemplary one intentionally tries to live, he or she inevitably will experience some "bad" things. However, as I say in the book, it is possible for good people to survive most bad things that may happen to them.

In many respects, I wrote the book as a grateful acknowledgement of the blessings of a wonderful wife who has, for 61 years, been for me a Rock of Gibraltar and a shelter in times of storm.

*Kirk is a member of Foundry United Methodist Church, Washington, D.C. This reflection first appeared in the UMConnection newspaper of the Baltimore-Washington Annual (regional) Conference

Border consultation lays groundwork on immigration
By Valerie K. Maravolo*

More than 150 people attend "Embracing My Neighbor," the United Methodist Border Network Consultation in El Paso, Texas. A UMNS photo by Humberto Casanova

EL PASO, Texas (UMNS)--Effective ministry and advocacy related to immigration must begin on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border as a partnership of The United Methodist Church and the Methodist Church of Mexico, according to church leaders along the border.

Possibilities for such partnerships were explored during a Feb. 8-10 border consultation called "Abrazando a Mi Prójimo," or "Embracing My Neighbor," sponsored by the Methodist Border Mission Network. The event's goal was to help the church reach across the border and work together as neighbors in common ministry, particularly as the church works to respond to the impact of immigration.

Among the outcomes of the United Methodist Border Network Consultation, the Methodist Church of Mexico resolved to establish centers and church networks to provide assistance and resources to migrants along both sides of the border. In addition, the church will develop and distribute educational materials to inform the public about dangers that lie ahead for migrants on their journey into the United States.

United Methodist participants said immigration-related resolutions would be brought before the 2008 General Conference, the church's top legislative body that meets this spring in Fort Worth, Texas. In addition, a prayer vigil and news conference is planned for April 24 at General Conference, and the Methodist Federation for Social Action plans to erect a symbolic water station at the convention site.

"As a people of faith, we are called to understand and take action based on the knowledge we have and the faith we embrace," said Billie Fidlin, outreach director for the United Methodist Desert Southwest Conference. "People are willing to risk their lives to come here. Are we willing to risk our hearts to accept help and value others?"

'Bilateral ministry'
The consultation drew more than 150 people representing three conferences of the Methodist Church of Mexico, five United Methodist conferences, plus United Methodist general agencies and seminarians. Two years in planning, the event was organized by United Methodist border bishops in partnership with Methodist bishops in Mexico.

(From left) The Rev. Edwin Santos, Dionisio Salazar, the Rev. Francisco Cañas and the Rev. David Maldonado chat during a break. A UMNS photo by Humberto Casanova.

"This consultation was an incredible experience of sharing, bilaterally and in a meaningful way, the depth and complexity of the enormous issues inherent in immigration between the U.S. and Mexico," said Bill Sanford, missionary for outreach ministries for the Desert Southwest Conference. "Attendees could not help but realize more fully the importance of resolving this life and death situation in a joint and collaborative way, and that has to be our goal."

In her opening remarks, United Methodist Bishop Minerva Carcaño of Phoenix emphasized that the church is "called by God to be a faith community of welcome."

Sharing her vision for the consultation and its outcomes, Carcaño said "a bilateral ministry between Mexico and the United States is only a natural way of being by leading with a servant spirit and faithfulness."

While cooperative work between U.S.-Mexican border conferences is not new, it has taken on new urgency as the United States has slowed the flow of undocumented people moving north from Mexico and Central America into the United States. Those who do cross are often in dire need of human necessities. More and more people are being stranded along the southern border, and increasing numbers are being jailed or deported by the United States with no resources to return to their places of origin.

"The challenges, issues and opportunities facing the church in the border region have never been greater. Partnering between the Methodist Church of Mexico and the United Methodist Church has never been more urgent," said an October 2007 letter from organizing bishops on the importance of the consultation.

Complex issue
Keynote speaker Chad Richardson, professor of sociology and director of the Borderlife Project at the University of Texas-Pan American, explained how two strong social issues relevant to immigration--globalization and nationalism--contribute to the complexity of the issue.

"While globalization attempts to erase borders, nationalism attempts to establish them," Richardson said. "Social earthquakes and volcanoes happen where two or more social forces come together."

Richardson highlighted common misconceptions of the reasons that immigrants migrate north. They include beliefs that the migrants are seeking government-supported health care and assisted living, or that the migrants are criminals intent on committing more crimes in the United States. He noted the challenges in accurately recording data on immigration and said "bad statistical tracking contributes to faulty facts."

Richardson stressed that changing the pattern of thinking is only the first step in the right direction. "We have to make people see we are brothers and sisters under our skin, and must minister to each other accordingly," he said.

Testimonials were shared at the consultation and served as a clear call to action. Experiences of personal hardship were described by migrants and the "good Samaritans" who have looked out for their safety.

"This event provides a foundation for work that is to be done on both sides, but it really helped demonstrate that we have a lot to learn, too," said the Rev. Jorge Rodriguez, pastor at Seguidores De Cristo Mission in Las Vegas.

Fidlin said the plight of immigrants who migrate for economic reasons is the most difficult. "To hear their journeys opens the door to compassion," she said. "We must begin with the stories, followed by the facts of immigration, and seek reform--on both sides of the border."

Call to action
Bill Mefford, director of civil and human rights for the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, called for mobilization to affect public policy--advocating for comprehensive immigration reform at the local, state and federal levels, as well as "within our churches."

"There is absolutely no political will in Washington D.C., to take leadership on this and to get this done," said Mefford. "… The only way we will get this done is through grassroots organization, through public pressure."

Comprehensive immigration reform, he said, would create a pathway to citizenship for all undocumented migrants; create a legal, orderly way for migrants to work for short periods of time in the United States; and eliminate the backlog of cases in which families are waiting to reunify because of migration, detainment or deportation.

"We've got to organize," said Mefford, urging individuals and churches to create networks and coalitions and identify allies to work with. Even though anti-immigrant sentiment in the United States is pervasive now, "it is not winning elections. We need to remind people of this."

*Maravolo is a communications editor with the Desert Southwest Conference of The United Methodist Church.

Listening post explores Native American issues
By Bill Fentum*

Sarah Kernell, the Rev. Chebon Kernell and Raggatha Rain Calentine take part in a "listening post" sponsored by the United Methodist Native American Comprehensive Plan. UMNS photos by Bill Fentum, United Methodist Reporter

FORT WORTH, Texas (UMNS)-The Rev. Chebon Kernell was raised in two spiritual worlds that some people say have little in common.

He's a lifelong United Methodist who responded to a call to Christian ministry at age 17. And he's a Seminole Native American, no stranger to the ceremonial traditions of his ancestors.

"As a minister," he said, "I've wondered where to draw the line between the two-or whether it should even be drawn."

That issue and others faced by Native Americans in The United Methodist Church were analyzed Feb. 16 at a "listening post" hosted by the denomination's Native American Comprehensive Plan.

Kernell, pastor of First American United Methodist Church in Norman, Okla., was among 24 clergy and laypeople invited. Participants spent two hours in small group sessions, sharing stories of evangelism in Native communities.

The Native American Comprehensive Plan, one of five racial-ethnic plans administered by the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, plans to hold similar gatherings across the United States during the next three years. Information collected from the talks will be used to plan a Native American School of Evangelism event sometime between 2009-2012.

Mistrust of the church
No more than 6 percent of the 2.7 million Native Americans in the United States identify themselves as Christian--a statistic often blamed on mistrust of the church.

Mission schools operated on Indian reservations from the late 1800s through the first half of the 20th century, many of them founded by Methodists. Children were forced to adopt Anglo-European culture, abandon their tribal languages and convert to Christianity.

Some participants at the listening post talked about other Native religious traditions that thrive in communities where mainline churches don't.

"They attract larger numbers of young people," said the Rev. David Wilson, chairman of the plan's task force and superintendent of the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference. "That's partly because those settings celebrate who they are as Native people. Our (United Methodist) church hasn't always affirmed that."

John Shotton, a member of the First American United Methodist congregation and council chairman of the Otoe-Missouria tribe, said in a keynote address that effective Christian evangelism among Native Americans must start with rebuilding trust--often taking at least two or three years of tireless effort.

Shotton told participants about Jimmy Kenner, a white Baptist preacher from Kentucky who moved to Red Rock, Okla., several years ago to lead a Native church.

"At first," he said, "Brother Jimmy stood out like a sore thumb. But he started going to tribal funerals, even when he wasn't invited, to show respect. He embraced tribal leadership and told them, 'I understand that you have your own worship style, but I'm here if you need me.'"

That turned the key, Shotton said. Since then, attendance and activity at the Red Rock church has picked up, and Kenner has been asked to officiate at some funerals.

A spiritual people
"We've always been a spiritual people," said the Rev. Wil Brown, a member of the Kiowa and Acoma tribes and former director of Native American Ministries for the American Baptist Church. "The task isn't to introduce God, but to introduce Jesus Christ in a way that isn't offensive to Native people. It's a hard nut to crack."

Brown was one of several people outside The United Methodist Church who attended the Fort Worth event.

Unemployment runs as high as 75 percent on some Native reservations, where high rates of depression, substance abuse and suicide also are reported. During the small group meetings, several people attributed those problems to a lack of pride in Native heritage.

"Each culture God created has something to contribute," said the Rev. Christine Eastwood, pastor of the East Homer and Truxton United Methodist charges on New York's Onondaga Reservation.

"God affirmed all cultures on the day of Pentecost, but that got pushed aside. We need to regain it. People shouldn't have to sacrifice their identity, or feel ashamed of it."

Funding ministries
Native American United Methodists in the Texas Annual (regional) Conference hold worship services on the third Sunday evening of each month at Shepherd Drive Fellowship, a ministry of Memorial Drive United Methodist Church in Houston. They also host an annual Houston Methodist powwow, a social event celebrating Native heritage with music, storytelling and tribal dances.

"We hope to start a fully functional Native church," said Glenna Brayton, who chairs the conference's Committee on Native American Ministries. "But our immediate goal is just to survive. We're trying to run an $80,000 ministry on a $6,000 budget."

Brayton said the committee gets most of its funding through the denomination's Native American Ministries Sunday, planned this year for April 6. However, out of 715 churches in the Texas Conference, only 91 contributed in 2007.

Some "listening post" participants said their congregations would be forced to shut down without help from non-members and local businesses.

"Five whole people are actual members in one of my fellowships," said the Rev. Julianne Judd, a pastor in the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference. "But another 175 people drop in every month or so, and when we're in need, they've been there for us."

More help has come when she least expected it.

"One evening," she said, "a member won the first pot at the senior citizens' bingo hall. I told her, 'Don't forget-the preacher's accepting your tithe!' Everyone laughed at that. But the next five winners weren't members, and they all tithed their winnings. They gave because they've still been a part of the life of the church."

When Native American congregations have to disband for lack of support, members aren't likely to stay in the denomination, said Judd. "The reality is that they'll find another Native church to go to, whether it's Baptist, Presbyterian or Catholic," she said. "They're going to find another gathering of Native people that will let them to be who they are."

Telling our story
The comprehensive plan's task force met the day before the listening post to plan projects for 2008. Those include a Sept. 19-21 Native American Women in Ministry conference and an October followup to a Native writers' workshop held in 2007.

Last October's writers' workshop, held at the Post Oak Lodge in Tulsa, Okla., encouraged participants to express their Christian faith in creeds, poetry, responsive readings and short stories. Organizers hope to attract youth and young adult writers to the event.

"There are very few Native writers in society at large, even fewer within the Christian setting and even fewer Methodist," said the Rev. Anita Phillips, a Cherokee and the plan's executive director. "We're still very much an oral people."

The plan's task force seeks to publish a second edition of Voices, a Native American worship guide first released in 1999. The revision would include contributions from the workshop participants.

*Fentum is a staff writer for the United Methodist Reporter.

Church offers 'ministry of presence' to shaken campus

by Susan Dal Porto

Students join a prayer vigil at Sycamore (Ill.) United Methodist Church for victims of the Feb. 14 shooting at Northern Illinois University. UMNS photos by Susan Dal Porto.

DeKALB, Ill. (UMNS)--On the Sunday before Valentine's Day, students from the Wesley Foundation at Northern Illinois University prepared a pancake breakfast at the First United Methodist Church of DeKalb, just a few blocks from campus, to raise money for a mission trip to Puerto Rico in May.

The mood was festive and fun. "Everything was great," said Nikki Walters, 20, president of the school's Wesley Foundation.

On Feb. 14, all had changed for the students, church and school when graduate student Steven Kazmierczak, 27, opened fire in a lecture hall on campus, killing five people and injuring 17 others before killing himself.

While none of the Wesley students was among the dead or injured, the deadly shooting spree--the second in less than a year on a U.S. college campus--left the nation unnerved about school safety and filled with questions about the minds of the killers.

The United Methodist Church responded quickly to the latest shooting, providing counseling and assistance to families and students, holding prayer vigils for the university community, and opening church doors to offer support and hospitality to those shaken by the events.

'God cried the first tears'
Bishop Hee-Soo Jung of the Northern Illinois Annual (regional) Conference expressed the grief of the entire United Methodist denomination.

"As the church prays for victims and their families and friends and a troubled young man who turned to violence, we seek healing and comfort for all who are touched by this tragedy," Jung said in a statement. "We acknowledge a need for communities of faith to be a voice of healing and hope, of Christ's peace and reconciliation for a world that desperately needs peace."

Listing the names of the students killed, the church's local district superintendent said God's truth and kingdom abide, especially amid tragedy. "Before the families of NIU students Daniel, Catalina, Ryanne, Julianna (and) Gayle ever got word that their sons and daughters died in that campus carnage at DeKalb, God cried the first tears," said the Rev. Larry Hilkemann.

Among the dead was sophomore Ryanne Mace, 19, the granddaughter of two retired United Methodist clergy members in the Illinois Great Rivers Conference, the Rev. Eugene Mace and the Rev. Miley Palmer.

Bishop Sharon Brown Christopher, who leads the Illinois Great Rivers Conference, called the church to engage in "serious reflection about how we, the church, might contribute to the ending of the anger, rage, and violence in our society that has contributed not only to Ryanne's death but the deaths of many not only on the NIU campus but in our schools throughout our country."

The church responds
After ensuring that all Wesley Foundation students were safe Feb. 14, the Rev. Efrain Avila and other campus ministry staff joined professional counselors to talk to students at university residence halls. His wife, Laura Avila, is also a clinical psychologist and was part of the rapid deployment counseling team.

Rev. Avila, who is bilingual, later was dispatched to Kishwaukee Hospital to provide translation services and minister to the Hispanic-speaking family of shooting victim Catalina "Cati" Garcia, 20.

The Rev. Laura Crites, associate pastor from DeKalb First United Methodist Church, offered support and help at the same local hospital. The Rev. Jane Easley, senior pastor at the DeKalb church, fielded phone calls and assisted visitors with updates and information.

At noon on Feb. 15, a prayer vigil was held at the DeKalb church.

Candles are lit during a Feb. 15 prayer vigil at Sycamore (Ill.) United Methodist Church

"We are gathered to grieve over bodies, injured people, and souls that are affected so deeply," Easley said. "We claim the resources of our faith. Today we need to be an Easter people, worshipping our resurrected God."

Avila spoke to those in attendance about his night at the hospital with the Garcia family as they awaited news of their daughter. "Yes, students were murdered in cold blood," he said, "and right now we are all in shock. But this doesn't end here. There is a lot of pain going on, and it is going to be hard when school opens again."

On the evening of Feb. 15, another prayer vigil was held at Sycamore United Methodist Church, which is about six miles from campus and home to many students and university staff. Outside, the church's electronic sign proclaimed "NIU, we are praying for you." Inside, worshippers gathered, many in the red and black colors of the university.

The Rev. Bill Landis, senior pastor, wore a school athletic shirt and described how he called his son, Jake, a student at Northern Illinois, on the afternoon of the shooting. Landis' son was walking across campus near Cole Hall, where the shooting took place, as he spoke on his cell phone, and the elder Landis was shaken by the sound of sirens in the background.

The Wesley group will hold another prayer vigil for the community at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 19, at the DeKalb church. Tuesday evening is the United Methodist student group's regular weekly meeting night.

Seeking healing
While most Northern Illinois students had left campus by the morning after the shooting, local church staff provided pastoral care to those who remained.

Avila expressed thanks for the messages of support and prayer coming from across the church. "While we're all caught up in 'what's next,' please remember the injured in your prayers," said Avila. "Some are still critical."

Classes and athletic activities have been suspended through Feb. 24. Before students return Feb. 25, a campus-wide memorial service is planned. Faculty and staff are scheduled to return to campus Feb. 19 to begin training on ways to help the campus return to an environment of learning and normalcy.

Avila said the school plans to follow the "Virginia Tech model" of healing and helping used after that school's on-campus shooting last April, with a licensed mental health professional and a clergyperson in every classroom for every class. "We will need lots of qualified people to make this work," he said.

University President John Peters acknowledged the spiritual, emotional and physical toll on the Northern Illinois community, saying the shooting left behind "serious wounds of body and spirit." He cited a Feb. 15 prayer vigil on campus, attended by more than 2,000 people. "I personally took great comfort in the outpouring of concern for victims and love for each other that was expressed at that event, and believe we must carry those sentiments forward in our hearts in the days and weeks ahead," he said.

For Nikki Walters, a sophomore, the reminders will include an empty chair at a Bible study she attended each Thursday night with Gayle Dubowski, 20, one of the students killed. "She was so sweet, and now she won't be there with us," said Walters.

*Dal Porto is director of communications for The United Methodist Church's Northern Illinois Annual Conference.

Shooting victim was living out her call, family says

By Paul Black*

Ryanne Mace

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (UMNS)-Nineteen-year-old Ryanne Mace was always interested in helping people.

A top student with top grades, Mace's interests were diverse. The Northern Illinois University sophomore was living out her sense of call, working at the local Elder-Beerman department store and studying to become a psychologist/case worker at the school's campus in DeKalb, Ill.

Just before Valentine's Day, she had posted a message to her friends on her MySpace page, according to a news report: "Happy Valentine's Day Everybody! ... Saying you love someone is not enough, it's how you treat them that shows your true feelings."

Mace, of Carpentersville, Ill., was one of five students killed Feb. 14 in Cole Hall Auditorium as she attended a geology class at Northern Illinois. She was remembered in news reports as a top student with an avid interest in music, an accomplished violinist and a choral singer.

She was the granddaughter of the Rev. Eugene and Sally Ann Mace of Washington, Ill., and the Rev. Miley and Janet Palmer of Decatur, Ill. Both pastors are retired United Methodist clergy members in the church's Illinois Great Rivers Annual (regional) Conference.

Family and friends said Mace wanted to make a difference in her world. "She would throw herself into a variety of things," said the Rev. Miley Palmer. "She felt most fulfilled when she was helping others."

Despite spending part of his pastoral career in campus ministries, Rev. Palmer said the recent tragedies at Northern Illinois and Virginia Tech last April are a new phenomenon.

"These events seem to grab the headlines," he said. "Certainly, there have always been tragedies on campus, but the sniper syndrome is fairly new and it's scary. Unfortunately, it seems to overshadow the lives of college students, who seem to be returning to a time of idealism and asking the tough questions as to what are the anchors in life."

Palmer retired in 1998 as pastor of Decatur Grace United Methodist Church after serving six years as a district superintendent and nine years as pastor of Urbana Wesley United Methodist Church and director of the Wesley Foundation at the University of Illinois. Rev. Mace retired in 1999 after 25 years with Methodist Medical Center in Peoria, the last 11 as director of pastoral care.

Call to prayer
Bishop Sharon Brown Christopher, who leads the Illinois Great Rivers conference where Mace's grandfathers served, called on the church to offer prayers on behalf of the family.

"I am horrified and saddened by the tragic and senseless death of Ryanne Mace, one so full of life with a promising future still ahead of her. During the coming days, I know you will join me in prayer for the families and friends touched by her death and blessed by her life," Christopher said.

"I hope you will also join me in serious reflection about how we, the church, might contribute to the ending of the anger, rage, and violence in our society that has contributed not only to Ryanne's death but the deaths of many not only on the NIU campus but in our schools throughout our country," the bishop said.

Mace's parents, Eric and Mary Kay Mace, began calling on the evening of Feb. 14 to check on their daughter's safety after hearing about the campus shooting. The school's cell phone tower had been shut down by the flurry of calls on campus. Later, the Maces reached their daughter's roommate, who confirmed that she had a class in Cole Hall at the time of the shooting.

According to eyewitness reports, a gunman dressed in a black shirt, dark pants and black hat came out from behind a curtain in the auditorium shortly after 3 p.m. and opened fire, sending the 160 students screaming, running, and in many cases falling to the ground. In all, 21 people were injured with five killed before the shooter turned the gun on himself.

In addition to Mace, the victims were Daniel Parmenter, 20, of Westchester; Catalina Garcia, 20, of Cicero; Julianna Gehant, 32, of Mendota; and Gayle Dubowski, 20, of Carol Stream.

On Feb. 15, authorities identified the shooter as Stephen P. Kazmierczak of Champaign, a graduate student at the University of Illinois. Kazmierczak used a shotgun hidden in a guitar case and three handguns hidden under a coat, according to university Police Chief Donald Grady. Kazmierczak had been a student at Northern Illinois as late as the spring 2007 term and had received an undergraduate degree in sociology in 2006.

The Chicago Tribune reported that the school honored the gunman two years ago for his research on the U.S. prison system, which included a study of self-inflicted wounds among prisoners.

Comforting one another
Meanwhile in DeKalb, the director of the Wesley Foundation at Northern Illinois said no students involved in the campus ministry were among the dead or injured.

"Most of them have returned home to be with their families," said the Rev. Efrain Avila Jr.

"There have been and will continue to be professional counseling and spiritual guidance at each residence hall and academic building at Northern Illinois University. The Wesley Foundation at DeKalb will continue to be part of those efforts."

Avila expressed thanks for prayers and messages of concern from throughout The United Methodist Church. He asked for continued prayers for the students, families, university staff and first responders.

A community prayer service was held Feb. 15 at First United Methodist Church of DeKalb, and another prayer vigil was scheduled for the evening of Feb. 15 at Sycamore (Ill.) United Methodist Church. The Wesley Foundation will hold its prayer vigil at 7 p.m. on Feb. 19 at First United Methodist Church of DeKalb, about two miles from the campus.

Updates on vigils, memorial services and help for families of those affected will be available at http://www.firstumc.net/, the Web site for the First United Methodist Church of DeKalb/Wesley Foundation.

Funeral services for Ryanne Mace will be at 2 p.m. on Feb. 18 at Baker Memorial United Methodist Church in St. Charles, with visitation from noon until service time. Willow Funeral Home, 1415 W. Algonquin, Algonquin, Ill., is in charge of arrangements. The guest book is available at http://www.legacy.com/Obituaries.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonId=103473835.

*Black is director of communications for the Illinois Great Rivers Conference of The United Methodist Church. Susan Dal Porto, director of communications for the Northern Illinois Conference, contributed to this report.

Continued Kenya violence disrupts food supply

A UMNS Report

By Linda Bloom*

With no schools to attend and the trauma of forced displacement, children are among those most affected by violence that has followed the Dec. 27 re-election of Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki. A UMNS photo © Juan Michel/WCC.

Continued violence in Kenya has displaced hundreds of thousands of citizens and disrupted the food supply in parts of that African nation.

Stockpiled food has quickly disappeared, and the United Methodist Committee on Relief is appealing to United Methodists to donate money to bolster the food supply. UMCOR has spent $120,000 on relief needs in Kenya since early January, assisting more than 10,000 people in the region.

"There's just not enough food to feed people," said the Rev. Sam Dixon, UMCOR chief executive, in a Feb. 12 interview with United Methodist News Service.

A thousand people have been killed in Kenya since the Dec. 27 re-election of President Mwai Kibaki, according to news reports. The election results have been disputed by supporters of opposition leader Raila Odinga and, as of Feb. 13, former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan was serving as a mediator between the two political leaders.

Much of the violence is thought to be related to ethnic affiliation. Kibaki is Kikuyu and Odinga is Luo, but both have support from other ethnic groups. In terms of major ethnic groups, about 20 percent of Kenya's population is Kikuyu, 14 percent is Luo, 13 percent is Luhya, 11 percent is Kalenjin and another 11 percent is Kamba, according to reports by the BBC.

"UMCOR joins the world community in being deeply disturbed by the violence and destruction of property that the unresolved political dispute has fostered," said Dixon. "In many cases, it is the most vulnerable who are being victimized by the violence."

Annan offers 'real hope'
The Rev. John Calhoun, a Kenya-based missionary with the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, credits mediation efforts by Annan for providing "real hope that the politicians have finally understood what the Kenyan people have been saying for weeks: It is time to end the bloodshed, and find a solution to this crisis," according to a Feb. 11 letter from Calhoun.

The humanitarian crisis, however, may not be resolved so quickly, said Calhoun, who serves as coordinator of humanitarian relief and church development for the Methodist Church in Kenya. He estimated that more than 300,000 people remain displaced and said it may take months before they can return home.

Calhoun and colleagues from the Methodist and Anglican churches visited a temporary camp for displaced persons on Feb. 6 at Tigoni, a small village outside Nairobi.

"The residents of the Tigoni camp are mostly Luo and Kalenjin tribespeople who were driven from their homes and jobs on the Kikuyu-owned tea plantations of this beautiful and fertile region," he said in his report. "In just the last two weeks, more than 5,000 persons have sought shelter in this hastily built camp on the grounds of the Tigoni police station; more than 1,000 of these displaced persons are children."

UMCOR has assisted United Methodist Bishop Daniel Wandabula, of the denomination's East Africa Annual Conference, in addressing the humanitarian needs of both those inside Kenya and refugees who have fled to Uganda.

Food, water, temporary shelter and medicines funded by gifts to UMCOR are being distributed through United Methodist churches in the region and by the annual conference, according to Dixon.

Food exhausted in Nairobi
In the Nairobi district, UMCOR purchased food for distribution under the leadership of Superintendent Carol Ososo. "Food was stockpiled at a central location, and local churches who had received those displaced by the violence were able to pick up some food supplies," Dixon said. "Unfortunately the supply was quickly exhausted due to the high demand."

He added that UMCOR is making arrangements with a private donor to ship 20 forty-foot containers of relief supplies for Kenya. The Methodist Church of Kenya and the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi will help process the shipment when it arrives.

UMCOR also is supporting the relief work of Action by Churches Together, which is being carried out by the Methodist Church of Kenya, led by Calhoun and by other denominations. ACT launched a $4.5 million appeal for Kenya on Feb. 4 and its partners have been working to improve conditions in the camps for displaced persons.

ACT funding, for example, enabled the purchase of 2,300 IDP kits designed to provide for a family's non-food emergency needs. Each kit includes a kitchen set, mosquito nets, female hygiene items and blankets. Members of the ACT Kenya Forum also have acquired 1,619 tents for displaced families.

The Church of Sweden, an ACT partner, has supported nationwide assessment of the psychosocial effects of the violence and mass displacement.

Calhoun said that relief supplies at Tigoni and other camps are being provided by church groups, the Red Cross and Red Crescent, and several U.N. agencies. Working ecumenically, the Methodist Church in Kenya, Anglican Church of Kenya and the Presbyterian Church of East Africa have created an organization called Tumaini Na Undugu (Hope and Brotherhood), according to Calhoun.

During his visit, Tumaini Na Undugu sponsored a cultural event that included music, comedy, games and face painting. "The events of the day brought several hours of joy, laughter, relief, and hope to thousands of persons living in anxiety at Tigoni camp," he wrote.

Continued concern
Concerns over Kenya linger by African ecumenical leaders such as the Rev. Sam Kobia, a Methodist and Kenya native who serves as chief executive of the World Council of Churches, and the Rev. Mvume Dandala, a South African Methodist who leads the All Africa Conference of Churches, based in Nairobi.

In "A Call to all Kenyans from the All Africa Conferences of Churches," issued Jan. 21, Dandala mentioned the long-time hospitality extended to the council in a way "that has made us feel truly Kenyan" and recalled how a Kenyan once helped broker peace in South Africa.

"If Kenyans see this crisis as simply just one of their problems that they will in time resolve, let it be said that the rest of the continent is desperate, for if it happens thus to Kenya, how about the rest of us, what hope do we have?," he wrote. "Kenya, you are one of the custodians of the last vestiges of hope for this continent! Please steward our collective hope."

An international delegation from the World Council of Churches visited Kenya Jan. 30-Feb. 3 as part of the council's "Living Letters" initiative to show solidarity and support the peace and reconciliation efforts of Kenya's churches. The visit was hosted by the National Council of Churches in Kenya.

The reconciliation efforts have included face-to-face encounters between Christian leaders from the Kalenjin and Kikuyu communities and the Kikuyu and Luo communities. An interreligious forum, with representatives from Christian, Muslim and Hindu communities, also is addressing the crisis by promoting political mediation, peace messages and a nationwide prayer movement and by providing relief aid.

The seven-member "Living Letters" delegation met with Kenya's vice president Kalonzo Musyoka, and with Odinga, the leader and presidential candidate of the Orange Democratic Movement. Delegation members asked the two leaders to seek a compromise solution to the election dispute.

Donations to assist UMCOR's response in Kenya can be dropped in local church collection plates or mailed to UMCOR, P.O. Box 9068, New York, NY 10087. Write "UMCOR Advance #982450, International Disaster Response-Kenya" on the check memo line. For credit card donations, visit UMCOR's Web site at http://www.umcor.org/ for online giving information or call (800) 554-8583.

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.

College student: 'I'll never forget' tornado aftermath

By Cathy Farmer*

Union University sophomore Jordan Thompson is interviewed by a reporter the day after an F-4 tornado destroyed his dorm on the campus in Jackson, Tenn., burying Thompson for three hours in the rubble. UMNS photos by Sherry Thompson.

JACKSON, Tenn. (UMNS)--Buried for three hours under tons of rubble left by an F-4 tornado, Jordan Thompson found new brothers and a deeper belief in God.

"I'd have given up, 100 percent given up, without my faith," said Thompson, a member of Germantown (Tenn.) United Methodist Church, of his entrapment after a twister leveled his two-story dormitory at Union University in Jackson.

The 20-year-old sophomore had sought refuge on his dorm's bottom floor, along with six other male students, as a storm system roared through Jackson on Feb. 5. When a tornado bounced across the 1,100-student campus, it destroyed much of Union's student housing, including Adams Hall where Thompson lived.

Only seconds after Thompson and his classmates took shelter, the ceiling and walls came crashing down. The young men were trapped underneath the wreckage, scarcely able to breathe.

"I couldn't move," Thompson recalled. "I could pick my head up maybe two to three inches. My legs were tucked up under me and I was face down." He remained in that position for three hours until rescuers pulled him through a small hole in the rubble.

During those three hours, Thompson and the other young men forged a bond. "I'll never forget what we said to each other while we were under there," he said. "We're brothers now."

Waiting for rescue
They prayed for each other and recited Scripture while waiting for rescue. "There's no way not to see God's hand on us," he said quietly. "We're all alive ... and that makes no sense without God in the picture.

"I won't say we didn't falter at all, but I was never mad at God or asking why He had put me there. I knew I was there to help the other guys. If we had been alone, I don't think any of us would have gotten out. Sometimes one of us would say, 'I'm slipping, I'm going!' but God gave us the strength to help by talking to them."

The students yelled for help as they were able, but the pressure of the rubble made it impossible for some of them to speak. Thompson was able to hold onto the hand of one of the more severely injured students, Jason Kaspar. "He was having trouble breathing, crushed by stuff, and from the dust and insulation in the air," Thompson said. "I told him to squeeze my hand once in a while so I'd know he was OK."

Though he could not call anyone, Thompson managed to free his cell phone and flip it open to use the light to see Kaspar's face. "I kept checking; I was afraid he was gone," recalled Thompson.

More than 1½ hours after the tornado hit, the students' pleas for help were heard and rescuers began digging through the crumpled building. Amazingly, Thompson walked away with only cuts and bruises. Three others have been released from the hospital and the last three--Kaspar, Matt Kelley and David Wilson--continue to be in serious condition.

"One may be in the hospital for two months. Several have been on dialysis. They're not 100 percent out of the woods yet, but the doctors say they should make a full recovery," said Thompson.

Thompson spoke with United Methodist News Service by telephone from his home in Collierville, a town just outside of Memphis, following his rescue. He and his family keep daily contact with the other students who were trapped.

"What we said to each other during those hours, it's emotional. I'll never forget it. We're brothers now. And I'll never be the same. I've seen the love God has for His children."

Classes to resume
A private school affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, Union closed its campus to begin a massive cleanup. School officials announced Feb. 13 that classes will resume Feb. 20 as displaced students secure housing elsewhere. The university will hold a school-wide worship service Feb. 19 in G.M. Savage Chapel.

Thompson, who plays on the men's soccer team at Union, plans to return and wants to be a part of the Union family even more now, said his father. "He already has gotten his new room assignment and definitely will be back," said Dave Thompson. "I think he has a bond that has truly changed him."

Like other parents, the elder Thompson is both amazed and grateful that Union was spared of any fatalities. About 50 students were hospitalized and hundreds displaced. "When you think that there were 1,100 students on that campus, you can only say that it was the grace of God that no one was killed. It was a miracle," he said.

*Farmer is director of communications for the Memphis Annual (regional) Conference of The United Methodist Church.

Artist creates icons of the civil rights movement

By John Gordon*

Artist Pamela Chatterton-Purdy stands with her Icons of the Civil Rights Movement exhibit on display at Orleans (Mass.) United Methodist Church. UMNS photos by John Gordon..

HARWICH PORT, Mass. (UMNS)-When artist Pamela Chatterton-Purdy began working on her latest project depicting heroes of the U.S. civil rights movement, she drew on her own experiences--beginning as a civil rights activist herself in the 1960s.

Purdy and her husband, David, a retired United Methodist pastor and district superintendent, were among white people who marched hand-in-hand with African Americans fighting for racial equality. Her first job was with Ebony magazine. The couple's experiences grew even more personal after they adopted an African-American son and another son of African-American and Vietnamese descent.

She "connected the dots" of her experiences and her passion for civil rights in her Icons of the Civil Rights project in time for Black History Month and the 40th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. The images took her three-and-a-half months to create.

Her 16 wood and gold-leaf icons are being displayed at schools, churches and the Boston Statehouse.

"I did them from a very religious standpoint, in that I really see the civil rights movement as God present in the Holy Spirit," said Purdy, 67, who lives in Harwich Port on Cape Cod. "The Holy Spirit moved ordinary people to do very extraordinary things.

"So many of these people gave their lives for freedom."

Both of Purdy's latest artistic projects are shaped by dark days in U.S. history. Her first icon series dealt with the 9/11 terrorist attack. A lifelong United Methodist, she struggled with her own questions about the tragedy.

"The biggest question when that terrible thing happened called 9/11, everybody was saying, 'Where was God?'" said Purdy. "I just needed to do icons to express the presence of God within a terrible, terrible, evil time."

In her latest project, some of the icons note the role of children in the civil rights movement-the Ku Klux Klan's brutal murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till in Mississippi in 1955 and the arrest of hundreds of young demonstrators who participated in the 1963 children's campaign in Birmingham, Ala.

She hopes her audience includes young people today "who take it for granted that blacks have as many rights as whites. They shouldn't take it for granted," said Purdy, "because that prize was won with a lot of blood."

Till's murder was the "dawn of my own awakening" of the civil rights movement, said the Rev. Wesley Williams, pastor of Orleans United Methodist Church in Orleans, Mass., where the icons were shown. "I was about 9 years old when that happened. And I think it was my first experience with having to consider death in children."

He calls the Icons of the Civil Rights Movement a "tribute to the martyrs, the witnesses" involved in the struggle. "I think that it is a perfect fusion of art and information," he said.

Pancheta Peterson, a Cape Cod resident and activist who also saw the exhibit, says the sacrifices of civil rights activists should not be forgotten. She quoted the oft-repeated admonition that those who forget the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them. "Perhaps this will jolt us back to reality," she said.

Purdy hopes the icons will help children and young people learn more about the civil rights movement by pulling its images off the history book pages and into a different venue where they can learn and be inspired. "The fight was horrific and the price was enormous," she said.

For more information on Purdy's works and art show schedule, visit http://www.chatterton-purdyart.com/.

*Gordon is a freelance producer and writer based in Marshall, Texas.

Indiana church reaches out to pet lovers

Bob Schultz and his wife, Karen, pet their dogs, Scooby (left) and Abbie, at their home in Madison, Ind. UMNS photos by John Gordon

By John Gordon*

MADISON, Ind. (UMNS)-Support groups for those grieving after the loss of a loved one, or caring for an ailing family member, are not unusual.

But recognizing the strong bond between people and their pets, members of North United Methodist Church go a step further, reaching out to those dealing with the illness or death of four-legged friends.

"They need somebody to talk to," says Bob Schultz, a church volunteer who started the Pet Caretakers' Ministry. "They're coming in and they want prayer for their pets. And they want prayer for themselves, taking care of them. "

Schultz and his wife, Karen, have an 11-year-old boxer, Scooby, who has cancer.

Scooby, an 11-year-old boxer, is being treated for cancer.

"Scooby's been a very close friend, and he's always been with me," says Karen Schultz. "And I just was finding it hard to imagine life without him."

Mrs. Schultz, a retired nurse, considers her pets members of the family. A recent addition at her home is a 6-month-old dog, Abbie, who was abandoned and taken to a vet clinic for treatment of an injured leg.

"They do give us that unconditional love," she says. "… I can remember losing my cat, and it was just like somebody had ripped a part of me apart."

Seeing a need
Bob Schultz came up with the idea for the ministry after seeing an upset pet owner at a local veterinary clinic. "This young man was crying and so we were sitting there talking and said a little prayer," he says. "And they just didn't expect for his dog to live."

Soon after that meeting, the Pet Caretakers' Ministry was launched, meeting once a month at the church. North United Methodist has also expanded its 24-hour prayer line (812-493-4487) to include prayers for pets and their owners.

"Sometimes we fail to be sensitive, I think, to individuals who are very, very, very attached to their pets and then they lose one of their pets," says the Rev. Randy Jungkurth, pastor of the 140-member congregation. "And then that ends up being even as much grief as a person who loses a family member."

Jungkurth welcomed the idea of the Pet Caretakers' Ministry, which began as a community outreach in September 2007.

"One woman in particular had lost her dog three years ago and she still is grieving that dog," Jungkurth says. "Her grief is real, and being a part of the pet caregivers' ministry, she's had the opportunity to talk about her loss and her grief."

Processing grief
One meeting of the Pet Caretakers' Ministry included a discussion by Margo Watkins, an animal behaviorist. She suggests writing a journal or indulging in a favorite hobby to help deal with the loss of a pet.

"I think a support group like this helps people understand that there are other people out there who have lost a pet or are facing the inevitable death of a pet," Watkins says. "I think it helps them go through the grief process. Some people never get over that loss."

Watkins' 10-year-old daughter, Gillian, says the loss of a pet cat "hurt my heart." She says writing a poem about her pet helped.

"After I accepted, I can still feel his love because he'll always be in my heart," she says.
Karen Schultz finds it hard to imagine a world without pets.

"I think it would be a much lonelier place," she says. "I'm not sure that there would be as much compassion in the world. I just don't think it would be right."

Bob Schultz is hoping the idea of a support-group for pet owners will spread. He sees the love of animals as a "special blessing"-and a two-way street.

"We think we're taking care of the pets," he says. "But in reality, the pets are taking care of us."

*Gordon is a freelance producer and writer based in Marshall, Texas.

United Methodist wins Alabama election

The Rev. James Fields (center) is congratulated by State Sen. Zeb Little and supporter Jana Shelton after winning the Jan. 29 special election to the Alabama House of Representatives. A UMNS photo by Amanda Shavers-Davis/The Cullman Times.

A UMNS Report
By Linda Bloom*

A United Methodist has become the first African American to win election from his district to the Alabama House of Representatives.

The Rev. James C. Fields Jr., 54, a part-time local pastor, won a Jan. 29 special election for the District 12 seat. He was sworn into the legislature as it began a 30-day session on Feb. 5.

Fields, a Democrat, won 59.3 percent of the vote to defeat Republican Wayne Willingham, who had 40.3 percent. He will complete the term of Democrat Neal Morrison, who resigned to become interim president of Bevill State Community College, and he will be eligible for re-election in 2010.

District 12, with about 80,000 people, is the largest of three legislative districts in Cullman County, according to Fields. Its residents are overwhelmingly white - at least 96 percent of the population - and "probably 75 percent Republican," in his estimation.

"History is being made tonight," said State Sen. Hinton Mitchem, a Fields supporter, in a Jan. 29 story in The Cullman Times newspaper.

In an interview with United Methodist News Service, Fields attributed his victory in the election to "being just a hometown boy. I think people were able to see past race."

He lives in Colony, a town about 35 miles north of Birmingham, and is the local pastor at St. James United Methodist Church in Irondale, about 50 miles from his home. "Colony is the only black community in Cullman County," he said.

Prayed about election
Fields said he didn't want to run for election at first, but prayed about it and received encouragement from many quarters, including "letters from people who never voted for a Democrat."

His retirement from the Alabama Department of Industrial Relations became effective Nov. 1, coinciding with his nomination as the Democratic candidate for the House, winning 63 percent of the vote in a three-person race.

Fields said he spent the first two "hectic" days of the new legislative session learning "how the House actually operates." Some 15 bills passed on Feb. 7 had been approved the previous year but then bogged down in the Senate, he added.

"In my area, we're big in agriculture," he noted. "I'm really having to pay close attention to those bills."

Fields has been a director of the United Methodist Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns since 2000 and is a member of the World Methodist Council Executive Committee.

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.