Category: News

Advent is a time of expectation.  The seasonal hymns are full of anticipation: Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus; O Come, O Come, Emmanuel; Savior of the Nations, Come. 

But it is not only Christmas, the coming of God’s Messiah to the Bethlehem manger, that Christians anticipate.  The biblical hope also includes the expectation that God in Christ ultimately will right all wrongs and bring in everlasting peace.  It is this hope that is expressed so powerfully in Revelation 21:  

I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.”

But there is at times a gap between what we hope for and what actually happens, between our interpretation of God’s intentions and their fulfillment. When Christmas arrived two millennia ago, it was all a bit of a surprise.  No one expected the Messiah to come like this, in such a place, in such humility.  In retrospect, birth in the Bethlehem manger might seem the perfect start to this most exceptional life, but no one at the time appears to have expected it.  

When Jesus later began his ministry, he proclaimed, “The time is fulfilled, and the reign of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” There was a large audience well prepared for this message. People had been hoping for centuries that God would act on behalf of Israel, an expectation encouraged by John the Baptist. Still, while the message might have sounded familiar, there appeared to be something wrong with the messenger.  Jesus wasn’t at all the Messiah people had expected.   

It was not until after the death and resurrection that Jesus’ own disciples came to understand what the coming of the Christ meant.  In particular, it revealed the character of God in ways far beyond their expectation. God in Christ joins with us, suffers with us, lives with us. The reign of God had begun in a new way among them, but to see it, they themselves had to become a new creation.  

During the Advent season, Christians celebrate the coming of Christ, believing that we, at least with the benefit of hindsight, got this one right.  The future Advent of Christ also is eagerly anticipated by many millions of Christians, which in and of itself is not a bad thing. Matthew’s Gospel, for example, enjoins us to keep our lamps lit, to stand at the ready, to watch and pray. Indeed, on a practical level, none of us knows when our own end will come. Even if the world goes on for millions of years, these are for us the last days, and it behooves us to live at the ready, to redeem the time, to watch and pray. 

Unfortunately, the perspective found in most popular books about the biblical future is deeply problematic. It takes a piece of this and a piece of that, joined together with extraordinary imagination, and creates a version of God’s ultimate reign that is actually foreign to every biblical author. In other words, people are tempted to homogenize various perspectives for the sake of a larger interpretation that itself is not found in any biblical book, prying texts free of their context and effectively drowning out the distinctive voices of the individual authors.  

It is not the case that the Bible gives us a simple roadmap to the ultimate advent of God’s reign.  At the end of the day, that’s probably a good thing.  Those who do think of these texts in that way are always in danger of constructing a religion of escapism, whose main business is that of departing this world and leaving behind (certainly not solving) its problems.  

We might instead take a lesson from Christ’s first Advent. Jesus did not offer his contemporaries what they wanted, which was escape from Roman occupation. Instead, Jesus offered them almost the reverse, telling them to love their enemies, shown in a willingness to carry the enemy’s cloak a second mile. He submitted himself to them, even when he knew it would kill him.   

Jesus offered hope, to be sure: hope both for God’s presence, forgiveness, and meaning in our lives today, and hope for God’s ultimate victory, for the final triumph of meaning, justice, purpose, and love. But he did not offer escape. If anything, he is the model of one who chooses to do the will of God without exercising the escape clause.

Many people in the early church understood that, which is why they experienced so much liberation and joy in the present. They had something to hope for and something to do in the meantime. Living lightly to possessions and pride, to things that the world gives and therefore can threaten to take away, they were set free to live much more fully in the world, not to evade it.  

It is possible to be so heavenly minded that we are of no earthly good, and, conversely, to be so earthly minded that we are of no heavenly good.  The best thing, in the only moment in which we can actually choose and influence–which is of course the present–is to bring heaven to earth, to live as God equips us today. Not because we have no future hope, but because we rest in it and are set free by it from all that would weigh us down and make us ineffective, self-absorbed, and afraid.   

We are called to newness of life today. It is in fact a much greater act of faith to live Christianly in this present world than it is, in effect, to check out of this world in expectation of a divine escape.   

Of course, none of us would want to miss out on God’s future.  At the same time, we ought to be careful not to miss out on all that God would do with and through and for us right here, right now. 

Wishing you the joy and reality of Christ’s Advent,

Craig C. Hill 

For the second year in a row, enrollment at Perkins has increased significantly, and applications are on track for yet another uptick in enrollment by next fall. 

It’s a happy milestone for the Office of Enrollment Management, Perkins’ recently reorganized admissions and recruiting function.  The office was formed in 2017, following the arrival of Dean Craig Hill and the hiring of Margot Perez-Greene as Associate Dean for Enrollment Management. 

“With the new vision brought forth by Dean Hill, it was an ideal time to refocus and re-energize the team,” said Perez-Greene. 

The Office of Enrollment Management’s mission: to engage and recruit prospective students, shepherding them each step through enrollment, whether on our Dallas campus or as part of the newly launched hybrid Houston-Galveston Extension Program.  That means not just boosting enrollment but also finding students who will thrive and flourish at Perkins, helping them leverage financial aid to best advantage, and overcoming any barriers that might keep them from applying. 

“Enrollment management is much broader in scope than simply processing admissions applications,” Perez-Greene said. “It includes the entire school – faculty, programs and services, marketing, groundskeepers, financial aid staff and staff hospitality and services.” 

Behind the comprehensive approach to Enrollment Management is the notion that “recruitment is everybody’s responsibility.”   

“It’s up to all of us to attract students who are a good fit for Perkins, retain and graduate them,” Perez-Greene said.  “Enrollment management is shaping the institution by recruiting students whose goals align with its mission. We have what they need; we deliver what we say we have; and our students are successful.” 

Perez-Greene notes that the Office of Enrollment Management posts its staff travel schedule so everyone at Perkins may stay informed – and alert the staff of potential connections. 

“If we’re visiting a place where you know someone we should talk to – a faculty member, a personal connection, a student with an interest in Perkins – please let us know, and we’ll be sure to follow up,” she said.  

So far, this new approach seems to be working. This fall, Perkins experienced a 14.1% increase in enrollment over the previous year—building on 2017 totals, when the increase was more than 40% over 2016.  And next year is looking promising, too – so far, the Office has received about 50 percent more applications for the fall of 2019 than it had this time last year.  

Meet the Staff

The Office of Enrollment Management invites faculty, staff, students, alumni and other stakeholders to join this effort. Do you know a prospective student who is considering graduate theological education?  Refer someone here  or alert them to on-site information events this fall through  Inside Perkins. 

Margot Perez-Greene, Associate Dean of Enrollment Management, leads the team of recruitment and admissions personnel, focused on making theological education possible and the admissions process seamless. Perez-Greene encourages all members of the Perkins community – faculty, staff, students and alumni – to contact her with any leads, connections or events that might help her staff connect with potential Perkins students. 

Stephen Bagby, Director of Recruitment and Admissions, meets with prospective students and helps them through the admissions process. He also coordinates individual visits and Inside Perkins events. One of his greatest joys is calling applicants to let them know they’ve been accepted to Perkins School of Theology.  

 

Yazmin Strauss, Recruitment and Admissions Specialist, assists students as they move through the application process, managing the applications process through a customer relationship management (CRM) system. She is also actively involved in events planning.   

 

John Lowery, Ministry Discernment Associate, travels extensively throughout the U.S. meeting prospective students and chatting with them about the call to vocational ministry in its various forms, as well as the diverse and inspiring learning environment of Perkins School of Theology. 

 

Caleb Palmer, Ministry Discernment Associate, also travels extensively to campuses, camps, and churches, and cultivates connections with Wesley Foundation leaders and religious faculty members at undergraduate colleges.      

 

Sandy Oswalt, Financial Aid Coordinator and Administrative Assistant to the Associate Dean, gets involved the minute a student is admitted to Perkins to assist with financial aid. She also serves as the point of contact for all questions and issues regarding financial aid.    

 

Jean Nixon, Financial Literacy Coordinator, is working to help make seminary students financially savvy, in terms of affording seminary, staying out of debt and budgeting. She leads an educational program of workshops and monthly events, funded by the Lilly Foundation.  

 

 

 

 

By Mary Jacobs, a Dallas-based freelance writer and former staff writer for The United Methodist Reporter and the Dallas Morning News.

Perkins’ fiscal year begins on June 1 and ends on May 31, but for most of us, our personal fiscal year ends on December 31 and coincides with our IRS tax responsibilities. 

While the vast majority of us don’t give to charities in order to get a tax benefit, it is a nice advantage to claim on our income tax returns.  Because of the 2018 change in the U.S. tax law, I urge you to pay close attention this year.  With the loss of the personal exemption but the large increase in the standard deduction, along with new tax brackets, many will want to get advice in filing under the new system. 

The SMU Office of Gift Planning, under the expert leadership of Marianne Piepenburg, will be glad to talk to you about specific year-end gifts you may wish to make to Perkins or to the University.  I also can be a point of contact (johnma@smu.edu).  

Without regard to whether the entire gift is deductible or not, gifts of appreciated stock are tax-effective as they avoid the capital gains tax when transferred to charity. For those over 70 ½, IRA Charitable Rollover gifts are a good way to make gifts up to $100,000 to the public charity of your choice, meeting your required minimum distribution without increasing your income tax liability.   

 For information about gift planning, visit smu.planmylegacy.org for some useful ideas to maximize your legacy of giving.  At that site you can be reminded how to donate stock, find information about charitable gift annuities, see sample language for bequests, and so much more.  You will see helpful steps based on your general gift amount, your age, or the kind of asset that you have in mind.  The website is informative and intuitive.  You will find it very helpful. 

Are you aware that almost 60 percent of adults in the United States do not have a will or any document detailing what happens to their estate after their death?  Perhaps it is time for you to review your documents—or create them if you have not already done so!  A review is especially important if you have moved to a new state because each state has its own laws pertaining to wills and trusts. 

I am grateful for the faithful and generous donors who have allowed Perkins to continue in its ministry of education for more than 100 years.  Many of our sustaining gifts came about because of careful estate planning.  I hope each one of us will take that responsibility on our shoulders so that the charities we care so deeply about will benefit for years to come.  

With a heart of thanks, 

John A. Martin
Director of Development
Perkins School of Theology

“Nativity,” an 86 x 104-inch oil-on-canvas painting by Luke Allsbrook, is currently on display in the stairwell of Elizabeth Perkins Prothro Hall.  The artwork pictures the birth of Jesus in the midst of a great heavenly battle, with imagery and text from the Nativity story in the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Revelation.  

“As a New Testament professor, I am strongly drawn to this painting because it encourages me to consider together very divergent scriptural texts and perspectives,” said Dean Craig Hill. “Needless to say, ‘Nativity’ is inspiring and thought provoking in ways not achieved by the traditional Christmas-card image.” 

Text and images from traditional Christmas carols are also incorporated into the piece, which was previously displayed in 2017 at Duke Divinity School. To read more, visit the artist’s website. 

As it has every year since 1959, the Perkins community will celebrate Advent by recalling an ancient story: the coming of the Christ Child. This year, however, the annual worship service will include some new twists.

The December 6 Advent worship service will be the first led by Marcell Silva Steuernagel, Perkins’ new Director of the Master of Sacred Music program.

“It’s a fresh take on something we do every year,” said Steuernagel.

With the theme “What Child is This?” the service will revolve around three Nativity canticles (lyrical passages) found in the gospel of Luke: Mary’s song of praise (the Magnificat, Luke 1:46-55), Zechariah’s song of prophecy (Benedictus, Luke 1:67-79) and Simeon’s song celebrating the child’s arrival (Nunc Dimittis, Luke 2:29-32).

“This is a liturgical triptych,” Steuernagel said, referring to the three-paneled altarpieces of the Renaissance and high Middle Ages. “We are looking at these three scenes that surround arrival of Jesus – two before, the Magnificat and the Benedictus, and one after, the Nunc Dimittis.”

Perkins’ Seminary Singers will be joined by performers from Meadows School of the Arts for this service, which will feature, along with traditional hymns, five new original compositions commissioned especially for the occasion: a Prelude by Anthony Elia, director of the Bridwell Library; the Benedictus, by José Luis Manrique; the Magnificat by Marcell Silva Steuernagel; the Nunc Dimmitis, by Fernando Berwig; and a Postlude by Robert Frank, Associate Professor of Composition at SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts.

The three thematic compositions by Manrique, Steuernagel and Berwig were commissioned by way of a Latin-American collective, called Ars Iubilorum, of which Steuernagel is a founding member. Since 2007, these composers have researched the intersection of Christian liturgical traditions and new music. Ars Iubilorum has collaborated with universities, churches, orchestras, ensembles and performers in South and North America, and in Europe.

The liturgy will be ordered around the three canticles.

“For each, there will be a scripture reading followed by the words of the canticle as framed by these new compositions. The congregation responds to the canticles by singing hymns,” Steuernagel said.

A moment of silence separates the first two canticles from the third, mirroring the contemplation of the baby Jesus by the Wise Men and shepherds. The final canticle, the Nunc Dimittis, recounts Simeon’s joyful response to the presentation of the baby Jesus in the temple.

Steuernagel notes that 2019 will mark the 60th anniversary of the annual Advent worship service at Perkins.

“We’re taking a new approach with a service that’s been observed at Perkins since 1959,” he said, adding with a chuckle: “It might scare a few people away. But I hope it will be a draw for some.”

Plan Your Visit

Perkins’ annual Advent Service takes place Thursday, December 6, at 4 and 8 p.m. in Perkins Chapel, 6001 Bishop Blvd., on the Southern Methodist University campus. The event is free and open to the public.

Parking is across the street from Perkins Chapel, inside the Meadows Museum Parking Center; enter the garage on the LEFT side of the entrance gate.

 

By Mary Jacobs, a Dallas-based freelance writer and former staff writer for The United Methodist Reporter and the Dallas Morning News.

Many students come to Perkins with the goal of moving into a new job, advancing in a current career, or becoming ordained.  

Stephanie Bohan’s goal, however, is to just keep on doing the job she’s already doing – “until the day I die,” she jokes – but doing it better. 

Bohan is Executive Director of The Agape Clinic, a nonprofit medical clinic which serves the community of East Dallas. On top of her job, she is pursuing a Master of Arts in Ministry degree part-time with a concentration in nonprofit leadership, which Perkins offers in partnership with the Cox School of Business.  

Bohan credits serendipity for the choice.  A sermon by her pastor, the Rev. Judith Reedy of Grace United Methodist Church, led her to Perkins’ website. 

“Judith said something about being a servant leader, I don’t remember exactly, except it made me go look at the website,” she said. “When I discovered the M.A.M. program, I felt it had been created specifically for me.” 

She became the first student to declare an intention to earn the degree with the nonprofit leadership focus.   

“I want to be the best leader I can be,” she said. “I was nervous at first; it had been at least 20 or 30 years since I turned in a paper for a grade. But I’ve been ridiculously blessed in this program.” So far, she’s earned straight A’s. 

“Every time I step on the campus, I feel like I’m becoming a better person and learning to become a better servant,” Bohan said.  

Founded by Dr. Barbara Baxter, who is also medical director and a member of Highland Park United Methodist Church — which played an instrumental role in the clinic’s creation —The Agape Clinic is the oldest charity medical clinic in Dallas and is independently funded. The clinic provides medical and dental care for anyone and everyone who asks for help. The clinic was located in the basement of Grace UMC for 33 years, until the clinic purchased the building across the street.  

Since Bohan joined in 2010, the Clinic has expanded its reach, from 2,800 patient visits to 18,000 patient visits per year, now delivering some $8 million in care to patients on a $850,000 annual budget, thanks to volunteers, donations and partnerships with educational institutions. Dental services are provided by students at the nearby Texas A&M College of Dentistry.  

A “cradle Catholic” who’s now a United Methodist, Bohan is a graduate of Catholic University in Washington, D.C., where she earned her degree in philosophy. Previously, she held positions in development at a Catholic elementary school and the Dallas Holocaust Museum. 

“I discovered I was naturally good at this,” she said. “I realized that nonprofit management was about doing good work and communicating it effectively. When you do that, you’ll never have to ask anyone for money. People naturally want to give and support you. Just stay focused on doing good work for the right reason.”  

Bohan said she was fearful when she started the job at Agape – fearful there wouldn’t be enough money, fearful they’d have to turn patients away, fearful they couldn’t serve everyone, fearful of failure.  None of those fears materialized. 

“There have been a million miracles that I have been privileged to witness,” she said. “I get to witness people giving of their time, lives saved, families kept whole because they didn’t lose a mom, a dad, or a child because they received good medical care,” Bohan said. “My life has been full of blessings that I could never have imagined because of this work.”  

Through her Perkins education, Bohan said, she’s getting closer to God, and preparing the way for more miracles.  

“If I’m a better servant, there are even more blessings to come,” she said.

As senior pastor of First United Methodist Church in Gladewater, Texas, David Lee doesn’t have a schedule that allows him to attend seminary full-time on campus. He tried an online program at a respected theology school, but it didn’t quite click. Then he discovered Perkins’ Houston-Galveston Extension Program. It proved a good fit.   

“I need the convenience of an online program, but I didn’t enjoy engaging online with people I’d never met,” he said. “With the hybrid approach, you really do get to know people in the program.” 

Lee, 31, enrolled this fall, taking advantage of the newly-launched hybrid format of Perkins School of Theology’s Houston-Galveston Extension Program. The program allows students to earn the Master of Divinity (M.Div.) in three years, or Master of Arts in Ministry (M.A.M.) degree in two years, completely on-site in Houston through a groundbreaking distance-education approach.   

Like Lee, many other students found the new model appealing. Forty students enrolled in Houston in the Fall of 2018 – four in the Master of Arts in Ministry (M.A.M.) program and 36 in the Master of Divinity (M.Div.) degree program, representing about half of the incoming class of M.Div. students overall at Perkins’ combined campuses.  

Houston-Galveston Extension program students take nine (9) credit hours, or three courses, each semester and attend three semesters (rather than two) per year —which was the way the program was originally designed. Students are required to be physically present for 20 hours of face-to-face instruction—10 hours at the beginning and end of each semester—per class.  In addition to these three hybrid courses, other courses will be offered in one-week intensives, typically in the January Term or Summer. Students who successfully complete each of these courses in the regular sequence will earn the M.Div. degree in three years and the M.A.M. degree in two years. 

The Extension program has been in place since 1995, but in February 2018, the Association of Theological Schools approved the new model, which waives the Dallas campus residency requirement. Before, Houston-Galveston Extension students were required to complete at least eight courses—the equivalent of one year of the M.Div. and one-third of the M.A.M. — on the Perkins-SMU campus. 

“The new format is a big draw for many students,” said Hugo Magallanes, director of the Houston-Galveston Extension program and associate professor of Christianity and Cultures. “Students who are employed full- or part-time can attend seminary. It’s helping reduce the strain on students’ time and money while providing quality instruction from Perkins’ full-time faculty.” 

That was the appeal for Megan Twyman, 21, who works as a teacher and tutor in Shreveport, La. Having recently married, she did not think seminary was an option. 

“I had to keep my job to pay the bills,” she said. “I knew I felt the call to ministry, but I thought it would have to wait until we were more stable. God had other things in mind, though.” 

The launch of the Houston-Galveston program full-time hybrid program changed her mind. She enrolled this fall as an M.Div. student with hopes of becoming an ordained elder in the Louisiana conference.  The format proved a good fit for Twyman’s learning style.  

“As an introvert, I like being able to soak in a lecture before responding to my classmates,” she said. “Introverts often do not get to become engaged in discussion in the classroom setting like they do in the hybrid program.” 

Magallanes notes that, while convenient, the online portion of the program is demanding.  

“It’s not easier than face-to-face classroom work,” he said. “Typically, students have constant interaction with each other and the professor by way of forum conversations. In an in-person classroom, a few students might earn a good grade without participating in class.  You cannot get away with that in an online classroom.” 

However, Twyman said, she doesn’t feel isolated. 

 “I have a group of five people that I talk to almost every day, through group message about assignments,” she said. “We lift each other up, and I love to see them in person during face-to-face sessions.” 

Top Profs

Over the past few years, David Kim, 30, has listened as his wife, Danielle, talked about classes at the Houston-Galveston campus with well-known Perkins professors such as Ted Campbell and Billy Abraham.  Danielle will graduate in May; now David is taking classes from those professors, too. He’s studying through the hybrid program while working part-time as director of communications and community ministries development at Aldersgate UMC at College Station.  

 “Those professors are there in Houston teaching,” he said. “Just being able to talk to Ted Campbell, hear his jokes, observe his thought processes – it’s amazing. That’s one of the things I find really important in this program.” 

While some hybrid programs lean heavily on adjunct faculty, Houston-Galveston students regularly receive instruction from Perkins professors, who also teach full-time students who attend on campus in Dallas.  Many of the faculty members have completed a course in online teaching through SMU’s Center for Teaching Excellence. Teaching the three M. Div. courses this fall are Campbell, Leslie Fuller, and Dallas Gingles, who is campus manager for Houston-Galveston.  Students also do coursework in Spiritual Formation (taught by Ruben L. F. Habito, Perkins’ Director of Spiritual Formation and Professor of World Religions and Spirituality, and the Rev. Mary Tumulty, Faculty Facilitator) and participate in internships, coordinated by Isabel Docampo, Co-Director of the Intern Program, Professor of Supervised Ministry, and Director, Center for the Study of Latino/a Christianity and Religions.

The launch of the new hybrid format this fall coincided with a move of the Houston-Galveston administrative offices to Houston Methodist Hospital, making it the only U.S. seminary located in a medical center.  Students have access to books and materials, now housed in the hospital’s library, and through the partnership, the Houston-Galveston campus will offer a one-week intensive in bioethics in January.   

The new location also capitalizes on a number of Methodist connections.  Perkins alumnus and Executive Board member Charles Millikan (M.Th. ’71), who was involved in founding of the Houston-Galveston campus in 1994, is Vice President for Spiritual Care and Values Integration at Houston Methodist and also holds the Dr. Ronny W. and Ruth Barner Centennial Chair in Spiritual Care.  Millikan notes that the hospital’s senior chaplain, BJ Hightower, was among the first students to enroll in the Houston-Galveston campus program, earning her M.Div.

Residential classes, spiritual formation and community engagement also take place in the program’s three partner sites: St. Paul’s UMC and St. John’s UMC in Houston, and Moody Methodist Church in Galveston. 

This year’s incoming class comes from the Houston area as well as Arkansas, Louisiana, Indiana, Florida and other parts of Texas. The average age of students in the program is 40. 

“Generally speaking, the program tended to attract older students, but now because of the online portion, the program is attracting more younger students as well,” Magallanes said.  

Full-time Students

Another advantage of the hybrid format: students can now choose to attend full-time at Houston-Galveston, which was not an option until now, and those in degree programs are eligible for scholarships. 

 Dallas Gingles, who is a Ph.D. graduate of Southern Methodist University, adds that the hybrid launch coincides with another milestone for Houston-Galveston – the selection of Cynthia Fierro Harvey as the 2018 recipient of the Perkins School of Theology’s Distinguished Alumnus/a Award. Harvey, now bishop of the Louisiana Episcopal Area of the United Methodist Church, was one of the first graduates from the Houston-Galveston program, earning an M.Div. in 1999. She is the first graduate from the campus to receive the recognition. He expects similar great things from the incoming class of students.  

 “I’m incredibly impressed with this class; they’re all hard workers,” he added. “The hybrid launch effectively changes the program to a full extension campus, where you can get everything you need for a degree here, without having to go elsewhere.  

To Learn More

Prospective students interested in learning more about the Houston-Galveston Extension Program are invited to this information session: 

Houston-Galveston Information Session
Tuesday, December 4
7 – 8:30 p.m.
St. Paul’s United Methodist Church
5501 S Main Street
Houston, TX 77004

Please register at smu.edu/Perkins/visit/insideperkins 

Individual visits to both locations may also be arranged. 

For additional information or questions, contact Stephen Bagby, Director of Recruitment and Admissions, at sbagby@smu.edu or 214-768-2139. 

 

By Mary Jacobs, a Dallas-based freelance writer and former staff writer for The United Methodist Reporter and the Dallas Morning News.

After reading a book about the history of slavery, Brian McLaren was haunted by this image: Southern slaveowners in the antebellum South, sitting comfortably in the church pews on Sunday mornings, hearing the words, “You are forgiven.”   

The image shows how Christian worship has the power to save or destroy the world, he said. And going forward, he believes the path to destruction is straightforward: “Just keep worshipping exactly as we’ve been worshipping since 1607 … and just keep worshipping exactly as we’re worshipping now.” 

McLaren shared that warning at Perkins’ Fall Convocation, which brought about 135 alumni, ministers, laypeople and others to the campus of Southern Methodist University Nov. 12-13. With the theme “JustWorship,” the program featured speakers and workshops, a resource fair, and worship. 

Several worship experiences were offered throughout the program, including opening and closing services at Highland Park United Methodist Church, a labyrinth walk, a Taizé service, and a Worship Under the Stars event on Monday night (moved indoors due to inclement weather, but still moving and inspiring, according to attendees.)  

“Worship was truly the highlight of the event,” said Priscilla Pope-Levison, coordinator of the program and Perkins’ Associate Dean for External Programs & Professor of Ministerial Studies.  “Participants got to see the breadth of worship experiences, and each illustrated this idea of bringing together both loving God and loving neighbor.”    

Monday Night Plenary

The centerpiece event was the Monday night plenary at Highland Park United Methodist, “How Can Worship Save or Destroy the Planet?” featuring McLaren and Sandra Van Opstal.  

McLaren is an author, speaker, activist, and public theologian whose most recent book is The Great Spiritual Migration: How The World’s Largest Religion Is Seeking A Better Way To Be Christian. Van Opstal, a second-generation Latina in the U.S., is the Executive Pastor at Grace and Peace Community on the west-side of Chicago and author of two books on worship, The Mission of Worship and The Next Worship: Glorifying God in a Diverse World.   

Both stressed the formative power of worship – for good or for evil. 

“We’ve got to take a hard look at the role worship plays in forming us as people,” McLaren said. “Otherwise, our worship simply serves as a chaplaincy to an extractive and exploitive economy.”   

Van Opstal cited the words of Amos 5:22-24 as a clear warning against the idolatry of empty worship.   

“God is saying, ‘I despise your religious festivals. Away with the noise of your songs,” she said. “But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” 

Church worship services can steer people toward becoming healers, or plunderers and killers, McLaren said. 

“We’ve got to face the fact that while we’ve been worshipping happily – this world has been treated like a trash dump,” he said. “The cries of the poor have gone unheard, and the power of the super-rich has increased. Christians have done these things Monday through Saturday and then gone to church on Sunday …. where worship just lifts them up and gives them more confidence to keep doing what they’re doing.”  

McLaren decried harmful beliefs related to the environment, such as, “Jesus is coming back so we might as well use it all up.”  

“It gives us permission to dominate and exclude to the harm of other living creatures,” he said.  

He also took issue with phrases often heard in church worship, such as, “Give us the lost.”   

“Give other human beings to us as our possessions? Define everybody else as the lost?” he said. “That renders other human beings as subhuman.” 

Growing up in a conservative evangelical family, McLaren said that he came to realize that he’d never heard a song that simply sang the words of Jesus.  

“It’s almost like our worship insulates us from what he said,” McLaren observed. “Worship tries to make us feel good rather than be good.” 

Van Opstal sparked laughs of recognition when she opened her talk by singing what sounded like a familiar contemporary hymn: “I’m coming back to the heart of worship, cause it’s all about me, Jesus./It’s all about me and how I feel about you, Jesus.” 

“Our worship is all about intellect and intention –not about action,” she said. “We have words. So many, many, many words.”   

Worship cannot exist without embodying justice, Van Opstal asserted. Living in proximity to communities that are historically exploited, she has witnessed the sorrow and the hopelessness that exploitation creates. Worship should foster solidarity with these communities.   

“It has nothing to do with the carnival of multi-ethnic diversity,” she said.  “It’s about solidarity with those who suffer.  If we don’t do that, there will be more raping of the planet and we’ll just go on singing and building buildings and feeling pretty good about ourselves.”   

Van Opstal noted that North American Christians are still in the habit of sending missionaries out to the rest of the world, but instead, she says, the example of Christians in other parts of the world can teach North Americans.   

“Ninety percent of the world’s Christians are not in North America,” she said. “They have something fantastic happening in their churches. We have an entire generation of people who are wondering, ‘Where are the churches?’  Well, that’s where they are.”   

She mocked conferences that advocate superficial changes to worship – changing the style of worship, changing the color of the sanctuary – in hopes of bringing young people back to church.  

“You cannot slap a coat of paint on idolatry and fool young people,” Van Opstal said.  “What is happening in the global church in our so-called under-resourced communities is actually the gift that can save the world.”  

Kent and Susan Roberts, members of Highland Park United Methodist, found the words of McLaren and Van Opstal provocative and inspiring. 

“Sandra Van Opstal was just fantastic,” Susan Roberts said. “I don’t like praise music, and I’ve always wondered, ‘What’s wrong with me?’  She articulated why I don’t like it — it always felt so empty.” 

“The program opened up a world of possibilities for expanding the repertory of ways to experience Christianity,” Kent Roberts said. “Sometimes I get frustrated. But this felt like a door opening.”   

The convocation served as a good reminder of the church’s potential, according to Shandon Klein, a full-time Perkins student in the M.Div. program and Assistant Director of Welcoming at First United Methodist Church in Richardson. 

“It was a reminder to keep our eyes on the prize,” she said. “Not to just feed into the institution of the church but also into the movement for change.  You can build up your church and keep it in your own little box, or you can use the institution to literally promote change in the world.” 

2019 Convocation 

Plans for the Fall 2019 convocation were announced at the event.  Featured keynote speakers will include Rick Steves, the travel TV host, a guidebook author and devout Lutheran, who will speak on “Travel as a Spiritual Act;” Celestin Musekura, president and founder of African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministries; and Samira Izadi Page, founder and executive director of Gateway of Grace. The event will take place November 11 & 12, 2019, on the campus of SMU.