Mark Calhoun

The Methodical Process....

I don't know how many of you claim to be a part of a process... but I am here to tell you that I am currently, and have been (for who knows how long), a part of the United Methodist Process. Part of that process includes participation in higher education... like... lets say seminary... (as I find myself in the closing days of my third year, it would probably be the most constructive if I choose not to rant about this right now!!!) Any hoo.... I find myself a week away from commisioning as an ordained elder... commisioning is short for, 'almost but not yet.' Back in Wesley's day they used to refer to this as being on trial... I think I like that more than our current term, 'probation.'  At any rate, if I mind my manners, I will only be on probation for 4 years before being ordained an elder in the United Methodist denomination. As I eneterd the process for commissioning, I was blessed with the opportunity to sit before three elders and answer a wide variety of personal, theological, and ecclesial questions. As well, I had the opportunity to answer several questions, in writing, that are cast forth from the United Methodist Book of Discipline... Since I haven't posted in a while, and since we are a week away from commissioning (pending a vote by the clergy in my conference) I thought I would post a few of my answers... Keep in mind that these are my initial answers and are, by all means, works in progress.

To see all 16 responses go here

Question 1

1.     Describe your personal experience of God and the understanding of God you derive from biblical, theological, and historical sources.

I find the intricacies and elements of my overall faith journey to carry equal weight regarding my experience of God and the formation of my faith. Over the years, life experiences, relationships, academic pursuits, and encounters with creation have all played a significant role regarding my personal spiritual formation journey. As I look back over my life, through the lens of prevenient grace, I am able to see that all of my life experiences have in someway had an impact on the way God has formed my spirit. Although the first twenty–two years of my life were, for the most part, void of ecclesial experiences, I realize now that these years offered numerous encounters with a God I did not know, or even try to know. Through those early years, and on through this very moment, I have been blessed to have had the opportunity to explore hundreds of personal relationships and I have been afforded numerous opportunities to encounter God through wilderness-based explorations and expeditions.

While all of these experiences have played a significant role in the development of my overall faith journey, it has been my experience within the life of the East Heights ecclesial community as well as my undergraduate and seminary academic pursuits that have offered the most opportunities to expand my understanding of God through biblical, theological, and historical sources. Over the past 5 years, I have gained new and exciting insights as to the essence and nature of God through my encounters with scripture. The afore-mentioned insights have been augmented through the development of interpretation tools that have aided my pursuit of deeper understanding on multiple levels. While historical sources have also aided my biblical study pursuits by giving me insight as to the development of theology and doctrine, it has been the slow, arduous expansion of my personal theologies that has been most rewarding and given me clear insight as to the nature and essence of God. While the development of personal theology is obviously a work in progress that will last each of us a lifetime, I count it a blessing to have had a number of opportunities to expand my theological positions in the areas of mission, evangelism, worship, theological anthropology, spirituality, and Christian ethics. For me, the most exciting and enriching pursuits have come from dynamic explorations in the doctrinal areas of the Trinity, the person of Christ, and the Kingdom of God. I look forward, with eager anticipation, to a lifetime of continued learning and faith formation.

Question 2

2.     What is your understanding of evil as it exists in the world?

I understand evil to be the manifestation of intentional, or even unintentional, separation from God, God’s essence and God’s overarching purposes for creation. For me, as a Christian, I would also extend this notion of separation to the absence of the humanly practice of kingdom life as it is exemplified through the image of Christ. I hold the theological perspective that evils exists in the world due to our innate ability to oppose the will of God. When negative and oppressive human will stands up and against the will of God, the essence of evil becomes a reality. Donald McKim suggests, and I concur, that evil can be represented as intrinsic, moral, or natural opposition to the divine will of God. While God’s Love and Grace stands to partially relieve creation from the clutches of evil, I believe that it is, as well, the human extension of that love and grace that serves to destroy the grasp of evil. It is interesting to ponder the level of evil that exists within the midst of active, God-seeking ecclesial communities.

Question 3

3.     What is your understanding of humanity, and the human need for divine grace?

My basic understanding of humanity is based on the theological assumption that, as humans, we are created in the image of God, but separated from God through the entrance, manifestation, and active, living presence of sin. I believe that divine grace serves as one of the instruments that God makes use of in order to draw humans back into a full loving and nurturing relationship with God’s self. As humans, I believe that our broken and fallible character creates an atmosphere that is potentially void of God’s divine presence while at the same time in desperate need of that very presence as well as the divine grace that is available to all of humanity. From a theological anthropology perspective, I believe strongly that the postmodern culture is yearning for spiritual ecclesial communities to turn toward the notion of ‘relationality’ (the interplay of theological, sociological, psychological, and scientific perspectives and viewpoints) as they strive to respond to the question of humanity and the need for divine grace. It will be interesting to see if the ecclesial communities of our day are willing to make this shift.

Question 4

4.     How do you interpret the statement “Jesus Christ is Lord”?

I understand Jesus Christ to be the manifestation of God’s presence in the midst of creation (past, present, and future), and I understand the word Lord to represent a position of belongingness. That is to say, if Christ is my Lord, then I belong to Christ, who is God. I think that this phrase represents a succinct challenge to be committed to the person, essence, reality, and divine nature of Jesus the Christ. As well, I believe this phrase to implicate Jesus as the one true son of God, as one in communion with God, and as one separate, but one with God. Personally and practically, I see the phrase as a challenge to place Jesus as the focal point of everything we are to be as Christians; we are to belong to Jesus and we are to be the manifestation of God’s presence through our assimilation to Christ.

Question 5

5.     What is your conception of the activity of the Holy Spirit in personal faith, in the community of believers, and in responsible living in the world?

I believe in the Holy Spirit in the manner in which the Author of the Gospel of John refers to it in verses twenty-five and twenty-six of the fourteenth chapter, “²⁵I have said these things to you while I am still with you.  ²⁶ But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.” In this sense, I see the Holy Spirit as the manifestation of God’s presence through the image of an essence and divine reality that functions on our behalf with respect to our relationship with God as well as a guide willing to lead us through life, death and resurrection. Metaphorically, personally, and practically, I think of the Holy Spirit as a Guide and advocate. Growing up in the great state of Wyoming, I grew accustomed to the theory and use of guides. My family used and served as guides for hunting, fishing, and backcountry travel. Merriam Webster refers to a “guide” as one that leads or directs another's way, or one who directs another's conduct or course of life. Just as a guide might direct or lead us to a hunting spot or fishing hole, or might help us to navigate a journey through the wilderness, I see the Holy Spirit serving in somewhat the same capacity as we navigate life. Along with the notion of that of a guide, I also see the Spirit as an advocate, one that pleads the cause of another, one that defends or maintains a cause or proposal, or one that supports or promotes the interests of another. I see these two images to be the embodiment of the capabilities of the Holy Spirit, which is one with God, and one promised to us by Jesus himself. It is my belief that the Holy Spirit, in this image, has a transforming affect on personal faith, a transforming affect in and throughout the community of believers, and manifests itself as an essence that serves as a guide and advocate for responsible living in the world in which we exist.

Question 6

6.     What is your understanding of the kingdom of God; the Resurrection; eternal life?

My initial New Testament understanding of the Kingdom of God is sparked by Matthew 4:17, “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near.” I see the Kingdom of Heaven, in this instance, as synonymous with the Kingdom of God, and I understand this realm to be dualistic in nature. On one hand, I see this Kingdom to be manifested on earth and contained by the present evil age as it is impregnated with sin and death, and on the other hand, the promise of an age to come that is in process and has been marked by Christ’s death and resurrection, and will, in the end, represent the fullness of righteousness and holiness through Christ’s return. Ultimately, I see the reality of the Kingdom of God manifested through the humanly practice and experience of Kingdom Life. I understand resurrection to be the ultimate and final victory over sin and death and as the cosmic in breaking of God’s imagined future age. To me, resurrection is to bring forth new life out of a previous life that is scarred by the ills of humanity and plagued by the absence of the truest essence of God. I believe the notion of resurrection to be a key doctrinal element of the Christian faith that serves to lead us toward an understanding of a future reality. With respect to eternal life, I see this as an opportunity to experience continued and ultimate sanctification. In addition, I see eternal life as something to be captured within our earthly human existence and then brought into fullness upon our bodily death as we are then cast into God’s presence for an endless amount of time.

Question 7

7.     How do you intend to affirm, teach and apply Part II of the Discipline (Doctrinal Standards and Our Theological Task) in your work in the ministry to which you have been called?

I am pursuing ordained mission and ministry as an elder within the United Methodist denomination. With that pursuit comes the divinely ordained responsibility to spend my lifetime committed to a ministry of Service, Word, Sacrament, and Order as it is brought forth on earth and within the context of acute ecclesial communities. I see the manifestation of this responsibility to be represented through the image of a servant leader that, by Discipline, is realized through leading the people of God in worship and prayer, leading persons to faith in Jesus Christ, exercising pastoral supervision in the congregation, and leading the church in obedience to mission in the world. I intend to affirm, teach, and apply Part II of the Book of Discipline by striving to actively respond to this divine claim on my life. Specifically, I endeavor to Love God, follow the ways of Christ, and tend to the nurturing of active faith formation with respect to myself and those with whom I lead and come in contact. I intend to address this challenge through the engagement of local and global mission, through preaching, through teaching, through the administration of the sacraments, and through the engagement and practice of personal and corporate spiritual disciplines. Furthermore, by aligning myself with this denomination, I pledge to uphold and foster the Doctrinal Standards and Theological Tasks as they are articulated in part II of the Book of Discipline.

Question 8

8.     The UnitedMethodistChurchholds that the living core of the Christian faith was revealed in Scripture, illuminated by tradition, vivified in personal experience, and confirmed by reason.  What is your understanding of this theological position of the Church?

I understand this theological position to be globally recognized as the ‘Wesleyan Quadrilateral,’ and I understand it to be the formalized concoction of Wesleyan scholars who recognized this pattern of faith formation in the life of John Wesley. I would say that this formulaic approach to theology and faith formation preceded our founder in one form or another and has been massaged, added to, taken away from, and re-imagined numerous times over the past 2000 years. I understand scripture to be the primary element and I believe that transitive verbs ‘revealed, illumined, vivified, and confirmed’ add a great deal of depth to the nouns that follow them. In essence, I think that scripture, tradition, reason, and experience are set in motion, not only by the verbs that precede them, but by the way they are engaged in the life of ecclesial communities. I see these elements of faith formation as dynamic and fluid in nature, and I see each of them permeated with the presence of the Holy Spirit. I have been afforded the opportunity to witness all four elements of this theological position being explored within the confines of the everyday ecclesial experiences at EastHeights. With respect to my own personal theology, I would add cultural context to the mix as other scholars have done.

Question 9

9.     Describe the nature and mission of the Church.  What are its primary tasks today?

With the mission of the church, ‘To make disciples of Jesus Christ,’ set before us, we, as representatives of the United Methodist Denomination, are poised to be the living expression of a global Christian ‘Church’ that is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic by its very nature ( according to paper #181 of the World Council of Churches). Dr. Robert Martin of Saint Paul School of Theology suggests, and I concur, that the ‘Church,’ in its most authentic form, is the body of Christ and serves as the manifestation of the divine life in the created order and among people. The ‘Church’ therefore, represents the incarnation of divine life to the world. That being said, Martin goes on to claim that ecclesial communities have the capacity within them to actually be ‘Church,’ but are not necessarily ‘Church’ just because they function as a gathered assembly. From this perspective, I think it is the responsibility of ecclesial leaders to nurture environments that allow communities of faith to be the dynamic witness of the divine life that fosters a reflection of the true nature of the church which is the image of the living, breathing body of Christ. The primary task of the church today is to stay true to the word of God and to be the manifestation of God’s presence in the context of the culture in which we currently exist. While we find ourselves in the midst of a global transition from a modern, or colonial, perspective to a postmodern, postcolonial reality, we, as ecclesial communities, are charged with the task of reflecting the ‘truth’ as we know and understand it, and are constantly called to present authentic opportunities through which creation can experience authentic faith formation under the guiding influence of the Holy Spirit. The active engagement of such things will serve well to foster and encourage missional-based disciple-making in the context of the twenty-first century.