I Still Don't Know Why I was Defrocked

If you were present at ERC sessions last week when the status of my credentials was discussed, you, apparently, know something I still don't know, that is, the grounds for the attack on my status as an ordained minister in ERC.


When I received the letter from Jack Selcher last year, Jack's letter informed me that my credentials were removed "for cause."


Later, I wrote to Dr. Richardson to ask what the cause was and he said that actually no specific cause was mentioned in the Ad Council meeting.


No one has given me one since then. I still don't know, from anyone in authority, what I did wrong or how I could have repented to be restored with my brothers and sisters in the Conference.


Obviously, reasons were given in ERC sessions. People apparently voted and with some reason. Right?


Does anyone else find this remarkable?


And, well, unbiblical?

How it FEELS to be Defrocked

Actually as the story of my defrocking was unfolding, and it took almost exactly a year from the time I became aware that the men on the Standing Committee were working to take my credentials away, I wondered how being defrocked would feel. And, ahead of time, I didn't know.


So, how do I feel now that I have been defrocked?


Oddly, surprisingly, I don't feel much. And, I don't think I'm in denial.


So I've been wondering why.


For a while, I thought that part of it is that my emotion is going elsewhere. For the last week or so, the family has been going through some especially difficult issues related to my parents' physical and mental health. So much so that, on the morning of the day the vote was going to be taken to defrock me I went for a walk early (before I left for work) and I planned to think and pray about the defrocking and found that I couldn't do that because my mind focused itself on mom and dad and how we, as a family, would work through their current problems.


In recent days, I've probed my heart for any emotion: Sadness, anger, frustration, fear, despair, abandonment or joy or relief or simple happiness. And, honestly, I'm finding nothing.


And, it finally dawned on me what's going on.


At times like this, my go-to prayer is based on Philippians 4, what is it? verses 6 & 7? "Don't be anxious about anything..."


And, I did pray according to that model when I did pray about being defrocked.


In the end, it has occurred to me that that prayer has been answered.


The promise in those verses is that God's peace that transcends all understanding will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.


That seems to be where I am.


I came to grips a long time ago that if I lived in my calling to be a prophet in the midst of a body in decline that I would have to say things people didn't want to hear and that I would become unpopular and would be despised by some.


And, that has become a reality to so great a degree that I have now been defrocked.


I'll take that over being unfaithful to what I believe the Lord has called me to be and do.


So, how do I feel being defrocked? Peaceful.

Thanks to all Who Tried

During the last 24 hours I held ordination in the CGGC's ERC, there was activity by some to attempt to find a way to preserve my status as a CGGC clergyman--more activity than I could have imagined.


To those of you who tried anything at all on my behalf, I say that I lack words to express the depth of my appreciation for what you did. I asked no one to do anything. I'm certain I only know a small part of the story. And, I am profoundly humbled by what I do know.


I love the Church of God and yearn to see it function as a powerful movement in the way it did in its early days. To those of you who still thought I could be a part of bright days for our body, I can do nothing more than thank you from the greatest depth of my heart.


While I no longer am a CGGC clergyman, I remain an active, or at least passionately interested, member of the CGGC laity and will do all I can in that capacity to advance the Kingdom through the Church of God community.


I believe the Lord is still calling me to use my gifts and calling in the Church of God community.

THE LAST DAY OF THE JASPERISM BLOG WAS A DOOZY

The day I was defrocked was the day I shut down JASPERISM.


It set amazing records that day.


In a normal day when I was active on the blog, I averaged 50ish page views a day over the courses of a month. The all time high on one day was just shy of 120.


On defrocking day, I put nothing on the blog and only checked it briefly during my afternoon break on the job and I was stunned. Google recorded 78 hits in just one hour and more than 150 for the day--and I shut down the blog before the day was over!


I mentioned that to Evie and she laughed about the free advertising the ERC gave me. But, alas, that address now leads nowhere.


Toodles, Jasperism. Those were interesting years.

Thoughts About How Being Defrocked Changes My Daily Life

It shouldn't change much, really, as far as I can tell.


My employer won't care. I am well known there to be a Christian.


In our gatherings, no one, probably will ever find out and, if they should, they won't understand. And, I stopped functioning as a parish priest a long time ago.


I don't get any financial remuneration from following Jesus, so there is no issue there.


In one way, I've known for years that this might eventually happen.


Still there is a sense of shock.


And, I still don't know the specifics of what took place in the actual defrocking.

Fresh Expression 4-17-16

A very, very nice meeting today.


The crowd was small but the fellowship grooved.


A few things were noteworthy.


One is that my mom has been ill for the past few days so, as we were mentioning prayer concerns, Evelyn picked up her phone and called mom to check up on her. When the call ended, we all shouted, "Bye, mom!!!" Try that in your Sunday morning show!


We normally allow everyone who wants to pray out loud to do so. One of the guys from the home did that today, for the first time. This is the guy whom I call Bennie, the guy who has digestive issues and who has clogged up the toilet a few times. Bennie is mentally challenged and has the mind of about a five year old. But, he prayed compassionately and intelligently.


It's at times like hearing Bennie talk to the Lord in our gathering that I know that what we are doing has a spiritual validity no traditional Sunday morning show could touch.


Also, quite unusually, I played a leading role in our time in the Word and in the taking of the bread and cup.


And, I boiled the pasta for our spaghetti and meatballs meal.


Big day pour moi, eh?


I wouldn't trade it for the world.

The ERC Yay God, Old Wineskin Sessions

We know that the CGGC is in significant spiritual and numerical decline and has been spiritually declining for 80 years and declining in number for 50 years.


And the truth is that people in its positions of power and authority, especially in the east, are still attempting to reverse the trend by perfecting the old ways that created the disaster in the first place.


So, here is a useful way to understand what will take place at ERC sessions this week:


Staff members and Commission leaders will stand up and smile and describe with unflagging joy and optimism, the latest techniques they are using to repair the old wineskin. They will praise God with their certainty that these new techniques will finally work.


They will also describe the new grape hybrids which, they really do know, will become tasty wine without bursting the wineskin--again.


Doesn't anyone remember that you can't make new wine in an old wineskin?


It seems clear to me that the object of their adoration is the wineskin, not the Lord.