To See The Star... is a metaphor for my philosophy and work. For seventeen years I directed a successful youth music ministry within the United Methodist Church, where high school students were taught to "see the star" through non-religious sources- secular rock music, art and literature.  Fully half of the 150+ youth who participated each year came from outside the church.   It was an unorthodox initiation into the spiritual, a unique music experience (participation in a large rock choir/band) and a safe haven for troubled youth.   It attracted a large congregation (800+ at Trinity United Methodist Church in Gainesville, Florida) of baby-boomers who packed the pews to hear songs by Sting, Dylan and James Taylor, that were used to teach Biblical truths.  It was a wonderful experiment that worked, but not without conflict. In the past few years, this ministry began to create friction with the growing conservative leadership of the church and a separation was immanent. Our divergent philosophies were the two most common responses to a pluralistic world at your front door.  You either open or close. 

In these times, I believe that we are being called like the Apostle Peter in the Book of Acts to "take and eat," to loosen our desperate and exclusionary clutch on our faith- not so as to pry it from our hands...  for there is a beauty to the Truth that found us.  But, we can no longer afford to love that truth in a way that disrespects the brilliance and similarities of the other religions we encounter- across the street or across the globe.  We can open our hands or we can squeeze the shard of the crystal of truth in our palm until it bleeds.  We squeeze because we fear losing it.  We squeeze because we think it is under attack.  And when one bleeds, one sometimes makes others bleed.  We see that in the bombing of an abortion clinic.   We see that in the attacks on the World Trade Towers on September 11th.

I want to be part of the change that must happen to Christianity in our times.  Before September 2001, I thought that sounded like a rather insignificant goal, given our American indifference to religion today.  After the terrorist attacks of Sept.11th, it became remarkably central to everything!  We must learn to understand each other or die.  And, we must find a new paradigm for Christianity.  This is a task that is both simple and arduous, for it will require chipping off the encrusted buildup of two millennia of doctrine and dogma- to allow the clear, uncomplicated teaching of Jesus to shine through.  This man taught us by crossing every known boundary- religious, racial, political & gender--  in his own world, to love, to understand and to heal.  This is star light!