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By Melissa Lauber
UMConnection Staff

Rabbi Joshua Martin Siegel refuses to settle for the acceptable, the easy or the expected. He is hoping the same can be said of The United Methodist Church.

At the May session of the Baltimore-Washington Conference, Siegel was introduced by Bishop John R. Schol as the 'conference rabbi.'

It?s a title he accepts with humility and enthusiasm. Siegel looks upon The United Methodist Church as being, in many ways, 'America?s church,' with the nation?s lifestyle and diversity reflected in its membership.

But such a title comes with enormous responsibilities. 'The American church should influence the nature of what it means to be an American,' Siegel said. Unfortunately, in recent decades it hasn?t done the best of jobs.

To address the church?s declining membership and influence, Bishop Schol has introduced the Discipleship Adventure. Siegel believes this spiritual approach will yield fruit.

'Over the years, slowly and surely, the culture has lost touch with its spiritual roots to the point that not only is the culture secularized, but many of the institutions that speak to religion have been secularized,' Siegel said. 'Many churches have marginalized themselves so they can?t live their own message. ? Our spiritual roots are at the heart of what it means to be truly alive.'

It is his hope that the conference?s 692 churches will develop 'a passion for seeing how the wellsprings of spirit can be delivered in new ways to a culture that is hungry for it but has been distracted by other things.'

In the past months, Siegel has shared some of his thoughts on spiritual renewal from his rabbinic point of view at the Lenten clergy day apart, a Passover Seder celebration at the conference center, a sermon on 'The Chosen People' at a conference-staff worship service and in an essay on Sabbath in the Adventure Gbwc_superusere devotional.

At 72, he?s not surprised to find himself ministering to mainline Protestants. His career has always been one of dual paths and unexpected opportunities.

In addition to serving as the rabbi of an affluent synagogue in New York, and for 25 years as the founding rabbi of the Columbia Jewish Congregation in Columbia, Siegel has worked as a chaplain with the Marines, with the White House as the founder and first president of the National Alliance Against Homelessness, and a leader in the National Interfaith Alliance Against Substance Abuse, as well as in homeless shelters and jails.

He has a passion for issues like the distribution of wealth and ensuring justice. 'Those who have less materially, often have more spiritually, so I?m attracted to that,' he said. 'I have a passion for using the resources I?ve been given to make a more equitable planet.'

To do this, Siegel depends absolutely and full-heartedly on the Torah, which he studies everyday and describes as 'God?s instruction book.'

He is a bit dismayed that Christian theologians have overlooked 2,000 years of post-biblical Judaism, a 'corpus of wisdom' he believes is without equal.

'I don?t think there?s a Jewish faith and a United Methodist faith,' he said. 'There?s one God and that one God has historically and contemporaneously manifested itself in different ways. We?ve gotten so involved in the containers that we?ve forgotten the wine, as they say. Without the container, nothing exists, but if you can look at what?s in the container, you?ll find there are more similarities among us than differences. And if you go deeper, you?ll get to the point where the differences make less difference.'

Peeling back some of the symbolism and opening the Hebrew Bible to United Methodists in new ways has earned Siegel a great deal of praise.

The Rev. Rod Miller, director of the conference Council on Ministries, has been Siegel?s student for eight years and is excited that his fellow United Methodists are now able to 'learn and talk about many of the same things Jesus learned and talked about.'

For Siegel, the Jewish roots of Methodism 'teach the movement of God in history. It shows you how God can move in the world, in your life in an immediate way and affirms you as you are and need to be to fulfill your potential,' he said. 'And it gives you a history of how that?s all happened in the Bible.'

For Siegel, the role of a conference rabbi has not yet been fully defined. However, he has drawn up a plan with specific activities that include spiritual journeys to Auschwitz and Israel; in-depth Bible studies that may include distance learning; sessions for seekers that use Siegel?s five books to explore spiritual questions; extending the scope of education for children in church; the making of a movie on the life of John Wesley, and the development of a reconciling voice and strategy to address political issues in Washington, D.C.

The rabbi would like to see United Methodists place themselves, in the words of theologian Paul Tillich, 'on the edges, in between people, where God can be found.'

This conference is 'the guardian of a brilliant tradition and needs to reinvent itself so that it speaks to each generation,' he said.

In the end, Siegel revealed, 'a rabbi is a teacher and a teacher is defined by his students.' It is his hope that the United Methodists who heed his words 'learn what it means to be human as it leads them closer to the divine. How can a church, a community of people, realize their humanity by reaching closer to the divine?'

This renewal, he stressed will not be just for its own sake. 'I believe we were put on this earth to make it a better place,' Siegel said.

'If we can learn what we are and live by that emerging knowledge, we can give birth to ourselves each day. We can constantly renew what we are each day. Each day is a new creation, a new excitement, a new vitality.'

SIDEBAR:
Seven Basic Principles for Happiness
From Rabbi Martin Siegel

Self-worth
Humility
Surrender and self-awareness
Lifestyle that reinforces authentic Christianity
Symbol and rituals to structure one?s life around
Service to others
Responsibility