wfn.org | Minister 'resurrected' after being declared dead by government

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Jan. 19, 2000   News media contact: Tim Tanton·(615)742-5470·Nashville,
Tenn.     10-21-71BP{020}

NOTE:  A photograph is available with this story.

By Diane Vanderford*

LEXINGTON, Ky. (UMNS) -- Jim Kemp is officially among the living - again. 

The Rev. James W. Kemp is a United Methodist minister physically disabled by
multiple sclerosis (MS). However, there isn't a thing wrong with his sense
of humor. So when the Social Security Administration suddenly decided that
he was dead, Kemp cracked jokes about it.

Being officially alive again is a good thing, according to Kemp. "It means
when I do die we can get benefits, because my wife didn't apply for any
burial benefits. ...She probably could have gotten them."  

His resurrection should not have come as a surprise, either. "Well, I work
for Jesus." Of course, Kemp points out, "Jesus was only dead three days,"
rather than the month it took for his own resurrection. "But then again, the
Roman government did not have computers."

Kemp's wife, Barbara, discovered when she went to the bank one day last
September that she could not access the couple's joint account. The bank had
been informed that James Kemp had died, she was told, and the account was
frozen pending probate of his estate. "My wife looked so shocked," Kemp
says, that the bank unfroze the account right away. 

The federal government, however, was another matter. Kemp says he was dead
for a month as far as Social Security was concerned. Only after a member of
his Sunday school class phoned a friend at Social Security did the agency
return him to the roster of the living, he said. Kemp's troubles didn't end
there, however. Social Security had informed Medicare of his "death" so
Medicare stopped paying his medical bills. 

Medicare didn't decide Kemp was alive until after his plight caught the
attention of the media. His story was told by the Louisville, Ky.,
Courier-Journal and picked up by the Associated Press and Lexington
television stations the first week of January. Soon after the story ran, the
Kemps received a call from Medicare to let them know the federal agency had
restored his status to living. 

"We've had a little fun with it," he says. "You've got to." That attitude
keeps Kemp from feeling sorry for himself. 

After being treated for a number of other conditions, including hypoglycemia
and a pinched nerve, Kemp was diagnosed with MS in 1987, at the age of 31.
He continued in the pastoral ministry, leading churches in the Kentucky
Annual (regional) Conference, for another eight years. 

Kemp definitely believes God has a sense of humor. He has recently read
Elton Trueblood's Humor of Christ. "Jesus was terribly funny," in Kemp's
opinion. "Some of what he said only makes sense if you have a sense of
humor. ... I think sometimes he got in trouble with the Pharisees because
they didn't have any sense of humor."

His own sense of humor, along with God's grace - "I think they're connected"
- helps him not only cope with life but also continue ministering to others.
With the help of a friend, Kemp maintains a Web site, Kemp's Pad. There he
shares his personal journey with MS, suggestions for children's sermons, a
paper he wrote suggesting that the apostle Paul may have suffered from MS
and other writings. The site also includes a link to ratings of what he
likes to call the "intelligently stupid" movies he watches with a group of
friends. 

"My goal in life with the Web site," Kemp says, "is to tell people God's not
picking on them. If they're having trouble, it's not because they were bad
boys or bad girls."

Kemp, who is virtually immobilized by his disease, writes with the aid of
voice-activated software.

In one of the papers posted on his Web site, "MS and Me," he examines the
question of what hurts and what helps in adjusting to life with chronic
illness. "To my surprise," he writes, "the lists were similar: Scripture,
other people and my attitude."

In the "What hurts?" category, Kemp cites Old Testament references in
Leviticus and Psalms, characterizing people with disabilities as "unclean"
or wicked. Friends and acquaintances - even Christians - were not always
helpful, either. Some reminded him of Job's friends: "The implication was
that it was somehow my fault. What did I do to deserve or cause this?" 

Others suggested his illness was God's will, and some did not know how to
relate to him after his diagnosis. "I experienced gang prayer - 'if we only
have enough faith, Jim will be all right.'" However, he adds, "I never saw
any of them walk on water."

His own attitude was also an obstacle at first. "In the beginning of this
adventure, I wanted to pretend it would go away," he writes. "I would wake
up and everything would be back to normal. I was mad when it didn't happen.
I was mad at God, my wife, and anyone else who crossed my path. I pushed
away those who would help me."

In the same things he first perceived as negative, Kemp also finds hope. He
recalls how "Jesus consistently approached the 'unclean.' He removed the
stigma and explicitly separated sin and disease." He also notes that the
apostle Paul had symptoms that parallel his own, and "Paul still had a
valuable ministry and no one could question his faith." 

Other people who help include "friends and family who love me anyway; for
whom MS becomes another part of who I am, not the whole picture." 

Under helpful attitudes, Kemp has made his "to do" list:
§	Accept it - not giving up hope, but not waiting my life away.
§	Accept help when I need it. Ask for help when I need it. This is
tougher than you think.
§	Look to what I can do, I can be. I write, I call on the phone, I
counsel, and I teach from my bed.
§	Laugh a lot, love a lot and remember I'm loved.

"Regarding God," Kemp writes, "I have new depths. It is hard to put in a few
words, but prayer has become a central part of my life. The crucifixion and
resurrection speak loudly of a God that enters our pain and offers us hope."

Jim Kemp has a message for his fellow United Methodists: "Don't forget the
pastors that are disabled. Don't forget us." He recently received a "neat
piece of mail" from a group of pastors who saw his story on television, he
says. They sent a card saying, "We're glad you're still alive," which they
all signed.

"It helps to have people around," Kemp says. "But then again ... we're all
dependent. It's just a matter of degree."  

Kemp can be reached by e-mail at jwkmoe@aol.com, or through his Web site at
http://members.aol.com/jwkmoe/index.htm.  

# # #

*Vanderford is a free-lance writer living in Louisville, Ky., and a former
editor of a United Methodist newspaper.
 

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United Methodist News Service
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