It has
been awhile since I have written in my blog. It seems that time even when
retired gets away from one. There have been lots happening with Nancy and me. With
Easter coming and now in the season of Easter, there have been a number of thoughts
I have been having regarding the dilemma of the church especially the United
Methodist Church.
I remember
when I was in seminary and I was completing a paper for one of my classes there
was a typo that I caught before handing in the paper. As I look back at that
time, that typo might have been more prophetic than I first thought. The typo
was instead of the United Methodist Church, I had written the Untied Methodist
church. I was writing in a hurry and transposed the d and e. Yet today, the
statement of being untied may have more significance. Following the special
called general conference and the subsequent judicial ruling, the church I have
come to love feels more untied and unraveling than it did back in 2002. I hear
and read the anguish of those who have continued to be marginalized and hurt by
a church that used to say Open hearts, Open doors, and Open minds. Following what
has happened, I believe that motto is no longer true. We have seen closed
hearts, closed doors, and closed minds. I read about comments that were made at
general conference that were hurtful and aimed at those who were willing to
look for some sort of coming together. We have not only closed doors but seem
to have slam those doors to a segment of our congregations and with clergy. I have
also seen people who hide behind proof texting to keep closed minds and not
even deal with dialog. I have marveled that all the focus has been on sexual
orientation and nothing said about what Jesus (who never directly said one way
or another about sexual orientation) said about divorce. I do not see the
church dividing on whether or not divorce should be acceptable. (which I believe
is a non-issue.) I also do not see people abiding about the other legal holy
laws of Leviticus and nor should we. This debate has been going on for over 40
years and there appears to be no end in sight.
When the
bishops proposed a possible means of moving forward, flawed as it was in its
scope, it at least offered a way of continuing to seek a way of staying united.
That approach, known as the one church approach which was generally accepted by
the delegates from the US, was rejected by the fundamentalists and the churches
in Africa, Korea, and the Philippines. I must say I was not surprised by the
vote but was disappointed by those who seem more concerned about having their
own way rather than looking at ways the church could remain faithful to their
beliefs. For some of those who voted not only at not changing the Book of
Discipline but also in punishing those who might dissent, the issue has not had
anything to do with biblical authority, but with power and control.
This issue
of power and control should not be a surprise. When I was appointed to Paxton, I
somehow received the Good News magazine. This was in 2004. The magazine was
supposed to be aimed at evangelists. What I found was that a majority of the
magazine articles dealt with how awful same sex relationships was and even proposing
a split in the church. I found no good news in any of the articles. The same
ones who published the magazine have led to this outcome for the church. I have
felt that they would say that if you don’t want to abide by the ruling leave as
they have threatened to do since I became aware of their beliefs. Now they
appear to have a majority, it will be difficult for me to believe in open
hearts, open doors and open minds. They say they are welcoming to the LGBTQIA+
community but it is only to a point. They will not allow full participation in
all aspects of the church. They have also worked to silence voices and actions
of dissent, much like the efforts of the far right in our country.
So where
do we go and most importantly where do I go in this new Untied Methodist
Church? There continues to be efforts to somehow honor all of God’s children
and be the church. Efforts are being sought that would possibly restructure the
church. Where that will lead, who knows? Will there be three differing churches
in the future? I know that when one looks at populations, statistics use a bell
curve to explain diversity. This looks at the standard deviation of any given issue.
It states without going into the math behind this that for most populations
there are about 16% that is one standard deviation from the left and 16% from
the right. The majority is often 68%. From a church point view, that would be
16% fundamentalists and 16% for the sake of conversation reconciling. The majority
at least in the US is the 68%. Within that population are those who may lean to
fundamentalism and those who lean toward reconciling. The efforts I am seeing
try to reach those of the 68%.
Do I see
three different Methodist churches in the future? Does the term untied apply to
what is happening? The General Conference of 2020 will be interesting. There will
continue to be efforts to undo what happened in 2019. The debate will continue
to focus on sexual orientation rather than what the church is doing. The outcome
will likely continue to lead to decline in many churches, especially in the Western
world. It may be beneficial for the churches to divide on the perceived
differences rather than continue the endless debates that violate John Wesley’s
three laws that first being Do NO Harm. Maybe
by having three churches, we can recapture Jesus’ message of Good News and mean
it. I know that I struggle with the decisions that were made. What I choose to
do in the future may will be where the church continues to abide by the
commands of Love God and Love your neighbor.
Shalom
Eldon
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