The Demonstrations Have Begun... and will, I suspect, intensify

This was taken earlier today, after the Once Church Plan, The Simple Plan, and the Connectional Conference Plan were not "prioritized" for discussion. The Traditional Plan will be discussed/debated beginning tomorrow at 8:20 a.m. Whether we get to the OCP (which was about 6th on the list, and prioritized by less than 50% of the delegates) is anyone's guess.

Pray for the General Conference.

First Day's a Wrap...

The end of a long day. A weird day. A disconcerting day. A hopeful day nonetheless.

As to the last…  

So, in spite of all that has gone on in St. Louis, I got an email tonight from a family wanting to join our church and, though they come from a “believer’s baptism” background—after talking with me about it a couple of weeks ago—want to have their children baptized when they join our church. That is an indication to me that no matter what happens here, back home, the work goes on and the gospel will prevail.

That is the message I need to hear and also to proclaim. And to remember always. The gospel is not fettered by our stuff.

As to the former...

Today we had Westboro Baptist people on two corners, to flank us as we exited. Screaming, with signs, promising us Hell. Hilariously, one woman was holding a sign that said, NO WOMEN PREACHERS! (Westboro lost their sense of irony, and what constitutes preaching, decades ago.)

Three GREAT moments re WBC:

One: as we were leaving, a panel truck that had been hired by…someone… with a “The United Methodist Church: Called to Faith, Called to Prayer, Called to Serve” pulled-up in front of the protestors on the one side, hiding them from us for a while. I was not quick enough with my camera to get a shot of it. It was PERFECT!

Two: a car pulled even with the same group as the truck drove away, and blared their horn to drown-out the amplified invectives.

Three: I stopped in front of the larger group and laughed out loud and said, “Y’all are so funny! Y'all are SO FUNNY!!"

I was remembering how in Harry Potter: The Prisoner of Azkaban, Professor Lupin said that while the spell, “Ridiculus!” could repel a boggart, what really “finished them off” was laughter. Likewise, in Stephen Donaldson’s The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, what destroyed Lord Foul, the “devil” figure in the trilogy, was laughter. We spend too much time fighting and fretting these idiots. Laughter does it, or will. They are in fact ridiculous.

Speaking of which… today we had other protesters who demanded we love them, while daring us not to. They were carrying signs of their own, so to speak, though of a different kind. And absolutely mystified why folks on the WAY left drive people to the right, even as people on the WAY right drive people to the left.

Today I had a pastor refuse to talk to me beyond “his” recognition that we could not talk—that it was too late to have conversation, that discussion was pointless. Really?

Today I saw us prioritize a proposal regarding pensions/property and three disaffiliation plans ahead of a plan to keep our church from splintering. THREE DISAFFILIATION PROPOSALS before a proposal to keep the Church together.

“What happened to the Peace of Christ?” said one text I received on the downside of it. Great question, I responded.

I have tried to ask myself the question I put earlier: What am I afraid of? If we split?

I am afraid that the young men I baptized in January, the young families I have already welcomed and the others I soon will—people for whom the gospel is real for the first time in a long time or ever—that I will have to tell them that our church cannot agree on how to love God and neighbor, and that they will decide it was a mistake to believe that this gospel could make a difference in the and their world.

But I trust that, as Bishop Carter said today, “that the One who began a good work in them will complete it before the Day of Christ…”

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Tomorrow, at 8:20, we begin discussing and debating The Traditional Plan, with a possibility for the strengthening of existing exclusionary language, aggressive investigation and swift punitive enforcement. Which is to say, now the REAL fun begins.

I have NOT lost my sense of irony. Or sarcasm.  

Grimly...

In the process to prioritize the petitions to be considered, The Traditional Plan and THREE Dissolution plans were prioritized above the One Church Plan. I fear that means schism is more inevitable than ever. I hope I am wrong.

This is all that is before us this afternoon. Bishop Hope Morgan Ward of NC is presiding--God help her. After her prayer, she invoked Gil Rendle, an expert in groups and process, who says, "When you have very little time, go slowly."

There are predictable uncertainties and glitches in the tech-nology, having to do with translations of the proceedings and voting, but many delegates are already registering to speak (though some accidentally on account of unfamiliarity with the technology!).

My reading of it is, once we get past the glitches (we are learning as we go that we will discuss (I hope) the main proposal and its fifteen collaterals.

Lunch Parades and Seranades

Some take adoring pictures, some frown and bristle, some try to remain oblivious. Some, as I, just try to chronicle what is happening for the folk back home... We had a parade and serenade during lunch, with members of the Queer Clergy singing "Jesus Loves Me," "This Little Light of Mine," "Lord of the Dance," and "I am Walking in the Light of the Lord."





Lunch Break (or broken)

After the presentations this morning, when, as one of the presenters said, “we are a hurting church in a difficult time,” presiding Bishop Alsted asked all the members of the Commission on the Way Forward to stand. And then, as they made their way off stage—bringing to a final end their years-long work—the bishop asked us to thank them not only for their work, but for modeling the ways in which deep community can exist and flourish even in the midst of deep disagreements. Most, but not all, of the delegates who were able stood and applauded. I watched the Commission members gather off-stage and hug, warmly and lingeringly, as the applause continued. Once again, I found myself crying—these faithful souls have done their very best for us and for Christ, and it may not have been enough. I know what that feels like: to do your best, for Jesus and the Church, but it is not be enough to save or heal or help who or what is hurting in a difficult time.

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I am just wondering, now, what is the doctrine that demands unity? That is, there are lots of doctrines in the church, but which ones are essential and which ones are less so?
Is Acts 15:29 THE defining text? Maybe, though again I am uncertain as to the exact parallels between what the Council calls porneia and what we are considering? After all, that verse also calls for us to remain kosher.

I don’t know.

But ask yourself: what are the things we must agree on to remain Christian, to live joyfully in the unity of our faith (as the lady presenting the Traditional Plan put it)? Off the top of my heart I say The Resurrection of Jesus. The Trinity. The authority of the living word of God. Faith in Jesus lived in service to the world.

"Jesus is Lord." Yes, THAT is an absolute essential.

If you had to make a list, what would you include?

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One more thought… one of my counselors used to ask me, “Tom, what are you afraid is going to happen?” So many times I was so afraid, but of what I was not sure. Gradually, by grace, I learned that I do not need to be so afraid. Which is not to say I never am, even now, but much less than before.

A parallel question might be, “What is the payoff, and who gets paid?”

I keep wondering what our people are afraid of, one way or the other. Really: if we split or don’t, what are we afraid will happen? And, What is the pay-off, for staying together or splitting? And who benefits, one way or the other? Madame Coin benefitted from President Snow's downfall. Was she freeing the people or exalting herself?

That may be a dumb question. But I am not afraid to ask it.

The Plans

The morning has been given-over to presentations of the three basic plans.

The One Church Plan seeks to maximize the United Methodist presence and witness/ministry in as many places as possible, with as much contextual diversity as possible. The hope is that the OCP balances different theological understandings of human sexuality with a concern for church unity.

 

The Connectional Conference Plan uses the New Testament language of “vine and branches” to affirm that there is a core of Methodist identity rooted in the theology of Wesley, Methodist hymnody, the General Rules and certain sections of The Discipline; but that “room” or “space” is needed for churches in various geographical, ethnic or cultural contexts to have freedom within that reality to organize themselves administratively and in local missional activity. “Mission and Context” is crucial to this plan.

The Traditional or Modified Traditional Plan aims at Unity in Doctrine, Consistency in Practice and Accountability. The TP affirms that the language in The Discipline is consistent with the scriptures which are applicable in all times an all places: “the clarity and call of the authoritative Word of God” is at the heart of Wesleyan tradition. It does not call for nor does it allow the shaming of persons, but sets the “connectional” and not the “congregational” standard of consistent practice of ordination and marriage. Accountability is a part of our covenant with each other. “To serve with joy in the ordered space” of our common and traditional life.

And now, after a break, the "discussions" will begin. Though, I must say, I have been unsettled by the conversations I had with the LA pastor this morning. It is upsetting to me to think that sermons, straight from scripture, are heard as stump speeches. 

And it has been unsettling to see, already, the cheers and silences that have accompanied the presentations. As one of our speakers said this morning, the Commission revealed the "complexity, diversity, pain and brokenness" that is part of and present in the Body of Christ. And we are unified in that "heartbreaking and spiritual reality" that is on full display here this morning.                                                              

When Worship Runs Aground...

And so this is where we are…

As I was blogging about how wonderful I thought Ken’s sermon was this morning, a couple of folk behind me were talking. I gradually realized they were offering headshakes and critique of the same sermon. One of them was the pastor of a 6000 member church in LA, who says that he heard the sermon as a political pitch for the One Church Plan.

I said, I heard it as an exegesis of Paul.

He said, “Well, that just shows how we disagree and there is no point in our discussing it. Not profitable.”

I said, “What could make it profitable? How might we talk about it that it is a discussion, not an argument.”

“It is too late for that,” he said.

I kept trying to engage him. He said that if things in the church stay the same, he can remain. If the Modified Traditional Plan passes, same. But if the One Church Plan passes, he will have to leave. That he would never have joined the UMC if he had thought, ever, we would move away from our traditional stance.

For him, it all comes down to Acts 15, where the Jerusalem Council told the Gentile churches “to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from strangled animals, and sexual immorality.”

He said that, for him, he had to read “sexual immorality” as same-sex relationships. I wondered if we impose that particular reading on that word, but I said I am just wondering.

“He shook his head. No way we are going to change each other’s minds,” he said.  

“I’m not trying to change your mind,” I said. “I am just trying to understand, and to see if we can talk.”

He said, “It’s no longer profitable. Now, if we leave, I will still be in ministry and support ministry with Reconciling Congregations, and we will baptize babies of gay couples. I have no problem with that. But it is time for us to separate.”

“It feels like a bad divorce to me,” I said.

We shook hands. “Good luck on your blogging,” he said. “Peace of Christ,” I said.  

Morning Worship: PREACH!

Opening worship… Ken Carter, President of the Council of Bishops, preached Paul’s commitment (and our invitation/challenge) to “maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace,” (Ephesians 4:3), not as a sappy or syrupy sentimentality, but born of a powerful trust that what Christ has done once, he can and will do again.

And what has Christ done? He quoted Ephesians 2:

¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴ For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. ¹⁵ He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶ and might reconcile both groups to God in one body^[a] through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it.^{[b] 17} So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; ¹⁸ for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father.” (emphasis mine)

“Are we bold to believe God can do this again?” he asked.

Reflecting on The Cross and Flame, Bishop Carter suggested that we are “stewards of the Cross and the Flame,” here because people trust us to find a way forward. The Cross being what Christ has done for us, and Flame being what the Spirit continues to do in and among us.

“What if, when we speak of holiness, the world hears only judgment?” Could it be that we could join our individual stories to which we are so committed, be gathered under the Story of God who is always concerned with Creation, with taking the chaos and making the world, who continues to reclaim what we discard, to cleanse what we consider unclean, to redeem what we consider lost.

He quoted the Rule of Taize (a Protestant monastery in France), “Never resign yourself to the scandal of separation of Christians who so readily profess love for their neighbor yet remain divided. Make the unity of the Body of Christ your passionate concern.”

Most tellingly he said this: “Along with our luggage, we have brought anxiety.” Yes. He said, “We may think we have gathered to dismantle something; what if God is here to create something?” Yes. He said, “We may be looking for the exits, which is easier, but perhaps not faithful to the One who never seeks and exit from us.” Preach!

And he closed with this: “He who began a good work among you will bring it to completion before the Day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6). Amen, Bishop. Amen.

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To see Bishop Carter's report (not sermon) to G/C, read here:

https://mailchi.mp/unitingmethodists/newsletter-2019-02-24?e=c9fdcf1b16

If you want to see the sermon, you may find it on UMC.org