Another Post from our Bishop and Others

As we anticipate our meeting after worship on Sunday, I invite you to ask yourselves what you want to ask me... and by that I mean, What do you want/need to hear from me on the downside of the General Conference?

I do not want to minimize or to overstate what all happened there (in my sermon on Sunday I will compare it to the strange scene in Luke 9 we call "the Transfiguration"), and as we prepare to enter the season of Lent, I will use both my sermon and the informational session following the service to talk about discipleship and the continuing work of ministry.  

As you ponder, and as I do, too, I am clear that for some I will not be able to say enough; for others, perhaps the GC said too much.

But how can we at HLUMC have the kinds of discussions that are helpful and fruitful, revealing and redemptive?

Here is a link that came today from Bishop Leeland and others: https://www.wnccumc.org/newsdetail/a-message-from-bishop-leeland-/a-message-from-bishop-leeland-12765528

He is saying much the same thing I have heard Ken Carter say (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujqKQwlH0N4).

Who is saying much the same thing I have read from the pen of our District Superintendent, David Hockett (http://wnc-email.brtapp.com/viewinsite/de0d63c43687d05458dc60908e6e31db?)

Be patient: Judicial Council does not meet till April.

Be prayerful: for all of us who are charged with, as the bishop says, upholding the Discipline and working for the unity of the Church.

Be faithful: do not make rash decisions, borne of either gloating or despair. We are not yet where we are going to be: God is leading us still.

Yes, some are happy because they believe we are advancing a Plan that is faithful to their particular reading of Scripture (not what is written, but how they read it); and some are in pain and deeper than they were because they believed the Church was ready to make a move in their direction.

In fact, neither group has reason enough to feel, finally, what they are understandably feeling now. We are just beginning the latest leg of this long journey.

So be hopeful. And let me say, I am. When I see the amazing ministry we are doing at Hawthorne Lane, I have never been more convinced of the importance of the Church and the Gospel, the relevance of grace to this graceless time and season. I stand on the promise of Jesus that the Church is his church, built on the foundation of the apostles, prophets and martyrs, and that nothing will finally subvert its mission. The "gates of hell" may assault Jesus and his Church, but they will surely not prevail.

So, Come. Let us reason together. Let us talk and pray and worship and discuss together. Because we are in this together. Or we can be.

From Our WNCC Conference Offices

Friends, here is a word from our Conference Offices. Most, not all, of our delegation supported the One Church Plan, but we also had folk who supported the Traditional Plan. Be that as it may, the bishop and some others will conduct briefings across the Conference over the next few weeks. The one nearest Hawthorne Lane will be at Assurance UMC on March 10 and I do plan to attend.

http://wnc-email.brtapp.com/viewinsite/855a296acfdba9fec09c379395b89aa1

I will interested to hear from those who were "on the floor" and who are more nearly "in the know" as to their read and insights regarding the General Conference.

+ + +

On a personal note, I made it home after a long day of Ubers, plane flights, lay-overs and such. After unpacking and starting the wash, I watched, barely, the last five minutes of the Tennessee beating Ole Miss (and yes, it was clearly a charge!). I do not remember climbing the steps or getting into bed, but there I slept for 11 hours. Good to be home. Looking to eat a nice salad today.

Back to Basics

Back to basics…

Quite unlike the “holy pandemonium” we celebrate at Hawthorne Lane often and again, what we saw and experienced in St. Louis was unholy pandemonium, and the most of it yesterday. We emerged from that “cage fight,” as Rob Renfroe, one of the (to my mind: unprincipled) principals dubbed it more or less rightly, bloodied and battered and absolutely shamed by the ways we treated each other.

It was like that bad but necessary first counseling session for divorcing couples—where the only thing on display is pent-up anger and self-serving self-righteousness, the “look how much I have suffered on account of him/her!”

In actual counseling, of course, even if divorce is inevitable, one hopes that the anger and blame can eventually give way to both appreciation and sadness: appreciation of the other’s qualities that indicate why you got married in the first place; sadness as to why it is a tragedy, for so many reasons, that it seems it has to end this way. And maybe it does. But even then, there ought to be a place for gracious parting, for prayerful blessing as you go, for mutual contrition and repentance, and for an expression of the kind of overarching or undergirding love that may not keep you together but keeps you from remaining bitterly apart.

I saw none of those better angels yesterday. Or this week. At all. And if I would like to think that now—now–we could begin the real conversation, the healing, gracious, bless-you-as-we-go conversation, I fear it will not happen. Remember how my colleague in LA so unsettlingly said, “There is no point in our talking; we can’t change each other’s minds; it is too late; it wouldn’t be fruitful.”

That was about the most cynical, the most emotionally and theological arrested thing I heard all week.  

Still, as the dust begins to settle, we are hearing more and more voices that, as both the bluster and the whine begin to fade, reveal that as of this moment not much has functionally changed. If that in and of itself depressed you a little, join the que. But…

Fans of the Traditional Plan (which passed) know that the actual legislation is in terrible trouble—that what got passed on the floor of GC will almost certainly be ruled unconstitutional (again!) by the Judicial Council, and if/when it is, the UMC will be left with the very same Book of Discipline we already have.

So…

Those in the throes of great lamentation should take note that, Yes, there is a sense in which the Traditionalist voices flexed a bit of muscle. But the percentages, while indicative, were not entirely overwhelming (6.5% points, 54 total votes of 822 cast). And again, it has all been referred (again!) to Judicial Council. As we wait, nothing has functionally changed.

So...those who are gloating that, as one pastor in Atlanta said it, “we now have a Discipline with ‘teeth in it,’” (which, again, we don’t; read above), should take note that, Yes, there is a sense in which the Traditionalist voices flexed a bit of muscle…. but again, nothing has functionally changed.

(Reading the comment of that Atlanta pastor, I could not help but think of Galatians 5:15, “If you bite and devour one another, be careful that you do not consume one another.” Like a snake eating its own tail, we may in fact be destroying ourselves slowly and painfully).

Yesterday as we prepared to conclude, the presiding bishop, instead of calling for “an omnibus motion” to set aside all that was left before us, called for an “ominous motion.” Yep. Got that.   

I think that the fight will continue in Minneapolis in 2020, which is either good news or bad news or both. It is pretty clear that the factions do not like each other very much.

But I find myself thinking about Genesis 1. And Hawthorne Lane UMC.

I am confident that God's blessing rests on HLUMC! I know of more families ready to join our great and growing congregation. The business and busyness and pique that has characterized St. Louis this week is not our agenda for ministry and mission. Yes, we care about LGBTQI+ folk, in the same way we care for other folk: welcoming, working, growing and worshiping with…whoever. Will we sponsor a float in the Gay Pride parade? Maybe not. But we will not protest or boycott it either, and we will listen to and love those who, for whatever their reason, do either. We will try to love everyone and believe that conservative or liberal, gay, straight or unsure, evangelical or struggling with faith, there is a place for you among loving friends at HLUMC.

As to the UMC? I don’t know. I do believe that God’s Spirit can bring order out of the chaos—but as I ponder Genesis 1, I remember that in the light after the darkness God ordained many separations: water from land, earth from sky, animals from humans… only after these (surely) painful separations, this from that, these from those, did their come life and fruitfulness and joy!  

What now?

I have had three calls already... "What happens now?"

The short answer is, We don't know yet.

As I talked to Carrie a moment ago about today's ugliness, a fellow "in the know" came by and he joined the conversation. He noted, as I think I did earlier, that nearly the last think we did was to refer the Traditional Plan back to Judicial Council once again for a declaratory ruling as to its constitutionality, and the Exit plan as well. If, as is expected, all of it is ruled unconstitutional once again, then we are left with exactly what he have right now, which does not please some folk one way or the other, but at least gives us room to move and minister in the ways we do now. So...

Until the ruling, nothing changes.

After the ruling, it may be that nothing changes.

And we will face 2020 in Minneapolis poorer in the pocket, battered in reputation (I can't BELIEVE we needed the police for our meeting's close!), and no richer in spirit.

I will have more to say about this in a blog I will post later tonight or tomorrow.

And in my sermon on Sunday at 10:30, and in my "Conference Report" which will take place after worship. And we DO hope to tape that session and post it online, so that those who are unable to attend worship will still be able to see it at their convenience.

That said, as I can attest, there is nothing like being there in person to see it and feel it as it happens--for good and for ill.

Pray for the Church.

This is NOT the Kingdom of God

For about the last forty-five minutes those who had been protesting all week, continued their shouts and chants. “Stop the Harm!” they said over and over, occasionally punctuating it with “bishop!” or “church!” Stop the harm, bishop! Stop the harm, church!

One or two kept trying to get more in the mezzanine to join the chorus and were disheartened that it did not happen. In fat, their numbers dwindled.

One delegate stood to raise a point of order, only to shout “THIS ENTIRE GENERAL CONFERENCE IS OUT OF…” but the bishop cut her mic.

Later, a dozen or so folk brought a cross down the middle aisle of the bar. It was getting near time to adjourn and worship, so it might have been part of the day. Turns out it was a group of protesters who went-up on stage to begin a sit-in. At first, the bishop said, “You do not have access to the stage,” but then said, “You go ahead and take a seat while we complete our work.”

As we debated one of the plan, a fellow said, “This is the Traditionalists’ exit plan. They want all the assets. Fine! I’ll give them the money if that is what they want! You can take our assets, but you cannot make me leave this church.”

 

The shouting continued to the point that I got confused as to what we voted with the last couple of votes.

 

As soon as the last vote was tallied, Donna Pritchard, a spokesperson for the Oregon-Idaho Conference, stood with delegates from her conference and said their conference was committed to staying fully-inclusive in the face of the decisions. The splitting, in other words, has begun.

And then, as we left, there were police EVERYWHERE! Cars, vans, busses (to take the protestors away?), officers. What a testament, that we need St. Louis’ finest to police us because we can’t seem to experience or express the Peace of Christ.

Lord, have mercy.

 

 

Christ, have mercy.

Lord, have mercy.

UUUUUGGG----LLLLYYYYYYY

"You should not gloat over your brother on the day of his  misfortune..." (Obadiah, vs. 12)

"Bless those who curse you, pray for those who those mistreat you..." (Luke 6:28)

"When he was reviled, he reviled not in return..." (I Peter 2:23)

"He prayed, 'Father, forgive...'" (Luke 23:34)

This is not helping anything... it just proves everyone's point, one way or the other.

People dancing and rejoicing at the break.

A group of maybe 15 folk now screaming themselves hoarse, calling out "No, No, No!" (taking pictures and movies of themselves; and I wonder if they hope that someone will call security).

Rival demonstrations all over the auditorium, while the praise team sang--I am not kidding--"Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me."

The last few minutes have reinforced unfortunate perceptions. And there is little to feel but sadness and shame.

And now we are taking-up the Exit plans. Ironic. Many people outside the auditorium may be thinking the same thing.

And now as we prepare to approve plans for disaffiliation and exit...

There are loud cries heard in the camps...

The TP plan passed by some 50 votes. The Chair called recess. On the floor a circle of 150 or so delegates led a response and song ("This is my story, this is my song...") pledging to continue the fight and such. They were answered by hundreds in the stands.

There is anger, sadness, weariness on almost everyone's part. However, a circle of delegates, who appear to be from the Central Conferences (including Africa) have formed a different circle and are clapping and singing and chanting. This is a really ugly moment, and I have a hard time finding much of the Holy Spirit in the room at all.