Monday, February 25, 2019

#GC2019 Day Three Summary

"It is better to be divided in truth than united in error."

That was a sentence spoken on the floor of General Conference today, and pretty much summarizes how things went.

There is a faction in the United Methodist Church, a faction that I am certain is a minority of the denominational membership but happens to be a majority of the General Conference delegates, that considers their own belief to be truth, with no room of for disagreement. And to this faction, it is more important to claim that your own interpretation is "truth" and stick to that, even if it inflicts pain and harm on others, than it is to compromise.

The votes were consistent throughout the day, each one a litmus test for the larger question. about 53-55% to about 45-47%, give or take. The larger question, of course being "Should the United Methodist Church include gay people fully in the life of the church or not?"

The faction that currently controls General Conference does not control the future of the church, of that I am quite certain. The future is inevitably bending toward justice. It is only a question of when.

With that said, I am no longer going to try to convince people to stay. The policies of the United Methodist Church are harmful, and if you have to leave, I have nothing but respect for that decision.

I am going to stay. This is my grandfather's church, and I am going to be a part of making it better, making it right, more just. I am going to help to renew the church in a way that would make him proud, focused on Jesus and grounded in the beautiful theology of John Wesley.

I am going to stay. This is my father's church, who devoted his entire career to speaking up for those who are oppressed. I feel like I am just getting started, already thinking about what to do in 2020 to advocate for the big tent diversity that so many of us consider a core principle of Methodism.

I am going to stay. This is my church, and I'm not going to give it away to people who cannot see how their interpretations of Scripture are causing such harm to so many people, my friends, my family. People unwilling to even entertain the notion that they may actually be wrong.

I am going to stay. This is my children's church, and by the time they are my age this won't even be a question any more, thank God. And so I want to make sure there's still something of a church left for them once we get to that point. No matter what happens, I want to be able to tell them that I did my best.

And I tried today. I had my name in the pool to speak for a long time, but never got called. There were a LOT of people in the line to speak in favor of the One Church Plan when the chair decided to allow a motion to call the question. A lot, and I was one of them.

For people who value diversity, today was awful, like getting the wind knocked out of you over and over again. Tomorrow promises to be the same. We are working against a deeply entrenched 53-55% of the delegates who are unwilling to yield, unwilling to say that their opinion may be wrong, unwilling to see things from anyone else's point of view.

We are working against a faction who believes that it is better to be divided in "truth," even when what they think is "truth" is not universally accepted as "truth," than it is to be together in "error," even when what they think is "error" is really just "disagreement."

Even so, I am going to stay. Not all of you will stay with me, and that's okay. Go if you have to; I understand. I get it. But I'm going to stay.

More tomorrow ... onward!

6 comments:

Unknown said...

We have a lot to consider. You've given us food for thought, Andy. Good night

Anonymous said...

I know you're upset because your preference didn't prevail. But isn't it a more fair to say that BOTH sides consider their own belief to be "truth"?

The conservatives/traditionalists claim that they stand for Biblical truth. The liberals/progressives claim that anyone opposing the LGBTQ position are homophobic, bigots, promoting hate and fear.

GC2019 was never going to heal the division in The UMC, because no matter what the results, one side "wins" and throws a party and the other side "loses." If the traditionalists win, they will high five and congratulate each other for standing for "Biblical truth." If the progressives win, they will dance around St. Louis waving rainbow flags.

But NEITHER outcome would truly heal the deep division within The UMC. Only love can do that. Love your conservatives/traditionalists sisters and brothers; that alone will give them compelling reasons to rethink their traditionalist position.

Anonymous said...

Humility and awe never need to cheer.

Mandy Caruso-Yahne said...

The One Church Plan is (was?) a compromise, truly, without winners or losers. Each side had something they wanted but didn't get everything they wanted. People who don't want to allow full participation of LGBTQ+ people had ways to abstain from doing that while the incompatibility language would also be removed from the book of discipline. As a queer woman consecrated for ministry by this denomination, my bishop could choose not to lay hands on me. Would it hurt? Very much so. Nobody wants to feel the pain of exclusion, especially on behalf of a church they love and in a public setting, but another bishop could fulfill the role and I could fulfill my call in my church. Progressives were behind the Sinple plan as an alternative. Traditionalists felt either was "a loss" and they have fought for their plan, strategized and organized long and hard. It's a reflection of our current national political climate. The arc towards justice is still there and God is still working. I know that deep in my soul, but it pains me that I may need to find a new place to live out my call. There are still a lot of details to be figured out and I expect this to get messier over the next year or two (or longer). I know other friends, like you Andy, that will choose to stay and continue working. I'm glad that is the case but I fear I won't completely get to choose. Others like me will find a new place and will keep on loving God and loving neighbor, but lose our faith home. Perhaps we can build a new one.

Unknown said...

I am staying, as I think my homosexual family will too, because we are the Church also. So I am staying to give my support to my Church family no matter who they are.

Anonymous said...

It is not love nor is it friendship if we fail to declare the whole counsel of God.

The apostle Paul said,

"For I did not shrink back from proclaiming to you the whole counsel of God." Acts 20:27

Acts 20:20 I did not shrink back from declaring anything that was helpful to you as I taught you publicly and from house to house, 21 testifying to Jews and Greeks alike about repentance to God and faith in our Lord Jesus.…


It’s better to stand alone with the truth than to be wrong with a multitude.

It is better to be hated for telling the truth, than to be loved for telling a lie.

It is better ultimately to succeed with truth than to temporarily succeed with a lie.

rick