Gracious God, I kneel before you a sinner.
I know that I am not worthy to be called a child of yours.
Yet despite my sin, despite my continuing to sin and fall
short of your glory --- forty years ago --- you called me into ministry.
Loving God, these past few weeks have been hard --- as we
have wrestled over who is worthy to be a pastor in YOUR church. And as I have studied the bible, I have
become even more conflicted.
Clearly in the few texts that spell out requirements of
ministry I fall short.
I have failed to live up to the ideal that the authors
suggested.
And yet O Lord, I have been called by you, vetted and
ordained by your church.
I thank you for accepting me --- for I kneel before your
throne only by your grace.
Grace that is sufficient for me --- grace that is sufficient
for all.
As we wrestle today --- put in our minds eyes other servants
who have been called by you --- yet clearly by the ideal requirements stated in
the bible are unqualified
·
every pastor who has been divorced or married a
divorced person
·
every pastor whose children have not remained in
the faith or have rebelled
·
every pastor who has not demonstrated self
control at all times
·
every pastor who is a woman
Gracious God we have all fallen short of your ideal --- I
have fallen FAR short of your ideal --- for my sins are legion --- and yet you
have still called me and invited me to pastor your flock.
Thank you for your grace that enables me to stand before you
and your people. This I pray in Jesus
name. Amen.
Almost 20 years ago, the United Methodist Church adopted a
new slogan
Open Hearts,
Open Minds, Open Doors
For many of us, we saw in this slogan a glimmer of hope that
the church that we loved would truly open the doors to the many marginalized in
our society.
The church that I was serving at the time was going through
a long range planning session and as a result adopted a new vision statement
stating that they saw their mission as "offering hope, unconditional love
and meaning for life."
A couple of years ago, Discipleship Ministries of the UMC continued
along this same vein when they encouraged each Methodist to "See All The
People".
If you have been paying attention to the media these last
few days --- from all the major outlets, to NPR and the religious news services
--- the overwhelming majority suggest that --- with the action that we took in
St. Louis this past week --- we closed the door to a majority of people, and
are shutting our eyes and our hearts toward them.
There have been lots of emotions this past week
·
Some of you feel defeated
"Kicked
in the gut" was how someone described it to me
"Asked
to leave home" was another
·
Some of you feel as if God has been defended
Satisfied
to know that we didn't "give in" to culture
Happy
that the Bible was protected and held in high esteem
More
than anything I just felt sad
Sad that we made our church more and
more exclusive and unwelcoming
And
before you get angry with me --- I believe both points of view are real and
authentic
Obviously
I don't agree with the decision that was adopted in St. Louis
So
what happened?
In
1972, the General Conference added to our social principles the sentence that
we have wrestled with ever since.
"we insist that all persons are entitled
to have their human and civil rights ensured, though we do not condone the
practice of homosexuality and consider this practice incompatible with
Christian teachings."
And I will be honest, if I had been asked my opinion on it
in 1972, I probably would have agreed.
But I don't
today.
My relationship with Jesus has
moved from an idolatry of the Bible (thinking it was God) to hearing the voice
of Jesus
Every 4 years since 1972, those words have been debated,
argued over as we have sought to understand how we relate to a changing world.
In 2016, the General Conference decided to create a
Commission on The Way Forward as it relates to this issue.
They were to study the issue and bring a proposal to the
Council of Bishops and to a specially called General Conference, the one that
just wrapped up in St Louis last Tuesday.
The Commission initially presented two plans, The One Church
Plan and the Connectional Plan, and, after 2 1/2 years of study at the last
minute the "Traditional Plan" was thrown in the mix.
The Council of Bishops received the plans and by an
overwhelming majority recommended the One Church Plan which allowed each
Jurisdiction, Conference and local Church to wrestle with the issues of
sexuality in their individual context.
The plans, along with many petitions went before the elected
delegates of the General Conference last week.
After much debate, the General Conference adopted issues
around pensions for churches or pastors that wish to leave the denomination, an
exit plan for churches to leave and a modified traditional plan.
To be honest with you, I do not know the exact language of
what passed. I am sure it is available
somewhere, but I have yet to find it.
Regardless, what I can tell you is that the conference was
hurtful to the body of Christ. I
witnessed that in statements made by persons on both sides of the issue.
We will not easily mend the hurt that happened.
Rev Tom Berlin from the Virginia Annual Conference said this
about the Traditional plan
"it will be a virus that will
make the American church very sick Many
pastors are going to leave, many annual conference will leave. … There will be
trials, and they will be on the news. The only news about the church will be
about people we don’t serve.”
In my mind, the saddest part is that many portions of the
traditional plan will be ruled unconstitutional, as will the exit plan.
In other
words, we will be right back to where we started (or will we?)
Many believe that the traditional plan was put forth to
scare the rest of the UMC and allow particularly our Southern Methodist
Churches to leave with their property.
I would not be surprised if that isn't still the result.
But at what cost?
And I am not
talking about money
At what cost
to our mission of sharing God's unconditional love?
At what cost
to making --- not believers in Jesus --- but Disciples of Jesus?
70% of those under 50 support gay marriage
68% of those in mainline denominations do as well
What are they going to say to this harsh and mean spirited
decision that has come out of St Louis?
Well if my
text messages, email and FaceBook are any indication, many will leave
We have been through this before ---
In 1939, the UMC was trying to figure out what to do with
black people
At that GC, the segregationalist
and racist Central Jurisdiction was voted into being. The late Bishop Thomas
wrote that the white folks stood up and clapped, and the black folks sat down
and cried.
From what I am witnessing we are at another stand up and clap,
sit down and cry moment.
And the question becomes --- where do you find yourself?
Since last fall, Matt and I have been wrestling with this
issue --- whether at information sessions, Bible Studies, various committees
within the church or with you individually
We have tried to educate and share why we believe what we
believe: that the One Church Plan made the most sense for the UMC and for
Meridian Street in particular.
Through this process, Jesus has moved me, and given me a
better understanding -- not only of scripture --- but more importantly, of my
relationship to Jesus and others.
I will not be the same after this
I DO NOT BELIEVE that committed homosexual relationships are
a sin --- any more than committed heterosexual ones are.
I do not believe that wearing more than one type of clothing
is a sin.
Nor do I believe it is a sin to eat shellfish or pork
I do not believe a person who remarries and has been
divorced is committing a sin
I do not believe that God's grace is limited to the people I
accept, or who believe like I do
I do not believe that believing in the right things is
enough --- we are to be actively engaged in following Jesus, seeking to
transform the world with his unconditional love. And that we are called to especially care for
those who are marginalized in our society.
My intention this morning was to make the case why I
believed the One Church Plan was the most grace filled.
I planned on doing that with the text that was read this
morning.
The idea that
God will separate the wheat from the chaff -- that it is not our job
And I fully believe that.
Our job is
not to be the gatekeepers for Jesus
Jesus
opens the gate wide to all and Jesus can decide
Our job is to
welcome all into Jesus
I have been a Methodist my whole life.
I remember in
1968 when we merged and became United Methodists
I have served in ministry since my
sophomore year in college, when I helped start a campus ministry --- which
means I have been engaged in ministry for 40 years
The churches I have served have
been committed to the United Methodist way -- promoting connection and that
God's grace is available to all
Under the rules that just passed at General Conference; I
doubt I would be approved for ordained ministry today.
I doubt most
of the people I know who are clergy could get accepted either
While I find much of the legislation repugnant ---
especially that which calls the “practice of homosexuality is incompatible with
Christian teaching.”
What bothers me more is that it went on to imply that same
sex married couples who wish to be reconciled with the church need to divorce
and break up their families (which often include children).
The legislation further added mandatory penalties for any
pastor who performs a same sex wedding or even hosts one.
Such a pastor
would be suspended for 1 year without pay for a first offence
And
automatically defrocked for a second.
Bishops would also be under penalty if they disobeyed the
Discipline.
Approximately two thirds of US delegates voted against the
Traditional Plan
It was approved by a coalition of our global United
Methodist brothers, and sisters
Adam Hamilton, pastor of the largest UMC in the United
States wrote:
My hope is that the leadership of
the WCA (Wesley Covenant Society) is re-evaluating what’s happened, and the
legislation their coalition just passed.
They appear to have the votes to pass whatever they would like. It is hard for many of us to see any future
in a scenario in which the WCA and their supporters control the church and show
disregard for the rest of the church.
US churches that disagree with this path backwards will not sit by
quietly and watch as this takes effect.
They will protest, live in disobedience to the Discipline or leave, and
the impact will be far greater than the leadership of the WCA ever
imagined. If the WCA leadership does
nothing, I believe they will have won the battle and lost the church.
My mentor in seminary was the former Dean of the Duke
Divinity School Thomas Langford. I
served on staff at the church that Tom and his family attended, and he was not
only a professor, but also my friend.
I remember while in seminary, Tom shared with a class an
early draft of a book that he was working on --- I don't believe it was ever
published --- but it was entitled GRACE UPON GRACE
It was his premise that God's grace is sufficient
That God is
big enough to defend God's self and it was our job to invite people in
One of the things that has always struck me is the notion
that God's love is somewhat limited. If
God loves you --- there might not be enough for me.
But there is grace upon grace --- sufficient for all of
creation --- our job is to humble accept it and to invite others to experience
it.
In just a few moments, you are going to be invited to God's
table.
NO ONE HERE
MERITS BEING INVITED
But just the same, God invites you.
But as long as I am pastor at Meridian Street UMC, this
table will be open to ALL.
Straight,
gay,
Married,
single, or divorced
Black, brown
or white
Citizen or
alien
Rich or poor
Sinner or Saint
This table will always be open
And I will do everything that I can to open the doors of the
church to all of God's children.
I will support those who believe they are called by God to
ministry but also were created by God gay
I have never performed a same sex wedding --- it has always
been my biggest fear.
I was afraid I would have to choose
between what I knew was right --- and angering some of the members in the
church I was serving at the time.
In the future ---I will do what God
calls me to do
To all of our gay members here at Meridian Street Church ---
I LOVE YOU, GOD LOVES YOU
And to all who are broken hearted over this decision --- let
us make this our rallying cry
Don't leave; let us keep working for change.
God's table is big enough --- even if we disagree
No one --- regardless of which side
of this issue you are on --- is being excluded from God's table
Someone shared a powerful story the other day and I hope
that they are not offended if I share it
They talked about being on a youth retreat when the leader
of the retreat, as they were sitting in a circle, turned to the person that
they really disliked and said to them "I love you most of all (and then
gave a reason).
As you can imagine, this young person was upset that their leader
had made this affirmation to the one that they struggled with, because they
thought they were loved most of all. And
for a time they sat their stewing in their indignation
But soon, the leader turned to them and said: "I Love
You most of all . . ."
As we prepare to come to the table, I encourage you to think
of the biggest sinner you know.
Can you see
them?
Put them in
your minds eye
If you can't
see anyone, then just think of me
And listen as God says to them: "I Love You most of all
. . ."
And unless you can hear them say that to the one you really
struggle with --- I doubt you can really understand or appreciate it when God
says to you: "I Love You most of all . . ."
Let us care for one another, and come together to God's
table. Amen.
