Last week I attended a day of the United Methodist Church General Conference as it gathered in Tampa. According to the UMC Discipline the General Conference is the legislative body of the church. Every four years, lay and clergy delegates from around the world meet to review the church’s Discipline, adding or editing language as we attempt to be faithful to our mission to make disciples of Jesus for the transformation of the world. The General Conference is the only body that can “speak officially” for the United Methodist Church.
Riding the bus over to Tampa last Thursday morning I listened to Rev. Adam Hamilton (pastor at the Church of the Resurrection UMC in Kansas City) present a proposed amendment to the United Methodist Book of Discipline that basically served to acknowledge our disagreement in the United Methodist Church over the long held wording in our church’s Discipline regarding homosexual persons. The current wording states : “The United Methodist Church does not condone the practice of homosexuality and considers this practice incompatible with Christian teaching.” Basically, Rev. Hamilton wanted the General Conference to at least come clean with the reality that there are some United Methodists (long-time, faithful ones) who are have monogamous, committed homosexual relationships and read the story of God in the Bible in such a way that their life together is affirmed by God rather than abhorred and rejected.
I thought it would pass. But I’ll admit that I don’t know that much about the politics of General Conference. All Hamilton was doing was stating the reality that we are living with in order for us to take steps forward as a church on an issue that has painfully divided and hurt people for nearly 40 years. Rev. Hamilton’s words struck me deeply. “If there were an issue within my congregation where 40% of the people strongly disagreed, then I wouldn’t continue on as if that weren’t a reality.” Exactly, I thought. That’s what we call “denial.”
We can’t heal a wound that we won’t acknowledge is there. In my opinion this acknowledgment would have been a positive step toward coming to the table in order to have an open and respectful conversation in order to understand and appreciate our differences in the context of God’s grace. Perhaps it would have, in the words of Martin Luther King Jr,. been a step toward building the beloved community.
When the petition failed and we were left in the same place we began the Conference, it took me a while to realize what had just happened. Those who were standing at the edge of the assembly in visible advocacy for those who are excluded looked at one another in disbelief. The crowd then moved slowly to the center of the room where there was a large communion table. They began to break bread and share the cup of Holy Communion. Looking back on the event, I can’t think of a more appropriate thing for Christians to do in the face of defeat, misunderstanding, confusion and division. We don’t have the words or actions to transcend such things – those words only belong to the Body broken and Blood outpoured of Jesus. The story of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection is the only story big enough to handle fractures that seem impossible to heal.
As bread and cup were held high and broken, it was a gesture to say, “One day, by God’s grace, we will become the reconciled community that we proclaim in this gospel of Jesus Christ.” And so, once again, in the midst of our very broken world, this meal was a glimpse and anticipation of God’s reign on earth as it is in heaven.
“For Jesus himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.” Ephesians 2:14
One day the people to which God has entrusted the message of reconciliation will be reconciled. Until that day I pray that we keep coming to the table with our differences and with hope.
