What a Week!

 The blind and the lame came to Jesus in the temple, and he cured them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the amazing things that he did, and heard the children crying out in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they became angry…  Matthew 21:14-15 (NRSV)

I have been on vacation for a couple of weeks but what happened last week cannot be left un-Mused about. It was a week of historic proportions. The Affordable Care Act was upheld and the freedom to marry for all adults was confirmed both by the United States Supreme Court. Add to this the lighting fast and totally awesome almost universal call to take down Confederate Battle flags from public places and off flags, license plates, etc in response to an overt racist’s violence and it was an amazing week indeed.

I have a monthly gathering with any who want to join me called The Preacher’s Public House Chat. We eat and drink together at a local brew pub and talk about many things but usually focus upon an article, TedTalk, news item, etc that I have suggested. In August we will be talking about a blog by a woman who happens to be a Christian and her opinion about whether or not the church is dying. I am sure we will have a good conversation, we always do. But I want to offer here my opinion that the church isn’t dying, it is waiting. It is waiting for those of us who claim it as our own to once again stand fast in our commitment to what is the loving, just and right thing. If we do not hold fast to this commitment the church as we know it – the institution that is with us now will die but the purpose of the church will live. The purpose of the church is to live out God’s values of justice, righteousness, acceptance and love and this must be the driving force behind our institution. If it is not a new institution will come to be that will be different from what was but that will still be the church because it will be what God needs.

I am a dyed-in-the-wool United Methodist. I claim as my own our heritage – the good and bad. I recognize within it the values and character of God. But as we move ahead as a society and a community of faith I am troubled. What troubles me is that United Methodists will forgo our heritage of social justice and compassion for those outside and underprivileged in the name of orthodoxy- of correct belief. United Methodists are not about nor have we ever been about believing the “correct” things. We are about making the world a better place for all and loving absolutely everyone no if, ands or buts. In the past the United Methodist Church often led our society into the transformed world God wants for us – advocating for the least, lost and unloved. Public education, child labor, temperance, abolition, etc… our history is one of witnessing to what could and should be based upon the values and character of our God. In the recent past we have not been doing this and instead have had to draw battle lines in culture wars and force the church to stay out of the vanguard of making love, justice and peace real for more and more of God’s children.

As I have mentioned before, in May of 2016 the General Conference of the United Methodist Church comes to Portland. But what really matters is that the UMC will need to look at itself in the mirror and decide who we will resemble, God or a misinformed caricature of God. Can we once again see in ourselves the image and likeness of God, of the one who has a special place in the heart for those on the fringes of society, for those excluded from community, for those deemed unacceptable by some but who are still and always have been God’s beloved? My hope and prayer is that we will look and see God and that this image and likeness, this being created in the image of God will rule the hearts, minds, and spirits of those selected to make decisions for the UMC and that we can join hands to journey into the transformed world God dreams for all God’s beloved; a world of acceptance, justice, love and peace.

Dear God, thank you for rays of hope that reflect your heart and will. Be with our society as we move forward into new ways of being. Be with the United Methodist Church as we wrestle with what it is you want and need from us. Be with me as I contemplate what my future might be. Help me remain faithful to you. Amen.