A friend posted this on Facebook:
It is my prayer that the United Methodist Church would stay together. I have no desire in leaving it. I feel God called me into this particular church for many reasons. One of the reasons I have loved this church so much is the inclusiveness. As followers of Christ we are to love our neighbors, and love covers a multitude of sins. I pray that we can stay United and work out our divided differences. I feel that if each person would break bread with someone slightly different from them we would truly be the hands and feet.
This is my response.
I completely agree with you. It breaks my heart that a breakaway group (10-15% of the UMC) is planning to leave, but I am grounded here and staying in our beloved denomination, and I believe the UMC has a bright future. It’s my home. And as we move forward, I believe fervently in Jesus’s radical love and inclusiveness. That overshadows all diversity of thought on controversial matters.
Those planning to secede are making a big deal about culture war issues that are not even mentioned in the gospels or historic creeds. So they draw a line in the sand over distinctions that were not important to Jesus or the historic church. I believe we should embrace the love of Christ, interpret other scripture through the lens of Christ, equip people to make ethical decisions based on their personal journey with Christ, and stop pointing out everybody else’s “sin” when the matters at hand are open to theological interpretation. I believe the answer is to let local churches practice their faith and make decisions in their local context. We can all move forward together in joy.
I encourage people reading this to check out Stay UMC that I helped create.
