We are at an interesting time in the life of the United Methodist Church. This week the new Horizon Texas Conference has met on the Southern Methodist University campus. Its the first full annual conference meeting after unifying the North Texas, Central Texas and Northwest Texas conferences. In the past year the UMC has made a radical turn toward being more open, more accepting, more loving. This turn has been intentional and decisive. It has also caused some pain and separation. I believe, however, it has been a turn in the direction of the kind of love God wants for all.
In a season where it seems as if some want to return to a less open, less accepting, less hospitable time, it has renewed my faith in our fellow United Methodists and who they want to be.
The world is always changing, always going through cycles. The current cycle we seem to be in has me worried and fearful for the most vulnerable. Its easy to scapegoat populations we don’t have an affinity with. Its easy to be against diversity, equity and inclusion if we are a part of the dominant race and culture. Its easy to believe seeking to support fairness and equity, diminishes those who have enjoyed a privileged life.
When Jesus stood against those who were reaching for rocks to stone a woman who was caught in adultery, he stepped in. He stood beside her. He didn’t tell the accusers they were wrong, he simply said if they were sinless, then by all means throw your rocks. He confronted the lopsided system by calling them out on their own sins. As a people of God, we are bound by the same ethic. We have to stand with those who are oppressed, marginalized, and threatened. They are children of God, and any who seek to diminish, dehumanize, ostracize, or treat as less than, we are obligated to stand against.
Jesus was well aware of the iniquities in his day. Jesus said it plainly, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” But who is my neighbor? Again in the parable with someone who was so unlike those who were privileged, dominant, and considered to be the “in” crowd, Jesus says the one who was not any of those things proved to be a good neighbor.
In the current political climate, there seems to be a push for advocating a more restrictive view of who is in, and who is out. The church should never be a mirror of society, it should stand apart and project an image of love and acceptance, and stand for those who society wants to cast aside. Its in those who are cast aside, we can most readily see the image of God.
We are voting as a denomination to change our constitution and rules to be literally more Christ-like. Will it be perfect? No. But then again, God nor Jesus calls us to be perfect. We are called to move toward perfection. We should always be striving to present Jesus in all we say, and all we do. We will fail, and fail miserably. But we will get up and try again. Its in the trying we are going to see more and more glimpses of the God who loves us beyond comparison.
May God bless the efforts of the United Methodist Church. May God work in and through all of us at Preston Hollow that we will become more and more open and loving for all who enter our doors. I love each of you with a full heart, and I see you blossoming in your love for others.
Your companion on the Way,
Pastor Tom