Ah, another Advent. The pressing question is: are we ready? Or maybe the pressing question is: do we even care? Our United Methodist Church can’t seem to be bothered with preparing for a Savior; we are too busy focusing on divisive issues of morality grounded in abominable biblical misinterpretation and […]
Deserve — origin: “to devote oneself to the service of“ In the past few days I have heard people use the term “deserve/deserving” in troubling and distressing ways. In all cases, those identified either “deserved” something bad, or were “undeserving” of something good. In no case was the thought that […]
Today is the first day the rumor mills churned out of control. If you skim social media, you might pick up any of a hundred different rumors about what is happening behind the scenes at General Conference. It caused us to change our agenda so that Bishop Bruce Ough could […]
This General Conference has been a true test of what exactly we mean by “united” in United Methodist Church. What’s in a name? Is the “united” merely a carryover from our Evangelical United Brethren heritage, and therefore not a descriptive term? Is it an appellation that sounds fine, but has […]
I was asked an interesting question this morning at GC — one I am probably not qualified to answer, but one which I have an opinion, nonetheless. “Assess the systemic constraint that is holding the church locked in its current deadlock on issues of scriptural authority, moral values, and institutional racism.” […]
At what point should The United Methodist Church admit its failures and simply split over the issues of human sexuality raised by LGBTQI people and those in the church unwilling or unable to accept them? For me, the answer is simple — at the point that we admit that we […]
I was in conversation with some of my colleagues about the state of The United Methodist Church. We each took a Post-It® Note and wrote what we thought was the most pressing need/critical issue facing the church. Most of the notes were about declining numbers — not enough new members, […]
A young pastor took exception to a recent post of mine that indicated I believe unconditional love should be unconditional. Her question to me confounded and alarmed: “Don’t you think we cheapen the gospel when we love people we shouldn’t love?” I pressed her to identify whom she felt Christians […]
Unconditional love. It sounds holy, right and just. It is a concept embraced throughout the millennia, but with conditions. The struggle seems to come when the concept is applied to those with whom we differ, those we judge as unworthy, those we look down upon, and those we have decided […]
I know I’ve told this story before, but it fits so well with a couple of issues I am dealing with that I share it here again. In my travels, one morning I stopped for breakfast and sat in a booth near two women. When the waitress came to take […]
United Methodeviations 