I often hear a rumor, unsubstantiated (though with impressive evidence), that many adults no longer believe in Santa Claus. Oh, many profess to believe in the “spirit” or “essence” of Saint Nicholas, but to believe in the real, physical, meat-and-potatoes jolly old fat man is no longer acceptable among the […]
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 […]
What outcomes do we expect from General Conference? Among the main, we look for denominational initiatives and priorities, revisions to the Book of Discipline and the Book of Resolutions, and elections of Judicial Council and University Senate, among other denominational governance bodies. We get updates on significant work of the […]
Early on last week, I wrote that I was appalled by the behaviors I was seeing displayed by my United Methodist brothers and sisters. Some wrote back to say they didn’t know what I was talking about — that no one was behaving badly. Since then, Gere Reist, Secretary of […]
There are very few people here in Portland who would say that The United Methodist Church is in a good, healthy place (no, I don’t mean Portland). We have come to a crisis point, where we cannot say we are united in Christ, or of one mind, heart, soul, and […]
Is a global gathering of thousands of “members” for a two week legislative meeting a community? General Conference does not feel to me like community. It could be. We are baptized to the same faith, confessing the same God and Savior, believing in the Spirit of God to be present […]
This morning I posted a blog entitled Four Unpainted Corners, using a metaphor of four different groups in a large ballroom painting in opposite directions, ending up painted — as far from each other as possible — into the four corners of the space. Well, as we well know, metaphors […]
People are perceiving very different lived realities at General Conference. I am writing what I experience and observe, but I admit freely it is only my opinion. Many people are leaving feedback directly on the blog, but I am also receiving emails, tweets, texts, and face-to-face feedback — mostly disagreeing […]
It is amazing to watch various individuals and coalitions try to manipulate our processes, especially when things go against their opinion or will. I am not singling anyone out — many people engage in this conniving behavior for a wide variety of reasons, and I am confident that all of […]
A question United Methodists seem to love to hate is about our rules. Are our rules, mainly delineated for us in our Book of Discipline, made to be followed or to be broken? Are rules absolute and unquestionable or are our rules evolving and bendable? Why have rules if we […]
United Methodeviations 