General Conference 2016 - Learning to breathe in a dust storm

Every four years the UMC gathers as a global body to have conversation and make decisions that will guide the UMC for the next four years. This body, called the General Conference, is the only body that can speak on behalf of the entire Church. It is this body that makes rules, clarifies doctrine and approves social principles that govern the UMC. It is composed of approximately 850 voting members of the UMC representing different communities from around the world. I have been elected by my conference to be a part of the delegation from our area. To be clear, I am the last reserve delegate. This means I have a place at the table, I will not be able to vote at General Conference unless the seven people elected before me are unable to vote. 

In preparation of the GC, delegates around the world have been given a copy of the book The Causes, Evils, and Cures of Heart and Church Divisions by Francis Asbury. One can image that since this book was shared, there is a possibility that the UMC may break apart over the issue of human sexuality. I may be naive, but while it is possible that individual churches may leave the UMC, I do not see the church splitting in half. 

By Mrcricket48 at en.wikipedia, CC BY 3.0

Over the coming months, I wanted to take some time to share thoughts and insights into this process of the General Conference. I know these posts will not be applicable to most people but in case you are interested in these topics I hope they are helpful, informative and faithful. 

The first thing that I notice is that when GC2016 is talked about there is always a strong sense that it could be really crazy and wild. It is human nature to think that things will be the worst and conversation about the GC2016 is no different. There are different groups and coalitions and movements and thoughts that are all converging - as they do every four years. The metaphor that I continue to see is that the CG2016 if like a dust storm. The problem is that many people are trying to breathe while in the middle of the storm and it is killing them. So will you join me in efforts to invite people to step back. Breathe deeply. Pause and listen. May we remember that no issue is too great. Judaism continues to exist even after the genesis of Christianity. The Catholic Church continues to exist even after Luther. The Church will continue even after the issues of human sexuality have been argued.

Why your pastor should love complaints

There are 150 Psalms in the Christian Bible and roughly 1/3 of them are laments. Laments are structured ways to complain against God and as Rev. Estee Valendy noted in her sermon, interwoven in the lament are expressions of faith and hope. 

Humans love to complain but hate to hear them. Irony at it's finest. But the reality is, your pastor should love complaints. Complaints are ways for people to deal with their feelings and emotions. It is natural and healthy to share these feelings, remember 1/3 of the Psalms in the Bible are complaints. However, our culture does not like those who complain. So what are we to do with these feelings? Most of the time we push them down and do not allow them to surface except when we rehearse the script of what we want to say while we are driving. We do not have a healthy place to confront these feelings and complaints and they begin to fester in us only to manifest in other ways, such as road rage. 

The fact of the matter is part of the reason pastors should love complaints is that there is one place left where complaints are accepted and heard - the Church. The promise of the Church is that when you come to complain, the Church will not leave you or cast you aside. The Church of Christ hears your cry and will not take it personally, but will have the courage to sit with you even as you cast stones at her. 

Pastors should love hearing complaints because it means that people are finding ways to address their feelings in mature and healthy ways. And ultimately that is role of the pastor, to help people move toward maturity in Christ.

So I remind you that if you have complaints, don't push them down. Perhaps write them down, but do not fear your complaints. And if you are afraid of your complaints, then share them with your pastor. We are here to stand by you so you are not alone. 

Confusing Harmonious with Homogeneous

You may have seen this image floating around the internet the past month or so. 

As you can see it visually depicts the difference between inclusion, exclusion, segregation and integration. Perhaps the most helpful aspect of this image for those of us in the dominate culture is the difference between integration and inclusion. While integration brings others into the majority there is still a resistance to include the other into the larger group.

From what I understand it is difficult for the blue dot to move freely in the sea of green dots for there is a concern that the blue dot will loose their blueness and identity and become more blue-green and then ultimately be seen as green and not blue. It is difficult for the blue to remain blue when they are surrounded by green, so the blue might want to stay closer to other non-green dots. 

For those in the dominate culture, it is upon them to help move from integration to inclusion. It is upon the to foster a space where "greenness" is not forced upon the non-green. It is upon the  dominate culture to protect the variety of colors/ideas/beliefs/religions/etc. Which means that the green dots must also come to see that creating a harmonious group does not mean creating a homogeneous group.

There is a lie operating in our world that conflict will go away if we all were more similar than different. That is just a lie. I don't know about you, but I am at times in conflict with my own self - I want a cookie but I don't want a cookie, I want to run away but I don't want to run away, I want to yell but I don't want to yell. Harmonious living does not mean homogeneous living. Harmonious living is learning to respect the differences.