Boundary Confusion In The UMC

Boundaries and Barriers

Within the UMC there is much talk on line about the role of boundaries. There are some who consider the election of Bishop Oliveto a breach in the boundaries of the Book of Discipline. There are others who feel that the organization of the Wesley Covenant Association is a breach of boundaries. The interesting thing to me is that both groups are correct - these are a break in boundaries. What is sometimes missed in all the discussion (including in my own thinking) over these broken boundaries is we may be confusing boundaries for barriers.

Boundaries are those things that are set up to guide and protect. They are generally good things to follow. For instance, if you see a line on the road, it is generally a good idea to not cross it. Boundaries also have a flexibility built into them that makes them easier to uphold in our lives. Sticking with the road metaphor, those lines can be redirected and even redrawn to accommodate wider vehicles or road construction. Boundaries are not the same as barriers because boundaries have an appropriate permeability to them.

Barriers are not permeable. These are like those concrete walls put on the side of the road to ensure that no one can cross over them. Barriers not only protect us from harm but also cause harm if violated. Which is why barriers are more obstructive and obstructive than boundaries. It seems that at the heart at some of the matters in the UMC, there is confusion on what is a boundary and what is a barrier.

Jesus ran into this when he was confronted by the religious leaders of his time. He was told that he was violating laws which they saw as barriers but Jesus saw as boundaries. You should not eat on the Sabbath was a barrier to some but a boundary to Jesus. God, not man, can forgive sin was a barrier for some but a boundary for Jesus. Death was a barrier for some but Jesus shows us it is boundary. 

Boundaries are important to be sure, but they are not the same as barriers. While both are designed with protection in mind, it seems like we are in the deepest mess when we confuse boundaries and barriers. 

(Update note - Thank you to W.J. who helped point out my own confusion in the original post where I mislabeled boundaries and barriers. It just goes to show that even when we think about it, there can be boundary confusion.)  

Parable of man on an island and the UMC

There is a story that Peter Rollins tells in his book Idolatry of God and it goes like this:

There was once a man who had been shipwrecked on an uninhabited deserted island. There he lived alone for ten years before finally being rescued by a passing aircraft. Before leaving the island, one of the rescuers asked if they could see where the man had lived during his time on the island, and so he brought the small group to a clearing where there were three buildings. Pointing to the first he said, "This was my home; I build it when I first moved here all those years ago." "What about the building beside it?" asked the rescuers. "Ho, that is where I would worship every week," he replied. "And that building beside that?" "Don't bring that up," replied the man in an agitated tone. "That is where I used to worship."

While this story is not factually true, this is a True story. Anytime there is a quest to find the "perfect", "pure", "correct" church we will always be disappointed and leave. If we believe the Church we are in is not upholding the ideal that we believe it should be upholding then we will always be building new churches. 

Christianity: less building more erosion

As I listen to people come into the church I serve, there are reoccurring words that are used to talk about what they are looking for.  Most of the language is around building and growing. I hear a desire to develop faith, a church to help them build up their values, a community that can help their family grow in loving kindness, a place where they can develop, flourish and thrive.

We all need to mature and develop, but following Jesus leads to seeing growth differently. Growth in Jesus Christ means less building and more erosion. 

The process of erosion is slow and steady. It is a process of removing. It requires extended exposure to the power that is beyond you so to be shaped in ways that you cannot control or expedite. Erosion is a scary thing because it feels like we are becoming less, and you are right. That is the point. We decrease and Christ increases. We die to ourselves and are raised in Christ. It is no longer I that lives in me but Christ that animates me. 

Letting go of the facade and front; the traditional thinking of might and what strength looks like; the power and ego - this is what Christianity is all about. It is trusting that the Holy Spirit blows in and through and erodes away the very thing we have been told since our youth that defines us. It is about discovering the God we sought for all along is already with us. It is about living with less only to discover it to be more liberating and beautiful than imaged. 

Perhaps this is why so many of us, myself included, struggle with Christianity. It requires of me to focus less on building and more on erosion.