The One Church Plan Converts, Other Plans Compliance

Rules encourage compliance. Jesus set us free from rules by the Grace of God. As such we convert to God's love, not comply out of compulsion. 

In all the chatter online about the different plans the UMC is looking at to be in ministry with the LGBTQ community, it seems there is a gap in the conversation. Specifically, what do we desire - conversions or compliance. It seems to me that there is only one plan that puts conversion at the center, while other plane put compliance at the center. Let me try to explain.

Imagine you are a person who believes that LGBTQ marriage/ordination is God's desire. The UMC can pass a plan that requires everyone to comply with the rule or get out of the church. Likewise, imagine you are a person who believes that LGBTQ marriage/ordination is not what God desires. The UMC can pass legislation (such as the Traditionalist plan) that requires everyone to comply with the rules or get out of the church. 

Compliance is not what the love of God is about. The Love of God is all about conversion. Christ is in the conversion ministry and the Church continues in that effort. That is what disciple making is about - converting hearts to return to God in Christ. 

So if you believe that your position on LGBTQ marriage/ordination is correct, then how would you convert those who do not hold your position? You remain in connection with them, showing them your way of life and continue to pray that the Spirit will convert hearts. You don't kick them out of the church because the hope for conversion of hearts is greatly diminished. 

The One Church Plan is critical to the mission because it is the only plan that keeps conversion at the center. If we really believe that we know what is right/just/God's will then we would be compelled to be in relationship with those who disagree with us so that God may use us to convert hearts. 

If you are a Traditionalist or a Progressive, consider what your end game is. Do you want compliance or are you sold out in love with Jesus Christ to work with the Holy Spirit to be conduit of the conversion of hearts? For this reason, I am in support of the One Church plan because I believe that the world is better off with more conversions to Jesus.

If you too believe in the conversions to Christ over compliance to rules then tell your church leadership about how the One Church Plan is the plan given to us as a gift from God to convert people to the love of Christ. 

Drawn To Less Vacation

Photo by Esther Wiegardt on Unsplash

Summer vacations are wonderful. The idea of getting away from it all and unplugging from responsibilities and technology. To do what is desired in a place that is not home. The weather, the beach, the mountains, the food, the family, the friends - all are wonderful things. However, I am drawn to having less vacation. 

There is value in getting away and resting. The commandments to honor the Sabbath and keep it holy are biblically rooted and psychologically beneficial. However, there is a difference in sabbath and vacation. There is a difference from rest and "getting away".

Vacations give us permission to "vacate." Escapism is very popular and fun. Vacating or escaping is not evil or harmful. In small doses it can be the reprieve that is needed to give energy to fight another day. And therein is the seed of the problem of vacations - they give energy to keep fighting rather than providing the resources to stop the fight. 

Religious traditions of all sorts have the practice of pilgrimage. Some might say that life itself is a pilgrimage, but more often than that the word pilgrimage calls to mind going on a specific type of trip. The pilgrimage trip is different from a vacation for a number of reasons and one of those is that the pilgrimage is to help gain a different perspective of life. This perspective gaining is so that when we return to our lives, we better know which battles are worth fighting or perhaps how to fight differently. Vacations do not allow space for this sort of perspective taking because on vacation we are encouraged to "get away" from your life. Pilgrimage asks us to engage our lives differently. 

Vacations and pilgrimages both have rest built into them. Both are helpful, but for different reasons. Vacations can help us catch our breath in the ocean of life, pilgrimage can help us lean to trust in the buoyancy of God.

How Do We Treat The Demons?

Over the past couple of years I have found a new life by reading and studying the wisdom of the desert Abbas and Ammas. There are many stories and "words" in this wisdom and I am not the first to explore this vast landscape. Through my studies I have come to see there is at least one thing that distinguishes that desert Abba/Amma from the student. And it is in how they each relate the the demons. 

The Torment of Saint Anthony - Michelangelo Buonarroti - Kimbell Art

Notice how early in his life, Anthony might have prayed for the destruction of the demons as they pulled at him...

The Temptations of Saint Anthony - BOSCH, HIERONYMUS Museo Nacional del Prado©

By the end of his life, Anthony learned to co-exist with the demons.

Demons was a word to describe the different temptations these early hermits encountered. The demons tempted them to eat, drink, fornicate, wander, etc. There were as many demons as there were people who were tempted to abandon their quest of Love for God and all. 

Beginners would do, perhaps as we all might do, seek for ways to banish the demon. It makes sense that if you see a demon that you would want to banish and destroy it. Beginners would soon discover that the demons were too powerful to defeat. 

The more seasoned monks turned from trying to defeat the demons to tolerate them. It was a fact of life that temptations would come and it was a matter of keeping their rule of life that one could tolerate the existence of the demon. This is a significant turn in the life of the monk as they moved from desiring the death and destruction of the temptation to learning to keep it at bay.

However, the Abbas/Ammas took the next step. They did not tolerate the temptations they learned that the temptations were the way to love. That to disengage with the temptation or to even work for its destruction meant that the monk never experienced the Grace of God. 

This three fold movement - destruction, tolerance, embracing - requires a deep dedication and devotion to love even the most vile and evil. This does not mean the Abbas/Ammas delighted and let the temptation/demons do as they pleased. Abbas/Ammas fought with the demons all the time. It was in the fighting with the demons that the teachers came to see what the demons have to teach each of us. 

There are temptations in your life. There are people and forces in your life you may even call demonic or evil. And to be sure, there is evil in the world. There is evil in the world that is to be confronted - slavery, hate, enslavement, war, etc. These early monks were talking less about social evils as much as they were talking about the evils that come into our hearts. The desert wisdom is not clear on what to do in the face of injustice, Jesus had much to say about that. The desert wisdom is much more directive on what to do in the face of the demon of the soul. Do we desire it dead? Tolerate it's existence? Or can we cohabitate with it?