WB Imminent Cat-astrophe
Welcome to the New Website!
Wesley Bros Comics has just entered its 6th year on the web! Thanks to increasing support on Patreon, we’ve been able to produce Playing Cards (which sold out already, but I’ll get more by Fall!), we’ve seen the Bros get animated by UM Communications, and we’re getting published by Abingdon Press this Fall. And as promised a long time ago, I’m going to try to create full-color comics for you now! I thought it was time to spruce up the look of the website so it better matched the look of the comic as it is today.
Some days you love a cat, and some days, the cat just knocks your coffee off the table because she can. Maybe she did it for your attention. Maybe she just thinks, “If you didn’t want me to knock it off the table, you wouldn’t have put it there in the first place.” Maybe she’s just a little fur demon.
What’s On the Table?
Will the church split? Will the church stay together? Either alternative leaves different folks in fear. If we split, there’s fear that we will die. There’s fear that splitting damages our witness. As John Wesley once said, schism “is both evil in itself, and productive of evil consequences,” (On Schism, I.10).
[Schism] leads directly to a whole train of evil surmising, to severe and uncharitable judging of each other. It gives occasion to offense, to anger and resentment, perhaps in ourselves as well as in our brethren; which, if not presently stopped, may issue in bitterness, malice, and settled hatred; creating a present hell wherever they are found, as a prelude to hell eternal (On Schism, I.12)
Charles Wesley feared schism far more than his brother John, saying privately in his journal, “I am for the church first and then Methodism.” Publicly, Charles opposed every step John took that could split the renewal movement of Methodism off from “the old ship” of the Anglican Church.
But for others, staying together is like unto an abusive or unfaithful relationship. The damage has already been done, and people want out of the marriage. Hardline Traditionalists see full inclusion of LGBTQ+ as infidelity to the scripture, and they want a divorce. LGBTQ+ Christians and their allies feel caught in a traumatic and abusive relationship, and forcing them to stay in the marriage is cruel counsel.
The uncharitable judgment, offense, anger, and resentment have existed for decades. Schism is mutually assured destruction. So if we’re already mutually destroyed, can we agree that the cat knocked the coffee off the table a long time ago?
Should’ve Grabbed It Sooner
John talked a big game about schism that he didn’t really believe. He saw that God was up to something new, and it was happening outside of the established Church. He saw that God was transforming individuals and the collective culture through New Testament-level renewal. He didn’t want to break off from the church, but he wasn’t scared to break out of the church.
If you do any responsible research on the causes of church decline in North America, you might be surprised to learn that becoming a fully inclusive church is not on most, if any lists. Sure, a local congregation that has historically opposed same-sex marriage will lose a ton of members if it suddenly whiplashes on the issue. But where a church stands on LGBTQ+ issues (for or against) does not suddenly multiply church members.
My understanding of God through scripture leads me to be for full inclusion, and I want to worship in a beloved community that blesses faithful marriage for LGBTQ+ partners. I want to be involved in open conversations that help students faithfully discern celibacy in singleness and faithfulness in marriage in an LGBTQ+ context. I want the church to lead the way in conversations about sexuality that generate a desire for holiness instead of creating shame.
I want a church ruled by the belief that God will never love us more than right now. No matter how gay or straight, how holy or messed up. I want a church that believes that Jesus is exactly as powerful as he says he is, and that his blood unites us even when everything else would put us asunder. I want a church that believes holiness is most truly experienced in the pursuit of peace (On Schism, I.20).
But the cat’s already knocked that cup way off the table.
I guess it’s good news we serve a God who heals broken things.
New Charlie Baber
The Rev. Charlie Baber, author of Wesley Bros cartoon.
When not drawing the Wesley Bros cartoon, the Rev. Charlie Baber, a United Methodist deacon, serves as youth minister at University United Methodist Church in Chapel Hill, N.C. His cartoon appears on United Methodist Insight by special arrangement.