A Letter to the United Methodist Church

by

Special to United Methodist Insight

Dear UMC:

I heard you are in palliative care and scheduled for perlious surgery in Minneapolis this coming May.

Before you undergo that ordeal, I wanted to write you a letter.

First meeting

You may remember, we first met in 1934.

I apologize for my unappreciative response when Dr. Sam Maxwell placed his dripping wet hand on my head. How was I to know that was my welcome to a transformative community at Washington Park Methodist Church in Denver.

Sam was the same pastor who carried me to his back seat and recklessly careened his way from the church camp down Rocky Mountain roads to a Denver hospital for an emergency appendectomy.

He saved my life.

It was also at that Denver church that Martha Lort brought Bible stories to life as 3-inch felt David did battle with an 11-inch Goliath who magically adhered to a black flannel-graph board.

Decision to enter the ministry

I want to thank you for my early experiences at Methodist camps. It was at Pine Crest, a camp near Palmer Lake, Colo., that you introduced me to the Rev. James Thomas, who was then an executive with the Methodist Board of Education. The future bishop led a 1951 campfire service where I was first challenged to enter the ordained ministry.

I can’t tell you how many hours I spent at Washington Park Church as president of MYF, a member of Sunday school classes and an off-key member of the youth choir. Watching the sunrise every Easter at Red Rocks Amphitheater still comforts my spirit as I mentally return there each Easter.

Surgeons debate

I understand several surgeons are debating options for your questionable future. I can only pray that all of them have great love and appreciation for all you have given to this planet.

I had the opportunity to study at Iliff School of Theology, Garrett Theological Seminary, and Boston University, just three of the scores of schools you founded during your nearly 300-year lifetime. I haven’t a clue how many hospitals, mission stations, and retirement homes you have rooted around the world.

It was at Iliff that you helped me understand the Bible as a library of authors with different memories, gifts and understandings. It is also that perception that makes me wonder how you could be in such difficult circumstances based on only seven of 31,102 verses in Bible. You taught me to use experience, tradition and reason to evaluate each passage, and those tools force me to love all people, even those with whom I disagree.

My first General Conference

It was also as a student at Iliff that I attended my first General Conference in 1960, an event I would later attend 11 additional times serving in several capacities, including four as the editor of the Daily Christian Advocate.

You seemed so healthy in 1960. The 788 delegates celebrated a quadrennial membership gain of 502,181, and you said you needed to recruit 8,000 new clergy each year. Only 76 of the delegates were from 27 conferences outside the United States, and most of those conferences are now autonomous churches.

Your marriage

I recall your 1968 marriage to the Evangelical United Brethren Church.

Bishop Lloyd Wicke was one of the officials at that service, and I had the joy of working with him while I was the communications director for New York and Troy Annual Conferences.

It was in this capacity that I attended the 1972 General Conference.

I remember the Atlanta gathering created the General Council on Ministries and approved a new doctrinal statement. And I recall speeches by Jimmy Carter, then Governor of Georgia, and the Rev. Cecil Williams, a controversial San Francisco pastor.

I didn’t even notice the floor motion to add a clause declaring the practice of homosexuality to be incompatible with Christian teaching. Who could have guessed that little tick bite would later degenerate into a life-threatening disorder?

Life in the general church

I owe you a debt of gratitude for the opportunity to serve you in general church agencies.

Through my 25 years with the United Methodist Publishing House you gave me opportunities to serve as associate editor of Today magazine, and editor of Newscope, Circuit Rider, the Daily Christian Advocate, and the International Christian Digest. Each publication had its own set of challenges and provided opportunities for growth.

I vividly recall the time you sent me to La Paz, Bolivia, to visit with rival bishops each claiming he was the rightful leader of the Bolivian Methodist Church.

Following my retirement, you invited me to serve as information officer for the Council of Bishops and later as editor for the General Commission on United Methodist Men.

Local church

While I appreciate the 61 years I’ve spent in professional service with you, it is your gift of the local church that is most appreciated. Hours of discussions in the Koinonia Sunday school class, enlightened sermons, Habitat builds, overnights with homeless guests, and mission trips to Guatemala are only a handful of gifts you have bestowed upon me through First United Methodist Church in Franklin, Tenn.

We’ve shared many high and holy moments, including the baptism of our daughter, son, and six grandchildren. I hope you will be around to baptize our great grandchildren.

Rich

The Rev. Rich Peck is a retired clergy member of the New York Annual Conference. During his active professional life, he attended 12 General Conferences as editor of the Daily Christian Advocate, the event's journal of proceedings.