A New Credo

by

Special to United Methodist Insight

I cannot fix or save the United Methodist Church. This is not my job.

I cannot fix or save any specific local congregation of the United Methodist Church.

I cannot change made-up, angry minds.

I cannot answer unanswerable questions. The moment I try, I have sinned.

I cannot pretend to know God's will for a denomination or a congregation.

I cannot prioritize one Old Testament law over 612 others. The Bible says what it says. However, I am not a Levitical priest in 6th century Israel. I am a United Methodist pastor in 21st-century America.

I can remain faithful to my calling.

I can bring healing to brokenness when I see it, comfort to this that are hurting, and peace to those who mourn.

I can do this because, as both Jesus Christ and Huey Lewis affirmed, the power of love is a curious thing.

I can witness to the Gospel, the transcendent message of a timeless God, the ground of all being.

I can be vulnerable and authentic.

I can de-escalate in everything, anything, and all things. 

I can serve, love, and shepherd in the place where I am, at this moment. Tomorrow, I will do it again.

I can unplug from distractions. I can leave social media on the ash heap of history.

I can seek to confess my brokenness. I can seek forgiveness.

I can listen to the wind, watch the leaves fall, and remember how vast the universe is.

I can ask others to pray for me.

I can weep.

I can sing.

I can laugh.

I can be more than I think I am because others have faith in me I do not yet see or recognize.

I can call them as I see them.

What can you do? Are you able to identify your limitations? Good Luck.

The Rev. Richard L. Bryant serves as pastor of New Sharon United Methodist Church in Hillsborough, N.C. A graduate of UNC-Greensboro and Duke University, Richard has served churches in England; Raleigh, N.C.; as a missionary in Moscow and Northern Ireland; and in Marshallberg, Ocracoke, Burgaw, and now in Hillsborough. His hobbies include piano performance, storytelling, backyard astronomy, and researching his family’s history.