Asking a Better Question

by

The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the  Gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, "Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have  received the Holy Spirit just as we have?"  – Acts  10:45-47

The official United Methodist website has an article written by Heather Hahn on the 2016  General Conference titled "How should General Conference  discuss sexuality?"

A better question might be, "Why are we still talking about  this?"

Seriously. If you have not been convinced by the witness of  the Scriptures, from the Torah to the Prophets to the Gospels and the Letters,  that the great arc of the biblical message calls us toward liberation and love  and grace, and if the science is not enough, then maybe you might at least pay  attention to the commonplace of public opinion.

As the great abolitionist  hymn writer and poet, James Russell Lowell wrote:

New occasions teach new duties,

Time makes ancient  good uncouth;

They must upward still and onward,

Who would keep abreast of  truth.

We need to move on.

The article comments on a meeting held recently at First United Methodist Church in Portland, Ore., on how the next General Conference might avoid the divisive rancor of precious gatherings. Denominational leaders brought together leaders of The Confessing Movement within the United Methodist Church, Good News, Love Prevails, the Methodist  Federation for Social Action and the Reconciling Ministries Network. The  Confessing Movement and Good News want to maintain the current stance against  homosexuality and to increase the penalties for clergy who violate those  standards. Love Prevails, the Methodist Federation for Social Action, and  Reconciling Ministries want the church to be fully inclusive of LGBTQ  persons.

After the meeting, Rob Renfroe, President of Good News, said, "The consensus was that we all know General Conference is an emotional and  hurtful process.

"I think there is consensus that we all want to find a  way to minimize the hurt and to allow everyone be heard and at the same time, to allow people to vote their conscience and keep to their principles. We happen to see some important issues in different ways," he said.

I give him  credit for his gracious manner. Clearly, he wants to be kind. He is right, we do "happen to see some important issues in different ways." And there is pain on  both sides.

But let's be clear. The pain is not equally divided. The pain of being excluded and told that you are "less than" is not the same as the pain  of being told that you have excluded and hurt people, or that you shouldn't do  any more hurting and excluding. Neither side is without fault. But again, the  fault is not equal.

One of the groups working hard to keep the old exclusionary language in place calls itself "The Confessing Movement." One assumes that this is a conscious reference to the Confessing Church which rose  up in Germany in the 1930s in opposition to Hitler. Do they really want to compare those working for inclusion in the UMC to Nazis? And can they really believe that leaders of the Confessing Church, like Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Karl  Barth, would actually be on their side today? And if they are not trying to make  those claims, then they need to change the name.

We need to move on. We have inflicted way too much pain on our LGBTQ sisters and brothers. And we have done great damage to the credibility of the church.As Mahatma Gandhi once said, "I like your Christ; I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so  unlike your Christ."

Which brings us to another question: How many people have never gotten to know who Jesus is because we are so unlike him?

The Rev. Dr. William C. Trench is pastor of The United Methodist Church in East Greenwich, RI. He blogs at Think Faithfully.