On a lovely Sunday afternoon in north Texas, spring wildflowers are nearing the peak of their colorful display – indigo bluebonnets, fiery red-and-yellow Indian paintbrush, white prairie roses blushing into pink maturity. There's a brisk spring breeze flowing over the sun-dotted landscape and the temperature is nudging into the low 80s.
Nature painted the perfect calm before the storm that could be the coming United Methodist General Conference. Like many other United Methodists, my outlook for this worldwide assembly has seesawed between hope and trepidation.
On the one hand, so many stories of renewal-after-disaffiliation have crossed my path in recent months. Most often they involve faithful United Methodists who, cast out by or departed from exiting congregations, found one another and formed a new faith community anchored in much-loved Wesleyan traditions. They are like the cherry blossoms erupting from the wizened trunk of "Stumpy," a cherry tree being flooded out by rising waters in Washington's Tidal Basin park.
On the other hand (and like Tevye in "Fiddler on the Roof," there's always another hand), dark portents inhabit our dreams. Despite the departure of traditionalist churches, conservative caucuses Good News and the Wesleyan Covenant Association have made it clear that they intend to pursue the kind of hardball politics that got us into a split. Already individuals such as the Rev. Dr. Mary John Dye and groups like Mainstream UMC have posted videos to counter another barrage of misinformation expected at General Conference.
There's no doubt we face painful cuts in vital missions, caused by revenue decline resulting from more than 7,600 departed congregations. These departures slice away tangible United Methodist expressions of God's unconditional love for the world. Already harsh realities loom, as the UMC's financial agency and its program coordinating body have recommended a nearly 44 percent cut in the churchwide budget.
The financial cutbacks are only the most extreme example of the practical realities the UMC faces as it seeks to recover from the scourge of disaffiliation. The season of church exits has provided a time of recognition and clarification for United Methodists. While much of the disaffiliation language has stretched into falsehood, some of the underlying criticisms that dissidents have exploited are accurate. The question before is us whether we have the courage to face the criticisms and change our ways.
Thus, as someone who has attended, observed, and reported on soon-to-be 10 General Conferences, I head out to Charlotte, N.C., seeking reassurance. I found comfort in a "God-thing" that Psalm 46, from which the General Conference takes its theme, was part of the worship service at our congregation, St. Stephen UMC in Mesquite, Texas, on the Sunday before we travel.
1 God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
3 though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble with its tumult.
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;
God will help it when the morning dawns.
6 The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
7 The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge.
8 Come, behold the works of the Lord;
see what desolations he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
10 ‘Be still, and know that I am God!
I am exalted among the nations,
I am exalted in the earth.’
11 The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge. (NRSV*)
No matter what is said of The United Methodist Church – and many of the secular news reports have been dire – no matter what we ourselves say about our denomination, the church still belongs to God. God will renew the church according to the divine will. Our task is to keep alert with eyes, ears, minds and souls attuned for resurrection signs. The process will be ragged, the decisions difficult, and the results likely painful, yet we can't turn back now.
Like Texas wildflowers, like a recent theme promoted by Amplify Media, I think United Methodists are tenacious about reviving our church. May the delegates to General Conference who will decide our future path be awake, aware, alive, and active with the Spirit's leading.
United Methodist Insight Editor Cynthia B. Astle has written about The United Methodist Church at all levels since 1988.
*New Revised Standard Version of the Holy Bible, copyright 1989, 1996 by the Christian Education Committee of the National Council of Churches USA. All rights reserved. Used by permission.