When Following the Rules Denies the Hope of Grace
Most of us know the story of the moving moment just after Pope Francis arrived in Philadelphia when he told the driver to stop his car. Francis opened the car door, walked over to a barrier and kissed...
View ArticleA Violation of Integrity: "Coming Out" as a Lesbian Clergyperson?
She’s been living a lie and I’m deeply troubled about this even as others are cheering her on. I write of the Rev. Cynthia Meyer, a long time pastor, and her announcement to her church on Sunday,...
View ArticleThe Crucial Difference Between Schism and Division: Lessons from the Garden
The question appears again and again in church life and right now particularly with mainline denominations: should we just give up and split up? There is a way to divide and still thrive. Let’s pay...
View ArticleSex, Punishment and Power–is That Really Good News?
Apparently, the Good News group, who unofficially represent the evangelical branch of The United Methodist Church, is all about sex, punishment and power. How do I know? They state it clearly in their...
View ArticleThe penchant for purity will kill the church
I am watching from a distance as I see The United Methodist Church slowly disintegrate into irreconcilable factions led, kind of, by a group of paralyzed Bishops. At this point, they appear to be...
View ArticleThe Will of God, Jesus, the Bishops and the UMC
I don’t know what life would look like if one entered with perfection into the will of God. The problem? Jesus messes that up for me. Surely, he, if anyone, did indeed walk that path to the center of...
View ArticleRight-handers=Good; Left-handers=Evil
The dominant world enriches itself endlessly when it makes room for the less-dominant to have a voice. Those on the margins: left-handed, minority, poor, mentally and physically challenged,...
View ArticleThe WCA Says, “Just Turn It Off” To GLBTQI People
This is what the doctrinally pure, i.e., the splinter Wesleyan Covenant Association (WCA), will ask anyone who wants to belong but who may not fit their definition of purity: just “turn it off.” I saw...
View ArticleSunday GC2019 Opening Worship: A Passionate Call For Unity
The words of Bishop Carter and his passionate call for unity ring in my mind. May they do so in the minds of these 864 people, whose hard work now awaits them. But I’m worried. Sunday morning: Worship...
View ArticleIt’s Official: We Are The United Methodist Church That Hates Gays
So, let’s pick up our crosses and do exactly that. Let’s be the church reborn. What we won’t be known as: “The United Methodist Church that hates gays.” The WCA, Good News and the African Methodists...
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