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    Mar 03, 2019

    In the Aftermath of General Conference 2019

    Passage: Hebrews 1:1-4

    Speaker: Rev. Vivian McCarthy, Pastor

    Category: Unity

    Beloved, from here on out today, you might want to throw your bulletin away.  For only the second time in 32 years of ordained ministry and perhaps in 46 years of lay and professional ministry, today I had to throw away the script and start fresh on Saturday. 

     2 Sundays ago, Jillian Ambrose/Phil & Darlene sang a powerful song for us – I Need You to Survive.

    I knew when I chose Rev. Buechner’s book last summer that we would be at the time of the General Conference session by now.  I thought it would likely be helpful to have a worship series that was focused on pastoral care, but that’s as far as my thoughts went.  Who knew that the scripture that was just read and the song intended for our recent worship series could be so powerful for all of us today?

     By the way – if you’d like to read the sermon that was intended for today, the one that brought the series to an end, it will be on our website this week.

    There has been a lot of ink spilled and about 10 gazillion words spoken this week about the General Conference.  We have been praying for the church at large for months.  Yesterday a number of us listened to a live-stream broadcast from our conference leadership interpreting what happened and bringing us up to date on where things stand.  That is not an easy task because the results are very confusing.

    A very helpful segment of the event featured the conference’s chancellor – the conference’s attorney – who explained the process that was used, listed out the legislation and what was actually voted on, and then I believe he went through all of the legislation that was voted on.  The recording of the event is now available on YouTube.  The link is our website today – on the first rotating picture on the homepage – Praying Our Way Forward.

    For today, I hope that we can focus on RUMC and our life together in the wake of that tumultuous, in many ways hurtful General Conference.

    There is plenty of hurt to go around.  Well-intentioned, deeply faithful, deeply committed Christians who wish to live their lives in the Way of Jesus did not behave well.  Human beings, no matter who they are, are not usually at their best when they are in conflict – especially when the conflict is as deep as the one in which the UMC finds itself.  Every vote this week was within just a few percentage points between for and against.  One key vote was separated by 56 votes in a vote cast by 818 people.  56. 

    I need you, you need me, we all are part of God’s body.  Stand with me.  Agree with me.

    Agree with me.  Whew.  That line is hard right now – right?

    We don’t.  It’s pretty simple.  We don’t agree.  I am not saying that to inflame us but to give us an opening.  While there could be many things we don’t agree about, I believe that perhaps the chief one is scripture – that is, how we interpret scripture. 

    There are many schools of thought about scripture, and those schools often divide the followers of Jesus.  I will only speak about 2 schools today.  First, there are deeply faithful, deeply committed Christians who wish to live their lives in the Way of Jesus who believe that every word of scripture is literally true.  Some churches require their members to agree that scripture is the inerrant Word which is the belief that the Bible "is without error or fault in all its teaching"; or, at least, that "Scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact".

    Secondly, there are deeply faithful, deeply committed Christians who wish to live their lives in the Way of Jesus who believe that scripture is the inspired Word which means that humans were and are involved in the writing and that in our interpretations of God’s Word we need to weigh several factors in how we interpret it – things like scientific and cultural discoveries. 

    In an extreme example, the church called Galileo a heretic because he believed that the world was round instead of flat.  Galileo was tried during the Inquisition and foundguilty of heresy.  He was forced to recant his theories.

    John Wesley outlined a method for Methodists to do the challenging work of interpretation and theological discernment.  We call it the Wesley Quadrilateral – a method with four key parts.  He taught us to use scripture, tradition, experience, and reason to find our way.

    You know, not every Methodist comes to the same conclusion using that method, but that was part of Wesley’s genius.  He was not a man who taught absolutes.  He believed strongly that disciples of Jesus need to figure some of this out for themselves and have some freedom in their study and discipleship.

    Beloved, the beauty and the challenge of the UMC has always been that we don’t have to agree.  I have tried to say over and over that my hope was for us to pass the One Church Plan, and it is because of this very hallmark of Methodism:  there is room for difference in the church just as there is room for difference in God’s huge family.

    Tom Berlin shared with us last summer via video that there was hope if we could learn to “walk loosely together,” but that to do that we would need to be able to live with more than one point of view, more than one way to interpret scripture, more than one way to do ministry.

    So, we don’t agree, perhaps especially when it comes to interpreting scripture.  I believe that there are several fundamentally important things that we can agree on.

    1. The #1 most important thing we can agree on is that Jesus loves each and every one of us, and we believe that his life, death and resurrection get the final word on our salvation.  Scripture says, Christ died for us while we were yet sinners.  That proves God’s amazing love for us.
    2. Number #2 – I believe that there is a deep desire to be in community, especially within this local branch of the Body of Christ because it is here that most of you have felt the love of a congregational family. Many of you have had your children baptized, formed in Sunday School.  Many of you and your children were married here.  There are deep roots.

    How we talk to each other going forward is very important.

    Some people are afraid to talk about divisive issues when we don’t agree.  They fear that we won’t see them as people of sacred worth – that we won’t see them as Christians – that we will hate them.

    I hope you will hear me when I say that I will always listen to you.  We may not agree, but our disagreement does not mean I don’t care for you and love you as a sister in Christ.  I believe we need each other because I have personally learned a great deal from people that do not see things as I do.  I will say what I think, but I will also do everything I can to be respectful.  That said, I am a human being, and when someone makes it personal or makes demands that I can’t meet or I feel attacked, I don’t always react well. 

    The best news today is that we have the opportunity to come to the Table of the Lord.  You have heard it said again and again.  This table doesn’t belong to me or to you or even to RUMC.  It is the Lord’s table and everyone is welcome.

    At the end of the sermon, the congregation joined in communion and made a circle around the sanctuary then sang together the song mentioned earlier in this message:

    I need you.  You need me.  We are a part of God’s body. Stand with me.  Agree with me.  We're all a part of God's body.  It is his will, that every need be supplied.  You are important to me, I need you to survive.  You are important to me, I need you to survive.  I pray for you, You pray for me.  I love you, I need you to survive.  I won't harm you with words from my mouth.  I love you, I need you to survive.  It is his will, that every need be supplied.  You are important to me, I need you to survive. (Words and Music David Frasier)