Monday, February 25, 2019

More Harm Than Good

Tuesday, February 26, 2019
But in the following instructions, I cannot praise you.  For it sounds as if more harm than good is done when you meet together.  First, I hear that there are divisions among you when you meet as a church, and to some extent I believe it.  But, of course, there must be divisions among you so that you who have God’s approval will be recognized!  When you meet together, you are not really interested in the Lord’s Supper.  For some of you hurry to eat your own meal without sharing with others.  As a result, some go hungry while others get drunk.  What?  Don’t you have your own homes for eating and drinking?  Or do you really want to disgrace God’s church and shame the poor?  What am I supposed to say?  Do you want me to praise you?  Well, I certainly will not praise you for this!  1 Corinthians 11:17-22 (NLT)

Disclaimer

For those of you who are not United Methodist, please forgive me for airing the laundry; this is a watershed time for the children of Wesley, and these morning devotionals are filled with prayer for my tribe.  We will likely return to a more general approach after the final vote on Tuesday.
This title (More Harm Than Good) is an unlikely one for a denomination that has its root in the sweeping Methodist revival across America in the 18-19th century, which leader, John Wesley, is quoted as saying we must:
Do all the good you can, 
By all the means you can, 
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can, 
At all the times you can, 
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.
But as my tribe meets in St. Louis to decide if we can live together any more, I’m wondering how much damage the fracas will total when all is said and done.
For the past 50 years (ever since the 1968 merger of Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren to form the United Methodist Church) this denomination has been always at the forefront in social justice issues.  The current embroilment is human sexuality, mainly whether the long-standing doctrinal posture that …homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching will stand, or if we must change to allow full-inclusiveness for LGBTQ persons, particularly in ordination, i.e., clergy orders.
Admittedly, I have no simple solution, nor do I think there is anything approaching a simple solution to the dilemma that confronts the United Methodist Church.  But there are two concerns that mitigate against a Hallmark Movie ending to this debate under any circumstances:

Unity

Anytime you have two or more groups which hold a significantly-different opinion (i.e. doctrine) about an issue, you have an impasse; that is to say, a brick wall.  Take, for instance, a marriage where the husband is in favor of monogamy, and the wife favors an open marriage, where she is free to date (and sleep with) other men.  Unless one changes his/her mind, there will always be contention and unhappiness, or that which ends the so-called unity, namely divorce.  There are no other possibilities. 

Conscience

In this case, the progressive side of the (so-called) “United” Methodist Church is asking the traditionalist side to affirm that their doctrine of homosexuality, trans-sexuality, bi-sexuality, cis-gender, and anything-goes-uality, regarding gender and orientation is just as valid as heterosexuality.
Regardless of millennia of ecclesiastic thought, debate and accepted Scriptural understanding, stated, written, and practiced, progressives want traditionalists to now change their minds and accept/practice/live with what is heretofore deemed sexual perversion. 
I have no simple answers, but this much is not in question – how can any group ask the other group to violate moral conscience, and still call oneself a Christian?
For You Today
Please join me in praying for my tribe’s delegates, for clarity of the Mind of Christ, as they vote later today…lest we do more harm than good to the Body of Christ.
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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