Unity

The theme for this General Conference is "A Future with Hope."  However, if you have been following the articles in the official UM media, and the language coming from many of the bishops and general agencies, the real buzzword of GC 2008, is unity.

Unity is important to our identity as United Methodists. Our very name came from the “uniting” of the Evangelical United Brethren denomination and the Methodist denomination at a “uniting” conference 40 years ago. Our founder, John Wesley, famously said: "In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity." 

This unity talk started because some conservative caucus groups were pushing for schism at the last General Conference. I think most of us are agreed that we would rather that this didn’t happen. I am against schism.  I love our church and don't want it to split - read my earlier post.  But we also cannot let this talk of unity overpower the necessity of Justice. Unity is important, but it is not all-important.

The way the word unity is being used this general conference is to stop debate. There have been suggestions that we shouldn’t discuss GLBT issues this General Conference. That is not unity. According to my dictionary, unity means whole or being in totality. The church can never achieve unity until it welcomes all people, all families, all relationships, and all of our gifts and talents.

Let’s not forget the above quote by Wesley. The important part of that message seems to be “in all things, charity.” My question to the general church is where is the charity in Judicial Council ruling 1032? Or in taking credentials from ordained ministers? 

The opposite of unity, of "wholeness," is being broken, in pieces.  We as Christians know the value of brokenness.  Every time we have communion we relive the night when Jesus died, when he took the bread and broke it, saying this is my body.  It was through the brokenness of Christ's physical body that resurrection came.

Isn't the church also the body of Christ?  Although we should work to stay united, we should not be scared of being broken. It may be painful for us, but sometimes the path following Jesus leads us through times of brokenness. How else do we get to Easter?

We cannot sacrifice the GLBT community for some false idea of unity.  We must continue to bring our message of a justice-seeking, grace-filled, loving God, to everyone.  That is the only way to achieve true unity.

Comments

[Tiffany Steinwert]

I'm not sure the question is unity or brokenness. I think what is at stake is how we define unity.

So often in the past we have allowed unity to be defined as uniformity. That is, everyone votes the same, acts the same, loves the same, etc. etc.

Yet, that has never been the Christian understanding of the gift of unity as a mark of the church. Our denominational study, In Search of Unity defined true unity as unity in diversity. In order for the church to be one, to be whole, to be united, all perspectives and all people must be included.

I think Don Messer said it best:

“The exclusion of homosexual persons from the life, leadership, and rites of the Church threatens the very nature of the Church itself. It not only causes irreparable harm to the children of God but also to the Body of Christ itself. Each time a person is rejected or ejected from the “koinonia” fellowship of United Methodism, a new wound is inflicted and the Body of Christ is broken once again.”