General Conference 2008

Devotion for April 25, 2008

The human progress that Christ wants to promise
    is that of the whole persons
            in their transcendent dimension
            and their historical dimension
            in their spiritual dimension
            and their bodily dimension.
Whole persons must be saved,
persons in their social relationships,
            who  consider some people more human than others,
            but will view all as brothers and sisters
            and give preference to the weakest and neediest.
This is the integral human salvation
            that the church wants to bring about –
a hard mission!
Often the church will be catalogued
            with communistic and revolutionary subversives.
But the church knows what its revolution is:
the revolution of Christ’s love.

These words are from the book “The Violence of Love” by Archbishop Oscar Romero who was assassinated in San Salvador in 1980.  I find these words so poignant when I think about RMN and the struggle GLBT persons have with the oppressive church.  Romero was incredible in the struggle with the rich and government in El Salvador.  He is someone whom we can look to for courage.

Mary Ann Carlson
Cleveland Heights, OH

Devotion for April 24, 2008

United Methodists have laid claim to the power of the quadrilateral in our discernments. This means that we listen for God’s voice in Scripture, Tradition, Reason, and Experience. It is the last category – experience – that is often the most confusing. The concern for Wesley was not that we understand experience alone or simply to be a guiding foundation for our faith. Instead, experience is placed within the context of the whole so that we may ask the question: “What about our experience or the experience of others illuminates the grace of God?” As I look at the faces and lives of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgendered persons and their families whom I have known in my lifetime, I witness there the kind of love and care that illuminates the grace of God at work in the world.

RMN Devotional
Joretta L Marshall

Devotion for April 22, 2008

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.

O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved, as to love; for it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Betty Dorr

Devotion for April 21, 2008

How do we stay centered in the peace of Christ in the midst of activism? The work of advocating for justice within an institution is messy and draining. It requires that we speak our truths—truths that directly conflict with the Truth as others perceive it. It requires relentless effort and lots of time and a faith that’s sometimes difficult to sustain. People can be so mean! Political bodies are so unwieldy! It’s too easy to grow resentful or despairing and forget our foundation in love.

Whenever I struggle with this balance, I consider an essay by James Baldwin called “Notes of a Native Son.” In it he describes the Harlem race riots of the early 1940s and the stinging racial bitterness he inherited from his father. The essay closes with these words: “ It began to seem that one would have to hold in the mind forever two ideas which seemed to be in opposition. The first idea was acceptance, the acceptance totally without rancor, of life as it is, and men as they are: in the light of this idea, it goes without saying that injustice is a commonplace. But this did not mean that one could be complacent, for the second idea was of equal power: that one must never, in one’s own life, accept these injustices as commonplace but must fight them with all one’s strength.”

I imagine James Baldwin with his arms outstretched, holding his fierce commitment to justice in one hand and an incomprehensible acceptance of and love for humanity in the other. What a balancing act! But this is precisely the paradox Jesus embodied. The reign of God is already here, and we must work like mad to bring it about. When we tip toward complacency, we need a good dose of reality to get us on our feet, protesting. When we tip toward burn-out or bitterness, we need a generous heart and the reminder of Christ’s abiding love, even here, even now. May love guide, measure, and sustain our work today.

Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew
Minneapolis, MN

Devotion for April 20, 2008

Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.  1 Corinthians 16: 13-14

Once when I was on a camp out with my cousins, we decided to go for a late night walk. We gathered our flashlights and begin to walk in the darkness. Eventually, all of our flashlights ran out of battery power, and we were left in the shadows of the night. Of course, I started to panic, but one of my older cousins calmed us down and reminded us that we were fine and that all would be okay. She told us to focus on the path, to not panic or be afraid, and to keep alert for snakes…WOW!  But we followed her direction, and soon we were back to where we had started.

Paul’s words to the church at Corinth are words for me as we approach the 2008 General Conference. As persons seeking God’s justice in the world and church, we may feel a sense of fear, anxiety, or uncertainty as we turn our journey toward Fort Worth. As we work for the inclusion of all God’s people, we know that the path can be treacherous and difficult. We cannot walk without intentional spiritual and physical preparation. We cannot move casually. At the same time, we must also not walk in fear and panic. We know that Christ walks along side with us, and he encourages us with the power of the Holy Spirit.   

As we prepare to make witness for God’s vision for the church to include ALL, let us keep alert, stand firm in faith, be courageous, and be strong. And most of all, may all that we do be done in love.

James Preston

Devotion for April 19, 2008

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
                                                                           John 1:5

The mysterious, poetic beauty of the first chapter of the Gospel of John has always moved me. Years ago a friend gave me a book of meditations—Seasons of a Lifetime by Gerhard E. Frost.  One of the meditations has stuck with me—giving even deeper meaning to John 1:5.

If I am asked
what are the grounds for hope,
this is my answer:
Light is lord over darkness,
truth is lord over falsehood,
life is ever lord over death.
Of all the facts I daily live with,
there’s none more comforting
than this:  If I have two rooms,
one dark, the other light,
and I open the door between them,
the dark room becomes lighter
without the light one
becoming darker.  I know
this is no headline,
but it’s a marvelous footnote;
and God comforts me in that.

Helen Andrew
PRN Steering Committee

Devotion for April 18, 2008

Soon after the new year began, I ran across a saying from the Desert Fathers*–“Do not give your heart to that which does not satisfy your heart.” It felt to me a good way to prioritize my life as I continue to be asked for my time and commitment. So many times, I find myself saying “yes” to things I get asked to do and then feeling unhappy with myself that I’ve made yet another commitment. Isn’t it better to put more energy in the things that do satisfy our hearts? The work of RMN satisfies the hearts of many of us. Let’s use our time, energy, prayers, and commitment to the valuable work of RMN for extraordinary results!

Liz Okayama

*Abba Poemen

The Sayings of the Desert Fathers,

ed. By Benedicta Ward, SLG

(Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Pubns., 1975), P.150

Devotion for April 17, 2008

There was a time when you were darkness, but now you are light in Christ.  Live as Children of the light.  Light produces every kind of goodness, justice and truth.
                                                       Ephesians 5:8-9, From the Inclusive Bible

Often we are accustomed to darkness and don’t even realize we are living in darkness.  We grow accustomed to discrimination and prejudice, to living in fear, to others’ dark and lonely lives.  But God calls us to live in the light of Christ, to shine the light of Jesus into the corners of darkness and sweep away that discrimination and prejudice, fear and loneliness.

It takes courage to wake up, look around and begin to shine God’s light.  Sometimes it takes community, to call each other accountable to shining that Light.  Sometimes we are so lulled and blind to our surroundings that the only way we can begin to see what is there is either to leave for a time and then return, or call upon a newcomer or an outsider to help us see what we can no longer see.

I think of that hymn “I want to walk as a Child of the Light, I want to follow Jesus.”  The refrain takes on new meaning after hearing this passage of scripture.  “In him there is no darkness at all.  The night and the day are both alike.  The Lamb is the light of the City of God.  Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus.”

Lord, shine your light in my heart.  Help me to be your lamp, shining light and producing goodness, justice and truth where now there is none.  For, “I want to walk as a Child of the Light.”  Amen.

Monica Swink
RMN Board Chair

Devotion for April 16, 2008

April 16, 2008
Now during those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of bread. And the twelve called together the whole community of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables. Therefore, fiends, select from among yourselves seven people of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task…”
                                        Acts 6:1-3

Competing factions… complaints across partisan lines… inactive leadership that refuses to address the real needs of the community – it’s all there in the first verses of Acts 6. At times like these we need people full of faith and Holy Spirit who know what ministry is all about. We need to realize that even the ugliness of discrimination is an opportunity for God’s grace to change the way we treat each other. We need to remember that complaining against injustice and petitioning for change lays the groundwork for God to do something new. We need to take the chance to do whatever needs to be done in our community and beyond.

God is calling people to new ways of life and service just like the first deacons in Acts. And here we are! No matter what your role is in these important days, remember that faith and the Holy Spirit give us the ability to spread the word of God in countless ways. We are part of a very old story and we will continue to be faithful into the future.

God has chosen us to change the way things are done. We are ready to respond with faith. We always do. Amen.

Will Green

Prayer for Harmony

God the Father, source of everything divine, you are good surpassing everything good and just surpassing everything just. In you is tranquility, as well as peace and harmony. Heal our divisions and restore us to the unity of love, which is similar to your divine nature. Let the bond of love and the ties of divine affection make us one in the Spirit by your peace which renders everything peaceful. We ask this through the grace, mercy, and compassion of your only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

St Dionysius of Alexandria, Bishop and Educator