Even though it seems like The United Methodist Church just had a General Conference (last February), the next one is only five months away. There is a lot of anxiety within the denomination surrounding what will happen there.
Some of the first business done at The United Methodist Church's General Conference is to perfect the rules by which we will operate during our time together. Utilizing Robert's Rules of Order, we set certain rules for our time frame by which we agree to abide.
I remember with dismay the opening of the General Conference in 2012 where I served as a delegate. We had 41 proposed rules on which we were to vote. Our first evening was spent proposing amendments to all of these rules. Everyone had some tweak or adjustment that would really allow us to function more efficiently. It took over an hour just to record them. Then we were going to begin voting on them the next day. Of course, each amendment would have speeches for and against. They may also have amendments of their own which would also have speeches for and against.
Our time together was limited and we were tying up a large percentage in just debating how we would covenant to spend our time together! I ended up moving to effectively do away with all of the amendments so that we could adopt the rules as presented.
It passed overwhelmingly.
This ultimately had to do with trust. Can I trust the rules committee to place guidelines for us that will be fair to all those involved? And maybe even more so, can I trust my neighbor not to take advantage of me with these proposed rules? Can I trust enough to put down my amendment?
Can I give my neighbor the benefit of the doubt?
Trust is difficult to come by these days. It seems that we are constantly looking for an advantage over our neighbor. Of course, the Christian outlook should be that we seek to advantage our neighbor in a wide variety of ways.
As Advent continues and Christmas approaches, we see this passage from Romans speaking a lot about Gentiles. We may forget that the early church would have been populated by Jews who saw Jesus as the Messiah (the Christ). Gentiles were beginning to be a part of the church and the founders of every church community had to determine if they would embrace them or not.
Paul seems to be asking them to give the Gentile believers the benefit of the doubt.
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This kind of security check is common among large
events today. We have them at General Conference now.
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And yet, Paul reminds the early church that God comes to the Gentiles as well. Can God be a part of their lives as well?
Today, we say, "Of course" and "Without a doubt" because we are the inheritors of this faith stance. But it was a hard decision to make in the first century when the church was in its infancy.
The difficulties of the denomination - the lack of trust that we sometimes experience - isn't it reflective of the larger difficulties of polarization that we are seeing in our country and around the world? Diplomacy is a lost art and we find that allegiance to our own group is greater than any shared sense of common humanity that we may have.
Our time of Advent is a preparation for the birth of Christ once more. We celebrate anew the peace on earth that Jesus brings. What does it mean for us to worship in Christ together when Jesus gave us two primary rules to live by: to love God with all our being and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves?
Join us for worship on Sunday as we explore this idea through the Romans passage together. You can find us in Edmond or Guthrie on Sunday morning or at your convenience online for Edmond or Guthrie. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt as to which is the best option for you!
In Christ,
Sam
Photo by Chris Hamby via Flickr.com. Used under the Creative Commons license.
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