What to Make of General Conference 2016

This post may appear to be early, since the General Conference continues through tomorrow evening, so as I write this post, we have two full days left before it ends.  You may recall that General Conference, an event held once every four years, is a conference between United Methodists from all corners of the globe to make decisions for the direction of our church.  This quadrennium's conference will last from May 10-20 and is being held in Portland, Oregon.

In case you have not been keeping up with General Conference 2016, allow me to give just a few highlights which I've selected to share.  They are in no particular order:

1) As always, the worship sessions at General Conference are easily the highlight of the time, and are what directs and centers this conference a Christian event.  United Methodists from all over the world travel to General Conference to offer the best of their gifts of song, dance, rhythm and proclamation.  And General Conference 2016 has been no exception.  Merely search YouTube for "General Conference 2016 worship" and you will find plenty of examples of powerful worship.

2) Technology has played a significant role in General Conference 2016.  Delegates have all been provided with tablet computers which help to provide all information from all sub-committees, and are used to queue for speaking on the conference floor.  It has helped to reduce paper waste and inefficiency, but at the same time has caused unforeseen difficulties in parliamentary procedure.

3) Some interesting pieces of legislation and judicial rulings have taken effect or been voted down.  In 2020 the UMC will elect four new bishops on the continent of Africa due to numerical growth; bishops will continue to be bishops for life, as a provision to term limits was voted down; and ordained deacons now have an easier road to practicing the sacraments in the church.

But of course, there is a huge pink elephant in the room: there continues to be a hotly contested debate in the United Methodist Church over the issue of the LGBT community and how to remain a united denomination while remaining divided theologically.  If you have seen any press released over General Conference 2016, there is a 98% chance that it involved, directly or indirectly, this core issue which has dominated discussion and has all but prevented any other real progress.  And I'm sad to report that much of the debate has been dramatic, overly emotional and often insulting.  It is what was expected, but is sad nonetheless.  Allow me to do my best to offer a very brief and over-simplified summary of what is happening in my best understanding and viewpoint:

1) As the United Methodist Church was forming out of the merger of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Evangelical United Brethren, at the 1972 General Conference the delegates voted to support wording in the Book of Discipline that read that "homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching".  This is the language that remains in the Discipline to this day, and while there are many other passages in the Discipline that cite human sexuality in one way or another, it is this particular passage that receives the greatest amount of attention.  This is due to the fact that it is language written into the constitution of the church and is very difficult to amend; if it were altered, it would then impact the rest of the Discipline moving forward.

2) Moving forward in time, at the present date there are three "positions" within the United Methodist Church as relates to the issue of human sexuality.  Those known as the "left", "liberals" or "progressives" are pushing the church to remove this language from the Discipline in favor of new legislation which would incorporate the LGBT community on equal footing fully in all areas of the church, specifically ordination.  All language would reflect a theology of inclusiveness of LGBT persons within a paradigm of monogamous marriage, and as a denomination we would officially be in full support and solidarity with the LGBT community.  In contrast, those known as the "right", "conservatives" or "evangelicals" are pushing for the church to maintain its language from the Discipline with the opinion that, while all people are of sacred worth, LGBT sexual orientation is not compatible with Scripture and cannot be affirmed by the church.  Furthermore, where ordained pastors are holding marriage ceremonies for the LGBT community, there should be uniform and significant disciplinary measures taken to hold everyone accountable to the standard of the Discipline.  Finally, a third position, one which is much quieter and poorly organized, are those known as "moderates" or "centrists", who, while each one has an opinion on human sexuality, does not view the issue as paramount for the future of our church.  Moderates are not without opinion or conviction; however, they do not find the issue worthy of the attention which it receives, and generally are held in fear that those on the "left" and "right" are going to split the denomination apart.  Moderates are constantly torn at General Conference, but they are the "swing" vote for sure.

3) In the past four years, the United States of America has officially ruled the constitutionality of gay marriage in all 50 states, leading to the legal validity of gay marriage by any United Methodist minister.  While this is theoretically not allowed according to the Book of Discipline, pastors have been performing such marriages in defiance all over the country, including right here in Tennessee.  Annual Conferences have responded differently, with some punishing those who perform such ceremonies, while others do not.  In practice, the United Methodist Church is already operating under non-uniform standards, largely based on region.  In the more "left" or "liberal" conferences, such as in the Northeast or West Coast, many clergy have even come out of the closet at LGBT, with full support from their colleagues and, most importantly, their bishops.

4) So the "left" wants to officially recognize the full validity of the LGBT community, since in many regions they are still treated unequally; the "right" wants very much to crack down on those who are defying the Book of Discipline; and the "moderates" are being encouraged to go with one side or the other at every turn.  In fact, the only ones who are happy with the status quo, even remotely, are the moderates, because for them the issue of gay marriage is not paramount to the church's mission, so they are less concerned over the issue of social justice (as the "left" proclaims) or church discipline and consistency (as the "right" proclaims).  Of course, what would make moderates the happiest is if both sides would stand down and drop the issue entirely, but this is a really contentious debate with all kinds of history and implications that are far deeper than I can explain in a blog post!

5) Being a highly organized church (we're not known as "Methodists" for nothing!), with an 800+ page Book of Discipline that orders our denomination, there is plenty of opportunity to use legislation, politics and maneuvering to achieve your agenda.  If you can't beat 'em, drag 'em into a hopeless void of stalling tactics, voting blocs and manipulation of Robert's Rules of Order.  We spent three days during this ten-day conference debating whether or not to adopt a rule to open the conference which described ways to build trust among one another; ultimately it was voted down.  If there is one clear theme to this General Conference, it is that we have legislated ourselves into so many rules and systems that few people have a clear understanding of what implications new rules and systems will have.  My understanding is that most of the moderate legislation that has not been passed at General Conference 2016 is due to a really high level of confusion and disorder, much of which has been intentionally caused by factions on both the "left" and "right" to pursue their respective agendas.  In addition, some of that legislation was sloppy when it was presented to the conference, and did not define parameters well enough, which is another good reason to vote it down.

6) Yesterday (Wednesday, May 18) we set all sorts of new records at General Conference.  You can read reports from other sites for details: www.umc.org; www.unitedmethodistreporter.com; among others.  In a nutshell, our bishop from Tennessee, Bishop Bill McAlilly, just happened to be presiding over the conference during a heated vote over a proposal regarding sexuality.  Being a white male originally from Mississippi, with an accent to verify, he was targeted by a "liberal" delegate who, at the microphone in front of the entire conference, accused him of "telegraphing votes" by using hand gestures, as if to rig the vote, and then requested he step down from his role of presiding.  McAlilly then called for a ten-minute recess and returned to preside, moving forward.  So far as we currently know, this was the first time since the 1800s that a bishop was asked to step down from presiding during a General Conference.  What a lovely piece of history.  (By the way, McAlilly is well-known as a staunch moderate.)

7) The General Conference voted narrowly in favor of a piece of legislation that will, at the discretion and direction of the bishops, call for continuing conversation of human sexuality to re-convene at some point between now and General Conference 2020, marking the first time in United Methodist history of calling a special session of General Conference since its founding in 1968.  It would happen as early as 2018, or as late as early 2020.  This continuing conversation will involve delegates to this 2016 conference and will review each and every word in the Book of Discipline regarding human sexuality.

So...what should you make of General Conference 2016?  Lol!!  I can't tell you that, as you need to decide for yourself what you think about all of this politicking and drama!  However, I can tell you a few things in the final (ongoing...) analysis and what to expect coming up next:

A) First and foremost, much of the business of the church has taken a back burner to the issue of human sexuality, and our denomination is very likely to suffer as a result.  It is difficult to cast vision and forge a plan forward for bringing reconciliation into God's world if we can't even agree to be civil with one another as delegates to the General Conference.  This single issue has jeopardized the UMC for a long time, both in terms of unity and effectiveness.  And this is not going to stop anytime soon.

B) If you are staunchly on the "left" or squarely on the "right" of the human sexuality issue, you are not too happy, because the moderates have succeeded in fighting a war of attrition.  So much energy and heartache has been unleashed between the "left" and the "right" that finally enough people (narrowly, mind you) were willing to vote for a special conference at the guidance and leadership of the Council of Bishops (who normally have no legislative authority at General Conference).  It seems that you do not "win" by seeking division and absolution, but rather by keeping faith in the Holy Spirit and allowing God to be your sustenance, rather than your personal convictions or understandings.

C) The most natural course of events into the future is to allow the UMC to deal with the issue not through the General Conference, but through the Annual Conference, where different regions will deal with the issue differently, much to the chagrin of opponents.  Currently, the "left" and "right" factions are largely drawn out upon geographic lines, with "left" factions primarily in the Northeastern and Western US, and "right" factions in Africa and parts of the Southeastern US.  Due to financial matters, my guess is that the UMC is unlikely to divide or schism anytime soon, but we will continue having this conversation over and over again at the cost of millions of dollars and uncountable human resources. 

D) But don't walk away with all bad news.  In the end, the United Methodist Church is the last major Christian organization remaining which is holding a conversation--however heated--about the issue of human sexuality.  This means that at our core, there is something that continues to keep us together as a family, something which binds us even though many of us personally are pitted against one another.  We are the last bastion of Christian unity left in the US, perhaps the world, and unified we remain, however high and difficult the cost.  The fact that the UMC remains united is still a fantastic witness to the world, that no matter how difficult the road ahead lies, we are one body of Christ and we are in this together. 

May General Conference 2016, which came in like a lion, go out like a lamb, with our eyes and ears focusing intently on the Lamb who was divided that we might be made whole again.

Jesus' Ascent into Heaven

Today is Cinco de Mayo in the United States, but did you also know that it is Ascension Day?  It has been exactly 40 days since Easter, which, according to Acts 1, is when Jesus ascended mysteriously into the sky.  Rarely do we talk much about the ascension because it is so briefly mentioned in Scripture, it is unscientific, and appears to have little importance in the greater narrative of Jesus Christ.  After all, we spend a great deal of time discussing his ministry, death and resurrection; we just don't look at his ascension in quite the same way, particularly in the 21st-century Protestant church.  But what is there about Jesus' ascension that we can learn?  What does it really tell us about God, and ourselves?  Why does it matter at all?

Today our text comes to us from Acts 1:1-11. Here is the text as it is translated in the Common English Bible: 

Theophilus, the first scroll I wrote concerned everything Jesus did and taught from the beginning, right up to the day when he was taken up into heaven. Before he was taken up, working in the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus instructed the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he showed them that he was alive with many convincing proofs. He appeared to them over a period of forty days, speaking to them about God’s kingdom. While they were eating together, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for what the Father had promised. He said, “This is what you heard from me: John baptized with water, but in only a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
As a result, those who had gathered together asked Jesus, “Lord, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now?”  Jesus replied, “It isn’t for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has set by his own authority. Rather, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”  After Jesus said these things, as they were watching, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going away and as they were staring toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood next to them. They said, “Galileans, why are you standing here, looking toward heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you saw him go into heaven.”
And that's it!  There is no other "historical" account of the ascension, save for the extremely brief text at the end of the Gospel, Luke 24:51: As he blessed them, he left them and was taken up to heaven.  But really, since Theophilus wrote both Luke and Acts, the larger text above is really just an exposition of the shorter text in Luke.

Before we really delve into the details around ascension, we must remember that Jesus has been resurrected and has a new body which is unlike our bodies in many ways.  As I discussed in posts from earlier in Easter, Jesus' resurrected body is both recognizable and not entirely the same.  Jesus was not brought back to life in the way Lazarus was, or in the way doctors can resuscitate patients on the operating table; he was cold dead, and then came back to life in a new form which had many consistencies with his old body's form.  [Look back to our devotional from March 31 for more details.]

So before people get all hung up with a scientific explanation of ascension, we need to bear in mind that there is currently no scientific understanding of resurrection, and therefore we cannot understand the physics behind Jesus' ascent.  Nor should we be too concerned about this; after all, it's not as if we have to worry about it at all.  When we experience resurrection of the dead, it will be the establishment of God's permanent and holy New Jerusalem on earth, and we will not need to ascend into heaven like Jesus because he will already be here with us!  With that in mind, Jesus' ascension into heaven may never again be repeated!  So the how/what/where is not the issue here, as we will never be able to ascertain a scientific explanation of this one-time event so far in the past.

What we should focus on is not the minutia of the ascension, but rather on the purpose.  Why did Jesus ascend into heaven at all?  What does it matter?  Well, let's begin with the obvious but important realization that Jesus did not die again after resurrection.  That is important because it makes resurrection distinguished apart from being brought back to life, such as with Lazarus or hospital patients.  In those cases, people die again, and for good, until resurrection.  Jesus' ascent is critical for this basic Christian principle in understanding these fundamental differences in God's world, and what's going on with life and death.

Furthermore, Jesus does not stay with us on earth in his resurrected form; rather, he ascends into heaven and sends the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, in the meantime.  Jesus was never meant to remain on earth any longer than a "normal" human being.  That makes sense because Jesus is God in the flesh, who came to be in total solidarity with humanity and to experience life in our shoes as fully as possible, in order to be able to rescue us from our selfishness and sin and show us a more perfect way.  Jesus' time on earth came to an end, and it was time for the church to be born and flourish through the people of God and the power of the Holy Spirit.  God saw it fit for us to experience Christ through the Holy Spirit, the Church, and the witness of the saints rather than in his physical form.  My guess, although I don't pretend to speak for God, is that if Jesus were to have stuck around for centuries, we would have focused too much on his earthly form rather than focus on his Father in heaven.  And his desire was to draw us into God's eternity, not prolong us in our earthly focus.

Finally, the apostles witnessed Christ going upwards into the sky.  We of course know that the sky is no closer to God than the ground; but this was Jesus' intentional move, to communicate not a physical location of heaven, but rather the understanding that he was going to an entirely different reality where humans cannot willfully follow on our own.  Two thousand years ago, people could not fly or go into outer space, so Jesus' ascent was clearly a signal saying: "Hey, don't physically try to follow me!"  That also makes sense, because his friends were really going to miss him, and the church would now begin to long for his return.  It was important for the apostles to witness this ascent so that people would not theorize Jesus had simply run away and was hiding in an undisclosed location.  Of course, people are still trying to locate his body, but I suppose the skeptics will never stop!

Christ's ascent into heaven marks the end of his earthly ministry.  Christ, who is the New Adam, the new example for humanity to follow, also demonstrates in his ascension that humanity can and should now be focused heavenward rather than the broken affairs of this world.  Since Christ has ascended into heaven, he illustrates that the path is paved for us as well; and just as he encourages us to follow in his footsteps in ministry to the world, he encourages us to follow him (spiritually) heavenward just as he ascended.  Even though Jesus spent over thirty years here on the ground, he never stopped looking up, and his ascension highlights our need to do the same.  Woe to us, who focus almost entirely on the situation on the ground!!

I pray that this week you would spend more time focused on God, heavenward, and on Christ, who rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father.