It has been an important and exhausting day here in Fort Worth. It all began with worship as Bishop Violet Fisher preached a compelling and passionate sermon on the story of the Samaritan woman at the well (a scripture dear to my heart). Beginning every day with worship is such a blessing. I need to find a way to do that back home.
From there, we went to the issue of the United Methodist Social Creed. With Bishop Peter Weaver presiding (a Western Pennsylvania boy), I proposed a course of action that would preserve the existing Social Creed (a document that I believe is too important to jettison) and make the proposed New Social Creed into “A Companion Litany to the Social Creed”. In other words, I proposed that BOTH documents should be in our Discipline (and in the new United Methodist Hymnal that will be created in this next quadrennium). I made the argument that the proposed new social creed isn’t really a creed at all, but rather a portion of liturgical poetry. I went on to make the point that, in these confusing times, United Methodists would benefit from having, not only a poetic litany in their worship, but also a precisely-worded creed in their theological literature (which our existing Social Creed has been for a long time now).
Much to my amazement, my proposed course of action was approved by the General Conference. So, the existing Social Creed lives on for at least another quadrennium. Yay!!!
From there, we entered into one of the most difficult days that I have ever experienced. All afternoon and evening (until 10:30 PM), we dealt with all of the major pieces concerning the church’s stance on homosexuality. I was in tears more than once—tears of sadness over the painful stories that some of the homosexual delegates shared concerning their journeys; tears of guilt over all of the ways in which I have become cold-hearted and flippant about the issue in recent days; and, certainly, tears of despair over a church that is clearly divided. Although relatively civil in its tone, the long debate was gut-wrenching and heartbreaking for people on both sides of the issue. I spent most of the day in prayer.
When all was said and done, the General Conference decided to retain all of the current disciplinary language concerning homosexuality being incompatible with the teaching of Scripture. If you believe that that is the correct stance (as I do), then you will be pleased with that decision. But if you advocate a change in the church’s position, you will no doubt be hurt by the news of this. No matter what your viewpoint may be, please understand this: There are no winners in this debate, just a lot of broken hearts. Please pray for all of those who were deeply wounded today, because there were many.
By the way, you would have been proud of Bobby Z (that’s Zilhaver) and Matty J (that’s Johnson) for their very important contributions to the work of the General Conference today. Bob’s earlier call for some declaratory decisions from our denomination’s Judicial Council led to an important declaration from the Council that will help to bring about a much needed separation of powers and protect the integrity of our denomination’s judiciary. Well done, BZ! Matt, on the other hand, provided some much needed clarity in his brief but articulate speech on the floor of the Conference. (It made up for his rather messy opening of an over-shaken carbonated beverage earlier in the day!)
One of the things that helped to get me through this day was a special collection of cards and notes delivered to me by my friend Roseann Smith (a member of Central Highlands Church who made the trip to Fort Worth simply to be one of the agents of prayer in this place). In fact, Roseann brought to everyone in the delegation some cards and notes from his or her friends and family back home. This evening, Roseann gave to me my stack. At one point in one of the more painful debates, I spent a few minutes opening the cards and notes. In those cards, I was absolutely flooded with words of love and encouragement from Tara and from the people of Central Highlands Church. Hundreds of expressions and names, all of which made their way into the depths of my soul.
I will never be able to explain to you what the experience of receiving those cards and notes meant to me. It was like a spiritual oasis in the desert of the homosexuality debate. The tears of sadness, for a moment, became tears of joy as I remembered all the saints in my life who are holding me in their hearts during these difficult days. Thank you, Roseann. And thank you all.