I was recently asked to share my thoughts on this hot button topic of the Methodist church splitting largely over issues of sexuality and culture.
I quit following church politics years ago, finding it to be exhausting and not the best use of my time or energy. However, since I was asked, and I am elementally a Wind/Fire personality type who has an opinion on almost any subject, I freely give you my thoughts on this issue.
For me, I always pull back the camera and ask “What would Jesus say?”
Given that he came to offer individual healing and salvation to any and all who sought him, I believe he would be disappointed in this turn of events.
Not because he believes or ever taught that the church, or any church, had all the Truth.
But that it is because he prayed that we all would be one, even as he and his Father, his Source, were One.
By this I believe he meant that when we see and experience Truth, the real Truth, we will see the interconnectedness of all things. Additionally, all things will be revealed. So it is never without hypocrisy that any leadership group, especially one led mostly by men, would declare any being less worthy of God than they themselves. This posture, we know Jesus hated. And that is a strong statement.
I have come to believe that every denomination is really a tribe—of unique customs and beliefs that set them apart. Since Jesus was not a Christian, 99% of customs and beliefs in these church tribes are those set up 99% by men, and allowed to become traditions taught as Truth, that mostly benefit themselves, and their own beliefs of how the world should look. So, if we look at the Methodist Church as a tribe, a very large tribe founded by an itinerant preacher on horseback named John Wesley, we can begin to dissect its particular and unique beliefs.
Tribes are drawn together for reasons of comfort, security, a sense of belonging, shared resources, and self perpetuation. Geography also holds huge sway in tribal traditions.
We know from what we grow, and where we have been grown. So handed down traditions are a significant part of tribalism in general. Songs like “Give me that old time religion” and sayings like “If it was good enough for my daddy, it’s good enough for me” are mantras that one may hear in tribes which like to cling to tradition as a hedge against the tides of change.
Every tribe has a tendency to set up its own system of beliefs. So mini-tribes within the Methodist church have the right, of course, to split off from a larger cluster for whatever reason. A friend of mine, a long time Catholic, has always been amazed that Protestant churches break up and split away over any number of things—including whether to play the organ or the guitar in worship. Freedom should be at the essence of religion, so in one sense it is a given that Protestant churches, who do not adhere to a single infallible leader, like the Pope, are going to have disagreements and go different directions. Sadly, religions generally do not teach freedom for all. Rather, they teach freedom for people who believe and look and live like “us.”
Now, that being said, another phrase which has long guided any mystery, murder, or mayhem is this. “If you want to find the motive, follow the money.” I happen to personally know a pastor who realized that splitting off from the mother church in order to defend what he felt in his heart were the inherent errors of judging LGBTQ members so harshly, that the people who most wanted to split off were the ones with growing families, and large businesses, and more access to resources. This group, sad to say, had more of the ability to pay his salary. He chose to go with those with a larger share of wealth, although he never spoke those words out loud to me. Sad. I cannot imagine John Wesley, the man content to live alone on horseback, making such a choice for those means only.
What further complicates all this is people using selective scriptures to justify their actions.
When Jesus said “Any man who looks at a woman with lust in his heart has already committed adultery,” that was a sin punishable by death, and he knew it. And he also knew that it is an invisible sin, so not likely to be dealt with without intense internal reflection.
Pastoral pornography is rampant. Statistics show that a huge majority of men view pornography. According to even the conservative Baptist News Global, 68% of churchgoing men and more than 50% of pastors admit to viewing porn on a regular basis. If you added in the numbers of those who failed to admit their actual porn propensities, the numbers would be even more staggering.(Baptist News Global, “The Problem of Pornography in the Church.”January 27, 2021.) Many people are addicted to porn, including pastors. So as the conservative pastor looks out on his congregation now cleansed of LGBTQ people—at least those strong enough to admit it—he is most likely now looking out on a congregation of technically, according to Jesus, adulterers.
Who, after the church picnic, should all be taken out and stoned at the city gates—perhaps with this pastor being the first one to take the hit.
The Law kills. Only the Spirit gives life. And that Spirit in Jesus is inclusive, forgiving, loving to all, inviting even a dying thief to come home with him after the dying part was done.
So, I say to those churches, go ahead and split off if you want to. Just don’t use the name of Jesus to do it.
Because what you will be left with, in your desire to purge and cleanse outsiders, will be a group of hypocrites, unwilling to face their own sins by casting aspersions on others. In many ways it seems to me that LGBTQ people, desiring only to contribute and belong, are like conveniently identified and thus hoisted Piñatas at a party. And what could possibly be more fun on a Sunday than playing whack-a-mole with the God pole? Meanwhile, women still do most the work behind the scenes. With little or no representation at the money table. Which allows “Tradition” to still rule.
Jesus said the only unforgivable sin was to blaspheme, deny, or denigrate the Holy Spirit. And in Hebrew and Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke and taught in, the Holy Spirit is Feminine.
And the churches most vociferous in their rejection of “others” usually very much want women to remain in their place as silent, obedient servants. Not to God. But to them.
Given the general trajectory of traditional religions anyway, it is a bit like the cellists on the Titanic arguing with the violinists as to who gets top billing in tomorrow’s concert. The next generation, the new generation, has long since moved past these issues. Speaking of Methodism in general, the tribe has declined from a high of around 11 million members in the 1960s to a current 6.5 million members now, a loss of nearly half its membership in thirty years.
(“United Methodists Are Breaking Up in a Slow moving Schism” Oct 10, 2022 APNEWS.com)
People follow tribes. For comfort. Security. Resources. A desire to stay safe. To blend in. And those are not the requirements for following Jesus.
And as the crowd realized how hard it would be to follow this man named Jesus, he looked at the person still standing there and said “Will you also leave me?”
Ironically, that man standing beside him was Peter, who immediately claimed to be an ardent follower. And yet, shortly after that declaration of loyalty Peter ended up denying Jesus three times in order to save his own skin. Peter tried to blend in with the tribe after running away from the crucifixion. Somehow, after evidence presented by the women, he returned to the presence of the Man who Loved—and Loved all. Peter was willing to be crucified upside down, in order to help make the world right side up, and maybe to atone for his earlier lack of courage.
Perhaps most ironically in religions riddled with ironies, Peter, the man declared to be the head of the Holy Catholic Church, is the same man who was given a dream in the book of Acts, chapters 10 and 11, where he was commanded three times by God to not ever again call anyone “unclean.” By then Peter had the courage to change two thousand years of tradition, allowing Living Water to flow towards all.
And yet, here we are. Labeling this and that “other” group unclean, all with the blessings of and direction of so called church leaders.
Do self righteous churches know that it is an abomination to use unequal weights and measures? (For example, your sins weigh more than mine?)
That it is also an abomination to participate in injustice?
And while we’re at it, just for fun, do high holy churches know that it is an abomination to use incense in the temple?
Oy ve. Nobody reads the actual laws anymore. They just skim the highlights of tradition and consider it God.
So Bravo to those who refuse to follow the popular, the convenient, the money, in order to fit in. Who are willing to saddle up and ride with Jesus against the tide of public opinion even when the way gets steep and the path more narrow.
People grow in Christ. This we can hope for.
And we shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall set us free. All of us.
Amen. And Amen.
This is my favourite part “ Freedom should be at the essence of religion”…
My freedom was paid for on the cross! We need a justice image that demonstrates the cross and what it truly means.
In my past life using the Lords name in vain brought on some form of nausea. We cannot present a turn or burn story but we can love and respect each other and let the Lord do what the Lords to do, we’re not Holy Spirit, we’re not God and why should we judge - that jobs taken. We’re all Gods people!! Colour, creed, alphabet people, short, tall, fire, earth, wind or water!
I’m so keen to hear the response to your writing to the article dear Laurie Beth. We stand together, sword and justice scales in arm.
Thank you Marissa. I hear your core value rising up!