I have been United Methodist since I was a child and I plan on remaining United Methodist. My experience in the United Methodist Church interacts with scripture and informs my understanding of what it means to be a follower of Christ. I appreciate the connectionalism of the UMC. There's a great metaphor from a book called The Lego Principle that speaks to this:
"While LEGO bricks are so varied, they all have one purpose: to connect at the top and at the bottom....This is the LEGO principle: Connect first to God and then to one another." (The Lego Principle, page 3)
I feel like sometimes we focus so much on connecting with God we forget to focus on connecting with others. As I said on Sunday, as a youth and college student I drifted away from attending church on a regular basis. During that time in the wilderness, I never missed an opportunity to go to summer camp at Ceta Canyon Methodist Camp. I struggled with the local church but unbeknownst to me-going to the Ceta Canyon kept me plugged in to my faith as I struggled with my own local church until a mentor invited me back. My struggle is more of a reflection on me than on the church I attended but being able to stay connected through conference camp ultimately helped keep me in the fold. I connected with other youth and other camp counselors and that helped to sustain my faith. I witnessed this as a youth director when busy schedules and excuses got in the way of youth regularly attending Sunday and Wednesday activities but they wouldn't miss a chance to go to summer camp or on a summer mission trip with youth they had met from other churches.
My reason informs me that I don't know or understand everything (as much as I might like to) and that I must witness and live out the gospel in a way that is thoughtful and respectful to everyone. I appreciate the diversity of the United Methodist Church. Not just a diversity of of race, and culture but a diversity of opinions. This diversity and difference allows for discussions with those different than ourselves. These discussions and relationships are how we learn and come to appreciate other people and other points of view. Although we are different "United Methodists as a diverse group of people continue to strive for consensus in understanding the gospel. In our diversity, we are held together by a shared inheritance and a common desire to participate in the creative and redemptive activity of God." (BOD paragraph 105) We don't have to be of one mind but can and should be of one heart and that heart is to lead everyone to follow Christ. We learn and grow when we are in conversation with those who are different than us. The church should be the model we see at the birth of the church in the book of Acts and that church is a church of diverse people.
Jesus tells us that the greatest commandment is to love God and the second greatest commandment is to love our neighbor. And our neighbor is everyone. One of our foundational beliefs as United Methodists is our believe in grace. We are given grace as a gift from God-it is undeserved and unmerited. God gives us grace before we even know God and God loves us so much that God sent Jesus to die for us to atone for our sins. This grace is something we need to extend to everyone. Jesus didn't shut people out and neither should we. Jesus even gathered with his betrayer Judas knowing that Judas was responsible for his death. If we are to be like Jesus then we must show grace to everyone-even those we don't agree with.
Grace & Peace
RevKev
