It is now about ten days, two sermons and one confirmation service since The United Methodist General Conference. I feel a little more rested, and feel back in my regular routine. Like being gone to summer camp, it takes some time to re-enter one’s former life after one has been at General Conference.

I want to share some final impressions (final for this moment, anyway). I make no pretense of comprehensiveness here. For a more complete report on General Conference, see the United Methodist New Service report, which can be found at:

United Methodist New Service: General Conference

I would like to share my reflections under three simple rubrics. Bishop Rueben Job has recently published a brief book on the Christian spiritual life within the United Methodist stream of Christian faith – Three Simple Rules. There are three simple rules that have the power to change the world…. We live in such a fast-paced, frenzied, and complex world that it is easy to believe we are all trapped into being someone we do not wish to be and living a life we do not desire to live…. I believe we have reached a place where, as people of faith, we are ready to give serious consideration to another way, a more faithful way of living as disciples of Jesus Christ. Here are the three simple rules Job proposes:
1. Do no harm
2. Do good
3. Stay in love with God

The book, which was a gift at General Conference, is next on my reading list. But today I want to consider General Conference under these rubrics.

Did we do harm? Certainly General Conference again left gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people feeling left on the margins of the church. The witness to that pain the day after we took most of our votes on issues related to human sexuality was powerful, testifying to the depth of that pain. Out of pain and hurt, there came anger, and some of that anger was expressed in words that probably left others hurt. “We defy bigotry and ignorance, that the anti-gay policies and practices of The United Methodist Church are wrong.” The witness also spoke of “the church cruelly scape goating lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people on the altar of so-called unity.” Difficult words, words born in pain, words spoken in anger and with tears. Hard words, but perhaps necessary words. Words that wounded some, even as they flowed from wounds. We cannot claim that we did not create hurt and pain, harm is a somewhat different issue. Harm is something other than hurt, though it often overlaps. Harm thwarts the genuine interests of the other, and one way to consider the debate around human sexuality in mainline churches is to think about whether our current prohibitions really harm LGBT people, or whether they serve their best interests, helping them into a healthier life. Those who stand by language that says the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching believe they are acting in the best interest of people trapped in unhealthy and unholy living, and so to maintain our current denomination position, while it hurts is not causing harm. Others of us disagree. The conversation will continue. In one way we did do some harm on this issue. Our Social Principles will be without some helpful language about the complexity of human sexuality even as it continues to say that the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.

In other ways, I think we left Fort Worth without doing significant harm. Most of our conversations were genuinely civil. People were really trying. We were cautious in changing policies around ordination. We opened up the church to possibilities that we may be different as a world-wide church in the future.

Did we do good? Good was done in Fort Worth. In our time together, with help from the Gates Foundation, over $400,000 was raised for Nothing But Nets, a program that purchases insecticide treated mosquito netting for people living in countries where malaria continues to be a scourge. We gave the youth and young adults of our church an opportunity to share their hopes and dreams with us and their presentation was one of the highlights of General Conference. Thanks. Their energy bodes well for our church now and in the future. We were fiscally responsible. We focused on four areas much of the time – working with the poor, working to improve world-wide health by fighting preventable diseases, developing principled leaders, establishing new congregations and revitalizing others. We heard some wonderful stories of creative and redemptive United Methodist ministries from around the world. Of course, the greatest good done by churches is at the local church level. Maybe the best General Conference can do is help these local ministries, or at least not hinder them. I think we did o.k. Personally, I experienced a great deal of good as I connected with old friends and made new ones. Four years ago in Pittsburgh, I made good friends with people from Fort Worth and enjoyed dinner with some of them on a couple of occasions. I met some great people from North Carolina. Jorge from New York was a pleasure to get to know, and the list could go on – thanks to all. I got to know Adam Hamilton, pastor of one of the largest United Methodist Churches in the United States, and that was a joy. I reconnected with Liz, who had been in my Dallas youth group. I had not seen her for fourteen years, and we had dinner together one evening. Seeing United Methodist friends is one of the true goods of General Conference for me.

Did we do things to help people stay in love with God? For me the answer is an unequivocal “YES!” Worship is wonderful. Another friend, Mark Miller, was one of the General Conference worship coordinators, and he is awesome at what he does. One of my favorite new songs is a song Mark co-wrote called “Welcome.” Thanks, Mark. I deeply appreciated the way the Episcopal report was woven together with the language of our Eucharistic liturgy. Two moments from sermons were especially memorable for me. Bishop Mark Hanson from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America preached to celebrate our approval of a full communion agreement with the ELCA. One of his lines was powerful (paraphrase): “It is not a matter of inviting Jesus into our hearts, but of dying and rising with Christ and going with him into the world.” Bishop Hee Soo Jung of Northern Illinois, on the morning he preached shared with us the story of his faith journey, of how as a new Christian from Korea he held to his faith arrogantly. When his father died, he refused to participate in some of the traditional funeral rituals, including a pilgrimage to the mountains. He saw these as unchristian. Later, as he grew in his faith, he was home in Korea and took the pilgrimage. Bishop Jung also put a helpful frame on some of our disagreements within The United Methodist Church. He spoke of the tension we live between hospitality and holiness. How do we welcome all, but live lives where there are limits, where we acknowledge that in God’s love not everything goes? How do we balance holiness and hospitality? Of what does holiness consist? These are some of our pressing questions.

It is good to write about and reflect on my experience of General Conference. I expect that a number of things will simmer in my heart, soul and mind for quite some time. One other thing, I left Fort Worth still believing in a future with hope.

With Faith and With Feathers,

David