Dinner with Jesus and the CEO

by Joe Hopkins

Crossposted at Red Poppy Fields

The communion table is the ultimate Christian dinner table.

Wait, is that a can of Red Bull? (Photo by Tom Gaulke)

A few weeks ago I participated in a workshop at the Chicago Temple called “Resetting the Table”. It opened with a theological reflection from a professor at Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary in which our 21^st century American society was compared to sitting down around a table for dinner. The professor posed 5 questions:

• Who gets to sit at the table?
• How are the seats arranged?
• Do the elements served nourish the body?
• What bonds are formed around the table?
• And in whose name is the meal blessed?

Considering that I live in a co-op with seven roommates, these questions have quite direct implications on how I eat my kale and pasta at
night.

The other important consideration is that this symposium took place only two weeks before NATO came to Chicago and in the middle of a national effort to get into shareholder meetings of the country’s largest

companies. And about a week after the United Methodist Church General Conference.

Generally, I like to like to imagine that people get an equal shot to come to the dinner table; that no one has a more important seat than another; that the meal will help keep me healthy; that I become closer to the folks slurping soup around me; and we bless the meal in the name of God, our Creator and Redeemer. I like to think that generally our democratic systems in government, corporations, and churches run this way, too, though maybe in more secular terms for government and in corporations.

But that’s not the way it often works. Here’s an example.

On May 23 the CME Group, also known as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, held its shareholders’ meeting at the iconic Chicago Board of Trade building. To give you an idea of how important that is, Forbes Magazine called CME one of "the four companies that control the 140 companies that own everything.” Corporations are ultimately accountable to the shareholders that own the corporation’s stock, so this was a big deal.

Last year CME Group threatened to leave the state of Illinois unless it received a billion dollars in tax breaks over the next 15 years. Illinois was and is facing record budget deficits, and now the state legislature is looking to cut $1.6 billion dollars of funding for health care for the poorest people in Illinois. Despite this fact, the legislature gave in to the CME’s demands and Illinois residents will pay the ransom for years to
come.

That meal is poison for a state with the third-highest home foreclosure rate in the United States. How were the seats around that decision-making table set? In whose name was that meal blessed?

We live in a world where many, many people only have access to the crumbs that fall from the masters’ table. People of color, people without proper immigration documents, people with felony convictions, people who are attracted to the folks of the same sex, perpetually can’t eat at this dinner table. In fact, very few of us can eat at that dinner table.

Stamp on the hand of a friend who entered

the CME Group shareholder meeting.

Several people I know tried to go to the dinner table at the CME’s shareholder meeting. They had to show that they had shares of stock, and then their hands were stamped to show that they had only one share. When they asked the CEO about how nourishing the elements are for the people of Illinois, they were rebuffed. It was clear in whose name the meal was blessed.

I know that many people are debating the role of public protests this spring. Arab Spring and the Occupy Movement have people talking about it. When is it okay to set up tents in a public park? Is it out of order to keep singing in the middle of General Conference?

Jesus talked a lot about the dinner table, in fact a lot more than he did about homosexuality. And when Jesus talked about the dinner table, he included the despised people who normally would never eat with a CEO or a defense minister. And Jesus even deliberately disobeyed the rules during dinner.

Dear friends, let’s look at our dinner tables. Who gets to eat there? How are the seats arranged? Is the food good to eat? Are we becoming closer together as children of God? Do we take God’s name seriously when we say grace? I think we will find heartbreaking answers to these questions if we answer them honestly.

However, I know that the Spirit of God moves around the dinner table. The doors will burst open, and it won’t even matter what language you speak or what your immigration status is or what crime you were convicted for or who you have sex with. God is so much bigger than all of that.

And when you feel that Spirit whip around in tongues of fire, how will you respond?

---
Joe Hopkins is currently serving as a US-2 missionary of the United Methodist Church and is working as an organizer in the national office of Interfaith Worker Justice in Chicago. Joe will begin theological study at Chicago Theological Seminary in the fall. He also enjoys running by Lake Michigan, sipping yerba mate, and re-reading Calvin & Hobbes comics.

I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one

Crossposted at We Your People, Ours the Journey.

by Becca Clark

Monday night was magic.

We had our first Twitter Chat for #DreamUMC, the conversation born out of the strong desire to keep shaping the future of our denomination in the wake of General Conference. You can read the full archive of the chat here, or you can view bullet points of answers to the questions we discussed (and some unofficial demographic info) at the facebook page.

First of all, wow! There were 171 people tweeting, and many many more I know who were "lurking," or as I call it, actively listening. We sent 1,272 tweets, not including retweets. That's a lot of conversation in an hour! Although dominated by younger voices, the conversation spanned generations, came down fairly even on gender representation, included voices of clergy, laity, and folks between the two, and crossed the U.S. pretty well. We have some work to do yet on inviting the voices of persons of color and reaching out to hear our siblings in the movement from around the world. But there is a lot of energy for movement and hope in this body.

Especially as the conversation got started, what was amazing to me was the passion of the participants. Here, ten days after General Conference ended, people were still filled with pain, regret, brokenness, and grief. Here, despite the brokenness and raw pain, people were still filled with vision and hope and excitement for the future of the United Methodist movement. Such deep pain and deep joy, woven together often in the same person, speaks volumes for the vibrancy and heart of the UMC. As the conversation concluded, the call to continue and progress in our work together was overwhelming and joy-filled. I have rarely felt more in the presence of the Holy Spirit doing a new thing, and never while staring at pixels on a screen.

Reflecting on the conversation, I want to try to synthesize what I heard. We asked three questions, and some themes emerged from the responses.

Question 1: What did you learn/take away from General Conference 2012?

In response to this question, this is where I experienced a lot of pain and brokenness. Many tweets lifted up a new or renewed understanding of our division as a denomination, and several spoke directly about lack of trust. One person wrote "Trust issues abound and we have no idea how to heal them." Others spoke of the power imbalance in the denomination, and disillusionment with this power. "Manipulation (from all parties and sides) carries more influence than Holy Conferencing." Many tweets lamented the legislative process, and how it seems to be in the way of the true work of the Spirit and the forward movement of the church. "Movements cannot be legislated," one wrote, and another: "it is wrong to expect reform to happen @ the structural level."

Many people lifted up both the blessing and challenge of being a global church-- or as I've recently had reframed for me (in this excellent post by Wes Magruder), an international church that wants to be a global church. The beauty and diversity of the global Methodist movement breaks down when we try to articulate theology and polity across radically different contexts. As one person put it, "I learned that theology is contextual and structure probably ought to be too."

Still others took away hope from the General Conference. "God is not finished with the UMC!" was a frequent refrain. People celebrated new connections and friendships, and the sense of not being alone, in either the feeling of sorrow or the passion for ministry we share. Many celebrated the desire for change and the opportunity for conversation and hope. Much as we may try to Methodologize (think I made that up) our movement, that doesn't stop the Holy from breaking in. As one person wrote: "even when we think all hope is gone, the Spirit has a tendency to show up and surprise us!"

[caption id="attachment_2169" align="alignright" width="225"] My husband snapped a picture as I got ready for the chat. He informed me that the glasses were a must.[/caption]

Question 2: How has this new knowledge changed your Dream (vision or hope) for the United Methodist Church?

The next time I am feeling discouraged about the state of the world in general or the church in particular, I promise myself that I will read through these answers again, or just ask a fellow dreamer to tell me their dream for the UMC. These answers were beautiful. Still much pain laced through them, but such amazing and faithful dreams.

Broken dreams were named: "I'm struggling to see how a schism will be avoided," one person wrote. In another place, a participant would add "I think it's already happened." Trust issues were raised again: "I now realize that in order to move forward, we need greater trust. Far too many folks became us vs. them."

The need for localized contextual ways of being the church was named and lifted. One person summarized this feeling well: "I have become much more in favor of regionalism/contextualism. Annual conferences and local congregations need to be unbound," while another wrote "I wouldn't have understood it before #GC2012, but I'm all for a US central conference now."

Many, many of these dreams envisioned openness and inclusivity for all people, some naming especially the GLBTQ community, but many leaving a wide-open statement-- regardless of any division. "I am now even more passionate and committed to building relationships across cultures and other barriers...without agenda," one participant wrote. Another said, "I (continue to) dream/hope that the UMC will be UNITED, but in our diversity, not just our name."

The dreams included a deep need for personal transformation and formation as disciples, and the hope that personal transformation would expand out into a transformed way of being and relating to one another. "It has made me more determined to teach Wesleyan theology, more determined to share Wesleyan formation, less fearful," said one tweeter, while another wrote that we need "less 'fixing,' more constructive listening and discerning what a holy life and life together may be."

In this part of the conversation, one person wrote that General Conference convinced them to go all-in and seek ordination, to get deeply into the system and work for change. Another wrote that GC convinced them to abandon the ordination track and fully embrace and claim the power of lay leaders within the church for transformation. It struck me as wonderful that both articulate a sense of transformation and purpose and calling, and it highlights for me that the call to ministry has to do with our gifts and passion, not our titles or position on the laity-clergy spectrum.

Question 3: What's one achievable change that would make the UMC a bit closer to the church you dream about?

Here the conversation was at its most powerful for me, as people's passion was channeled into positive, practical visioning. What I learned is that there are lots of people who see the same way forward I do (I think it has a lot to do with contextualizing our theology and practice, through some form of national or regional central conferences for the U.S.), there are many people who have other or additional creative ideas for transformation. Nothing gives me more hope than passionate people who also can think proactively.

[caption id="attachment_2171" align="alignleft" width="300"] Wordle WordCloud of the Q3 answers (online here)[/caption]

There were many cries for a U.S. Central Conference, something for which I've never heard a huge groundswell of support before. But as I mentioned earlier, the tension of trying to live globally (not internationally) amid massive cultural differences really tied our hands and hearts at this conference. One person put it this way: "A US Central Conference free to set our own standards around the issues that divide the global church. That is it." Another wrote, "Ditto, US central conference. &, quit trying to motivate US church w fear. Motivate w love (good news)."

Many spoke to the need for refocused ministry efforts at the "church" level, and one person emphasized that we need to "expand our idea of 'church' to include non-conventional forms of ministry (campus ministry, non-profits, on tap groups, etc)." Another sumarized this need, saying: "invest in the local church, focus less on ad campaigns and expensive meetings and more on the work of the people."

Still more voices lifted up the need for justice-seeking local ministries: "quit trying to legislate for holiness and rather emphasize social holiness," said one, and another, "go back to some of our roots of leading social change instead of following it."

I was especially heartened by the numbers of people describing a need for deeper theological education and spiritual formation at all levels of the church. One participant wrote of the church's need for "much more serious commitment to Wesleyan theological education. We need more curriculum based on theology AND context." Another put it this way: "new emphasis on practical theology at local & general church level, a theology of 'doing' church-aka being the body of Christ." This theological formation-- from the grassroots up, not the top down!-- impacts our entire way of being as a movement. Said one individual: "Return to Wesleyan tradition. more local autonomy, more Lay leadership, prevailing GRACE, full inclusion, I could go on."

Very practical, short term suggestions called for the elimination of dashboard metrics tools: "Dashboards (obsession only with the quantitative) creates a distorted view of kingdom building that is consumer driven." Others called for term limits for bishops and for delegates to General Conference. And of course, there was a call to reinstate the Conference Cookies.

One participant invited us to dream up "a radically different way to do GC2016. I have no idea what that looks like, but we need to start imagining now."

Many goals were personal and connectional, speaking to the heart of what Methodism is, in my opinion. Some were general: "Encourage more collaboration & working together rather than fighting against each other." Others much more personal: "I'd really like to be in meaningful conversation with our sisters and brothers in Central Conferences." Still others focused on the #DreamUMC conversation itself as a place where change needs to happen: "reach out to my CC friends and people of color to make sure that the tweet chat has a wider range of voices."

One person concluded with a simple goal, "Stop worrying about our fears....just do ministry...." I've found that at any level of ministry, this is the best advice.

Conclusion & Looking Ahead

For many of us, this conversation was only the beginning. As the hour drew to a close, people expressed joy and hope through the process, "It's like a Holy Spirit wave!" one person wrote, and I agree. Another person wrote that Twitter gave them a whole new understanding of Pentecost, and I can't help but see how much of this conversation, and the form in which it is happening, will shape my sermon for that holiday next week. I concluded the time feeling uplifted, hopeful, and heard (which is ironic, since as moderator, I kept most of my opinions to myself-- a challenge for this raging extrovert). And I felt and feel deeply blessed to be part of a church and a movement filled with so many passionate people who love and serve Christ in radical, hope-filled, life-changing ways.

We plan to chat again in two weeks, on Monday May 28th, 9 pm eastern.

And as often as we need to in order to equip ourselves, organize our thoughts, and hold one another up in grace and hope.

---

Becca Clark is an ordained elder in the New England Annual Conference and on an exciting journey of faith and ministry. She's pastor at Trinity United Methodist Church in Montpelier, Vermont, and co-founder and president of a local non-profit organization, Just Basics, Inc., bringing together and structuring programs that work with members community to address their basic needs and confront cycles of injustice. Becca is a dreamer, a loving soul, a seeker of justice, a wife, a mom of two, and a friend, and loving nearly every minute of it. Not at all in that order, usually.

Hope in the Midst of Pain

by T.C. Morrow

I went to Tampa with an eye toward hope wherever it might be found. I had a great conversation on one of my flights down, I ran into fellow Wesley Seminary alums that I wasn't expecting to see, and I had the privilege to welcome people arriving to Sunday's Love Your Neighbor worship service with Dr. James Cone preaching. There was great music, fellowship, worship and good news in some of the legislative action, like support for the DREAM Act.

Yet in the midst of such positive points there was a lot of pain.

We must name the wrongs and the harm that have come from keeping the status quo in the Book of Discipline on language describing “homosexuality.” We must lament and we must call out for justice. But we are also an Easter people. From the midst of unfathomable pain comes new life. As I sat in the Tampa airport waiting for my flight home, I read an email stating hope that the time at the General Conference will provide renewed energy for BWARM, the Baltimore-Washington Area Reconciling United Methodists. I know the experience, as exhausting as it was, has given me renewed energy for equipping welcoming spaces for ALL to hear the gospel and to be in life sustaining Christian community. It may be too soon for many, but I kept looking for points of hope throughout my week in Tampa.

Though pained that the General Conference could not agree to state that we the people of the United Methodist Church do not agree about homosexuality, I do find great hope in the fact that Rev. Adam Hamilton and Rev. Michael Slaughter proposed the amendment and spoke to it. I am sure that they have each taken some heat after their speeches on the floor on Thursday and I hold each in prayer.

On Thursday after the General Conference failed to pass the Hamilton amendment and failed to pass removing the “incompatible with Christian teaching” language, a group of advocates for the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons in the United Methodist Church gathered around the communion table on the floor of the General Conference, sang "What Does the Lord Require of You, " and shared communion together. I joined the group and sang and sang. I can't carry a tune, but I can be present. Taking communion in that space, in spite of the votes that had just occurred, was very Spirit-filled for me.

I pray that this witness that occurred at the end of the Thursday morning session, and other events like Dr. Cone’s sermon, the Love Your Neighbor luncheons (videos at http://gc12.org/blog/) and the Friday Altar for All event, may give hope to thousands of gay and lesbian United Methodists, and our allies, across the world who are in deep disappointment. It is okay to be disappointed. It is okay to be hurt. But I pray that none settle into despair. We are an Easter people. Hang onto the moments of hope you had, whether you were in Tampa, watching online or receiving updates on Twitter. Those moments of hope will enliven our own ministries within our local congregations and indeed empower the Common Witness Coalition’s efforts for the full inclusion of LGBT persons in the life and ministry of the United Methodist Church.

---

 

T.C. Morrow is a member of BWARM (Baltimore-Washington Area Reconciling United Methodists) and Foundry UMC in Washington, DC. She is a graduate of Wesley Theological Seminary and is passionate about interfaith collaboration for social justice.

A Moment of Personal Privilege

by Stephanie Gottschalk

Listen to the full message here.

My name is Stephanie Gottschalk, I am 31 years old and a first-time delegate to General Conference, I love you, and I believe in the value of your voice. I came here charged to employ that belief in holy conference.

I came to general conference in order to hear other voices, share my own and to be in Holy Conferencing. While here, I have been captivated by the beautiful visions that I have seen at the 2012 General Conference. We've dreamed dreams of a church that addresses the changing needs of our world. We have talked of a time when our church empowers the voices of the the young and marginal.

I have been captivated by the visions for our future painted by this General Conference. We dream of a church that addresses the changing needs of our world. We talk of a time when our church will empower the young and the marginalized. We all yearn for meaningful change. As a young person I came to this holy conference with you, so that together we could discern the changes that will make these visions real.

I am happy to say that through the many conversations that I have had with other young people, I have discovered this to be true. I have made many friends with people who look like me and don't look like me, from around the world. I have experienced powerful worship services and have had even more powerful holy moments. I have also had deep conversations with people that I have agreed to disagree with.

Yet General Conference has also opened my eyes to a painful reality.

The pain of coming to the table with a heart open to listen and finding closed-door meetings, manipulation of the process, and systematic ageism. I feel betrayed by what I have witnessed. The lack of integrity in a system in which important and SACRED work is done. Fear and mistrust have led to actions which, in turn, breed more fear and mistrust.

I have heard of specific and repeated behaviors dismissing, intimidating and disempowering many, but especially young people.

In committee work, a few young people were ignored when they asked questions. Others have been told they cannot understand legislation because it is too complex. After being kept away from the conversation surrounding restructure, young people were pressured to endorse legislative compromises that they were not invited to help draft.

However, I am most upset that we will be forever be known as the General Conference, which on Wednesday, adopted a restructure plan that takes away all guaranteed youth and young adult voices from it's most central committee.

This isn't right. It isn't right, it isn't just and it isn't holy...

I love you. I love Jesus, and I love the United Methodist Church. I am not saying these truths because I'm disenfranchised or giving up. I'm saying these things because I care and becuase I'm not leaving.

To all of you who have listened, comforted and supported us when we have been hurt, you are our heroes... Thank you.

...But to change this system... we need more.

We need you to be our champions: We need you to stand up for the  underrepresented of our church family when you see things happening that aren't right. We need you to trust us with the gospel that you shared with us; calling out unjust behaviors when you witness them and to consider your own assumptions about the young people you encounter. By doing this work together we can start living into being the holy body of Christ.

Bishop, can you please pray for this body, for those who have been harmed, and especially for those of us who have hurt others here.

Though she ran out of time, she tweeted her suggestions on how to better include young people and make holy conferenceingactuallyhappen.

1. Be intentional about nominating (youth, young laity, young clergy) 4 general boards, agencies, jurisdictional committees.

2. Name behaviors, injustices, absences, and misunderstandings that you witness in others and in the church.

3. Be mindful & aware of your own assumptions & behaviors about others, including young people. Does it build up or tear down?

Please share online & face to face w/others. We truly need young leaders in practice in order to live fully as the church.

---

Stephanie came to Emanuel UMC in Pittsburgh, PA, as Pastor in 2009. She is a graduate of George Washington University and Wesley Theological Seminary, both located in Washington, D.C. She was also a reserve delegate from Western Pennsylvania to General Conference. You can read more about her here.

Statement on Divestment

This is a statement read from the floor on Wednesday during the divestment debate, in which a statement was passed but too watered down to be effective.

by Sara Ann Swenson

Hello, my name is Sara Ann Swenson, lay delegate from Minnesota. I am 23 years old, and I am here, like you, because I love this church. I also love my friends from school and around the world.

In the United States, people from my generation are missing. People between the ages of 18 and 24 make up only 5 percent of our congregations, according to statistics I recieved just yesterday from the Board of Ordained Ministry.

According to research done by the Barna Group -- some of the reasons people my age aren't here, are that we see the church as small-minded and hypocritical.

We see through you.

While many of you may see Caterpillar, Motorola, and Hewlett-Packard as safe, good business investments -- we see the broken bodies, destroyed homes, and weeping families -- many of them fellow Christian families -- that are harmed by our investment choices.

We cannot sing "There is a Balm in Gilead" with any integrity as long as we continue to make these choices.

The petition before us has been gutted of any opportunity to set our hearts and pocketbooks straight in a constructive and meaningful way.

Let's be honest, investing in these companies is investing in war and violence.
If we can't take action, let's at least stop
hiding
behind
pretty
rhetoric.

---

Sara Ann Swenson, 23, is an M.A. Student at Iliff School of Theology. She hails from Brainerd, Minnesota and is a lay delegate at the 2012 United Methodist General Conference.

Grace

Today, the 2012 General Conference of the United Methodist Church voted down a petition that would have made clear our disagreement on issues of human sexuality. The General Conference (or 60% of the General Conference, anyway) voted to continue institutionalized discrimination of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer persons.

The decision was shattering, all over again, to so many people in our church. Hate speech was uttered on the floor of the conference (the translator of the speech, which was given in French, actually apologized for having to translate what was said). Lies were told. And once again, we tried to block God's all-inclusive love.

You can't block God's love.

During the vote, members of the Love Your Neighbor coalition stood around the bar of the conference, praying. One delegate rose to ask whether he would still be able to vote if he joined those standing, as long as he stayed within the bar. He invited others to join him, and indeed, my little group of three people praying was soon joined by a dozen delegates. We prayed.

After the vote, we broke the bar of the conference, moving to the center communion table where communion was held and songs were sung. Several bishops joined us in the center. A smaller group stayed at the communion table singing, disrupting the next session and finally getting to negotiate with the bishops about agenda items.

It was, to say the least, an emotional day.

I don't know what to say about the decision. It's heartbreaking. But I think it's rooted in a more fundamental problem, one that was on display earlier in the week, when delegates haggled over whether to add a quotation from Romans 8 into our Social Principles. The quote--"Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus"--was opposed by some as being too easy on sinners. Yes. They opposed adding a Bible verse because it--get this--it indicated that God's grace was available to all. One speaker stated baldly that a person's actions can separate them from the love of God.

As United Methodists, we are Wesleyan. And as Wesleyans, we believe in something called prevenient grace. That means God's grace is available to you before you even know it. No. Matter. What.

We voted on the subject and the General Conference did uphold the verse...but only by 56%. A full 44% of the members of the Conference didn't think that God's grace is available to all, no matter what.

And I just don't know how you're going to get people to love their lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender brothers and sisters if there's not a baseline belief that God's love is for all.

--

Here is what I am trying to remember, though. Throughout the church, on every continent, in every Annual Conference, there are gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people who are in the closet. Who are afraid of showing who they truly are. If our actions today on the conference floor in any way helped those people feel they are loved, that they are not some abomination, that God loves them and so do we, then I'd say--vote result notwithstanding--that it was worth it.

--

David Hosey is a student at Wesley Seminary and is attending General Conference as a reserve delegate. He blogs at City of...