Those with insight find prosperity;
Happy are those who trust in God.
Proverbs 16:20
The United Methodist Church is again in the news as The New York Times reports voting fraud at General Conference 2019.
In reading the article, this doesn't seem to be an issue of deliberate malice. As Germain Unda Mupasa, an unauthorized delegate for East Congo expressed, there are often visa issues, so African conferences have many reserves. These people of faith simply want to make sure that they have their assigned number of delegates voting for what they believe is the faithful response to the question.
Still, trust has clearly become an issue for the Church (and in other settings). The Book of Discipline has nothing in it about voting irregularities because in the past it's never been an issue. “The polity of the United Methodist Church presumes trust," explains Laceye Warner, a professor of Methodist studies at Duke Divinity School. But she adds, “The last several years, the ethos of the denomination has been characterized more by mistrust and misunderstanding.”
Have we been naive? Or is this legitimately a new and modern challenge?
Where do you find yourself in this conundrum? And I don't mean on which side of the divide do you stand regarding the right of clergy persons to marry GLBTQIA+ persons and of the acceptance of these previously, and again, discriminated-against persons to be ordained and to serve as pastors.
In reading the article, this doesn't seem to be an issue of deliberate malice. As Germain Unda Mupasa, an unauthorized delegate for East Congo expressed, there are often visa issues, so African conferences have many reserves. These people of faith simply want to make sure that they have their assigned number of delegates voting for what they believe is the faithful response to the question.
Still, trust has clearly become an issue for the Church (and in other settings). The Book of Discipline has nothing in it about voting irregularities because in the past it's never been an issue. “The polity of the United Methodist Church presumes trust," explains Laceye Warner, a professor of Methodist studies at Duke Divinity School. But she adds, “The last several years, the ethos of the denomination has been characterized more by mistrust and misunderstanding.”
Have we been naive? Or is this legitimately a new and modern challenge?
Where do you find yourself in this conundrum? And I don't mean on which side of the divide do you stand regarding the right of clergy persons to marry GLBTQIA+ persons and of the acceptance of these previously, and again, discriminated-against persons to be ordained and to serve as pastors.
No, what I am asking is:
Still, the trust that once seems like an easy choice, I now question. Would I do the same today? I don't know...
Yes, I do. I can blame it on the AS[1], if I like – for good or ill – but I've always been recklessly trusting. This'll never change and I’m not sure I’d want it to.
I choose to trust – and to love – with equal abandon. Individuals and institutions may break my heart (and have) yet I will go on.
(Knowing who you are is a good thing. How would your three-sentence self-definition read?)
- Where is trust in all of this? Is trust truly being violated or are people still acting in what they believe is “good faith”?
- In whom are we to trust? Of whom shall we be slow or hesitant to trust?
- Is this voting issue really an issue, as the media has made it out to be? Or does this reporting merely muddy the waters, serving to keep the UMC debacle in the public eye?
- What are your criteria for trusting someone?
Still, the trust that once seems like an easy choice, I now question. Would I do the same today? I don't know...
Yes, I do. I can blame it on the AS[1], if I like – for good or ill – but I've always been recklessly trusting. This'll never change and I’m not sure I’d want it to.
I choose to trust – and to love – with equal abandon. Individuals and institutions may break my heart (and have) yet I will go on.
(Knowing who you are is a good thing. How would your three-sentence self-definition read?)
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