Podcasts about one church plan

About eight days after Jesus said these things, he took Peter, John, and James, and went up on a mountain to pray. As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed and his clothes flashed white like lightning. Two men, Moses and Elijah, were talking with him. They were clothed with heavenly splendor and spoke about Jesus’ departure, which he would achieve in Jerusalem. Peter and those with him were almost overcome by sleep, but they managed to stay awake and saw his glory as well as the two men with him. As the two men were about to leave Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master, it’s good that we’re here. We should construct three shrines: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—but he didn’t know what he was saying. Peter was still speaking when a cloud overshadowed them. As they entered the cloud, they were overcome with awe. Then a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, my chosen one. Listen to him!” Even as the voice spoke, Jesus was found alone. They were speechless and at the time told no one what they had seen.   Last weekend and the first part of this week was dominated by the United Methodist Church’s General Conference in St. Louis, Missouri, or at least it dominated the attention of those of us who are always tuned into denominational machinations. The United Methodists sent their worldwide cohort of 800 or so delegates to decide on the issue that has beguiled and stressed them over the last 20 years, and most of mainline and progressive Christianity – the place of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and clergy in the church. The United Methodist Church’s Book of Discipline lays out the social principles of the church, which forbid things like drinking, gambling, and the practice of homosexuality. LGBTQ+ folks are named as people of sacred worth, but the actual doing of homosexuality, so to speak, is forbidden and is one of the reasons those seeking ordination can be barred from being approved to serve as clergypersons. Now, that is the official position of the church, but various more liberal conferences like the one here that covers Chicago, have basically ignored that official prohibition and ordained LGBTQ+ with a kind of a wink and a nod, and a liberal interpretation of the world “practice.” Of course, if charges are filed by a layperson or another clergyperson against them for their sexual practice, they can be defrocked in a church trial – yes, some churches still do this sort of thing – but in a more liberal conferences that is rare but not unheard of. Clergy are also forbidden to perform same-sex weddings, or even same sex unions, which is why I’ve done a few weddings formembers of Methodist churches as a favor to their not so courageous pastors. Yes, I get my judgmental tone, but at some point you have to do the right thing by the people you pastor – and you may pay the cost for doing that right thing, but no pension, no guaranteed church appointment, nothing is worth not following your own conscience, and doing the just and inclusive thing. Pawning off your ministry towards your church members to me in order to protect yourself, well, it is not a good look, but I helped these clergy out because the couples involved wanted a religious marriage service done by a clergyperson and they deserved to have one.   All of this came to a head this week in St. Louis, with a proposal before the delegates that was called the One Church plan, a plan that was endorsed by the majority of the bishops. This plan would allow the various parts of the church to make their own decisions around the calling of LGBTQ+ clergy and to discern their own positions on the morality or immorality of homosexuality. The more conservative American parts of the Methodist Church, along with the even more international parts of the church, could enforce their own particular rules around this issue, while allowing more progressive parts of the church to finally openly allow the ordination of LGBTQ+ clergy. But it was not to be, because of a very large coalition of conservative international delegates and a small band of conservative American delegates defeated the One Church Plan and brought forth their own plan, called the Traditional Plan. The Traditional plan passed with the help of the conservative those national and international delegates. This conservative plan defined the definition of “practicing homosexual” to make it harder for the few LGBTQ+ to get through the legal loophole of trying to define the word “practicing.” In addition, it created a mandate that any United Methodist clergyperson would be automatically suspended without pay for one year for conducting a same sex service, and would be permanently defrocked if they ever did a second one. In the United States, many United Methodist churches are fairly progressive on the issue of homosexuality itself, but because of the international nature of the church, they will likely never be able to become what we in the United Church of Christ, as well as the Presbyterian Church (USA), and Evangelical Lutheran Church of America have become – welcoming of LGBTQ+ in all parts of the church, including the ordination of openly LGBTQ+ clergy. As a product of a good United Methodist seminary myself, and who has many Methodist clergy friends, I was deeply grieved by all this, and it touched me personally because of my own struggle to be ordained with integrity and wholeness 25 years ago in the Presbyterian Church (USA) when they were not as open as they are now. There was so much pain in the air at this conference that you could almost feel it through the internet streaming video. During the debate, a young gay seminarian named Jeffrey Warren spoke passionately to the Conference, expressing his hurt and warning that the church was about to lose a whole generation under 40 that simply wouldn’t tolerate being members of a church that wouldn’t welcome their gay friends, their lesbian sister, their same-sex parents. In the picture on the first page of the bulletin, you see Bishop Tracey Smith Malone holding Jeffrey’s face in her hands after the passing of the Traditional Plan, trying to comfort him, perhaps reminding him that he is loved by God, loved by her and supported by many others, despite the fact that he will likely never be able to serve as a clergyperson in the United Methodist Church, as it now constituted. The horror of it all for Jeffrey must have been witnessing this series of votes right before his stunned and heartbroken eyes, something that even I didn’t have to experience. You can’t see it in the black and white picture but in the color version you can see the redness around his eyes, likely coming the tears he had just shed.   Friends, I want to invite us to consider that such a moment, such a picture, such light in a place filled with darkness, at least for the losers of this fight for justice, that such a moment was a moment of transfiguration. That moment captured by that picture was like the one when God scrubbed off the human veneer of Christ on that high and holy mountain and showed us the fullness of Jesus, that light within him that was white like lightning. Matthew, Mark, and of course, Luke share this story of Jesus shining forth on some mountain, accompanied by his disciples and welcomed there by Elijah and Moses, the latter whose face once shone in this manner hundreds of years earlier. This trio talk of Jesus’ departure, his death, and I suppose his ascension as well, and the disciples bask in this heavenly splendor, and they offer to build a shrine for all three, build some sort of permanency to hold onto this amazing moment. God will speak to them in a cloud, affirming that Jesus is indeed God’s own Child, and the disciples should listen to him. Later, the scene of light and splendor will disappear, and they will make their way down that mountain and being to make their way to Jerusalem, not quite understanding that despite the joy they will surely know along the way, the path is towards Jesus death, his cruel and unfair crucifixion, and that these disciples will be shattered by it all, at least for a while. The disciples and maybe even Jesus, they needed this moment of transfiguration, this reminder that there is light in this world, that underneath everything there is light, light like white lightning, a truth they would need to recall in the coming days and even years as they followed after the way of Jesus their whole lives, until their own deaths, often as martyrs. To witness Bishop Malone hold Jeffrey’s face so tenderly, so gently, it is a transfiguration, a moment when light shines so powerfully and often so unexpectedly, a moment that will need to be recalled in the many dark and difficult times ahead for Jeffrey and so many others in the United Methodist Church. Like with the disciples, a moment like this will be something he will need to remember when the darkness comes crashing down upon him and the people who love like him. We get the transfiguration we need in order to survive moments when there is no light, when the dark is so deep it feels as if you are in the deepest part of the sea, below where no light can make it way through the water above you. Moments of light, moments of tenderness, of kindness, moments of joy that we witness between ourselves or we witness in strangers, and even our enemies, those moments are gifts from God, moments given to us before we head out to our own Jerusalem’s, times before we yet know of our own eventual resurrection. Simply put, underneath it all, there is the light of God’s goodness, beneath it all.   To be clear, transfiguration is not transformation, it is not transformation. The gift of moments when we witness the light pouring into or out of a person, a place, a crowd, a simple flash of divinity given to us just when we needed it, and a memory we can call forth when there is seemingly no light, that is transfiguration, a moment that reveals the world as it really is, as the disciples fully saw Jesus for who he was on that high and holy mountain. Transformation, however, is not just a moment or moments in time, but something longer, something more difficult and yet even more joyous. When we come into our spiritual own, when we decide to do the work of Jesus, and the work of justice in Jesus’ name, that work, that journey is a life-long one. Salvation, or wholeness as the Greek word is probably better translated, wholeness doesn’t happen in one moment, and rarely in moments like the ones we just read about in Luke’s Gospel. No, it happens in the day in and day out choices we make to turn around our lives and go in the right direction, to choose that long obedience in the same direction, as Eugene Peterson puts it, and it is the choice to help the world turn around and go in the right direction. As I said in a sermon a few weeks ago, nothing is harder to change than the human heart, or the soul, if you want to get more spiritual about it and that is why our transformation, our wholeness takes as long as it takes, and likely continues into eternity. And this path into eternity also happens in the world we are co-creating with God if we are to believe the last two chapters of the book of Revelation, where a new heaven and a new earth, a truly transformed earth, one of compassion and justice and love will complete and renew the world we’ve slowly sought to transform. We should to continue to do that work until, as the Shaker song Simple Gifts says, Till by turning, turning we come 'round right. Soul work is hard work, justice work is hard – and the victories in our lives and in the work of justice, they do not come as often as we want, but the whole of those victories and even some of the defeats, do their work of transformation, of setting our souls and the world in the right direction, it does it over the long haul, slowly, but also relentlessly.   There is so much I want to say Jeffrey Warren, the young Methodist whose pleas for inclusion and justice were rejected by a majority of the United Methodist delegates on Tuesday. I would not probably say it to him anytime soon – the pain is to fresh – and I think it would be hard to hear for him. I would speak about the difficult choices we all have to make about whether or not our presence in a community that officially rejects gay people is an act of complicity if one stays any longer. But I would also remind him that there are other places, other denominations, other homes, where God can be met, something I think he already knows of course, – and, like me, he might find himself loving his new home as much the one he left behind so broken-hearted. God finds a way when there seems to be no way. However, I do know, Jeffrey, that whether or not you stay, you will find moments of transfiguration all the time, moments when God shows herself to you so fully that you will find yourself stunned by the glory of the One before you. My friend Mark gave me one of those transfiguration moments this week. Mark is a gay United Methodist clergyperson who came out late in late in his life and career, but who has chosen to remain celibate and to follow the rules put before him in the Book of Discipline. Mark gave an interview to a local TV station about the recent decision made at the General Conference. Here is a Facebook post he made after seeing himself during his TV interview the night before. I was privileged to be interviewed by WOOD TV yesterday. It was aired last night, Wednesday, Feb 27th. I watched it and was horrified by what I saw myself say. I spoke out of fear when I said that I would not perform same gender wedding ceremonies. I abandon that fear, I repent of that stance. I WILL PERFORM SAME GENDER WEDDING CEREMONIES! Who am I do deny the unconditional love of God that can flow through me, God's called conduit of grace, justice, peace, and love. I cried when I read those words, after being a witness to so much of Mark’s personal struggle, and his commitment to integrity and honoring the vows he made at his ordination decades earlier. But here he is, putting his career, perhaps some of his pension, his health insurance, on the line only a few years from his retirement. Our transformation can take a very long, long, time but it comes, always it comes. Now, I invite you to turn back to the front of your bulletin, and look at Bishop Malone with her hands holding Jeffrey’s face, and I want you to imagine the Bishop being the very presence of God, the one who is nothing but light, nothing but goodness, nothing but compassion, telling Jeffrey, tenderly, “I love you, I love you, you are one of My Beloved, you are my child.” The transfigurations in our lives, in the greater world, are glimpses of God shining forth, reminders to us of the God who is Love, a reminder that underneath the surface of everything, good and bad, of every joy and heartbreak, there is God, who is draped in light, in goodness itself, a reminder that, as writer of the Gospel of John says in his first chapter says, that the light shines in the darkness and the darkness could not, would not, and will not ever extinguish the light. Amen.

This lesson communicates and shares some perspective on what to expect from the “Commission on a Way Forward” that will be the subject of the 2019 General Conference in February. This conference meeting will focus on moving the church past a longstanding struggle with issues around homosexuality. The class discusses the three plans -- One Church Plan, Traditional Plan and the Correctional Conference Plan.

This week on the Love Prevails podcast, the Love Prevails team discusses the One Church Plan that has been proposed of the United Methodist Church Special General Conference in February 2019.

The purpose of the United Methodist people podcast is to strengthen the connection in the United Methodist Church through conversation and commentary as a means to achieve the mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ of the transformation of the world. In Episode 014 of the United Methodist People Podcast with Rev. Dr. Brad Miller conversation and commentary were at hand as Brad hosted a lively discussion with three other elders on the topic of The Way Forward, particularly The One Church Plan which will be presented to the 2019 General Conference.   Brad was joined by Rev. Jerry Rairdon, Senior Pastor of First United Methodist Church in Noblesville Indiana and founder of Uniting Methodist Indiana, Rev. Jill Moffat Howard, Pastor of Rosedale Hills United Methodist Church in Indianapolis, Indiana who is an alternate delegate to the 2019 General Conference from the Indiana Annual Conference and Rev. Dr. Mark Holland Executive Director of MainstreamUMC.com from Kansas City, Kansas. The focus of the roundtable conversation was the impasse in the United Methodist Church over matters of human sexuality which led to the creation of The Commission on the Way Forward who will bring three proposals to the floor of the February 2019  General Conference.   Mark and Jerry lead groups which are strong advocates of The One Church Plan over the other two proposals which are the Traditional Plan and the Conference Plan.   The conversation began by lifting up what is joyful and good about United Methodist Church which included comments about missions, creative outreach and innovative worship and a renewed openness to try new approaches to ministry.  The conversation then shifted to what breaks the heart of the panelist which included grave concerns about a breakup in the church, animosity even hatred among folks on different sides of the issues at hand and missed opportunities for mission and ministry in a church bogged down by dissent.   An overriding question for the panel was "what kind of church do we want to be moving forward?" That is if this splits church what’s next for the UMC? There was a conversation on the how part of the conflict in the UMC centers on how some see the UMC as a descriptive church and others see the UMC as a prescriptive church. It was generally agreed that a strength of the UMC is our diversity and that a schism in the church would be exclusionary of many and is not the best way for the UNC to be a witness to the world. The panel was generally in agreement that The One Church Plan provides the best opportunity for the UMC to move forward as one church not divided by schism. Great concern was expressed about the complexities of the “Conference Plan" and the harsh restrictive nature of many aspects of the “Traditional Plan.” The One Church Plan presented the church as a Big Tent which has room under its roof for many different expressions of faith based on grace, tolerance, and love of one another within the body of the UMC.   The panel was in agreement that the mission of the church is at stake and that The One Church Plan gives the UMC the best opportunity to reach present and younger generations of people far from God and far from the church. The One Church Plan is best suited for the UMC to live out our mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. The conversation concluded with the statement the gospel is bigger than the church on these matters and it is felt that there is momentum for The One Church Plan as the time of General Conference approaches. This was an important conversation between those deeply engaged in the process of understanding The Way Forward and coming to terms with the implications that the decisions made at General Conference will have on the very nature of the United Methodist Church.   Those who are likewise invested will find great value in the roundtable conversation in Episode 014 of the United Methodist People Podcast with Rev. Dr. Brad Miller. Rev. Dr. Brad Miller is a long time Elder in the Indiana Conference UMC with experience in radio broadcasting and podcasting who believes deeply in the power of conversation and commentary to strengthen the connection in the United Methodist Church.   Rev. Dr. Brad Miller October 2018  

The director of MainstreamUMC.com, Rev. Dr. Mark Holland is Rev. Dr. Brad Miller’s guest on Episode 013 of the United Methodist People Podcast.   Mainstream UMC is an advocacy group which supports the adoption of The One Church Plan prepared by the Commission no the Way Forward and affirmed by the Bishops of the UMC.   Mark talks to Brad about his faith journey as a third generation United Methodist Pastor serving in Kansas City, Kansas for the majority of his pastoral ministry.  Mark also had the rather unique experience of serving as the Mayor of Kansas City, Kansas concurrent to his pastorate at Trinity UMC in Kansas City.   Mark is taking a sabbatical year to concentrate on efforts to influence on delegates to the 2019 General Conference supporting The One Church Plan.   Mark describes the difference between the One Church plan and the Traditional Plan and argues that the One Church Plan is preferable.   He speaks to Brad about the following:   Comparing the UMC to a dinner plate which can be chipped and still be useful or shattered and destroyed. Affirming the courage of UMC bishops to address the impasse over humans sexuality by creating the commission on the way forward. Noting that if family’s and local churches can model unity-why can’t the denomination. That under the one church plan churches and clergy can be conservative or be progressive but can be the best they can be and still work diligently to make disciple of Jesus Christ Creating a church by choice. His contention that this is a “gut check time” for the UMC to determine if we as a church are willing to live as one family for whom we disagree with members of our family.   Episode 013 of the United Methodist People Podcast is a must listen to those wanting to understand the nature of the Way Forward process and the benefits of the One Church Plan.   The purpose of the United Methodist People Podcast is to stenghenthening the connection in the United Methodist Church through conversation and commentary as a means to achieve our mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.   Rev. Dr. Brad Miller is a long-time elder in the Indiana Annual Conference and has been podcasting since 2012.   Rev. Dr. Brad Miller September 2018   https://mainstreamumc.com/advisory-board/mark-holland/   facebook.com/unitedmethodistpodcast  

Episode 012 of The United Methodist People Podcast features Rev. Dr. Brad Miller conducting an in-depth interview with Rev. Jerry Rairdon, Lead Pastor of First United Methodist Church in Noblesville, Indiana. Jerry is an organizer of Indiana Uniting Methodist a group which advocates for the "One Church" Plan for "The Way Forward" which will be presented at the called February 2019 General Conference. Indiana Uniting Methodist is planning a special event featuring a message from Rev. Dr. Mark Holland from Kansas City KS, Director of  Mainstream UMC another group advocating the One Church Plan.  The event is Monday, October 8, 7:00 PM ET at St. Lukes UMC in Indianapolis. Jerry spoke to Brad about the following matters important to him: His call to Christ and Ministry. First UMC -Noblesville (IN) Organic Farm The generation of his children and grandchildren don’t understand closed-mindedness toward LGBTQ people. His call to create a church where his children and grandchildren would want to attend. The context that the Bible is not clear on matters of human sexuality. The choice between the traditional plan and the one church plan How our church approaches the General Conference matters almost as much as the vote. People today come to faith often through opportunities for service. The call to create a groundswell of unity in the UMC. There is much to consider for the thoughtful UMC leader in Episode 012 of The United Methodist People Podcast with Rev. Dr. Brad Miller. The purpose The United Methodist People Podcast is to strengthen the connection in the United Methodist Church through conversation and commentary.  The United Methodist People Podcast is published regularly by Rev. Dr. Brad Miller a longtime Elder in the Indiana Conference.  Rev. Dr. Brad Miller September 2018    

UMPP.010: The Bishops Speak Series “The Pallbearers Can Stand Down” A Conversation with Bishop Gregory Vaughn Palmer, West Ohio Area UMC. The purpose of the United Methodist People Podcast is strenghtening the connection in the United Methodist Church through conversation and commentary as a means to accomplish the mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. The UMPP is published weekly by Rev. Dr. Brad Miller a long-time elder in the Indiana Conference UMC. In Episode 010 of the UMPP Brad offer a summary of the 93 page report from the Commission on A Way forward outlining the key points of the One Church Plan the Connectional Conference Plan and the Traditionalist Plan. Brad then has a in depth interview with West Ohio Bishop Gregory Vaughn Palmer. Bishop Palmer shares with Brad his call to ministry under the influence of his parents and Sunday school teachers in the churches he grew up in. His father is a retired United Methodist Pastor. He talked about the role of the Bishop and Annual Conference in supporting the local church focusing on three areas: Leadership Formation Accountability to the mission of the church Facilitating how the the church can be and do some things better together than individually. In response the question about how well is the church accomplishing our mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world Bishop Palmer admitted that “we are not kicking the ball out the park” but that there are many encouraging signs as well. Bishop Palmer spoke about how the church is working well in West Ohio in innovative ministries in developing new faith communities and ministry to incarcerated persons. The key according to Palmer is to not get stuck in nostalgia which tend to lead to churches becoming so institutionalized that they see ministry is for the benefit of themselves. Palmer, promotes the missional church which exists not for self but to serve others. He shared that the best resource for many churches that struggle it to look to successful innovative churches. Bishop Palmer served on the commission for a way forward spoke about the compassion, diversity and intensity of the experience and how faithful the team was to taking on the task of helping our church find a way forward through our impasse on matters of human sexuality. He spoke about how the impasse is draining energy away from the primary mission of the church to make disciples of Jesus Christ. His hope is that the 2019 General Conference might bend us back more so toward the mission and find a way to maximize the mission of the UMC in more places rather than than fewer places. Bishop Palmer does not believe that matters of human sexuality does not have to lead to church division. He has hope and yearning and reason to believe that the UMC will find a path which will create more space for more people to say I am UMC instead of a place where you can’t be a UMC because of many personal matters. His hope is drawn from his experience in working with young leaders in the church who are still singing on to serve and are passionate about making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Bishop Palmer concluded his comments by declaring “the pallbearers need to stand down” as the church is far from dead. Enjoy and be edified by Episode 010 of the United Methodist People Podcast with Rev. Dr. Brad Miller. August 2018