And the Wind Blew ...
The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. John 3:8
When Rev. Cammy Gaston addressed about 100 people in our Sanctuary two Sundays ago, she explained how General Conference works and the emphases of “3 Rs” that our North and Central Texas delegations would be focusing:
Regionalization
Removal of the restrictive language around sexuality
Revision of our Social Principles
Few thought confidently that all three could be achieved in one General Conference given that we had been unsuccessful in four previous General Conferences spanning 20 years. Now we are one vote away from affirming a whole new set of Social Principles. That vote is expected to be as large as the votes were for regionalization and removal of the restrictive language (see Bishop Saenz’s video below) – about 90% in favor! How do we explain this tsunami of sea change? Disaffiliation of churches and delegates who would have voted, “nay” explains some but not nearly all of that shift of position by our United Methodist Church. I believe it is the movement of the Holy Spirit.
In John’s text above, the learned clergy Nicodemus is befuddled by how in the world a person can be “born again.” He knows – really – that you can’t crawl back into your mother’s womb. So, if not that, then what? That is where Jesus teaches Nicodemus about the Holy Spirit, who is forever beyond our ability to predict or control – just like the wind – but you sure know it when you feel it!
It was amazing to hear from Cammy that starting the very first two days of Conference last week, decisions both small and large were being made by an 80%+ margin that seemed to keep building on itself with shocked surprise, positivity, and growing momentum. Now there are two days left and those present would tell you that the Spirit has most startlingly been blowing in ways that have brought numerous gasps and tears of joy that we are finally acting like the church of Jesus Christ with “faith, hope, and love” (1 Cor. 13) instead of the alternatives our culture too readily offers up and even celebrates.
This first Sunday in May we gather for the same holy communion that we did in April, but when we say that ALL are welcomed at this table, we now mean it ... officially. As our Church Council stated after our church-wide discernment process a year and a half ago around the issue of human sexuality, “We are proud to be a United Methodist Church.”
Blow Spirit blow.
Connecting God and Grace to Self and Community,
