Why revisit the road to General Conference 2019?

In 2019 I decided to slow down my drive to the special called General Conference and take a more prayerful, intentional approach. I needed to remind myself of why I do this work as an organizer for Reconciling Ministries Network.

Another letter, another church.

It's 2024 now, five years later and I had found myself needing that reminder again. Towards the start of my journey I recorded a video about why I was doing this which you can watch here if you like.

In 2023, across far too many State Houses in the U.S. new laws were written that specifically discriminate against LGBTQ+ people, against trans people in particular. There is also talk about a potential ruling by the Supreme Court to overturn the same-sex marriage decision. The fuel for all this anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment continues to be thinking that is rooted in bad theology, in teaching that can be heard in pulpits across the country on Sunday mornings.

Thankfully I believe that increasingly those are not United Methodist pulpits, but we are not immune to such sermons. Just a couple of weeks ago I watched a sermon online where the pastor called out the legalization of same-sex marriage in Greece as a sign of evil spreading across the world.

But even if most of our pulpits are free of targeted sermons against LGBTQ+ people, and thankfully many are now the location of affirming messages for the LGBTQ+ community, our Book of Discipline still contains harmful language. While those words are still in there we remain among those in the Christian world who add to the harm, we remain complicit.

The removal of this harmful language is unavoidably a fairly political process. It comes down to vote counts. Do we have the votes to do this or don't we? There are spreadsheets and checklists, talking points, messaging campaigns, Zoom calls (oh so many Zoom calls!). All of this is GOOD work, necessary work, but for me it is not what brings me life as an organizer.

This journey, this pilgrimage has been about reminding me of what all this work is about, why it is so important.

It is important because we need United Methodist churches across our nation to stand up against this continuing marginalization and hatred of LGBTQ+ people. The existence of this harmful language in our books means that we are alongside those churches who preach harm. This is antithetical to what we believe Jesus calls us to. The existence of this harmful language has held back some of our folks from doing and saying what they know in their hearts needs to be said and done. The removal of this language will release more and more people in our congregations to follow what the Spirit has been calling them to.

As I traveled through Kentucky, Tennessee and Western North Carolina, through tiny villages, small towns, larger towns, I passed many churches, schools, and libraries. These places have become the focus of so much debate in terms of the sermons that are preached, classes that are offered, the books that are provided. Our churches influence our communities. The presence of a church that is willing to speak up for those are are pushed down - it matters.

This journey reminded me of that, it reminded me of why this work still matters, of why counting votes matters, why talking points and strategy matter. It reminded me that all this work is hopefully moving us towards the day when The UMC is no longer among those denominations which continue to target and harm LGBTQ+ people.

Will we be perfect once the language is removed? Certainly not. But this will be a significant step in the right direction.