How can we serve you?

Most folks at our 40-60% United Methodist seminary are already aware of these rulings. An ordained reverend in a lesbian relationship was defrocked by something similar to the UMC Supreme Court. Another Pastor, who had refused membership in his church to a homosexual man, was affirmed in his decision.

Some see the rulings as a victory for Christian tradition. Some see it as a failure of fallen humans to embrace the full Gospel of Christ in all his glory.

At lunch I was very taken by a conversation about how the fight over issues relating to people who are homosexual might be won by the side to which the Spirit and the Word have moved me. Then I paused in the refectory and realized that in our community, where most of us daily come into contact with people whom these rulings directly affect, my first concern ought not to be strategy or tactics or firing back. Ministry in the name of Jesus Christ is incarnational. Christ came amongst the suffering and marginalized in the Middle East.

I still have hope that God might allow the UMC to be shaped according to the Gospel, but I realize that when I am in relationship with those who are suffering the first call on any Christian is to mirror Christ’s love to the sufferers. My anger, however strong, is nothing in comparison to somebody who knows the call of God on their hearts and feels only hurt and rejection from an institution through which they received that call.

So before we strategize or celebrate, I think the top priority for any heterosexual person on the Wesley campus is to ask of our wounded Christian sisters and brothers “how can we be like Christ to you?” To those in this community to which Christ has brought us, to those in relationship with whom Christ has placed us, to those whose fears and tears move the Spirit within us, we each must sing…

The Servant Song

Brother, sister, let me serve you, Let me be as Christ to you / Pray that I might have the grace To let you be my servant too.

We are pilgrims on a journey We are travelers on the road / We are here to help each other Walk the mile and bear the load.

I will hold the Christ-light for you In the nighttime of your fear / I will hold my hand out to you Speak the peace you long to hear.

I will weep when you are weeping When you laugh I'll laugh with you / I will share your joy and sorrow Till we've seen this journey through.

When we sing to God in heaven We shall find such harmony / Born of all we've known together Of Christ's love and agony.

Brother, sister, let me serve you, Let me be as Christ to you / Pray that I might have the grace To let you be my servant too.