united methodism has always been in my blood. my grandparents lived behind a local UM church in the philippines, for which my grandfather was the janitor. i have very vivid memories of growing up in that church, staring up at the stained-glass windows and sitting next to my grandmother on sundays. over the years, i would find a church home in other denominations, but the united methodist church will always have a special place in my heart.
that's why today, when delegates at our quadrennial General Conference voted to uphold language that is demeaning and harmful to a group of people about which I care deeply, my heart breaks. my heart breaks because the denomination that has nurtured and shaped me, that has provided a loving and supportive place for me to grow deeper in understanding my faith and my relationship with Christ is not providing the same space for an entire community of people.
the topic of human sexuality is always a tough and uncomfortable discussion. united methodists, along with other people of faith, are of differing opinions when it comes to individuals who express love in same-sex relationships. in the interest of full disclosure, my opinion on the topic is still unfinished. i'm still working on it. but my unfinished opinion does not preclude me from the conclusions i have already reached about my faith, one of which is that God loves everyone and that i am required to do the same. and i am required to express this love in the words i say, the things i do, the policies i do and don't support.
so when i hear hateful and harmful words being uttered by people who follow the same loving God i follow, i have to cry a little. not because i lament that someone's opinion is different from mine, but because that opinion is so important that it - even if just for a moment - supersedes our call to be kind and compassionate to one another. the Church is a broken people, i admit that. but it is broken not because there are different opinions among us, but because we so easily allow those differences to hinder the unity we are called to have in Christ.
one of my favorite verses in the Bible is the one in which Jesus prays for the unity of all those who follow him: "I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one — as you are in me and I am in you." (john 17:21, nlt)
as a Church, we have a chance to be an answer to one of Jesus's prayers. and yet every day we do things that take us in the opposite direction. Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.
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