Hi All, Having recently worshiped in the US for three years and attending the United Methodist churches there advised that they were the closest thing to Uniting Church theology, I think the biggest problem they've got is their inability to string two verses together and look at both of them.
I say this with a little humor but also with a huge grain of truth as many of the UM churches we attended would take a single verse from the Bible and beat it to death, totally out of context, for 15-20 minutes (with plenty of Hallelujahs and Praise Lord Jesuses thrown in for good measure). We were astounded by this and after a while found ourselves either not attending, going to the baptists (1st or 2nd) for the amazing choirs (again, sermons were based on a single verse (or part there of)), or the Catholics (who it seems can be relied on for a solid service regardless of place in the world.) Rodd On Fri, 2003-08-22 at 20:40, Margaret Ralph wrote: > The Crisis Facing the United Methodist Church > > Yes, the United Methodist Church is in trouble. There are three > groups- The Good News group, The Confessing Movement, and the > Institute of Religion and Democracy that want to return our church to > fundamentalism and biblical literalism. Most of the leaders in these > groups hold an inerrant view of scripture. How they do this in light > of all the biblical discoveries of the last 150 years defies reason. > They need to be reminded that when Emperor Constantine called the > bishops together in the fourth century to write the creeds and to > decide which books would go into the New Testament, there were > spirited debates, and much was left out. It is interesting that > Emperor Constantine thought that all people should be Christians, but > that Christians might legitimately hold different opinions on > theological questions and could disagree about doctrine in the spirit > of 'brotherly' love. His views would be a good witness to conservative > Methodists in this present crisis moment. > > Many Methodists have admired the theological diversity in our church > and do not want to see us become one more fundamentalist sect. We > Methodists should be grateful for another group called THE INFORMATION > PROJECT that is warning us to be ready for the onslaught of The Good > News Group, The Confessing Movement and the Institute of Religion and > Democracy at the Methodist General Conference in 2004. After careful > research The Information Project has published a book entitled The > United Methodist Church at Risk, A Wakeup Call. It was written by Leon > Howell and comes with a study guide prepared by Bishop Dale White and > the Rev. Scott Campbell. Listen to their words in the Preface and > Introduction: > > Our denomination is at great risk. The time to act is now. > Organizations calling themselves "conservative renewal groups" > are engaged in campaigns to change the essential nature of our > church. They seek to take the church to a place where > diversity and tolerance are in short supply. They look back to > a time when knowledge was feared, questioning was suppressed > and imagination was squelched. > Groups like Good News, Renew, the Confessing Movement, and the > Coalition for United Methodist Accountability are working hand > in hand with the Institute on Religion and Democracy to alter > dramatically many aspects of United Methodist life and witness > most of us hold dear. > General Conference petitions from conservative renewal > groups-led by Good News and the Confessing Movement and backed > by the Institute on Religion and Democracy-have the potential > to: > Dramatically alter the church's social justice > ministry, > Curtail the historical mission efforts of > women, > Threaten freedom of the pulpit and seminary > classroom, > Challenge the role of minorities, and > Undercut the church's ability to support > policies that renew the human community. > > I simply cannot understand how so many in these groups claim to read > the Bible as factual history or as God-dictated. They either have to > ignore, or be ignorant of, the historical processes of its > development. Our church has done a poor job of teaching its people the > history of faith, but the clergy in these groups certainly should know > better. The result is that many in the pew read their Bibles with > little understanding and, thus, become firmly convinced of its factual > truth. This mind-set makes open dialog almost impossible. > > How did our church get this way? I would like to make the case that > many of our clergy must share the blame. The General Conference of the > United Methodist Church, that meets every four years, must also share > the responsibility for poor theological teachings. I locate the > originating moment of that blame in the General Conference of 1968. > Let me start with the clergy. For sixty years or more our finest > seminaries and academies have been teaching candidates for the > ministry how to read and study the scriptures critically. Textual > criticism taught them that many of the truths of the Bible should be > viewed as myths and metaphors, including the stories of the Virgin > Birth and most of the fanciful details that are found in the > narratives about a physical resurrection. They also learned that the > greatest teachings of Jesus were love of God and neighbor. Thousands > of clergy brought all this knowledge to our churches, but for the most > part they did not have the courage even to whisper about myths and > metaphors from the pulpit. Those who did try to educate their > congregations were soon in trouble with the more conservative members. > The thinking members were frequently way ahead of their pastors in > theological understanding and unfortunately, but as a direct > consequence, most of them have left the church. I deeply believe that > a church based on LOVE, REASON, and SERVICE would bring those people > back. > > How different our church would be today if so many of our clergy had > not left their knowledge at the seminary in the mistaken belief that > it would destroy the faith of the laity. We would surely be much freer > from fundamentalism and biblical literalism if the clergy had trusted > the laity to think and search with them. > > I am much indebted to my great friend and teacher, Dr. Carlyle Marney. > He started out as a Southern Baptist minister and ended his life > directing the INTERPRETERS HOUSE at Lake Junaluska, N.C. I drove up to > see him a few years ago in order to cry about the church. He said to > me, "Rhett, you have transcended everything the Methodist Church can > do for you. It has built too many fences around you, too many borders; > you are trapped in the creeds, in the Articles of Religion, in all > that stuff about 'Jesus shed his blood for my sins.'" He said, "GO, > get out into the world and find your church with 'the least of > these.'" > > The General Conference is also not without fault. My first General > Conference was the most hopeful in my lifetime. In 1968 we broke the > shackles of racism in our church, we structured many ways to minister > to "the least of these," we established boards to speak out for > justice in the world, and we declared with a strong voice that we were > open to all races in the world. However, we did nothing to speak of > new theological terms, or new biblical understandings at that > conference. > > For the next twenty years it was pretty much business as usual. > However, the General Conference of 1988 convened with hopeful signs. A > committee was assigned the task to re-write our statement on theology. > I was thrilled to be a member. Sadly, most of what we did was house > dressing. Nearing the end of our work, Phil Wogaman (the retired > pastor of Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington), not happy > with our Bible statements, offered an amendment saying something much > like this. "We believe that while the Bible contains much inspired > writing, some is more inspired than others, some contains errors, and > much of the Bible is mystery." Unfortunately, this failed to get a > majority vote either in the committee or in the Plenary Session. > Nothing has been done to change our theology since that 1988 > Conference. In fact we are now at the place where the conservative > groups I mentioned earlier seek to block any new exploration. Yet if > we look at our churches it is clear that they break into three > distinct categories. > > First, there are the folks in The Good News and Confessing Movement > groups. Second, there are those in the middle who don't engage > theology. They love our church, but don't do much thinking about the > church between Sundays. Finally, there are the Searchers who no longer > find the creeds meaningful, but who want to belong to a Church of > Reason to live out their lives guided by the teachings of Jesus. For > them the following quotation from the book A New Christianity for a > New World by Bishop Spong will reveal why the creeds are no longer a > living place for many of them, including me. On page 235 he quotes a > young Harvard divinity student, Kathrin Ford. "No Christian Creed," > she writes, "is a full statement of faith. It is only the Christian > Community's ecclesiastical 'response to arguments.' All the undebated > issues have been left out. That is why in the creeds there is no > mention of love, no mention of the teachings of Jesus, no mention of > the Kingdom of God being present in our bodies and souls, no mention > of the ground of life. The creeds have fallen on us like rain over the > centuries. They have been repeated endlessly, shaping our minds and > our souls to the point where we cannot think of God outside the forms > they affirm, or the boxes they create." > > I believe there are two ideas that the Methodist General Conference > might consider that would speak to the needs of those who think of > themselves as searchers. First, an on-going Theology Committee should > be created with the initial task of working on the creeds. Second, it > could encourage the formation of another congregation within each > Methodist Church to be known as THE METHODIST ECCLESIA (ecclesia > meaning a gathering of Christians, those called out). > > This group would be the searchers without borders who would write > their own STATEMENT OF PURPOSE. They would be free to fight the > justice battles in their communities and seek peace with justice. I > believe they would soon be joined by many who have given up on the > church, but who still yearn for the spiritual life based on love and > tolerance that is in the "Good News" offered by the searchers. It is > my intention to promote this "Good News" in any way I can. > > Rhett Jackson -- Rodd Clarkson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Redfish Bluefish [creative] ------------------------------------------------------ - You are subscribed to the mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the message body 'unsubscribe insights-l' (ell, not one (1)) See: http://nsw.uca.org.au/lists.htm ------------------------------------------------------
