Each year hundreds of United Methodists across Oregon & Idaho gather together to do the business of the church, celebrate our shared ministries, and connect with one another. We are able to serve God together in ways we never could alone. But we are struggling. We have failed in our inclusion of people of color in leadership. We are struggling with how to move forward as a church that has a long history of advocating for the full inclusion of LGBTQIA+ persons in the face of the heightened restrictions of the global denomination.
In this struggle, however, we are finding beauty and clarity. Naming our failures and talking together about the desire of our hearts to be a more inclusive, fully whole church is healing as well as painful. When Jeff and I got married the minister gave us the advice that real relationships take saying the things you are afraid to say and hearing the things that are hard to hear. That is what we are doing today. Asking questions, telling our stories, claiming our fears. acknowledging the ways each one of us is responsible for having created the church as it is now. We’re also dreaming together about what can be in our shared life as a church.
I’ve been part of these kinds of conversations since the 1990’s, and it’s different now. I know that we have reached a breaking point and that the church of the future is at hand. God is at work in our midst. The next three days are going to be a lot of work, but I am so thankful to be in this church in this place, at this time.
-Eilidh
My Bishop rocking our baptismal vows
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