United Methodist Schism and the Global Pandemic

God has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
II Corinthians 3:6

Sky McCracken has one of the best names ever. Obviously, he should have been an astronaut or an astronomer, but apparently he is a pastor.

He is not an in-person acquaintance nor is he a virtual “friend,” but he is an online acauaintance and a colleague. 

(Of course, I don’t really know that, but I believe it to be true.) 

My sense is that we have markedly different theological perspectives, but I very much appreciate his thoughtfulness and his willingness to dialog with others.

I don’t know him, except through his posts and comments in various United Methodist clergy groups.

Yesterday he posted this in the United Methodist Clergy group:

“It might just be me... but right now, a church/denominational schism seems the height of selfishness and hypocrisy. My hunch is, in the months to come it may even become irrelevant, and pushing such in the light of a much greater crisis will further expose our self-centeredness and false selves.”

It was, I thought, an invitation to soul-searching and reflection. A good place to start a reflection on Lent and the COVID-19 pandemic and the state of the United Methodist Church.

There were two short thoughtful reflections and then we were off into crazyland. 

I suppose I should be grateful that we didn’t immediately go to ALL CAPS. But we did get this:

“Irrelevant, selfish? Wow, neither really come to mind. Just because of the virus people are not going to all the sudden uphold the vows they took at ordination or when they became bishop! Nor begin to celebrate sin! Keep dreaming!”

Few things are more important to the world today than the fear that somewhere and somehow there are people who are celebrating sin!

And not just any sin.

This is about same sex marriage. And gay clergy.

Forget about COVID-19 and a global pandemic. We need to focus on what really matters. This is our “Bonhoeffer moment.”

I think as I write this there have been over 100 comments on the original post. Some thoughtful. Some pained. Many sincere.

But there are way too many that seem to come from some strange pseudo-Calvinist belief that the core of biblical faith is found in the total depravity of humanity and the wrath of God, which is mitigated only by right belief in Jesus and absolute conformity to the rules of the Bible as understood by the one writing the comments.

And, needless to say, the folks who write this stuff are certain (absolutely) that they are not mis-interpreting the text because the text does not need to be interpreted. They are just stating the facts.

In this view, the Bible is not a living Word. It is a dead letter. But if the Bible is a dead letter about judgment rather than grace, then we have lost everything matters in Christian faith.

I want to give the last word to Janet Gollery McKeithen:

“I agree with you Sky, but these comments really make me nauseated. Unbelievable that people believe in some kind of God that creates people who will go to eternal damnation. And they act self-righteous about it. They have pride in condemning others and causing suicides and splitting families. I am really sick again. Let's deal with the fact that the most vulnerable among us are going to suffer more that anyone else during this crisis. Let's see how we can help them and then change the oppressive system that brought us to this place. That's enough to do. The UMC is imploding on it own.”

Janet agrees with Sky and I agree with Janet.

I am especially pleased that she used “nauseated” rather than the technically incorrect though commonly used “nauseous” in that sentence.

Like Janet, I was nauseated by the nauseous comments.

(I think I used that correctly, but if I didn't then there are friends who will correct me.)





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