It was back in the early 1980’s and I was at the old Vaught-Hemingway Stadium at Ole Miss (the one that wasn’t too much more than what you’d find a one of the larger high schools in the state). I was surprised to hear my name as I was paged to come to the press booth where I was handed a message to call one of my clients. In those pre-cell phone days, I went to one of the pay phones beneath the stadium deck and called to see what could possibly be so important as to track me down in the middle of a football game on a Saturday.
“She’s taken the butter churn!” my client, obviously highly agitated and perturbed, complained, “It’s a family heirloom — been in my family for generations! My great grandmother churned butter in it!” Apparently, my client’s soon-to-be ex-wife had removed the butter churn from the premises and was not admitting to the misdeed and the enormity of the situation could not wait until Monday.
A Fable
Actually, while I have been called at odd times and places by clients, I’m making up the story of the purloined butter churn. We’ll call it an amalgamation of any number of attorney war stories and legends of family disagreements that I’ve run into through the years. But I’m fabricating this fable for a reason — to make a point about perspective.
When I did handle divorce cases (which I’ve left behind), I learned to tell my clients that they had to hang onto perspective, even though it was hard to do in the heat of the dissolution of their marriage. “Picture yourself five years in the future, looking back, and think about how important [insert the particular issue at hand] appears from that perspective,” I’d counsel. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes not so much. The point I was trying to get across was that the Judge — the system — wasn’t going to focus on the family butter churn when it came time to deal with the weightier matters of property division, child custody and support and possible alimony. Allowing emotional issues, even understandable emotional issues, to cloud the larger picture was not only a waste of time, but a drain on resources better applied elsewhere.
And it’s the same thing with regard to the “crisis” currently confronting the United Methodist Church.
Another Delay
This past Thursday, the Commission on the General Conference announced that the 2020 General Conference was again being postponed: this time to 2024. This triggered expressions of understandable concern and predictions of congregations leaving the church in increasing numbers. Of course, the question is what to do about same sex marriage and gay ordination — the issue of “human sexuality.”
This post isn’t about the merits of that issue. It’s about what has caused the most recent delay in addressing the issue . . . the COVID-10 pandemic and, in particular, the impact of that pandemic on travel. Two years into the disruption caused by the pandemic, I join with my fellow United Methodists in growing increasingly desirous of a return to “normalcy.” Of course, that may not happen if by “normal” we mean going back to pre-pandemic worship . . . too many things have changed.
Add to the pandemic the changes in climate (regardless of cause or means of mitigation) and a world suddenly dancing once more on the nuclear precipice courtesy of Mr. Putin, and the issue of human sexuality begins to have less weight. That is not to dismiss the arguments and concerns of those on both sides of the issue. Significant and fundamental questions of adherence to Scripture, the interpretation of Scripture, and human rights are not to be glibly cast aside.
But I think of an earlier time in the history of the church when plagues, war, natural disasters and the whims of autocrats caused disruption, disturbance and death and recall that doctrinal issues were present then too.
First Century Perspectives
You have but to read Paul’s epistles, as well as those of Peter, James and Jude, to identify issues that threatened to divide the early church. Circumcision, meat that was sacrificed to idols, whether to follow the minutiae of the Jewish legal code, and marriage were all matters over which serious divisions occurred and I’ll wager that those involved didn’t think about how those issues, once resolved, would be viewed in the future. I don’t think the early Christians were any more capable of engaging in perspective than we are today.
But I do know one thing. The early church exploded during the latter half of the first century and throughout the second. It went from a few hundred adherents in Judea and Galilee to close to fifty thousand by the middle of the second century and estimates of more than a million by 250 A.D. The main reason for this explosive growth was, of course, the working of the Holy Spirit. But one of the ways in which the Spirit was made manifest was in how those early Christians handled the plagues, the wars, the natural disasters, and dictates of the autocrats. People noticed. They noticed how, despite the additional burden of persecution by the Roman authorities, Christians cared for one another and others.
People who survived pestilence and persecution were often too weak to care for themselves and were vulnerable to starvation or exposure to the elements. Christians stood out from their pagan neighbors in their willingness to risk being targeted by authorities or afflicted by disease as they cared for those in need (often including not just their Christian brothers and sisters, but their pagan neighbors as well).
Staying Connected
On of the distinctive aspects of the United Methodist church is its connectional nature, both locally and globally. So, while understandably being concerned about the issue of human sexuality and the latest postponement of General Conference, let’s not forget the example set by those early Christians as we reach out in ministry to those who are impacted by the pandemic, severe weather, natural disaster and war.
Because they’ll know we are Christians by our love . . .
Love expressed in global connections across boundaries of race and nationality. Let’s keep that connection in perspective.
Let’s just keep that connection.