“Incompatible” Is Gone

May 2, 2024.Reading time 10 minutes.

And now, we exhale.At least, I do. Now, except for a few more tiny “jots,” the harm is fully gone. The Original Sin of the United Methodist Discipline regarding human sexuality, the word “Incompatible,” is gone.Everywhere from our polity and law, now. The margin was 76%, and included an amendment that came from an African […]

It’s Time To Finish the Journey

May 2, 2024.Reading time 4 minutes.

I am still holding my breath. It’s probably my age.It’s definitely my PTSD. What is happening at General Conference is truly headspinning and filled with such joy for our FUTURE.But there is one final sin of the PAST, yet to go. I’m still holding my breath for the removal of our Social Principles’ “Incompatibility Clause,” […]

General Conference 2024 Daily Updates

April 26, 2024.Reading time 54 minutes.

I’m going to update this blog post each day during the 2024 General Conference, as a way of keeping folks informed, and offering my own view as to what’s happening. Some quick background, before we get started…Feel free to scroll past this lenthy opening part, if you feel you already know enough about United Methodism.But […]

An Honest Accounting of “Missing” African Delegates

April 24, 2024.Reading time 10 minutes.

There are as many as 100 International Delegates not at United Methodist General Conference this year, many of whom are from Africa. This has caused many questions. Allegations have been made that General Conference failed to communicate with them quickly, or the American government failed to issue visas quickly. Calls have been made to investigate. […]

Table Rules (“Crowded Table,” Highwomen Cover)

April 23, 2024.Reading time 6 minutes.

General Conference starts today, and I am thinking about this song and what might happen these next few weeks. I don’t think it’s an accident that I was introduced to this song by clergywomen colleagues. We were all sitting around a fire pit on a clergy retreat two years ago (I had my guitar…) when several […]

Long, Tortured Thoughts About the Long Torturned Journey to General Conference 2024

April 22, 2024.Reading time 37 minutes.

This week, the General Conference of the United Methodist Church will begin in Charlotte, North Carolina. This will be the first “regular” General Conference since 2016. I thought I would put down a few thoughts ahead of this potentially momentous week for the new United Methodist Church. These will be a combination of personal reflections […]

Tip/Support Me

April 12, 2024.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Want to help sustain my writing, music, and content creation? Consider a tip or contribution. Venmo here.

The Ah-h-h-h! Moment

April 11, 2024.Reading time 16 minutes.

Frederick Buechner once described “Prayer” in a way that leaps to my mind this week, in these days after our communal experience of the Eclipse. Buechner wrote: “We all pray whether we think of it as praying or not. The odd silence we fall into when something very beautiful is happening, or something very good […]

The Eclipse, “The Rapture,” and St. Augustine

April 10, 2024.Reading time 11 minutes.

These days after a solar eclipse are probably a good time to remind ourselves of this extended quote from St. Augustine of Hippo.(picture taken by me during “totality”) St. Augustine was a wordy writer, so I’ve edited it down a bit…and it still runs long. But it’s an important word for all of us who […]

A Deeper Sense of “Faith”

April 6, 2024.Reading time 16 minutes.

Increasingly, I am convinced the opposite of “faith” is not “doubt,” but “fear.” This is because the deepest level of “faith” is not “belief,” but “trust;” and the opposite of “trust/faith” is “fear/anxiety.” Instead of faith’s opposite, doubt is a part of the journey of faith. Skepticism is, or should be, embraced as how we […]