This morning, the first article in my Google newsfeed was Nearly 200 churches sue to leave liberal United Methodist body and keep property amid split over sexuality. Toward the end of the article, I notice a word being used that I had been giving some metaphorical thought to last week, and that word is hemorrhage. Last week after a conversation I was in where someone mentioned the hemorrhaging woman that reached out and touched the hem of Jesus’ garment, I thought more about that word.
Hemorrhaging can be visible, or it can be invisible. I would think the most serious hemorrhaging is associated with internal injuries. When the wound is visible–even if very bad–bystanders know where to apply a tourniquet. But the person with a ruptured spleen or heart/brain aneurysm is nearly impossible for the average bystander to treat.
When it comes to hemorrhaging within an institution such as a church denomination (and the Church universal, as well) navigating the remedy for internal hemorrhaging can be as difficult as navigating the political and legal system.
In this article, part way through, my eye and thoughts were drawn to this statement:
“As the UMC hemorrhages congregations, the UMC’s General Conference is slated to receive its lowest budget in nearly 40 years….”
I imagine that Christians from various denominations/traditions or non-denominations will have their own scriptural-lens read on this. While two-thousand+ years after the resurrection of Jesus has left the world full of so many different institutional or non-institutional Christian congregations/gatherings/assemblies/parishes, etc. I believe the messiness of implementing church discipline is shown in bold relief in this situation.
I believe there is a strong case for the New Testament Church to be modeled in more associated but independent ways when it comes to congregational autonomy and many more issues, yet, on a practical level this seems like an ideal that has given way over many hundreds of years to a variety of models that embrace various NT teachings to varying degrees, expressions and accountability structures.
In some ways, this proves to be a good thing.
What strikes me about this article (and I encourage a first-hand read and checking other sources, too, if you are more deeply interested) are three main points:
- the naming as “misinformation” the basis for which many UMC Churches want to leave (since the book of discipline, of which I have zero familiarity with, is being openly violated)
- the role of money in the situations
- the changing of rules in a political move intended to disenfranchise (notice the part about “pausing” a vote to give time to alter/remove the “offending” part of the church’s book of discipline)
Oh, well….I suppose there were actually four things that stood out. (I really did make an attempt at a 3-point commentary here!). And that is the need for siblings in Christ to take one another before secular court–something prohibited/discouraged in the New Testament.
I feel like I want to share three scripture passages that come to mind in response to the three points above:
#1 -on misinformation
The Fall
3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring[a] and hers;
he will crush[b] your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
16 To the woman he said,
“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”
17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’
“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”
20 Adam[c] named his wife Eve,[d] because she would become the mother of all the living.
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#2-on money
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” (I Timothy 6:10)
_____
#3-on money
I tried to think of something in the Old or New Testament that might be a story of some type of political maneuver crafted intentionally to disenfranchise or prohibit the normal rules/process to be carried out. I am not sure if this connection makes sense–perhaps in some part–but I am thinking of Jesus before Pilate, when the crowd called for Barabbas to be released.
Perhaps a reader of this piece might think of additional or better examples in these three categories.
Thank you for reading, and I will end this with an image from the article and share what I notice.
When I look at this image, it is even worse than having the flag of any nation in a Christian worship sanctuary. Above this sanctuary’s altar, I see the word “RESIST.” Not only is this jarringly unbiblical, the colors of the lettering co-opt God’s beautiful rainbow given to mankind as a sign of His faithful promises.
“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”
Isaiah 5:20
No matter what part of the body of Christ we belong to locally, let us remember that when one member suffers, all suffer (I Corinthians 12) and that a little leaven works through the entire batch (Galatians 5:9).
For additional commentary here, perhaps check YES, THOSE ARE TWO PILES OF BLOODY, SEVERED BREASTS
Thank You For Reading
Please Feel Free To Express Your Thoughts Below
