Sermon Tone Analysis

Here we go

Talk, not sermon…so while I don’t refer to Scripture, Scripture runs through all of this talk.

This is NOT the time to argue, shout, or be disruptive (well, there’s no time for that).

While we may disagree on this or that, we disagree with out being disagreeable.

In Love.

Speak the truth in LOVE, Paul says.

And, a personal request…PLEASE, NEVER argue this stuff, or politics, or much of anything else on social media.

It’s a terribly destructive way to argue.

Would you openly argue politics or theology with your spouse on social media?

I hope not.

Neither should you with your Christian brothers and sisters.

If you want to argue with me, or with anyone, the best is face to face.

Over coffee, or ice cream, or whatever you prefer.

I am recording this and will make it available as best I see fit soon, stay tuned.

Reference Sheet

Brief History of Methodism and UMC

Methodism didn’t start as a denomination at all, but as a movement within the Church of England.

John & Charles Wesley, primarily, took church outside and, while not particularly popular at first, created a fast growing movement that some credit with saving England from a civil war.

The movement focused on grace, but also holiness, and the transforming power of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.

The term Methodist was originally intended to be derogatory but John adopted it.

You can read a great deal about the early movement in, “A Plain Account of the People Called Methodist.”

I’ve included a link in the resource list.

It’s quite remarkable!

John Wesley actually never left the Church of England, but once Methodism moved to America, he ordained two bishops to oversee America and it became a denomination separate from the Church of England with his blessing.

Those two men were Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury.

Back to Francis in a minute.

Since then, Methodism has gone through numerous form changes, or structures, or wineskins you might say.

Some, but certainly not all, of the denominations that have been, or joined, Methodism include The Methodist Episcopal Church, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Evangelical United Brethren, the Wesleyan Church, the Methodist Church, and of course, the United Methodist Church.

St. Luke was simply the Methodist Church (as you can see on one of our outside signs) before becoming part of the United Methodist Church as part of the merger with the Evangelical United Brethren in 1968.

I have deep Methodist roots I wasn’t even really aware of until a few years ago.

Francis Asbury, I mentioned, was British but moved to America and was one of the first two bishops of The Methodist Church in America.

He was quite a remarkable man.

He rode, like Wesley, countless miles on horseback founding churches and spreading the gospel.

I just learned something cool the other day about Asbury.

He met a freedman in 1780 named Henry Hosier.

Henry became Asbury’s right hand man and memorized long passages of Scripture as Asbury read them while they traveled.

Hosier eventually became a famous African American preacher and the FIRST African American preacher to preach directly to a white congregation in the United States.

Amazing...

Someone else Francis Asbury met and knew, probably even converted, was my 6x great grandfather, Daniel Sherwood.

They knew one another in Maryland and then Francis even visited North Carolina and stayed at Daniel’s home a time or two on his travels.

Here is a picture of Francis Asbury’s Journal from November 16, 1798, where he records staying with Daniel.

Daniel, his family, and some other Methodists founded Pleasant Grove Methodist Church in North Carolina…a church that still stands today.

It blows my mind that my 6x great grandfather not only knew Francis and hosted him but that he almost certainly knew Henry Hosier!

I am Methodist.

Deeply Methodist.

I can’t imagine ever NOT being Methodist.

I believe Methodism is the greatest hope for our world!

But, I also believe UNITED Methodism is broken.

The Book of Discipline and Years of Debates

Remember, now, that the United Methodist Church has only existed since 1968.

St. Luke was formed 16 years prior…first church, long before that.

I don’t know about Sierra Vista.

The organizing document, or set of rules, for United Methodism is known as our Book of Discipline.

Ironic, for reasons you’ll likely see soon.

Here is the 2016 version.

You’re welcome to look at it after this meeting.

It contains all sorts of information about being a UM church, clergy, lay person, leader, etc.

It contains our constitution, doctrinal statements, general rules, and much more.

Ever since the UMC was formed in ‘68, its members, particularly clergy and professors, have held a wide variety of beliefs.

Terms are very imperfect but it’s hard not to use them.

Some have been more progressive, you might say, some more creedal or doctrinal.

Also since the UMC was formed, different factions have been fighting over provisions and penalties in the book of discipline, often particularly focused on human sexuality.

Much of our collective attention has been focused on…what changes can be made in the BOD? Can our side, whatever it is, gain ground?

Every four years, we have a worldwide general conference where legislation is debated and voted upon and then later ratified by annual and central conferences.

Well, except we haven’t had a full general conference since 2016 even though we’re mandated by church law to have one every four years.

COVID delayed 2020, understandably I suppose.

Then it was supposed to be ‘21, then this year.

When they postponed ‘22 to ‘24 for, in my opinion, no real reason, many of us saw the brokenness of our structure afresh, or perhaps for the first time.

It seems all sides of the arguments had a hand in this delay, playing politics.

But what I’ve come to realize, friends, is how much time I’ve wasted, and really we’ve wasted, because it really doesn’t matter what the BOD says.

No matter what the BOD says, our structure has always been lacking in a key, necessary, function.

And that is compliance or enforcement.

There is SOME attempt at it in the BOD but, in reality, it really has no teeth.

Now, you’ll hear Adam Hamilton and others say, even our conference website says, that our doctrinal statements haven’t changed.

True.

I even saw the other day that a fellow clergy person went back through all the BOD’s way back to Methusela or whatever and confirmed, YEP, our doctrinal statements haven’t changed!

Yippee!

Doesn’t matter.

Because with no real compliance or enforcement, what we have is doctrinal chaos and confusion.

BILLY ABRAHAM STUFF.

Some will try and deny and pretend that we’re all pastors, professors, and the like are aligned on key doctrines (deity of Christ, identity and power of God, virgin birth, RESURRECTION OF CHRIST, SUPREMACY OF GOD/CHRIST OVER ALL OTHER gods, etc.) That’s just nonsense.

I suspect they know it because if they don’t, they’ve had their heads buried in the sand.

I could tell numerous stories FROM OUR CONFERENCE, but am hesitant to use names due to the risks involved.

Suffice it to say, we have doctrinal confusion and sometimes chaos in our boards, processes, pulpits, and seminaries.

But I’ll share some examples that are publicly reported.

Links to some or all of these will be in the resource document.

In perhaps the most mind blowing example, we have a bishop.

She presides over Colorado (where Kathy N’s son-in-law, Audra’s brother-in-law Jason is ordained clergy) and several other territories.

According to our BOD, she was ineligible to be a bishop.

Yet, the western jurisdiction elected her bishop.

So, someone (I don’t know who) filed charges (one of our feeble enforcement mechanisms) arguing that, she’s ineligible to be a bishop.

It seems those in the WesFFFtern Jurisdiction or in her episcopal area effectively said, yeah, we’re not going to do anything with those charges.

So, then, and I don’t recall all the mechanisms behind this, the issue came before the UMC Judicial Council.

The Judicial council is kind of akin to a UMC Supreme Court.

As I recall, they ruled that, yes, indeed, she’s ineligible to be a bishop.

There’s more to this story, but you might be thinking, she’s not a bishop anymore, right?

Wrong.

She is and has been a bishop since 2016.

By all indications, she’ll be active until she retires at or near age 72.

And, she’ll still hold the title for life.