The State of the UMC: Homosexuality and Separation
“The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” – John 17:22-23 Much can be said about where the UMC is right now in the context of disagreement and conflict over homosexuality. Much is being said about where the UMC is right now. Some is true. Some is untrue. Some lacks nuance. Some is purposefully misleading. First of all, we are a people of diverse opinions and holding different stakes in the conversation. It is difficult to hear each other among our differences of opinion, experience, history, and emotional responses to words that trigger uncomfortable reactions and strongly held positions. It is common for us to downplay a position that is contrary to our own. Landlubbers once held strongly to the conviction that the earth is flat, while seafarers were ready to speak of