Resurrection from Division
SCRIPTURE TEXT: John 17:20-26
Rev. Monte Marshall
Today is the last Sunday of the Easter season and we have more resurrection stories to tell. We’re celebrating all the ways in which resurrection is possible in our lives, moving us from despair to hope, from darkness to light, from death to life.
This morning we’re telling stories about resurrection from division. Let’s pray: God of the empty tomb, roll away the stones that prevent us from beholding your glory. Unlock our capacity for resurrection. We open the doors of our lives to your healing, inspiring and sustaining Spirit, as we pray in the name of the One who is our threshold to new life. Amen.1
On Tuesday of this week, United Methodists from around the world will meet in Portland, Oregon to make policy for The United Methodist Church. It’s a meeting of the General Conference, the church’s top legislative body that meets every four years. The conference gathers in the midst of many divisions within the church—divisions over biblical interpretation, theology, politics and more. The issue that actually threatens to split the church is full-inclusion for LGBTQ persons in the life of the church.
In 2014, Rev. Jamie Westlake, a United Methodist pastor supportive of our church’s current discriminatory policies against LGBTQ persons, said this: “Here’s our problem in the United Methodist Church. There is no compromise position on the issue of homosexuality and biblical understanding…. We’ve endlessly debated the question with no end in sight. Since there is no compromise that will be acceptable for either side…, perhaps the time has come…to draw up a ‘Plan of Separation’…that will be agreeable to all parties concerned.”
By Rev. Westlake’s own admission, this idea was inspired by the split that occurred in 1844 between the northern and southern branches of the Methodist Episcopal Church over the issue of slavery. Rev. Westlake also drew from the history of the reunification of these two churches in 1939 to conclude: “Who knows what might happen after separation? God may well draw us back into union with one another in the future.”2
Speaking personally, I have no doubt that if we separate, God will indeed be at work to bring us back together again. But given the witness of this morning’s scripture reading from John’s gospel about unity, I’m wondering how a pastor who claims to have such a high view of scripture, can so easily disregard the message of the text and recommend a church split. It doesn’t compute!
In this morning’s reading, taken from what scholars call the Farewell Discourse, we find Jesus, on the night before his death, praying for his disciples—for the disciples gathered around him in the story—and for the disciples who will follow him in the future.
And for what does he pray? Unity! Jesus says: “I pray…that all may be one, as you, Abba, are in me and I in you; I pray that they may be one in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me…I in them, you in me—that they may be perfect in unity. Then the world will know that you sent me, and that you loved them as you loved me.”
If we are indeed an Easter people raised to new life, then we have been resurrected from division and into unity. And that unity is not to found in doctrinal purity, or in some rigidly narrow definition of orthodoxy, or in an approach to biblical interpretation that essentially says, “It’s either my way or the highway!” This is not who we are. Our unity is found in the love of God in Christ Jesus, dwelling within us and at work within us to create community.
For this community to break apart is a betrayal of that love. And the world knows enough of love betrayed.
For this community to break apart is to impair our mission to the world. The world itself knows enough of division. And the church itself, already fractured into a thousand pieces, knows enough of division.
So why would we want to exacerbate these problems? Our task as the followers of Jesus is to reveal to the world the love of God that unites rather than divides.
Now I think all of you know by now where I stand on inclusiveness for LGBTQ persons in the life of our church. I support what the Reconciling Ministries Network calls The Simple Plan. The Simple Plan recommends, for example, removing the exclusionary language from our Book of Discipline that discriminates against LGBTQ persons. The Simple Plan allows for same-sex marriages to be conducted by our clergy in our places worship without threat of reprisals or punitive sanctions. The Simple Plan allows all persons who are called and empowered by the Holy Spirit to be considered for ordained ministry within the church, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. The Simple Plan affirms that it’s time for change in The United Methodist Church. And yes, it is time!
But here’s the deal: If there is any hope for unity, love requires making room for dissent. After all, resurrection change is possible for every person, even dissenters. In fact, staying connected with one another through the bond of love in spite of our disagreements may well provide the seedbed out of which new resurrection stories emerge.
Tony Campolo is a case in point. Campolo is 80 years old. He’s a self-described evangelical and a member of the American Baptist Churches USA. He’s the author of over 35 books and one of the founders of an organization called “Red Letter Christians.”
Campolo is also considered a political liberal, but until recently, he was, in his own words, “deeply uncertain about what was right” with regard to homosexuality. At one point, he believed that homosexuality was sinful. Later on, he came around to endorsing the idea of civil unions for same-sex couples.
Interestingly enough, Campolo’s wife, Peggy, held the exact opposite point of view from her husband on homosexuality. So I’m wondering: How in the world did these two people manage to stay married to one another given their differences on this extraordinarily divisive issue, while the church is talking about separation? I may be wrong, but I suspect that the Campolos have managed to stay together because they’ve loved one another. Imagine that!
But now for the resurrection part of the story: Tony Campolo has changed his mind! He now openly supports same sex-marriage and he urges the church “to be more welcoming.”
This change didn’t come easily. As one reporter puts it, Campolo “spent ‘countless hours’ in study and prayer wrestling with the decision calling it an ‘emotional turmoil.’”
Campolo then wrote in a statement to the public: “One reason I am changing my position on this issue is that, through Peggy, I have come to know so many gay Christian couples whose relationships work in much the same way as our own. Our friendships with these couples have helped me understand how important it is for the exclusion and disapproval of their unions by the Christian community to end. We in the church should actively support such families.”3
Now regardless of what happens over the next few weeks, or at future General Conference sessions, I intend to remain a United Methodist until the day I die, unless, of course, they kick me out. But I also intend to remain a United Methodist committed to the full inclusion of LGBTQ persons in the church—until the church itself experiences resurrection. And that day, I believe, will come just as surely as it came for Tony Campolo and for so many others. It may not come as quickly as we would like, but I’m convinced that the day will come. Until then, I’m willing to stand in the breach for the sake of love, even if it means bearing a cross of suffering and pain.
Come to think of it, in the theology of John’s gospel, there’s glory revealed in the cross and there’s good news to proclaim: Christ is risen! Christ is risen, indeed! Alleluia! No matter how divided we may be, God has plans for us—plans for light and life! Can our lives be turned around? Can we find new life when everything feels lifeless? Can light shine in what feels like an empty tomb? The answer is YES, YES, YES! Then our stories—then each story—can be a resurrection story. Thanks be to God. Amen.