Holding Steady

 June 18, 2022

I entered the United Methodist Church in 1972 when the old Erie Conference of the Evangelical United Brethren became part of the new UMC. I remember the transition. The first half of Annual Conference that year was held at the Findley Lake campground. It was the last for the old Erie Conference and the EUB denomination. Two days at Findley Lake were followed by two days at Roberts Wesleyan College as newly minted United Methodists. I remember coming home from  that first Annual Conference as a United Methodist and telling my wife, “They use the same words, but don’t mean the same thing.” 

For the past fifty years, we have worked together, agreed and disagreed, held together by a covenant called the Discipline. I’ve learned from my “less conservative” brothers and sisters, have had friendships with people I wouldn’t have met and befriended had we not had that merger fifty years ago. And now it is all unraveling. My United Methodist Denomination is imploding. It isn’t official yet, but it’s coming. Battles over human sexuality make the headlines, but the interpretation and authority of Scripture is where the real divide takes place.

The vision of the Son of Man in Revelation 1 has long impressed me. When disagreements are deep, the temptation is often to demonize the other side. We are seeing it in politics, and it’s present in the Church. But here, Jesus is seen walking among the candlesticks holding stars in his hand. In the last verse of the chapter, the symbolism is explained: “The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches.”

In chapters two and three, these churches are described. Some have been faithful, some have tolerated immorality and doctrinal error, one was outstanding in its missionary work, and one was almost a complete failure. In spite of all that, Jesus walked among them and held their leaders in his hand. He didn’t kick some churches to the side or cast out ineffective or even errant leaders. He walked among them and held them tightly.

Whenever I’m tempted to write someone off, or thrown in the towel with a clearly dysfunctional denomination (which temptation I’ve faced many times), I remember Jesus walking among the candlesticks and say to myself, “If Jesus can stick with them, I can, too.” So I do, even when in my heart of hearts, I want to do otherwise. If Jesus can do it, so must I.