It's just a book, just a book

It's a book. Just a book. It has pages, paper pages. It was formed and forged in the fire of human passion over a long period of time. It is currently under the microscope, and what is at stake is its future.

Will we, or do we, continue to use it as a guiding factor in the lives of millions world wide, and the millions upon millions world wide who haven't read it once or some who haven't even heard of it?

That's the question, it seems to me, that is on the table, ready for a substantially important vote. It's about this dang book that has become so very, very important in my life over the past 19 years.

What we are about to find out is how few people really understand or even know about this book which has held the UMC's guiding principles wrapped up in a bow and handed to each and every church that has a cross and flame to punctuate its promises. Do we believe what it says? Do we do what we say we believe?

The issue, it seems, is whether that book means anything at all. Anything. The sentences, formed by a select few writers and editors, are clear as rain water. It reads without question or doubt what we don't necessarily want to read, but what is there is what is there.

Oh, we can try to read into the minds of those who were there in the beginning, when the language was being formed, when the sentences were worth arguing about, each and every one. We can argue about that, who wrote what and such. But it gets us nowhere. What is there is there, unless we have the mechanism to change what is there. Oh, wait, we do. Now we simply have to figure out what is worth wiping out in a head-long rush to some one's judgment.

Do we change what we don't like? Do we edit what has given us issues? Do we rip away words that have given rise to rift?

These are not simple questions. These words have caused pain and hardship in literally hundreds of lives, but to simply get a yellow marker and go to hacking could be just as painful and create just as much hardship on the other side.

Nah, the clock is ticking on the denomination I hold so dear, I believe, because we can't get together and reason in love. So, we get together and quarrel till the spiritual cows come home. And nothing, quite literally nothing is solved.

Rifts are still rifting. Ruts are still rutting. Pain is still painful. Tragic discussion has only become more tragic.

And our book, our Book of Disciple, has been proved meaningless all along. Oh, you thought I was talking about that other book? The Bible, you say?

That ship has sailed. The moment we began screaming, love left the building. All we have left is a bit of hope. It is to that we longingly point. It's all that remains of that grand ol' lady, Methodism. A bit of hope that wiser hearts, not minds, can come together.

Would it be difficult? Without question. Would it be painful? Oh, without a doubt. But if we can't even amend the language in the BOD to say that loving Methodists can disagree with the section on sexuality, then how could we ever fix the rest?

I would not marry two of the same sex. I do believe those same to have every right to be married in a civil ceremony. I do believe the act of sex between them would be sin, as I believe the Bible reads. Can I justify all of those sentences thrown together in the same paragraph? Probably not. But I believe that if we allow our denomination to be split, we will never come close to fixing these issues, and a huge opportunity to bring people to Christ under the same big tent that accepted me, a recovering sinner of some renown, will be lost forever.

I keep thinking that Jesus ate with those sinners. I can't get that out of my mind, and my heart. Can I do any differently? I think not. Let's move it along, people. Stop looking at the automobile accident on the side of the road and start looking at the road ahead. It's time.

We all need to check our egos, our pride, our ability to translate and read scripture at the door as we enter. Jesus and John Wesley are having a discussion over in the corner. The table is set. Can we just eat together?