YOU ARE ALL CHILDREN OF GOD
So in Christ Jesus, you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:26-28. NIV
The actions of the General Conference a few months ago removed all restrictive language related to LGBTQIA persons serving in the ordained Methodist ministry. It was the latest step in a centuries long process to bring our denomination into clearer alignment with the doctrine listed above from the writings of Paul.
Christ’s coming changed the prevailing practice of the time that reserved faith in God for those who were practicing Jews, following the very complicated Jewish religious law of the time as advocated by the Priests, Pharisees and Scribes. Jesus was revolutionary when he taught those who were Gentiles and allowed them to become his followers. His revolutionary practices also allowed acceptance of those who were considered unclean or objectionable sinners like tax collectors. As the Christian Church evolved it moved from a Jewish sect to an inclusive faith based upon the teachings of Jesus and his disciples, such as Paul, author of the letter to the church in Galicia.
The American Methodist church repeatedly split over the centuries since its founding at the conclusion of the American Revolution. In 1794, the first African Methodist Episcopal Church was founded in Philadelphia. In 1828, the Methodist Protestant Church was formed without bishops. In 1843, some of those who were against slavery left to becomes the Wesleyan Methodist Church. The following year, the 1844 General Conference split into separate northern and southern churches over slavery and race. African American churches in the south, after the Civil War, became the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church in 1870. In 1939 there was a consolidation of the northern, southern and protestant Methodists. In 1968, the Evangelical United Brethren Church and Methodist Church merged to become the United Methodist Church.
Women were ordained in the Methodist Protestant Church in the middle of the 19th Century. The EUBC ordained a woman in 1889. Methodist Church women did not receive full clergy rights until 1956; Maude Jensen was one of 27 in the Central Pennsylvania Conference. It has taken centuries to get where we are today. Disaffiliation is not a new thing – it has always been a part of Methodist history. Each time we get closer to the church where are all children of God.
Prayer: Lord, we use our reason, tradition and experience to move toward the church you want us to become. Help us remember that we are all one in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Carol Rice
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