{"id":19841,"date":"2019-04-10T11:56:53","date_gmt":"2019-04-10T18:56:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/?p=19841"},"modified":"2019-04-10T11:57:01","modified_gmt":"2019-04-10T18:57:01","slug":"smudges-sneers-and-small-gods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/smudges-sneers-and-small-gods\/","title":{"rendered":"Smudges, Sneers and Small Gods"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Commentary by Rev. Paul Graves<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Today, let\u2019s consider the pain of judgmentalism and the judgmentalism of pain. In Matthew 7:1-4, Jesus\u2019 judgment challenges: “\u2026It\u2019s easy to see the smudge on your neighbor\u2019s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, \u2018Let me wash your face for you,\u2019 when your own face is distorted by contempt? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.\u201d (from Eugene Peterson\u2019s The Message<\/em>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since Spring 1972, The United Methodist Church has had a family feud about homosexuality. Six weeks ago, our governing body, the General Conference, narrowly voted to keep the restrictive language and punitive attitude toward ordained LGBTQ clergy and same-sex weddings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So we\u2019re still feuding, and the increased heat could result in some kind of organizational splinter of our denomination. That would be painful enough. What is even more distressing is the emotional harm being felt by LGBTQ persons, clergy and laity alike, plus their families and allies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I count myself as an ally! So I struggle to clearly and graciously see how conference delegates who voted for a \u201ctraditionalist\u201d church plan were reflecting a Jesus-like attitude toward the marginalized we call LGBTQ. But God knows how hard I\u2019m trying to transform my disappointment and anger!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The day after the General Conference over, I was moved to pull a certain book from my library: Your God Is Too Small<\/em>, by J.B. Phillips. Published in 1952, it is a classic reminder that our perceptions of God are many and\u2014too often\u2014distorted by our own limited experiences of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I reviewed Phillips\u2019 insights, I was determined to project them onto the people I totally disagree with. Whether they may fear homosexuality, or rigidly limit their views of homosexual behaviors in the Bible to only the words they see, or they seek political control, we are in full disagreement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s easy to label persons who think differently as having gods that are too small. But slowly, I began to wrestle with another thought: Maybe my god was also too small but in ways different from the \u201ctraditionalists.\u201d Maybe we \u201cprogressives\u201d have gods too small for the moment too!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slowly, this column took a different direction from my original intent. I grieve over the close General Conference vote. (A 54-vote majority suggests that 28 votes for an inclusive church may have had \u201cTraditionalists\u201d screaming foul like crazy.) The outcome wasn\u2019t shaped by \u201cGod\u2019s Will\u201d but by Roberts\u2019 Rules of Order!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what do we do now? One fundamental task our whole church might undertake is to humbly admit we revel in taking sides. It\u2019s easier to control others, and our little images of God, when we take sides and believe God is on our side. But our fences only hem us in, not God!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionalist Methodists pay lip-service to the truth that homosexuals are of ultimate worth, but they want to determine where that worth is played out. Progressive Methodists know LGBTQ persons are of ultimate worth but maybe aren\u2019t so sure about Traditionalists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both \u201csides\u201d are wrong, simply because they choose \u201csides.\u201d The biblical God has a real bias toward the marginalized persons of society, but that\u2019s not taking \u201csides.\u201d It\u2019s destroying the fences and bringing all persons together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If your God creates fences rather than taking them down, I humbly suggest your God is much too small to be of any redemptive good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

The Rev. Paul Graves<\/strong> serves as the chair for the Council on Older Adult Ministries for the Pacific Northwest Conference of The United Methodist Church.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In his latest commentary, Older Adult Ministries chair Rev. Paul Graves wrestles with questions and feelings stemming from General Conference 2019.
\n“So what do we do now?” Graves writes. “One fundamental task our whole church might undertake is to humbly admit we revel in taking sides.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":19842,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6,449,485],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-19841","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-conversation","8":"category-general-conference","9":"category-voices"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/INSIGHTS_Elders_Paul.jpg?fit=700%2C357&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2l75j-5a1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19841"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19841\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19843,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19841\/revisions\/19843"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}