You may have seen my church, the United Methodist Church, in the news this week. Unfortunately, the headlines have not been “United Methodist Church Makes Great Strides to Eliminate Poverty.” Nor have the headlines been, “United Methodist Church Leads the World Promoting the Welfare of Children.” If only. No instead, to my embarrassment, the headlines have been, “United Methodist Church To Debate LGBTQ Clergy And Same-Sex Weddings.”

For the next three days, our church is spending a silly amount money to send our bishops, plus 864 laity and clergy delegates, to St. Louis to decide if the church will continue to prohibit LGBTQ clergy and gay marriage. To be honest, before this issue came up, I had no idea that my church has these antiquated prohibitions. Maybe my head was in the sand, but I thought that we were part of the twenty-first century. I was wrong.

Significantly, the money spent on this conference is money that could be used to feed the poor. Instead it is being used to rent a St. Louis sports arena so that the church can figure out whether it really wants to promote love and equality for all – or not. God must be shaking His head.

In the lead up to this vote, I have been encountering all kinds of people with real problems. I know a mother whose teenager has been fighting depression. She is overwhelmed with worry for her child. I know a young man whose mother just died. He was very devoted to her and is devastated by her death. I know a grandmother whose grandson has been diagnosed with mental health issues. She and her husband have upended their lives to be with him and support him.

These are the people who my church should be serving. These are the people who deserve our time and energy. Instead, the church is being distracted by nonsense.

A group who is more concerned about excluding people than about serving people, has hijacked our denomination. They are wasting our denomination’s time and financial resources so that they can promote bigotry and hatred, instead of spreading the Good News.

The Good News is this: Jesus died for our sins. We no longer have to be separated from God because we made a mistake. Why? Because we can simply repent and pray, and our sins will be forgiven. For anyone who has ever made a mistake (and we all have), that is about the Best News there is.

The Good News is this: Jesus did not discriminate based on gender or nationality. Jesus loved everyone. We are called to do the same. And when we love others, that means that we treat them equally. You don’t love people if you say, “You can attend my church, but you can’t be a minister in my church or be married in my church.” The unequal treatment of people is the opposite of love.

I have been a United Methodist since I was a little kid. There is a picture of me when I was four years old holding a teddy bear in my first Sunday School classroom. I was baptized and confirmed in the Methodist church. Being part of the Methodist Youth Fellowship was the best part of my teen years.  I now am a United Methodist Church Sunday School teacher.  It is disappointing to me that the church that I have loved so much is being so utterly un-Christian.

By the end of next week, the United Methodist Church will not be the same. Presumably many people will leave, regardless of the outcome of the conference. There is no solution that will make everyone happy. My only hope is that this very costly issue has forced people to examine their hearts and decide whether they want to follow the path of bigotry or the path of Jesus.

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