Dear Friends,

            This “Musings” article is being written just a few days (daze?) after the vote for the creation of the Great Lakes Annual Conference was defeated. There’s always an inherent risk in making one’s observations so soon after the event, because sometimes the passage of time gives us a more complete picture… a lens that comes helps focus our reflections with more insight, information, discernment. However, there are also times when people want (maybe need?) to know what their leaders think. I will offer all who read these words what my current response is, understanding it may well change with the passage of time, more conversation, more listening, more whatever else is needed.

            My initial and preponderant reaction was one of shock and deep dismay. I felt… and still feel… we missed a chance to embrace God’s future in a new and exciting way. I was profoundly hurt for my friends… known and unknown… who spent untold hours in meetings, listening and dreaming, stepping outside the box and beyond their comfort zone, to imagine what God might be calling all of us to embrace.  I also wonder how we will get other leaders to help us in our next effort to move boldly into the future.

            Some people at the Special Conference felt that MATT had designed the structure too tightly, while others sense it was not “tight enough”. I found myself musing that day if perhaps that was a sign it may have been about right. Certainly, we could have tweaked it after living with it for awhile… one Annual Conference can not bind another’s decision(s).  As I noted in my remarks, “structure” will never be that which will save our beloved Church, anyway!

            Time and time again, as I observe behavior among the churches in our Conference I can’t help but notice that, like our nation as a whole, we live in a time of high anxiety and stress… reflected in much of our behavior.  I yearn for we United Methodists… in the Michigan Area and beyond… to become more comfortable with mystery and knowing in our Heart of hearts that we cannot know all there is to know before we make decisions that impact us… and others. I covet the day when we can live more easily with ambiguity and embrace God’s mysteries that seem inherent in what it means to be human. But we’re not there yet. Maybe some day….

            Lastly, I hope and pray that whatever way one voted, I trust that we can avoid the human tendency to make “the other” our enemy. That is diametrically opposed to God’s will for us in the Church. I hope that we will engage in open, heart-felt, vulnerable conversations with each other… and others. Reach out to those who hurt. Embrace those who see the world… and Church… and our future differently than you do. Listen with care to those who are trying to understand what you believe. Listen even more carefully to those who are tempted to “write you off”.

            Our ministry in Christ goes on. We need to continue to make disciples for Christ, so that the world can be transformed. How can that come alive, if we ignore those who differ from us? And what kind of disciples are we… and are trying to embody to a fractured world ? May the One who calls us all give you grace, wisdom, strength and patience for the Journey.

Shalom,

Tom Macaulay