Weekly Greeting - February 14, 2025
Greetings friends,
A Word from Pastor Terry
Change is hard. The division in the United Methodist Church that resulted in individuals and even whole congregations leaving the UMC has been hard. What I thought was an increasing emphasis on grace and “love thy neighbor” became a wedge of opposite conceptions. That wedge almost brought down our denomination that we once thought of as a “big tent” that included people across all spectrums.
Change is hard. I am definitely feeling the impact of change in our national government. It is more than the quintessential turnover of political parties. It seems that every day there are new announcements of defunding government programs and dismantling of major federal departments. There is talk of taking territory from other countries. What we thought was a joking remark seems more possible as tariffs are being levied or threatened against those who oppose. I can’t keep up. And I can’t even comprehend a government without effective checks and balances.
Change has been hard on us. The political battles seem to be over and have left us carefully avoiding anything that resembles criticism of “the other.” But many of us are no longer communicating with people who we have considered friends, colleagues, or even maybe family members. Social media has not been very social in many cases because people have been able to excommunicate people who they do not agree with. News outlets that represent political extremes have gotten the exclusive attention of many people who do not change the channel, so they choose to receive the same jaded information repeatedly. We are not hearing different opinions anymore because we only hang out with people who think like us. Or we don’t bring up things that might cause us to lose yet another friend.
I consider myself to be, foremost, a follower of Christ. Sure, I have political leanings, but I don’t want to have political arguments. I don’t want to be left alone, but I don’t want to be “won over” by either of the extremes. I just want to try to understand what other people are thinking so I can try to make sense of what feels like chaos around me.
What can we do? I find that I “can’t do nothing” about this. I need to do something. Friends tell me that I must start at home. So, I am working toward starting a weekly “civil” conversation setting at BUMC to hear each other talk about personal perspectives on potentially difficult topics. This is not bringing in speakers to tell us what to think; it is talking among Christian friends who have different opinions. John Wesley is quoted, “Though we cannot think alike, may we not love alike? May we not be of one heart, though we are not of one opinion? Without all doubt, we may. Herein all the children of God may unite, notwithstanding these smaller differences.”
Stay tuned. This is taking shape. It is risky to discuss our differences. Jesus risked it all. I think it is worthwhile for us to at least risk conversation.
Blessings,
Terry Carty
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
We continue our Gifts of Faith worship series this week. Our theme this Sunday is “The Gift of Warnings.” We will consider the blessings and the woes from the Beatitudes in Luke 6:17-26. This is NOT about politics. It is about boundaries that can keep us spiritually and morally centered.