I’m not very good at vacation. I know I’m not alone in this regard. Some people just can’t get work out of their heads. Some people, like me, have a hyperactive sense of responsibility. Humility requires, however, an understanding that God’s good work in the world doesn’t depend upon our working ourselves to death. When…

There’s an old curse that goes, “May you live in interesting times.” For better or worse, the times we live in are indeed interesting, at least in the UMC. The actions of a number of clergy and some bishops in the UMC have seriously undermined the force of our canon law. The status of the actions of…

I had the pleasure of listening to Stanley Hauerwas this morning. I’ve enjoyed reading some of his work and hearing him lecture over the years. He has a way of capsizing our presuppositions and leading us to reckon with the force of doctrine and scripture in every aspect of our lives. Today he spoke at the Summer…

I had dinner with an old friend last night, and we talked about some of the ire that my last post raised. Raising ire really isn’t my thing, nor was it the intention of the post. Rather, the intention was to raise awareness of the disproportionate level of attention that one issue, which our Discipline calls “homosexual…

I wonder what would happen if I were to invade a meeting of the Connectional Table…. I could march in with a few of my like-minded friends and begin singing about the fact that people with Down Syndrome, including children, are routinely denied organ transplants. Consider the case of Annie Golden Heart (you can find her…

The latest proposal for dealing with the crisis in The United Methodist Church is now public (here). The so-called “local option,” as David Watson called it here, leaves local congregations to determine whether “they will, or will not, allow for homosexual marriages or unions.” This proposal would turn us into congregationalists. Methodism’s connectionalism is one…