It is always a blessing as a minister to be able to sit at a service. I did not have to lead today as I sat with the people of First United Methodist Church, Charlotte.  I was overjoyed throughout the service to find that, beyond not having to lead, I was also just enjoying myself. Going through life, we often find ourselves lost in what we are doing, but the reality is that we are in need as much as anyone who we seek to serve.

Today I heard a message that called many things into question, not in terms of cynicism, but in terms of Hope. When we look at the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, we will look at the fact that the eunuch is not part of the people of Israel and see how the church was expanded by his presence. Today, Bishop Cedric Bridgeforth told us that there are many people who our actions in the church has disenfranchised, as he called it castrated. We were all called to reflect on the fact that we are not just people witnessing oppression but people actively participating in it.

One of the ongoing elephants in the room regarding this General Conference is the upcoming conversations regarding human sexuality. Though this is not a blog that is intended to cover events of general conference, I come to a point where I have to say something about what transpires in a given day. As I sat in a reconciling congregation, a congregation that has taken the leap into accepting queer folk fully, my mind naturally settles in the reality of what is ahead of us.

There was a time in my life where the idea of a Reconciling Congregation would have seemed completely alien. It would be almost contradictory to say that LGBT people have a place in the church other than one of repentance. But that is not the John Langenstein who lives today. I have seen too many people that were written off by the church, but through whom the Spirit moved. Too many people who /I/ once wrote off as too far away from the fold of the faith to have a part in it.

I cannot help but make explicit what is implied. I am somebody who looks for the day where the church fully embraces all people regardless of human sexuality, regardless of their gender identity, regardless of anything, except for the three things we put forward and our Eucharistic Invitation.

Do you seek to live at peace with one another? Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you earnestly repent of your sins?

Those are the only things that truly matter. The Lord has shown to me, again and again, that whether people are gay, or bisexual, or trans, non-binary, cis – whatever they may be – God is working within them. It is not within my job as a minister, as a person, as anything, to question the calling that God puts upon their heart.

I strive to do what is best for all people and all things. The fact is that, that purpose – this charge to do something that is right – requires me to take a stance from now and again. My stance is always towards the inclusion of more people, the love of more people, and the transformative gospel that makes us able to become the body of Christ, regardless of our material composition.

In Charlotte this week, there has been differences of opinion and in the coming week as we debate human sexuality, we will have a great many people with a great many opinions. However, I am earnest in my belief that we are a Church that goes beyond our petty squabbles. I see in the many different things we disagree about, something greater. While we may disagree on the cultural context of Paul’s teachings regarding human sexuality and while we may disagree on how they manifest in our daily life today, I hope that we all agree on a few core things:

Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, was God incarnate – fully God and fully man. God our savior lived among us. He did the good work of loving us who refused at times to love him. For the sin of loving all whom he met, Christ was killed on a Roman cross on an offence to all people who draw breath. This same Lord rose from the dead three days later and the same Lord advocates for us through the Holy Spirit and to our Holy Father.

If we as Christians can agree in the death, life and resurrection of Christ, why can’t we disagree on the smaller matters?

The first draft of this that I am writing is me speaking into a phone while I wait to meet with an old friend outside of a bakery (more on that tomorrow…) In this moment I felt the need to get my initial thoughts out.

Today, I heard a bishop speak to me about call and about the need to follow that call, wherever it goes. It would be wrong of me to deny that my call is towards a more inclusive church. A Church that includes dissenting voices and a Church that includes people no matter how they find themselves expressing who they are. The Church is broad enough to include all people. If it is not then it is useless. For I believe in a God who said that neither height nor depth nor length nor width nor life nor death, nor anything in heaven or Earth can get between us and the love of God. If I believe in such a God, it would be folly for me to deny that he has a place for all people.

May the Lord bless us in the midst of difference to advocate for justice. As has already been declared by the general conference of the United Methodist Church in the year of our Lord 2024 – All people are worthy of human and civil rights. As we go, it’ll be farther than we have ever been and yet Lord, I pray that we will see greater inclusion in the coming days.

For those who read this and disagree or are shocked to hear me speak so frankly, I simply ask you to think of what you know me by. You can read through every sermon that is posted on this blog and see I’m as Orthodox as they come, at least as Orthodox as I can be.

Disagree with me. Be willing to speak with me, even to argue with me… but let us continue to love one another as we have up to this point.

May God be with us this week. May God’s will be done in all that we do, in what legislation is passed. Let us remember that God values all people and that we as human beings are the only ones that seem to confused how exactly that manifests.