I took a break from writing yesterday to rest. One of the unfortunate things about being in a city that you’re not used to is that the pollen is not of a variety that your immune system has any defense against. When you, like me, are allergic to just about everything, something as simple as a shift in pollen can ruin your day. Luckily the rain eventually fell and as evening came, my sinuses cleared. I was reminded of one of my favorite hymns,

“Sweet the rain’s new fall, Sunlit from Heaven.”

Worship today was led by the first Indigenous Bishop on the Council, Bishop David Wilson. The timing of worship fell so that I missed his sermon, but as I wandered into the Press Conference room for our daily briefing I did so to the sound of hymns in Native Languages and exited the room to the same. The United Methodist Church has a checkered history with the Indigenous people around the world, it is hard to overstate the significance of an Indigenous Bishop presiding over a service prominently featuring Indigenous languages. The people and languages that this Church once worked to suppress are now celebrated – a statement of the power and potential of reconciliation.

This Conference has seen a variety of historic events. The removal of restrictive language around human sexuality allows churches and ministers to decide for themselves how they will handle matters of human sexuality; A new way of managing our Connection, one that focuses on regional governance and global collaboration; A new version of the Social Principles sets a baseline for the aspirational work of the Church as it navigates the world around it. These were what were given the name, “The Three Rs,” in the lead-up to Conference. The source of a great deal of conversation and stress leading up to General Conference these were considered to be what most of our discussion would circle around…

We were wrong. The final vote of the morning plenary saw 93% of the delegates from around the world approve the removal of exclusionary language. The most contentious matters relating to these pieces of legislation still passed in such a way that, even if the 120 delegates who were unable to attend for one reason or another universally opposed them (an impossibility really,) they would still have passed. The overwhelming witness of the Church in Europe, the Philippines, Africa, and the United States, is that the time to allow for latitude on contentious issues in the name of shared mission is here – and, really, has been for some time.

The places where we did debate were focused on the ministries of the Church.

How do we fund education? How do we fund hospitals? How do we make sure that we can go out and do the work of the Church as the people of God? The Gospel needs to be preached! The work needs done! How will we go there? And who will do the work? These saw the majority of lengthy debates and close votes (these and retirement plans, but that always goes long… (Also a surprising amount of motions to turn down the air conditioning in the room?))

I do not know what the future holds. I think that some churches in the U.S. and some conferences in the world will choose to leave the UMC following the work we have undertaken this week. Yet, I have hope that going forward even those that leave will do so with a willingness to work together. We make the choice going forward whether we act in love or as agents of division. We make the choice if the Body of Christ is greater than even a matter as big as this.

There is a lot of work ahead of us, but it is necessary work. On one hand, we have to balance differences in opinion in a way we never have before, but on the other… We’ve been doing this for years already. We have been living as gay and straight, progressive and conservative for decades. We have just erased what made us live this way in whispers rather than out loud. The Gospel will still be proclaimed, the Word of God preached, and the means of grace richly poured out on a world that needs them more than ever.

A verse that has settled in my heart over the last year or so goes as follows,

Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings forth chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise,they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:

“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise.”

As we go forward, let us do so as people who believe that God works through new things and not simply through the old. The Spirit of the Lord is alive and active and I plan to chase it wherever it leads me. May we see the fruits of the Spirit bursting from our midst as the dry parched lands find life and life abundant.