“I’m not going to die. I’m going home, like a shooting star.”  

—Sojourner Truth

In this morning’s worship, we were led by the preaching of Bishop David Wilson, the first Native American to be elected bishop in the United Methodist Church. Bishop Wilson spoke to us of “the great cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1) and “those who proclaimed the word of God to us” (Hebrews 13:7), focusing on those who had been instrumental in the shaping of his life and faith. We heard songs of praise during worship that were written and sung on the Trail of Tears, as we remembered those who glorified God even in the face of displacement, forced relocation, suffering, and death. “We honor such souls,” Bishop Jones said, “when we make decisions that will improve the health and spiritual vitality of the next seven generations.” It was a sermon that helped us to appreciate with greater attentiveness some of the decisions facing this General Conference.

We concluded worship by remembering with prayerful gratitude those bishops, spouses,  and General Conference delegates and leaders who have died since the last General Conference. As the bell sounded for each soul, we celebrated the legacy of these faithful servants of the church who have gone before us. 

Our plenary today included a full agenda:

• We welcomed representatives of the United Methodist ecclesiastical family, including our Pan Methodist full communion partner churches, our concordat partner churches, and our other partner churches with whom we share covenant, affiliation, or full communion.

• We approved Wespath’s new retirement/pension plan for clergy, expected to be less costly than the current plan while generating no additional long-term liabilities for annual conferences.

• We approved the deletion of Paragraph 2553 from the Book of Discipline, meaning that the Discipline no longer contains a mechanism for disaffiliation.

• We elected new members of the Commission on General Conference, the Judicial Council (which rules on the constitutionality and Disciplinary integrity of United Methodist legislative decisions), and the Board of Trustees of John Street United Methodist Church in New York City (the oldest Methodist congregation in America, dating back to 1766).

Every so often, a moment occurs at General Conference that bears the weight of history with particular momentousness. One of those moments occurred this morning.

Through the consent calendar and without plenary debate, General Conference delegates removed from the Book of Discipline a 40-year-old ban on the ordination of clergy who are “self-avowed practicing homosexuals.” Any attempt on my part to capture in words the significance of this action would be woefully insufficient. I will simply say that the vote took me to a place of deep emotion as I reflected on the faithful and gifted LGBTQ+ persons whom I have known and loved over the decades and who lived daily with the anguish of being marginalized by the church or denied the ordination to which they felt called. Their journeys were deeply present in my heart and mind as I voted today. I believe that today’s action took place upon the sacred ground of their legacy.

I acknowledge that some who are reading this post will lament or condemn this action by the General Conference, interpreting it as “yet another sinful initiative on the part of an apostate church” (as one person phrased it on social media). If this reflects your perspective, I am not your enemy, nor am I cynical about your viewpoint, even as I disagree strongly with it. Our disagreement does not diminish our shared commitment to what we believe to be faithful.

Others of you will celebrate the General Conference’s action, seeing it as the long-awaited righting of a heartbreaking injustice. If this describes your mindset, know that I add my heart and voice to your celebration.

Important to note is the fact that today’s General Conference action does not force any United Methodist pastor or congregation to act against their conscience concerning human sexuality. The removal of the ordination ban, however, serves to widen the United Methodist circle in a spirit of expanded inclusiveness.

After today’s vote, a delegate friend of mine, a candidate for ministry who describes himself as “a queer, lifelong United Methodist,” walked over to where I was standing, wiping tears from his eyes. “The church I love,” he said, “is finally protecting my soul instead of wounding it.”

Indeed.

It has been an important day, friends. I stand with you in prayer and continuing hope.