“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives…” —Isaiah 61:1

“A long time after we are dead, the lives our lives prepare will live here, their houses strongly placed…”—From the poem “A Vision” by Wendell Berry

I have long been inspired by the courageous work of Christian missionaries, the best of whom find ways to incarnate the love, ministry, and narrative of Jesus Christ in various portions of the world—not through coercion, colonialism, or triumphalism, but with a graciousness and vulnerability that inspire them to be more eager to listen than to speak, more eager to hear than to be heard, and more eager to learn than to teach. 

Today, during morning worship, we commissioned a large gathering of new United Methodist missionaries who are being sent into the world—everywhere from Switzerland to Sierra Leone; from Puerto Rico to Poland; from Madagascar to the Middle East. Bishop Ruby-Nell Estrella offered a powerful proclamation to the new missionaries and to all of us: “Go forth into all the world, missionaries and General Conference delegates,” the Bishop said, “and remember that Jesus will be with you wherever you go, even to the ends of the earth.”

As I prayed for these women and men who have said yes to God’s call in a way that has completely unsettled their lives and reconfigured their trajectories, I also prayed for the deepening of my own obedience to God and my willingness to be radically inconvenienced for the sake of the gospel. 

During today’s plenary session, we experienced two historic moments.

In the first of those moments, General Conference delegates voted to grant sacramental authority to Deacons by virtue of their ordination. Currently, Deacons can administer the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion only when duly authorized by a bishop. Today’s action ensures that Deacons no longer require sacramental authorization and can freely administer “the sacraments of baptism and Holy Communion for the sake of extending the mission and ministry of the church and offering the means of grace to the world.”

The Deacons alongside whom I have served over the years have been some of the most gifted and sacramentally-minded clergy I have ever known. I celebrate today’s action to expand and formalize the sacramental ministry of the Order of Deacon.

Today’s second historic moment was nothing short of transformational for United Methodism’s identity and trajectory-altering for its future ministry.

General Conference delegates adopted the final proposal in a series of petitions intended to revise the denomination’s Social Principles. In adopting this final proposal, delegates removed a phrase from the Social Principles that, for the last 52 years, has served as the foundation and justification for anti-LGBTQ+ policy restrictions on marriage and ordination. The phrase to which I am referring is this: “The practice of homosexuality…is incompatible with Christian teaching.” To repeat, because of today’s legislative action, this phrase is no longer a part of United Methodist polity.

For many traditionalist United Methodists, several of whom have reached out to me via text or email today to express their strong disagreement with the General Conference’s decision, the removal of this phrase and its related restrictions represents a severe divergence from their understanding of biblical authority and scriptural proscriptions. They are hurting and angry with this important and historic change. I truly appreciate the depth of their pain. Some concerned clergy have also reached out to me today, fearful that many in their congregation will leave the denomination over this development. I understand their anxiety about the viability of the churches they serve.

If I may speak personally, though, today’s action, for me, was the arrival of a long-delayed justice for a portion of the human community and the entire church. For 52 years, the United Methodist Church has weaponized its polity against LGBTQ+ persons, thereby causing decades of harm in the name of Jesus as a result of a fixed and unyielding understanding of biblical authority. Today’s action, in that regard, is the culmination of what has been a long and agonizing journey. As a result of that culmination, United Methodists can now affirm that no one— irrespective of age, racial identity, gender or gender identity, or sexual orientation—is “incompatible” with the church’s ministry and teaching. No one, in other words, is categorized as “incompatible” for being who God created them to be.

A dear friend of mine, watching General Conference on the livestream, texted me immediately following the vote: “I just burst into tears of joy. I have spent most of my life being told that I am ‘incompatible with Christian teaching’ per the Social Principles. No more! Thanks be to God! No more!”

Indeed. No more.

My day concluded with a late and lovely dinner with the delegates from the New York Annual Conference. It was good to break bread with friends and colleagues who live and minister in the region in which I am now appointed to serve.

Rest easy, friends, and rest well.