Dear Belmont Friends, Last week, after 52 years of language incompatible with God’s boundless grace and love, our United Methodist Church General Conference removed the harmful language from our Book of Discipline. We no longer name some of God’s beloved children as incompatible. The UMC no longer bars churches or pastors from celebrating same sex […]
Tag Archives: UMC
I think someone gave me Anne Lamott’s “Traveling Mercies” years ago. Grace comes as a gift. I first read it 10,000 feet from the Earth, next to strangers, in the window seat. Around page 49, I found myself weeping. What makes a story resonate deeply? Anne Lamott defines grace as “the force that infuses our […]
Remembering the Jerusalem council, 45 C.E., the Apostle Paul shared, “We didn’t give in… for a single moment, so that the truth of the gospel would continue to be with you (the uncircumcised).” (Galatians 1-2) The Acts of the Apostles, along with Paul’s letters, tells how the church set aside its received traditions to embrace […]
The upcoming General Conference on human sexuality will say more about our understanding of God than our understanding of human sexuality. Will we affirm that “we are incorporated into God’s mighty acts of salvation and given new birth through water and the Spirit” and that “all this is God’s gift, offered to us without price?” […]
I resolve to live into my baptism. I resolve to remember my profession of faith. I renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness. I reject the evil powers of this world. I repent of my sin! I accept the freedom and power God gives to me. I resolve to resist evil, injustice, and oppression. […]
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