In December 2019, Grace Fellowship United Methodist Church voted to leave its affiliation with the United Methodist Church and partner with the Free Methodist Church. For several years the controversy surrounding the religious issues dealing with the status of homosexuals in the congregation has severely damaged the denomination. A number of individuals have become outspoken activists, promoting varying positions on this dispute. This has consumed a considerable amount of time, energy, and money of the UMC. One result of this theological upheaval is that pastors are performing homosexual marriages, in violation of church doctrine. Because of this, a number of pastors are being put on trial for performing homosexual marriages. This trend has become an unstoppable movement.
A rule that will go into effect in January 2020 states that clergy who officiate at same-sex weddings will receive a minimum one-year unpaid suspension, and a second offense would result in their removal from the clergy. At the next General Conference, to be held in Minneapolis in May 2020, the delegates will debate whether the Book of Discipline, the book that outlines the doctrines of the denomination, if the language calling homosexuality as “incompatible with Christian teaching” will be removed. But the real issue before the assembly will be, after years of discussions, debates, and special study committees, will the delegates finally vote to divide the UMC into two bodies? One body will affirm LGBTQ, and the other body will continue with the present doctrinal statement that homosexuality is “incompatible with Christian teaching.” Grace Fellowship has voted to leave the UMC because the congregation can no longer focus on ministry and missions in a dysfunctional denomination. Jim Legett, the founding pastor of Grace Fellowship, said the congregation wanted to “remove ourselves from the dysfunctional fighting going on in the United Methodist Church so that we can fully devote our energies to fulfilling the mission and vision that God has given to us.” Leggett said this realization finally came upon the congregational leaders when, “At one point, we looked up and noticed that we were spending easily 30% of our leadership meeting time discussing the issues of the UMC, and we realized that this was not good stewardship of our time and resources for the kingdom of God.”
Grace Fellowship is not the first church to leave the United Methodist Church as they became disillusioned and were weary of being swallowed up in this controversy.
Controversy engulfed the Corinthian church, and it was the intent of Paul’s letter to reestablish unity among the parishioners. Unfortunately, all congregations today are in a constant struggle battling disagreements among parishioners.
Corinth was reestablished as a Roman colony in 44 BCE. Because of its geographic location, the colony became a melting pot for a number of different cultures. This created competition in the market place for ideas, and even physical prowess.
About the year 50 AD, toward the end of Paul’s second missionary journey, he established the church in Corinth. With the absence of Paul, as he continued his missionary journey elsewhere, it did not take long for dissension and debate to break out among the Christian congregations. There were problems with Christians suing one another in court. There was a dispute over how to administer the sacraments. Sexual immorality appeared to be unceasing. There was the question of what should be the role of women in the church. The disputes caused parishioners to become enraged, and this was coupled with an unwillingness to compromise that the church was splitting into factions. Paul, in his letter, wanted to restore unity and have the Corinthian Christians remember what he taught them.
But before he tackled these issues, he began his letter with words of grace and peace. Paul opened his letter complimenting the Corinthians for the spiritual gifts that God has bestowed upon them. Each and every Corinthian Christian remains unknown to us, but how they each used their spiritual gifts will forever be with us.
We all have been blest with a spiritual gift from God. We often fail to realize that gift. At times we don’t feel we are good enough of a person for that special gift. Worse of all is when we fail to use that gift for the betterment of others. Every congregation has tension, ours included, but each congregation is blessed that each person, sitting in the pew before me, has a very special spiritual gift to share with others.
At the age of 87, Dalton Baldwin died on December 12, 2019. His name is unrecognizable to most of us but his name is recognized by some of the greatest soloists across the United States and Europe. For six decades, playing the piano, Baldwin was an accompanist. An accompanist provides the rhythmic or the harmonic support for the melody of a song or instrumental piece. Both in popular music and traditional music, the accompanist provides the beat for the music and outlines the chord progression of the song or instrumental piece.
Baldwin enjoyed most being an accompanist for singers. He once said, “I worship the human voice. There’s nothing like singing; it’s a romance when you share the music and the poem. The voice is God’s instrument.” Yet, when Baldwin would be complimented as being the most prominent accompanist in his field, far superior to any other accompanist, he would always reply that he preferred to be simply called a “pianist.” Baldwin knew he was good, but humility took precedence over accolades.
This is why Paul could open his letter with these words, “I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way — with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge — God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. Therefore, you do not lack any spiritual gift…” Paul is saying that within that dysfunctional community, the Holy Spirit is present. Paul is saying that within that dysfunctional community, every Christian possesses a spiritual gift that can edify the community. With these gifts, the church community should be working in tandem as one body and avoid being recognized as a dysfunctional community that is defined by its disputes.
Paul, in his letters to the various congregations, continually expressed his desire for the believers to continue to grow in their faith and display harmony and unity among the members. For this reason, Paul would often list the spiritual gifts that would enable the congregations to move forward. These spiritual gifts will empower a Christian to live a life of the spirit, and not one of the flesh.
Later in this letter, in the twelfth chapter, Paul listed the spiritual gifts as: administration, apostle, discernment, faith, healing, knowledge, miracles, prophecy, teaching, speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues and wisdom. But what is important for us, sitting in twenty-first- century pews, is Paul introduced this list with this observation, “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.”
Because of Paul’s introductory statement, I personally understand that spiritual gifts are not limited to speaking in tongues, healing, or being able to perform miracles. I have six academic degrees and a personal library that I built behind my home that contains over 20,000 volumes. I have always considered my spiritual gift to be reading, researching, and writing, which is, since I have Asperger’s that is on the autism spectrum, one of my best attributes is how I spend most of my day, to the extent that I don’t even own a television set.
We often hear someone say, “I have been gifted.” The Free Dictionary.com defines gifted as being “endowed with great natural ability, intelligence, or talent: a gifted child; a gifted pianist.” People often admire me for my education and the “doctor” that appears before my name. But that is as far as my gift goes. Beyond changing a light bulb, I am a hopeless case at home repair. My knowledge of an automobile is so limited that the most I know is when the warning light goes on take is to take my jeep to a professional mechanic. And anyone who works at a bank shudders when I walk in, as my knowledge of financing is so little, and even after it was patiently explained, I still walk away confused.
With my degrees I reside in the ivory tower of academia. But when I take the time to look up from one of my books, and walk over and look out the window, I see truly gifted men and women whose gifts and skills far exceed my own. I see people doing things that I could never do, such as repairing an automobile, laying bricks, painting a house, fixing an electric transformer, cooking, or stitching up a wound. The list of those gifted talented people, who are able to do that which I could never do, is endless.
Acknowledge your gift. Use your gift for the benefit of others and to the glory of the God who has “gifted” you. People may not long remember your name. They may never know your name. But your gift to them will last forever.
In the 1970s the cost of groceries was soaring upward. Grocery stores are labor-intensive. It means stocking the shelves, placing price tags on all the items, and the time it takes to use a cash register to enter every item that is being purchased is labor intensive. George Lauer, a name I am sure none of you recognize, was concerned about the rising cost of groceries. As an electrical engineer for IBM, working at North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park, he set out to find a solution. He eventually developed what is known as the Universal Product Code. We know it better as the tag or label on a product that has a black bar that is configurated in black lines with a 12-digit number printed below it. The bar code allows the cashier to simply scan the item being purchased, instead of typing the cost into a cash register. The bar code is faster. It allows for fewer errors, and it allowed the merchant to keep a more accurate inventory. On the twenty-fifth anniversary of his invention Laurer said, “When I watch these clerks zipping the stuff across the scanners and I keep thinking to myself… It can’t work that well.” We may ask who is George Laurer? And who would know? But we have been forever blessed by this unknown man and his gift to the public.
We have all been gifted. Let us use these gifts to the glory God and to the benefit others.
Amen.