Positively Pastoral

If you've followed any of my posts on Facebook, or read some of my previous blog posts, you'd know of the tumultuous state of the United Methodist Church following the 2019 General Conference. The Traditionalist Plan passed and it appears more and more that the UMC is going to split, or crumble. Being part of the LGBTQIA+ community, I had to understand my place in the UMC and how I was going to respond - understanding my call to be a pastor and believing that God's love is for ALL people. How could I be a part of a church who would turn some of my friends away? Why would I choose to be a part of a church where I may not be allowed to become a pastor, as my call was directing me? I considered putting my call "on hold" until the UMC "figured themselves out". It seems very apparent that in the next year, the UMC will split into two or three "new" denominations. So why not wait? I scheduled a meeting with the District Superintendent to tell him o...

In my Wednesday night adult study class, we're reading  A New New Testament . It's got a collection of writings from the Nag Hammadi library.  It has been a fascinating class to read sacred texts that were not included in the Bible for various reasons - part of which was that some of the texts weren't discovered until the 20th century. The texts have been thought-provoking, rich, and full of opportunities to discuss how the early church was formed. Our recent class was discussing the Apocryphon of John. I read through the text and found a word that I hadn't heard of before. It's so obscure of a word that it's not in the dictionary. After spending a grueling couple of weeks at work dealing with pressure and change, I was in a terrible place. I spent time working on taking care of myself, with the help of my doctor, and I'm doing much better now. Thanks to those who reached out - even if I didn't respond to each person directly, knowing that I have ...