A Word with the Pastor
What Easter People Do Part 4: Living into Hope
April 25, 2024
I never get upgrades when I’m flying. But for some reason, I was upgraded to first class on my connecting flight to Charlotte, NC on Tuesday. I’m not one to believe that God is in the business of making these kinds of things happen for us. Though, as I was traveling to General Conference, you could say that God owed me at least some perk for enduring previous General Conferences, where my belovedness and the belovedness of all lgbtq persons was up for debate—particularly the special one in 2019 and the passage of the “Traditional Plan”.
Nevertheless, I can’t help but think that the Holy Spirit wasn’t up to something when it came to where I was sitting for an hour and a half between New York City and Charlotte on Tuesday.
He asked me where I was going. And like I always do when I’m traveling, I was as vague as possible in my response (I love being a pastor but not to my seat mates on a flight). I said, “I’m going for work. I have a conference there this week.” He said, “Oh, I’m just going for a one-day meeting, and then back to Maine.” We sat in silence for a few moments. General Conference had already started, and so I was watching the livestream with my headphones in while we waited for take off. The cross and flame must have appeared in the video, and that’s when he exclaimed, “Are you going to General Conference?” I smirked, and less vaguely this time said, “Yeah, I’m a United Methodist pastor. I’m going as an observer for a few days.” He then introduced himself and said, “I’m a bishop in The Episcopal Church. My name is Thomas. I’m the bishop of the Diocese of Maine.”
Over cocktails in the air Thomas and I chatted more about General Conference and the state of both of our denominations. It didn’t take long for the subject of lgbtq inclusion to come up, and then for the conversation to turn. Thomas told me some of his story, growing up as a United Methodist, coming from a family of Methodists—both of his grandfathers being United Methodist bishops. He also told me about making his way through the ordination process in our denomination in the 80s, only to be told by his bishop that her hands were tied and she couldn’t ordain him because he was gay, which led Thomas to his new home in The Episcopal Church.
Towards the end of our conversation, I had the great joy of sharing with Thomas the same words of hope that I shared in this space with you just a couple of weeks ago: that I have the privilege of serving as an openly gay pastor in The United Methodist Church, appointed by an openly gay bishop, and soon to be under the supervision of an openly gay superintendent.
My friends, we are living into the hope of those who came before us. The resurrection of Easter is unveiling itself in our very midst. And because of the hope we are living into today, we can keep holding onto hope for our future.
I am filled with an abundance of hope!
Just a few hours before writing this, I stood in the observers section of the main plenary floor of the General Conference. The legislation enabling “Regionalization” was able to come to the floor earlier than expected. One of the petitions required a constitutional amendment to the Discipline. These kinds of changes require a 2/3 majority to pass. Friends, I stood in awe as this piece of legislation was approved by a 78% majority. Pending ratification by all of the annual conferences in the denomination over the next year, we will soon be a regional church, and, the rest of the US church can live into the fully inclusive expression of United Methodism that we have been practicing in the Western Jurisdiction for years.
We are living into hope.
I texted our former senior pastor, Rev. Donna Pritchard today, “This General Conference feels different. The room is peaceful and hopeful, unlike the previous General Conferences we have been to.”
And so, my friends let us keep praying for the General Conference as it meets through Friday, May 3. But more importantly, let’s keep living into hope, because that’s what Easter People do.
Rev. Ethan
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