Dear my fellow sisters and brothers in the United Methodist Church,
About a year-and-a-half ago, I had the privilege of meeting Karen Oliveto, pastor of Glide Memorial Church in San Fransisco, recently elected as the first lesbian bishop in the United Methodist Church. During my time in San Fransisco, Karen's congregation of many races, sexual identifications and socio-economic statues welcomed me and healed parts of my spirit. With members of this church, I worked in an incredibly successful soup kitchen and got to know a great number of beautiful souls. Karen Oliveto, in particular, spent one of her afternoons getting to know me and my classmates and answered questions about the cycle of poverty, her amazing church and life as being targeted as a woman and a gay pastor.
Recently, I have read articles and posts on social media that have responded aggressively towards Karen being elected as a bishop, and even heard some people hoping for a split in the United Methodist Church. This simply breaks my heart. Have we really become so wrapped up in this distraction that we have forgotten what it means to be a Christian? From what I have gathered, being a Christian means loving God and loving those around us. Being a Christian means not being of this world with its divisions and hateful nature, but instead living out God's love so that this nation can heal. I feel like this whole debate has become a big ploy of some evil thing, trying to separate us and harden our hearts to the world. To me, asking for a split over Karen (a real human, who has already done great things in God's name) becoming a bishop, is letting Satan have a victory.
One of my favorite fictional characters, Luna Lovegood once said, "Well if I were You-Know-Who, I'd want you to feel cut off from everyone else; because if it's just you alone, you're not as much of a threat." This quote can be applied to Christians as well. Satan (or whatever evil force you believe in) has more power if we are alone. Haven't you ever noticed that you felt the most hated and the most abandoned when you felt most alone? That is what Satan (evil,darkness) wants. We are the UNITED Methodist Church. As individuals, we will always have reasons to break away. We will always have disagreements. If we keep letting these differences split us up, we will end up without a community at all.
I fully believe that every one is entitled to their own opinion. I know and love people who are LGBT, anti-gay, undecided, black, white, male, female and in between. At the end of the day, I genuinely still support people having opinions, even if they are different than my opinions. I have seen God communicated by men, women, Methodists, Catholics, Baptists, fictional novels, historical movements, old, young and the awkward stages in the middle. As Christians, we are called to love God and love others. I am not asking anyone to not have political, social and religious opinions. I am asking that we don't let those opinions drive wedges between us. Together, we can do great things.
I love God. God loves me. You love God. God loves you. Let's do something about that. Let's stick together.
-Your Sister in Christ
