Laying politics aside to focus on what joins us

Dear Editor:
Politics can be messy, and that’s true of politics within the church as well as in the halls of Congress. Toss in unfounded gossip and guesswork, and it’s easy to see why political debates often resemble the notoriously bad game of “Telephone.” Such has happened in the case of people critical of The United Methodist Church amid the national news of a relatively small number of churches leaving the denomination over disagreements over treatment of LGBTQ+ individuals and their inclusion in the church.
So let’s get beyond politics and explore briefly what United Methodists really believe.
First, we believe there is one God, eternal, holy and all-powerful. Always present among us, we believe God is the creator of all things.
We believe in Jesus, the only son of God who came to earth to teach us how to live together amid our differences and who, ultimately, sacrificed himself for the eternal salvation of all people.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, a power that guides believers as we do our best to live as brothers and sisters in this life.
And contrary to the distorted message you may have heard like in that game of Telephone, the Bible is the basis for our beliefs. Like other Christians, we do our best to understand what the Bible has to say to us, first through the recorded teachings of Jesus, and then through the remainder of the ancient scriptures, preserved over centuries to teach us and bind us together as believers.
In its pages we learn about God’s amazing grace, God’s mercy available to all, and about the forgiveness of our sin thanks to Jesus selflessly giving his life on our behalf.
While scripture at times can seem vague or difficult to understand — references to condoning slavery and murder are just a couple of examples — we hold to the passages that have stood the tests of time. One is Matthew 22:37-39, which says, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, and with all your m ind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: You must love your neighbor as yourself.” (Common English Bible)
Many of our teachings date back to the denomination’s founder, John Wesley. In explaining what shapes the beliefs of the people who would become known as Methodists, Welsey explained we draw first from Scripture, but also from traditions in the universal church, our own experiences as we interact with our Lord and Savior, and reason, meaning God encourages us to think critically about our world, the way it changes over the years, and our place in this grand creation of our God.
Our prayer as United Methodists is simply that others who believe in these same things will join us in honoring Jesus for his sacrifice and will focus on the directions Jesus gave us: To make disciples of all people so that they, too, would have the opportunity for eternal life in the presence of God.
Let’s lay politics aside and focus on that which joins us: Our need for redemption and the gift of grace, through Jesus, that God leaves open for all.
Written by Todd Seifert, the communications director for the Great Plains Conference of The United Methodist Church, representing approximately 750 congregations across Nebraska and Kansas. Submitted by Pastor Michelle Reed