Remember My Choice

When I was at Annual Conference last week, I used the wi-fi at the hotel where I stayed.   That is to say, I tried to use it.  It was supposed to be a simple matter of finding the name of their network and clicking on it, but I quickly came to see that it wasn't so simple after all. It seemed like every five seconds, I was getting a message across the screen that gave me the option of clicking "Disconnect" or "Stay Connected," and then underneath it had a place where I could click "Remember My Choice."

As you might imagine, this got old quick! I grew annoyed when I was trying to do something online because of the constant interruption.  Finally, I just gave up and used my data plan instead, which was also annoying, but in a totally different way.  (Actually, I was paying attention to everything going on at Conference, so I hardly missed using the internet at all.  Really!) Every now and then I would try again, to no avail. I tried to be content with either using my data plan or just shutting down the phone, but it still bugged me that my phone had kept asking me to make a decision when all I wanted to do was just get on with what I was trying to accomplish.  And that's when it hit me.

One of the curses of being a pastor is that I tend to think of everything as a possible sermon illustration or in this case as a subject for a post on my blog. That stubborn screen with its option of staying in some sort of electronic relationship with the Hilton's wi-fi network suddenly took on a bigger significance for me.  As I fussed and fought with my telephone and the wi-fi, it suddenly occurred to me that this whole experience was a metaphor for what's going on in United Methodism. We keep having these conversations/arguments about whether or not we should stay connected or just go ahead and disconnect, all without really getting anywhere. 

Despite the fact that so many of our people want to keep on keeping on with the mission of the United Methodist Church, which is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world, we keep being interrupted by the persistent query -- do you want to disconnect or stay connected?  I suppose next February in St. Louis at the special General Conference, we will finally have at least a partial answer to that question.  But at what cost?  No matter what, there will be some who simply won't remain in what Wesley called "the Connexion," and whatever is left after all the shouting isn't likely to be very united, it may not be terribly Methodist, and it is likely to be a poor version of a once dynamic church.

Despite all that, the North Carolina Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church met in Greenville in 2018, and there was joy at being together again, in singing "And Are We Yet Alive" and "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling," and in hearing inspired preaching and in worshiping the One in whom all things hold together.  My choice would be to stay connected, which was also what I wanted my phone to do, and oh, how I wish I could simply click on a button that would remember that choice for the UMC!  But, lacking a magic wand or a perfect solution, I will keep praying and keep trying to stay in "connexion" with my sisters and brothers, even though we are struggling to find a way forward.  And who knows?  The Holy Spirit may have a surprise in store for us!  We may discover that there actually was a real way forward in Christ all along.  May it be so!