Join the Feast
We have a camp problem in the Michigan Conference of the United Methodist Church. The problem isn’t that camping is unviable, it’s that the corporation running the camps is toxic* and mismanaged. To make a long story short the camp board ended up closing four camps in order to, in theory, more efficiently run the remaining five.
This affects the camp kids though, the camp nerds, and if there is a more driven (and slightly insane) group of people in the world, I haven’t met them; and so when the news was received that the camps were closing some weren’t altogether willing to take the news sitting down. And so plans were made and one of the camps, Kinawind, is currently in the process of seeing how it can hand its management over to the unincorporated and independent United Methodist camp (Lake Louise) it leases its land from.
Not everyone is pleased with this idea, as one friend told me, “I don’t want Kinawind to become like Lake Louise, because Lake Louise is so inclusive that it’s exclusive.” This response caused me to come up short as it seemed to highlight where we’re at as a denomination, where our stumbling block sits. Inclusion.
Lake Louise, located in my hometown of Boyne Falls, hosts one of the few Christian-based LGBTQ+ camps in the country (and presumably the only UMC one), Camp Beloved. However since starting Camp Beloved Lake Louise has seen a dip in donations and in overall camp participation (at least if what I was told last summer continues to hold true) as evidently there are those who’d rather stand outside than join the party.
“in his response [the older son] was indignant and did not wish to go in; and his father came out and pleaded with him. But in reply he said to his father, ‘Look, for so many years I am slaving for you, and I have never disobeyed a command of yours, and you never gave me a goat so that I could make merry with my friends, but when this son of yours came, he who has devoured your livelihood with whores, you killed the fatted calf for him.’” (Luke 15:28–30)
I think it obvious when reading the parable of the lost son in Luke 15, that we are to identify, not as the lost son but as the older. I say this is obvious because the story ends with the opportunity for response, with the hearer of the parable given the chance to answer for themselves of how they would react:
Would we enter the party or stay outside?
There is a divide in our Church, and it seems in part to center on this idea of inclusion. There are those who would say all are included (so long as they understand that what the welcomers perceive as sin is not tolerated). Also present are those who want to welcome everyone no questions asked. The question, as I see it is over inclusiveness, but more-so it’s over how encompassing we believe grace is. How all-encompassing God’s love is.
Now perhaps unfairly I lay some of the responsibility for the divide at the feet of the conservative incompatibilists within the UMC as when one answers the question “can you be in the same church as someone who disagrees with you on this?” with a “no,” then theirs is the line. There’s is the decision to stand outside, refusing to join the party.
I can’t help then but to read this story with the image of the WCA, Confessing Movement, or the IRD standing outside, missing out on the party going on indoors. Admittedly this is my own bias speaking, and yet when one position seems unwilling to step in, to see the beauty present in the people it hurts, well, my generosity begins to wain.
When the question of who is clean and who is unclean comes up, whose sin is unwelcome, I can’t help but feel as though this question was already answered when Peter received his vision in Acts 10 telling him to “sacrifice and eat” and to
“not deem profane what God has made pure.” (Acts 10:15)
Consistently in our American context, the most beautiful and full encounters with the Kingdom I receive are those radically inclusive spaces, those reconciling communities where those on the outside, those traditionally on the margin are invited in and given room to speak. Where church is made a safe space. Where the order is somewhat chaotic, occasionally out of tune, somewhat smelly even, but where it is the most complete cross-section I’ve seen. Where the question of who is in and who is out is answered with an overwhelming “everyone”.
It’s a party, and it’s ours to join.
Join the Feast
My call to action is simple, attend a reconciling ministries service. There is likely one near you. If you find yourself seeing it as sin, try it. Attend it. Try to look past the things that offend you and see instead the beauty present, the life at work.
See the Spirit move.
God of the feast you welcome us in, calling us back. Coming out to find us grumbling and alone. Invite us. Soften our hearts. Teach us to see our brother again. To welcome him. To stand in his and your presence and be content in your love. Amen.
*The former head of the camp board is currently suing the Michigan Area Conference.
