Theological ramblings

I’ve only been vaguely aware of the “confessing movement” in the UMC. Recently, however, I came across the organizational website and learned of the perceived crisis in the United Methodist Church. This came right after a conversation I had with Jeff the other night about the “hey, you know…whatever” attitude of many in the UMC. Part of it has to do with us not having a figurehead to definitively say what it is that we believe. (You can find the general guidelines here.) I think a lot of it is dependent upon individual churches, as each church is dependent on a district that may be hundreds of miles away, in contrast to having an archdiocese in a nearby city. (The exception, of course, is with Kentucky—there are only two archdiocese, so many Catholic churches in Kentucky are hundreds of miles removed from their governing body.) When your ecclesiastical authority is hundreds of miles removed from you, not only do they not have a real finger on the pulse of their congregants, but their congregants aren’t particularly inclined to abide by the letter of the law that the church has proscribed. This makes it very hard to know what the church believes, and if I don’t know what my church believes, I’m not sure what I can accept or reject. It makes the faith journey hard, and my faith journey is complicated enough as it is.

All this has come up recently because of my disillusion with my church at this time. For quite some time, I’ve been having objections about our pastor. He’s a very good preacher, and he definitely knows his stuff. But his people skills are so lacking that people have literally fled the church in droves. This isn’t just regular church members—his reach has extended into the loss of our youth pastor, our director of family ministries, and our church secretary. Fortunately, his time with us is almost up. (UMC preachers in the South Indiana conference are appointed for six years at a time.) And for some of us, it’s none too soon. However, there’s a petition circulating to keep him. I suppose it’s the theory of “better the devil you know…”

I tell you all this to place my faith struggle in the larger context. I haven’t been to my church since Easter, though I have been to Mass with Jeff nearly every weekend. And I find a bit more meaning in Mass, though I’m not sure if it’s because I’m surrounded by people who I love, and who love me, when I’m there. (Which is not to say that I’m not surrounded by love when I’m at my own church—in that case, I love the choir so much that the thought of leaving that church makes me exceptionally sad.) The first church I went to (that I chose myself) was a very conservative Episcopalian one. (So conservative, in fact, that they later went to Roman Catholicism.) Perhaps being familiar with that, I have a more ecumenical view of faith. The book that I’m reading right now (Why Be Catholic) asks the question, “What’s the difference in being Catholic these days?”

Since Vatican II, the Church has been more focused on healing the rift between Catholics and Protestants. Both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI have given communion to Protestants in ecumenical services (including the funeral of JPII). Early in his ministry, Pope John Paul II wrote:

“It is a source of joy to note that Catholic ministers are able, in certain particular cases, to administer the sacraments of the Eucharist...to Christians who are not in full communion with the Catholic Church but who greatly desire to receive these sacraments, freely request them and manifest the faith which the Catholic Church professes with regard to these sacraments." John Paul II, Ut Unum Sint, reiterated in Ecclesia Eucharistia).

As I understand it, the main reason for withholding communion from faithful Protestants is because of the doctrine of transubstantiation. That’s one piece of doctrine that the UMC is actually very clear on:

Article XVIII—Of the Lord's Supper
“The Supper of the Lord is not only a sign of the love that Christians ought to have among themselves one to another, but rather is a sacrament of our redemption by Christ's death; insomuch that, to such as rightly, worthily, and with faith receive the same, the bread which we break is a partaking of the body of Christ; and likewise the cup of blessing is a partaking of the blood of Christ.

Transubstantiation, or the change of the substance of bread and wine in the Supper of our Lord, cannot be proved by Holy Writ, but is repugnant to the plain words of Scripture, overthroweth the nature of a sacrament, and hath given occasion to many superstitions.

The body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten in the Supper, only after a heavenly and spiritual manner. And the mean whereby the body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper is faith.
The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was not by Christ's ordinance reserved, carried about, lifted up, or worshiped.” (From The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church - 2004)

(Lest we forget, John Wesley was an Anglican priest his whole life. He never “converted” to United Methodism. The Anglicans have always had an issue with the RCC. That’s their basis.) Yet here’s my issue with rejecting transubstantiation: Who am I to limit the mysteries of God? Clearly, history and modern times have both reflected God’s presence in the world. Now, I imagine it would be a bit creepy to find actual fleshy tissue in one’s hand as one received Communion, but what’s to say that God will not make God’s presence accessible to the faithful in this manner? I think there’s more of a problem in those who receive communion thoughtlessly, without preparing themselves to participate in one of the loveliest expressions of faith.

Based on that, you’d think that I should just go ahead and become Catholic. There are a few things I’d miss, though. I’d miss my hymns. The Catholic hymnal does have a few hymns by John Wesley, but there are no hymns by Fanny Crosby, whose work speaks to a deep place in my soul. I would miss that. I would miss the sermons, since RC priests give short homilies rather than sermons. (That’s what actually makes some UMC services longer than RC Masses.)

I’ve always thought that faith is a continual process, and belief that does not grow and change is a stagnant, useless faith. But I do wonder what is “too much” change, or when it’s appropriate to change. I do wish I had a sign, or at least a better way to understand where the path on my faith journey leads.