INTRO TO SCRIPTURE: Today’s scripture is easy to understand; yet hard to do. Even in Paul’s day, as he wrote to the church in Corinth that was squabbling among themselves, gatherings of Christians have had disagreements. Paul’s advice to the Corinthians is still good today. Yet, when factions of Christians go their separate way, can we continue to stick fast to Paul’s advice?

 *SCRIPTURE READING   2 Corinthians 13:11-13

Final Greetings and Benediction

¹¹ Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Be restored; listen to my appeal; agree with one another; live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. ¹² Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you. ¹³ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.

LEADER       The Word of God that is still speaking.

ALL:             Thanks be to God.

MESSAGE        Grace-filled Good Byes                              Pastor Donna Goltry

Church squabbles about how exactly to interpret our faith in God and practice as Christians have been debated and used as instruments of separation since the church began.

When factions of Christians go their separate way, how can we stick fast to Paul’s advice to love one another and greet one another with a holy kiss? It’s not easy.

You say potato _{(short a)}, I say potato _{(long a)}.

And when separation comes, it is easier to cast those who don’t think as we do as the enemy than as our co-workers in Christ.

So, maybe we should recall what Jesus said about those we call enemies. Verses 27-30 of Luke 6 are labeled, “Behaving as God’s children.” In it, Jesus said:

• Love your enemies
• Do good to those who hate you
• Pray for those who mistreat you
• If someone slaps you on the cheek, offer the other as well. If they take your coat, over your shirt as well
• Treat others the same way you wish to be treated

Jesus painted a clear picture of what it means to take the high road, the road of generosity.

How often, while we may not stoop to calling others enemies, in our heart of hearts, we are angry with them. We may even veer toward thinking of them as enemies.

This may describe some of us within the United Methodist Church who are hurt and angry at the splinter group, the Global Methodist Church. It certainly describes me. Today, we face the stark reality of a splintering of the United Methodist Church over those who want to treat those who are LGBTQ+ people differently and not fully include them. And I am hurt that, instead of serving God together, they have chosen to go their own way.

Yet, it is not the first time. Our church splintered in the 1840s. A northern anti-slavery group went their own way, impatient with the slowness of Methodists in supporting freedom for African-Americans. Meanwhile, the southern Methodist conferences left so clergy would be able to continue having slaves. That one is really hard for me to fathom.

And, fifty years earlier in 1790, the AME church had formed when African-Americans tired of being treated as second-class members within the Methodist Church and went their own way. So, today’s strife seems like an unwelcome repeating of history. Of fighting over how to treat one another as Christ would have us do.

Where do we find ourselves today? Once again, we find ourselves doing what Paul admonished us not to do. Not living together in peace; not greeting one another with the holy kiss. I’m not sure exactly what that holy kiss was, but imagine it to be the warm greeting by a nod, a handshake, or a brief hug, as we do when we “pass the peace.” Like today’s passing of the peace, it must have been a way to say we all belong together, we are part of one body in Christ.

Instead, congregations within the Global Methodists have gone their own way.

I’m not sure what John Wesley would make of our division today. When he started the Methodist societies in England, he was adamant that he was about bringing renewal within the Church of England, not about separation. He insisted preachers in England remain members of the Church of England and worship there.

The Church of England and the Methodist societies were grounded in the same bedrock doctrine of the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit that we celebrate today as Trinity Sunday; love of God and love of neighbor. His beef with the Church of England of his day was that it needed spiritual revival. And, he also joined hands with people of other faith traditions – the Presbyterians, the Moravians – so long as they held the same core beliefs.

Here is what he said about Christians living together:

“Do you show your love by your works? While you have time, as you have opportunity, do you in fact ‘do good to all men’-neighbors or strangers friends or enemies, good or bad? Do you do them all the good you can? … If thou art thus minded, may every Christian say-yea, if thou art but sincerely desirous of it, and following on till thou attain – then ‘thy heart is right, as my heart is with thy heart.’

“ ‘If it be, give me thine hand.’ I do not mean, ‘Be of my opinion.’ You need not. I do not expect nor desire it. Neither do I mean, ‘I will be of your opinion.’

He called this the catholic spirit, with a small “c.” [1]

Love of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit; love of neighbor.

We can take pride that in the face of challenges of the Global Methodist Church, the Great Plains Conference of the United Methodist Church has stood proudly in the footsteps of Paul’s preaching to the Corinthians to live in peace. That we have stood proudly in the teachings of Jesus. And to treat those who oppose us generously.

The conference has offered a fair and equitable way for those determined to leave to do so, and generously has even turned the other cheek by allowing them to take their property so long as they paid their already-accrued obligations and did not leave behind debts.

I prefaced our hearing of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians with the question,

“when factions of Christians go their separate way, can we continue to stick fast to Paul’s advice?” Of living in peace? Of extending grace to one another?

We have already said good bye to some of our nearby congregations. It was sad to me. Maybe to you also. And this week during annual conference we say good bye to more.

The conference has been gracious. It has been a grace-filled good Bye.

Yet we remain strong. A conference of 750 churches in Kansas and Nebraska seeking to share Christ with our communities.

Now is the time to move away from anger and disappointment and move forward as John Wesley said, while you have time and opportunity, do all the good you can to others – neighbors and strangers. To live together in peace and grace.

GRACE AND PEACE TO YOU! Let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work!

[1] Albert C Outler and Richard P Heitzenrater, eds, John Wesley’s Serons: An Anthology, (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1991), 305.