Interconnectedness of All God's Creation
From the creation story in Genesis to Jesus' death on the cross for all humanity, we share a connection to the whole human family. No one is an island—our community is connected to the whole human family and indeed to all of creation. What happens here doesn't just stay here (as it does in Vegas!), it has a larger impact.
Jesus spoke of this when he says in Matthew 25:31-46, if you did it to the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me. Paul speaks of this interconnectedness in 1 Corinthians 12:12-17, 24-27 when he uses the metaphor of the body, saying that although we are many members, we are one body. And again in Galatians 3:28, Paul reminds us that despite many differences—Greek, Jew, slave, free, male, female—we're all one in Christ, we're interconnected.
What if your child comes to you and says, "Mom, I'm gay," or "Dad, I'm lesbian," or "Grandma, I'm transgender"? Does doing so make that child no longer yours?
This interconnectedness of God's creation is a meaningful reason why many United Methodists work for the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people and their families in the life of the church. We're all human—although diverse in many ways—and our common humanity binds us together. We're all connected somehow—like the six degrees of separation notion that any two people can be connected through at most five acquaintances.
Many have had connection experiences: sitting on a plane next to a stranger who turns out to live next door to your brother in rural Iowa, striking up a conversation and discovering that a new friend knows your cousin's uncle's mom. When we think about the interconnectedness of the human family, we realize that being part of God's family means that what we do can affect others in our extended family. We have the power to damage this family or nurture it.
- When the United Methodist Church denies ordination to "self-avowed practicing homosexuals," does that nurture or damage?
- When a teen feels safe and included in the church youth group because the strictly enforced "no putdowns" rule means that this is one place in that teen's life free from the usual ridicule and harassment about sexual orientation and gender, does that nurture or damage?
- When language from the pulpit in sermons, prayers, and illustrations leaves people out by always saying "husband and wife," does that nurture or damage?
- When a parent asks for prayers of joy and celebration for a lesbian daughter's recent marriage in Connecticut, does that nurture or damage?
"I am a United Methodist who believes our church is called to be a faith community for all persons. Many times I have been confronted about why I, a non-gay, happily-married-for-30-years, female would concern myself with Reconciling Ministries. Because as long as any of my siblings in the faith are denied membership, ordination, or the right to openly and lovingly live with and marry their life-partner, I am called to witness to a different way of being the church. I see no other way to remain a member of the United Methodist Church than by openly witnessing to my belief that God's Table is open to all—period."
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