Prayer Resources for the Just Resolution Meeting
EDITOR’S NOTE: On October 29, over 70 people gathered at the Virginia United Methodist Center in Glen Allen for a public prayer and singing witness to support all of those who participated in the Just Resolution meeting. The Just Resolution took place because of multiple complaints filed against a pastor in our conference for officiating a same-gender wedding. When someone submits a formal complaint to the Bishop’s office alleging that a United Methodist clergy person has violated the church’s Book of Discipline, the first step in resolving that complaint is a meeting to seek what is known as a Just Resolution. A Just Resolution is one that focuses on repairing any harm, achieving accountability by making things right in so far as possible, and bringing healing to all the parties. It is intended to be a pastoral meeting where the parties involved can name the perceived harm that has been done and seek reconciliation. If the meeting fails to resolve the complaint, it could then move forward to a full church trial. Under the current Book of Discipline, the Bishop and the accused clergy person must agree on the resolution. The Traditional Plan provisions that go into effect January 1, 2020 stipulate that the complaining party must also agree to the resolution for it to be satisfied at the Just Resolution stage.
The resources shared below were created for those who stayed in the chapel to pray and reflect during the Just Resolution meeting.
Resource #1
Isaiah 58:1-12
Shout out, do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Announce to my people their rebellion, to the house of Jacob their sins. 2Yet day after day they seek me and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments, they delight to draw near to God.
3“Why do we fast, but you do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?” Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress all your workers. 4Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist. Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high. 5Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself? Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush, and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? 6Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
8Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. 9Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, 10if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. 11The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. 12Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.
Read this passage. Talk to God, pondering these questions/topics:
When are we called to shout out and when are we called to practice restraint? What is God calling you to in this time and place in our UMC story? (v. 1)
How are we serving our own interests rather than God’s interest as a denomination? As a congregation? As an individual? How can we repent of this and bring change? (v. 3)
Read verses 6-7 carefully. How are we doing these things as a denomination? As a congregation? As an individual?
Pause and think of the brokenness in our church and world. Picture God’s light truly breaking forth like a dawn. How would it look? How would it feel? How would you know the light was of God? (v. 8)
Whom do you tend to point a finger at? In what ways do you tend to point fingers? How can we be more productive/more faithful than finger-pointing? (v. 9)
Read verses 11-12 slowly. Picture these images unfolding in our own day and time, in our own lives. How would it look? What would change? Pray for this to become reality among us.
Resource #2
1 John 4:7-13
7Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. 13By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
Read this passage. Talk to God, pondering these questions/topics:
How am I genuinely showing love to others? (v. 7)
How have I experienced God’s love? (v. 7)
If everyone who loves is born of God and knows God, how can I help everyone who loves understand that God is near to them? (v. 7)
How can I minister to those who do not love? (v. 8)
How am I living “through Christ”? (v. 9)
Consider your own sin. Give thanks to God for Christ’s atoning sacrifice for your sins. (v. 10)
Who is it that you are failing to love? Pray to love them more and more genuinely. (v. 11)
Consider that God lives in you. What does that mean in your “normal” day to day life? Ask God to make it clear to you. (v. 12)
How is God’s love growing to perfection in you? (v. 12)
Consider the word ‘abide.’ We abide in Him and He in us. What does this mean in your life? (v. 13)
Give thanks to God for God’s Spirit which is with you. (v. 13)
Resource #3
We are Christians first and foremost. It is central to our identity. Take a moment and remember the vows made at your baptism:
Do you renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness,
reject the evil powers of this world,
and repent of your sin?
I do.
Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you
to resist evil, injustice, and oppression
in whatever forms they present themselves?
I do.
Do you confess Jesus Christ as your Savior,
put your whole trust in his grace,
and promise to serve him as your Lord,
in union with the Church which Christ has opened
to people of all ages, nations, and races?
I do.
According to the grace given to you,
will you remain faithful members of Christ's holy Church
and serve as Christ's representatives in the world?
I will.
Read each vow slowly and carefully.
Are you faithfully keeping each promise you made?
Talk to God about ways that you have been faithful.
Talk to God about ways that you have not been faithful to your vow.
Talk to God and ask in what new ways God is calling you to fulfill these vows?
Would a stranger who observed your life for a week recognize that you are Christian and notice that you are living these vows?
Reflect and pray, choose one phrase that God seems to be calling to your attention for you to focus on in the days and weeks ahead as you strive to live even more faithfully.
Resource #4
There are people in another room at this moment in a very serious Just Resolution meeting. Pause and pray for everyone involved specifically:
For the couple whose wedding sparked this meeting
For the one who officiated at the wedding
For the one(s) who are bringing charges
For those who sit with and support the one who officiated
For those who sit with and support the one(s) who are bringing charges
For those in seats of power
For those with administrative duties and roles in this meeting
For the family members of everyone involved in this process and the stress that they bear
For those who have little knowledge/understanding/interest in this process
For those who watch this process eagerly, awaiting news and updates
For those who are not Christian, who watch this process and form opinions about us.
For Christians who are not United Methodist, who watch this process and form opinions about us.
For clergy who are faced with a choice of obeying the Book the Discipline or obeying when the Spirit leads them to preside at a wedding
For clergy who are confident in their position never to officiate a same-gender wedding
For clarity about how to be faithful in the specific context of our divided Church
For peace and wholeness for everyone involved today and in the days to come
Resource #5
General themes you might pray about:
How hopeful do you feel? Pray for conviction that God’s will shall be done. Justice shall reign. Wholeness (Shalom) shall be our “norm.”
There are those you disagree with. Picture individuals, one at a time. Pray for them with grace and compassion.
Often when we are sure we are on the “right side,” we grow arrogant and trust in our own strength. Take time to confess your sins, to ask for forgiveness and a new heart.
Pray boldly for justice and that God’s will be done.
General Conference 2020 is not far away. Take time to pray for our VA UMC delegates, for all of the global UMC delegates, and for the decisions that will be made there.
Resource #6
Genesis 1:1-5 (NRSV) In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
Genesis 1:1-5 (The Message) First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don’t see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God’s Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss. God spoke: “Light!” And light appeared. God saw that light was good and separated light from dark. God named the light Day, he named the dark Night. It was evening, it was morning— Day One.
Genesis 1:1-5 (Tree of Life Version) In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was chaos and waste, darkness was on the surface of the deep, and the Ruach Elohim was hovering upon the surface of the water. Then God said, “Let there be light!” and there was light. God saw that the light was good. So God distinguished the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness He called “night.” So there was evening and there was morning—one day.
Even the wisest theologians struggle to describe what “was” before Creation. Above are three translations/paraphrases of the Creation narrative. One thing is clear: It was chaos.
CHAOS is a word that brings anxiety and uncertainty. Chaos cannot be controlled. Chaos is unpredictable. No one wants or seeks out Chaos. But according to Genesis 1, Chaos was the fertile soil for creating a new thing. And that new thing was CREATION as we know it. Without Chaos, WE would not BE.
How is our current context “Chaos” in the global UMC? In VAUMC? In your home church or community?
How might God work in and through the Chaos to create something new?
Spend time in prayer around these questions. You are encouraged not to tell God what God should create, but listen to God… trust the Holy Spirit… explore what God is calling you to do and to be… put aside your fear and pray for courage to follow where God leads you.
Resource #7
You are encouraged to open a container of play dough and hold/work the clay as you read and pray about the following passages.
Isaiah 64.8
Yet, O Lord, you are our Father;
we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
Isaiah 29.16
You turn things upside down!
Shall the potter be regarded as the clay?
Shall the thing made say of its maker,
‘He did not make me’;
or the thing formed say of the one who formed it,
‘He has no understanding’?
Job 10.9
Remember that you fashioned me like clay;
and will you turn me to dust again?
Job 13.12
Your maxims are proverbs of ashes,
your defenses are defenses of clay.
Jeremiah 18
The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ‘Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.’ So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him. Then the word of the Lord came to me: Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the Lord. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, but if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the disaster that I intended to bring on it. And at another moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, but if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will change my mind about the good that I had intended to do to it. Now, therefore, say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus says the Lord: Look, I am a potter shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you. Turn now, all of you from your evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.