"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free"

 Okay, the words from the Statue of Liberty sound like they could also be religious words from a prophet or preacher.  They could be words from our church.

They are inviting words but they are also instill an image of hope and transformation - as if your current condition means nothing to the possibility of who you could be here as one of us.

Annual Conferences in The United Methodist Church will be voting on an amendment to paragraph 4 of the 2008 Book of Discipline dealing with the language of invitation. 

As amended the new paragraph would read:

Inclusiveness of the Church — The United Methodist Church is a part of the church universal, which is one Body in Christ.  The United Methodist Church acknowledges that all persons are of sacred worth and that we are in ministry to all.  All persons shall be eligible to attend its worship services, participate in its programs, receive the sacraments, and upon baptism be admitted as baptized members.  All persons, upon taking vows declaring the Christian faith and relationship in Jesus Christ, shall be eligible to become professing members in any local church in the connection. In the United Methodist Church no conference or other organizational unit of the Church shall be structured so as to exclude any member or any constituent body.

This changed paragraph is not all that different from the current language.  The amendment deletes the following categories from being excluded:

  "...race, color, national origin, status or economic condition"

and allows the simpler wording of "all" knowing that when you start listing categories, someone else's group or identity could be listed as well.

The "shall" language is already present in our current wording.

I've given my theological rationale in a video on Youtube but was asked by some for the actual wording of the amendment.

My duty as the pastor is to explain what people are stating when they take the vows of membership.  Once this knowledge is shared, if they feel that they are ready, we are ready to receive them.

I suppose that there could be some problem members that enter the congregation but I've always looked upon these people as placed before us by God.  Maybe they'll experience the transforming grace that we receive in membership as a part of the body of Christ.  But we'll never know unless we take the risk.

Those outside the church know about the hopsitality of Jesus toward those considered "unclean" by the religious establishment.  They may not be aware of the demands of discipleship that Jesus also gave us.  But unless we lead with grace, they may never want to find out.