Sit, Stay, Go - A Dilemma in Table Manners

The UMC has an open table when it comes to Communion. We take the theological stand that the communion table is one that belongs to Christ and putting restrictions on who can and cannot feast with Christ at table is not the place of the church. We understand that Jesus did not kick people out of the room when the Eucharist ("Last Supper") was instituted. We hold fast to the promise that when we come to the table we may very well be changed and that, in part, is the power of being at the table with God and others. 

Sitting, Staying and Going with Rev. Dr. Charles Boayue Jr. (hear my interview with him here)

We understand that the communion table is a place where people are invited to sit, stay at, AND go from. We trust, have faith and place some hope in the repetition of sit, stay AND go. It may take time, much longer than we may even want to admit, but we continue the practice of sit, stay AND go. 

Within the church there are people who feel sit, stay AND go is not applicable for other tables. Rather, the position seems to be taken (on both left and right) that we need to sit, stay OR go from tables. Here are a couple of examples:

Some conservatives desire that the UMC should no longer sit and stay but rather go from the table of Religious Coalition For Reproductive Choice (RCRC). The UMC is a founding member of the RCRC and while the RCRC may not line up 100% with the UMC on a very difficult topic it is also the case that the members of the UMC are not all aligned with the official stance of the church on these same matters. The power of sit, stay and go was abandoned in favor of forcing a choice. The UMC chose to go. So the UMC is no longer going to the RCRC table.

Some progressives desire that the UMC should divest (an economic term meaning to "leave") from companies dealing in fossil fuels. There were votes that were taken but the UMC vote to stay at the table of companies dealing in such industry. Some of the rational that I heard was that these same companies are the ones leading the way on renewable energy source and that being a shareholder gives us vote and voice to influence these companies. The UMC chose to stay at this table.  

Choosing to only "go" from tables because the table does not align with our current values or we are not influencing the table any longer is missing a larger point. Table fellowship does not come with the expectation to change the minds of others at table but to be open to the reality that we may be the ones who are changed. It took Jesus courage to sit, stay AND go from the table with Judas and Peter. It takes courage to sit at, stay with AND go from a table that you feel like you cannot change. It takes courage to be continue the sit, stay AND go pattern because that cycle may influence/change you.

The courageous sit, stay AND go.

The proud sit, stay OR go.

My concern is that my denomination is divorcing our table theology from our table practice.

A first breath after the General Conference dust storm

Over the next several posts I would like to share some General Conference reflections as now the dust is settling. These posts will not so much look at the bits of legislation that did or did not pass. These posts will use specific conference actions as examples for a larger point. These posts are designed for those who did not attend, don't care or are tired of reading what did/did not happen, or those who are looking for the larger Spirit of the UMC as lived out at the General Conference. These are only my thoughts and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts of the Central Texas Conference or her delegation or Bishop. 

In order to better get a sense of where these posts are headed here are the topic headings:

• Language Monopoly
• Sit, Stay, Go - A Dilemma in Table Manners
• Double Victory in an Age of Winners and Losers

And so while I am still processing all that happened in the ten days and the fall out of General Conference there is still ministry to be done. Until these forthcoming GC posts arrive. I invite you to hear/watch (beginning at the 30 minute mark) this sermon called "Why did Ananias and Sapphira really die?" It is the story in Acts when two people dropped dead after it was discovered they held back money from the Church. It is an odd story, however, it relates to General Conference and the state of the UMC. Peace.

#umcgc Twitter Feed and our Church

First of all I am sorry to anyone who was on the #UMCGC Twitter feed for a bit this day who saw images that were not appropriate. It was not too many (I think I saw 1/2 a dozen or so) but one is too many. These images were created and posted by spammers and no one from the General Conference.

When this happens on Twitter, there are a couple of options. 1) The people can decide to change the way they label (known as tagging) tweets so the inappropriate images do not appear or 2) people can clean up the current tag and report the spammers. 

What was interesting is there were those on Twitter who wanted to split from the original #UMCGC tag while there were others who asked people to report and block the spammers.

Cleaning up a Twitter feed takes time and it is not immediate, it takes about 30 minutes and it also requires individuals to stay on top of it to report every piece of spam that may show up. Additionally, once the feed is cleaned up, there must be a rebuilding of trust among the users to use the original tag. There is a hesitation to look/use that tag in the event that the inappropriate images appear again. 

The group that wanted to break away to start a new tag (#gc2016) forget to remember is that spammers will find that tag as well. Then they will have to create a new tag, only to be exposed to spammers again. 

Unless we are willing to do the hard and continuous work we will always be breaking off to start new Twitter tags. We will never able to have a pure and unified Twitter tag for users that is always safe and following the orthodox intent of creators of the hashtag.