“Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.” -Leviticus 19:2
Today, I want to invite you to reflect with me on God, the Holy Trinity, and what this means for our calling from God.
We are created by God.
We are called to be like God.
We are called to be like God as revealed in the Son through the Holy Spirit.
We are called to be like God as revealed as the Trinity.
God has revealed Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The Father is God. The Son is God. The Spirit is God.
Yet, they are not three gods but one God.
The Father is not the Son. The Son is not the Spirit. The Spirit is not the Father.
Yet, they are one God.
This is a divine mystery in which the essence of our Triune God is often described as unity without uniformity and diversity without division.
Since we are called to be like God, we too must embrace unity without uniformity and diversity without division. In a world where unity is often mistaken for uniformity and diversity for division, we are called to emulate the Trinity. And the only way to achieve this is by loving God and loving one another just as Jesus loves us.
John Wesley beautifully captured this truth, saying, “Though we cannot think alike, may we not love alike? May we not be of one heart, though we are not of one opinion? Without all doubt, we may. Herein all the children of God may unite.”
At the General Conference in Charlotte, NC, the restrictive language was removed from The Book of Discipline.
This change does not mean that every United Methodist congregation is now required to be an affirming or reconciling church. Rather, it signifies that we now have a broader table of Jesus Christ for all—including traditionalists, centrists, progressives, and everyone in between—to live out our Christian faith out of freedom, not coercion. Everyone can walk in their journey with God according to their conscience, not to someone else’s.
With the changes made at the General Conference, we are better positioned to reflect the divine nature of our Triune God by practicing and embracing unity without uniformity and diversity without division, faithfully and authentically than we have in the past fifty-two years.
It is my prayer today that we all move forward together in the love of Christ.
Let us invite everyone to the table of the Lord.
Let us unite around the table of our God.
Let us be where we are called to be. Amen.
