This was my third MOSAIC Pre-Conference, and just as in 2007 and 2009, I found the morning and afternoon exciting, renewing, and energizing. What a joy it is to greet old friends and meet new folks on this journey.
We began by introducing ourselves. We learned that we are from different places and all serving in a variety of exciting contexts for ministry. We also discovered that we have different tastes. Our “getting to know you question” was to reveal our favorite ice cream flavor to the group. The flavors ranged from local treats to the common standbys like chocolate chip cookie dough. Some people don’t eat ice cream at all, and prefer shaved ice or another delicious treat. Yes, yes. Even in talking about ice cream, the great hymn refrain “in our difference is blessing, from diversity we praise” echoed through my mind.
Our morning conversation centered around our sources of hope and our hopes for the future. We find hope in all sorts of places: reconciling conversations in conservative places, welcoming congregations, new connections, and of course, in relationship with God in Christ through the Holy Spirit. Our hopes range from the practical (like eliminating the incompatibility clause at General Conference 2012) to the theological (like being a part of a church that lives into the fullness of the creation/community/kin-dom/reign of God).
In our afternoon session, we talked about strategies for General Conference. We were reminded that “Love your neighbor” is the conference theme, a grassroots organizing effort, and a primary talking point. Too many spoilers this soon would just take all the fun out of it, but suffice it to say: progressive young adults will be present at GC2012.
Finally, we closed in worship with a reflection on Isaiah’s good word that God desires to gather all people into the beloved community. We shared a love feast where we served each other, and everyone heard a word of blessing. What a great way to begin Sing a New Song!

Leland G. Spencer IV, a lifelong United Methodist, is a PhD student in the department of communication studies at the University of Georgia, where he researches religious rhetoric as it intersects with gender and sexuality. Leland holds an M.A. in Communication from the University of Cincinnati (2009). While in Cincinnati, Leland served as the worship intern at the Wesley Foundation. Leland is a 2007 graduate of Mount Union College, a United Methodist-related school in Alliance, Ohio. Leland served as a part-time local pastor at Mapleton United Methodist Church in the East Ohio Conference from 2005 until 2007 when Leland withdrew from the candidacy process because of the United Methodist Church's exclusive position about the ordination of LGBT persons..
Reconciling Ministries Network mobilizes United Methodists of all sexual orientations and gender identities to transform our Church and world into the full expression of Christ’s inclusive love.
Reconciling Tools: Prayer for Enemies
It is a bit troubling to discover that Jesus did not share the common view that God agrees with our opinion of others. Instead, he invited us to pray about joining in God’s high expectations and hope for all humanity .
It remains a revolutionary idea. Our traditional social and political arrangements reflect tribal loyalties based on our instincts for self-preservation. They provide us with a safe “home base” to explore our world. Jesus called us to replace those tribal loyalties with a more universal loyalty that finds a “home base” in honoring and respecting (loving) all of God’s creation. (See Reconciliation and Love's Definition).
Jesus’ call for this new loyalty offers a far more likely foundation for human self-preservation than the tribal loyalties we usually rely on. Unfortunately, both biblical tradition and history are full of examples that illustrate a broad unwillingness to respond to Jesus’ call. A few examples: Both Hebrew scripture and significant portions of the New Testament model hostility and even hatred toward enemies. When the church burned heretics it was identifying enemies while using fear to assure at least outward loyalty to its tribal ways. In 1961 Fidel Castro declared that continued loyalty to the Cuban revolution required an enemy. Contemporary political campaigns are often based on describing its opponents as enemies and targeting them with falsehoods and partial truths. Likewise, we can hear church leaders propagate an “us versus them” world view as a tool for creating loyalty to their group and personal leadership. Many LGBT people have experienced the negative consequences of that strategy.
The danger in being someone’s enemy is in returning the favor by accepting their enmity and labeling them as our own enemy. In a real world sense that dynamic is probably inescapable but the danger is in responding in kind. When that happens we give the enemy the power to define who we are and set the rules of our relationships. (More in a later posting.)
The instruction to pray for our enemies has often been understood as a prayer that somehow God would intervene in their values, world view, and behavior so that they would come to accept our perspectives and be more like us. The arrogance of that notion is the assumption that we have “the right way;” that we understand God’s views; or that we have the sole understanding of how creation is supposed to work—the implication being that all other views are wrong.
Over the years I have come to understand that praying for our enemies is less about them than it is about me. Jesus’ Prime Directive is to love or honor and respect all that God has created. To pray for an enemy is to seek insight and understanding sufficient to honor that person’s creation. (Perhaps meditation is a better contemporary word than prayer.)
Any increased insight or understanding does not compel me to agree with such a person, only that I come to understand. Once understood, what do I do about it? Everyone will agree that it is a struggle. Likewise, we cannot focus only on understanding our enemy. We have biases, prejudices, and structures in our world view that have to be examined in relation to our own spiritual health and willingness to honor and respect others. Jesus’ teachings also include strategies to pursue those objectives.
Obviously, there is much more to live and talk out. This is not a solitary adventure. Your comments are welcome.
*The Gospel of Jesus. Robert W. Funk and the Jesus Seminar. Santa Rosa, CA, Polebridge Press, 1999.
Posted in Author: Peter DeGroote, Biblical Commentary, Diversity, Reconciling Process, Relationships, Spirituality | Permalink | Comments (0)
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