Change Happens

One of the things that keeps me hopeful about the church and keeps me hanging in there and pushing for change is that change does happen. We are not as frozen into categories as we may think (pro-gay or anti-gay). There is a spectrum of ways in which people think about all of these issues.

Individuals move. Progress is made. People change. I received an e-mail the other day from Andy Cullen, who wrote a testimonial for the Covenant Network last fall. His testimony is on page three. I urge you to read it.

Here is a minister who changed his mind. What if the denomination had split before he had changed his mind? He might never have had the opportunity to shift and grow. As much of a drag it is to deal with these debates again and again, we are not as rigid as we may think we are. We do change and grow. The legislative debate creates the context for this change to happen.

To me, there is value in staying together, even if we cannot agree, or even agree to disagree, or whatever. And there is value in continuing to push for change. Some of my progressive colleagues who do wish for inclusion will argue that putting proposals before the GA to remove the AI and G-6.0106b are not worth it because we will lose and it changes no one's mind.

I disagree. We may lose. But you never know until you try. If we lose, so what? I lose far more than I win. I also disagree that no one changes. People do change. They change because they become aware of the issues. It is always good to give the church the opportunity to do justice.