As evidenced by this year’s presidential race, Americans today are inundated by situations of fear, uneasiness, pain, crisis, and mistrust. So much of our dead-lock and polarization is because we are constantly setting ourselves over and against each other. We believe this is because the events of the past fifteen years have reverberated with the earthquake of a collapse of privilege: 9/11 shattered our image of ourselves as those who had a place of National Privilege, seeing ourselves as

So, are we really a divided church during these polarizing days? Here’s my attempt to keep all of us up to date on what’s happening as we find ourselves rapidly approaching the 2016 General Conference (May 10-20 in Portland, Oregon) as a “divided United Methodist Church.” First an historical backdrop: In 1972, in a last-minute parliamentary gesture, the UMC General Conference added these words to the church’s social principles: “The practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.” In subsequent

While folks everywhere have mothers and many will gather in churches to honor their mothers, I suspect that many here at St John’s do not know that a Methodist mother created what we now celebrate every second Sunday of May as Mother’s Day. In the late 1860s, before there was an official Mother’s Day holiday in the U.S., a Methodist mom organized “Mothers’ Friendship Day,” at which mothers gathered with former Union and Confederate soldiers to promote peace and

As you may know, St John’s has begun conversations about becoming “dually affiliated” with the United Church of Christ and the United Methodist Church. This is a conversation that has been brewing behind the scenes among church members, with our pastors, and staff, for some time, and began formally a couple of weeks ago at our January congregational meeting. Lots of discussion, good questions, and unbridled enthusiasm was experienced at that meeting; but here’s an update for those who

Our church’s commitment to the LGBT Community has been a central part of our mission as a congregation for many years, highlighted by our designation as a “Reconciling Congregation” within the United Methodist Denomination. Although we have held this title for 18 years, many on the beach still have not experienced open and accepting places of workshop around them. Therefore, beginning 4 years ago, St. Johns made the decision to march in the Miami Beach Pride parade and be