The TP ticket, law and order and the UMC

I think about how much time I spend “ordering” things. Cleaning up email, doing laundry, pulling weeds, cleaning up the kitchen, sorting through paperwork, fixing things that break–and this is without young children in the house any longer. Those “ordering” tasks consume much energy but should they be ignored, chaos quickly sets in.

The passion for neatness has been clearly shown by the runaway success of Marie Kondo’s book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. I read the book myself about a year ago and continue to fantasize about my perfectly ordered closets and drawers, with every item I own utterly treasured and enjoying cosmic bliss in its resting spot or in careful use.

I started thinking, “this is what we need in the church: a tidy place, empty of anything not treasured and loved.”

And then I look at myself, my messy, complex life, my inability to fit into the boxes others have wanted to keep me in.

I came from Evangelicalism, one of the reasons I tend to be pretty critical of it. The neat boxes my particular brand of Evangelicalism prescribed for me very nearly killed me.  When choosing messiness of life over death, I also permanently disrupted the neatness of the lives of those I love. I have often wondered if death would have been far neater and tidier and easier on everyone.

I read history and look at present day politics and I genuinely worry. Yes, the US is fragile in many ways–our very determination to keep doors at least somewhat open to outsiders leads to massive disarray.

It has always been this way.

The same with the church: if we really want open doors, we also open ourselves to significant disarray, to almost no neatness and many tensions over law and order.

But what is the alternative? A police state? Do we want to follow the pattern of Saudi Arabia where religious police wander around with their noses in everyone’s business, ordering people into religious and political compliance and arranging for public flogging for non-compliants?

Even so, I ask “Can we continue as a nation with our current patterns as diverse as we are?”

How dangerous is it for people out there? I’d certainly say pretty scary for those in law enforcement.

I’m afraid to turn on the news right now for fear of another slaughter of those who have to lay down their lives to protect others. Most, of course, will never be touched by this kind of violence, but even one is too many.

I am very nearly positive The United Methodist Church will not be able to go forth as one body. The “law and order” folks within our ranks will make sure of that. We’ll split, maybe survive as two or three entities, but probably not. Splits tend to lead to splits, kind of like when the first fingernail breaks, they’ll all follow shortly.