I'm a Packer fan and have been sad to see how dysfunctional the Packer offense has been the second half of the season that has just ended for them when Arizona beat them in overtime last Saturday.
As Mike McCarthy the coach has said, "We still won ten games and got into the play offs, winning our first game there."
So when i read in a recent UMNS article of a colleague calling the UMC "dysfunctional," I had to laugh. Every institution, including families, football teams, and denominations, is dysfunctional in some respect, at some time, with respect to something, but as the Packers could do, continue to function pretty well, if not perfectly.
The UMC is not perfect. It has many aspects that are dysfunctional besides how it handles certain violations of some Discipline passages. Over the years I have pointed out several and my focus has been quite narrow, mostly with respect to personnel management. As large as we are as a denomination, we could easily spend the day pointing out other dysfunctions.
But I am a United Methodist because we are still a very strong mission-oriented institution, mobilizing millions of caring people to provide help where it is most needed. I am a United Methodist because we have an open theology which hangs on to tradition and Bible but lets experience and reason temper our expressions of faith. I am a United Methodist because it has been the source of my most enduring friendships, among whom I found my wife, and where my children were given support and encouragement to be the wonderful human beings that they are. I am a United Methodist because we have survived major shifts in culture, overcoming mistakes (the 1844 split among others), and have not usually fallen back into making them again.
Hardly any of that is in jeopardy because of the disagreement over the seriousness of issues related to homosexuality. We are all a part of many dysfunctional social units that bumble through life, some more successfully than others. We find ways to do better when we can. Like most fans of the many different sports leagues, maybe next year we'll get it right.
