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Annual Conference 2004

Episcopacy Statement

Charles Schuster

"My Theology and Vision for the United Methodist Church"

I believe the church is a theological entity. Many liberals in our church have become lazy and burned out. Many conservatives in our church have become mean-spirited and arrogant. The church with a future is one that is able to "render to the common understanding some degree of eternal greatness" (Whitehead). Annual conference sessions in the future can become arenas for exciting theological conversation rather than the usual grind of business. Local church meetings, in one way or another, can help everyone present answer the question, "How is it with your soul?"

I view the church as one of the few institutions that has the capacity to elevate controversy to new levels of understanding. If we begin with the asusmption that we can be agreeable in our disagreement, we can engage each other by seeking to hear as well as speak. We can participate with each other in dialogue once we realize no one of us has all the truth, and no one of us has a claim to the opinions of the rest of us.

The church is a theological entity. Its job is to stimulate the lay theologians who are working in the secular world to live and articulate their lives in relation to their understanding of God. Clergy are "theologians in residence" whose job it is to ensure that the theological environment is as safe and creative as possible so that all of us emerge as co-creators with God.

I am a Christian and it has become increasingly evident that much that goes on in the name of Jesus would not make him proud, and some of what goes on in his name would make him ill. I am a Christian theologian who believes that the primary objective of faith is well beyond our grasp, and that some of our most articulate expressions of faith are born in doubt. Meditation, in the conventional sense, is foreign to me. Prayer, as classically construed is wooden and stiff. Bible study that yields comfort and solitude is providing less than a complete result.

Meditation, for me, is taking my pulse or catching my breath in the middle of a busy day. I do that. Praying to God, for me, is not asking for something I do not have, but seeking to learn what I did not know. That requires that I be quiet and listen. I do that. The spiritual disciplines that feed my soul include laughter, solitude, awe and wonder, theological questioning, and solid and inspired worship.

A superficial labeling of my theology would name it as liberal, and I will never shrink from that. However, when people are reduced to a label, or religion is reduced to a formula, we have paid a dear price to create a caricature so as to control by a stereotypical impression.

I think religion is too important to be taken seriously. The time has come to cease our effort and worry to make the church grow, and begin to create a place new people will want to come and this will allow our churches to grow. If we enable it "they" will come.

The pursuit of excellence requires that we fail. Our most important objectives cannot be accomplished in one lifetime. Our most significant goals cannot be reached in one pastoral appointment. We have too many church leaders with too much time on their hands; too many Bishops who are still running for office; too many churches that have forgotten how to laugh; and too many pastors who would make better undertakers. More tragic than the loss of our membership as a church is the loss of our humor.

We can become a confident church again, but we must make some changes in our leadership and in our approach. Our norms must be higher than our actions, and our ends must surpass our needs. Our desire must be to serve the world not save ourselves; we must strive to be faithful, not fearful. There is much we can do as a church, and we will do it once we expand our vision and learn to laugh and work with each other. It is time for the church to think and act bigger than it ever has. It is time for the United Methodist Church to catch up to the spunk it once had. We are at our best when we are in a dialogue that implies honesty and directness. We are at our worst when we are striving to defeat each other in an atmosphere of suspicion and fear. The time has come to see the best in our church once more.