If God is the object of worship, then worship must proceed from me, the
subject, to God, who is the object. . . . If God is understood, however,
as the personal God who acts as subject in the world and in worship rather
that the remote God who sits in the heavens, then worship is understood
not as the acts of adoration God demands of me but as the disclosure of
Jesus, who has done for me what I cannot do for myself. In this way
worship is the doing of God’s story within me so that I live in the
pattern of Jesus’s death and resurrection.

We recognize that sexuality is God's good gift to all persons. We believe persons may be fully human only when that gift is acknowledged and affirmed by themselves, the church, and society. We call all persons to the disciplined, responsible fulfillment of themselves, others, and society in the stewardship of this gift. We also recognize our limited understanding of this complex gift and encourage the medical, theological, and social science disciplines to combine in a determined effort to understand human sexuality more completely. We call the Church to take the leadership role in bringing together these disciplines to address this most complex issue. Further, within the context of our understanding of this gift of God, we recognize that God challenges us to find responsible, committed, and loving forms of expression.

Although all persons are sexual beings whether or not they are married, sexual relations are only clearly affirmed in the marriage bond. Sex may become exploitative within as well as outside marriage. We reject all sexual expressions that damage or destroy the humanity God has given us as birthright, and we affirm only that sexual expression that enhances that same humanity. We believe that sexual relations where one or both partners are exploitative, abusive, or promiscuous are beyond the parameters of acceptable Christian behavior and are ultimately destructive to individuals, families, and the social order.

We deplore all forms of the commercialization and exploitation of sex, with their consequent cheapening and degradation of human personality. We call for strict global enforcement of laws prohibiting the sexual exploitation or use of children by adults and encourage efforts to hold perpetrators legally and financially responsible. We call for the establishment of adequate protective services, guidance, and counseling opportunities for children thus abused. We insist that all persons, regardless of age, gender, marital status, or sexual orientation, are entitled to have their human and civil rights ensured.

We recognize the continuing need for full, positive, age-appropriate and factual sex education opportunities for children, young people, and adults. The Church offers a unique opportunity to give quality guidance and education in this area.

Homosexual persons no less than heterosexual persons are individuals of sacred worth. All persons need the ministry and guidance of the church in their struggles for human fulfillment, as well as the spiritual and emotional care of a fellowship that enables reconciling relationships with God, with others, and with self. The United Methodist Church does not condone the practice of homosexuality and consider this practice incompatible with Christian teaching. We affirm that God's grace is available to all, and we will seek to live together in Christian community. We implore families and churches not to reject or condemn lesbian and gay members and friends. We commit ourselves to be in ministry for and with all persons."

We recognize that sexuality is God's good gift to all persons. We believe persons may be fully human only when that gift is acknowledged and affirmed by themselves, the church, and society. We call all persons to the disciplined, responsible fulfillment of themselves, others, and society in the stewardship of this gift. We also recognize our limited understanding of this complex gift and encourage the medical, theological, and social science disciplines to combine in a determined effort to understand human sexuality more completely. United Methodists, along with other Christians, have struggled to find principles for applying traditional teachings to contemporary understandings of human sexuality.

We recognize that sexuality is part of the larger human mystery, to be received and acknowledged in grateful responsibility. We reject all sexual expressions that damage or destroy the humanity God has given us. We deplore all forms of the commercialization and exploitation of sexual relations, with their consequent cheapening and degradation of human personality. We call for strict global enforcement of laws prohibiting the sexual exploitation or use of children by adults and encourage efforts to hold perpetrators legally and responsible. We call for adequate protection, guidance, and counseling for children thus abused. We believe that the Church family should support all families in providing age-appropriate education regarding sexuality to children, youth, and adults. We challenge all members of our community of faith to commitment, integrity, and fidelity in their sexual relationships.

We know that all are God's children and of sacred worth; yet we have been, and remain, divided regarding homosexual expressions of human sexuality. Faithful, thoughtful people who have grappled with this issue deeply disagree with one another; yet all seek a faithful witness. We continue to reason and pray together with faith and hope that the Holy Spirit will soon bring reconciliation to our community of faith. The fire in our disagreements points to a deeper human mystery than we knew. We believe that the Spirit has brought our collective conscience to acknowledge this mystery more honestly, and to make our claims with greater humility before God and our neighbors. We therefore ask the Church , United Methodist and others, and the world, to refrain from judgment regarding homosexual persons and practices until the Spirit leads us to a new insight. In the meantime, let us seek to welcome, know, forgive, and love one another as Christ has accepted us, that God may be glorified through everything in our lives.

As you may be aware, Easter is celebrated on a different calendar for the Orthodox Church among others. Apparently, last Sunday was Palm Sunday. Only this year, at the holiest site on the planet-- the Church of the Holy Sepluchre-- the site of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the celebration the palms clinched up as fists and became a brawl. Check out this headline.

JERUSALEM — Dozens of Greek and Armenian priests and worshippers exchanged blows in Christianity's holiest shrine on Palm Sunday, and pummeled police with palm fronds when they tried to break up the brawl.

It seems to me that a lot of evangelicals have a religious experience that basically amounts to a kind of protection racket; a Christianized version of paganism, where you beg the gods to keep bad things from happening to you and work out your problems.

Those prayer requests are full to overflowing with directions to God to stop the bad that hasn’t happened and solve the results of the bad that has.

"Prayer and meditation have an important part to play in opening up new ways and new horizons. If our prayer is the expression of a deep and grace-inspired desire for newness of life--and not the mere blind attachment to what has always been familiar and “safe”--God will act in us and through us to renew the Church by preparing, in prayer, what we cannot yet imagine or understand. In this way our payer and faith today will be oriented toward the future which we ourselves may never see fully realized on earth."

“The word ‘prayer’ stands for a radical interruption of the vicious chain of interlocking dependencies leading to violence and war and for an entering into a totally new dwelling place. It points to a new way of speaking, a new way of breathing, a new way of being together, a new way of knowing, yes, a whole new way of living” (cf. Greer, The Only Necessary Thing: Living a Prayerful Life [Crossroad/Herder&Herder, 1999] 25).

Dear J.D....Don't think I don't read your blog, but my friend

You strained at a knat and swallowed a camel in your blog about AI.
Interestingly, the responses you got so far pick up on your cynicism, and
join you in it. Isn't it an absurb stretch to compare this singing on AI
to having a stripper read scripture? You are over-sophisticating your
response to reach an over-sophisticated audience. Don't you think that
the value of "shouting aloud to the Lord", maybe by people who don't know
what it means to sound and look "holy" , has a value to the millions of
people who heard it? Don't you think just the mention of the name Jesus on
such a venue got the attention of folks who have not heard his name in a
long time. If we don't call his name "even the stones will cry out"
Could this be the stones crying? Don't you think the value of this coming
in this venue far exceeds the cynical response of a few people like you
compared to the possibility of a positive response from some of the
millions who heard it?

I have to say, also, that most of the responses I read sound rather
contrived.., wanting to respond positively to someone they respect so
much..Omar for instance and his "swaying" reference...and the guy who
thought somebody may be trying to reach and get money from the evangelical
wing of the audience. And as it relates to who they might have been
singing to...it didn't look and sound too different than what I experience
in much of the worship where songs like these are the mainstays.

KEEP BLOGGING, BUT BE CARFEFUL ABOUT SUCH SWEEPING DECLARATIONS