How’s that for the title of a blog post?
I am one of twenty-four authors asked to contribute a chapter to a new book about the murky future of the United Methodist Church. Called Where Do We Go From Here?, the book is the brainchild of Kevin Slimp, the President of Market Square Books, a new & nimble publishing house dedicated to all things Methodist.
Though the book doesn’t officially release until next week, it’s already #1 on Amazon under the category of “Methodism.” A niche category to be sure, but it’s always nice to be #1 at something! You can order a copy here.
The twenty-four authors represent widely divergent viewpoints on what the United Methodist Church should teach regarding human sexuality AND we also have differing opinions on where the denomination is headed in the wake of February’s General Conference that affirmed our historic stand that includes celibacy in singleness and faithfulness in heterosexual marriage.
And my chapter? Here’s how it opens up:
A generation ago, Alannis Morissette asked all of us to consider the question: Isn’t it ironic? The song had a great hook, a memorable video, and a penetrating lyric in which the singer answers her own question: And isn’t it ironic, don’t you think? A little too ironic, and yeah I really do think.
And as we United Methodists consider “Where Are We Now?” on the way to establishing “Where Do We Go From Here?” Morissette’s words ring as true today as they did in the 90s, for we find ourselves in a place of rich irony. I believe that understanding the irony of our present state is a necessary and painful prelude to diagnosing a possible move from irony to clarity.
To see exactly what if I find to be ironic and why I find it to be so, I guess you’ll just have to buy the book. We want to stay #1, after all.