C-Mail
Bishop Chamberlain’s column in The Call [“Put the Ten Commandments back where they belong,” Oct. 10] is an excellent example of why the United Methodist Church is fading away because of poor leadership. Shockingly, he criticizes the people who are supporting the Ten Commandments, when he should be seeking ways to help them. He suggests that we just keep the commandments “on the tablet of our hearts.” Does he know that hundreds of early Christians who could have safely kept their beliefs “on the tablet of their hearts” instead gave their lives to proclaim the gospel publicly? Apparently the bishop fears anti-Christian critics more than the early saints feared death. Would he have advised Daniel to just keep his ideas “on the tablet of his heart” and keep quiet? Would he have told Jesus and John the Baptist to be a bit more careful what they said?
The bishop implies that Christians somehow are obligated to support high taxes and suggest that Christians “rally around the tax issue instead of the Ten Commandments.” This statement shows how badly our leaders have lost their way. No Christian, let alone a bishop, should think that tax policy is more important that the Ten Commandments, including their public display, anywhere and everywhere.
Mel Griffith
Moore’s Chapel UMC
Cleveland District
This month I had the privilege for the first time of helping with our conference’s “Strength for the Journey” retreat at Buffalo Mountain Camp. This respite for men and women living with HIV/AIDS was not only a blessing for brothers and sisters living among us who often feel shunned and judged by society and the church; it was also a blessing for me to be among those who so readily receive the good news of God’s love for them.
I would like to thank everyone who makes Strength for the Journey possible, as well as the campers who are courageous and generous enough to share their lives with us. I would urge all of our churches to truly have “Open Hearts, Open Minds, and Open Doors” as we welcome all of God’s children, especially those who have felt so excluded from the church in the past. I experienced God’s Holy Spirit moving at the retreat in a powerful way, and I believe that the Holy Spirit will move among our churches in an equally sublime way when we open our lives to receive all of God’s children.
Rev. David R. Jackson
Wesley Memorial UMC
Johnson City District
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