The Gateway Arch and My Prayer for GC 2019

I do a lot of traveling for work but I do not let that get in the way of my running. I try to run wherever I am, whatever the weather. So aside from checking the weather to know what running gear to pack, one of the things I do to prepare for a trip, especially to places I haven't been, is to go online and scope out places I can go for a run while I am there.

Two weeks ago, I was checking the map of St. Louis, Missouri to plan running routes close to my hotel while I am there to attend the Special Session of the UMC General Conference this weekend into next week. I found routes, alright. But more importantly, I was pleased to find out that my hotel and the convention center is close to the Gateway Arch and I can run in the park.

Now, let me explain my excitement about this find. You see, this triggered a childhood memory for me. When I was in Elementary School, my brother and I would always get home at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, in time for a snack and to watch one of our favorite TV shows then: Mario and the Magic Movie Machine. It was a children's show that was broadcast by the American Armed Forces TV Network for service people and their families stationed in the Philippines at that time. The show featured different pieces of significance in the United States, including historical landmarks.

The particular episode that came back to memory for me was one that featured the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and how it was built. Not only did this spark a flashback but also a reflection about and a prayer for the General Conference Special Session.

When we were in Portland in 2016 for the General Conference Regular Session, one of the reflections I heard around the edges was about the architecture of the convention center we were meeting at. In particular, it was about the two towers that jutted out from the main convention center dome. The reflection drawn was that while, at one level, we were gathered as one denomination in  worship, fellowship and celebration of mission and ministry, on another level, there were two opposite poles that were standing straight, immovable that represented the major difference of opinion and theological understanding about the full inclusion of our LGBTQIA+ siblings in the life and ministry of our denomination.

I came home from General Conference 2016 with that image seared in my heart and mind. And it's a heartbreaking image. It moves me to tears every time I see those two towers that threaten to split my beloved United Methodist Church. And every time I see it, I pray: Give us a way forward, O God.

Could there be an alternative image for February 2019? 

And then two weeks ago, I realized that in St. Louis, instead of being under the shadow of two towers, we will be under The Gateway Arch, which according to its official website, stands for and "celebrates the diverse people who shaped the region and the country. The dreamer, Thomas Jefferson, negotiated the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, doubling the size of the United States. The explorers, Lewis & Clark and their Shoshone guide Sacagawea, scouted the new territory and mapped a route to the Pacific Ocean. The challengers, Dred and Harriet Scott, filed suit at the Old Courthouse for their freedom from slavery, and St. Louis suffragette Virginia Minor sued for women’s right to vote. The artist, architect Eero Saarinen, designed the monument that honors them all." 

Wow! How appropriate for such a time as this in the life of our denomination! Could it be that the St. Louis GC would truly be a celebration of what it means to be one church with diverse expressions. And so I prayed, God, could the Gateway Arch be our alternative image.

And then my childhood memory reminded me of how the Gateway Arch was built: They started building on either side of the Arch from the ground up. In the beginning stages, it looked like they were building two towers. But as the project progressed, the towers slowly but surely "bowed to each other" in order to form the Arch.

Soon the day came for the final piece, the capstone if you may, to be put in. It was a hot day and the temperatures made the steel and other metals expand so much that the final piece would not fit. They had to device a way to bring water up in order to hose down the two towers to be cool enough so that the final piece to unite them might fall perfectly into place.

Might this be our alternative image to the two towers from 2016? I pray so.

Friends, it has been 50 years of tower building on either end and maybe, just maybe, we are so close to being united as one church when we gather at St. Louis. It is my prayer that at the Special Session, each one would be willing to come in convicted humility, to bow down before each other, to be willing to "cool down" and let the waters of the Spirit move so that the last piece of our unity might fall into place. And then, perhaps, we as a church may truly be a gateway where all are welcome and have a place at the table. That is my prayer as I travel to St. Louis. I covet your prayers for us who are delegates and all who will be there. I covet your prayers for our United Methodist Church.

Your fellow disciple,

Carlo