See ‘enemies’ as allies, bishop says May 5, 2004 By Jeneane Jones*  | A UMNS photo by Paul Jeffrey. Bishop Beverly J. Shamana preaches during morning worship at the United Methodist General Conference. |
PITTSBURGH
(UMNS) –– Bishop Beverly J. Shamana used a New Testament “mystery” to
urge General Conference delegates to partner with those who seem their
least likely allies.Speaking
at a May 5 morning worship service at the 2004 General Conference, the
episcopal leader of the California-Nevada Annual (regional) Conference
said Acts 9 has all the components of a good mystery — enemies, murder
and mayhem. “Mayhem
and malice are already on the scene as Paul carries papers that
authorize his reign of terror,” said Shamana. “Sounds like another
biblical plot just waiting to be translated on the big screen.” She
introduced Ananias as Saul’s enemy. He was a man whose obedience to the
Spirit led him to become an unlikely partner with Saul, helping remove
the scales from Saul’s eyes and leading to his spiritual conversion as
Paul. After knocking Saul to the ground, God tells him, “Get up,
brother. I have sent you a partner. . . Now you know him as enemy, but I
have sent him to show you a better way; and he is going to help you out
of your distress.” In
a sermon interrupted several times by applause, the bishop told the
assembly that the Holy Spirit also gives people today divine partners
who “just show up. . . . And usually they’re the ones we call enemy,
misguided, thorns, wrong, single-issue; and they just keep a’coming.” “You
know, conference, if you love God, you’ve got to love those whom God
loves,” said the bishop. “We cannot chase people down with threats and
persecution and then finally say, ‘And God loves you, too.’”  | A UMNS photo by Paul Jeffrey. The Rio Grande Conference Choir sings during morning worship on May 5. |
“Now
I know some of you are thinking, ‘Well, this bishop is just talking
about that homosexual issue again,’” said Shamana. “Well, I am; but it’s
not the only thing I’m talking about.”“We
are not a single-issue people. What about society? I believe somebody
ought to lay hands on the system of military secrecy that is so intent
on winning public support for a war that’s over but not over that it
won’t let the nation grieve,” she said. The bishop described as an
“unconscionable theft” the right of people to “grieve for those families
and folks who continue to lose their loved ones in this non-war...” “Now,
you know the litany,” said the bishop. “We’ve been calling it all week:
the penal system, the justice system, education, fairness for workers.
We need a church called ‘Ananias’ to lift the scales from our systems
that oppress.” Shamana
reminded General Conference delegates and guests that the church is
listened to, not only by its members, but also by the world. General
Conference, the denomination’s top legislative assembly, is meeting
April 27-May 7. “Folks
outside of the church have been listening,” Shamana said. “They’ve
heard our message that a Savior named Jesus has been sent, who
proclaimed in himself there is no east or west, in him no north or
south, but one great fellowship of love throughout the whole wide earth;
and they believed it. We’ve got to keep preaching it.” The
Rio Grande Annual Conference choir provided the morning’s music, and
the Rev. Roberto Gomez of that conference briefly explained the Cinco de
Mayo tribute that honors the time when constitutional democracy was
restored to Mexico. “More profound than Cinco de Mayo is the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the celebration of the living Christ,” Gomez said. *Jones is communications director for the United Methodist Church’s California-Nevada Annual Conference. News media contact: (412) 325-6080 during General Conference, April 27-May 7.
After May 10: (615) 742-5470.
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