Would
I still be truly welcome?
It was awkward at first. My family had attended this church together for the last 10 years. But I think most of the awkwardness was on our part. Both my ex-wife and I were pleasantly surprised by how easily things went after the first few times in church as a separated couple. In fact, the reactions and support of the people there helped make this very difficult time somewhat less trying. They not only demonstrated how to be nonjudgmental with us, but we were able to carry that into our divorce proceedings and were nonjudgmental with one another most of the time, too.
Something I know about my church, but still surprises me whenever it happens, is that we are committed to "leading with grace, not judgment." This means we are all expected to recognize that our human frailties are no greater and no lesser than anyone else’s. As with the story about Christ where he said that only those people who were "without sin should cast the first stone," we are called as Christians to forget finger pointing and punishment and instead offer the best of ourselves: our forgiveness and love.
At its best, our church can be both a comfort and a classroom, helping us to reflect the love and gentle guidance of Christ, "leading with grace instead of judgment." For my family, this means that our community of faith helped teach our two households how we can honor each other even if we don’t agree and, instead of arguing, we can find the value in our differences of opinion. And although my ex-wife and I will never again be married, we have been able to find a depth of Christian love for each other that was completely unexpected. What a blessing!
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What
The United Methodist Church believes about
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