In response to Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023 article on the Re-Imagining Conference.
Still in seminary but serving a small church in Georgia, in 1993, it was appalling to me to realize United Methodist Women used UMW funds to pay expenses for UMW staff and members to attend a conference where God had been re-imagined. The church I then served was surrounded by the homes of textile mill workers. The 16 women who regularly attended our meetings struggled to pay UMW dues, but they did it. They did it because they believed the funds were used to spread throughout the world the Good News of Jesus Christ.
When did God ever need to be re-imagined? Why do women need to pray to mother-god? Jesus said that when we pray we should begin by saying, 鈥淥ur Father鈥︹�� Why pray to pagan goddesses, such as Sophia, goddess of wisdom, or Gaia, pagan goddess of the earth? The very first of the ten commandments says, 鈥淵ou shall have no other gods before me.鈥�
At that conference 30 years ago, that commandment was broken over and over again. That conference was one of the many reasons that the United Methodist Church has finally come to a time of schism. And, God bless all on both sides of that schism.
Patricia Looper, Elder - Bethel Road Methodist, a Global Methodist Church