Hello, Cornerstone  -

The Hope of the World is the Church (Jesus through you and me) living and teaching the truth of Jesus Christ, loving all people as He loves. I am sure you are aware of the tsunami of responses to the Supreme Court ruling and are wondering how we are to respond in this significant clash. I want to share with you the official statement of the Free Methodist Church (as we are a FMC congregation), and then add some additional thoughts.

The FMC Official Statement reads:
"The Supreme Court of the United States published today (Friday, June 26) its rulings on whether states may ban same-sex marriages and whether on such grounds they may choose not to recognize the marriages of same-sex partners who married legally in other states. Specifically, the justices ruled 5-4 that states cannot deny same-sex couples the right to marry.

Predictably, reactions to this ruling are strong and conflicting. Supporters of same sex-marriage are celebrating this decision as “marriage equality.” Supporters of defining marriage as between one man and one woman view the decision as yet another instance of social and political imposition of moral and spiritual values contrary to their understanding of their faith.

As Free Methodists, we remain committed to our best understanding of what God intended from the very beginning, what Jesus affirmed, and what virtually all followers of Christ have understood almost universally until relatively recently. We unequivocally affirm that from the beginning God intended marriage as composed of one man and one woman committing themselves to one another in a lifelong covenant of faithful love. In this union, where two become one flesh, God intends the reflection of God’s own self, God’s own image (see our 2011 Book of Discipline, par. 3215, 3311).

The Supreme Court’s decision is a legal ruling that will have legal consequences that play out in multiple directions and levels. Some of those consequences will no doubt affect us, in many different ways. What shall we do now?

The church must pursue its mission and vision: love God, love people and make disciples. The church must become healthy biblical communities of holy people … through whom God brings wholeness to a broken and hurting world.

More specifically, the Free Methodist Church’s response to the challenges of same-sex relationships and marriage flows from the message of the gospel —that we are saved by grace through faith, that we will be judged finally on the basis of how we have responded to Jesus, not according to the particular forms of sin we have chosen compared with others.

The message of the gospel is that Jesus saves, that He does so completely or wholly, on His own time table, by the convicting and transforming power of the Spirit, and most often in the community of others who are also being saved from their sins and the impact of sin upon their lives.

We will proclaim the good news in Jesus as the remedy God offers us, whatever particular sin grips us most firmly — all in the spirit of Jesus’ person and ministry. We can be 'correct' but then corrupt or counter the impact of the truth by a spirit contrary to Jesus’ spirit.

We will trust the Holy Spirit to convict people of their sin, to enliven hope of transforming possibilities, and then to lead people to God’s best for their lives.

We will be a people who offer ourselves as agents of Jesus’ grace and love to others, all others. We must reach out and welcome people in the Spirit of Jesus, in faith that Jesus knows how to care for all of us and bring us to his best. As we do, we must not give up on people, and must confidently hope and wait for the wholeness Jesus promised and will surely fulfill.

In the meantime, we will be people of such faith, hope and love individually and corporately with relentless passion. Therefore, let us evaluate ourselves against the welcome and grace of Jesus for others, and not give up on others, even as Jesus did not give up on us.

Free Methodist Church – USA Board of Bishops"

It is my prayer and desire that Cornerstone be a safe place to hear a dangerous and life-changing message. That requires that we be people who are 100% Grace and 100% Truth. That is a difficult challenge, and it means that life at Cornerstone will always be messy.  It means that Cornerstone will always be misunderstood,  criticized,  and misrepresented. It means that some people will come and some people will go.  

But most importantly this means that Cornerstone will be like Jesus - the most misunderstood, criticized, misrepresented person who ever walked on planet earth.  John 1:14, " The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

The Gospels all tell us that this Savior who was totally Grace and totally Truth was always the subject of criticism because of His outgoing love. "Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. ³⁰ But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, 'Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?' Jesus answered them, 'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.' Luke 5:29-32

Jesus also said that we are blessed when we are persecuted and criticized for righteousness sake - because we are so much like Him, embodying the characteristics in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5) and the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5). He said the identifying characteristic of His followers would be the way they loved (John 13:35). It is my prayer that the inevitable criticism Cornerstone will get, and that you and I will get, in any arena, will be not because of our sin, but because we are credible followers of the One Who loves most and best.

The World at its worst needs the church - that's you and me - at its best. We can be or do no better than to be like Jesus.

It is a privilege and honor to serve with you.

Be the Change that makes the Change that Changes the world,

Pastor Brenda