Kindred in Christ,

I was at a dinner party a few years ago. And I found myself sitting next to a guy who is a scholar in Buddhism. I got excited by that. I know a little bit about Buddhism and he has a PhD in it, so we launched into a conversation. He begins to share some interesting facts—as one does if you are a PhD in anything. And at one point of the conversation, we get into a particular aspect of enlightenment. And I ask him, “What does that feel like?” What does it feel like to subjectively undergo this particular part of the process of enlightenment? He responded, “Well, people usually describe it this way…” After hearing him explain to me a theory, I asked, “Is that what it felt like for you?” To which he clarified, “Oh, I actually don’t practice Buddhism, I only study it.”

And in my mind, that is totally cool. You can be an excellent and savvy scholar in something without being a practitioner. For example, you can be a legal expert in the constitution, and not be a practicing lawyer. I appreciate that.

But for those of us who are practitioners, for those of us at U Gathering that are trying to be consciously committed disciples of Jesus, and transformed by God’s grace—I wonder how many of us fall into a similar sentiment?

Many of us know a lot of facts about God that we have picked up from attending church or singing hymns. But when we are asked to talk about our own experience of blessed assurance or amazing grace, we may sometimes draw a little bit of a blank.

John Wesley (the founder of the 18^th century Methodist revival movement) talked a lot about the means of grace. This was a way of mapping out the experiences of our spiritual lives, which hold together works of piety for God and works of mercy for our neighbors. During the month of July, we will explore what this way of life might mean for us as a church in our present season, as individuals and as a collective.

Alongside you,

Rev. Paul Ortiz

Kindred in Christ,

Happy and blessed Pride! I am excited to celebrate God’s inclusive love and the LGBTQIA+ community at our annual joint service this Sunday, 6/30, at First Church UMC of Seattle. As a reminder, we will not host our own individual service this Sunday, but rather will join with other Methodist congregations for this special and joyful occasion. And we will have the opportunity to watch the parade and join the festivities directly after the service. Please see below for more information regarding parking, and how to join in-person or online.

Last Sunday, we celebrated the Pride season with some fabulous rainbow bread for Communion! This was a beautiful and tasty reminder that we are all part of the queer Body of Christ—and it left our tongues colorful (see picture above). In our American society that centers individualism and independence, the idea that we are all one body, interdependent upon each other is truly countercultural and queer.

Each time we break and bless the elements we pray, “Because there is one loaf of bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.” (1 Corinthians 10:17). Wherever and however you find yourself this Pride season, may you trust that you are held within the diverse colors of the loving and living Body of Christ. And together, may we live out this relational vision with our neighbors as a church and as individuals.

Alongside you,

Rev. Paul Ortiz

Kindred in Christ,

This past week our Lay Leader, Joey, and I (pictured above) attended the 2024 Annual Conference of our Pacific Northwest Conference of the United Methodist Church. It was four days of worshiping together, listening to ministry reports, participating in a fun run in the community, and voting for the future of our denomination with clergy and lay representatives from across our reginal area. For a recap of Annual Conference click HERE.

Our time together culminated in a worship service of commissioning and ordination. For this special service, all the clergy wear their robes and stoles (the one time a year I take out my robe from the closet) and celebrate those who are called to serving the church through formal pastoral ministry as Elders and Deacons.

Each one of us is called to be ministers of the gospel for God’s love and justice in the world through our everyday lives. By God’s Spirit, we are each formed and gifted to do this in the unique ways only we can. And some of us (like myself) live out this universal calling by pursing pastoral ministry and leading the life of a congregation. Commissioning and Ordination is a way for the larger church body to journey with, keep accountable, communally bless, and say “yes!” to those who have been called specifically to ordained ministry.

One of the things that made this service of commissioning and ordination extra special was that we had a candidate that was ordained who originally came to us through the Safe Harbor Program. This program allows queer candidates, who lived in other conferences where they would be discriminated against because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, to be fairly considered for ordained ministry by our conference. Thankfully our Annual Conference has been on the side of gospel inclusion for several years, even though our global denomination has just recently removed the harmful exclusive language from the United Methodist Book of Discipline.

This particular candidate told me that when she heard that the Safe Harbor Program existed, she had a feeling that welled up inside her that said, “God is with me, and nothing can hold me back.” I believe that experience comes from the Holy Spirit, even in the midst of our real-life struggles and disappointments. It is not a naïve feeling that ignores systemic inequalities and realities, but a deep spiritual knowledge that with God’s involvement we can work and move together towards God’s vision of greater beauty, inclusion, and love for all.

Join us this Sunday as we continue in our Pride series, God is Proud of You. We will consider the story of the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:26-40), who is named Qinaqis in many African traditions. As a eunuch and a sexual minority in his time, he experienced exclusion from the religious establishment. Yet, he too came to the realization that with God, nothing could hold him back!

Alongside you,

Rev. Paul Ortiz

Kindred in Christ,

I am thrilled that this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, from 11am-7pm, we will be out at the U District Street Fair, co-hosting a free button making booth! We are joining forces with UW Lutherans Campus Ministry and University Lutheran Church. You can find our booth on University Ave between 47^th and 50^th Streets. Please plan to stop by to make a free button or sign up to volunteer below—we still have a few shifts open! This will be a fun and creative way to meet our neighbors and make art together.

This weekend is also Pentecost Sunday, a.k.a. the birthday of the Church! This is totally appropriate, because as Acts 2 reminds us, the Church was born when the Spirit led a group of people out of a building and into the world. The text tells us that on the day of Pentecost they were all gathered inside one room and “suddenly a sound from heaven like the howling of a fierce wind filled the entire building where they were sitting” and the Holy Spirit filled the room with “flames of fire” on each of them. And with all that wind and noise, and the hazardous pyrotechnics of the Spirit, the text tells us that the Apostles were moved outdoors to begin their multi-lingual proclamation. While they began indoors, the Spirit pushes them outdoors to connect with new people in new ways. Rather than starting outdoors and being moved inside a temple, the Church is born when a group is empowered to finally “come out” and connect with the world in a new way.

This Sunday we are also kicking off our yearly LGBTQIA+ Pride celebration series, God is Proud of You! Throughout the next several weeks, we will reflect on the many ways the Holy Spirit is inviting us as a community to be birthed anew and to “come out” in the world through spirited passion and blessed queerness.

I hope to see you on Sunday for Pentecost, and out in the streets this weekend!

Alongside you,

Rev. Paul Ortiz

Kindred in Christ,

Last Sunday we had the joy of baptizing some beloved members (and mermaids) from our community and celebrating the grace that is poured over all our lives. One of the many things baptism represents is the waters of new birth, or the waters of the womb of God. It is a bold reminder that since the beginning, before we were even aware, God’s sustaining love and grace was already with us. And this grace that brings us to new life is still flowing through us, propelling us into a meaningful life of love, service, and justice-seeking in the way of Jesus.

Something powerful happens when we collectively remember our baptisms. If we allow it, the communal ritual of baptism of friends and family members becomes the Spirit’s invitation for all of us to open ourselves up to what new birth can look like for our world, church, and selves in the present.

This past week, our denomination experienced a new birth of the Spirit, as diverse Methodist delegates from around the world gathered to pray, discern, and vote to finally remove the prohibitive and discriminatory language against LGBTQIA+ people, which had been imposed into the United Methodist Book of Discipline and Social Principles for so long. An overwhelming 93.14% of General Conference delegates voted to remove the harmful restrictions that sought to ban queer folk from living into their call to ordained ministry. And 76.46% voted to remove the “incompatibility” clause from our social principles and expand the definition of marriage. Along with this, the UMC has also moved to regionalize the U.S., meaning that we are decentering the United States and striving to decolonize our denomination to truly be a global church that shares power equally with other nations. These and many more strives forward are clear signs of rebirth for the people called Methodist.

While U Gathering and our Pacific Northwest Conference of the United Methodist Church has celebrated the ordination and marriages of the LGBTQIA+ community for years, this now makes it possible worldwide.

As I saw diverse delegates and members at General Conference crying tears of joy, and erupting into spontaneous worship and praise as they celebrated these historic changes in our denomination, I found myself feeling deeply connected and blessed by God’s grace that is still bringing new life. May this past week be a blessing and a charge. May we be blessed that we got to see the day our denomination changed, and may we accept the charge of living into a new day of greater inclusion and justice in the way of Jesus.

Alongside you,

Rev. Paul Ortiz