North and South

 

In my book, Florida, A Love Story,  Catherine, a northerner, is puzzled by the lack of acceptance when she and her husband moved to Central Florida in the 1800s.  

She thinks she's won over her neighbors when they're invited to a picnic.  She, in turn, invites Joe Black and Naomi, who work for them, to attend as well.  They decline and tell her why this is a bad idea. 

Catherine couldn't separate the teaching All are acceptable in God's sight" from the realities of who would be acceptable at a cracker picnic. 

Later on she is devastated and confused when the five pies she had brought were not touched, except by her husband, Sam. Her neighbor set her straight by telling her Crackers don't eat food fixed by Yankees.

Fast forward a hundred years or so, to the late 1970s.  My husband, Ken, a United Methodist Minister, had great success serving as an urban minister in South Florida for nine years.  He was recognized as a strong bridge builder.  So he was "rewarded" by being asked to move to Orlando to facilitate a difficult change for two downtown churches, located less than a mile from each other.  One was Broadway, the other was Concord Park.  Both churches had lost members, mostly due to urban flight.  Both church buildings were lovely, especially Broadway.  

Ken's assignment was to merge the churches.  The district superintendent at that time said that it was crazy to do anything else.  There were even folks who lived next door to each other attending different Methodist churches. 

Apparently the districts superintendent had forgotten our nation's and our denomination's history.   For well over 100 years, the Methodists were divided into North and South churches.  The original issue, of course, was slavery. But the Civil War did not change this split.  Many southern congregations were caught between church rules and state law.  

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Within the first few weeks, Ken knew that these congregations would never merge.  Broadway was a "North" church and Concord Park was a "South" church.  The people who lived next to each other  attended different churches for a reason.  

We were at Broadway and Concord Park for four years.  During that time both congregations grew, especially Broadway.  During that time Broadway suffered a devastating fire.  Ken encouraged the Concord Park congregation to invite the Broadway folks to meet with them while the year long repairs were made.  They kindly made the invitation but there was no way they'd meet together.  Concord Park worshiped was at 9:30 and Broadway at 11:00.

Knowing our United Methodist history helps me remain hopeful for our denomination's future as we struggle with the question of  All are acceptable in God's sight" from the realities of who would be acceptable at a cracker picnic or a United Methodist Church.

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