When we avoid difficult conversations in church, we withdraw from the very challenges that need our best selves and our deepest surrender to God. The most important conversations are not about who is right and who is wrong; those never go very far. But conversations in which we learn from one another about how we got to the perspectives we hold, in which we hear the personal stories upon which our convictions are built, those can take us to novel and more secure ground. I believe that God cares much more about how we get to common-ground solutions for the long term, than about who will win and who will lose in the short term.

When we claim that there are no exceptions to God’s love, we are not simply referring to something between God and whoever that may be. We cannot say, “God loves you. No exceptions. But please go and be loved by God over there, somewhere.” Rather, in those five words we are proclaiming a guiding conviction for our own lives and responsibilities as Christians. We are saying that precisely because you are loved by God, whoever you are, I, as part of the body of Christ, will love you, too. No matter what that costs us.

The United Methodist–Episcopal Church Dialogue Committee has released a series of videos highlighting shared ministries between the churches and discussing the current full communion proposal developed by the committee.