By Meghan Hatcher

​Many in the United Methodist Church describe this present moment in the denomination as Holy Saturday. I agree. The tomb is too dark and the stone is too heavy, not yet rolled away to reveal new life. The General Conference of the UMC failed gravely this week and in so doing left catastrophe in its wake. If I had the words for it, there is so much I could say about this particular moment and the decades of anguish and pain leading up to it. But what I will focus on in these paragraphs is how the tomb of this Holy Saturday still contains Christ. If I, and my LGBTQ+ siblings, are inside the tomb at least it is good to know that Christ is in here with us.

By Meghan Hatcher

I wrote last month about it being time to get moving and I’m happy to report four weeks later that I have. Over the holiday, I experienced three blissful weeks of time away from my job and seminary classes. I thought I would feel restless; thought perhaps that much time without an overwhelming list of items on my to-do list might leave me feeling useless or like I wasn’t “redeeming the time.” (Any other type 8s know what I’m getting at?) But the reality was I had NO idea how much I needed that time or how burned out I was feeling. Instead of feeling restless, I felt at peace and abundantly grateful for time to unplug. I was able to create space to get a few things done that I simply didn’t have the energy to accomplish in the hubbub of a busy semester and work demands.

By Meghan Hatcher
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A phrase spoken off-handedly during the December cohort meeting of The Change Maker’s Project has stuck with me ever since that Saturday in Baltimore — “perpetual state of preparation.” What the pastor/social entrepreneur/justice seeker meant by that phrase wasn’t something altogether virtuous. For Rev. Heber Brown III, pastor at Pleasant Hope Baptist Church in North Baltimore, a “perpetual state of preparation” becomes an impediment to faithfully fulfilling one’s call in the world.