Pierre Tielhard de Chardin, the Jesuit philosopher and scientist, had faith in cosmic evolution toward an ultimate harmony he called the "Omega Point." He wrote,

"Remain true to yourself, but move ever upward toward greater consciousness and greater love! At the summit you will find yourselves united with all those who, from every direction, have made the same ascent. For everything that rises must converge."

Thus the picture adorning the cover of Flannery O'Connor's collection of short stories is appropriately funny: Cosmic convergence entails not just high-altitude reconciliation, but rising arrows converging on rising doves. Expect not just perpetual peace, but crucifixion.

I recently ran across Teddy Ray's 2012 post, "Why the United Methodist Church needs a catechism" over at Seedbed.

Ray begins with a story theologian William J. Abraham tells about a couple who joined the United Methodist Church, having previously been Southern Baptist:

"The former-Baptists shared that where “before, as Southern Baptists, they had to accept a whole system of doctrine, they were now free, as United Methodists, to believe anything they liked.”"

This leads Ray to suggest that:

"The most pressing problem for United Methodists is how to appropriately teach and preserve the doctrines we claim."

Ray thus argues that:

"The United Methodist Church needs a catechism. We need to teach what we believe in a way that is clear and concise. We need to teach clearly enough that those doctrines most basic to Wesleyan theology will not be easily undermined or ignored."

As far as it goes, Ray is right about all of this. A good catechism could be a great help to United Methodists in handing on the Christian faith, to adults as well as to children. Yet the trick, which Ray does not address, is in the 'how.'

It is not a good time to try to legislatively adopt a universal United Methodist catechism. The last thing we need is another official text over which to fight about language surrounding sex and homosexual acts.

Yet we could really use a good catechism. We could really use a catechism that is doctrinally rich, detailed and robust enough to help us unfold in an ordered way what the Bible teaches about Christian faith and life.

For this reason, if we are to take up Ray's suggestion, I suggest a way to proceed is for the various influential groups in and around the UMC to work with their theologians and pastors and provide us with some unofficial catechisms. Good News, the Reconciling Ministries Network, the Confessing Movement, the Love Your Neighbor Coalition, Aldersgate Renewal Ministries, etc., etc. — or at least a few such groups — ought to put out catechisms. A number of United Methodist megachurches might also be in a position to draw together a group of pastors and scholars to collaborate on an unofficial catechism. These unofficial UM catechisms could be used and shared by those United Methodists who agree with them.

Such "affiliational" and unofficial UM catechisms should also be frankly criticized both by those who use them and by those who do not. They should be revised with an eye to the other unofficial catechisms, not only with attention to matters on which they substantially disagree, but especially with the goal of convergence. On many doctrines a mutually enriching convergence is possible, provided those working on the revisions aim always at a more clear and full presentation of the mystery of our salvation in Jesus Christ as revealed in the Scriptures.

The second or third generation unofficial catechisms might be quite vibrant, teaching mostly (though not completely) the same things, with one or another of them commending itself as helpful to most United Methodist pastors and people.

This, at least, might be a good way to go if we want to minimize the blood and feathers falling around us.