GC Newsletter: Monday, April 28, 2008

 Legislative Committee Approves New ¶161.G

We applaud the work of the human sexuality subcommittee who worked hard to craft their best understanding of all the petitions which were before them relating to the gift of human sexuality. The proposed new paragraph acknowledges the "fire in our disagreements" and sees it pointing "to a deeper human mystery than we knew."  The statement believes "that the Spirit has brought our collective conscience to acknowledge this mystery more honestly" and asks us "to make our claims with greater humility." The statement asks "the Church, United Methodist and others, and the world, to refrain from judgment regarding homosexual persons and practices until the Spirit leads us to a new insight. In the meantime, let us seek to welcome, know, forgive, and love one another as Christ has accepted us, that God may be glorified through everything in our lives."

We commend their work, for it is an honest reflection of where the UM Church is, and we hope that the plenary gathering approves this wording. It is a step in the right direction and gives us all some breathing room to engage in further holy conferencing.

Judicial Council elections begin today.  Please keep in your prayers the thoughtful selection of those who will interpret the Discipline in a wise, fair-minded manner. Pray also for the delegates who will be making these important decisions.

Injustice Anywhere, Injustice Everywhere

Soulforce sponsored a panel of Rev. Gil Caldwell, active in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and in the national civil rights movement. The other panelist, Rev. James Lawson, was a student of Ghandi and one that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called the leading non-violence theorist in the world.  The panelists wrestled with the connections between the "isms": racism, anti-semitism, sexism, heterosexism, homophobia, agism, able-ism, etc.  "They all come from the same kind of place," Caldwell reflected, saying that we will not get rid of heterosexism until the root of all the "isms" is unearthed.  He wondered "if those who have been placed outside the gate have an even greater responsibility to heal a sick society." Lawson reminded hearers that the old ways of exclusion are still with us; the Central Jurisdiction was dissolved, but the people didn't change--the exclusion just shifted to another "scapegoat": homosexual persons.  People just continued "the old ways of exclusion of some human beings."  He suggested that some are "committed to a domination and control type of religion, a religion about Jesus not a religion of Jesus," and that all of us need to go back to the religion of Jesus. In fact, the underlying spirit of all the isms and the impulse to exclude others is violence, and until we face that we will not be able to right all the things that need "righting."

Preacher: "People Do Change"

From gay bashing to being an advocate, Rev. Dr. Don Guest, Co-Pastor of Glide Memorial UMC in San Francisco, told of his being challenged by Dr. Traci West (now Associate Professor of Ethics and African American Studies at Drew University Theological School) to look at his Moody Bible Institute training differently. She challenged him to see that full inclusion of persons into the church was simply the right thing to do!  He learned three things from her:

We are all subject to the reproof, the correction, and the encouragement of the Holy Spirit
Our personal preferences, feelings, and beliefs can never be decisive in ethics, that we need to be transformed by the heart of the gospel. The grace of the gospel is more important than all else.
He said that Wesley "risked tearing up his own movement,” risked splitting the church, losing members, and the entire South, because the grace of the Gospel was more important to John Wesley than the Methodist movement. All those who hear, believe, and act on the unconditional love of God are Jesus' family.  "Stop excluding folks! … It's one table, one Lord, one baptism, and one human family!"

Stoles available from Reconciling Parents

Reconciling stoles, in stained-glass rainbow colors, are available at the resource table during breakfast and lunch at First Christian Church. (First Christian Church, 612 Throckmorton)

Opening of Proposed ¶ 161.G

“We recognize that sexuality is God's good gift to all persons. We believe persons may be fully human only when that gift is acknowledged and affirmed by themselves, the church, and society. We call all persons to the disciplined, responsible fulfillment of themselves, others, and society in the stewardship of this gift.”