Initial Thoughts in the Wake of General Conference

From Rev. Eric Folkerth (Northaven UMC)

Summary:

I have never been in an earthquake. But I have heard those who have describe it as an unsettling event that rattles your knees, makes you queasy, and leaves you with the sense that the ground has be pulled out from under you. For many who participated in General Conference, this is exactly how we feel this morning.

There are many ways to measure success or failure at General Conference. But there is only ONE way that changes things for all of the United Methodists: changes to our Book of Discipline. And on that baseline metric, the truth is that our denomination took a step backwards this week in inclusion of gay and lesbian persons.

I say this because of the defeat of two proposals that seemed to have broad initially support. The first was a re-writing of what is known was Paragraph 161G, or the paragraph in the Social Principles that deals with human sexuality. This re-writing was somewhat unexpected. You may remember that this is the statement which includes the infamous “incompatibility clause.”

The committee responsible for this section of the Discipline voted out new language that eliminated that clause completely. Here’s is a snippet of that language:

“We believe that the Spirit has brought our collective conscience to acknowledge this mystery more honestly, and to make our claims with greater humility before God and our neighbors. We therefore ask the Church, United Methodist and others, and the world, to refrain from judgment regarding homosexual persons and practices until the Spirit leads us to 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.”

Let me say, as an aside, several of our delegates from the North Texas Conference played a crucial committee role in crafting this language, including a conservative delegate who confided in me that “our current language is not working...we need to try something new.”
Many people seemed to believe this. It took a great deal of "holy conferencing" to craft this "third way" language.

But, on the floor --before the entire General Conference-- this legislation was defeated, in favor of the “minority report.” Even more stunning that the defeat of that sensitive and profound majority report, is the fact that the minority report is actually a less helpful statement than what we had previously. This is the main sense in which we have taken a step backwards. This regressive minority report was approved by a vote of 55-45, or a margin of 84 votes out of 998 total.

On the other great matter, legislation to overturn Decision 1032, the situation is also disappointing. The Conference basically rejected both the minority report and the majority committee reports on this matter; effectively leaving Decision 1032 in place. The majority report, which would have clearly repudiated Decision 1032, failed by a scant 6 vote swing: six votes out of 998 voters!!! This one, on the heels of the first loss, and considering the close margin, was very hard to take.

There were several major victories, however. A new, more moderate Judicial Council was elected, which seems to have broad support from many. There is a new definition of “family” as being “two parents,” and not just “mother and father.” Actions against a transgendered clergyperson were completely dropped, leaving him appointed in good standing. There is a new, strongly worded statement condemning homophobia.

Finally, there is a Constitutional Amendment which would have the affect of repealing Decision 1032, if ratified by 2/3rds of all Annual Conferences over the next year. Let me read a part of that ammendment briefly:

“All persons who seek relationship in Jesus Christ shall be eligible to attend its worship services, participate in its programs, receive the sacraments, upon baptism be admitted as baptized members, and upon taking vows declaring the Christian faith, become professing members in any local church in the connection.”

I can’t explaining to you why this Constitution Amendment would pass, and the petition to overturn 1032 would fail. It makes no logical sense on the face of it. But there it is.

But I can also not speak with assurance that it will pass 2/3rds of each Annual Conference. I say this because of my own personal, major learning from this Conference. It is a learning that will come to shape my thinking about our denomination for a long time to come:

International delegates --now more than one-quarter of all voting delegates-- are in a clear alliance with the most conservative elements of the American United Methodist Church.

We have feared this for years. You may recall that I mentioned this issue last week. But it is now a crystal-clear truth to all of us. This is a development that should be a concern for everyone in United Methodism. Friends, as some of us heard in speeches from the floor from some of these international delegates, they are far more conservative than even the average American conservatives, on a wide range of social issues.

This first truth reveals another truth that we learned clearly at this General Conference and that, in our confusion and hurt, we should not miss:

The hearts of American United Methodist delegates have been converted on GLBT issues.

I truly believe that. But it is not simply a faith statement to say such things. It’s easily provable, simply by analyzing the vote, and knowing what we know about the international vote. If you factor out the international votes, both the issues I mentioned would above have passed, and one (repudiating Decision 1032) would have passed overwhelmingly. There can be no denying this. (In fact, a well-placed person in the North Texas Conference believes the issues would have gone our way, even with “mix” of delegates from four years ago!)

But the voice of the American Church was thwarted by the alliance between conservative American delegates and international delegates.

And this makes the issue of restructuring an even more pressing concern than ever.

If we cannot restructure to allow regional autonomy to every part of our global church, then we literally risk losing the moral voice of the American United Methodist Church, not just on GLBT issues, but on a wide range of crucial social issues.

This will be a pressing concern for the general church in these next four years.
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But friends, all of what I have just said is far removed from how we are feeling this day. As your pastor, I want to address that the most. First, I want to thank the many people from Northaven who made their witness at General Conference...

Those who served on the Reconciling Initiatives Committee for more than a year ahead of conference...
Those who attended the Reconciling Worship, as our Youth Group and forty other members did...
Those who sat in the gallery each day during plenary...
Those who served as an official observers of legislative committees...
Those who participated in the non-violent protest on Thursday morning, or attending the wedding of Sue Laurie and Julie Bruno on Friday.

Whatever your role, you each made a powerful witness. Every single day, somebody from the Reconciling Movement came up and said to me “Wow...you Northaven people are everywhere!”

I am deeply honored and moved by your commitment, and your witness to faith.

But while we are grateful for our particular “haven” here at Northaven and Preston --and while technically nothing about how we do ministry here has changed-- I think I can speak for many of us when I say that this morning it does not feel like enough.
Despite the fact that our “haven” remains unmoved, our denomination has. It has moved in ways that are deeply hurtful. And such hurtful conduct is not easily overcome by the fact that we have this faith community here. In fact, it makes our compassion for GLBT persons who are excluded in other parts of the country all the more deep and painful.

Our Reconciling Initiatives Committee constantly reminded us that this struggle is not a sprint, but a marathon. I will note that it was perhaps easier to say this a week ago than it is this morning. Perhaps it feels like we have hit the dreaded 18-mile “wall.” Perhaps we are questioning how we go forward....either as a church, or as individuals. I want you to know that I understand that.

My hope is that, despite our anger, pain, and hurt at the United Methodist Church, we might still find “haven” among this community and each other and see our continuing witness as important.

In the coming weeks and months, my pastoral hope is that whatever our individual decisions will be on how we feel about Northaven or the UMC, we can lean on each other, as we have in the past.

Northaven Church proves the truth that we are stronger together than we are divided.

And I hope we can cling to that truth.
Perhaps we do not feel as if we have the strength to go on. At this exact moment, I cannot argue with such feelings, although I suppose my sincere hope is that we find a way to move forward together. Maybe it is time for edgier non-violent actions of some kind that make a statement to the greater church. I have heard several suggest this in the past few days. If so, let us have that conversation together, and hope that we can move forward with a unified witness.

Our witness has changed lives in the past....it clearly did change lives at this General Conference. And I believe it will continue to change lives in the future.

Whatever your feelings about the United Methodist Church, I hope you can allow this faith community to be your haven, and I hope we can spend some time considering what our next steps, as a faith community, might be.

Many of you remember Alicia Dean, a faithful member of our staff for many years. Alicia and I have been emailing this week, and she sent me this beautiful prayer, which I’d like use to close out these initial comments. close these initial comments. There will be more to say about what Northaven does next as a church. There will be more to say about the issue of restructuring, and how we might protest what has happened at this conference.

But this morning, let us end by praying this prayer:

O God of unfathomable depths and mysterious ways, when we think about it, there is really so little that we understand. Whether it’s a storm that passes one house and destroys another, a war that seemingly has no end, or a church that sanctions exclusion, we are left shaking our heads and wondering what it all means. Wondering how we can possibly find you in the midst of the mess. How long must we wander in this wilderness, O God? How long must we ask to serve you and be told NO? God who moved over the face of the waters and who hovers still over the chaos of our lives, we are weary of the noise. We are tired of the cacophony of rattling sabers, the endless distractions that shift our gaze to lines drawn in the sand, to distinctions of mine and yours, and to legal language of right and wrong instead of words of love and grace and justice and mercy. God who breathed life into fashioned clay, breathe into us now that we may be formed into your people once again. Quiet the storm within our denomination that the wave of your grace may roll over us. Heal us and all those who suffer from oppressive measures that we may find hope in this despair, pride in the shame of it all, courage in our fear, and resolution in defeat. Shift our eyes from a downward glance to stars outshining the darkest nights. Let us find water in the rock and life in dry bones. Raise us once more to new life and make of us something strong and full of grace. Free within us the courage to be vulnerable enough to offer a hand to clasp. Heal us that we may be bread to eat, wine to share, and mortal fools for your kin-dom. Fill us that we might be bold enough to take a stand, or speak a word, or shed a tear, or to make again the decision to follow you and, in so doing, that we will, by grace, come to life abundant and come to dare, and come to hope and love your future in.
Amen.

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Initial Thoughts in the Wake of General Conference
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Comments

[Antony Hebblethwaite]

I also have deeply appreciated your message, not only your analysis, but the honesty and compassion you bring to the subject. I know that what you have to say will help many.

[southdakotajay]

Thanks for this message. It is one of the few things I have read that describes so accurately my own views of what happened - and my own emotions following General Conference. Thanks for all of your work - and that of your congregation - before and during General Conference - and in the months and years ahead.
Peace with Justice