General Conference 2008

A Letter to the Faithful

Rev. Gilbert H. Caldwell wrote this Letter to the Faithful after the Nonviolent protests/witnesses that occurred on Thursday, May 1 (Plenary Witness and Walking Over The Wounded). Earlier in the week, Rev. Caldwell addressed the General Conference on the ongoing struggle with racism and heterosexism in the United Methodist Church.

A Letter to the Faithful

Beloved Friends,

Congratulations to all of you who waged such a significant nonviolent struggle against those who in their distorted definition of "scriptural authority", worked to retain the "incompatibility with the Christian faith" language in the Book of Discipline.

Martin Luther King once said of segregation; "Segregation is dead, it is just a question of how long and expensive some folk want to make the funeral." It has been impossible to calculate the cost in spirituality, credibility, mission, ministry, finances and emotional well-being the long night of racial segregation/racism that we have experienced as a church and as a nation has cost us. As I read the words of Bishop Mel Talbert as he made the comparison between the Central Jurisdiction and the un-named "Jurisdiction" in which we have placed our sister/brother LGBT persons, I wept! How long O Lord, how long?

We are saddened because by a vote margin of 84 persons, the General Conference continued the charade of pretending that there is not a growing number of persons who found the incompatibility phrase, "incompatible" with their understanding of Scripture, the Wesleyan tradition and the mission and ministry of the Church. The church chose to extend and finance the funeral of heterosexism even though we know that it is on its deathbed or even now dead and some do not know it.

But, let us not despair or give up. Rather, let us press on in our diverse ways. Some can no longer accept the lie that God does not call LGBT persons into ordained ministry. Thus, they will respond in their own ways. Others, at the sessions of the annual conferences this spring and summer, conference after conference will pass legislation that proclaims at the conference level what General Conference could not proclaim at its level. And all of us will embrace our LGBT colleagues and ourselves, as we day after day walk and talk the fact that "WE ARE FAMILY", even though the legislation of the United Methodist Church does not understand that.

The Scriptures reminds us; "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning". I pray that many of you as tears were streaming down your faces saw the morning joy that is coming despite 30 plus years of violating the integrity of Scripture and the meaning of God's presence in Jesus Christ.

Gil Caldwell

P.S.   I have not found words nor the emotional strength to respond to my African brother who spoke the awful words that he spoke. Does he not know nor remember that there was a time and still is, when all of us of African descent were/are thought to be less than; in worth, value, humanity, spirituality, intelligence and integrity? Why is it that those whose history is that of being demonized and demeaned by those who think themselves superior, dare to turn around and demonize and demean LGBT persons? I will seek to pray for him and for those who told him about a God and a Bible who condones this blasphemy. This is neither my God nor my Bible, why is it his?

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.
-------------------------------------
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.

Full story:
Initial Thoughts in the Wake of General Conference
Click here

My first General Conference

by Julie Arms

Let's hope this doesn't explode with words spread far. far across the page.  This is written with a bias - my bias and those who I support and will continue to do so.

My first General Conference.  I didn’t know what to expect.  Prior to this, as a single parent, I’d only ever been able to follow along via the news and internet.  So, finally, it is my time to be there as a volunteer with the Common Witness coalition of RMN, MFSA, Affirmation, and Soulforce.

General Conference was an amazing experience. It was fabulous, wonderful, terrible, depressing, devastating, and hopeful to be there. It was also a real learning experience.

I’m not going to name names for the most part. Some of you will know who you and others are. But for me, General Conference was all about the people.  From our first volunteer orientation that Tuesday, to passing out the RMN newsletter every morning at 7:15, to trying to be around the Convention Center to speak to delegates during breaks, I got to see and meet and talk to a lot of people.

The people:  the ones I knew I would see and reconnect with, having met and known them from other times and places.

The people:  the ones I hoped and planned to meet, knowing each other only from 7V, Facebook, and even as far back as the old UMC BBS.

The people:  the new friends, instant connections. I love you and won't forget you.

The people:  that I worked with and for – thank you all.

The people:  my Annual Conference Lay Leader, hugging me on the street, as I passed along well wishes and prayers for her giving the Laity Address. And how that Address touched me!  The invitation – an invitation is how I came to my current church. Garnett Wilder and his “Trust God.“ and “Did you hear it?”  I was there the day he died after saying those last words from the pulpit – he would be so proud that his words were used in the Laity Address at General Conference!

The people:  the open minded of my delegates who spoke to me; the others who were receptive to an introduction and starting a conversation. The one who I knew where he stood, yet without fail, said hello to me every time we saw each other. The one who told me hearing peoples’ stories at a listening session had given her things to consider in ways she never had before. Another one who came to our Common Witness space with me for lunch. The 5 who voted “our way.” The 3 who stood during our witness on the plenary floor.

The people:  my closed minded delegates who turned away rather than look me in the eye; the ones who refused to shake hands; the ones who would not speak.

The people:  the random run-ins; meeting three people a 7V friend wanted me to meet; hearing a college classmate speak from the floor and later catching her in the hallway – we hadn’t seen each other since the early 80s (and I can happily say she was wearing a PRN stole!).

The people:  exchanging newsletters with “the other side” (it is good to be informed of what others say) and the Good News guy claiming he had too much in his hands when offered the RMN news; not being able to hold back the words “your hand won’t fall off if you take it” and having Jeff, the IRD guy, burst out in laughter.

The people:  the Bishop who yelled at me for being “misquoted” (not) in our newsletter; my own Bishop who would not speak to me in any of my three attempts to do so.

The people:  our young adults – what a stellar future we have in them!  They are our Future With Hope.

The people:  my former Bishop in Residence who joyfully engaged in conversation with people I introduced him to and who introduced me to those around him.  Who can be seen wiping tears away on the witness video.

The people:  the ones who voted to not become an inclusive church; leaving me feeling overly privileged and entitled to more than I deserve, because I am straight; leaving my brothers and sisters in Christ denied all they are entitled to because they are GLBTQ.  It is not right. I am not more deserving nor they less. How is it those voters do not hear God speaking, saying let the Holy Spirit work among us???

The people:  the witness. I still haven’t found the words to describe that experience, what it felt like on the floor, what I saw around me, what I felt afterwards.  Grief, pain and love.

The people:  that blessing of a man from Missouri who greeted us, every time we saw him with, smiles and hugs.  The Bishops’ wives giving away their stoles and needing replacements. The people asking for pins.  The people asking for stoles. The smiles. The thank yous. The couple from Mississippi (Mississippi!!) who thanked us for our witness as we stood and sang the day of the votes.  The man who came and stood behind us and sang with us after the votes. The same man who went a step farther than just going to Sue & Julie’s wedding across the street but waited in the lobby and jumped into the wedding procession with us.

The people:  that joyous gathering of family and friends at Sue and Julie’s wedding, celebrating their love and commitment for 25 years and into the future.

The people:  those among us who’ve worked many more years than I have towards becoming an inclusive church; those whose first General Conference it was like me; those who will join us next time.  Thank you for allowing me to be a part of our work this time and count on me for 2012.

Robert's Rules and holy conferencing

By Jim Winkler, General Secretary, General Board of Church & Society

General Conference, top policy-making body of The United Methodist Church, is over — and not a moment too soon. Ten straight days is simply too long. We have to find a way to dramatically shorten the conference. Exhaustion began to set in after a few days, although I was pleased about the positive attitude most people maintained throughout.

General Conference is a constant round of meetings, plenaries, legislative sessions and events. For me, personally, in spite of the fatigue created by 18-20 hour days I found the conference to be spiritually enriching. This was not only due to the uplifting worship experiences, but because I had the opportunity to fellowship with old friends, make new friends and deepen a number of relationships.

Most of the petitions placed before the conference by the General Board of Church & Society were adopted. Our directors and staff worked hard for more than a year and a half to produce policy statements on crucial social concerns for the delegates to consider. I believe the high quality of the board’s work was recognized by the fact the overwhelming majority of the petitions were accepted.

The General Conference adopted a strong statement calling for immediate withdrawal of U.S. and coalition forces from the tragic war in Iraq. A rally and press conference in support of the rights of immigrants were held, and General Conference passed a very good statement on behalf of immigration reform. Many other important social concerns were addressed including a call for a moratorium on the death penalty in Texas.

The manipulation of delegates, in particular those from Africa, was quite brazen. A letter from the “Reform and Renewal” coalition was distributed at the beginning of General Conference informing them free cell phones would be given to them. The same letter included voting suggestions for Judicial Council candidates.

A U.S. pastor and former missionary personally witnessed a coalition representative instruct Central Conference delegates to vote against the “Worldwide Nature of the Church” report. The same representative then took credit he did not deserve for obtaining funding for theological education in Africa.

I watched a staff person of the “Reform and Renewal” coalition sending text messages to African delegates during a legislative committee session. The activity was so blatant marshals requested the cell phone be put away.

Let’s be clear: Not only did certain organizations and individuals manipulate many African delegates, but many of those delegates willingly permitted themselves to be manipulated. They accepted gifts apparently without considering the ethical consequences. This is improper.

Once again, a reasonable compromise regarding human sexuality worked out painstakingly in committee was ignored by a minority of that legislative committee. This minority took an alternative report to the full General Conference, which adopted it.

Ironically, the General Conference refuses to admit that differences exist in the church concerning homosexuality. The proponents of that minority report insist it is necessary that the church denounce gay, lesbian and transgendered people. Eventually, I believe a younger generation will emerge at General Conference and will change our denomination’s stance.

A lot of focus was on the need for holy conferencing. I think that did help. It’s hard to have holy conferencing, though, when using Robert’s Rules of Order. Parliamentary procedure does not lend itself well to honest, Christian conversation.

Every four years, representatives from across our denomination gather to chart a course for the church. This year’s General Conference theme was “A Future with Hope.” I believe in that future.

Full story:
Robert's Rules and holy conferencing
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Jesus Remember Me

On Wednesday, April 30 by a narrow margin, the General Conference rejected petition 80088 that stated, "The pastor(s) and the congregation are to faithfully receive all persons who are willing to affirm our vows of membership." Because the petition was rejected, Decision 1032 remains in force in The United Methodist Church. The Decision had affirmed a local pastor's right to deny a gay man membership in his congregation. Petition 80088 failed on the heels of the General Conference's retention of the clause, "Homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching."

During Thursday morning worship, Bishop Hee-Soo Jung of the Northern Illinois Annual Conference preached the following sermon on the Christian mandate that all really means all. The sermon is also the theological backdrop of the Witness on the Plenary Floor that occurred several hours later.

Jesus Remember Me from Reconciling Ministries Network on Vimeo.

Sermon Transcript

On Friday, May 2, the General Conference voted by a two-thirds majority to amend the constitution of the church to read as follows:

"The United Methodist Church is a part of the church universal which is one body in Christ. The United Methodist Church acknowledges that all persons are of sacred worth and that we are in ministry to all. All persons shall be eligible to attend its worship services, participate in its programs, receive the sacraments, and upon Baptism, be admitted as baptized members. All persons upon taking vows declaring the Christian faith and relationship in Jesus Christ shall be eligible to become professing members in any local church in the connection."

This now must be ratified by a two-thirds affirmative vote of the aggregate number of voting annual members.

Inspired by Bishop Robinson’s Message of Hope

By Bill Gillis

I did not go to General Conference this year.  But I found myself monitoring obsessively various blogs and newswires throughout the ten days of conference.  I was in regular touch via email with folks who were there and others who, like me, were watching from afar.  And even though I digested as much data as I could, gleaned from various media, it wasn’t until last night that many of those observations sort of fell – serendipitously – into a proper interpretive frame. 

Last night I had the pleasure of hearing Gene Robinson, Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire, speak at the Equality Forum at the HRC building in Washington, DC.  He read a passage from his new book, In the Eye of the Storm: Swept to the Center by God, spoke of his travels and ministry, and entertained questions.  It was while listening to Bishop Robinson speak about the state of the Episcopal Church in the United States and the struggles of the worldwide Anglican Communion that my own views of the United Methodist Church – in light of the recent General Conference and the legislative and judicial advances and setbacks experienced by the Reconciling community – were brought into focus.  Bishop Robinson made an important distinction between optimism and hope, a distinction that I found apt in light of this year’s conference theme: A Future with Hope.  He pointed out that optimism, a state or attitude distinguished by a positive approach or disposition, can all too quickly give way to pessimism.  Whereas hope – the positivity of which is associated with the outcome, rather than the outlook – is something more sustaining.  With hope, the assumption is that we know how this is going to end.  We know what the eventual outcome will be.  Therefore we must hope in that future – the future we know full well is coming.  The distinction is subtle; the challenge very real.  We don’t know when it will come, and we don’t know whether or not we will be around to see it. 

Robinson invoked the image of a sculpture outside the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, TN, where there are African Americans standing one on top of the other in a continuous spiral moving up to heaven.  He remarked that he has always understood the people on the bottom of that sculpture to be just as remarkably happy to be there as the ones on the top – because without someone else’s shoulders to stand on, where would they be?  The struggle depicted in the sculpture is one resonant with a sustaining hope that encouraged each new generation to continue working for justice, advocating full inclusion, demanding equal rights and protections, and dreaming that each and every tomorrow might be the day it would all come to pass.  As full of hope as it is, however, it is also a cautionary tale. 

As Bishop Robinson pointed out last night, remember the Israelites.  The Israelites, having escaped Egypt at last, expected the Promised Land to await them just on the other side of the Red Sea.  And yet, what greeted them instead was not the Promised Land, but 40 years of wandering in the desert.  Similarly, Emancipation did not squelch theological justification of slavery; the Civil Rights Acts of the 1950s and ‘60s did not eradicate racism.  And neither will a change in the language of the Discipline expunge homophobia from the United Methodist Church.  It may wipe it off its face, but these are seeds that will take years – generations maybe – to cull from the institutional church. 

The practices witnessed at General Conference may have been impolitic, and the results less than heartening, but the message of Gene Robinson as he spoke last night was one that resonated with me: we cannot take our toys and go home.  That is precisely what the Oppressor wants.  Faced with the challenges of returning home, getting back to work, going back to church even, and continuing the movement toward peace and justice in the United Methodist Church, Bishop Robinson reminds us that when we remain at the table, the opportunity for relationship endures.  When we insist on conversation, our stories can be told.  When we are present with each other, everyone has the opportunity to listen and learn.  The voice of the fringe community is vital to the sort of prolonged, intentional, and deliberate dialogue that will bring change.

The work must continue; the hope endure.

Striving for Normalness, but never normality

I am numb - physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  Returning home after General Conference has been rather surreal - I am comforted by my friends, my apartment, my City, even by returning today to work, and I am striving to get back to the normalness of life.  Slowly, I will get back to my regular routine - catch up on my sleep, and be able to get through a day without thinking about General Conference, maybe even get through a whole day without thinking about the United Methodist church.

Yet, I know that I am changed by General Conference - just as I was changed by General Conference in 2004.  I have lived through a harsh rejection, by the church that I have loved since I was young.  I have said often in the last week that it is not for me that I am in pain, but for the many others who have been so deeply hurt by the Church.  My numerous friends who have been denied their call to ministry, my friends whose love is not recognized by our church, my friends who seek a place where they can be themselves wholly and fully.  Today, for the first time, I was able to admit to a friend that I too have been hurt deeply by this church, a denial that I had not faced up to this last week.  For some reason, I felt like I was being naive and foolish to open myself up to be hurt yet again, but I was and continue to be stung by the words and actions of our church.

In 2004, I experienced a very powerful movement of the Holy Spirit - it happend on the prayer line outside of teh Pittsburgh convention center.  I have described it to some friends as being like a phoenix rising up inside me, calling me to action.  I have felt the same spirit within me this last week - beginning with the powerful witness on the floor of General Conference, and continuing as I speak with friends around the country, both who attended and did not attend GC. 

There is no normality to be had, we cannot let up on our work - for it is not our work, but God's work.  There is no returning to a time when I was oblivious to the words of the church, to the time before I had learned about the deep sin the church has committed to its gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender sons and daughters, to a time when I was content to sit back and let others do the work of justice.

I do need to take some time.  I have wounds that must heal, and a weary body which must rest.  We as a community need to gather ourselves together to support each other during this valley, but we cannot step away from this work.  It is our calling and we have been put here for such a time as this.  As we get back to our daily lives, I hope that we do not fall into the normality of complacency, but are able to find the deeper, truer, call to justice.

Too Soon? Too Late?

Is it too soon?

The Reconciling Committee of the Board of Church and Society of the New England Conference sponsors an annual essay contest for young people ages 16-21. The winning essay is awarded a modest scholarship and is invited to read the essay at a session of Annual Conference. I want to celebrate that this year, the committee received two very good entries, although we were not of one mind concerning the "winner". Our disagreement was due primarily to concerns that many expressed over how one of the essays would be received by the body. The arguments go something like this:
It's too soon for some of our supporters to hear something so forceful. This sounds angry, and anger is divisive. We will lose support...

It is never too soon!

It is never too soon to tell the truth, to open our hearts to the grief of members of the body of Christ, to demand that the whole body at least become aware that others are suffering because we have failed to be the church for all of God's children.

Sometimes the truth hurts...
and when voices are silenced, the truth tends to hurt some more than others. 

What a privilege many of us have to be able to decide when we will hear the truth and experience the pain it represents! Queer people in churches everywhere will tell you that as soon as the church harms them publicly or they begin to voice their pain, people flock to them full of sorrow and guilt. When this happens, queer people – the ones who are MOST hurt by the exclusion of LGBTQ people in the United Methodist Church – end up providing pastoral care to their allies, their pseudo allies, the fence-sitters, and even the unrepentant persecutors of queer people.

Pain is pain, and I do not wish to minimize the pain of any person, but is it possible for non-queer people who experience grief over this almost ritual abuse of queer people in the church find another way to express their grief? Must queer people continue to serve the body as both scapegoat and pastor?

General Conference is over. The policies of the church are settled for another four years. It is easy to conclude that it's too late to do anything now...

Is it too late?

Steven Dry, a young man from the New England Conference who is finishing his Freshman year at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia as I type this post, wrote the "controversial" essay that I mentioned above. When you read it, you may be surprised to know that he wrote it at least a month before General Conference began. When I arrived at General Conference on April 23rd, I emailed Steven to thank him for his powerful offering to the New England Reconciling Committee (and as the incoming co-chair of the committee for the next quadrennium, to apologize for our collective fearfulness and continued willingness to play by the unspoken rules of hollow civility that mistake the absence of conflict for the well-being of the entire body).

I also asked Steven if I could post his essay on the General Conference blog. He graciously agreed to offer this powerful witness to a much larger audience than he had in mind when he wrote the essay.

I was so busy with the work of the Common Witness coalition at General Conference that I never posted Steven's essay. When I got home, I wondered if it was too late.

It is never too late!

It is never too late to enter into the work of reconciliation in the church and the world. The Spirit constantly calls us back to this work – calls us to begin again – to rebuild the church from the ashes of its own making. The essay that will be delivered at Annual Conference is an excellent essay on the assigned topic: "My vision of a fully inclusive United Methodist Church". The winning essay is also a blessing and a gift. It too will create some space for a new beginning following a General Conference in which some strides were made toward full inclusion, some positions were held, and some ground was lost.

And it is never too late for us to heed the call of one who has opened himself to us with an offering of grief and joy, regret and hope.

Now a note for those who are always calling us back to strategy – who worry that we will alienate somebody who isn't quite sure if queer people should be accepted:
Don't worry... I hear you. I have been hearing you for many years now. While I appreciate your commitment to follow the Spirit as you experience Her leading you, more often than I would like to admit, I have heeded your counsel. You are not invisible to me, and I do not disregard your convictions. You've argued that it's too soon to ask "ordinary people" to listen to an essay that unmasks the pain of so many and calls the church to live up to its promises and potential.

Today I say to you that it is never too soon to take people's pain seriously - yours, mine, and others'.  Nor is it ever too late to acknowledge publicly those who have been rendered invisible, who have been hurt and excluded and ejected by the policies and practices of this church and its people, who embody such compassion and joy and grace that they have continued to minister to and love and serve the rest of us anyway.

While the New England Annual Conference will not hear him in 2008, maybe you could try to hear Steven Dry by reading his essay. I encourage you to read it as it was meant to be read: It is a verbal address, not a static piece of writing on a page. It is a sermon and an offering of great love, deep pain, and fervent hope.

Steven will be reading your comments. While we have no other honor to offer him for this gift, it is never too soon – or too late – to express our gratitude.

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Our Manifesto
an essay by Steven Dry, New England Conference

Christians, we are the children of whispered centuries, of fearful times and worried minds. Our minds have been molded in the womb of Christian authority. We were born into a rigid architecture, baptized by unquestioned lies and confirmed by poisonous precedents, all teaching us the consequences of being different. Restrictive doctrines have shattered our love with shame and have taken our pride with pleasure. The worst part is, the church has done so with no mercy and not a touch of regret within its airy buildings, buildings that are no longer places to worship, but places to worry. Light saturates the pews with fearful luminescence and stabbing shadows, while parishioners quiver behind a silent tradition, afraid that they might be the next to go. And so those mute mouths, once able to speak, have become a second Tower of Babel, collapsing to build borders, not made of language, but of fear.

White steeples loom high with condemnation as they seeks out difference and paint over it with white, using an amalgam of scriptural texts and a particular religious understanding of those texts in order to create an artificial unity, or, more appropriately, uniformity. These scriptures became a means of maintaining purity and absoluteness, a purity that heretics threaten to undermine. This tradition began with early Christian leaders who fought against the Marcions and Gnostics as a means of maintaining order in the church. Even today, despite all the supposed tolerance and liberalism in the United Methodist Church, influential leaders continue to read the Bible strictly. Rather than using it as a narrative of Christ enacting Christian compassion, leaders handle the Bible as if it were a book of answers and a means of condemning those who fall outside of the status quo. Ironically, it is within the very texts that Christian leaders use to condemn the marginalized that Jesus sought out the social outcasts, the lepers, prostitutes, tax collectors, and foreigners, and showed them compassion.

In order to return to Jesus’ calling, we must transform Christianity from a condemning, absolute orthodoxy into a welcoming, compassionate orthopraxi. Only then can the marginalized find room in its rigid infrastructure. The Bible must become a means to an end, rather than an end in itself. It must be valued as a repository of wisdom and an aid to living a Christian life, rather than simply a moral answer book. Instead of venerating the texts of Christ and using them to degrade others, we must use those texts as guides for showing Christian compassion to the entire World. By doing this, the concrete walls of the Church loosen, opening a space for all Christians, not just those who fit into the mold. Only then, can the sun can break through the foggy windows and shine a new, accepting light into the shadows where the marginalized hide. This reconciling glow will travel mystically throughout the sanctuary, seeking out the least and the lost, finally arriving at the altar. There, as the bread and the cup collide, sweet, reassuring drops of future will touch mouths once burdened with the bitter taste of tradition.

Unfortunately, this is but a distant vision. Nevertheless, in a world where hate has fettered hope and love has gone into hiding, we must arise from the shadows of this oppressive church and shine our own colorful reflections, staining the silence of this sterile, oppressive church and showing it our beautiful palette of diversity. This is the first step, and we must not be afraid. We can bear this crown of silence and cross of injustice no longer. We must have our own Easter Sunday.

the sunday after...

i have to admit, it was hard to put on a happy face and get back up in front of the church to lead worship this morning.  it was first sunday, which means communion, which i normally love.... but as the senior minister was reading the liturgy and reminding the congregation that "we do not understand this table to be St. Mark UMC's table nor the United Methodist Church's table, but God's table, welcome and open to all who would seek to encounter Christ"....i felt a knot in the pit of my stomach and tears well up in my eyes... this was going to be difficult to get through today, i thought to myself.  i sure didn't feel welcome in the church that i was born, bapitsed, confirmed and ordained into after seeing what happened at general conference.  nontheless, i knew that if i could just get through the service i'd be able to expres my grief later when no one else was around. 

my job as the deacon on first sundays is to set the communion table and then step over to the side of the chancel area with some oil for anointing and to offer intercessory prayer to anyone who wants it.  it has become a beautiful part of our communion tradition that i look forward to all month.  its one of my favorite things that i get to do at St. Mark. people come up and share their burdens with me and I get to anoint them with oil and offer blessings and prayers for them.  it is always an honor to serve in this way, but today i didn't feel like i had many blessings to give... 

general conference really has me devastated and i've been on the verge of tears off and on since wednesday.  here i was, standing as a minister in the UMC which had just smacked me and all of the people in my local congregation across the face with yet another rejection (despite sound, well organized, well articulated arguments and intentional relationship building with delgates prior to conference).  what did i as a minister in this denomination really have to offer them today?  we began the Lord's Supper and a few people came over to ask for prayers for illnesses and troubled relationships.  i did my best to focus on the anointing and offer a heart-felt prayer.  then one of my parishoners who had participated in the "called to witness" training, came over to me. at first i thought he wanted an anointing and prayer, but he stopped me and said that he came over to offer prayer for me...he said he was so proud of me for going to general conference and being a voice and presence for him and his partner of 34 years.  he said he could see on my face how wounded i was but he wanted me to know how much it meant to him and so many others that we all went to general conference and fought the good fight for them.  as i looked into his eyes i couldnt hold back the tears any longer.  in the midst of my pain and anger, he planted a flicker of hope that soon began to turn the tears of anger and hurt into tears of confidence and peace and i just let them roll down and cleanse my soul.  i continue to grieve for our beloved church, but not from a place of helplessness.  there is a certain confidence and peace that comes from knowing the truth about something.  the truth that i re-caught a glimpse of in that moment was that we are right about this, and that no vote at general conference can take away the ministry that is done at this church for and by LGBT people and their friends and allies.  this is just as much our church as it is anyone elses...and we are not going away...

i know this is the case in hundreds of churches all across the country and i'm so proud to be fighting this fight with all of you.  thanks for including me, guiding me, supporting me, and befriending me.  i hope i have offered the same to you thus far.  you are my heros...  thank God for you.

A Future with Hope

A while ago Jayson posted about membership, and his experience of joining a UM congregation. That post has stayed with me for a while. Tonight I had the honor of being the sponsor of my best friend as she took the membership vows of the United Methodist Church. Miriam has joined the church after faithfully witnessing at General Conference 2008 for full inclusion.

I remembered when she first began to think about joining. It was at the Voices of Faith event in Washington DC. Late at night in our hotel room she asked me, “Is it ok to join a church for the community?” She found in UMC and on our college campus a people committed to a faith that was active; a faith that worked for justice in the world. In that community she met a people who held that belief. In the UMC she found her church home.

I was even more honored to know that before she joined the UMC, about a year before, she started working with MOSAIC (Methodist Students, Seminarians, and Young Adults for an All Inclusive Church). She even knowing the hate that is produced by the UMC, she decided to join anyway. She decided that she would be committed to working to change the church. That is because what drew her to Methodism was a commitment to justice in the world, to love and grace, and to following Jesus.

While we worry about people leaving, or not joining until we change our position on LGBT person ability to be fully included in our church.  I fear that all the young people will leave, and that our church will die. I offer up that story, as a reminder.   When we are the only reconciling Methodist, community, or church we offer people something they have never seen before. Something that inspires them, appeals to them, and welcomes them.

As we live out radical inclusion we offer to young people a place to call home. There are those who are committed to fighting for inclusion and staying who are young.  When Miriam joined the church tonight I saw a future with hope.