General Conference 2008

A Soulforce Open Letter to Members of the United Methodist Church

On April 30, 2008, delegates to your General Conference meeting in Ft. Worth, Texas, voted to keep these words in their Book of Discipline: "The United Methodist Church does not condone the practice of homosexuality and considers this practice incompatible with Christian teaching." Since 1972 United Methodists have used these words to deny lesbian and gay Methodists the rights of ordination and of marriage. As I write clergy can even use these words to deny lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Christian the rights of membership in a local church.

For 36 years lesbian and gay United Methodists and their allies have worked tirelessly to replace these words with words of affirmation and acceptance. Once again a UMC General Conference has decided to keep those words in place even though they lead to intolerance, discrimination, suffering and even death. In his book "Why We Can't Wait," Martin Luther King, Jr. describes the 1963 struggle for civil rights that climaxed with legislation that ended segregation in the United States. Dr. King's book might have been titled, "Why We Didn't Wait," for he describes the "disappointments" that drove African-Americans into the streets - "disappointments" that gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Americans know all too well.

We lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans are also disappointed in the Congress and the courts; disappointed in both political parties and their leadership; disappointed in the lack of change in the United States when European nations are granting their gay and lesbian citizens the full rights of citizenship; but especially we are disappointed in our churches for ignoring the empirical and biblical data that homosexuality is not a sickness to be cured nor a sin to be forgiven.

We, too, are tired of slow change and token changes, tired of defending ourselves against the claims of moral inferiority, tired of being victims of public laws and private humiliations, tired of intolerance and inequality, tired of suffering and dying just because we are different. The historic civil rights legislation of 1964 came just eight years after Rosa Parks and the Montgomery bus boycott. It's been almost 40 years since the Stonewall protest in New York City and 36 years since the United Methodists decided that they "...do not condone the practice of homosexuality and consider this practice incompatible with Christian teaching."

With all the changes we can celebrate, the real problem remains the same: the antigay religious teachings and actions that support intolerance and discrimination are still powerfully in place in the United Methodist Church and in most other Protestant and Catholic Churches. These antigay, religion-based teachings and actions have become the primary source of misinformation against sexual and gender minorities.

Most antigay initiatives and antigay court decisions (local, statewide and national) flow out of those same religious teachings. They give license for gay bashers to harass and harm us and motive for God's gay children to kill ourselves. Instead of changing minds and hearts, the 36 year war of words by leaders of the United Methodist Church has seen those antigay religious teachings harden into place. When will we realize that the antigay teachings cannot be "studied" or "debated" away? It will take another civil rights revolution to end them.

In "Why We Can't Wait" Dr. King makes it clear: "The ultimate tragedy of Birmingham was not the brutality of the bad people, but the silence of the good people." It is not the Institute for Religion and Democracy who have kept these tragic words in place. We can't condemn the Confessing Movement for this current dilemma. It is the silence of the good people of the United Methodist Church that is to blame.

But there is a way to end that silence without anger, hatred or violence. Guided by Gandhi's soul force principles, the principles of relentless nonviolent resistance, Dr. King led the people of Birmingham on a journey into justice that "stirred the conscience of the nation." We don't have to wait for a consensus at the next general conference. We can stand for justice now in ways that will empower us and change minds and hearts in the process.

We call on the United Methodist Bishops who know the tragic consequences of those words to refuse to enforce them or to resign in protest. Gandhi said "It is as much our obligation not to cooperate with evil as it is to cooperate with good." Every day a Bishop remains a Bishop he or she gives tacit support to the teachings that are killing us.

We call on the United Methodist clergy who know the tragic consequences of those words to take their stand against them. Welcome us. Marry us. Ordain us. Confront and condemn your fellow clergy who dare to use those words to deny membership to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Christians. We ask you to take steps immediately to join the Reconciling Ministries Network and to make it known to your community that you are an Open and Affirming Congregation.

We call on members of the United Methodist Church to support your local congregation if it is (or is rapidly becoming) a Reconciling Congregation. But we call upon you to leave your church if your pastor continues to enforce the words that "...do not condone." At least refuse to pay your tithes and offerings until your church opens their doors to all people as Christ commands.

We call on the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender United Methodists, their families and friends, to refuse to finance your own oppression by giving your tithes and offerings to a church that refuses to see you as fully human. How can we continue to support a local congregation where the pastor insists that our relationships are impure or unholy and thus refuses to marry us or insists that we are not really called by God to serve the church and thus refuses to ordain us? How can we even think of staying in a congregation that denies membership to lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender persons? And as you leave, take down that sign or banner that reads "Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors." Store it until the United Methodist Church earns the right to use it once again.

Whatever you do to take your stand against those words in the UMC Book of Discipline, do something. We cannot wait for the next General Conference. While those words remain in place lives are being ruined, talents are being wasted, families are being divided and whole generations are being lost to the United Methodist Church. Even worse, how many people have given up their faith in Christ because His church has become a primary source of intolerance and discrimination? Don't wait for a Gandhi or a Martin Luther King, Jr. to lead us out of this wilderness. Whatever you decide to do, your simple act of conscience will make a difference.

One Sunday an African-American pastor was proclaiming those tragic words from the pulpit. "We do not condone..." "...Incompatible with Christian teaching..." "Sick and sinful..." Having heard enough, the gay organist stood up and said loudly, "There will be no more music today." With that he gathered up his music and walked out of the church. After a moment of breathtaking silence, one by one the choir followed. Just seven words and a brief walk down the aisle and a choir was empowered to do justice and a congregation was changed forever.

Rev. Dr. Mel White
President of the Board

Jeff Lutes
Executive Director

Full story:
A Soulforce Open Letter to Members of the United Methodist Church
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Dear United Methodist Church

Dear United Methodist Church,

How to express how I feel right now, hurt, disappointed, disgusted, ashamed, sad, heartbroken. These are only a few of the words that describe how I feel about our church right now. I have spent the past week at our General Conference in Ft. Worth. I have to say I was really hopeful for the future coming to Ft. Worth and the change I felt coming in the UMC. Maybe that was because this was my first General Conference and I have not experienced the hurt and heartbreak of previous General Conferences. Or maybe it is because I believe at its heart our church is a good and loving church. Things started off well with good policies coming out of the committees. The church seemed like it was finally ready to start being inclusive of LGBTQ people, but then came the floor debates. It went downhill from the time the delegates began to debate the primary issues facing the church about homosexuality. I heard people demean and insult myself and other LGBTQ people by retelling the same misinformation that has been used for decades to oppress and belittle us. Then came the votes, a couple went our way but for the most part they were against creating a more inclusive church, including voting down a resolution that would have made the United Methodist Church membership truly open to all people. I didn’t expect to become emotional because of the votes but after the vote on membership I found myself angry and then my heart broke and I just cried. Several more times during the rest of the evening I found myself crying. And it wasn’t just me, a number of members of my church family had similar responses. We are all heartbroken that our church would not vote to be inclusive of all those that are loved and created by God, all those of sacred worth, that we would choose to remain a broken church instead of a church united as we claim to be.

As I sat here contemplating the events of the past week a song began to play. It’s called “Grace and Love” by a band called Kutless. This is the chorus, “It’s by grace and love I am saved. It’s by grace and love you’ve forgiven me. It’s by grace and love I am free.” This inspired me to write this. It reminded me of the truth of the Gospel. Even if our church is not ready to begin the process of reconciling with our LGBTQ brothers and sisters, God has always been ready with arms spread wide open in love. He is the source of salvation and forgiveness because of his great love and grace. This is important to remember because no matter how our church runs itself God is always in control and shows us his power through love and grace. United Methodist Church, I leave you with this challenge. Over the next four years until the next General Conference I encourage to seek God on these issues and to seek to find if Christ’s table is really open to all. I hope we can grow as a church so that in four years more heartbreak will not happen and we can finally reconcile ourselves as one church united under God and we can truly live out our mission of making disciples of all the people of the world.

Joey Heath

  

How i'm feeling...

i'm feeling a little overwhelmed now that i've finally arrived here at general conference....first off, i'm used to annual conference being all about comfortable clothing since it is held in the summer time at lake junaluska, nc in an open air auditorium that is usually hot and humid...thus people dress to minimize being hot and bothered.  once i finally got to the hotel and checked in, i strutted over to the convention center in my trendy jeans, shirt and shoes (complete with accessories) only to realize fairly quickly that i was somewhat underdressed compared to most of the rest of the people here.  nontheless, i kept my head up and registered as a visitor and proceeded on to one of the committees dealing with the social principles (making a mental note to be sure to wear my kakis tomorrow...).  i was pleasantly surprised to see the amount of racial, age and gender diversity in the room.  having never been to a general conference before, i was led to believe that the majority of people who can logistically manage being at general conference this time of year were retired or were employeed by the UMC who were here for work (and had their way paid).  i'm glad to see that people from many walks of life care enough to be here regardless of the burden it creates. 

I was excited to read about the drumming circle that the young people led, and how the reconciling parents lined up between the young people drumming and the people who showed up to speak hatred toward them, so that the witness of the drummers would go on even stronger....i wasnt present to witness this amazing act of love, but i felt tears in my eyes as i heard accounts of it.   

i got to the committee during what appeared to be a recess and learned that some pretty good stuff had made it out of committee...i was happy to hear that, but disappointed that i had missed all of the debate and voting....i was assured that this was only the beginning and that it was a long journey between now and the end of the week.  more debate will surely follow.  nonetheless, i'm cautiously opimistic that indeed "all means all" to the good people who are voting delegates at this general conference.  afterall, the United Methodist Church i love does not discriminate and in fact when people are excluded from membership, ordination, or full participation in any aspect of the church because of who they are, we all suffer together whether we realize it or not.  a church member at my home church said in a meeting recently that the collective body of christ in the United Methodist Church has been wrong before...most glaringly on issues of race and gender, and that it is currently wrong about the issue of sexual orientation.  i pray that the holy spirit continue to move among us this week that our polity not get in the way of the work that God is doing in the world but rather we come alongside and join in the work that God is already doing.  I for one believe that work is the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people in the life of the United Methodist Church. 

Seeking Justice

As I begin packing for General Conference, the words of a poem by Susan Griffin comes to mind:

Where we see no image of justice the word

injustice

reminds us of what we want. Inside, this word makes circles like the hungry who cannot stop seeking, who stumble over mountains, through deserts. Inside me this word is like a lover seeking the dimensions of love.

It is a somber task, preparing for General Conference this year. I have attended/been a delegate to General Conference since 1996 (so this will be my fourth).  Each time I went, my heart was filled with so much hope about the church's future as it relates to lgbt people.  Each time,  I returned home with a broken heart.

I am going to Fort Worth hungry for justice, hoping that the winds of the Spirit will blow in bold and surprising ways.  I trust that even if the votes break my heart once more, the seeds we in the Reconciling community are planting will bear much fruit in the future, so that no child of God will wonder if she or he is acceptable in the eyes of the Church.

I know that God's justice is ultimately unstoppable, even if people try to hinder it.

So let us go to Ft. Worth as lovers seeking the dimension of love, calling the church to fullness, to grow into the beloved community it was created to be!

Joy!

Joy comes with the dawn.  Joy comes with the rising sun.

During the Easter season, my local church has been singing a hymn that acknowledges, “weeping may come; weeping may come with the night.”  I suspect many of us can relate to that.  Who hasn’t cried themselves to sleep?  Who doesn’t remember a night (or many) where the only bedtime lullaby has been the steady leaching of wracked-out tears onto one’s own pillow? 

This is the Easter season, though, so of course there’s more…
The refrain continues, “Joy comes with the dawn.  Joy comes with the rising sun.” 

In the dawn, my pastor leaves for Forth Worth. In two days, a friend and I depart for Texas, our plane taking off on the rays of the rising sun. 
Joy.  Joy will come with that?

I like this hymn: it affirms that we may weep, and we may suffer.  This is to be expected, and probably will occur in the darkest moments of night.  Then we are told that joy will come, and not with a “but” that denigrates or erases our weeping – no, this joy comes each morning, in a dazzling flood of light…  Weeping is possible; joy is definite.  And this joy is expressed with such sweet, sweet simplicity.  It’s beautiful. 

The General Conference legislative work, the vote counting and recording, the patient waiting and the praying– all of that lies ahead of us.  Today, I remember the joy that comes each dawn.  The joy of rebirth, of reconnecting with old friends, of meeting new ones, of being a witness to the all-inclusive love of Christ, of saying it loud and saying it proud: I am gay, and Jesus loves me.  I am transgender, and Jesus loves me.  My brothers and sisters are gay, and straight; are lesbian, and bisexual - and Jesus loves us all.  We are ALL part of the body of Christ, and that is a source of deep, enduring joy!

Whether dawn finds you traveling to General Conference, praying, working, proving childcare, working, witnessing – remember, joy  – JOY! - comes with rising sun.

Fear of Institutional Failure

From where I write right now, Spring is slow to arrive.  Patches of snow remain, and in the deep woods over brush and grasses, the snow is still quite deep, though turning slushy.  In other places, the mosses and grass are fully exposed, especially around the trees.  Nevertheless, various kinds of ducks have returned North already, expecting the ponds and lakes to be free for them to land in and not still covered by ice.  This morning I saw a pair circling the ice-covered ponds nearby, and, instead, surprisingly landing in a very large puddle of standing water from melted snow in the corner of the field next to the woods - not the expected pond and a place that will become dry for the summer as the ground gets warm enough to absorb the melting water.  Yet, land in it they did, and immediately floated in it in perfect stillness, completely content and silent.  They needed calm and nourishing waters to land in, and they found them and "thought" nothing of it.

I am absorbing the peacefulness of this place one more time before heading to Fort Worth, and working mostly via e mail on final preparations with the RMN legislative team and our allies.  Things are crystallizing.  We have talked together for hours about the theology of and urging inclusiveness, and we have worked on "arguments" that support our work for full inclusion and the end of infliction of spiritual violence on LGBT people.  This involves reason and logic on one level, but it goes much deeper than that.  We discuss the Bible, the Gospel, Jesus - what he meant, what God wants of us.  We discuss John Wesley and the foundations of our denomination.  We search the history of our faith and understand that so many of Wesley's sermons support diversity, full inclusion and not imposing one's "opinions" on others in ways that are divisive. 

But over the past week, some insight was shared with me that has caused me significant pause.  Of course this spiritual and theological searching and formulating is not new.  It seems that the movement has already put forward these insights.  We think if we are just that much more focused or bring that much more of Spirit or "something" to the discussion (or debate), we can finally break through.  But this is not, of course, the first time that we have formulated our words in this way as we urge the church to, frankly, do the right spiritual thing.  It is just that the reflective, thoughtful, and even "brilliant" theological arguments we and our brothers and sisters before us have made with great feeling and passion - and while in the hands of the Holy Spirit - have not been persuasive to the audience or carried the day at General Conference.  Instead, arguments from "the other side" based in fear - have swayed the church.  It is important to see this fact, based on a review of the past "debates" at General Conferences past, and call it what it is. 

First it was pure generated fear about homosexuals themselves - irrational and homophobic arguments, like if we were fully included and accepted, AIDS would spread at greater rates, and acceptance would lead to illegitimate children.  And most recently, the fear-based arguments grounded singly in homophobia (fear of LGBT people) kind of gave way (not totally, of course), because our movement became stronger, and more visible, and we as LGBT people could no longer be broadly dehumanized, and objectified in certain negative ways.   For this we know we have the pioneers of our movement, those who have courageously gone before us, to thank. For example, LGBT clergy who were stripped of their orders, but who stood still and strong and remained clear about their gifts and calling in the face of false rejection by the church.

Now, we are informed that the recent quadrennia have revealed the next level of fear-based approaches to continuing to deny full inclusion of all God's children: the fear that doing so will somehow destroy the institution: if we are inclusive, the church will be torn apart, the church in Africa will fail and be confused about what our missionaries taught them, the church itself will die out.  And these insulting and patronizing arguments were persuasive, got the votes and have increased discriminatory laws and rules in our church.

No one wants the church to fail or to die or to be torn apart.  Yet, isn't that what is apparently happening under the present set of principles, powers and rules (or powers and principalities, isn't that the phrase?)- that are not inclusive and thus divisive?  Perhaps the only way for true and lasting unity is to allow full inclusion with an international structure allowing regional autonomy.  This is why the Robbins/Okayama and Wulf legislation pending in the Conferences Committee is key to the future of our church.  That is my legislative digression for this blog.  (See your copy of the DCA - or see www.Generalconference2008.org)

If the church decision makers are resisting an inclusive Gospel primarily because they fear what will happen to "the institution," what does this say?  We moderates and progressives have been working the spiritual angles and communing with how Jesus loves us - and trying to get the church to remember that, but are we to now realize that the institution itself is really the primary concern?  So our passionate and brilliant theological and spiritual arguments are misdirected?  We would do better to appeal to the same fears?  This causes me great pause.  I thought I was working for awakening and enlightenment and to help the church so many love and are a part of to be more "the church" - not to stave off fears about losing "the institution" at the cost of the core of spiritual truth.  For me, at least, the Gospel comes before the institution.  This is true even though our church had and has so much promise to live the Gospel - but it refuses.  Yet, people should  not worry: the institution of The United Methodist Church is not going anywhere.  I guess that can be read two ways and both might be true - we'll see.  What I mean is, it will be around in one form or another for a long time.  What form do we want it to take?  Will it be like a still frozen pond in Spring, over which the ducks circle, but find unsuitable and inhospitable for a soft and peaceful landing? 

Peripheral Vision

As a basketball coach, I taught my players that Vision is more that focusing on what is in front of you. Young players do well at seeing the ball. But there is alot more going on. To become a good player, one must "see" the whole offense, the whole defense, and anticipate the action. One may be looking at their opponent, but out of the corner of their eyes they see other players, the clock, the lines on the floor, and even their next move. When I was a young player, I learned to use my "peripheral vision" - to see others even when I was concentrating on the ball.

Weeks ago I was invited to speak at a Pride event at Eastern Illinois University (EIU). It was to be in April. I let them know that I had no time to give in April ~ unless it was Wednesday evening or Thursday as I was literally on my way to General Conference. I knew that one week before General Conference it would be tough to carve out the time. 

However, this is the grass roots ministry that I love. The date was set, April 16. For LGBT people, one would say that EIU students live in a tough neighborhood. A few brave students built a panel to speak about the bible. All four on the panel were inclusive folks - a Lutheran pastor, a Presbyterian pastor, myself, and an openly gay student who had come through fundamentalist readings of scripture and ex-gay attempts. He was the bravest.

I was in awe of the students. The organizers were visibly nervous, very nervous. The front row of students seemed obviously there to show support, that either they were LGBT or good friends were. There were some supportive adults around, that the students seemed to know. And there were people holding bibles.

Of the nine questions, seven were clobber passages. Ouch. The panel was great, we supplemented one another and offered resources. Then came the Q& A time. There were friendly questions and challenging questions.

One man stood and started with a long introduction about Christianity and I knew we were going to get hammered after his nice-ness. So I "amened" a couple of things that I agree on, but when he began to slam homosexuals I just shook my head. He kept rambled and I had to stop him - "Sir, you are doing violence to people in this room."

I was looking at him the next seconds as we disagreed mightily. He said, I said, he said, I said. I made sure to say plainly that "Homosexuality is not a sin" , we received a bad teaching years ago, that we know differently now.

I was looking directly at him, but I was seeing the group in the front row "out of the corner of my eye". Some shifted in their seats, two young women began to hold hands, there were tears.

While it may have appeared to others that I was talking to the man I had eye contact with, I knew I would never change his mind. He was not my audience. He gave me the chance to speak about Jesus to a gathered crowd that is often afraid to come and listen.

The nodding heads and tears I saw in my peripheral vision made me believe that these folks had heard the Jesus stories, maybe when they were small, and could still rely on them.  I was not teaching as much as helping them to remember and trust their own experience and allow homophobia to fade in its power.

I spoke to the man, I spoke to the front row, I spoke to my hosts, and I spoke to the other panelists. I also keep within my vision the people who have not revealed themselves at all.

One last questioner was point blank with the Lutheran and Presbyterian pastors. "Do you believe homosexuality is a sin?" Following their solid answers of context and Christ, they each said, "No".

It was a good, grassroots day for Reconciling.

John Wesley Ministered to a Gay Man?

I wanted to share with y’all an excerpt from a legal brief that RMN submitted to the Judicial Council during the trial of Rev. Beth Stroud in support of her efforts to regain her credentials as an ordained pastor within the Church. Before reading this document, I knew that Wesley actively served the poor, people in prisons, and even advocated for the abolition of slavery, but I had no idea that this man – in the early 18th century – felt called to serve and be in ministry with at least one gay man that we know of.

Amicus Curiae Brief of Reconciling Ministries Network, Inc. in Support of Respondent Rev. Elizabeth Stroud. August 25, 2005, pp. 15-16:

The United Methodist Church follows the model of Wesley striving to include the disadvantaged, especially those disadvantaged due to socially dictated status. Wesley's experiences beyond the conventional church with the poor, working-class laborers, prisoners, children, and slaves transformed him and help make care for the disadvantaged a hallmark of nascent Methodist Church Societies (¶103). His "tenacious [obsession with] every point relating to decency and [Anglican] order" yielded to inclusive ministries that stood in solidarity with God's oppressed people, even when that placed him against conventional church custom (13). Wesley recognized entire groups of people as victims. He committed himself to ministry with them, and agitated for major reforms on behalf of them and the church eternal. He saw "the finger of God" touching them.

Wesley's ministry is exemplary in the context of the present case. In practice, Wesley shunned bigotry, controversially including an actual homosexual (14). The Holy Club's ministry with Blair a protégé of Wesley who was also a homosexual and imprisoned for sodomy provides context for the Judicial Council's current deliberations. Members of Wesley's Holy Club "showed an unconventional and unpopular sympathy" for Blair. Nowhere in fourteen journal entries does Wesley judge Blair; instead, Wesley read to him, contacted his attorney, and wrote his legal case. On November 14, 1732, however, some Methodists met at a local inn to discuss Blair's case. People criticized Wesley and the Methodists, believing it would be better for Blair to suffer in prison than to associate Methodism with homosexuality. Despite hostile criticism, Wesley and the Holy Club maintained their ministry with Blair (15).

Wesley embodied the doctrinal belief in God's prevenient grace, justifying us in Jesus, and refused any temptation to commit bigotry when he encountered a homosexual. Although his own church used Blair as a pretext for gossip, coercion and conformity, Wesley demonstrated an abundant sense of grace and reckoned the homosexual as his protégé. Both Wesley and Jesus urged a faithful response to those in need, regardless of their status, and in firm resistance to human religious authorities.

13. See, Snyder, Howard A. The Radical Wesley and Patterns for Church Renewal. Illinois; InterVarsity Press, 1980. 186-87. See also Snyder, Howard A. Liberating the Church: The Ecology of Church & Kingdom. Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1983. 181-194. and Carder, Kenneth L. A Bishop's Reflections. Tennessee: Providence House, 1996. 90-91,100-101,107-108.

14. See Knotts, Experiencing God's Love: A MFSA Presentation to The United Methodist Committee to Study Homosexuality, December 1989, citing V.H.H. Green and Wesley's Journal entries from Oxford, Autumn and Winter of 1732.

15. Green, Vivian Hubert Howard, John Wesley. Nelson, 1964. 32.; Green, Vivian Hubert Howard, The Young Mr. Wesley: A Study of John Wesley and Oxford. Epworth Press, 1963. 167, 178-179.

Some Good Advice from Early Radical Social Reformers

I am taking a class this term about the persuasive communication of the women's suffrage movement. I am loving the class and have always enjoyed learning about the different waves of feminism. I have encountered a few quotations along the way so far that are still relevant today--both for our collective movement and for the activism and advocacy in which we engage individually wherever we find ourselves. Here they are:

"The true religion is that which sets people free."
~ Matilda Joslyn Gage

"Resistance to tyranny is obedience to God."
~ Susan B. Anthony

"Beware, lest you become too respectable."
~ Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Challenge of Campus Ministry Funding

“…no board, agency, committee, commission, or council shall give United Methodist funds to any gay caucus or group, or otherwise use such funds to promote the acceptance of homosexuality. The council shall have the right to stop such expenditures.”  ¶806.9

The above statement has always seemed strange to me. How does one promote the acceptance of homosexuality? If I buy rainbows for a worship service—is that promoting homosexuality?

Why is this promotion dangerous enough to ban. I have had many LGBTQ friends.  I love them and support them and share my life with them, and they share their life with me—does that mean that I am promoting homosexuality?  Is a lack of condemnation seen as promotion?

What does the larger, seemingly heterosexual church, have to gain by denying money, support and rights to a group of people?   Heteronormativity has already won out in society.  Only straight people can be married, and they are the ones predominantly seen on TV.  Heterosexuals have all the privilege and all the power.

In a faith where our Savior, Jesus Christ promoted over turning systems of privilege, how can we commend exclusion?  How can we promote or maintain that it is moral to continue the situations of oppression?

It was in the last year that this funding ban began to fully affect me as an individual and the place where I worshiped.  I work with the United Methodist Student Movement, and I had known that there I had to “be careful” about how we spent our money and what we did related to LGBTQ inclusion in our church. These words touched my life during the judicial council meeting. The issue was whether or not “reconciling” campus ministries could be funded by a UMC Annual Conference, since they were “promoting homosexuality” by being welcoming.

The thought of the church removing money from the important ministry of campus ministries hurt my soul.  I have seen so many students find the UMC and Christ in these campus communities. As a member of a reconciling campus ministry, I had seen my community welcome many new students. I have seen this used as an outreach to whole new groups of people.  Since we have become reconciling, reaching out to all people has become more important to our mission on campus.

During that judicial council meeting I was even more distressed by the church because we celebrated National Coming Out Day on my campus that week. During a worship service, we had a sermon about the need for inclusion in the church.  We lifted up the church in prayer as an institution that needed to healed from its hatred. In my 22 years of life it was the only one day I thought of leaving the United Methodist Church.

I had never known an institutional church denomination that was fully welcoming of LGBTQ persons (since I was born in 1986), and as horrible as it seems that hatred was one I have always known.  While I disagreed with the institution, it was part of the normalcy of being a United Methodist for me.

In a church where we talk so much about how we are aging, and dying, what good can it serve to push out our young adults by cutting funding to programs that serve them?  Young people are already marginalized by our church. By denying them funding for creating a community that is authentic to who they - who we are -  was painful. The hate seemed to be so deeply embedded in the church, that it would make more sense to push out young people than allow them to bring their friends.  That is all reconciling campuses do—allow all people to come to church.  The action reminded me a  wolf caught in a trap, who would rather chew off it's leg than die their from starvation.  In the case of the UMC cutting funding to campus ministries is how we predict our own death.

In that moment and amidst the frustration, as we prayed for the church, and for all those Coming Out across the nation,   I cried for the United Methodist Church. I prayed that the institution could understand that this practice of cutting funding based on prejudice and denying young adults authenticity, would not stop their belief in inclusion.  Rather it would only further alienate all young people, straight allies, and LGBTQ persons from the church of Jesus Christ, especially the UMC.

In the next moment I prayed a pray of joy and thanksgiving. The action of trying to "cut off" the reconciling campuses, only shows the success we are have achieved.  Shows that young people will take our church in a new direction, and already living out faith in a  radically new way.