The United Methodist Reporter ~ The independent source for news, features, and commentary about the United Methodist Church ~ Sunday, 3 November 2013
Upper NY bishop issues statement on complaint
Bishop Mark J. Webb of the Upper New York Episcopal Area of The United Methodist Church has issued the following statement on a complaint brought against the Rev. Stephen Heiss regarding his performing same-sex marriages:
After 120 days of a supervisory response, which included a 30-day extension, to seek a just resolution of the complaint filed against Rev. Heiss, Bishop Mark J. Webb announced that a just resolution has not been achieved, and the matter will be referred to Counsel for the Church as a complaint. It will be the responsibility of the Counsel for the Church to determine if there is sufficient evidence to support a chargeable offense and forward such evidence toward a trial process. If it is determined there is not sufficient evidence to support a chargeable offense, the Counsel for the Church may make a recommendation to the bishop that the matter be dismissed.
“After much discussion and prayerful discernment, I am sorry to announce that we have been unable to reach a mutually agreeable resolution to this matter,” said Bishop Webb.
“We know all United Methodists are not in agreement about same-sex marriage. However, there must be universal agreement that the covenant between the Church and its clergy is sacred and must be upheld by both,” the bishop said. “Clergy take their oath freely and with the knowledge they must fulfill the promises they make. By the same covenant, the Annual Conference and I, as a bishop, must fulfill the obligation to fully and fairly administer Church law.
“The 2012 Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church expresses it this way: ‘Ordained persons exercise their ministry in covenant with all Christians, especially with those whom they lead and serve in ministry. They also live in covenant of mutual care and accountability with all those who share their ordination, especially in The United Methodist Church … The covenant of ordained ministry is a lifetime commitment, and those who enter into it dedicate their whole lives to the personal and spiritual disciplines it requires.’”
As a worldwide denomination, The United Methodist Church is a connectional church. The system that connects individuals in ministry also allows United Methodists to make decisions together through dialogue and prayerful discernment.
“Our process for determining Church law involves the prayerful discernment of hundreds of delegates who gather every four years as representatives of the 12 million United Methodists around the world. Only at this gathering, which we call General Conference, can the Church’s stance on any issue, Church law, be changed. The Book of Discipline codifies Church law; it is updated following each General Conference. The next General Conference of The United Methodist Church will be in 2016 in Portland, Ore.
“Our denomination relies on the integrity of this ‘order’ we have chosen,” said Bishop Webb. “Throughout our history as a denomination, we have faced issues on which we disagree, but by working through our defined processes and respecting one another, we have prayerfully discussed and discerned the Church’s path together.
The law prohibiting United Methodist clergy from performing same-sex unions is a law of the Church by virtue of its adoption by the General Conference, and only General Conference can alter or void this or any other Church law.
“As United Methodists, we uphold that process as much as we uphold the current result of that process, our 2012 Book of Discipline,” Bishop Webb said. “If we disregard that order, we put the integrity of our covenant together in jeopardy.”
“I urge all of us to continue in a spirit of prayer for Rev. Heiss and all involved in this difficult and painful matter,” said the Bishop. “May we continue to live with one another in a manner worthy of being sisters and brothers in Christ. May we continue to seek God’s wisdom, direction and vision as we strive to live our mission to ‘make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world’ and be a witness of light to the world around us.”
This story was created by one of the crack staff members of The United Methodist Reporter. For over 160 years The United Methodist Reporter has been helping the people called Methodist to tell their stories. If you have stories that you think need to be told, please let us know at editor@circuitwritermedia.com
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Wesleyan Wisdom: Learning from those who don’t like us by Donald W. Haynes, UMR Columnist
John Wesley read more widely than almost any man of his time. He was an acquaintance of his contemporary, John Locke, the deist whose writing inspired James Madison and Thomas Jefferson’s “enlightened” view of humankind. Locke, Adam Smith, David Hume, and Montesquieu of France all rejected the Christian doctrine of original sin — yet Wesley read them.
We know how Wesley devoured the writings of Catholics and Anglicans like Thomas a Kempis, William Law, and Jeremy Taylor—all of whom implanted their devout spiritual disciplines into Wesley’s psyche. We know of his long love affair with German pietism, even spending the summer of 1738 in Herrnhut, Germany where he was mentored by a carpenter named David Christian. We know of his mastery of the Edwardian Homilies and his contrast of their Protestant theology with that of the Anglican Church of his own era. Certainly, we know that he constantly was studying and committing to memory vast sections of Holy Scripture. The bottom line is that Wesley read widely and interacted with many people in the highest echelons of British society, politically and intellectually. These are dimensions of our founder’s “elusiveness” that we have too seldom read about. They are part of his doctrine of the “catholic spirit” (If your heart is as mine, give me your hand…..”).
As a foot soldier among Wesley’s theological progeny, I long ago began the practice of reading a lot of books, listening to a lot of lecturers, and cultivating a number of friends who were (and are) at the opposite end of the theological spectrum from me. Maybe this is why conservatives consider me too liberal and liberals consider me too conservative! As for me, I don’t really like labels.
So it is that I read books recommended by friends and family who see “the faith once delivered to the saints” differently than I do. Recently, a liberal friend insisted I order Zealot, written by an author who has rejected Christianity in which he questions almost every biblical reference! He insists that Jesus was not born in Bethlehem, certainly not born of a virgin. Jesus, he suggests, never was taken to Egypt, did not impress teachers in the temple as a boy, and would not have received any attention from either Caiaphas or Pilate! His rather cavalier description of Jesus as “a woodworker from Nazareth presents Jesus as a fanatic who led a band of disciples on a triumphant procession into Jerusalem where he assaulted the Temple. Like John the Baptizer, he too was captured and sentenced to death by Pilate. The author sees Pilate’s sentencing quite differently from the interpretation given in the New Testament: “That is pure fiction. During his tenure, he eagerly and without trial sent thousands upon thousands of Jews to the cross.” The author, Reza Aslan foes on to declare Paul’s conversion as “a bit of propagandistic legend created by the evangelist Luke.” He calls the book of Acts “Luke’s reimagining that describes Paul as the true successor to Jesus.” He says the one word that describes Jesus is “zeal”, therefore Jesus was a Zealot, plotting the overthrow of Rome.
Why would I read this book? For one thing, I want to know what “my enemy” is thinking! Mostly though, I read it because it was (for a brief time) #1 on the New York Times bestseller list! (Thank goodness, by the last of October it was down to #10 and sinking weekly). Thousands have read this book and said, “I read in a book by a scholar what I have come to suspect—that the Bible is not divinely inspired, but humanly concocted.” I find the book biased to the point of being despicable, but I need to read it, for in reading it I begin to know what some of the “exchurched” and “prechurched” multiple thousands are reading—and maybe inhaling? Is doubt of what we have taught them one reason the “Millennials” are not in church?
As I was reading Zealot, my grandson (who is very active in “Young Life” at a large state university) told me about a book that excited him and that I must read. It is entitled Jesus˃Religion. Various sources tell me that it is all the rage on campuses across America, speaking to the disenchantment that so many young adults have with their home churches or with Christians whom they have known. If you want to know how much that hurts me as one who had been a minister in a mainline, traditional, denominational church for fifty-nine years, listen to the first line in Jefferson Bethke’s preface: “What if I told you Jesus came to abolish religion?”; Why does it build huge churches, but fails to feed the poor?” When Bethke put that on the internet, to his own amazement “it went viral.” Seven million read it in forty-eight hours. Anonymous until he published his “poem,” he was suddenly being quoted in Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, Yahoo News, Washington Post, New York Times, CBS Morning, and Glenn Beck! How’s that for diversity! Meanwhile, we can’t get a baker’s dozen to read our local church’s website!!!!
Bethke writes, “Let me be straight with you: I’m not really qualified to write this book. I don’t have a Bible or seminary degree. I’m not a pastor or a counselor. I don’t know biblical languages and don’t know how to do exegesis—whatever that even is. I’m just a messed-up twenty three old guy.” Then he says, “A messed up dude like me can still write about an awesome God. I’ve tasted grace and can’t help but tell others about it.” His view of the church is “a Christian sub-culture that comes with its own set of customs, rules, rituals, paradigms, and products that are nowhere near the rugged, revolutionary faith of biblical Christianity.” In our sub-culture, Jesus would never have been crucified; he’s too nice. We claim Jesus as our homeboy. If we look at Jesus and American Christianity today, we’d be hard pressed to say we haven’t exchanged the real Jesus for one of our own invention. The Jesus of the Bible is a radical man with a radical message, changing people’s lives in a radical way.”
The young carping critic goes on to say, “In many ways, Christianity has become all about those green pieces of paper with dead presidents’ pictures on them. Who would have thought that a little baby born in a filthy animal barn some two thousand years ago would be such a great excuse to feed our material addictions? The Church is a business. Jesus is our marketing scheme.”
Then this:
We have religion but we don’t have Jesus
We have a good role model, but we don’t have God.
We have theological debates, but we don’t have their living Word.
We have good works, but we don’t have the source of good works.
We have love, but not the God who is love.”
We have a good role model, but we don’t have God.
We have theological debates, but we don’t have their living Word.
We have good works, but we don’t have the source of good works.
We have love, but not the God who is love.”
The young man went to Sunday School as a boy and remembers being taught the scripture, “Those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength; they will mount up wings like eagles….” His commentary on that is, “Looking back, I realize I’d completely prostituted those verses and made them fit my feel-good Christianity.” He wants someone to market a tee shirt that reads, “From his mouth comes a sharp sword…he will rule with a rod of iron…. When Jesus comes back a second time, he will not sprinkle love dust on everyone. He’s coming to make war on sin and rebellion.” He negates good works: “Praying, reading the Bible, giving to the poor, and going to church nine times a week? Filthy rags apart from Jesus and his cross. Tell me that isn’t a bit controversial?”
“Jesus wants us to love him and serve him not for what he gives but for who he is—dangerous, unpredictable, radical, and amazing.” Chapter Two is entitled, “Why I Still Think Jesus Hates Religion (and You Should Too.”)
Can’t you just “ring his neck”? Keep your shirt on. Now the rest of the story.
Jefferson’s parents were never married and he lived with that stigma as a boy and teenager. His mother was physically challenged and “had mental struggles” so she was unable to work very often. They lived in Section Eight housing, were supported by welfare and food stamps. He went to eight schools. He had bad grades, got kicked out of school for fighting and stealing and developed a porn addiction that lasted more than eight years. All during this time, his mother took him to Sunday School and church. In his junior year, his mom told him she was gay and the woman who lived with them was not just a friend but her partner. At that time she quit church because the treatment of gays finally got to her. He then turned to “girls and beer.” “I stopped looking for the right girl and started looking for the easy girl.”
He confesses to being an addict to porn. He confesses to “one night stands” with many girls, and short term sexual relationships with several others.
Then he writes, “Grace isn’t there for some future me, but for the real me. The me who struggles. The me who was messy. The me who was addicted to porn. The me who didn’t have all the answers. The me who was insecure. He loved me in my mess; he was not waiting until I cleaned myself up. That truth changed my life and I’m convinced it can change yours.”
Now friends, that story is hard to refute! What in his story, and his sharp criticism of what he calls “religion,” can be our teacher? I started that book being really mad with this upstart; then I felt sorry for him; then I wondered how our local church can salvage wrecked lives like his.
There is a lot more grace in most United Methodist Churches than Jefferson experienced, wherever he went. We have less rigidity, less guilt tripping, less parading of righteousness. The church he promotes in his last chapter looks like a lot of our UMC’s with acts of mercy and deeds of kindness that are not “works righteousness.” To paraphrase Wesley, good works don’t save us but if we are saved, we will do good works. Fannie Crosby’s gospel song, written in 1867, ought to be flashed on the screen of every church as we leave: “Down in the human heart, crushed by the Tempter, feelings like buried that grace can restore. Touched by a loving heart, wakened by kindness, chords that were broken can vibrate once more. Rescue the perishing.”
My grandson is a super kid, chosen by his high school senior class to give the “class address” rather that using the traditional valedictorian speech. After he hurt his arm as quarterback and had to drop football, the coaches and team voted to give him the “unsung hero” award which someone gets each year in our local high school. He is a “product” of a large United Methodist Church. He was an acolyte and a crucifer, a confirmand, and an “intern” to the youth director.
Where are all our children going? Are they resorting to the anger of people like Reza Aslan who was born to a Muslim family, converted in an evangelical, fundamentalist church, and became a carping cynic? Or are they going with Jefferson Bethke’s “Jesus people” who are now creating churches that they insist are “religion-less”?
I might be retired, but I cannot collect my pension and social security checks without saying, “Here am I, send me.” We cannot give up. We cannot falter. We must not fail. Ours is too rich a heritage to squander, too grace-filled a message to lie mute. Our symbol is the cross of Jesus with the flame of Pentecost. Let us in every local church reach out to the “Aslan’s” and the “Bethke’s.” Some of them are “ours” and will be coming home for Thanksgiving, or will drop in for Christmas Eve. Like Churchill challenging Britain during the Nazi blitz, we must challenge ourselves that, by God’s grace, this, in our vulnerability, from our knees, can be our finest hour.
Dr. Donald Haynes has been an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church for more than 50 years and is a member of the Western North Carolina Annual Conference. A recipient of the Harry Denman Evangelism Award, Dr. Haynes is the author of On the Threshold of Grace—Methodist Fundamentals; serves as an adjunct faculty member at Hood Theological Seminary; and is the Assistant to the Pastor in Evangelism at the First United Methodist Church of Asheboro, North Carolina. Dr. Haynes has written for The United Methodist Reporter since 2005.
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More pastors sign on to preside at same-sex wedding next week
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported this morning that additional pastors are signing on to participate in the same-sex celebration of marriage service scheduled for next Saturday in Philadelphia. Thirty pastors in the Eastern Pennsylvania Annual Conference had previously announced that they would be presiding at the service to be in solidarity with the Rev. Frank Schaefer, who will be tried by a church court later in November for conducting a marriage service for his gay son.
The Rev. David Brown of Philadelphia’s Arch Street United Methodist Church said he anticipates between 40 and 50 members of the clergy could preside over the wedding next Saturday. But with all that is on the line – including the possible loss of their credentials for the Methodist participants – Brown said the number could fluctuate until the day of the wedding.
More pastors sign on for gay Methodist wedding by Tricia L. Nadolny, Inquirer Staff Writer
PHILADELPHIA Since more than 30 United Methodist Church pastors announced last month that they would jointly officiate a same-sex wedding ceremony in defiance of church law, organizers say, more clergy have signed on, including some from other denominations.
The Rev. David Brown of Philadelphia's Arch Street United Methodist Church said he anticipates between 40 and 50 members of the clergy could preside over the wedding next Saturday. But with all that is on the line - including the possible loss of their credentials for the Methodist participants - Brown said the number could fluctuate until the day of the wedding.
The ceremony, which will be largely symbolic because Pennsylvania does not recognize same-sex marriage, is being held in support of the Rev. Frank Schaefer of Lebanon. On Nov. 18, Schaefer is being put on trial by the church for having presided over his son's 2007 marriage to another man.
The Rev. Herb Snyder, a retired minister affiliated with Arch Street, said he had been approached by about a half-dozen clergy from other faiths and denominations - including Judaism, the United Church of Christ, and the Episcopal Church - who would like to take part in the ceremony.
"It's really affirming and encouraging to see firsthand that there are so many people who want an inclusive church and are willing to put their necks out for this," Snyder said.
A conservative coalition of pastors from the church's Eastern Pennsylvania Conference on Thursday called for the group to reconsider its plans, saying clergy have the right to challenge doctrine through available channels but cannot "break those rules unilaterally."
Brown has said it will be more difficult for the church to prosecute following their ceremony because of the large number of officiants. In a news release, the Evangelical Connection of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church said the pastors were trying to "paralyze" the church's system of accountability and "render our Book of Discipline inoperable."
"We grieve over the potential of this intended action to threaten the very fabric of our unity," the release said.
The names of the men who will take part in the same-sex wedding ceremony have not been released. Brown said they have been together for 25 years and have been members of Arch Street for 20. The ceremony will take place at 3 p.m. at Arch Street.
610-313-8205
@TriciaNadolny
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The paradox of our time: We are at an end and a beginning by Rev. Tom Hazelwood, Director of Connectional Ministries, Memphis Conference
The paradox before the United Methodist Church is this: we are in the throes of what some say is death; yet I believe we are actually in the pangs of birth. “Doing church” as we have for the last hundred years is simply not sustainable and mostly irrelevant to our current society. Yet there are glimpses of a new Spirit moving in our midst.
I have spent the last 17 years in ministry working in the area of disaster response. With each disaster during those years, I encountered individuals, families and whole communities who were facing loss. Loss always brings with it pain and frustration.
But there is hope.
Envisioning A New Day
Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians reminds us that if anyone is in Christ, we are a new creation. The old has passed away and the new has come. (2 Cor. 5:17).
Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians reminds us that if anyone is in Christ, we are a new creation. The old has passed away and the new has come. (2 Cor. 5:17).
What I found is that, regardless of the loss, there is a process that requires our utmost attention if we are to find our way to the “new” that holds promise for us. We must:
Accept the reality of what has happened.
Experience the pain.
Adjust to the new situation.
Withdraw emotional energy from the past and invest in the future.
A new day is dawning and, in fact, many believe has already dawned in the United Methodist Church, as we embrace what it means to “make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”
This “new day” brings insecurity and pain for many who, like me, were never trained to engage the world the way we are being called today. Even as we engage in ministry that we think is “cutting edge,” we quickly realize we in the church are far far behind. The world has changed, and it is hard to accept…yet that is what we must do.
Managing Transition
We keep talking about “change,” but my experience tells me we are really going through a “transition.” Change is situational—reorganizing the way in which we do ministry, developing new strategic plans. Transition is the psychological process of internalizing and coming to terms with the details of the new situation the change brings about.
We keep talking about “change,” but my experience tells me we are really going through a “transition.” Change is situational—reorganizing the way in which we do ministry, developing new strategic plans. Transition is the psychological process of internalizing and coming to terms with the details of the new situation the change brings about.
When a change happens without people going through a transition, it is just a rearrangement of the chairs. That realignment is reflected in the thinking that “just because everything has changed, it does not mean that anything is really different in this conference.” It’s what has gone wrong when we spend a lot of money on consultants and new programs that, in the end, produce disappointing results. It’s why we hear pastors and laity say things like this: “We get some new program from the conference every few years, but nothing ever gets better.”
We hear over and over that the mission field begins in each of our own neighborhoods. Nothing matters more than that local mission field, and it is our springboard to the world.
We are using demographic information that includes community ethnicity, economic and religious profiles to better understand our neighborhoods, and we are asking each pastor and church to make a plan for how to engage their mission field.
Not surprisingly, pastors and laity are finding it hard to understand what it is that is expected of them and make the necessary shift. Pastors know to preach and pray; laity know how to love their community. But when we ask them to be strategic in how they engage the mission field around them, they think they don’t know how to do that.
Things indeed have changed. When we realize this, the loss of “what was” is painful and we react in predictable ways of all who grieve. The good news of the Gospel is the transition has begun and God’s new thing is beginning to take shape.
William Bridges in his book, “Managing Transitions,” defined the tasks for those who are in transition to mean we must be willing to let go of the old identity, feel the pain of that loss and move through the middle zone where the new is not fully operational, but critical spiritual and psychological realignment is taking place and emerge from that transition with a new sense of identity, truly a new sense of purpose.
Coaching for the Future
We are in that “middle zone” today. District superintendents, who are our mission strategists, are looking at their districts with new eyes and are working with each church to map out a strategy to reach people for Christ. What are the ways Jesus is leading our churches to begin the transformation of the world…right in our hometowns, neighborhoods, communities?
We are in that “middle zone” today. District superintendents, who are our mission strategists, are looking at their districts with new eyes and are working with each church to map out a strategy to reach people for Christ. What are the ways Jesus is leading our churches to begin the transformation of the world…right in our hometowns, neighborhoods, communities?
As director of connectional ministries, I am charged and entrusted with the responsibility to steward our conference’s vision of what it can become. I want to use my years of experience in managing transition in disaster to help us make sense of what we must do to move forward and fulfill Bishop Bill McAlilly’s vision of fruitfulness for our area. The conference is to be about the business of discovering, equipping, connecting and sending leaders back to the local church where they can make disciples who in turn make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world!
In disaster response, we used case managers to partner with people to help them move forward to a holistic recovery. We in the Nashville Episcopal Area plan to use coaches to help our leaders, pastors and laity navigate this transition. Coaches, like disaster case managers, can help us move forward.
As in disaster case management, transformational coaches know that the person being coached is the expert on his or her own situation. Coaches help us make our own individual plan to get where we want to go. To individuals and congregations, coaches ask clarifying questions that make us dig deeper into our own situations, and they add accountability on our journey forward. I will talk more in-depth about disaster case management and transformational coaching in my next article.
Calling Us to a New Creation
Ours is a God of hope. We will be journeying in this in-between time for an extended period into the future, yet Christ is with us, calling us to a “new creation.”
Ours is a God of hope. We will be journeying in this in-between time for an extended period into the future, yet Christ is with us, calling us to a “new creation.”
Transition starts with an ending and finishes with a beginning. Our transition is a process by which we United Methodists can move away from the old, unsustainable way of being and plug into a new world and new way of being disciples that will, indeed, transform the world.
The paradox of our time is that we are, simultaneously, at an end and a new beginning.
Tom Hazelwood
After 15 years as an executive with United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) Rev. Tom Hazelwood was appointed Director of Connectional Ministries of the Memphis Conference of the United Methodist Church, effective June 1, 2013.
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Openshaw & Prince thank supporters and call for support for Bishop Talbert by Jay Voorhees, Exec. Editor
Joe Openshaw and Bobby Prince, the two gay men whose marriage was celebrated by United Methodist Bishop Melvin G. Talbert in Birmingham this past Saturday, have written a letter of thanks to their supporters and are encouraging those allies to contact their bishops with expressions of support for Bishop Talbert’s actions. The letter was published on the website of the Reconciling Ministries Network (RCM), an organization advocating for changes in the United Methodist Book of Discipline to allow for the full participation of GLBT persons in the life of the United Methodist Church.
“We have been overwhelmed with the people near and far who have reached out to us,” Prince and Openshaw wrote. “When we began planning for our wedding, we expected some people to make statements against us—but what we did not expect was that the words of support and encouragement would come from so far away and be so much more numerous.”
The letter asks supporters to write letters to their bishops expressing their support of Bishop Talbert’s “Biblical Obedience” initiative. The letter also asks for financial donations to the Reconciling Ministries Network, and encourages supporters to recruit new members to join RCM’s efforts.
Click here to visit the Reconciling Ministries Network website and read the full text of the letter.
Dear Reconciling United Methodists,
Thank you. Thank you for your show of support of our marriage. We have been overwhelmed with the people near and far who have reached out to us. When we began planning for our wedding, we expected some people to make statements against us—but what we did not expect was that the words of support and encouragement would come from so far away and be so much more numerous. We did not expect clergy to come from all over the connection to stand with us and pray with us before our wedding—we had more than 25 pastors from places as far away as Indiana, Texas, and Florida. We did not expect to be married by a United Methodist Bishop, but Bishop Melvin Talbert, a leader in our beloved church, was there to join us in Holy Matrimony.
Many people asked how they can show support to us. For that, we are thankful and appreciate your prayers most of all. However, in the days after our wedding we wanted to share three ways you can continue to stand with us:
The festivities have ended for us, but the Council of Bishops will likely make a decision at their next gathering (November 10-15) about what to do with Bishop Talbert’s stand for Biblical Obedience. This link will help you find your bishop’s contact information so you can send a letter or email—tell your bishop why you are committed to The UMC and why you believe in Biblical Obedience. Tell them it is not okay with you that they continue to put our clergy on trial for being in ministry with all people!
RMN has been The Church to us when our own local United Methodist Church could not host our wedding. RMN provided pastoral care, a beautiful community of believers, and ensured the hopeful message of our wedding reached across the connection. We know there is so much more work that needs to be done—and we are asking everyone to share in ways that they can to continue the momentum that started in Birmingham, Ala last weekend.
Share with them why you work with RMN—whether that be a training you attended, a convocation experience that touched you or simply the fellowship the community has created for you. Together, standing up and speaking out, we can change our church.
Sincerely with love and grace,
Joe and Bobby
The Rev. Jay Voorhees is the Executive Editor of The United Methodist Reporter and a managing partner of CircuitWriter Media LLC which operates this site and www.methoblog.com. In addition Jay is the pastor of the Old Hickory United Methodist Church located in Northeast Nashville.
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Broken windows a strike at church’s heart by Leslie Linthicum
Leslie Linthicum, columnist for the Albuquerque Journal, published a piece this morning on the recent vandalism of the stained glass windows at the First United Methodist Church of Albuquerque:
“Just to have it so targeted, it just feels like somebody’s beating up on your family and you don’t know why,” Linton said. “It’s not like something that teenage kids thought would be a funny prank and did on a lark. This is a serious beating to have done this kind of damage.”
Pastor John McClean stood in the old stone sanctuary of the First United Methodist Church on Monday and delivered a solemn message to those who had gathered.
He wasn’t giving a sermon.
Instead it was an appeal to the 300 or so men and women who were spooning up cheeseburger mac at the “grace meal,” the free lunch church parishioners have offered to anyone in need for more than three decades now.
The appeal was simple: Help us find the person who is attacking our church.
“Please be our eyes and ears,” McClean asked. “If you see something or hear something, please let us know.”
First United Methodist is known for the beauty of its stained-glass windows. The old stone church, built in 1905 on the corner of Third and Lead, glows like a golden lamp when the sun hits its 19 tawny windows. In the new sanctuary, built in the 1950s on the corner of 4th and Lead, 40 large stained-glass windows blush to a deep crimson as the sun moves around the building.
They are jewels of Downtown Albuquerque, subject of history tours and a 58-page book published in 1990, “The Book of Windows.”
It was windows in the new building, all facing west and depicting the story of the New Testament, that were hit by one or more vandals who used heavy pieces of iron to pound holes in the leaded glass. McClean told me the windows had been protected by an outer layer of glass as a precaution. “But obviously they’re not protected enough,” he said.
The first window, a depiction of the Annunciation, was hit Oct. 25, a Friday night. The next night, four windows were smashed: Calling the Disciples, the First Miracle, the Lord’s Prayer and the Healing. On that Sunday night, two more windows were broken – the Transfiguration and the chapel window, which with some irony in light of the vandalism spree shows Jesus looking out over the city of Albuquerque with the words, “He saw the city and wept over it.”
Anyone who has been burglarized or vandalized knows the feeling of personal violation it brings. Then imagine you’re a Methodist and your church gets hit and the targets are all depictions of the life of Jesus.
Church members saw the destruction and wept over it.
When I encountered Kris Linton, a First United Methodist parishioner and a member of the church’s history committee, she was in the chapel, with light pouring in the baseball-sized hole in the glass where Jesus’s left foot was supposed to be. And she was crying.
“I’m sorry,” she said, wiping her eyes. “I feel like they’re members of my family.” Whoever attacked the church beat the windows until they broke through the protective glass cover and the leading of the decorative windows. Church officials know the weapons were iron because they became lodged in the leading and were left behind.
“Just to have it so targeted, it just feels like somebody’s beating up on your family and you don’t know why,” Linton said. “It’s not like something that teenage kids thought would be a funny prank and did on a lark. This is a serious beating to have done this kind of damage.”
I asked McClean the amateur detective’s obvious question: Do you have any enemies? Anyone who would want to harm you?
He laughed and pointed out that churches tend to do good works rather than pick fights. “We’re feeding the homeless as we speak,” he said.
Indeed, First United Methodist does the Lord’s work. It hosts addiction recovery programs and has a prison ministry, and for the past 32 years it has fed the needy every Monday. Wedged between the Downtown business district and the Barelas neighborhood, it is open to all comers.
Other windows along Fourth Street were also broken recently, including on businesses to the north and south of the church, and the clear glass panels protecting several stained-glass windows at the nearby Episcopal Cathedral Church of St. John. But the Methodists have gotten the worst of it.
“We’ve been hit three times, and we’ve been hit with such force and such deliberation,” Linton told me. “I truly believe there is something very deep behind this, and very bitter and very angry.”
Unleashing that level of violence on a stained-glass window is sort of like clubbing a lamb.
Stained glass, a 12th-century invention, was initially used in church windows to tell the story of the Bible to parishioners who were largely illiterate. They tell a story, but they also convey an intangible. There is something almost heavenly about seeing light pour through colored glass.
UpFront is a daily front-page news and opinion column. Comment directly to Leslie at 823-3914 or llinthicum@abqjournal.com. Go to www.abqjournal.com/letters/new to submit a letter to the editor.
Many United Methodist congregations have been through similar circumstances, and Linthicum’s piece gets at some of the emotions felt during those events. Click on the link above to read her full column.
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UM COSROW conducts survey on descriptions of God
The Christian Post published an interesting story this morning on a recent survey done by the UM Commission on Status and Role of Women:
Thousands of people have taken part in an online survey done by a United Methodist Church commission which was about the issue of gender descriptions and images people use for God.
United Methodist Church Holds Survey on Gender Names for God; Thousands Take Part by MICHAEL GRYBOSKI, CHRISTIAN POST REPORTER
Thousands of people have taken part in an online survey done by a United Methodist Church commission which was about the issue of gender descriptions and images people use for God.
The UMC General Commission on the Status and Role of Women posted the survey online, garnering about 3,700 respondents until it officially closed on Thursday.
Of the 3,700+ respondents, 40 percent of them were male and 60 percent female, with 65 percent being laity and 35 percent being clerics or people undergoing the process of becoming clerics.
Audrey J. Krumbach, GCSRW director of Gender Justice and Education, told The Christian Post that the response from the survey was well above the amount expected.
"Previous open-response surveys by United Methodists usually receive between 800 and 1100 responses," said Krumbach, adding that the 800-1100 range was their original response goal.
"We believe this overwhelming response indicates a very high level of interest in talking about who God is, how we relate to God, and what it means that humanity is created in God's image."
Krumbach also told CP that over the next couple of months, the data collected will be analyzed and is "only one part of a larger project to develop a useful Bible study about how Christians name God and how those names help us to understand God."
"We are pleased with the range of opinions and ideas expressed by the survey participants who were neither overwhelming in support or opposed to the use of images and names for God which are both masculine and feminine as reflected in Christian scriptures," said Krumbach.
"We look forward to learning more as we delve deeply into the comments and trends which the survey will reveal."
In the 1980s, UMC leadership decided to implement a policy of using "gender inclusive" language to describe God. This included changing hymn texts like "God of our Fathers" to "God of the Ages" and clerics preaching sermons where they use "God's" and "God" in places where they once said "His" or "Him."
Masculine words describing God have not been fully eradicated from UMC congregations, however, as for example most still pray the "Our Father" and the occasional hymn text remains unedited.
John Lomperis, director of the United Methodist program at The Institute on Religion and Democracy, told The Christian Post that he believed most UMC members have no issue using masculine titles to describe God.
"I expect that the overwhelming majority of United Methodists have little to no problem using words like 'Father,' 'He,' or 'Him' and are in congregations where that is the language used in worship," said Lomperis.
Lomperis also told CP that he believed the survey will "be rather skewed in a direction that will portray United Methodists as much more liberal" for multiple reasons.
"The English-language online survey format means that it will largely exclude overseas United Methodists, even though we are a global denomination with Americans now making up less than two-thirds of our membership," said Lomperis.
"Non-US members of our church tend to be overwhelmingly orthodox, but many do not speak English or have the sort of technology access urban professional Americans take for granted."
Lomperis added to this by arguing that older, conservative Methodists in rural areas that lack good Internet access will not be included as well.
"The support base CoSRoW has built up for itself is largely limited to just the most theologically liberal faction of U.S. United Methodists," said Lomperis.
"So it's that liberal support base who will mainly be positively interested in any sort of survey or other project of CoSRoW's."
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The United Methodist Reporter
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Telephone: (615) 673-4236
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