United Methodist News and Communications Service
- Daily Digest - Open hearts. Open minds. Open doors. The people of The United
Methodist Church – Wednesday, 27 November 2013
-------
“I depend on God to get me through the
day. I trust in God that I will return home, that I do not need to fear for my
safety or the future.”(Bernard Addison in an email from detention in a federal
prison facility.)
---
Bishop Clymer, a champion of theological
education,
dies at 96
MINNEAPOLIS (UMNS) — Retired Bishop Wayne
Clymer, a former president of the United Methodist Committee on Relief and
liaison on theological education, died Nov. 25. He was 96. The United Methodist
News Service will provide more information as soon as it becomes available.
Arrangements
Bishop Wayne K. Clymer
Relationship to the conference: Retired
bishop, Minnesota Episcopal Area, 1972-1980
Date of death: Nov. 25, 2013
Arrangements: Funeral service will be
held Friday, Nov. 29, at 2 p.m., at Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church,
511 Groveland Ave., Minneapolis. A visitation will take place prior to the
service, from 12:30 to 2 p.m. at the church.
Memorials: Memorials are preferred to the
Wayne K. Clymer Scholarship Fund at Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary
(send checks to the Development Office, 2121 Sheridan Rd., Evanston, Ill.,
60201), or to the United Methodist Committee on Relief.
Appointment information: Bishop Clymer
served as an elder with the Evangelical United Brethren Church prior to the
merger that formed The United Methodist Church in 1968. He served as bishop of
the Minnesota Episcopal Area from 1972 to 1980, and as bishop of the Iowa
Episcopal Area from 1980 to 1984, when he retired.
Bishop Clymer is survived by wife
Virginia Schoenbohm Clymer; two sons, Kenton James Clymer and Richard George
Clymer, and their wives; and grandchildren and great grandchildren. He is
preceded in death by Helen Eloise Graves Clymer. Cards may be sent to Virginia
Schoenbohm Clymer at 2850 Inner Rd., Wayzata, MN 55391.
Within the next day, watch for a feature
article about Bishop Clymer's history with and contributions to the United
Methodist Church.
Obituaries at www.minnesotaumc.org
This message is coming through the
Minnesota Annual Conference e-mail list.
Our mailing address is:
Minnesota Annual Conference of the United
Methodist Church
122 W. Franklin Ave., Ste. 400
Minneapolis, MN 55404
Add us to your address book
Copyright (C) 2013 Minnesota Annual Conference
of the United Methodist Church All rights reserved.
---
Background information
Bishop Wayne Clymer
(retired)
Address:
November - April
Parkway Villas
6054 Coral Way
Bradenton FL 34207
May-October
2850 Inner Road
Wayzata MN 55391
Phone:
November - April
(941) 727-7875
May-October
(952) 473-2812
Email: wclymer2000@yahoo.com
Wayne Clymer was born in Napoleon, Ohio,
son of Reverend George A. and Grace Sallie Hulvey Clymer. His father was a
member of the Ohio Annual Conference of the Evangelical Church, and served
churches in that state.
Bishop Clymer received his baccalaureate
degree from Asbury College and the M.A. degree in Philosophy from Columbia
University. Union Theological Seminary conferred the Master of Divinity degree,
and the Ph.D. degree was awarded by New York University. Post-doctoral studies
were pursued at the New York School for Social Research, the William Alanson
White School of Psychiatry, and Columbia University. Clinical Pastoral
Education was taken at the Massachusetts General Hospital and at St. Luke’s
Hospital in New York City.
Bishop Clymer was ordained deacon and
elder by Bishop John S. Stamm, and became a member of the Atlantic Conference
of the Evangelical Church, where he served pastorates in Ozone Park and Forest
Hills, NY. In 1946 he was appointed Professor of Pastoral Care at the
Evangelical Theological Seminary, Naperville, Illinois. In 1957 he was
appointed Dean of the Seminary and became President in 1967. During a
sabbatical year 1966-67, Dr. Clymer was consultant to the United Church of
Christ in the Philippines on ministerial training and taught at St. Andrew's
Theological Seminary in Manila and Trinity College in Singapore. During his
tenure in theological education, he served as President of the Association of
Seminary Professors, the Chicago Theological Faculties Union, and the
Mid-America Theological Center.
The North Central Jurisdictional
Conference elected Wayne Clymer to the episcopacy in 1972. He was assigned to
the Minnesota Area where he served for eight years before being transferred to
the Iowa Area in 1980. He served as President of The United Methodist Committee
on Relief from 1976-1984. In 1970 he was a member of the United States
delegation to the United Nations Conference on Refugees in Geneva, Switzerland.
Upon his retirement in 1984 he served as liaison for the Council of Bishops to
the theological seminaries.
Bishop Clymer gave the Denman Lectures at
the Congress on Evangelism in 1976; the Berger Lectures at the University of
Dubuque, 1985; the Washburn Lectures, 1985; the George Buttrick Lectures,
Bayview, Michigan, 1990. He was preacher on the NBC radio series, AArt of
Living,@ in 1962; and preacher on the AProtestant Hour@, 1970. Four times he
was a delegate to the Oxford Conference on Methodist Theological Studies, and
represented his denomination at the Fourth World Conference on Faith and Order.
He has published numerous articles, and two books: Affirmation and Membership
Means Discipleship. Honorary degrees have been awarded by Westmar College,
Hamline University, Iowa Wesleyan College, Rust College and by
Garret-Evangelical Theological Seminary.
Bishop Clymer married Helen Eloise Graves
on September 3, 1939. Helen died July 7, 1999. Their two children are: Kenton
James Clymer, Professor of Diplomatic History and head of the History
Department at Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois, and Richard
George Clymer, realtor and retired Senior High School Principal, Hastings,
Minnesota. Bishop Clymer and Virginia Schoenbohm were married on December 26,
2000.
---
Businessman falls, finds church before
leaving for prison
Award-winning businessman falls, finds
church family before leaving for prison by Annette Spence
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) — Bernard
Addison, age 63, is remembered by many as a successful person. He worked his
way through college to become an award-winning news reporter followed by an
award-winning businessman.
When the Rev. John Gargis met him in
summer 2012, Addison was homeless and facing prison. He stored his awards in
the trunk of his car.
“Bernard said to me, ‘I’d like to join
your church, but I’ve got these charges pending,’” says Gargis, remembering the
first visits Addison made to Lincoln Park United Methodist Church in Knoxville,
Tenn.
“I said, ‘Bernard, I would rather you be
a member of our church in jail than not to be a member.”
Today, Addison is seven months into his
46-month sentence for conspiracy to commit mail fraud. He’ll spend the holidays
behind bars in an Atlanta prison camp.
He will not spend his confinement alone,
however.
“I depend on God to get me through the
day,” Addison said in a recent email. “I trust in God that I will return home,
that I do not need to fear for my safety or the future.”
He also has his fellow inmates, who “look
out for each other,” his pastor, and his new church friends.
“He’s got these sweet older church
members who fell in love with him, who pray for him and send him magazines,”
says Gargis. “I call them the ‘Sweet Angels.’ They are so inviting and
accepting.”
FOCUSED
Pastor Gargis first met Addison at Knox
Area Rescue Ministries (KARM), where Gargis is also director of development.
The federal defender handling Addison’s case helped him get into the homeless
shelter shortly after he was arrested and charged.
A native of Memphis, Tenn., Addison moved
to Knoxville in 1969, after graduating from Booker T. Washington High School in
the top of his class. His mother raised him and his two sisters on a waitress’
salary.
“She worked at a place called The
Hitchin’ Post on Beale Street,” Addison says. “She used to tell me about
meeting B.B. King and how he always called her ‘little girl.’”
Addison was anxious to get away from his
hometown. “Too many bad memories. The overt racism. The garbage-man strikes and
the riots and demonstrations that followed. The murder of Dr. Martin Luther
King. The death of a high school classmate, killed in Vietnam,” he said. “Let
me go to school anywhere but Memphis.”
He worked his way through the University
of Tennessee, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in communications in 1977. He
was hired as a news reporter at two radio stations, WKGN followed by WIVK,
where he won awards for his public affairs and political reporting.
“I knew what I wanted to do. I just
focused on it,” Addison says. He was encouraged by his mother, who suffered
from a debilitating stroke when she was 25.
“I admired her determination as she dealt
with her problems caused by the stroke. She lost the use of her entire left
side,” he said. “I heard her pray and ask God to heal her. It never happened.
So for a long time I did not have any interest in church.”
DESPERATE
In 1994, Addison left broadcasting for
insurance and investments, where he also excelled. He was married for a while
but never had children.
“I pursued worldly goals like making more
money, getting a better place to live, buying better clothes or better cars,”
Addison says. “In the end none of this stuff really matters.”
In 2009, the insurance company where
Addison worked as an office manager closed. “The owner blamed the economy, so
at the age of 60 I started to search for a job.”
He searched for two years without luck.
In May 2011 Addison suffered a mild stroke. While he was hospitalized, he lost
the home he rented with a friend. He lived in a motel, until out of
desperation, he accepted a job offer from a man named Frank with a “secret
shopper” business.
Addison’s job was to send welcoming kits
with surveys and money orders to “shoppers” who joined Frank’s business. The
money orders were fake and the business was a scam, as Addison learned when a
postal inspector came to his motel room. Addison resigned and signed a “cease
and desist” letter with the postal inspector.
Two months later, Frank contacted Addison
again, saying that he had cleared up the situation. “In my heart, I knew he was
lying,” Addison said, “but I had $800 left and was concerned about being
homeless. So I started work again.”
AMAZED
In April 2012, Addison was arrested and
charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud. He checked into KARM, where he
followed through on a promise he made to God to be baptized.
During his months of unemployment, he had
begun to read the Bible and pray, Addison explained. “I was praying to God for
help, but I felt God had more important things on his mind than the troubles of
Bernard Addison. I was wrong.”
He also watched a Sunday-morning TV show,
“Rejoice,” produced by Church Street United Methodist Church in Knoxville. “I
felt good about Andy Ferguson,” Addison says about Church Street’s senior
pastor, “and I liked what I knew about the Methodist church.”
At KARM, Addison made new friends and was
baptized by Chaplain Mychal Spence.
“When Bernard first came to KARM, he was
amazed that so many people cared for him,” says Gargis. “But the people who
come to KARM usually lack two things: family members and a church family. So
when they begin to fall, no one is there to catch them.”
One of his new friends, Rick Gouge, kept
telling Addison about the great church he attended, which happened to be United
Methodist.
"He said it was like a country
church in the city with an older congregation,” Addison said. “I finally went and fell in love with Pastor
John and the Lincoln Park congregation.”
In February 2013, Addison became a church
member and helped his pastor serve Holy Communion. On April 1, the day after
Easter, he reported to the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta. His release date is
April 2016.
“He was at peace when he left,” Gargis
says. “He was more at peace than we were.”
THANKFUL
For the next three years, Addison’s home is
a prison camp, where he lives in a dormitory with 53 other men. “Most of these
men were businessmen or other professionals,” he says, “so it’s a good crowd.
None of them are violent offenders … I have come to care for each and every one
of them.”
His mattress is thin and hurts his back.
He walks with a cane, and the prison boots hurt his legs. Yet he gives thanks
that he is permitted to send emails to his friends, sharing one computer with
his 53 dorm mates.
He is thankful for many things.
“The Bible is a great source of comfort,”
he writes. “And I thank God for the brothers and sisters in Christ at Lincoln
Park, for their prayers and their concerns.”
When he was a child, his family did not
attend church, Addison says. “As an adult, I stayed away from the church
because it was too political. About 10 years ago, I started thinking about my
salvation. But it took being homeless for me to join a church.”
“Guys like Bernard teach us that there
are no categories,” Gargis said. “We develop categories like homeless,
prisoner, prostitute, and drug addict. When you hear their stories or get
involved in the messiness of their lives, you realize there is only one category:
human being.”
This truth leads to the Gospels, says
Gargis, “where we are taught to love others as Christ loved us.”
Follow Bernard Addison's blog, “Behind
the Wall” at bernardaddison.wordpress.com.
See "Bright Spot" video about
Lincoln Park United Methodist Church.
---
Finance agency responds to clergy housing
ruling
MADISON, Wis. (UMNS) — A federal judge in
Wisconsin has ruled that an Internal Revenue Service exemption that allows
clergy to shield their housing allowances from federal income taxes is
unconstitutional. But the ruling is on hold until appeals are exhausted. The
General Council on Finance and Administration, the United Methodist finance
agency, is monitoring the case.
Read statement from the General Council
on Finance and Administration
Finance agency responds to clergy housing
decision
Editor’s Note: The General Council on
Finance and Administration — The United Methodist Church’s finance agency —
responded Nov. 26 to a U.S. district
court ruling that found the tax-free housing benefits for clergy to be
unconstitutional. GCFA’s full statement
is below.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — On Nov. 21, 2013, a federal district court judge in
Madison, Wis., held that a portion of
Section 107 of the tax code is unconstitutional. Section 107 is the provision dealing with
tax-favored housing benefits for clergy.
Specifically, the court held that Section 107(2), which permits clergy
to receive a tax-free cash “housing allowance,” is unconstitutional because it
violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S.
Constitution (“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
religion…”). Section 107(1), which
allows clergy to reside tax-free in a church-provided parsonage, was not
affected by the court’s decision.
In the case, Freedom From Religion
Foundation, et al. v. Lew, et al., the United States government was the party
which defended the constitutionality of Section 107, a federal law enacted by
Congress many decades ago. As the losing
party, the government must now decide whether it wants to appeal this decision
to the next level of the federal court system, the Seventh Circuit Court of
Appeals in Chicago. GCFA believes an
appeal is likely.
The court in Wisconsin delayed the
implementation of its decision until any appeals which may be filed by the
government are concluded or until the deadline for filing an appeal has passed,
whichever is later. GCFA understands
that the government will have 60 days to file an appeal, and so the district
court’s decision will have no effect until sometime in 2014 at the earliest. If an appeal is filed, it is certainly
conceivable that this case could take several more years to be finally decided.
GCFA is tasked by the Book of Discipline
(the denomination’s law book) with the responsibility to protect the legal
rights and interests of the United Methodist denomination. However, it is too
early to fully understand the impact of this case, or to predict the chances
for this decision to be reversed. GCFA
will continue to actively monitor the case as it develops, and will take the
appropriate actions at the appropriate times to represent the interests of the
denomination.
If you have any questions, please email
them to legal@gcfa.org.
---
Read Religion News Service story about
the case
Federal judge: Clergy tax-free housing
allowance is unconstitutional by Sarah Pulliam Bailey
(RNS) A federal judge has ruled that an
Internal Revenue Service exemption that allows clergy to shield a portion of
their salary from federal income taxes is unconstitutional.
The clergy housing exemption applies to
an estimated 44,000 ministers, priests, rabbis, imams and others. If the ruling
stands, some clergy members could experience an estimated 5 to 10 percent cut
in take-home pay.
The suit was filed by the Wisconsin-based
Freedom from Religion Foundation on grounds that the housing allowance violates
the separation of church and state and the constitutional guarantee of equal
protection. The group’s founders have said that if tax-exempt religious groups
are allowed a housing subsidy, other tax-exempt groups, such as FFRF, should
get one, too.
U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Crabb
on Friday (Nov. 22) ruled in their favor, saying the exemption “provides a
benefit to religious persons and no one else, even though doing so is not
necessary to alleviate a special burden on religious exercise.”
The case, decided in the District Court
for the Western District Of Wisconsin, will likely be appealed to the
Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers the states of
Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana.
The housing allowances of pastors in
Wisconsin remain unaffected after Crabb stayed the ruling until all appeals are
exhausted. Crabb also ruled in 2010 that the National Day of Prayer was
unconstitutional; that ruling was overturned the following year.
Earlier this month, the 7th Circuit
barred the enforcement of the Obama administration’s contraceptive mandate, an
issue circulating through federal courts across the country and likely to be
taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court next spring.
Churches routinely designate a portion of
a pastor’s salary as a housing allowance. So, for example, a minister that
earns an average of $50,000 may receive another third of income, or $16,000, as
a tax-free housing allowance, essentially earning $66,000. Having to pay taxes
on the additional $16,000 ($4,000 in this case), would mean an 6 percent cut in
salary.
The exemption is worth about $700 million
per year, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation’s Estimate of Federal
Tax Expenditure.
Crabb ruled that the law provides that
the gross income of a “minister of the gospel” does not include “the rental
allowance paid to him as part of his compensation, to the extent used by him to
rent or provide a home and to the extent such allowance does not exceed the
fair rental value of the home, including furnishings and appurtenances such as
a garage, plus the cost of utilities.”
Tobin Grant, a political science
professor at Southern Illinois University, said the exemption dates from an era
when churches paid clergy who lived in church-owned parsonages.
“Over time, fewer churches owned
parsonages and instead gave clergy housing allowances, which were also treated
as tax-free. The difference, however, was that these were regular salaries that
now had an exclusion. Part could be tax-free, part couldn’t. So, why not give a
pastor a huge housing allowance, which is tax free?”
The ruling addresses the housing
allowance, while parsonages are still tax-exempt properties, like the churches
that own them.
Peter J. Reilly, a contributor to Forbes,
writes that the exclusion goes back to 1921.
“I’m not sure what Congress could do in
this instance,” he said. “There is strong clergy influence on both sides of the
aisle though, so there is a good chance that Congress will at least try to make
it look like it has done something.”
The law’s tax exemption has been
contested since a decade-old dispute between the IRS and California megachurch
pastor Rick Warren. In 2002, the IRS attempted to charge Warren back taxes
after he claimed a housing allowance of more than $70,000.
He eventually won the federal court case,
and that led Congress to clarify the rules for housing allowances. The
allowance is limited to one house, and is restricted to either the fair market
rental value of the house or the money actually spent on housing.
Annie Laurie Gaylor and Dan Barker,
co-presidents of the Freedom from Religion Foundation, which brought the suit,
hailed the decision. “May we say hallelujah! This decision agrees with us that
Congress may not reward ministers for fighting a ‘godless and anti-religious’
movement by letting them pay less income tax,” they said. “The rest of us
should not pay more because clergy pay less.”
The Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics
and Religious Liberty Commission and Southern Baptist-affiliated GuideStone
Financial Resources plan to fight for the exemption.
“The clergy housing allowance isn’t a
government establishment of religion, but just the reverse,” said Russell
Moore, president of the ERLC. “The allowance is neutral to all religions.
Without it, clergy in small congregations of all sorts would be penalized and
harmed.”
Church housing has been a hot topic in
recent months as the Southern Baptist pastor of one of the nation’s
fastest-growing churches is building a 16,000-square-foot gated estate near
Charlotte, N.C. The tax value on the 19-acre property owned by Steven Furtick
of Elevation Church is estimated to be $1.6 million.
Earlier this year, the federal government
offered the Freedom from Religion Foundation a tax break available to religious
groups that it rejected.
Separately, in a federal court case in
Kentucky, atheists are challenging IRS regulations that exempt religious groups
from the same financial disclosure requirements of other nonprofit groups.
YS/AMB END BAILEY
---
Diverse group of young adults consider
God’s call
DENVER (UMNS) — Speaker after speaker
told the 429 young adults gathered to explore ordained ministry in The United
Methodist Church that God is calling them to go change the world and the
church.
“This is not your momma and daddy’s church. We
have to be about making disciples, not members,” Bishop Cynthia Fierro Harvey
told those attending Exploration 2013 in Denver, Colo.
Harvey, the episcopal leader of the Louisiana
Conference, asked the diverse group—27 percent of young adults were
racial-ethnic—what would happen if “we stopped worrying about saving the church
and focused on saving souls?”
“I want you to be unleashed by the Spirit
to listen to where God might be calling you. I’d love to see you all discern a
call to ordained ministry, but I know discerning a call to lay ministry is
equally important,” Harvey said during her sermon at Saturday night’s
commitment service.
“All God wants or needs is for you to be
the best YOU that you can be,” she said. “Listen. God might just be calling
your name.”
The Nov. 15-17 event, sponsored by the
General Board of Higher Education and Ministry, aims to help young adults hear,
discern, and respond to God’s call to ordained ministry and to explore their
gifts for service as a deacon or elder in the UMC. Total attendance was 676
individuals, including chaperones, workshop leaders, speakers, and members of
the planning team.
The Rev. Trip Lowery, GBHEM’s director of
Young Adult Ministry Discernment and Enlistment, told his own story of teaching
high school, co- managing a surf shop, and playing professional soccer before
he accepted the call to ordained ministry. “I wandered a lot, and I wish that
as I explored and wandered around that I had reached out to someone. You are
surrounded this weekend by people who want to help you.”
Bishop Cynthia Fierro Harvey, episcopal
leader of the Louisiana Annual Conference, tells those attending Exploration
2013 that they must be about making disciples, not members. Photo by Vicki
Brown.
Lowery said he was pleased that the young
adults who attended were such a diverse group and noted an effort was made to
have speakers, workshop leaders, and small group leaders from all walks of life
in the UMC.
The Rev. April Casperson, co-chair of the
team that plans Exploration, said she thinks those who attended Exploration
2013 came from more diverse locations than in years past. Casperson, who is
also director of Enrollment Management and Scholarship Development at Methodist
Theological School in Ohio, said she would guess that undergraduate colleges and
universities, as well as seminaries, are becoming more diverse.
“This means good things for the church.
It is important to have leaders who can serve in different ministry contexts,”
Casperson said.
Bishop Harvey, who attended a late-night
gathering for young adults who self-identify as people of color to discuss
issues they face in the UMC, said growing up in a barrio allowed her to keep a
foot in two worlds. She told the group that she thinks they are uniquely placed
to lead the church. “Most of you speak more than one language; you have an
ability to keep a foot in both worlds. You are the best hope we have. If we
can’t do it with you, we’ll never do it,” said Harvey, who is the first Latina
bishop elected in the Southeastern Jurisdiction.
Worship, small groups, and workshops were
all aimed at answering questions young adults have about how God is calling
them and what steps to take.
Bill and Lyndsay Cupp, a young couple who
are youth leaders at Lehman-Idetown UMC in Lehman, Pa., said they felt the small
groups especially were helpful.
“I definitely want to be involved in the
church, especially youth ministry,” Lyndsay Cupp said. But she added that she
was thinking about certification and was not yet sure about ordination.
Bill Cupp liked the small, intimate
setting of small groups. “It was nice to get with other people who are on the
same track,” he said.
Sarah Craven, a pastoral intern at two
United Methodist churches in Missouri, said she learned more about her options
at Exploration. “I come from a small town, and I didn’t even know what a deacon
was. I thought pastor was the only option you had.”
Joshua Shaw, a student at Bethel
University and member at Alamo First UMC in Tennessee, said he most enjoyed
being with people his own age who are discerning their own call. “They
understand how hard it is to answer that call at this age,” he said. “My family
supports me, but my friends don’t understand why I’m choosing this. They say I
could be doing something else.”
Bishop Elaine Stanovsky, episcopal leader
of the Mountain Sky Area, serves Holy Communion at Sunday morning’s closing
worship. She is assisted by Bishop Cynthia Fierro Harvey, left, and the Rev.
DeAndra Johnson, right. Photo by Vicki Brown
The Rev. Jorge Acevedo, lead pastor of
Grace Church – a multi-site UMC congregation in southwest Florida – warned
young adults that family and friends will question the choice to go into
ministry. “They’ll tell you that you won’t make any money. They’ll tell you
ministry is hard, and God won’t take care of you,” he said.
“But I’m telling you that for every
heartache, God will give you 10 explosions of joy. . . . If God has called you
into ministry, you will be miserable until you say yes,” Acevedo said.
He told the group that Jesus’ favorite
word was go. “If you follow Jesus, you are supposed to teach and make
disciples. It doesn’t matter how many your church seats; it matters how many
you send,” he said.
The Rev. Beth LaRocca-Pitts, senior
pastor at Saint Mark UMC in Atlanta, Ga., told of watching a priest serve Mass
in her father’s Catholic church. She suddenly realized “that I wanted no other
life.” When that was followed by the thought— I’m a girl— which meant she could
not become a Catholic priest, she got up and walked two blocks to her mother’s
church, Athens First United Methodist.
“Don’t spend your life currency on
anything less than what God has called you to do. Don’t just go work; answer
the call,” LaRocca-Pitts said.
The Rev. Eric Huffman, who with his wife
and co-pastor leads a multi-site faith community of about 500 in Kansas City,
urged the young adults to be utterly reliant on Jesus and said ministry is a
“glorious and joyous” life.
“I know you are being called to do great
things, but don’t let it go to your head. My prayer is that you spend the rest
of your life pointing people toward the only shepherd, Jesus Christ.”
Brown is associate editor and writer,
Office of Interpretation, General Board of Higher Education and Ministry.
---
British church issues letter after
minister’s arrest
LONDON (UMNS) — The British Methodist
Church issued a pastoral letter Nov. 25 to all its ministers, noting that “it
has been a difficult and sad week for many of us because of the allegations
made against the Rev. Paul Flowers and then his subsequent arrest.” Flowers,
who had been suspended from his ministerial duties pending investigation, was
arrested Nov. 21 in connection with a drug-related inquiry.
Read pastoral letter from The Methodist
Church in Britain
Pastoral Letter to all Ministers in the
Methodist Church
Below is the text of a pastoral letter
from the President of the Conference, sent to all Methodist presbyters and
deacons.
Sisters and Brothers in Christ;
I am sure that many of you, like me, will
have been saddened by some of the events of this past week. It has been a
difficult and sad week for many of us because of the allegations made against
the Revd Paul Flowers and then his subsequent arrest. All of this has affected people
and institutions that are dear to many of us and as things continue to develop
we recognise again the complexity of our humanity and of our relationships.
I know that you will have been praying
for all those involved and for the Methodist Church which will, inevitably be
questioned as attention is focused on the behaviour of one of our number rather
than on the numerous ways in which we seek to minister and work for the good of
society as we proclaim the gospel.
As those who are ministers we have responsibilities
towards one another. For both Presbyters and Deacons, this is reflected in
words in the Ordination Service. Presbyters are to 'watch over one another in
love' and Deacons 'share fully in the life of the Diaconal Order and keep its
discipline'. When any one member of the body is hurt, the whole body suffers
and we are all affected by the actions of any one of us.
Alongside this, we are all called to
support the weak, seek the lost, bind up the broken and in all of this to be
people who both exercise mercy and minister justice.
It can be a difficult road to travel. You
will have received, and will continue to receive the official statements of the
Methodist Church and these should be your guide in relation to the facts of the
unfolding events as you support and talk with those to whom you minister. All
the statements can be found at www.methodist.org.uk/news-and-events/news-releases.
Please continue to pray for all those
people and institutions most closely involved including the staff and people in
the Bradford South Circuit, the Chair of the West Yorkshire District, the
Assistant Secretary of the Conference, the Connexional media team and, of
course, Paul and those who know him best.
The Ordination Services include a prayer
which reminds us that we depend on God's grace, which alone makes any of us
worthy of our calling. During this week I have given thanks for God's grace
which does not depend on who I am or what I do but which is offered freely and
is transformational. There is nothing in all creation that can separate us from
the love of God in Jesus and from God's gift of grace, and every day I give
thanks for that.
Remember O Lord, what you have wrought in
us,
And not what we deserve;
And as you have called us to your
service,
Make us worthy of our calling;
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
I encourage you to declare and affirm the
grace of God wherever you find yourself this week-end. This is the good news
for the world.
The Reverend Ruth Gee
President of the Methodist Conference
2013/14
---
Read more on the arrest
Paul Flowers: police arrest former Co-op
Bank chairman in drug inquiry
West Yorkshire police question former
Co-operative Bank chairman who was filmed allegedly handing over money for
cocaine by Warren Murray
Police have arrested Paul Flowers, the
former chairman of the Co-operative Bank who is at the centre of a drugs,
expenses and impropriety scandal that has plunged the group into crisis.
West Yorkshire police said a man aged 63
had been arrested on Thursday night in the Merseyside area in connection with
an ongoing drugs supply investigation.
"He has been taken to a police
station in West Yorkshire where detectives will continue their inquiries,"
the force announced.
The escalating controversy surrounding
Flowers after a video allegedly showed him handing over money for cocaine has
prompted turmoil in the Co-operative Group and prompted its overall chairman,
Len Wardle, to announce he will retire early from the job.
Allegations have emerged during the week,
including claims surrounding Flowers's resignation from Bradford council after
pornography was found on his work laptop. Flowers is a Methodist minister and
has been suspended by the church.
Conservatives are targeting Labour, which
has a close relationship with the Co-op, claiming that senior party figures
must have known of Flowers's chequered past. Flowers was a Labour member and
has been suspended since the allegations against him came to light, as well as
being suspended from his role as a minister in the Methodist church.
Flowers has apologised for his behaviour.
He was forced out as chairman of the
Co-operative Bank over concerns about his competency, soon after being
questioned by MPs about a £1.5bn capital shortfall that forced the 70% sale of
the mutual financial institution to investors including US hedge funds, as well
as an ill-fated attempt to take over branches from the bailed-out Lloyds
Banking Group.
Other details have emerged of his
resignation as deputy chairman of the overall Co-op group in June because of
dubious expenses claims; and his departure years earlier from the anti-drugs
charity Lifeline after he was questioned by fellow trustees about expenses
claims that were deemed excessive.
---
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) — Applications
for grants for projects aimed at improving United Methodist theological
education in the central conferences in Africa, Europe and the Philippines can
be submitted starting this week at www.centralconferencegrant.dreamhosters.com
Central Conference Theological Education
Fund
2013-2016
Application Guidelines
The Fund for Central Conference
Theological Education was established by the 2012 General Conference of The
United Methodist Church. The UMC
continues to live out the Wesleyan vision, to
“unite the pair so long disjoined – knowledge and vital piety.” The goal
is to strengthen theological education and pastoral formation in all of the
Central Conferences in Africa, Europe and the Philippines. Funding plays a
crucial role is such efforts.
Funding
The General Conference adopted the
following categories as appropriate uses for the funding:
1. Development of theological schools;
2. Development of Courses of Study;
3. Development of libraries and contextually
developed resources;
4. Scholarships and faculty development
5. Support for Associations and networks
of faculty and schools;
6. Support for new and innovative
approaches to theological education.
The Commission on Central Conference
Theological Education acknowledged and affirmed these categories. Within these
guidelines, the Commission stated that priority will be given to requests that
build capacity, develop contextual education and resources, create new/
innovative initiatives, and for those that show sustainability.
Funding is available for each Central
Conference and Episcopal Area within the Central Conferences. The Commission
will approve the grants on a proportional basis.
Application Procedures
Who can apply?
● Institutions in Central Conferences
that are related to the United Methodist Church;
● Boards of Ordained Ministry
● Organizations that are integrally
related to ministry in the UMC and Theological Education.
Note:
No individual applications will be accepted for scholarships.
Scholarships would be requested via institutions for faculty or students as
they expand the capacity of the school in particular fields, or by Boards of
Ordained Ministry to strengthen the ministerial outreach for a particular
context for ministry.
Proposals will need endorsements:
Proposals from theological institutions
and organizations will need to be endorsed by the Board of Trustees or Board of
Directors;
Proposals from Boards of Ordained
Ministry will be endorsed by the resident bishop.
Applications are available online _________
To complete _________
To submit _____
Applying institutions, boards or
organizations must submit a complete application, including the endorsement of
the proposal;
Application must be in accordance with
the categories set by the GC;
Application must show a system of fiscal
accountability (i.e., treasurer, oversight committee, for designated funds);
Grant recipients will need to have a bank
account that accepts US dollars.
Approval process
All projects will be screened by a
committee from each central conference.
Recommendations will go from the
screening committee to the full commission.
Project proposals that go beyond one
Central Conference will be screened by the Executive Committee of the
Commission.
Members of the Commission
Officers: Bishop John Innis, Chair
Bishop Sudarshana Devadhar, Vice-Chair
Rev Irene Kraft, Secretary
Rev. Daniel Lunge, Member
Rev. Tsitsi Madziyire, Member
Rev. Connie Mella, Member
Commission Membership by Representation
Europe (3 central conferences)
Rev. Irene Kraft (Germany)
Dr. Sergei Nikolaev (Northern Europe and
Eurasia)
Bishop Patrick Streiff (Central &
Southern Europe)
West Africa Central Conference
Rev. Francis Charlie (Sierra Leone)
Rev. Brigitte Atsin (Cote d’Ivoire)
Bishop John Innis (Liberia)
Africa Central Conference
Rev. Michael Ssekandi (Uganda)
Rev. Tsitsi Madziyire (Zimbabwe)
Bishop Gaspar Domingos (West Angola)
Congo Central Conference
Rev. Daniel Lunge (Central Congo)
Rev. Rde Katchiko Furaha (East Congo)
Bishop Nkulu Ntambo (North Katanga)
Philippines Central Conference
Rev. Connie Mella
Rev. Roberto Ladia
Bishop Pete Torio
General Board of Global Ministries
Rev. John Nuessle
Bishop Sudarshana Devadhar
General Board of Higher Education and
Ministry
Dr. Douglass Lewis
Rev. Ianther Mills
Staff
Dr. Rena Yocom, GBHEM
Office
Division of Ordained Ministry
General Board of Higher Education and
Ministry
Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Attn: Rev. Rena M Yocom
Assistant General Secretary
Clergy Formation and Theological
Education
ryocom@gbhem.org
---
Read news release
Apply now for central conference
theological education grants by Vicki Brown
The Central Conference Theological
Education Commission mapped out plans for use of the $5 million approved by
General Conference 2012. Shown, from left, front row: Irene Kraft, Germany;
Adriano Kilende, Portuguese interpreter; Connie Mella, Philippines; Roberto
Ladio, Philippines; Kim Cape, GBHEM general secretary; Bishop John Innis,
Liberia; Mrs. Irene Innis, Liberia; Bishop Gaspar Domingos, West Angola; Rena
Yocom, GBHEM assistant general secretary and commission coordinator. Second
row, from left: Bishop Patrick Streiff, Southern and Central Europe; Michael
Ssenkendi, Uganda; Karina Lashley, French interpreter; Isabella Berger, French
interpreter; Sergei Nikolaev, Eurasia; Douglass Lewis, United States; Bishop
Christian Alsted, host bishop, Nordic and Baltic Area; Bishop Suda Devadhar,
United States. Far back row, from left: John Nuessle, General Board of Global
Ministries; and John Lesesne, GBHEM’s treasurer and chief financial officer.
Applications for grants for projects
aimed at improving United Methodist theological education in the Central
Conferences of Africa, Europe, and the Philippines can be submitted beginning
Nov. 25 here.
The commission that oversees use of the
$5 million fund plans to disburse grants totaling about $1 million a year.
The Rev. Rena Yocom, the General Board of
Higher Education and Ministry’s assistant general secretary for Clergy
Formation and Theological Education, said the center for Christianity is moving
to the Southern hemisphere for the first time in 2000 years.
“My hope and my prayer is this – that we
understand that the Central Conference Theological Education Fund is more than
banking or distributing dollars. We are called to shape future leaders out of
our Wesleyan tradition who care about holiness of heart and holiness of life,”
Yocom said.
About $500,000 a year will be distributed
based on the number of episcopal areas in a conference. However, these grants
are not guaranteed and will go to the best proposals. Regional screening
committees will recommend which proposals receive funding.
Applicants can ask for grants in the
categories approved by General Conference, which are:
Development of theological schools
Development of Courses of Study
Development of libraries and contextually
developed resources
Scholarships and faculty development
Support for associations and networks of
faculty and schools
Support for new and innovative approaches
to theological education.
The commission agreed that 25 percent of
the funds (about $250,000 a year) would be distributed based on the number of
churches and active clergy. The remaining $250,000 a year will be available for
proposals that go beyond a conference.
While General Conference approved the
fund at $5 million, the money comes from the World Service Apportionment. That
fund is expected to pay out at 85 percent, which would mean the actual dollars
would be reduced to $4.2 million, or about $1 million a year for each year of
the 2013-2016 quadrennium.
Priority will be given to those projects
that build the capacity of an institution or ministry in an episcopal area,
contextual resource development, innovative initiatives, and proposals that
move toward sustainable theological education. Proposals will be accepted from
theological institutions, Boards of Ordained Ministry, and organizations that
are integrally related to United Methodism and theological education.
Any recipient of a grant will be required
to give an update six months after the issuance of the funds. An annual report
will be required and must include a demonstration of progress made toward
achieving the aims of the original application, highlights with stories and
photos, and information about difficulties and challenges. The commission also
requires a report on what local or other funding is being used for the project,
as well as projections for sustaining the project in the future.
The application deadline for grant
requests is Jan. 30, 2014. The screening and approval process will take place
in February, and funds will be distributed in March.
Brown is associate editor and writer,
Office of Interpretation, General Board of Higher Education and Ministry.
---
Finance agency OKs insurance merger
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) — The board of
the General Council on Finance and Administration, the denomination’s finance
agency, on Nov. 22 approved the merger of United Methodist Property and
Casualty Trust into United Methodist Insurance Company. Board members expect
the move to save the finance agency more than $100,000 a year.
Learn more about United Methodist
Insurance
OUR MISSION
Thank you for your interest in United
Methodist Insurance (UMI). As a wholly owned, non-profit subsidiary of the
General Council on Finance and Administration (GCFA) of the United Methodist
Church; UMI’s mission is to protect the people and property of the United
Methodist Church by assisting in a financially responsible way while providing
access to the broadest coverage available.
By utilizing a single parent captive
insurance company to offer P&C coverage, UMI will benefit from lower
operating expenses, more predictable premiums, consistent coverage and improved
service. The UMI program offers property, boiler & equipment breakdown,
commercial general liability, workers compensation, commercial auto, directors
& officers liability, employment practices liability, crime and umbrella
coverage.
OUR PARTNERSHIP
United Methodist Insurance's only mission
is protecting the property and ministries of the United Methodist Church. We
have contracted with the Church Insurance Agency Corporation (CIAC) as a
service provider. CIAC is a non-profit insurance agency specializing in general
agency and risk management services for religious institutions. Since 1930,
CIAC’s mission has been to assist congregations and affiliated church
organizations in a financially responsible way, while providing access to the
broadest coverage available.
---
New director of older adult ministries
starts
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) — munity in Pennsylvania,
will become Director of Aging and Older Adult Ministries at the General Board
of Discipleship (GBOD) on Dec. 1.
MaryJane Pierce Norton, Associate General
Secretary for Leadership Ministries at GBOD, said Randolph will assume the
position formerly held by Richard H. Gentzler Jr., who retired on June 30 after
serving in older adult ministries for 22 years, including 13 years as director.
"The United Methodist Church
believes in lifelong ministry, and our commitment to making disciples doesn't
stop as people age," Norton said. Dr. Randolph will be working with annual
conference leaders and leaders in congregations to identify the needs of older
adults, advocate for older adults and identify ways older adults come to faith
and deepen their faith throughout their days."
Randolph, who served as chaplain at
Redstone Highlands Senior Living Community in Greensburg, Pa., for more than
four years, is an ordained elder in The United Methodist Church and a member of
the Western North Carolina Annual Conference.
A former church pastor and hospice
chaplain, Randolph said he looks forward to helping clergy develop their older
adult ministries and helping people deal with the aging process.
"Aging is a lifetime process, and
that's something that a lot of people don't really think about until they wake
up one day and discover that they are getting older," he said. "… I
want to help people see aging as growing and gaining, and growing closer to
God."
Randolph is a graduate of Duke University
with degrees in religion and political science. He received his Master of
Divinity degree from Candler School of Theology and his Doctor of Ministry in
Aging & Spirituality degree from United Theological Seminary.
---
New post for church planter
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (UMNS) — BREAKING NEWS-
Gary Shockley Tapped for Congregational Development
NOVEMBER 25, 2013
Bishop Larry Goodpaster is pleased to
announce the appointment of The Reverend Gary A. Shockley as the Congregational
Development Team Leader for the WNCC. The appointment is effective January 1,
2014. Shockley is an elder in the
Florida Conference, who has extensive training and expertise in new church
development and revitalization, fund-raising, strategic planning, team
building, and conflict resolution.
Shockley received his B.S. in Psychology
and Religion from Messiah College in Grantham, PA, his M.Div. from Ashland
Theological Seminary in Ashland, Ohio, and a Master’s Degree in Spiritual
Formation and Counseling from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA.
Most recently, Shockley was appointed
Senior Minister of St. Andrew UMC in Highlands Ranch, CO. Previously, he served as Executive Director
of Path 1, which is the New Church Starts division of the UM General Board of
Discipleship; Associate and New Church Start Pastor for St. Luke’s UMC in
Orlando, FL; Congregational Developer for Cornerstone UMC in Cranberry
Township, PA; and Executive Fund-Raising Consultant for Resource Services, Inc.
in Dallas, Texas.
Shockley is married to Kim, who is a
ministry/leadership coach with Hopespring Creative Solutions. She has rich experience as a teacher, facilitator,
coach, and leader at both the local church and annual conference levels. The
Shockleys have two grown sons.
---
‘Tis a gift, but it’s not simple
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (UMNS) — I received a
Burning Question this week about “gifts”- specifically, gifts to pastors and
parsonage families. The question was more about what to do with them and how to
avoid the pitfalls around them than it was about how to encourage or secure
them.
In order to answer this question, please
let me start by taking you back to an earlier time in the life of the church –
more than 40 years ago, to be specific. When Janice and I started in pastoral
ministry in 1972 I was a student pastor, spending my weekdays in Seminary and
my weekends as the pastor of a wonderful church in southwest Michigan called
West Mendon. We already had 4 young children when I answered the call to
ministry and said “yes” to serving in this rural parish after a brief career as
a school teacher and band director.
My starting salary: $4,500 a year – and
that was a typical salary for someone just starting out.
One of the things that made it possible
for me to feed our family was an old custom the parish people had brought with
them from their EUB (Evangelical United Brethren Church) days before the merger
in 1968. They used to “pound the preacher!” Every once in a while (I don’t
remember how often after all these years) they would announce that they would
all be “pounding” the preacher next Sunday. You can imagine that I was not too
excited the first time I heard the expression! But on the next Sunday, the
people would show up at our door with a “pound” of this and a “pound” of that.
Sometimes is was sugar or flour, sometimes it was vegetables and sometimes it
was meat, but always it was food. On more than one occasion, they filled our
freezer and stocked our pantry to overflowing – and did all this on top of our
salary and without asking for anything in return. Those “gifts” made a huge
difference in our family’s health and well-being while at that parish and,
despite what some people might say about “gifts,” I would have a hard time
saying anything bad about those gifts or the people who gave them.
Years later, there was another kind of
“gift.” It came at a point in my life when I was serving a church which had a
number of members who were wealthier than me. One of those members would often
take me golfing and would never let me pay for the golf fees. I love to play
golf but I still couldn’t afford to pay for golf on a frequent basis, so the
member’s generosity was very much appreciated and I would tell him so. He never
asked me for anything directly, and it was a long time before I could see the
“hidden cost” that I was paying for his gifts. It took my wife to point out
that he was always talking to other church members about our time on the course
and how much we enjoyed each other’s company. He would mention it at meetings
and at pot-lucks and at the coffee-hour. After a few weeks of this, I’m sure
that everyone in church would have told you who my BFF was… and why. It made
for strained relations with some other church members and not a few assumptions
about who had more access to the pastor.
There was a third “gift” that someone
attempted to “give” me: There was someone at one of the churches I served who
came in one day to tell me that she was really grateful for a service that I
had conducted for a family member and that she wanted to give me something to
demonstrate her thanks. She told me that she was going to “give” me a week in
her “timeshare” in Hawaii for Janice and I to use. She then went on to tell me
that her gift had a value of $5,000 and suggested I give her a tax receipt from
the church for her records. Needless to say, Janice and I have still never seen
Hawaii!
Finally, there are those gifts that are
not gifts at all. If the church or the pastor sets a rate for the “honorarium”
to be charged at weddings, it is not a gift at all – it is a fee, by whatever
name you call it, and it is taxable income. It is only when people are truly
free to give or not give something can it be deemed a gift, and even then it
may be taxable. Always check with your tax preparer or a tax attorney.
In summary, some gifts are truly gifts –
given in love, without thought of repayment or quid-pro-quo. Some gifts carry
huge price-tags which the recipient will have to repay in some way and are more
purchased favors than loving gifts – no matter what words are attached. And
some gifts are not gifts at all – either in intent or effect. There are no
clear rules about gifts for or from pastors except those imposed by the IRS.
But there are some common-sense guidelines which every pastor can know and
appreciate:
1)
Who gave it?
2)
Why did they give it?
3)
What is it that is being offered?
4)
Is there any benefit for the giver besides the blessing of giving the
gift?
5)
Is the transaction done in “the light” of transparency or in the “dark”
of secrecy?
If you would be reluctant to tell your
mother or your brother, the IRS agent, or the chair of your Staff Parish
Relations committee about the gift you received and who gave it, then I would
suggest that you think twice about accepting it – no matter how generous or
nice it is. by Bill Dobbs
---
And she made pies: Apple and pecan
DETROIT (UMNS) — The Rev. Laurie Haller,
senior pastor of First United Methodist Church in Birmingham, Mich., blogs
about making Thanksgiving pies for homeless lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender
and questioning youth at the Ruth Ellis Center in Detroit. Haller delivered her
pies the same week as The United Methodist Church’s stance on homosexuality was
in the national news.
And She Made Pies: Apple and Pecan
“When
is the church coming with food? I’m coming when they are here. They make sure
we have something to eat. And they make pies.”
Last Wednesday Gary and I went with a
small group to the Ruth Ellis Center (REC) in Highland Park, within metro
Detroit. It’s part of our commitment to visit every outreach and mission
ministry of the congregation. Every third Wednesday of the month, our church
brings dinner to 40-50 lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and questioning
(LGBTQ) youth and young adults between the ages of 14 and 23.
20131125-1
The mission of the Ruth Ellis Center is
“to provide short and long-term residential safe space and support services for
runaway, homeless, and at-risk lesbian, gay, bi-attractional, transgender, and
questioning youth.” The REC is the only organization in the country with a
residential program for LGBTQ youth in the foster care and juvenile justice
system, especially youth experiencing homelessness. “The church” served chicken
pot pie, rolls, applesauce, and pop. And she made pies: apple and pecan.
20131125-2
It’s been a tough ten days for the rest
of The United Methodist Church. On November 15, the Council of Bishops
“respectfully” requested that a formal complaint be filed against retired
Bishop Melvin Talbert for officiating at a same-sex union on October 26 in
Birmingham, Alabama. The Council decided that this union violated the The Book
of Discipline 2012 for undermining the ministry of a colleague (paragraph
2702.1f) and for conducting a ceremony to celebrate the marriage of a same
gender couple (paragraph 2702.1b) within the bounds of the North Alabama
Conference. And she made pies: apple and pecan.
“What’s going on in southeast
Pennsylvania?” one of my children emailed a week ago with a link to a news release, “Methodist
Jury Convicts Pastor for Officiating at Son’s Wedding.” I was born and raised
in southeast PA, and my family still lives there.
Six years ago, Rev. Frank Schaefer of
Lebanon, PA, officiated at the same-sex wedding of his gay son in a private
ceremony in Massachusetts. Shortly before the six-year statute of limitations
expired, a complaint was filed. Last Monday a United Methodist jury of clergy
found Rev. Schaefer guilty of violating paragraph 2702.1f of The Book of
Discipline 2012. On Tuesday Rev. Schaefer was sentenced to a thirty day
suspension and was told that if he was not willing to follow church law, he
would have to surrender his clergy credentials. And she made pies: apple and
pecan.
“What’s going in in The United Methodist
Church?” asked someone in our sixty-member women’s book study group last
Tuesday morning. “I read the headlines in the paper. Do we really have church
trials?” We talked about the official stance of The United Methodist Church
around homosexuality, the nature of church trials, and the role of our Book of
Discipline 2012. We wrestled with it means for United Methodists to freely to
differ with one another on social and theological issues while still being held
accountable to our church law. And she made pies: apple and pecan.
Five thousand youth, primarily African-American,
are served every year at the Ruth Ellis Center. The Drop-In Center offers a
computer lab, clothes closet, showers, laundry service, counseling, life skills
training, and job search assistance. A street ministry also distributes socks
and underwear and offers information and training about safe sex and preventive
medicine.
Detroit’s poverty rate of 42% has been
the highest in the nation since the recession. Henry Walker, director of the
Drop-In Center, told us that of the one thousand homeless youth on the streets
of Detroit every night, 40% are LGBTQ youth. The Ruth Ellis Center provides a
safe haven and place of connection for youth who have been kicked out of their
homes because of their sexual orientation. The stigma of their sexuality causes
these youth to be highly vulnerable on the streets and at great risk for sexual
assault, violence, and substance abuse.
“Who was Ruth Ellis?” I ask our leader.
Ruth Ellis was born in 1899 and was one of the first openly lesbian
African-American women in our country, which was unprecedented in her time.
From 1946 to 1971 Ruth and her life partner Babe Franklin opened their Detroit
home to African-American gays and lesbians before the Civil Rights movement,
when there were few other social venues for blacks. They provided safety and
encouragement and helped many through college. Eventually a board of directors
was formed, and the Ruth Ellis Center was funded as a critical youth social
services agency in Metro Detroit. Oh, and they made pies: apple and pecan.
Cindy greets us when we arrive. I ask how
she found the Ruth Ellis Center, and Cindy says that her girlfriend was thrown
out of her home and found housing at the REC. Now Cindy is on the staff. It’s
clear that the youth and young adults at the Drop-In Center feel safe to be
their authentic selves. They shoot billiards, listen to music, use computers,
and chill out.
After the youth and young adults finish
their meal, they begin to dance, the likes of which I’ve never seen before.
It’s a unique dance form known as vogue, a kind of dancing that would not be
safe to perform on the streets, according to a National Public Radio All Things
Considered segment earlier this year on the Ruth Ellis Center.
(http://www.npr.org/2013/05/17/180326971/michigan-lgbt-youth-center-does-outreach-with-a-dance-hook)
Through dancing the LGBTQ youth are free to be themselves.
20131125-3
Henry tells us that ours is the only
church that makes a monthly commitment to serve dinner. Reminding us that many
of these youth have been rejected by their parents and beaten up by their
church, Henry insists that the consistency and compassion of our presence has
made a huge difference.
Why do we make apple and pecan pies for
the Ruth Ellis Center? Because pies are an outward and visible sign of
compassion. Compassion literally means “to suffer with.” God put us on this
earth to show compassion to and suffer with others.
We also make pies because pies are a
comfort food, and God knows that United Methodists could use a little comfort
right now. No one wants faithful clergy who are following their heart to be put
on trial. No one wants to hurt our LGBTQ brothers and sisters. No one wants to
disenfranchise anyone else. We are not of one mind, yet we become one heart
when we suffer with and show compassion to the very least of God’s children.
She had compassion. That’s why she made
pecan and apple pies for LGBTQ youth and young adults. I don’t know what she
believes about homosexuality, but it doesn’t matter. All I know is that she
lovingly baked delicious homemade pies that were so good that the youth and
young adults came back for seconds and thirds and said, “Thank you so
much.” All I know is that she was trying
to be in the world who God is: compassion incarnate.
On Thanksgiving I am going to give thanks
for the Ruth Ellis Center and for all people who reach beyond their comfort
zone to make apple and pecan pies for anyone who is not like them. And before I
eat my own pie, I am going to pray for safety, support, and community for all
those who will be on the streets on Thursday.
Thanksgiving means nothing without
Thanks-living, and Thanks-living means nothing without compassion. As long as
we show compassion we’ll be okay. So we
continue to make pies: apple and pecan.
Blessings,
Laurie
---
Correction: An item on Nov. 26
misidentified the church where the Rev. Chappell Temple is senior pastor. It is
Lakewood United Methodist Church in Houston.
The Other Guy That Died That Day
I could easily have flunked out of
seminary because of him. For–reflecting
perhaps the evangelical poverty of my childhood– it was not until one Finals
week in the first year of my graduate studies in Boston that I finally ran
across him. And never having read his
children’s stories before, after I finished the first one I found myself having
to devour all seven of them immediately, even if it did keep me up and keep me
from studying for my exams.
Fortunately, the tests turned out
okay. In fact, maybe just because Aslan
was “on the move” in my life, I found it even easier to parse St.Paul, befog
Barth, and conquer church history.
Because, just as the Oxford don had discovered for himself, I also began
to realize that Christian doctrines are not what really counts about
Christianity– rather, they are simply “translations” of the actual story of
Jesus, a “true myth” that has become fact.
What’s more, the tales of Narnia soon
proved to be only a “gateway” drug to the other equally intoxicating writings
of this man. I discovered in him a new approach to apologetics, for instance,
almost conversational in tone, one that discarded debate in favor of winsome
discourse. To be sure, if I looked
carefully, I could see some flaws in his logic here and there. But the trip that he took me on was so
overall delightful that I found myself more than willing to simply sail right
over whatever abysses there might have been just to stay on board a little
longer.
Likewise, his capacity for imagination
seemed unlimited to me. From a satirical
dialogue between the devil and one of his apprentices, to a science fiction
trilogy that actually worked, to the re-telling of an ancient Greek myth, his
ability to write across all kinds of genres, spelled out in almost sixty books,
fascinated me. And when I actually heard
a recording of his voice from one of his radio addresses during the War I knew
then that I had found a muse for my own ministry, for he spoke so calmly and
cogently that I could not help but be captivated by him.
Oh to be certain, perhaps that was
because he told me what I intuitively already knew but had never been able to
articulate, namely, that we live at present on the wrong side of the door and
cannot mingle with the splendors that await us in our real home. But, he went on to assure me, “all the leaves
of the New Testament are rustling with the rumor that it will not always be
so–some day, God willing, we shall get in.”
In the meantime, so he wrote,“the load,
or weight, or burden of my neighbor’s glory should be laid daily on my back, a
load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will
be broken.” Indeed, all day long, he
argued, we are in some degree or another inescapably helping each other either
to a destination of eternal glory or one of everlasting horror.
As so as he did for millions around the
world, Clive Staples Lewis helped me to find the real destination in my life,
as well, not only pointing me towards that “weight of glory” that transformed
how I hope to treat others, but becoming a touchstone for my thinking through
all the decades that have followed, too.
Few noticed when he died fifty years ago
on November 22, 1963, for the other news of that same sad day– the dispatches
that came out of Dallas detailing the death of a president–quickly captured the
attention of the world. But I have a
feeling that on that late autumn day C.S. Lewis found a welcome reception in
heaven indeed as the door on which he had been knocking all of his life opened
at last.
Through his words, Aslan really was “on
the move.” Thanks, Mr. Lewis, for
sharing him with me.
-------
United Methodist News Service is a
ministry of
United Methodist Communications
810 12th Ave South
Nashville TN 37203 United States
Phone: (615)742-5400
-------
No comments:
Post a Comment