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Faith Sharing

Last week Dan invited me to talk about the recent gathering in Pasadena of the Western Methodist Justice Movement.   The experience was still swirling around in my head and in my heart.  I wasn’t ready to talk about it but I told Dan I would like to report it as Faith Sharing.  He accepted my offer.  It’s not easy to “share my faith” when it is something I feel but am not glib about verbalizing it. Looking back I realize I have been on a faith journey for most of my life.   For the last 10 years I’ve been hanging out with a bunch of Methodists who call themselves progressives.  When I am with them I learn things.  They challenge my thinking.  And I want to be more like them.

As a girl and young woman I was “unchurched.”  I was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, into a family that traveled to Utah from Arkansas where they were sort of Baptists. We were not Mormons.  I attended church in the “first ward” in Ogden with one girlfriend or another and heard that the members of the Church of the Latter Day Saints were God’s chosen people and far superior to those who were cast out.  I heard the message but since I wasn’t a Mormon I couldn’t accept that I had been cast out.  Naturally, I never discussed the topic with anyone.

My non-Mormon grandmother taught me to “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  That lesson stuck and I didn’t search for any value or belief any deeper than that.  From first grade through high school I attended a total of 16 schools.  In about the fourth grade (and the sixth school,) one morning I realized that at 9:00 o’clock everywhere students in America were putting their hands over their hearts and reciting the pledge of allegiance.   I felt a thrill that morning that while I was a “new girl in school” many times I was always an American.

A few years later, while in high school, occasionally I accompanied one girl friend or another to their church services where I heard that if I didn’t come forward and confess my sins I would be condemned to hell fire and damnation.   It didn’t seem reasonable to me that God would save just a few and let the rest burn for eternity.  I did not believe in that kind of a God.

I have no idea who invited me to join Rainbow Girls.  I learned later that I wasn’t so much voted in as not “black balled” out. One evening a month I attended a Rainbow meeting.  We worked on projects for babies and children who were unfortunate under the direction or our Worthy Advisor.   We opened and closed the meetings reciting a litany.  One phrase in the litany was “give service, service so deep that self is forgotten.”  That’s the part I remember…and still live it.

In 1963 I divorced my first husband and I moved to Point Richmond with my four children.  I wanted them to know something about religion and we started coming to this church.  I sat in a pew towards the back and literally shook, afraid that I would not be accepted because I was a divorced woman.  (I was not cast out)  I found an extended family here.  What I learned about religion was from the bible lessons my children brought home from Sunday School.   What I learned about Methodism was from the sermons preached in this sanctuary by the succession of half time pastors who were divinity students at Pacific School of Religion and usually here for two years.  I also learned from the men and women who held this church together.  John Wesley’s words, “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can in all the places you can at all the times you can to all the people you can as long as ever you can,” capsulized a creed that made total sense.  Bob Dornan made me know that this little church was not a stand-alone entity; that it was part of a BIG church and that’s why we pay apportionments to support and further the work of the church around the world.  Dwight Eaton taught me that Methodists followed certain rules and he kept a small size Book of Discipline in his jacket pocket and pulled it out at Ad Board meetings whenever we were about to deviate from a rule.  The United Methodist Women practiced what they believed and had fun while doing good works. It seemed to me to be an extension of Rainbow Girls.  I became a Methodist, once again feeling that I was a part of something good.

I was away for a few years, working for a couple of disability organizations in other parts of the country and when I returned there were lots of “new” members.  Claudia LeGue was one of them.  She invited me to join a retreat with a bunch of people she characterized as “old hippies” who like to get together to remember the old days when they protested injustices.  That retreat at Pt. Bonita was my introduction to the Methodist Federation for Social Action.  I was in awe of the men and women who had been fighting, picketing, even being arrested, for speaking out against “wrongs:”  the wrongs of racism, wars, hunger, malnutrition, unbridled capitalism, and selected provisions in the Book of Discipline.  I learned that one of the injustices MFSA protested against was the Methodist Church’s rules in the Book of Discipline that homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teachings.   Homosexuals would not be ordained, and pastors who conducted ‘holy unions’ of homosexual couples could have charges brought against them, could face a trial, and ultimate suspension.   As the mother of a son who was gay and who died of AIDS, I had found my calling.  I joined MFSA.

A few years ago I was selected as the alternate delegate from this church to the California Nevada Annual Conference, a gathering of church delegates from northern California and part of Nevada.   I mostly listened to the point and counterpoint of discussions of resolutions put forward by delegates from individual churches in support- or in opposition – to one cause or another.   There are many causes under the umbrella of the Methodist Church all trying to correct a problem. I learned that the “West is different from the greater church;” more diverse, more inclusive, more progressive.  It may be true, but just as our church does not control the California Nevada Annual Conference, the Western Jurisdiction does not control the Big Methodist Church at the General Conference gatherings every four years.

In January 2004 the CAL Nevada MFSA chapter invited Rev Richard Bentley, Cal Pacific Conference, to explore “how within the rules for jurisdictions found in the book of discipline, could we find ways to faithfully claim our call to live as a fully inclusive church, committed to seeking justice and peace.” (Lee Williamson)

In the last nine years pastors and church members in several states have chosen to live and worship as a fully inclusive church.  Pastors have “come out” to their congregations and to their Bishops.  Holy Unions and weddings have been conducted.  Complaints have been filed, and some Pastors have been tried by a Council of Bishops and have been defrocked.

There are eight Annual Conferences in the Western Jurisdiction, Alaska, California Nevada, California Pacific, Desert Southwest, Oregon-Idaho, Pacific Northwest, Rocky Mountain and Yellowstone each with an elected Bishop.  The conferences in the Western Jurisdiction meet annually to review progress on initiatives and bi-annually to elect Bishops. For the last 8 years MFSA chapters in Cal Nev and Cal Pacific have gathered together the day before the Western Jurisdiction Leadership Team meets to formulate questions and give presentations to the Leadership Team.  Jean and I attend these gatherings.

In San Diego in 2012 MFSA was joined by 120 individuals, the majority of them pastors, from several conferences in the Western Jurisdiction representing Parents Reconciling Network, Reconciling Ministries Network, Israel Palestine Task Force, Philippines Solidarity Task Force, Peace with Justice and other groups who committed themselves to create change.  They did not want to just prepare resolutions for their annual conferences.  They were committed to action.  Topics were suggested and Action Networks formed to draft purpose statement and action steps on the following topics: Beginning and End of Life, Biblical Obedience, Extravagant Hospitality, Immigration, Israel-Palestine, Justice in the Philippines, Peace with Justice, Studying the future of the UMC and the Worldwide Nature of the Church. Brief reports from the Action Networks were shared with some of the Bishops.  The Biblical Obedience Action Network was clear that they will follow God’s direction to love one another.

At a follow-up meeting in Lafayette a small group met to plan for a larger meeting in Las Vegas and the question of what to call this collection of representatives from several conferences in the Western Jurisdiction was discussed.  Several combinations were considered but Western Methodist Justice Movement was decided.

There have been a couple of other meetings of the WMJM since Las Vegas and plans were made to meet again in Pasadena in January before the Western Jurisdiction Leadership Team met again.  During that time period there have been marriages of gay couples that have been reported in the media.

Rev Frank Shaefer, officiated at his son’s same-sex wedding in Pennsylvania.  Complaints were brought, his case was brought to trial and he was defrocked.

Rev. Tom Ogletree, who served as a professor and dean over his 50 year career, officiated at his son’s same-sex wedding in Connecticut.  Complaints were brought and his trial has been set for March 10, 2014.

Retired Bishop Mel Talbert presided over the celebration of a same gender marriage in Alabama.  The Council of Bishops directed two of its members to initiate prosecution of Talbert by filing an official complaint.

There have been other, not so publicized, same-sex weddings performed by clergy.  These set the backdrop for the Western Leadership Team meeting in Pasadena 2014; A Year for Justice.

Bishop Grant Hagiya, Greater Northwest Episcopal Area, Bishop Bob Hoshibata, Desert Southwest, and Bishop Elaine J. W. Stanovsky met with WMJM group and each made a brief statement and then answered questions from WMJM members.   They are members of the Council of Bishops.  These are a few quotes I recorded.

          We need to go back to the roots….what we were taught in

      seminary.

 Bible study will teach us what the Bible actually says.

          I’m glad you chose the phrase, “Biblical Obedience”

          Some people have run away with the Bible.

          If a law is not just it is not a law.

          Every breath we take, every action we take…..can do God’s

              work.  If we go to a trial we need to study what we have done

          We need to create a safe space for conversation.

          All trials are harmful….we need to avoid trials at all costs.

          Bishops are on the hook for complaints.

Q.  What can you do to further Biblical Obedience?

A.  Will argue why law needs to be changed.

          We need to support the pastor who decides to do a marriage.

          My expectation of clergy is that they support pastors who

              decide to do a marriage.

          We don’t want to disqualify ourselves as bishops.

          The Council of Bishops should continue to try to create helpful

              conversations.

          We are living on a mission frontier.

Statements from WMJM members.

          We’re committed to helping the church be faithful to God.

          Schisms should never exclude someone it can’t accept.

We should not leave the church, we should force the church

             to force us out because of what we do.

          It doesn’t serve God’s purposes for us to separate into lifestyle

              enclaves.

          I’m committed to the struggle, not ready to settle for less than a

              just resolution.

The church is of different opinions on this issue.  My faith is firm in believing that God calls us to love all persons, without exception. I repeat each day that “an ounce of love is worth a pound of knowledge.*” I am very proud to claim Richmond First United Methodist Church as a reconciling congregation.

So with a heart full of love I will continue as a Methodist to seek full inclusion of Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transgender and Queer persons in the life of the United Methodist Church.

News
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• Our new website is up and running! Check it out at pointrichmondmethodist.org. To separate Point Richmond Methodist-all in small letters and run together. Many thanks to Mary Lee Cole and the hours of discussion, photo gathering and planning this has taken working with Susan Pomeroy the creator of the site.

• Imagine No Malaria: Barbara Ferguson from the Los Altos United Methodist Church has donated 1.1 million dollars to the Imagine No Malaria Fund. The Western District of the United Methodist Church is raising 2 million dollars by 2015 to help eradicate deaths from malaria in Africa..