Expanded response to UMC GC 2019

The last few days have been very hard for me, and I know for many of you. I have learned through my journey with Jesus that God's unconditional love is available --- not just to me --- but to you --- all of you! NOTHING separates us from the love of God -- it is always present (see I am a good Methodist).

While the institution of which I am a part has broken my heart with much hurtful language to God's children that happen to be LGBTQI, I personally do not agree. To all my LGBTQI friends, and to those who call Meridian Street or any UMC church home --- I apologize. I promise, that I will do my utmost to stand with you and support you on your journey of life. I hope and pray that these last few days have not caused you to abandon God --- GOD HAS NOT ABANDONED YOU!

If God has called you to ministry, God has called you. End of statement. God called me; I have resisted repeatedly over the years, but the hounds of heaven would not let me run away. I believe that my call is not unique, God has called many others, some whom happen to have a different sexual orientation than I do, but if God calls, God calls!

As we try to figure out what all this means, do not lose heart. As I have matured in my faith, I have learned that to shy away from LGBTQI friends is not acceptable. But I confess that I have not always stood up like I should. At my baptism, confirmation and ordination as an Elder in the UMC, I promised to “accept the freedom and power God gives me to resist evil, injustice and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves.” I vow to do a better job living that promise. I also promised in my ordination vows to “in the exercise of your ministry, lead the people of God to faith in Jesus Christ, to participate in the life and work of the community, and to seek peace, justice, and freedom for all people”. I do not see an asterisk excluding anyone.

A friend may have captured the moment best when they wrote: “and Jesus wept.” I too am weeping, but it is time to dry my tears and to transform the world with the unconditional love of Jesus.

I do not believe that God asks us to choose between our faith in the Bible text and the compassion that Jesus has taught us.  If you listened to the debate this past week in St. Louis, you would have thought that it was all about one either believing the Bible or standing with compassion and social justice on the other.  Both sides made impassioned pleas for their positions.

But I believe it is a false dichotomy.  We do not need to choose between the two.  There is no need to discount the biblical text in order to accept equality and justice for our LGBTQ friends.  All that is required is reading those few passages where homosexuality appears to be mentioned in the same way we would read any other part of the biblical text.

There is no clearly stated directive in the bible that we should marginalize and ostracize people who have come to understand that God made them LGBTQ.  Certainly Jesus NEVER spoke of it.

The UMC currently states "The practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching" (304.3)), a statement that implies that we understand LGBTQ persons as not fully Christian. If we believe that, then based on what the church and what we believe the Bible has said, it seems easy for us to make the next leap that we have no choice but to exclude them from full inclusion in the life of the church.  It becomes easy to exclude them, and all non-repentant sinners, from full participation in the life of the church.

I have and will continue to assert, that without an explicit command from God to exclude LGBTQ people, that to do so is in violation of the very clear commandment from Jesus to love one's neighbor as ourselves.  I am also do not believe that a monogamous homosexual relationship is any more a sin than a monogamous heterosexual one.

The problem is that heterosexual Christians use a couple of passages from the bible to justify an standard of morality that they are not tempted to commit while at the same time living a standard of relative morality for sins that they do regularly commit.

Jesus never speaks of homosexuality, but constantly calls on us in regards to our wealth, treatment of the poor, widows and other marginalized who live on the edges of our society.

But when I think of the message of Jesus; one thing comes to mind LOVE.  Jesus lived, breathed, preached and embodied love.  As I have journeyed on this way called Christianity, I have become convinced that I am to err on the side of love.  I hope that Meridian Street as a congregation will throw open its doors and let the world know that we choose love.  And we will look at our own sins before we judge others for what we perceive to be their sins.

Sunday, I will share with you how the Holy Spirit has been wrestling with me these past few days.  While I have not sought out this conversation, I am convinced that God has put me here just for a time such as this.

I invited you to join me in this prayer by Rupert Bristow

Creator God,

bring us gently onto the true path,

through revelation,

through explanation,

through exploration.

But let us honour those on different paths,

praying that we all converge on you.

Let us not be sidetracked by condemning those others,

but help us to model your Son’s way,

challenging, asking for and practising

your Son’s love for humankind.

Amen.