An historic, painful day. The morning was pretty ho-hum, but right before lunch the first petitions about human sexuality began to arrive on the calendar. The first substantial one was a petition that originated in the Kansas East Conference, which says we must condemn homophobia. The highlight of this debate was someone saying homosexuality was from the devil which prompted one gay individual to start a devil’s anonymous group. The resolution passed just before the lunch break on a vote of 60%-40%. Remarkably, some 400 people think homophobia is ok, but it passed nevertheless.
After lunch, it became more painful. We debated for 2 ½ hours whether or not we would retain the language that “homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.” The committee successfully removed it on a vote of 39-27 with a laboriously written paragraph as follows:
We challenge all members of our community of faith to commitment, integrity and fidelity in their sexual relationships. We know that all are God’s children and of sacred worth; yet we have been and remain, divided regarding homosexual expressions of human sexuality. Faithful, thoughtful people who have grappled with this issue deeply disagree with one another; yet all seek a faithful witness. We continue to reason and pray together with faith and hope that the Holy Spirit will soon bring reconciliation to our community of faith. The fire in our arguments points to a deeper human mystery than we know. We believe that the Spirit has brought our collective conscience to acknowledge this mystery more honestly, and to make our claims with greater humility before God and our neighbors. We therefore ask the Church, United Methodist and others, and the world, to refrain from judgment regarding homosexual persons and practices until the Spirit leads us to new insight. In the meantime, let us seek to welcome, know, forgive, and love one another as Christ has accepted us, that God may be glorified through everything in our lives.
This paragraph was defeated 55%-45% on the plenary floor or by about 75 votes. We went back to “incompatible” with no recognition that we are not of one mind.
This is inconceivable to me. I do not know how we cannot admit the truth, that we do not agree. Some of the speeches were eloquent and passionate some were….well let’s say less eloquent. Several gay delegates stood and introduced themselves to the conference as such. Several persons from Africa appealed to what the Bible says. It was unclear until the results went up as to what would happen. I think everyone on both sides was surprised by the outcome. I think people thought it would be closer or even pass.
There was a deep sense of brokenness and despair on the losing side. Many broke into tears. All of the supporters, both on the floor and in the viewing area stood in solidarity. Everyone just wanted to leave, but instead we had to wait 20 minutes while the secretary read the decision of the Judicial Council that said all of my petitions were unconstitutional…it just prolonged the pain.
When we came back from dinner, the conference voted to retain the pastors’ authority to decide membership. This is a pretty complicated issue and the speeches were compelling on both sides. I was on the floor for this part and I voted to let anyone join…mostly because I prefer the problems that stance poses to the problems of exclusion. This failed to pass by 12 votes out of 950 or so…very close. I guess I don’t feel too bad about that one because I could go either way, but for some it was another hit.
We finished the night by voting 67%-33% to retain the exclusion of Gay and Lesbian persons from ordination. Many in the gallery stood and sang “Jesus Loves Me” during the proceedings as a protest. Many of them wore veils. There was very little joy from anyone. I believe the conservatives are not enjoying “winning” anymore than the liberals are enjoying “losing.” But this is the state of the conversation right now.
Our delegation spent over an hour until midnight talking about how we can change the nature of the dialogue. Four of us guys stayed up until 2 talking about the same thing. We are so locked into the fight that we are getting nowhere. At one point a woman pointed out that both the left and the right spoke against a compromise, and they both lost. There is just no compromise here.
I have a lot of thoughts about that, but it will have to wait another day. I am probably more annoyed this year than sad. Last time I was really sad. This time I think we had a window of opportunity to move towards the center and both the left and the right botched it with the all or nothing tactics.
I had a very productive lunch conversation with a very conservative pastor from Atlanta. We really had a profound talk, shook hands, and thanked each other for the conversation afterwards…we need more of that…
The protests are slated to begin tomorrow. Pray Church…Pray!
i am ashamed of our church. i don’t want to have conversations like this:
“hi, i’m greg.”
“hi, i’m so and so. what do you do?”
“oh, i’m the associate pastor at the united methodist church up the street.”
“oh, right. methodists? aren’t they the ones who say homosexuality is a sin?”
“um, well, yeah, that’s what some united methodists believe, but we don’t all believe that…”
i was hoping for a whole different kind of conversation.
grace and peace,
greg.
On the issue of Deacons in the United Methodist Church, a friend of mine noted that the history of the church is measured in centuries, not decades. I pray that I live to see the pain of this season of the church over. REH
I think many in the church, not just the UMC, but other bodies as well (like my beloved ELCA), wish that there was a meet somewhere in the center instead of holing up on the extremes.
At the same time, I don’t think compromise is necessarily the right answer either. More important than compromise, I think, is to recognize the truth that even if I don’t agree with someone on a particular issue, they are no more or less a child of God than I am.
We tend to forget that agreement on issues of sexuality don’t hold us together ~ the death and resurrection of Christ is what does.
The advice at the end of the post is good, though. Pray, church … Pray!
~ matthew
Mark, thanks for taking the time to sum up this painful day. My heart continues to break for our church.
I watched the live stream yesterday from my folks house. When I visited over the weekend with the Kansas college students there really was an air of hope that this year would not be “business as usual”. The report that came out of the GBCS 2 subcommittee had new language, took a step back from the language that has existed since 1972, and claimed the truth that we as a denomination are in a faithful disagreement about the nature and practice of homosexuality.
The minority report that passed, will lead us into our 40th year of living with the phrase “incompatible with Christian teaching”. Even the Hebrews left the desert after 40 years. The report also adds new language to the paragraph that shores up that our church only affirms sexual expression within the context of “heterosexual, monogamous marriage”. The strange thing I found about this paragraph is the new sentence calling for church related sex education. Traditionally church based sexuality education has been more progressive than that taught in the public schools.
I was glad to see the KS East petition on Heterosexism and Homphobia passed the body. But surprised about how much behavior on the floor had tendencies toward such fearful behavior.
I appreciate your work on the issue of reclusal. I know you have been beating the pavement in Fort Worth on this one. Especially after that lengthy reading of the JC brief yesterday.
At somepoint we should pick each others brains about the global nature of the UMC. While I love the global nature of the church there are at moments paternalistic tendencies present in our witness. And due to global growth a potential theological shift coming.
Know that my thoughts and prayers are with you and the Kansas delegates. Peace – KC
Hey there,
We too were up until the wee hours of the morning (I didn’t sleep so well) talking about all of this. You are doing a great job Mark. So glad I have had this opportunity to be in “holy conferencing” with you! Thanks for these words!
Up until 2am huh?? If you would have made it all inclusive and invited Jan and I…we would have continued the conversation with you!
Steph
reading a book called “unchristian” written by the barna group. the number one thing associated with Christianity by those age 16-29 is “antihomosexual.” how sad is that? not “loving” or “care for the poor”, but the one thing that stands out about the church among young people is “antihomosexual.” the church has a long way to go! i will pray as well and perhaps we can be known for something else in the future.
Thanks for this report, Mark. My heart aches for the countless men, women and children that we would turn away from God’s love. How I longed to hear another outcome. njk
Thanks for the report, Mark. Somewhere between checking on a surgery patient and picking up kids from pre-school, I missed the tension on the floor. Aside from your comments about your ‘ho-hum’ morning (I thought a morning spent catching up with an old friend would rate a bit higher…!), I appreciate your comments on the actions and your reactions. I was shocked to read in the paper this morning the amount of delegates who did not want to acknowledge that homophobia is a bad thing. What a statement that makes about the state of our church….
Just reflects how much work remains to be done. Issues of exclusion have plagued my life and yet, I still have hope for change. Thanks for the reports and the efforts to be a change agent. TIME FOR YOU TO COME HOME!