A Pastoral Response to Recent Judicial Council Decisions
Weighing in on the issues that weigh on all
of us
Last week, the Judicial Council of the United
Methodist Church --the UMC's highest legal body-- released a docket-full of
decisions related to the life of the church. Those decisions have since sent
shockwaves through the church.
I have been in extensive dialogue with leaders in the church and respected mentors of mine, attempting to formulate a response to these decisions. After a period of reflection and discernment, it seems to me that the response I will make necessitates several parts.
First, I want to speak as a pastor, whose church is deeply committed to ideals of inclusion and justice.
The most shocking of the decisions is Judicial Council Decision #1032, regarding a pastor's right to use "discretion" in who may or may not join a United Methodist Church. While I'll offer some information about the case in another blog entry, the gist of the decision is that any homophobic United Methodist pastor is now free to discriminate against gay and lesbian persons when it comes to membership in a United Methodist Church.
This ruling has caused shock and anger by many in the United Methodist Church. I commend to you the fine pastoral response that has been released by the Reconciling Ministries Network. You can read it here.
This ruling has already brought a swift and unanimous condemnation by our Council of Bishops. I am personally pleased to read their swift and emphatic denunciation of this Judicial Council ruling. However, that condemnation does not overturn this ruling. And so it is, for now, the law of the land in United Methodist churches.
The first response I want to make is to our own members of Northaven Church. These rulings --coming as they do the same week we move into our new building-- fill us with rage, sadness, confusion, and lament. The disconnect between this ruling at the general church level and the inclusion we participate in at Northaven could not be greater.
I share the sadness, anger, and confusion that many of you feel. Some of you have experienced, at other churches, the very kind of exclusion in this "court case." You have told me your stories. You have shared with me the deep pain of being excluded from church membership or leadership in other churches. Some of you are at Northaven Church because you were excluded by other pastors and other churches.
So, you are left wondering, "How could this happen in the same denomination that also gives us Northaven?!!"
Believe me, I find myself asking the same question today.
Let me assure all Northaven members and friends of this:
This decision has NO effect on Northaven Church, its ministry, its witness for inclusion, or its future planning. Nothing in this decision limits our ability to be the inclusive community we have always been. Nothing in this decision restricts our ability to be the voice of reconciliation within our walls and in the greater community. You may have all understood that to be the case, but I wanted to be sure and say this in a clear and unambiguous way.
Actually, to say it "doesn't affect us" is not quite true, is it? It affects greatly. Many of you have been calling and emailing me in your anger, confusion and grief. We cannot help but be affected by this wrongheaded and homophobic decision. It affects us because we are again pained and saddened by the actions of the general church. It affects us because all of us at Northaven, gay and straight, grieve the fact that once again gays and lesbians are being used as political pawns. Gays and lesbians are, once again, being talked about without their consent and without their input.
I hope you will join me, first and foremost, in praying for gay men and lesbians who are now faithful visitors and members of other United Methodist churches --in Dallas and around the nation-- and who may now be at serious risk. This ruling allows homophobic pastors the "excuse" they need to exclude gay men and lesbians. My fear is that it will also be used as an excuse against persons who are already members in good standing at many other churches. This would be wrong, sinful, and unjust. But given this ruling, it could happen. So, please pray for all these persons.
We are planning a time of information sharing, lament, and making plans of action 7 p.m. Sunday, November 13 at Northaven Church. We are calling this event: "Reflection, Lament, and Response: Unpacking the Judicial Council Decisions."
More details as they become available. I hope you will attend.
Finally, it should be acknowledged that many of us are tired of the struggles. We are tired of the feeling that nothing is changing for the better. We are tired, and perhaps we even cringe a little, every time the issues come up again. Especially here at Northaven Church, the disparity between the health of our particular church, the growth we are experiencing, the inclusion we stand for; and what we see in the general church seems very great indeed.
But perhaps, in some way too deep for words, these events happen at just this time to remind us of what is at stake. If ever there was a time for churches like Northaven, the time is now. If ever there was a need, the need is now. And yet, that need is a hard burden to bear. It wears us down. Perhaps some of us would rather we just ignore what's going on in the general church. Perhaps some of us are coming to believe the general church cannot be redeemed. Perhaps we no longer care.
Jesus' life speaks to us at this moment. Jesus was a suffering servant who had many burdens to bear....
...the condemnation of religious leaders of his day.
...the incompetence and misunderstanding of his own disciples.
...personal pains (such as the death of his cousin) even while his ministry called him to serve others.
Jesus' suffering was redeemed through a resurrection that offers us all an inescapable joy. And perhaps through choosing to walk with our suffering, our pain, our sense of abandonment, we too can yet find that our suffering will be transformative for the church and world. Perhaps our calling in this time is to the life of the suffering servant who society rejected.
Ghandi once said, "Be the change you hope to see in the world."
That's a powerful way to live, because it assumes that only through living out the things we believe can we show others they have nothing left to fear. But it's also a painful way to live, because the "change we hope to see" has not yet been born, and perhaps is sometimes even hard to glimpse. Being the change we hope to see in the world may well lead to that suffering road Jesus once walked.
Jesus' suffering led to transformation and new life. Let us continue to hope and pray that ours will, too.
Grace and Peace,
Eric Folkerth
I have been in extensive dialogue with leaders in the church and respected mentors of mine, attempting to formulate a response to these decisions. After a period of reflection and discernment, it seems to me that the response I will make necessitates several parts.
First, I want to speak as a pastor, whose church is deeply committed to ideals of inclusion and justice.
The most shocking of the decisions is Judicial Council Decision #1032, regarding a pastor's right to use "discretion" in who may or may not join a United Methodist Church. While I'll offer some information about the case in another blog entry, the gist of the decision is that any homophobic United Methodist pastor is now free to discriminate against gay and lesbian persons when it comes to membership in a United Methodist Church.
This ruling has caused shock and anger by many in the United Methodist Church. I commend to you the fine pastoral response that has been released by the Reconciling Ministries Network. You can read it here.
This ruling has already brought a swift and unanimous condemnation by our Council of Bishops. I am personally pleased to read their swift and emphatic denunciation of this Judicial Council ruling. However, that condemnation does not overturn this ruling. And so it is, for now, the law of the land in United Methodist churches.
The first response I want to make is to our own members of Northaven Church. These rulings --coming as they do the same week we move into our new building-- fill us with rage, sadness, confusion, and lament. The disconnect between this ruling at the general church level and the inclusion we participate in at Northaven could not be greater.
I share the sadness, anger, and confusion that many of you feel. Some of you have experienced, at other churches, the very kind of exclusion in this "court case." You have told me your stories. You have shared with me the deep pain of being excluded from church membership or leadership in other churches. Some of you are at Northaven Church because you were excluded by other pastors and other churches.
So, you are left wondering, "How could this happen in the same denomination that also gives us Northaven?!!"
Believe me, I find myself asking the same question today.
Let me assure all Northaven members and friends of this:
This decision has NO effect on Northaven Church, its ministry, its witness for inclusion, or its future planning. Nothing in this decision limits our ability to be the inclusive community we have always been. Nothing in this decision restricts our ability to be the voice of reconciliation within our walls and in the greater community. You may have all understood that to be the case, but I wanted to be sure and say this in a clear and unambiguous way.
Actually, to say it "doesn't affect us" is not quite true, is it? It affects greatly. Many of you have been calling and emailing me in your anger, confusion and grief. We cannot help but be affected by this wrongheaded and homophobic decision. It affects us because we are again pained and saddened by the actions of the general church. It affects us because all of us at Northaven, gay and straight, grieve the fact that once again gays and lesbians are being used as political pawns. Gays and lesbians are, once again, being talked about without their consent and without their input.
I hope you will join me, first and foremost, in praying for gay men and lesbians who are now faithful visitors and members of other United Methodist churches --in Dallas and around the nation-- and who may now be at serious risk. This ruling allows homophobic pastors the "excuse" they need to exclude gay men and lesbians. My fear is that it will also be used as an excuse against persons who are already members in good standing at many other churches. This would be wrong, sinful, and unjust. But given this ruling, it could happen. So, please pray for all these persons.
We are planning a time of information sharing, lament, and making plans of action 7 p.m. Sunday, November 13 at Northaven Church. We are calling this event: "Reflection, Lament, and Response: Unpacking the Judicial Council Decisions."
More details as they become available. I hope you will attend.
Finally, it should be acknowledged that many of us are tired of the struggles. We are tired of the feeling that nothing is changing for the better. We are tired, and perhaps we even cringe a little, every time the issues come up again. Especially here at Northaven Church, the disparity between the health of our particular church, the growth we are experiencing, the inclusion we stand for; and what we see in the general church seems very great indeed.
But perhaps, in some way too deep for words, these events happen at just this time to remind us of what is at stake. If ever there was a time for churches like Northaven, the time is now. If ever there was a need, the need is now. And yet, that need is a hard burden to bear. It wears us down. Perhaps some of us would rather we just ignore what's going on in the general church. Perhaps some of us are coming to believe the general church cannot be redeemed. Perhaps we no longer care.
Jesus' life speaks to us at this moment. Jesus was a suffering servant who had many burdens to bear....
...the condemnation of religious leaders of his day.
...the incompetence and misunderstanding of his own disciples.
...personal pains (such as the death of his cousin) even while his ministry called him to serve others.
Jesus' suffering was redeemed through a resurrection that offers us all an inescapable joy. And perhaps through choosing to walk with our suffering, our pain, our sense of abandonment, we too can yet find that our suffering will be transformative for the church and world. Perhaps our calling in this time is to the life of the suffering servant who society rejected.
Ghandi once said, "Be the change you hope to see in the world."
That's a powerful way to live, because it assumes that only through living out the things we believe can we show others they have nothing left to fear. But it's also a painful way to live, because the "change we hope to see" has not yet been born, and perhaps is sometimes even hard to glimpse. Being the change we hope to see in the world may well lead to that suffering road Jesus once walked.
Jesus' suffering led to transformation and new life. Let us continue to hope and pray that ours will, too.
Grace and Peace,
Eric Folkerth
Posted: Friday - November 04, 2005 at 04:38 PM |
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