Preach it, Cal-Pac!

It's been a while since I've blogged......it's like the gym. Once you get out of the habit it's hard to get going again :) But on this warm July Monday, I'm back to both.........

The June session of the Cal-Pac Annual Conference made history with passage of petitions of support of clergy who perform same-gender weddings and going on record against Proposition 8 -- the initiative on the November ballot which would constitutionally prohibit same-gender weddings. Read all about it at http://www.rmnetwork.org/

More importantly for us at Hollywood UMC: Jay Sowell, our co-lay leader, was responsible for writing the petition to AC which offers support to clergy who perform same-gender weddings (doesn't overrule the Book of Discipline -- only the General Conference can). And I had the privilege of addressing the conference to put a human face on the discussion. As best as I can recall, here's what I said:

Bishop and members of the Annual Conference: I am Kathy Cooper-Ledesma,
proud to be the pastor of the Hollywood UMC, where we average 240 in worship
on Sundays, and where we have had so many children born in the past two
years that last summer we had to expand our nursery! Bishop Swenson was
with us last fall to dedicate our nursery expansion, for which we are grateful.

But, numbers and buildings do not tell the story of Hollywood. People do.
People like Eric and Marty, Anne and Alicia, Jeff and Russ, KC and Jerome, Colin
and Jordan. People like Matt and James, who drive in from Simi Valley so their
daughter can be part of a Sunday school and a church that reflects the
diversity of the people in the Kingdom of God.

And there are many more I haven’t named.

Plus there are people like Mark and Caprice, John and Connie,
Stephanie and Jesse, Jane and David – straight couples who want their children
to grow up in a Sunday school and a church that reflects the diversity of the
people in the Kingdom of God. And there are many more left unnamed.

All of these members of Hollywood have pledged to support the church with their
prayers, their presence, their gifts, their service—and their witness. They have
all committed themselves to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation
of the world.

The question for us, as an Annual Conference: how are we going to support
them?

Thank you.

Pride (In the Name of Love)

CHRISTOPHER STREET WEST PRIDE PARADE: For the second year in a row, Hollywood UMC will march in the CSW Pride Parade this Sunday, June 8th. Our presence there is one way we can follow Christ out beyond our walls and into the streets, sharing the good news of God's grace and proclaiming God's love for all people. Everyone is invited to attend. For more info, please email Johan at jdblue82@gmail.com or visit www.hollywoodumc.org

The Friendly Skies

We're taking off for a few days for rest and re-creation.....have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

Chance to do Good

Here are some excerpts from last Sunday's sermon (for those of you who declined to visit the sauna that was the sanctuary).

We recognized our great Mississippi Mission Team (take 2) 2008 -- the 15 people who spent a week in Waveland Mississippi the week after Easter. (Go to www.hollywoodumc.org to see a video of their adventures.)

Being in mission is not only about providing mercy. Being in mission is working for justice – such as Stephanie did when she helped a family in Waveland cut through red tape to get their electricity restored.
Being in mission is knowing that God has entrusted us to bring forth hope and wholeness for all God’s people. And then rolling up our sleeves to do the hard work of speaking truth to power.
But lately, and too often lately we as the church have abdicated our responsibilities; we’ve left it to others to do the work for us. We’ve said – Injustice towards gay and lesbian persons? Racial intolerance? Prejudice towards immigrants? Towards poor people? No need to worry – we live in the United States. A Christian nation. The government will take care of it, will work it all out -- someday. We don’t have to worry about it. And then -- we have seen first hand what our collective inaction has meant to our brothers and sisters.

Our Bishop, Mary Ann, referenced this complacency in her e-column this week:

For me, what stands out is how much the roles of church and state—in this instance at least—have switched places from where we were in the 1960’s. In that era, the Protestant church was a socially activist leader in the civil rights movement. ….pastors and church leaders [were] at the forefront and in the news, their statements and actions analyzed as closely as any presidential candidate today.

The context of the Bishop’s comments were the actions of the California Supreme Court this past week, overturning the ban on same gender marriages in California, which we celebrate abundantly as justice long overdue. Amen.

The court had the chance to do good, and they did. And we rejoice. But what has caused me pain this week: there’s something wrong when the government gets it right and the church continues to get it wrong. We the church should be leading and modeling the reality that all persons are created in the image of God and are equally loved by God – we the church should be setting the bar for society, the bar that says that everyone has the right to marry their beloved regardless of gender.

And sadly, we are not. Not yet. But hear the words of Jesus -- I am with you always…..so we walk with Jesus as we focus some of our mission emphasis on ourselves, on our beloved United Methodist Church. There is much to be done to change hearts in the next four years, followed by minds and in 2012 the Book of Discipline. How? By continuing as a congregation to model the greatest commandment: love God, love our neighbor – and reach those in Hollywood – gay and straight alike -- who desperately need to feel the love of God. That is our calling, our charge, our mission.

Our mission is clear. Create a church with truly open minds, hearts and doors that offers the love of Jesus Christ. Continue to be God’s hands and feet in the broken and hurting places of our city, our country, and our world – bringing hope and rebuilding lives. Be proactive leaders, not complacent followers, in the pursuit of God’s justice on earth. Make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Know that God has a purpose for each of our lives. And know that God – father, son and holy spirit -- is with us always –offering us daily the chance to do good.

Let's work to make sure the wonderful and groundbreaking actions of this conservative Court are not reversed at the ballot box this November.

Glory Be!

From the website of Progressive Christians Uniting (whose board I once sat on):

Earlier today the California Supreme Court ruled that the state may no longer exclude same-sex couples from civil marriage. The court held that barring same-sex couples from marrying violates this state's constitutional guarantee of equality.

PCU was a party to an interfaith amicus brief supporting the 12 couples who brought the "California marriage case," as it has been called, to the Supreme Court for review.

"This ruling is an important advance toward full equality," said PCU executive director Peter Laarman. "As long as civil marriage remains the gold standard in respect to rights and benefits for persons living in committed relationships, denial of marriage to gay people is clearly unconstitutional and unacceptable. We applaud the court majority for recognizing this obvious fact."

In the wake of the court ruling, anti-marriage equality forces are expected to redouble efforts to pass an anti-equality ballot measure. PCU will continue to work with California Faith for Equality and other groups to make it clear that not all people of faith think it's godly and righteous to treat gay people as second-class citizens.

Tonight there will be a brief religious service and celebration at 6 PM at the Metropolitan Community Church at 4953 Franklin Avenue in Los Angeles. A street celebration will also take place at 7 p.m. at the intersection of San Vicente and Santa Monica in West Hollywood.

Glory be!!!!

Do United Methodists Really Have Open Hearts, Minds, and Doors?

In a word, yes.


We have open hearts. Our hearts have been "strangely warmed" by the Holy Spirit just like John Wesley's heart was warmed one night in 1738. He heard a sermon preached on Aldersgate Street and became convicted of the power of God to work change in his heart and the hearts of others through faith in Jesus Christ. We claim that same power of the Spirit today.


The next year, Wesley defined three general rules for Methodist "societies" so that their members would live according to the Spirit. They are:

Do no harm.

Do good.

Stay in love with God.

Do all United Methodists follow these general rules and have open hearts?

Not all United Methodists; not all the time.

But there were strong evidences of open hearts in the General Conference sessions. From passing legislation strengthening our opposition to war; our opposition to torture in any form; our opposition to the death penalty generally and specifically in Texas (where over 400 people have been executed in the past 25 years); proclaiming justice for migrants and immigrants in circumstances worldwide; and speaking with one voice to tell SMU to reject plans for the G.W. Bush Presidential Library; to raising $18 million for Nothing but Nets, providing bednets for children in Africa so to prevent the spread of malariahttp://nothingbutnets.net/.

The answer is still yes. And this is a preview of the sermon for tomorrow.

What about Wesley's quadrilateral? Doesn't that mean we automatically have open minds?


The reality is that some parts of the quadrilateral are given more emphasis by some than by others. Some rely more on tradition than on reason or experience, while all rely on Scripture.

But we saw evidences of open minds at General Conference. The Judicial Council elections were a great example. We elected five fair-minded people to serve on the Council for the next four years -- a good indication that the Judicial Council will adjudicate, not seek to impose, legislation in the next quadrennium (see last week's post).

We saw the church decide to study how we can and should be a worldwide church with regional differences. We can talk more about this in the "green room discussion" after church tomorrow; but we are hopeful about how the church can accomodate regional differences and agree to not be of one mind on all issues, even while being a united church.

And we saw the church overwhelmingly reject any petitions that said that gender identity is a barrier to serving as clergy. That is good news.

We saw evidences of where the spirit is still tugging on minds to open. The prohibitive language in the Book of Discipline which does not allow for same gender blessings by clergy nor in church remains, by the narrowest of margins. So does the prohibition against gay and lesbian clergy. Again, by the narrowest of margins -- less than 100 votes.

I believe the way in which we prepare to open hearts -- and minds -- is to continue to grow our church and tell our story of God's amazing spirit here at HUMC. The more our congregation can serve as a model of God's inclusive, radical love for all people -- the more the church can lean on reason and experience over and against tradition.

Tomorrow morning I will share in worship how our congregation was lifted up as a model of open hearts, open minds and open doors in the Ministry and Higher Education legislative section by our former District Superintendent Grant Hagiya. I sobbed from my seat in the gallery.

So do we have open doors? By the grace of God, the answer is yes.
Efforts to restrict membership, or make it the sole discretion of the pastor or of the congregation, were rejected. And one of the most important developments was the GC approval of a constitutional amendment that says, very simply, all means all. 2/3 of annual conferences have to approve it; but simply it puts into our church constitution that all persons are welcome. Before it said all persons regardless of race, gender, age, and a litany of other qualifiers. Rather than add sexual orientation or gender identity or other missing adjectives.........we just asked for all to mean all. Amen!

Some of our doors might be opened a bit too wide by some of our UM brothers and sisters.......tomorrow i'll share a story about my 75-year-old roommate at GC. Let's just say if she had had her way, there would have been a tabloid headline about your pastor.

See you in church tomorrow!

It May Be Friday....but Sunday's Coming

Today is Friday. But Sunday is coming. Today we are in pain over the ways in which the general church, by narrower and narrower margins, continues to deny our Wesleyan calling to
do no harm to our brothers and sisters. But Sunday is coming. The signs are all around us. It's tough to see them through the tears, but they were there at GC and they are present at HUMC.

More reflections tomorrow.........tonight, here's the news service wire:



The UMNS reports on Wednesday's actions


By J. Richard Peck


After a long and emotional debate, the 2008 General Conference voted April 30 to retain statements in the Social Principles that the “United Methodist Church does not condone the practice of homosexuality and considers this practice incompatible with Christian teaching.”The final action replaced a “majority report” from a legislative committee, which called for recognition that “faithful and thoughtful people who have grappled with this issue deeply disagree with one another; yet all seek a faithful witness.” The assembly replaced the majority report by a 517-416 vote.


The committee had voted 39-27 to ask for United Methodists and others “to refrain from judgment regarding homosexual persons and practices as the Spirit leads us to new insights.” Frederick Brewington, a layman in the New York Annual (regional) Conference who chaired the legislative committee, said the proposed statement would eliminate a sentence that has “caused festering sores among the body for three decades.”



The Rev. Eddie Fox, director of world evangelism for the World Methodist Council, led the effort to retain the current language. “My integrity will not allow me to be silent,” he said in introducing the “minority report” to keep the church’s stance unchanged. He said the Social Principles must be faithful to biblical teaching, and he suggested that any change in the language would harm the global church.



In approving the minority report, the assembly affirmed that all persons are “individuals of sacred worth created in the image of God.” Delegates also retained statements asking “families and churches not to reject or condemn lesbian and gay members and friends.”


[Following the vote, there was a demonstration on the floor of the conference by observers from MFSA, Reconciling Ministries Network, Reconciling Parents Network, and other progressive folk. See a clip here: http://www.generalconference2008.org/]



In a separate resolution, the conference asked the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, the church’s social advocacy agency, to develop educational resources and materials on the effects of homophobia and heterosexism, the discrimination or prejudice against lesbians or gay men by heterosexual people.

The conference also retained a rule that prohibits United Methodist clergy from conducting ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions.

When delegates returned for the evening session, they walked by some 100 people standing in silent protest of the afternoon votes.

General Conference let stand language in the Book of Discipline regarding pastoral authority over church membership. Petitions were brought to the assembly after considerable controversy over a 2005 decision by the United Methodist Judicial Council supporting the Rev. Ed Johnson of Virginia who denied membership to a man who was in an openly homosexual relationship. The council reinstated Johnson after he had been placed on involuntary leave by the Virginia Annual Conference.


A majority report of a legislative committee asked the conference to make it clear that pastors and congregations “are to faithfully receive all persons who are willing to affirm our vows of membership.” The Rev. Ted Virts, a superintendent in Sacramento, Calif., argued for the majority report. He said his job is to be “an errand-runner for God” who tells people they are “invited to a banquet,” not to be “a ticket-taker or a security guard.”

The minority report was defeated 515-384, while the majority report was defeated by 51 percent of the delegates, leaving in place the Discipline’s current language: “All people may attend its worship services, participate in the programs, receive the sacraments and become members in any local church in the connection."

It may be Friday, but Sunday is coming.

Back Home Again..with work to do

General Conference is still going on.....but I'm back home getting ready for two weddings and a funeral this weekend.

There were a few more gains on human sexuality issues made yesterday at GC, but not as many as we would have liked. Mostly we continue status quo for the next four years. The reality is that the vote margins rival those of Barack and Hillary.

We will be talking about it all during the sermon on Sunday. And I'll be posting my thoughts in the next few days as well. Meantime you can read the UMNS report at www.generalconference2008.org - the website of the Reconciling Ministries Network.

It is good to be home. I have missed you all.

Judicial Council Election Results (or, the day the Western Jurisdiction – and United Methodists everywhere -- got their representation back)

It’s official: the Western Jurisdiction got its representation back on the Judicial Council this morning. Angela Brown, a member of the Cal-Nevada conference (and an assistant District Attorney) was one of two lay delegates elected. The other, Ruben Reyes, is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Phillipines.

Three clergy delegates were also elected: The Revs. Kathi Austin-Mahle of Minnesota; Belton Joyner of North Carolina, and Bill Lawrence, Dean of Perkins School of Theology at SMU in Dallas.

All five newly elected Judicial Council members were part of the 12 persons nominated by the Council of Bishops for consideration; additional candidates were nominated from the floor. In addition, they were all described by various groups within the church (Black Methodists for Church Renewal, Inter-Ethnic Strategy Group, MFSA and others) as being fair-minded, process-oriented persons who would be led by the Spirit and not by a proscribed agenda.

Interesting that of the 5 Judicial Council members whose terms were up this GC, only two people – Keith Boyette and Mary Daffin -- sought re-election. Boyette's voting numbers were never competitive; Daffin was elected as the sixth of six alternates. Dr. James Holsinger, the current Judicial Council President (and Bush’s controversial nominee for Surgeon General ) was not renominated.

From a UMNeXus posting:

Conservatives in the United Methodist Church suffered a resounding defeat April 28 as incumbent Judicial Council members were replaced by new members nominated by the Council of Bishops.

Observers termed the vote a major victory for moderate forces in the church after eight years in which candidates backed by conservative UM caucus groups have held sway on the church’s “supreme court.”

“I think we just took back the denomination,” one observer was heard to remark during a break in the proceedings.

As they say here in Texas: yee-haw!!

Come Monday....we'll be alright

No, Jimmy Buffett isn’t here……nor are there cheeseburgers in paradise...…but last night a high school group of mariachi musicians was……and their sounds filled the Convention Center.

The gathering music between sessions, and the worship experiences before the sessions at GC are amazing. There is a traditional choir (rotated among the many D/FW churches) which seats just off the platform to the right. Then there is a group of musicians – guitar, drums, bass guitar, keyboard -- and singers which lead the singing and offer special music themselves. The music director, Mark Miller from Yale, and worship leader Marcia McFee from Northern California, have worked to create thematic services which flow, inspire, and celebrate. And they do. I'm bring back lots of ideas to invigorate our worship experience at HUMC.

Go to the GC website to download Bishop Minerva Carcano’s sermon from yesterday morning, in which she talked about caring for the immigrants in our communities……and what Jesus would have us do.

Saturday Night Live

This is the cowboy hat sculpture which hands in the middle of the Fort Worth Convention Center. I pass it many times in the course of a day, going to and from observing legislative sections.

Which I did most all day today.

The legislative sections take action on petitions assigned to them. If there is 80% consensus, then the approved or rejected petitions are put on a consent calendar for approval or rejection by the entire plenary (this is the same process as our Annual Conference uses). The legislative section I am observing has a little over 250 petitions to consider.

They've gotten through about 50. Guess what they'll be doing tomorrow?

I'm not writing about the status of petitions in this blog. I will write about the outcomes of those we are most concerned about once the plenary has taken action.

Meantime I will tell you how very, very, VERY difficult it is to be a quiet observer in the visitor's gallery. Especially when the section, or a sub-group of the section, are talking in the abstract about things we know to be true...like God's love for all people regardless of orientation. That committed relationships should be blessed no matter if they are same gender or opposite gender. That reconciling churches are growing; and young; and vital BECAUSE we are diverse and welcoming.

Of course those beliefs do get expressed by other delegates.

But it's still hard to sit quietly.

Petitions, Petitions

The General Conference will be considering approximately 1,500 petitions which have been submitted by annual conferences, boards and agencies of the general church, or by individuals. To do that work, each delegate is assigned to a legislative section with a specific topic in the Discipline, such as “local church” or “church and society” or “finance and administration” or “ministry and higher education.” There are around 100 delegates per legislative section; most sections break down into sub-committees to manage the load of petitions it is assigned by the GC agenda folks.

Nuts and bolts. Details. Specifics.

Yes. And where most of the work gets done.

It is in the legislative sections that petitions are discussed and debated in-depth, and recommendations for action made. For example, in one of the church and society sections, there are 6 petitions which recommend that the church divest its assets from companies profiting from the occupation in Iraq. If the section recommends one or more of these petitions by a large margin, then it is likely (but not guaranteed) that the entire plenary will be supportive. If not, then there is floor debate……..just like in Congress. And the ultimate decision is written into the Book of Discipline for the next 4 years.

I’m sitting in on the Ministry and Higher Ed legislative section, which has the largest number of petitions to consider – everything from simplifying the ordination process to defining a pastor’s role in deciding on membership and other pastoral responsibilities.

Did I mention that the sections meet until 11 pm each night?

A Future With Hope

Yesterday morning Bishop Sharon Brown Christopher gave the Episcopal Address, or the state of the church report, to the entire plenary. It was well done – for the first time, multimedia was used. We got to see snippets of United Methodists in action – from El Paso to Africa. And there was much rejoicing – at the $18 million Ums have raised for Nothing But Nets, to provide bednets for children in Africa as a means of preventing malaria nothingbutnets.net At the four emphases of the general church:

1) Engage in ministry with the poor
2) Stamp out killer diseases among the poor, such as malaria, globally
3) Create new places of ministry for new people, and revitalize existing congregations
4) Develop principled Christian leaders for the church and the world.

While I like them all (and they aren’t exclusive – peacemaking, for example, isn’t listed out but is clearly a focus of ministry), one of the sub-goals of #4 rang true for me personally: increase the percentage of women clergy serving large membership churches. Worldwide that’s a pitifully small number. Of the 45,000 UM clergy just a little over 10,000 are women – and most serve small and mid-sized churches.

It’s clear that we as the church must do things differently, and quickly. In 1968 there were 11 million UMs in the United States; today there are 7.9 million. The number of elders (ordained clergy) has dropped by 24% in the past 30 years; the number of elders under age 45 has dropped from 9100 in 1985 to just 3300 in 2008. Churches are reporting 21.5% fewer baptisms.

So where is our future with hope?

I found it in the first-ever young people’s address at noon yesterday. Six young people, from ages 15-25, shared their visions, their hurts, their dreams and their hopes. Go online and see it – it’s worth the 30 minutes.

And 4 of these young people mentioned, for the first time, that the inclusiveness and diversity of the United Methodist Church, which we all hold so dear, MUST include sexual orientation. It’s not enough just to be accepting of racial/ethnic/gender diversity. They named it. None of the other speakers, including ones leading us on sensitivity training the night before, had.

There is hope for the church. I saw it in the faces of these six. And I see it in the faces of all of us at Hollywood UMC.

Methodists Meeting

That was the title of a news segment yesterday morning on the local NBC affiliate here in Fort Worth.

Methodists meeting. Indeed!

Last night 6,500 United Methodists gathered for worship at the Fort Worth Convention Center. It was a powerful service of word with preaching by Council of Bishops President Janice Huie; song (choirs and instrumentalists from churches around the Dallas/Fort Worth area; visual arts --dance, drama, multimedia; and holy communion.

All this on the 40th birthday of the United Methodist Church. It was on April 23, 1968, just 30 miles away in Dallas, that the Methodists and the EUB joined together to form the United Methodist Church. It was also at that time that the separation of African-American and Latino churches were ended, and conferences were established by geographic lines only.

Bishop Swenson, in her comments to the plenary session this morning, reminded us that the founding conference took place just 19 days after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. She also reminded us of the words of Dr. Albert Outler at that founding conference, referencing the turbulent times of the 1960s: we are in the midst of anxious times, discontent and uncertainty. In such times, business as usual simply will not get our business done.

Our business? The three general rules of Wesley. Do no harm. Do good. Love God.

Or, in the words of Jesus: love God, love each other.

Pre-Conference

Tuesday I spent most of the day in briefings in preparation for the start of General Conference tonight.

Rene, who leaves Texas for LAX this morning, attended "Lighten the Burden II" at First UMC Forth Worth yesterday. When I figure out how to post the pictures he took, I will. Meantime he said it was an amazing day. Kay Warren, wife of Rick Warren (Purpose Driven Life) was the keynote speaker.

But the most touching moment came when retired Bishop Fritz Mutti was talking about the death of his sons to AIDS. He spoke about one of the first churchwide conferences on AIDS which was held in San Francisco back in 1987. At that gathering he shared his pain with others, and he was comforted by a young man who said he, too had AIDS; but his faith was stronger than any affliction.

That young man? Lyle Loder, of Hollywood UMC.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Monday morning: on the way to Fort Worth.

Getting Ready

Every four years our worldwide legislative assembly, the General Conference, meets to set direction for the denomination for the following four years.

General Conference is the only body that officially speaks for the church.

During the nine-day session, 992 delegates meet in "holy conferencing," and will revise the Book of Discipline, which is the book of rules setting forth how local churches, annual conferences and general agencies are organized. The book also sets policies regarding church membership, ordination, administration, property and judicial procedures.

The delegates also revise the Book of Resolutions, which compiles the church's position on a wide variety of social justice issues.

More details and a primer on General Conference can be found at http://www.umc.org/

From our California-Pacific Annual Conference, 5 clergy and 5 lay delegates, plus 4 alternates, will be our representatives.

I am not a delegate. So why am I going, you ask?

To represent the members and friends of Hollywood UMC alongside Common Witness: the caucuses of the Reconciling Ministries Network and Methodist Federation for Social Action (MFSA). We will be present, praying, serving, and telling stories to help transform the green tree of the General Conference to one of many colors; recognizing that we are all are rooted in the Body of Christ, and are all indeed one family of God.

Beginning next Wednesday: if you want to stream the worship services and other plenary sessions, log onto GC2008.umc.org

You can track all the latest information about legislation at the Reconciling Ministries Network blog, http://www.generalconference2008.org/

And you can keep up with me on this blog. I'll try to post every evening.

Meantime keep all the Bishops and delegates in your prayers. May God's spirit guide us to truly be one family tree, making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.