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.