Sunday, February 10, 2019

Wesley's Quadrilateral: My view of LGBT rights by way of Tradition


This Epiphany season I am preaching a series of sermons on “How We Know God” using Wesley’s Quadrilateral as a template. Each Sunday in worship I will be talking about one of the 4 sources we use to know God: Scripture, Experience, Tradition, and Reason. Here, in anticipation of the General Conference on A Way Forward coming up in February, I will be writing about how these 4 sources of knowing God have informed my current opinions on the involvement of LGBTQ people in the United Methodist Church. May these reflections spark you to reflect on your own opinions and how God has been present in shaping and changing your beliefs. 



Michael Coyner put together this video to share our historical votes on LGBT participation in the church: Finding our Way Forward: A History

Who is voting in the 2019 General Conference?
   We usually hold General Conferences (GC) every 4 years, the last one being in 2016, the next to be held in 2020. The year before GC, the lay person and clergy person we send to Annual Conference vote on  which 16 people we will send as our delegates to GC from the Indiana Conference.  Because this GC is special-called, it was decided that those delegates elected in 2016 would remain delegates for 2019. In 2015, Barb B. and Pastor Michael voted for these delegates. Our next regularly scheduled GC will occur in 2020, and so this summer at Annual Conference, Barb and Pastor Crystal will vote for delegates to attend 2020 General Conference. We send an equal amount of clergy and laity. There will be 1,000 delegates from the UMC all around the world. Bishops do not vote at General Conference.

Our History of Calling and Ordination
The Methodist Church began as a movement that moved so rapidly, laity were given higher positions of leadership than the Church of England from which it arose allowed. People new to the faith would join a class, then would lead a class, then those classes would become churches. Ordained Elders would visit a class/church once a month or every two months. Meanwhile a lay leader would do the everyday work of the pastor. Eventually, that led to licensed local pastors, who received more training but still stayed in one location to serve their local community. Because of this structure, the local community would often have leaders that were “unacceptable.” Women and people of color often rose to serve and preach in the local area because of their call to do so, even though white men were the only ones allowed to be ordained. From the beginning, Methodists have broken church rules to further God’s kingdom. 

Early on John Wesley had to make a choice if he would allow this to happen. He had heard one of his Methodist classes was allowing a woman to preach. The story goes that he complained to his mother, Suzanna about this outrage. Suzanna responded, “Maybe you should hear her preach before you decide she shouldn’t be preaching.” John took his mother’s advice, and was so impressed by the woman’s preaching he allowed women to preach from then on. Throughout the Methodist history, we find stories of people leading and following God’s call before it was accepted by the church. The church consistently played catch-up. 

Women have been preaching since John Wesley’s lifetime. They were stripped of credentials, and only after fighting for it, were they finally given credentials. The Methodist Church split over race.  Only later did we come back together as one church. When we have tried to include a new demographic in our leadership, it has happened with disagreement. And here we are again today. Like the minorities before them, LGBT people have felt the call and found ways to follow it, whether it is by leading on the lay level or finding another denomination to serve in. 

What does it mean for you to be United Methodist?
This question was asked of me at a UMC gathering recently in the midst of a larger conversation of whether one decided whether to leave the denomination or stay. The question can be a powerful one. 

I came to the United Methodist for pragmatic reasons. I started in the Church of the Brethren, where churches sat open, and the District Superintendent refused to share my resume as a pastor with those churches. I served a Wesleyan Church for a short time. I left them because churches refused to consider me as their pastor because I was a woman. It was only after combining my resume with my husband’s and putting his name first that I was able to serve. At that church, my husband was told he needed to keep me quiet. The UMC leadership looked at my calling, my gifts and graces, my leadership ability above and before my gender. They have consistently treated me as an equal among men.  

I love the history of the UMC. I love how important the community of church has been since the beginning. I love that they value reaching out and making new disciples. I love that they take seriously our task of social justice and transforming the world. I also love that they will give me a place to follow my call as a woman. I love that the pastors are tied together through a conference and that I don’t ever feel isolated or alone in my ministry. 

Many denominations have wrestled with these questions…other mainline denominations, evangelical denominations, the Roman Catholic Church. Some have become more progressive, some more conservative.  I appreciate the UMC’s choice to try and hear all voices in the process, to be thoughtful and prayerful. I appreciate our Bishop’s leadership and guidance in having conversations around this decision. 

I'm Staying
 There is a strong possibility that this GC will be "the last straw" for some people, and they will choose to leave the denomination and their local church. Many have said as much. One group, called Wesleyan Covenant Association (WCA) have already made public that they are planning to form a new denomination if their preferred plan does not pass. I am not a part of this group. I can't speak for others, but there is more that makes me Methodist than my position on these two issues. I plan to stay and trust that God will continue to move us as a denomination. I hope you will stay with me, and that regardless of outcomes, God could use GC2019 to push us to better know him and be faithful disciples together.

For more information, check out the Indiana Conference's page here. They have a great FAQ sheet as well. 


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