(High-lighting added.)
By Heather Hahn
Nov. 1, 2014 | OKLAHOMA CITY (UMNS)
A
video submitted by a mother whose gay son died by suicide after facing
condemnation in the church was one of four personal stories viewed and
discussed by a panel on sexuality in The United Methodist Church.
The
mother’s video
(click to watch the video) sparked the most vehement reaction from the panel of six bishops and
the head of the denomination’s publishing house during the Nov. 1 live
webcast, which was viewed by about 450 people around the world. The
webcast was the second of three interactive, online discussions around
human sexuality planned by the denomination’s
Connectional Table, which coordinates the denomination’s ministry and resources.
The
discussions have centered mainly on United Methodists’ differing views
of how best to minister with LGBTQ individuals. The initials stand for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning.
In the
video, Julie Wood recounted how her son, William Benjamin “Ben” Wood,
was deeply involved in his church until a new youth minister arrived.
One night before a mission trip, the youth minister pressured each of
the youth in Ben’s presence to say they were uncomfortable being around
him. The youth minister told the youth “Ben is going to hell" and that
he was unworthy and not a representative of Christ. He did not go on the
mission trip. He took his life years later as college student.
“We’ll
never know how much of an impact this traumatizing time at youth had on
his decision to end his pain. But I know he never set foot back into a
church,” Wood said in the video.
Florida Area Bishop Kenneth
Carter said Wood’s experience was a “failure not only at the
denominational level but also at the local level where people become
disciples and experience grace.”
“The incompatibility language is
not helping us in our mission. People hear that as if it were spoken
with a megaphone and they don’t hear our words of grace,” Carter added,
referring to language in The Book of Discipline that says the practice
of homosexuality
“is incompatible with Christian teaching.”
Retired
Bishop Melvin G. Talbert said he decided to stand against church law
on homosexuality in part because of learning of suicides such as Ben's.
Ohio West Area Bishop Gregory V. Palmer apologized to Wood on behalf of the denomination.
Fort Worth (Texas) Area Bishop J. Michael Lowry said, “Shame is not a tool or weapon to use against anyone.”
Wood
told United Methodist News Service she did not want to identify the
congregation because the incident was “not characteristic” of the
congregation. The youth pastor involved is no longer at the congregation
or part of the denomination.
“I don’t want to hurt anyone,” she told UMNS. “I just want to help.”
Wood,
a lifelong United Methodist and the daughter of a United Methodist
pastor, now attends another United Methodist congregation with her
family. At her new church, she said she sees people of all sexual
orientations and all races getting along.
She said she remains in
the denomination because “I have to believe change must happen.” She
said the church can make a start by providing solid education on
sexuality for parents, youth, congregations and pastors.
Before
the event, the Connectional Table had invited church members to submit
videos sharing their perspectives on human sexuality. Four were
submitted. The other three came from gay church members.
Divisions evident
The panel of six bishops as well as the top executive of the United Methodist Publishing House were all contributors to
“Finding Our Way: Love and Law in The United Methodist Church,” released in late April by the publishing house’s Abingdon Press.
Divisions
in the church were evident before the event began. Three
representatives of the unofficial advocacy group Love Prevails tried to
enter the Oklahoma City hotel meeting room where the panel was being
videotaped for online streaming. Event organizers and two off-duty
Oklahoma City police officers hired to provide security for the event
turned them away.
Love Prevails aims to change the church’s stance
on homosexuality and what it sees as discrimination by disruption if
necessary. In this case, the group promised not to disrupt the
livestream.
Ultimately,
the three watched from a public lobby area and held cardboard signs to
protest when the bishops departed. They criticized the panel for not
including any LGBTQ individuals.
One of the women, the Rev. Julie
Todd, said she thought the best part of the morning's presentation was
the inclusion of the videos. But she added that most of the bishops'
responses were typical.
“They are unwilling to have these
conversations in public forums in which they can be held accountable by
actual LGBTQ people,” she said. “The fact that they would not let us in
the room when we promised not to interrupt the livestream is an
indication of their fear and control.”
All outside observers,
including a UMNS reporter, were not allowed in the room because of
limited space. No other advocacy group came to the morning session.
Changing times
For
more than 40 years, United Methodists have debated the stance in the
church’s Book of Discipline that the practice of homosexuality
“is incompatible with Christian teaching.” The debate has intensified in recent years as more states in the United States and more nations around the globe have legalized same-gender civil marriage.
The global United Methodist Church is not alone in dealing changing social attitudes and civil laws. In recent weeks, both
Catholic bishops and
Southern Baptist leaders have met to discuss and reaffirm their respective denominations’ views of family and marriage.
Same-gender marriages are now legally recognized in 32 states and the District of Columbia. At the same time, homosexual acts are criminalized in 38 of 54 African countries,
including most of the 18 African countries that could send delegates to
The United Methodist Church’s top lawmaking body, General Conference.
Church law sanctions marriage only between a man and a woman and bans the ordination of “self-avowed practicing” gay clergy.
But
some United Methodist clergy have publicly defied the prohibition
against performing same-gender unions. Among them is the panelist
Talbert, who is
now under a church complaint after officiating at the same-sex union of two men last year.
The panelists
In
addition to Carter, Palmer, Lowery and Talbert, the other panelists
included Bishops Hope Morgan Ward and Rosemarie Wenner. Each
spoke about their essays in the book “Finding Our Way.”
Also participating was Neil Alexander, president and publisher of the
United Methodist Publishing House, who helped edit the book. The Rev.
Amy Valdez Barker, the Connectional Table’s executive secretary, was the
moderator.
Bishop John K. Yambasu of Sierra Leone initially had
planned to participate but had to cancel. He faced a potential 21-day
quarantine in the United States because of the Ebola outbreak in his
country.
Palmer said the Book of Discipline makes no claim to be
perfect, and can be changed by General Conference. He stressed that the
Discipline provides a framework for ministry and the covenants that
clergy and lay member agree to follow. Still, he said, church law does
not require that complaints against clergy necessarily result in church
trials.
Carter said he thinks the lack of unity around sexuality
is a symptom of a deeper condition — “that is, our theological
incoherence.”
“On one side of the issue, there is our theology of
prevenient grace and social holiness and on the other side, there is a
theology of justifying grace and personal piety,” he said. He said he
thinks the current impasse results in part “because we are talking past
each other.”
Is there room for debate?
Viewers
could submit questions to the panelists via Twitter using the hashtag
#cttalks. One of the questions was if the denomination had room for more
than one biblical interpretation.
“We are people who love
Scripture,” said Ward, who leads the Raleigh (North Carolina) Area. “It
is a simple, observable truth that we differ on how we interpret
Scripture around human sexuality. So, I would say an emphatic yes that
absolutely, there is room for more than one view or opinion on what
Scripture is saying.”
Wenner, after the event, said she was
grateful for the questions from viewers as well as four videos submitted
for inclusion. As Germany’s bishop, she was the only panelist who does
not live in the United States.
“For sure, we did not a have the
full spectrum of opinions at the table,” she said. “I hope and pray that
through this panel and through many other efforts, people are
encouraged to create space for dialogue and for prayer so we can move
toward a better future.”
Hahn is a multimedia news reporter for United Methodist News Service. Contact her at (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org .
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COMMENTS
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The “mother’s video” plainly makes the tragic case. We cannot escape
the fact that the UMC is culpable, and we as a denomination need to ask
for forgiveness, as well as seeking change now without delay.
Robert B Shepard
Charles W. Brockwell, Jr., Ph.D.:
Professor Emeritus of History, University of Louisville, Pastor
Emeritus of Fourth Avenue United Methodist Church, Louisville, and
Adjunct Professor of Methodist Studies, Louisville Presbyterian
Theological Seminary. From 1993 to 1997 he was Professor of Church
History & Wesley Studies at Louisville Seminary. He earned his Ph.D.
from Duke University in Medieval Church History and Wesley Studies in
1971. Dr. Brockwell is an Elder in the Kentucky Annual Conference. (Dr. Brockwell is also one of the founding members of Progressive United Methodists of Kentucky.)
