Reconciling Ministries Network

Working to Keep the Story Alive

by Rachel Birkhahn-Rommelfanger

“I believe that telling our stories illuminates the world one voice at a time.” - Dan Curtis

 

We gathered to honor the people and an organization working to preserve the stories of African American United Methodists. The African American Heritage Foundation (AAMHC) has worked on creating an archive to house this great narrative. A narrative of persons who struggle to keep a story alive as the bearers of the stories age and pass on to glory; the story of people in a white majority church, who at times worry they will be silenced. The AAMHC is keeping alive the ministry, mission and vision of African Americans in the UMC. This center reminds the UMC of the great gifts, soulful songs, and deep pain of African Americans within our Methodist heritage.

I was honored one Friday night in December to don my best black evening dress and rainbow shawl to represent the Reconciling Ministries Network Board at the African American Methodist Heritage Center’s Ten Year Commemoration. On this night, the story of Reconciling Ministries Network and the African American Methodist Heritage Center were able to intertwine.

Open Letter To John Lewis

Posted by Leland Spencer

In light of recent hateful comments from protesters, a friend of mine has written an open letter of support to Representative John Lewis. It's worth a read. Click here.

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March 20, 2010 by Dustin from Georgia Liberal, http://galiberal.com

Rep. Lewis,

After hearing that you were called a “Ni**er” today, I wanted to again thank you for all you have done for this country. It is a shame we live in such a hateful environment. No one in this country should be using that language toward anyone, but especially someone who has fought so hard for equality in our country.

The story of your life is an inspiration to us all. Your role in the Selma Marches and March on Washington helped shape the future of our country for the better. I will hopefully never have to go through the hate, pain, and suffering that you had to as an activist because you blazed a trail for the rest of us. You and other civil rights activist cleared out many of the thorns on the trail of equality so that others can come behind you and have an easier path.

While the work is yet to be done, and the torch has been passed to a new generation, you are still an inspiration to many of us who work to further the cause of you, Bayard Rustin, and Martin Luther King started so many years ago today.

I cannot express the grief it caused me to read what those hateful protesters said to you, Barney Frank, and others as you walked into the Capitol to vote for bills that will likely help the ones who raised their voices to hurt you. All I can say is that I am sorry you had to experience. I am sure it is not the worst experience you have ever had, but to be 23 years old in America today, I just want so hard to believe that we are a better America.

I want to believe that such overt, hateful racism is only to be read about in history, not something I read in the news. I want to think that what keeps minorities down in this country are systematic problems, remnants of a past system that are currently being rectified by activists and education. But I realized today, this is not the America I live in today, but the America I hope to create in the future.

Keeping fighting the good fight Sir! Thank you for your vote on health care and your leadership over the years.

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This article was posted in full with permission from the author.

Lessons for United Methodists from Mayor-elect Annise Parker and Strom Thurmond

by Rev. Gil Caldwell

I am asked so frequently, "Gil, why are you such an active advocate for the rights of LGBT persons and same-gender couples in the church and state?" that I will repeat here my response. "I am a 76 year old man. I was born in North Carolina and grew up in Texas. I have seen and experienced first-hand the foolish, irrational, unreasonable and the spiritually-demonic reality of separation, segregation and punishment of persons solely because of their race. I cannot be silent now as I observe the same thing happening to persons and couples because of their sexual orientation. Yogi Berra once said, 'Its déjà-vu all over again' and at this moment that is exactly how I feel."

On Saturday, December 12, 2009, the voters of Houston elected Annise Parker as their Mayor. The media described her election as "The first election of a Mayor in a major city, of someone who is openly gay.” Almost four years earlier on November 8, 2005, the voters of Texas, "overwhelmingly approved a Constitutional ban on same-sex marriage." Mayor-elect Parker was worthy of being elected Mayor of Houston, but because Houston is in Texas she cannot marry her partner of many years because they share the same gender. Their children are unable to say their parents are married, because they are not legally allowed to be married in Texas.

The late Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina is the father of Essie Mae Washington who was born from his relationship with Carrie Butler, a servant in the home of his parents who was black. Thurmond, although over time altered his racist views, is remembered as the Senator who filibustered for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Before that, Thurmond had been the presidential candidate of the segregationist States Rights Democratic Party in 1948.

What commonality can we draw from the stories of Strom Thurmond and Annise Parker? Thurmond could demean blacks and vote against legislation that would grant them civil rights because blacks as a group were anonymous and without personhood or personality. But Carrie Butler, with whom he fathered a child, was not anonymous. She was a person; with a personality and humanity known by the Thurmond household as well as by Strom Thurmond. Thus, Thurmond would support Essie Mae Washington financially and otherwise until his death.

There can be no question that some of the voters in Houston who voted for Annise Parker as their Mayor voted earlier against same sex marriage. In 2005 voters denied the rights of same sex couples who represented "them": an unknown segment of humanity undeserving of the same rights heterosexual couples deserve. But, in December 2009 Annise Parker was supported by persons who believed that her experience, gifts, commitment and other personal attributes made her worthy of being Mayor. The contradiction between the vote of Texans in 2005 and the vote of persons in Houston in December 2009, when considered, provides a "learning opportunity" for our denomination.

There is a proposal that a special session of a United Methodist General Conference be held to discuss internal structural and financial issues. I suggest that the Council of Bishops and others who will be developing the agenda add an item on how The United Methodist Church in the USA can be in effective ministry to LGBT persons considering the existence of legal same sex unions, marriages, and the election of public officials who are gay. If we cannot be in full ministry to same sex couples, what does that say about the quality of our ministry to other couples?  And, with our present language and legislation about homosexuality why would any elected official who is gay respect United Methodist ministry?

Many of us believe there is wisdom in applying the Quadrilateral: Scripture, Tradition, Experience and Reason to our practice of ministry in The United Methodist Church. Some would say our legislation and words about same-gender loving couples are unreasonable, even irrational. We are living in a time when attitudes and actions toward LGBT persons and same-gender couples are changing all around us. We have all heard the phrase, "A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste". The history, heritage and hope of the United Methodist Church is too valuable to squander as we fail to use our minds, maybe even lose our minds in our un-reasoned attitudes/actions toward same gender loving persons. If we continue to misuse our minds on one issue can our insights on Scripture, Tradition and Experience be trusted?

Bishops seek younger membership by 2019

By Rev. Gilbert H. Caldwell

(United Methodist News Service headline, November 5, 2009)

 At the age of 76 and as a 3rd generation Methodist/United Methodist, I like many others, am pleased that our United Methodist Bishops have expressed this commitment. My family tells me that my mind sometimes makes "peculiar" connections. When I read the story with the above title, I thought of President Ronald Reagan's often-quoted words; "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall". Reagan's comments about the Berlin Wall have been remembered as we observe the anniversary of the fall of that wall.
 
One of the ways the Bishops and all of us could reach out to younger membership is for us to begin the process now of "bringing down" words and legislation in our Book of Discipline related to our statement in the Social Principles; "The United Methodist Church does not condone the practice of homosexuality and consider this practice incompatible with Christian teaching." It is time for us to acknowledge that our words and legislation on homosexuality have been a "wall" separating "old United Methodism from what must become "new" United Methodism"
 
I have found an illustration in how we might begin to do this in what for some will be viewed as a strange place; The Missouri Synod Lutheran Church. In 1983, Missouri Synod Lutherans developed a resolution in response to the criticisms about the anti-Semitic statements in Volume 47 of Martin Luther Works - On the Jews and Their Lies.
 
They stated; "Resolved, That while, on the one hand, we are deeply indebted to Luther for his rediscovery of the Gospel, on the other hand, we deplore and disassociate ourselves from Luther's negative statements about the Jewish people, and by the same token, we deplore the use today of such sentiments to incite anti-Christian/and or anti-Lutheran sentiment;..."
 
It is difficult for us as individuals and as a denomination to admit that Biblically sanctioned words and actions of exclusion, separation and segregation of blacks and women, have now been rendered obsolete and represent superficial Biblical interpretation. General Conference legislation and Book of Discipline language, indicate we have moved from exclusion to inclusion of women and blacks. Younger United Methodists and potential United Methodists, will be watching and learning as we begin to delete words and legislation about Gay and Lesbian persons that have been demeaning and divisive stumbling blocks for so many for too many years.
 
Young people that I know and many of us who are not-so-young, have wondered why we have never consistently declared that sexism, racism, classism, militarism, etc when "practiced", are "incompatible with Christian teaching". Yet for years, we have allowed our language about the "incompatibility of homosexuality" to shape our negative and punitive legislation about LGBT persons and same gender couples. If we are serious about younger membership and much of the present less-than-young membership, we will allow the "new occasion" of the 21st century, to provide reason and rationale for "tearing down our walls."

Maine and a Personal Concern About Heterosexism

By Rev. Gilbert H. Caldwell

The Vote by a Majority of the Voters in Maine to prohibit Same Gender Marriage when "connected" to the 30 other states that have done something comparable, now means that 31 states have aligned themselves with the hetereosexist legislation of the United Methodist Church re; homosexuality and same gender couples.

                       A PERSONAL CONCERN ABOUT HETEROSEXISM
 
Whenever I encounter persons or institutions that in conversation or action, express attitudes of pre-judgment, prejudice, bias and bigotry toward homosexuality and homosexual persons, I wonder if I am in the presence also of unacknowledged and/or unresolved racism?
 
I do that because as an African American, I have experienced racism face-to-face and I know that despite the differences between the history and reality of racist and heterosexist words and actions, there are within each, threads of similarity.
 
But, there is a more personal reason. I realize that even though I have experienced racism first hand, that does not mean I have adequately dealt with the bits and pieces of racism within me. And, more importantly, I know that despite my years of activism to confront and conquer racism, I have not exorcised from my being, residuals of sexism, classism and anti-Semitism. The task of confronting the residuals of the above "isms" within ourselves and others, requires persistent and consistent prayer, reflection and action.  
 
A perusal of our United Methodist Book of Discipline suggests that directly/indirectly we have addressed the dangers of anti-Semitism, racism, and classism, but despite our language of the "sacred worth" of all persons, (including homosexuals), our negative assessment of "the practice of homosexuality" and the punishment imposed upon those who acknowledge that they do, reveals our heterosexism.
 
The vote in Maine when linked with similar actions in other states, ought suggest that the United Methodist Church ought begin now to prayerfully plan and act to reform and transform our current heterosexist words and legislation. The United Methodist Church in the 21st century has an opportunity to say that no longer will our legislation give direction, aid and comfort to Americans who believe that a vote of the majority has the right to limit the rights of those who are numerical minorities. When we do that, we will offer a "gift" to the USA that will not be forgotten!

An Open Letter to Renee Sappington and Connie Campbell

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I have just read my RMN Blog, "God's Love Is Without Limits" that was posted today. I clicked on "testimony of two women" that was mentioned in the blog and I saw, heard and "met" for the first time, Renee Sappington and Connie Campbell, the Lesbian couple who spoke openly of their experience of God's love for them as persons and as a couple.

They proclaimed this love, even as many United Methodists--some who heard them at the Mississippi Conference, and others--felt they should not "go public" with their relationship and understandings of God's love because the Book of Discipline does not condone such love.

There are many "good" United Methodist Christians who believe their testimony was inappropriate in a worship setting because our Book of Discipline declares that they and their relationship are "incompatible with Christian teaching."  I ask that these United Methodists prayerfully reflect on their understandings of God's love and their embrace of the teachings of Jesus Christ. It is possible to do this, even as the language in the Book of Discipline remains the same. 

Many of us, for reasons race and gender have had in the past, found it necessary to prayerfully understand that despite the declaration of Discipline language that because of our race and/or gender, we were less equal, God's love and the teaching of Jesus Christ "trumped" the Discipline.

Years ago, the Grammy award-winning jazz singer Dianne Reeves sang at a benefit in a church where I was serving as pastor.  There were grumblings by some of the church members before and during the early stages of her concert. They did not believe that a singer of jazz should sing in a church sanctuary. However, after singing a few of the songs that had gained her world-wide popularity, Ms. Reeves sang a song that was her faith testimony.  As she began to sing the words, "I Just Want to Testify," I could see that the body language and the expressions on the faces of some of those who did not want her to sing had changed. They identified with her testimony because her testimony was no different from theirs.

Renee Sappington and Connie Campbell "testified" at a session of the Mississippi Conference! Who could dare, "in the name of God," invalidate the legitimacy and power of their testimony? I believe that prayer, and a response to the transforming power of God revealed in prayer, will always transcend the legislative actions of any United Methodist General Conference.  I, and thousands--yea, millions of others--are witnesses to this. Hallelujah! - Alleluia!

Rev. Gilbert H. Caldwell

God's Love is Without Limits

Rev. Gilbert H. Caldwell

It seems that over and over again, "happenings" within the United Methodist Church nudge me to re-read the writings of those who are not United Methodists. The negative response to the testimony of two women in a worship service at an Annual Conference session has provoked some negative responses that are of deep concern. We claim that we believe the love of God is all-encompassing, but then some say, "How dare two women who are in a committed relationship to each other testify in a worship service to their experience of the love of God?"

I re-read these words that I had first read ten years ago.

The once unchallenged moral authority of the church has been devastated by its defenses of slavery, apartheid, and segregation, by its persecution of heretics, by its opposition to the emancipation of women, and by its hostility to gay and lesbian people.

The church that will live in the present and survive into the future will not be about the task of propagandizing its people...It will see the Christian life as a journey that is ongoing, a journey the goal of which is the undefined mystery of God, and in the pursuit of that goal no boundaries on the human spirit will be admissible

From The Bishop's Voice, Selected Essays 1979-1999, John Shelby Spong, 1999.

When will we who know that God loves us despite much that is us, stop seeking to restrict others who also know that God loves them? The love of God that I have experienced is so overwhelming that I do not believe God needs any of us to restrict others from expressing the love of God that they have known and know. God's love is without limits. What better place to express that love if not in a worship service?

When John Wesley Went Beyond His Bible

by Peter L. DeGroote

John Wesley had to go elsewhere when he could not use his Bible to oppose slavery. His response is a model for our own day when searching for ways to think about LGBT people in society and the church.

Wesley's active opposition to slavery and the slave trade developed late.  Despite signs of his concerns over slavery from his very early days, Wesley showed no focused anti-slavery effort until publication of his extended pamphlet Thoughts on Slavery in 1774, 17 years before his death at the age of 88. It became a perennial favorite of anti-slavery advocates for the next 30 years and went through 13 printings to include American editions and translations for European readers.

Wesley did not write it. Instead, Granville Sharp, an English anti-slavery advocate who understood Wesley’s skills in what today we call “mass communications,” urged him to edit the work of Anthony Benezet, an American Quaker, and others. Wesley’s abridgment put many of the anti-slavery arguments of the day into compact and readable form. Inevitably, he seasoned it with his own moral outrage.

Thoughts on Slavery rests on the 18th century philosophic concept of universal human rights which served as the foundation for the American, French, and many subsequent revolutions. At the time, the idea of universal human rights had not permeated social and legal thought or the Christian consciousness, nor had it become relevant to biblical interpretation. For example, Wesley’s earlier Notes on the New Testament (1754) has only one comment on slavery (1 Timothy 1:10).   Wesley was silent about all of the other biblical references to which we would turn to today to demonstrate the evil of slavery; he did not see the relevance (Examples: Galatians 3:28, 1 Corinthians 7, Colossians 3, numerous Gospel passages, etc.).

Wesley did bring one theological understanding to the discussion: We are all created in the image of God. This fact of creation was in conflict with the traditional view that the Bible justified slavery as a natural condition in human society.  In resolving that conflict, Wesley became a leader in a new morality that would eventually lead to a new understanding of Scripture. 

It was not a matter of the biblical competence of this man of one book. It was the broader problem of not yet being able to draw biblical implications to a contemporary, moral problem. Religious leaders of the day understood biblical mandates and traditional religious practice to be in support of the legal and economic arguments supporting slavery. John Wesley found his own religious experience and moral instincts pushing beyond those common biblical understandings and traditional religious practices. 

Wesley’s willingness to reach out and incorporate the work of those advocating universal human rights at a time when the world around him opposed such ideas is a model that can be applied to many situations.  In particular, it relates to today's struggle for the rights of LGBT people in both church and society. There are certain moral imperatives derived from the fact of creation even when we unable or unwilling to see them in our Scripture at the moment.

  

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As the above is but the briefest of summaries, the following will help to fill out the story behind Wesley’s encounter with slavery.  

Jennings, Theodore W. Good News to the Poor, John Wesley’s Evangelical Economics. Nashville, Abingdon, 1990, P. 82ff.

Marquadt, Manfred. John Wesley’s Social Ethics. (Tranlators: Steely and Gunter.) Nashville: Abingdon, 1992. (Marquadt is a Professor of Systematic Theology at the Methodist Seminary in Reutlingen, Germany.)  P. 67ff.

A brief biographical summary of Wesley related to slavery can be found at http://www.brycchancarey.com/abolition/wesley.htm. Included is a bibliography and useful links to related sites.

For a copy of Wesley’s Thoughts on Slavery” go to:
http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/wesley/thoughtsuponslavery.stm

John Wesley’s Notes on the New Testament can be found in many libraries and United Methodist churches. An electronic version is available at http://www.ccel.org/ccel/wesley/notes.i.i.html. Printed copies: Grand Rapids, Baker Books—Usually available through Cokesbury bookstores.

 

The UMC and the Black Community, The UMC and the Gay Community, More of the Same

Rev. Gilbert H. Caldwell

My memories of the slowness of the Methodist/United Methodist Church to embrace the Black community have surfaced as I observe the slowness of United Methodism to embrace the Gay community. The current state of racial inclusiveness in the UMC makes us reluctant to remember the history that has brought us to this moment. We look at ourselves today and see leaders at every level who are Black, but the presence of Black persons as members of the United Methodist Church has not increased. The slowness of the Methodist/United Methodist Church to embrace the southern Freedom Movement in the past stood in the way of Blacks joining the UMC.  Today, the resistance of our denomination to embrace the Gay rights movement must cause many Gay persons to be reluctant to affiliate with United Methodism.

James Lawson, Civil Rights Movement ucon, now a retired United Methodist minister, wrote these words in 1993 about the reluctance of the Church to join the march to racial justice that was taking place in secular society in 1964: "The 1964 General Conference in Pittsburgh showed me again the shame and glory of the Methodist Church. I saw the Church at its very best: the hundreds of non-delegates who attended expecting racism to be confronted with prophetic zeal and compassion...some of us wanted to confront the General Conference in some style that would provoke the sort of discussion and realism that could produce serious change. I...saw my expectations and hopes dashed...when the last effort of the (Black delegates) from the Central Jurisdiction failed, I wept openly outside the hall...I knew that Black Methodists needed another vehicle for renewal of The Methodist Church. I left Pittsburgh with the certain knowledge that nonviolent action and work were necessary...We did not see our Church taking seriously the escalating movement for freedom as symbolized in Martin Luther King, Jr." *

Today there is an "escalating movement for freedom as symbolized" by the successful efforts to gain same gender civil unions and marriage rights in state after state. There are now 18 thousand married same gender couples in California, and the efforts to overturn Proposition 8 are increasing. Yet the "sound of silence" of The United Methodist Church is deafening. Those who have expressed a willingness to provide ministry for and to same gender couples have been told The Book of Discipline forbids that ministry. Even as some of us believe and seek to live the words of Karl Barth, "The Christian lives life with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other," we act as though our newspapers and other media carry no stories that the state Constitution-based gains to marry same gender couples have been achieved. The "official" voices of the denomination have been muted at best or silent at worst, giving the impression that while society is changing, the denomination never will.

After the 1954 Supreme Court decision that invalidated the concept/practice of "separate but equal" public schools, many of my black colleagues in Black denominations asked, "Why is the Methodist Church moving so slowly in its efforts to eliminate the racially-segregated Central Jurisdiction?"  When in 1968 the denomination began the process of merging the Central Jurisdiction with the geographical Jurisdictions, they asked, "What took so long and why is there still so much reluctance to include those who were excluded?"

My preacher-father once told the story of the preacher who preached an emotion-packed sermon urging young people to consider the ordained ministry or to become missionaries.  When the preacher gave the altar call inviting the young people to come forward as a public expression of their commitment, he noticed a teenage girl whom he knew well, leaving her seat to come and kneel. She was the preacher's daughter. As she knelt he walked over to her and said; "Mary, honey, I didn't mean you".

Despite all of our United Methodist proclaimed "openness" and our desire to "make disciples," there are so many people who are aware of our legislation and action who know, "The United Methodist Church does not mean me."

I was ordained a Deacon in 1956. During my ministry, time and time again, I have met Black persons who are not United Methodist who are not sure that our denomination--which was so long and so reluctant in embracing, as Jim Lawson says, "the movement as kairos"--is able to authentically embrace them not only racially, but also historically and culturally. They believe that for them, there is a "don't ask, don't tell" ethos in the Church that would stifle their candor and honesty about who they are racially.

Do any of us honestly not understand why some same gender couples and LGBT persons are reluctant to join a denomination that both fails to officially stand in solidarity with the Gay rights movement and has legislation and attitudes within the denomination that proclaims Gay persons do not belong?

There is yet a final observation that has shaped by my experience as pastor of predominantly white and black churches. I have been pastor of white persons (and some black persons) who, as they acknowledge their resistance to or apathy about the racial justice-focused Civil Rights Movement, now wish they had been participants in, or at least proponents of, a Movement that transformed the nation for the better.

My prayer is that those United Methodists who now are resistant to or apathetic about the Gay Rights Movement would have a change of mind and heart so they will not later regret they were barriers rather than bridges within United Methodism as it moves to affirmation of both the humanity and Christian "compatibility" of those whom it now rejects.

Gil Caldwell
Asbury Park, NJ

*Our Time Under God is Now, Reflections on Black Methodists for Church Renewal, Woodie W. White, General Editor, "The Early Days", (Chapter 1),  James M. Lawson, Jr., Abingdon Press, 1993

When persons become persons, rather than abstractions ("Them" or "They")

By Rev. Gilbert H. Caldwell

Years ago, a white ministerial colleague of mine, shared this story about his white congregation and their experience with their young organist who was black.*

My colleague said that at first there was resistance in the congregation to their new and young organist because of his race. But in time, their negative attitudes were transformed by his musical gifts and by his personality. Many of the older persons in the congregation "adopted" him as their grandson. He as a person became more important to them, than his race. I missed  seeing my colleague for a few months. The next time I saw him I asked about the organist and the congregation. He said this; "Gil, he developed a serious illness and died suddenly. The grief in the congregation was a kind of grief I had not experienced before. I realized that for many persons in the congregation, getting to know and love the black organist was the first time they had known a black person as a person and not as some-less than person created by years of prejudice". Then he said; "Gil, when he died, this was the first time many persons had ever grieved over the death of a black person whom they had come to know. His life and then his death transformed the bigotry and, "the hate that they had been taught by the time they were 7 or 8". (From South Pacific)

The "protection" of marriage as an institution, has become for some, much like the "protection" of segregation as an institution, that I experienced in North Carolina where I was born and Texas where I spent my teen-age years. Apparently for some, it is easier to maintain the status quo of institutions than it is to affirm the God-given humanity of LGBT persons and same gender loving couples. How many of them must live and die, before church and society affirm them?

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Throughout my ministry some persons have asked why I consistently in my writing and speaking, use illustrations that are race-based. I respond by saying that I do this because in my remembering of my racial experience and history, I am better able to understand and respond to the struggles of others. This I believe is what Supreme Court nominee, Judge Sonia Sotomayor was saying about her experience as a Latina. If I am unable or unwilling to allow my experience as an African American male, to influence my understandings of the bias and bigotry others experience, I compromise the meaning of my experience.