Reconciling Ministries Network

Events of June 23 in Kaukauna - part 4

by Will J. Green from St. Nichol Saint Nicholas Is In Hull

Shortly before 5:00 we suddenly heard that the jury was being summoned. No one knew if that meant that they had reached a decision or if they were asking for permission to retire for the day or if they were going to be instructed that they had to stay working through the evening or even if they wanted to report that they could not come to a decision at all.

During our hymn sing time, Sue Laurie had spoken some incredibly helpful words to those of us who were gathered and waiting. She said that even though right now it feels like we are waiting and we want the jury to return, once the moment finally comes there will be fear and plenty of uncertainty. We should know that and expect it. These times are complicated, we want them to come and then when the moment finally arrives... what if it doesn't go right? What if we did something wrong?

It's the same thing we feel at General Conference every four years. We work. We pray. We have conversations. We hold signs. We preach sermons. We work on our legislation. We build relationships. We make ourselves vulnerable by telling our stories and sharing from our hearts.

And then it's time to vote.

And those ten seconds when the little timer is blinking across the screen feel like the worst ten seconds in the world because we know that the results are just going to FLASH up there in front of us electronically on the screen, totally insensitive to the complexity and reality of what these votes mean to those of us who are being voted about. Suddenly our lives are nothing more than the outcome of a vote. And we know that we've been clobbered again. And then in another four years we'll get another ten seconds when maybe, this time, for once, something else will flash up in front of us.
Waiting for these jurors is the same feeling. We wait for something to happen, but when it's almost time, it won't feel good. You have to be strong. (Which is of course why we sing the songs of the faith.)

So Bishop Lee entered the room and took his seat. Then Val came in the room, holding Amy's hand. She walked Amy right up to her seat next to Scott...

And nothing happened.

Finally, Bishop Lee spoke. "Folks, we apologize. I thought the trial court was right behind us. I must not be a very good leader. (big smile followed by lots of laughter) I feel a bit like the drum major who got two blocks ahead of his band."

Then the bailiff entered and Bishop Lee asked where the jury was. The bailiff looked surprised and said, "Oh, let me get them."

In a moment they came in - filed in - each taking their assigned seats. The chair person handed the form to Bishop Lee.

Then someone from the jury spoke. It made me very aware that this was the first time we've heard their voice the whole time. "We're not all here. We have to wait."

Then the two last jurors came in. One looked very concerned. The second had obviously been crying a great deal. Tears still falling from her eyes, but she had it together. As they came in just by themselves I also realized that this was the first time I saw them move separately since they became the jury on Monday. They've even had to enter and exit together. They took meals together and I'm sure they had to stay in a sequestered hotel even. As someone else said to me later, there is a lot of pastoral care and intense follow up that the Annual Conference will have to provide for these people after they get through this process.

Bishop Lee said that he was handed two sheets. The first is the official penalty form that they had to complete. The second, attached to the first, contained the written out penalty.

The vote was 9 to 4.

Amy will be suspended from her ministerial duties for 20 days, beginning July 1st. The purpose of this time is for spiritual renewal. Then she will be required to create a document to inform other clergy about the harm that is done by the breaking of clergy covenant and how best to proceed as a covenant community in the future. Her partners in creating this document will be Bishop Linda Lee, Superintendent Mayorga Solis (the complainant), Rev. Richard Strait (chair person of the Board of Ordained Ministry) and another elder of her choosing from the Wisconsin Annual Conference. Amy is to write the first draft by January 1st. This will then be revised in time for this to be forwarded to executive session of Annual Conference next year to be received so that they can take action on the document. It is to be informed by the Bible, the Book of Discipline and other relevant materials. Failure by Amy to fulfill the terms of this sentence will result in a one year suspension of her credentials.

The Bishop then said that this will conclude our time together. He thanked his primary staff - the Secretary of the Court, the administrative assistant and the "Bailiff" or "Sergeant at Arms" or "... actually, he never said what I should call him, but I know he did a good job."

He thanked the audience, whom he referred to as "the congregation." He added, "Particularly, I want to thank you for the hymn sing. It calmed my spirit."
The Bishop also gave thanks for "a part of the country I had not been familiar with. But now I know that it is blessed." He adjourned the court but a request was made that the jury be allowed to exit first.
They did, single file. Amy stood and embraced each of them with a mutual hug that they shared as they filed past her.
And we began to sing, "Shalom to you now. Shalom my friend. May God's full mercies bless you my friend. In all your living, and in your loving, Christ be your shalom. Christ by your shalom."
As we sang we formed a large circle, holding hands, around the perimeter of the fellowship hall. We repeated the song several times.
I was sorry to see that the church counsel and assistant counsel exited the room while we stood and sang. But then my head turned from that back door to look at the front of the room and there Bishop Lee was holding hands with his neighbors, singing and offering his blessing.
When we came to the end of our singing, Sue Laurie stepped forward and spoke a benediction. She quoted the words and image of Paul's 2nd Letter to the Corinthians and reminded us all, "You are a letter of Christ, written not on tablets of stone, but written on the human heart. Amy, you are a letter of Christ. And to all of us, you are a letter of Christ."

Then the cameras and reporters came in. There was plenty of hugging.

And it didn't take long before we were picking up umbrellas and packing up our tote bags. But this was a room full of church people. We knew what to do. The cushioned chairs were stacked on top of each other in groups of five. We pulled out the chair-rack and folded up the aluminum chairs so they could be pushed back into the storage closet. They were a bunch of us, so it didn't take too long to get the fellowship hall looking good again for Sunday. Pastor Tim was very thankful that we were there to help him put things back together.

...

Then we met back at the park, as we had planned, for our closing time together. All week there was a poster-board sign, maybe you saw it in some of the newspapers or on t.v. In rainbow lettering: "Love on Trial: God is Weeping." When Amy and Val got to the park, Amy took a magic marker and went to work on it. She held it up and we saw she had changed it "God is ---- smiling."

And there was a great celebration. Janet Wolf preached, which was perfect because it was her invitation to engage in restorative justice that really seems to have inspired the jury more than anything else that was said.

I think that for all of us it was hard to interpret hearing that penalty read because, to be honest, we are not used to hearing about a path other than retribution. In this case, and in others, we don't know what healing will look like until we make it happen. It must be hard for media to interpret this because the vocabulary really hasn't been created yet. But that's what we're going to do. And these five people in Wisconsin are going to show the way. This is the beginning of a new day and a turn in a new direction.

Scott Campbell said that in a way he felt like an honorary Wisconsinite. Amy quickly grabbed the mic and said, "It's a cheese-head."

In Amy's last words to us she said that she was so glad that she will get the chance to live out her calling by teaching in the church in the months ahead. And she couldn't be prouder of her denomination and for this chance to show the world that the church does not want to throw away it's gay children.
In closing she added that many people have asked her why she didn't just leave the church. She said the answer is easy, "I'm a girl scout. I always leave a place better than I found it."

Saying good-bye to the group was hard for me. I couldn't share a blessing the way I wanted and gives thanks to God without crying a lot. I got a few "check-ins". Basically, sometimes we are so grateful that it is difficult to express. But when God gives us grace, we say thank you.

Methodists Don't Play Cards

by Will Green

This last week many of us were studying the story of the Israelites' oppression in Egypt. God turned my heart to remembering newcomers in the United States, God's people who aren't documented by our government.

At Northeastern Jurisdictional Conference one of my friends asked us what we were going to do as a Conference about undocumented people whom God has called to ordained ministry in our church. I suppose I'll blame the fact that I'm on white for the fact that I never considered this possibility before. But I'll also give credit to the fact that I'm gay for the instant appreciation and solidarity I felt once she said this.

As the king of Egypt in the Exodus story showed, there is a very small distance between thinking that someone doesn't have the right to exist in your land and thinking they don't have the right to exist at all. Oppressive policies lead very quickly to extermination. Hurting leads to death. So I'm fearing for the very lives of people who are subject to persecution because of their land of origin or path to this country.  And I'm fearing for the total safety of people facing any type of persecution.

Like the Exodus story, brave solidarity will save us. Solidarity like the maidens, the mothers, the sisters, the midwives and Pharaoh's daughter showed to the Israelites. The women showed it to the Israelite boys because they knew what it was like to be at the margins. They also probably knew what it was like not to have anyone stand up for them.

So they drew Moses out of the water.

Now I'm praying that God herself will draw me out of the waters. Draw me out of the waters of racism and xenophobia, draw me out of the waters of isolation from others, draw me out of the waters that make me afraid of being accused of 'playing a race card.'

Methodists don't play cards. We're too busy doing God's work.

“Community As An Inner Quality”

by Will Green

You’ll have to excuse me for being spiritually centered but I’ve been reading Henri Nouwen all weekend: Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life.
(the title of this post is a heading of a subsection in the book)

“We are always in search of a community that can offer us a sense of belonging, but it is important to realize that being together in one place, one house, one city or one country is only secondary to the fulfillment of our legitimate desire. Friendship and community are, first of all, inner qualities allowing human togetherness to be the playful expression of a much larger reality.” (p.47)

After three years, I recently moved out of one of the most preeminent Methodist convents in New England.

Now I live by myself.
In the middle of Massachusetts Bay.
It really isn’t as dramatic as it seems.

But at a distance from my friends whom I love so much, I’m learning from and growing with them in a new way.

Reconciling Methodists know what this spiritual discipline is all about. (Nouwen calls it solitude as opposed to loneliness.)

Some of us are ‘in the wilderness.’ Some of us are in Massachusetts. But that really doesn’t matter.

Facebook is fun. No-one in the world loves Convocation more than me. I blog, I mail people cards (!) and the majority of my time on my cell phone is spent in conference calls… which reminds me that I need to schedule one.

But nothing can substitute for the sort of solidarity that starts with spiritual solitude.

I’ve been thinking about this lately as both Sue and Troy are on sabbatical. They haven’t been just an email away. It’s like a friendship fast and I’m all the more thankful for those two saints in our time apart. (You can go ahead and pray for them both right now, they won’t mind.)

As a grass-roots movement, we don’t get together too often. Methodists know what this is all about. But even when visits are few and far between, we’re a part of a much larger reality.

Blest be the tie that binds.

yet another example of the need for equality now

By Will Green

Every time a homophobic person tries to scare others by saying "You don't want to have happen to us what is happening to the Episcopalians!" I get annoyed.

What is happening in the Anglican church is that conservative separatists are threatening to ruin the church if they don't get their way.

And now that same Episcopalian faction has a new threat. If the church affirms female bishops, they will leave.

Same people, same arguments, same tactics as are being against GLBT people. Thankfully, more people are aware of this kind of discrimination then are aware of homophobia (another form of sexism).

But "what is happening to the Episcopalians" is making people more aware.

Today it is GLBT under attack in the United Methodist Church.

Tomorrow it is women.

And it goes on and on.

Hopefully, the shocking discrimination of this misguided group will make many more aware of the danger of going backwards towards oppression and exclusion.