Primary Sources

Rejoicing

I rarely write of matters of faith, which I believe are extremely personal in nature. If you are offended by such discussion or don’t believe it’s appropriate, that’s cool – just don’t read on.

A member of our congregation is the cousin of Beth Stroud, the former United Methodist minister who was removed from ordination earlier this month by the church for “engaging in practices declared by The United Methodist Church to be incompatible with Christian teachings,” namely, being a lesbian.

Plainly, I believe this was the wrong thing to do. Rather than continue on with a polemic about rights and justice, let me quote from Beth Stroud’s sermon on Dec. 12:

I can see God’s future as clearly as if it had already happened, even though it is clearly still very much under construction. I see a United Methodist Church that could be a meeting ground for people with different experiences and theologies, rather than a battleground. I see sacred space for real, deep, true, compassionate listening to one another, which can lead to conversion and transformation. I see the possibility of the kind of growth and vision that we experienced when FUMCOG became a Reconciling Congregation, only on a much larger scale, through which some of the very people who have the most questions might become the staunchest advocates of a fully inclusive church. I can see the day when people will recognize that God blesses all loving families. It might not come today or tomorrow, but it will come.

The attractive thing about fundamentalism of all stripes is that it makes it easy to tell other people exactly where they’ve gone wrong. When you’re so busy focusing on the letter of the law, you can diminish the spirit that provides a real framework for growth, acceptance and achievement.