Welcome, Everyone?

When I was the associate dean at Pacific School of Religion, I attended Epworth United Methodist Church in Berkeley. It was an odd thing to move from the pulpit to the pew and be a worshipper rather than a leader. It provided a perspective that I am grateful for, now that I have moved back to parish ministry.

I hadn't realized how hungry my soul was for spiritual nourishment, which was usually fulfilled within the first five minutes of worship, when the children came forward and sang, "Welcome, everyone, to the love of God!"

I was so grateful to be a part of a church that truly embraced these words. God's love was extended to a diverse congregation that included people of all races, ethnicities, abilities, sexual orientations and gender identities. Families of all sorts were welcomed to be a part of this faith family. And, after one glance around the sanctuary by the end of the song, all knew that they were embraced by the love of God.

This week was not a good news week for The United Methodist Church. Rev. Frank Schaefer, a member of the Eastern Pennsylvania Annual Conference, was tried, convicted and sentenced for extending the love of God to his son. There is a cognitive dissonance that runs deep in that last sentence. One of the greatest joys of a parent is to see their child get married. That joy is heightened for clergy parents, who sometimes get the great honor of performing the ceremony. All that a parent has tried to convey about God's gift of love is wrapped up in that moment when their child says, "I do."

Welcome, everyone, to the love of God.

While most pastors would get a round of congratulations from their bishop and colleagues for officiating at their child's wedding, Rev. Schaeffer got slapped with a complaint which led to the trial, simply because his son happens to be gay.

The language the prosecution used this week has done nothing to extend the love of God and neighbor. In fact, fear has replaced love as the blessed tie that binds United Methodists together: the prosecution requested that the jury consider a penalty severe enough "so that other clergy fear breaking the covenant."

Any covenant that rests on fear instead of love deserves to be broken. Covenants--whether between two people bound together in marriage or clergy uniting to an Order--are always grounded in the love of God. The purpose of covenant is to help us remain rooted in this love and to help us express it in all that we do. Using fear as a way to force another to conform to a certain behavior has nothing to do with covenant and everything to do with abuse.

The prosecution and trial jury has made it clear: not everyone is welcome to the love of God. How can a church, which is founded on an understanding of the depth of grace and the wideness of God's mercy, live with this distortion of our theological heritage? 

I stand with thousands of other faithful United Methodists, who will continue to live into the fullness of a love-based covenant. I will continue to be a pastor to every member of my congregation, to help them experience and express God's love in their lives and relationships. I will marry couples who have found God's blessings in the love they share together. I will not allow fear to destroy covenantal love. 

Today, I am so grateful for the children who sang to me every Sunday at Epworth: Welcome, everyone, to the love of God. They remind me why this work and witness is so important.They give me strength for the journey. Let the children lead us again!

Welcome, everyone, to the love of God.

THE MASKS WE WEAR

A little preview for Sunday's sermon:

Are you ready to give up your mask and live into your best self yet?

Greetings from the Cotswolds!

A note to the folks back home at Glide!

A PRAYER FOR THESE DAYS

God of our weary years, God of our silent tears

 

God of Trayvon Martin, God of George Zimmerman, God of countless brown and black men who have been profiled, gunned down, locked up.

We are weary O God and we have wept too many tears. It is a nation’s shame when justice is meted out to some but not to all. It is a nation’s shame when the killer of an unarmed teenage boy is not only given his freedom but his gun. It is a nation’s shame that there is not more outrage in our streets, in our political chambers, and in our churches.

We know that each one of us is created in the image of your image, O God, your  fingerprint resides on every face of every race in every corner of this earth. With your strength, we commit ourselves to protecting the dignity and worth of every child of God, and we will not rest until liberty and justice for all is not just a lofty dream but a reality in this land.

We will continue to march, to speak out, to protest, to show up, to tell the stories of racial profiling and oppression. We will continue to cross lines that have divided us from each other, so that together we can push back the evil isms that destroy beloved community.

We will lift every voice and sing till earth and heaven ring, ring with harmonies of liberty.

 

We will not forget Trayvon Martin, and all the unnamed young people lost to violence. We will continue to work for justice,

We will march on till victory is won. Amen.

A LOVE GREATER THAN LAW

On Monday, May 6, 2013, a New York Times article reported on the complaint against Dr. Tom Ogletree for performing his son's wedding. What should be reserved as a day of celebration has turned into a charge of disobedience because Dr. Ogletree's son is gay: The United Methodist Church forbids pastors from performing "ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions."

The United Methodist Church is conflicted when it comes to the rights of glbt persons. At first glance, one might conclude that the UMC supports legal marriage for gay and lesbian couples, since the church believes that equal rights for same-sex couples is "a clear issue of simple justice in protecting the rightful claims where people have shared material resources,pensions, guardian relationships, mutual powers of attorney, and other such lawful claims typically attendant to contractual relationships that involve shared contributions, responsibilities, and liabilities, and equal protection before the law."

 However, the church also supports “laws in civil society that define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.”  The church believes that gay men and lesbians have a right to serve openly in the military, but forces glbt pastors deep into a closet of "don't ask, don't tell."  We believe sexuality is a good gift from God, but refuse the use of General and Annual Conference funds to encourage thoughtful conversation and study around sexual orientation, because it might "promote the acceptance of homosexuality."
 

A "clear issue of simple justice" has become convoluted double-speak for the church, The church cannot call for lgbt equality and justice in the world and give the same group of people second class status in the church. But that is exactly what the church has done. And as lgbt equality is fast becoming the law of the land, the church is growing increasingly out of step with a world that values dignity, diversity, and right action.

As I write this, Delaware has become the 11th state to legalize marriage between same sex couples, and Minnesota is poised to be number 12. Currently, 48% of Americans live in states that offer legal rights/protections for gay and lesbian couples.  As more politicians come out in favor of marriage equality and more than 50% of Americans support this movement, it is clear that the tide has turned in the US, and marriage equality will eventually be the law of the land.

It doesn't take a statistician to predict that this will result in more gay and lesbian United Methodists asking their pastors to officiate at their wedding and that more and more pastors will say "I will".  No church law can stop love. There will be more and more Tom Ogletrees, clergy of glbt children who will turn their back on the church's injustice and without hesitation will officiate at their child's wedding. And there will be more and more United Methodist pastors who will consider it yet one more vocational honor, to bless the union of two committed people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.



The Wedding of Dan & Bill 2004
Bethany UMC San Francisco

The crisis in the church is not that people are breaking the "law". Jesus models to us that laws that cause harm to God's people are to be disregarded.  The crisis is that the church is failing to understand how it has perpetuated harm against God's glbt children. Bullying, physical violence, emotional violence, spiritual violence, murder, and suicide are all related to the church's inability to embrace fully lgbt persons.  As long as The United Methodist Church has "laws" on the books proclaiming lgbt persons "incompatible with Christian teaching" it will continue to have blood on its hands.

The deeper crisis is the church's failure to recognize God in the midst of love. Scripture tells us that God is love. When marriages were legal in San Francisco in 2004, God was EVERYWHERE! I, who have been trained as a United Methodist elder, had never before encountered God so fully as those beautiful weeks when love was celebrated, covenanted, blessed and licensed! The City was brought to a whole new level of joy, as complete strangers stopped to give flowers to newlyweds, as offices shut down to throw wedding showers, as parents dropped everything to fly into SF to be at their children's sides for the most important day of their lives.


If the church can't recognize this as something holy and true, one has to wonder: what in God's name is wrong with the church?

---

Songs of The Season: Good King Wenceslas

Waiting for a bag of food at GLIDE today

 Technically, it's a little early for this carol. Good King Wenceslas tells the story of a king and his page encountering a poor peasant on the feast of St. Stephen (December 26). But it seems a fitting song, given what is unfolding outside my office window.

Today is GLIDE's Grocery Bag giveaway. Thousands of people are waiting in line to get a bag filled with groceries: turkey, potatoes, bread, vegetables, and lots more. Thousands of volunteers are filling bags, handing them out, and helping folks make their way home. It is an amazing day of generosity.

The carol Good King Wenceslas tells a similar story of generosity:

Good King Wenceslas looked out on the feast of Stephen,  

when the snow lay round about, deep and crisp and even. 

Brightly shown the moon that night, though the frost was cruel,  

when a poor man came in sight, gathering winter fuel.

"Hither, page, and stand by me. If thou know it telling: 

yonder peasant, who is he? Where and what his dwelling?"

 "Sire, he lives a good league hence, underneath the mountain, 

 right against the forest fence by Saint Agnes fountain."

"Bring me flesh, and bring me wine. Bring me pine logs hither. 

Thou and I will see him dine when we bear the thither."

Page and monarch, forth they went, forth they went together  

through the rude wind's wild lament and the bitter weather.

"Sire, the night is darker now, and the wind blows stronger.  

Fails my heart, I know not how. I can go no longer." 

"Mark my footsteps my good page, tread thou in them boldly:  

Thou shalt find the winter's rage freeze thy blood less coldly."

In his master's step he trod, where the snow lay dented. 

Heat was in the very sod which the saint had printed.  

Therefore, Christian men, be sure, wealth or rank possessing, 

ye who now will bless the poor shall yourselves find blessing

Wenceslas was an actual person who was eventually sainted by the Catholic Church. A royal member of Bohemia (in part what is now the Czech Republic), Wenceslas was known for his kindness and generosity who was murdered by his brother.

This song tells of Wenceslas' kindness. Upon seeing a poor peasant, he tells his page to gather not only kindling, but also food for the man. The page weakens in the bitter cold, but the king tells him to follow close behind in his footsteps. Sure enough, by staying close to Wenceslas and following in his footsteps, the page finds himself warmed and able to continue on the path to the peasant's abode.

Today, volunteers at GLIDE came face to face with the elderly, with poor families, and with many in need. They followed a path set out before them which warmed them from the inside out, as they offered bags filled with food. 

Bags ready to be given out

There was a joy that was palpable throughout the building. Smiles lit the faces of volunteers, staff, and those awaiting food. Truly, blessings were in great abundance. 

The words of the song came to life today:

Ye who now will bless the poor shall yourselves find blessing.

Performed by the Roches

Songs of the Season: In the Bleak Midwinter

As the joy of the season has been replaced with the choked cries of grief since the Newtown shootings, I find I have reached for my hymnbook to find songs of the season that won't gloss over the despair and helplessness I am feeling. Is there room in the manger for me, for us, this Christmas?

In the Bleak Midwinter is perhaps the most melancholy of Christmas carols (if you know another, do let me know). It was written by British poet Christina Rossetti (1830-1894).  Rossetti's father's physical and emotional health deteriorated when she was barely in her teens, resulting in instability and financial hardship for her family. She herself suffered a nervous breakdown at the age of 14 and had to leave school. She battled with depression for the rest of her life. At the age of 42, she was diagnosed with Graves' Disease and later, in 1893, was diagnosed with breast cancer. She died a year later.

Rossetti wrote the hymn around 1872, at the request of a magazine. The depiction of a cold world, snow on snow, snow on snow, reflects my mood today. There is a moan in my body longing for escape, an uncharacteristic bleakness to my spirit as I ponder the unspeakable horrors we humans inflict on each other.

Yet into this harsh and violent world, God comes. An infant. Vulnerable. Needy. And in spite of all heaven heralding the baby's arrival, it is his mother, in all her humanness, who cradled him in his arms and offered him what he most needed: love.

In the bleak midwinter, frosty winds made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone.
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother only, in her maiden's bliss,
Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.

Oh what can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb?
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part?
Yet what can I give Him, give my heart.

In the bleak midwinter, frosty winds may move
Earth stood hard as I am, water like the storm
If I were a Wise Man, would I do my part?
Yet what can I give Him, give my heart. 

 Is there room this year for me in the manger? Can I bring my tears as I face this broken world? Can I bring my weariness? Can I bring the fears I can barely utter aloud?

Yes, God comes: not because all is right with the world, but because in spite of all that is wrong, God desires love to prevail. God comes, not because I am prepared and ready to rejoice, but because God knows my need for healing. God comes.

Into the bleakness of my world, God comes. And while it feels as if I am but an empty vessel, there is nothing I have to do, just open my heart and let the healing warmth of God enter in.