Tag Archives: human sexuality

The Way Forward

20 Friday May 2016

Posted by in Justice, LGBTQ, Reflections

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Oregon Convention Center (two towers) where General Conference 2016 was held

The Way Forward proposed by the Council of Bishops at General Conference potentially provides a way to deepen the dialogue within the United Methodist Church on matters of human sexuality. It also gives us some breathing room to see how diversity can actually contribute to unity, rather than trying to force unity (perhaps I should say uniformity) through institutional pleading and legislative action.

As an LGBTQ ally and advocate for an inclusive church I am grateful for the leadership of the bishops in inviting respectful conversation that reflects the wideness of God’s mercy. However, I am also saddened and angry that justice is once again being delayed for many of my sisters and brothers in Christ by the harmful language that will remain in the Book of Discipline for at least two or three more years, and very possibly longer. In the meantime, many more gifted leaders will give up on serving in a church that does not accept them as the beloved children of God they are. In the meantime, many more young people will look elsewhere for open and affirming faith communities where they do not have to wonder if friends or family members will be accepted. In the meantime, many more loving and committed couples will be turned away from the ministries of a church that does not honor their love or value their witness. In the meantime, many more clergy will be forced to risk their livelihood and their future within a church they dearly love because the calling God has nurtured within their lives will not allow them to do otherwise.

So while I applaud the thoughtful leadership of our bishops and will pray and work to support a rethinking of the church’s stance on human sexuality through the special commission to be established, I am mindful of the deep pain and mistrust that many will continue to experience as a result of this outcome. Even though every paragraph in our Book of Discipline regarding human sexuality will be examined by the commission and a special session of General Conference could be called in 2018 or 2019 to act upon the commission’s recommendations, we cannot predict how these processes will play out and whether they will create more just and grace-filled church structures and laws. What we do know is that we need to pray earnestly and work expectantly for the future God has in mind for the people called United Methodist, a future shaped by the justice and mercy at the core of the Gospel.

Words (c) 2016 Mark Lloyd Richardson

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It’s Time

17 Tuesday May 2016

Posted by in Justice, LGBTQ, Reflections

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It’s hard to know where to begin as I reflect on my two days spent in our church’s quadrennial meeting known as General Conference. I continue to believe in the incredible gifts our church has been given to offer the world. We are truly a church of social witness from the time John Wesley first took to the streets to announce the good news of Christ to the poor. We have a vast humanitarian reach throughout the world that brings hope and healing to many lives. We are a people who use our feet and hands to move into a hurting world with peace in the name of Christ. We have so much to offer, which makes our persistent wrestling with sexual matters all the more troubling.

Yet there is much pain in the midst of our ecclesial body. There are children of God who feel invisible when others refer to them as an “issue” because of their sexuality. There are children of God who are forced to be secretive about their sexual orientation knowing they may be judged ineligible to be in ministry. There are children of God who know they will not receive the ministry of the church when they commit themselves to one another in marriage. There are children of God who are being silenced and pushed aside by a church that will not recognize their giftedness and beauty as people of sacred worth. The pain is magnified because it is caused by the very church that has nurtured them in faith and trust in God.

It’s time that the church stop harming those who are beloved of God. It’s time to allow ministers and churches to honor and bless the marriages of two persons of the same sex. It’s time to recognize the gift and graces of ministry candidates who identify as LGBTQI and not disqualify them from serving the church solely on the basis of their sexual orientation. It’s time to recognize that the discriminatory language related to sexuality in the Book of Discipline reflects heterosexuality and homophobia and needs to be removed. It’s time to stop acting from fear, misunderstanding, and intolerance. It’s time to reclaim our heritage as a church grounded in Christ’s grace! It’s time to let love overwhelm hate. It’s time to breathe in the Spirit of the Christ who welcomed persons into the presence of God without conditions.

It’s time!

Words (c) 2016 Mark Lloyd Richardson

Building an Altar for All

21 Thursday Nov 2013

Posted by in Peace with justice, Reflections

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P1010306I am a United Methodist by choice, since I did not grow up a Methodist. I am a Minister of the Gospel by calling, and that calling originates in my relationship with God. It is a calling I received before choosing the Wesleyan path of discipleship for my own. It is a calling to serve a higher purpose of bringing a message of reconciliation and hope to a broken and hurting world. It is a calling to bless and not to curse, to heal and not to harm, to speak and not to be silent to injustice!

There is a crisis of conscience in my beloved church. Although we say that we discern matters theologically using the lenses of Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience, I believe that on the question of whether homosexuality is compatible with Christian teaching we disregard everything but a few select verses of Scripture. We certainly disregard current and historical understandings of human sexuality, we disregard the prevailing views of major mental health associations, and most importantly we disregard the profoundly painful experience of exclusion that is resident within the voices of LGBT Christians. These are our sisters and brothers in Christ. We effectively slam the doors of our churches on them when we say that their sexuality is inconsistent with being Christian.

In recent days, with a formal complaint being considered against a retired bishop of the church for conducting a same-sex wedding and a trial and punishment of a clergy colleague for officiating at the marriage ceremony of his gay son, it is clear that traditionalists within the church will not even allow ministry to all persons regardless of sexual orientation or gender expression. The Book of Discipline is being lifted up as the ultimate rulebook for appropriate forms of ministry, and within its pages it explicitly states, “Ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions shall not be conducted by our ministers and shall not be conducted in our churches.”

Shall not.

Yet they have been and will continue to be because for some of us there is no way to be true to our calling as Ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ while excluding some from the means of grace expressed through our ministry.

Indeed more than a thousand United Methodist clergy across the United States have signed a statement (see Altar for All) committing themselves to fulfill their vow to be in ministry with all people by offering the grace of the Church’s blessing to any prepared couple desiring Christian marriage regardless of their gender. It is a form of biblical obedience for those of us who do not consider Scripture to be error-free truth devoid of cultural context.

So along with other United Methodist ministers I face the daily question: Do I follow the immoral remnant of discrimination written into the Book of Discipline decades ago or do I follow the words on the very same page under the heading Responsibilities and Duties of Elders that make me duty-bound “To build the body of Christ as a caring and giving community, extending the ministry of Christ to the world?”

I don’t see how I can do both!

Words (c) 2013 Mark Lloyd Richardson