The Reconciling Ministries Digest

(Note: Because of the nature of many websites, some of the links to external news sources in this digest may have expired.)

1. News From the Movement
2. Women's History Month: Harmony Lynn Hammond
3. A Litany for Women's History Month
4. Take Action: Queer the Census
5. Heartbroken Between a Rock and a Hard Place / Dumbarton Statements
6. Agape House Counter-Celebration Shares Message of God's Reconciling Love
7. A Reconciling Clergy Celebration
8. Get Connected

 News From the Movement

New Reconciling Community: Reconciling Ministry Group Within Central UMC, Asheville, NC.

RMN is proud to recognize “The Reconciling Ministry Group Within Central United Methodist Church” as a new Reconciling Community and member of the Reconciling Ministries Network. Central United Methodist Church is Asheville’s longest continuously open church and a vital part of the surrounding community. Always a leader in ministry, this Asheville Methodist congregation established their first satellite churches in 1880 and continues to support area church plants today. Central UMC’s commitment to mission, local outreach and extensive christian education can been seen in the church newsletter, to the fabulous church website, Sunday School program for all ages, music ministry, and building project.

Right at the heart of this evangelism and growth is the Reconciling Ministry Group at Central UMC. Formed as a response to the United Methodist Church’s “conflicting messages regarding gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered (GLBT) individuals,”  the Reconciling Ministry group hopes “for genuine reconciliation within this congregation and among all of God's children.” In order to facilitate discussion and community within their parish and Annual conference, the group has participated in the Western North Carolina Annual Conference Believe Out Loud Training, and will continue to offer education, storytelling, dialogue, advocacy and witness within their local church and annual conference.

From the Group’s Statement of Understanding and Belief:

We believe that God introduced diversity into this complex world and that sexual orientation is one of the many aspects of diversity valued by God. Our hope is for genuine reconciliation within this congregation and among all of God's children. We affirm our commitment to transforming our church and world into the full expression of Christ's inclusive love, and invite participation by others within Central UMC who share that goal.  By offering opportunities for dialogue through education, ministry, advocacy and witness, we seek to build relationships, knowledge and understanding that can lead to a more inclusive church.  We also seek to connect with other United Methodists who want to be part of our dialogue and reconciling process.  We commit to dialogue in Christian love, refraining from judgment and anger against those who disagree.  We acknowledge our dependence on the Holy Spirit in that task.

Click Here To Read the Full Statement of Understanding and Belief

 Women's History Month: Harmony Lynn Hammond

from GLBTQ: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Culter

Harmony Hammond is a significant artist whose lesbian feminism is integrated into her painting and sculpture, teaching, writing, and curatorial work.

She arrived in New York in August of 1969, shortly after the Stonewall riots. Born in Chicago in 1944, she had a B.F.A. in painting from the University of Minnesota and a gay artist husband whom she had married at the age of nineteen. She also spent time in France and Belgium, where she was influenced by collections of African, Oceanic, and Native American art.

In New York, Hammond divorced her husband and had a daughter. She came out as a lesbian in 1973.

In 1972 she helped found the A.I.R. feminist co-op gallery, where she held her first solo show. After this exhibition, she was invited to lecture as a visiting artist in schools and universities. She began publishing essays on art and began to talk with other lesbian artists and to collect slides of their work. Since the 1970s, Hammond has maintained a multidimensional career as artist, teacher, writer, and curator.

Read the Full Article Here

 A Litany for Women's History Month

A Litany Requiring Insight Into the Lives of Women in the Conference/Regional/or Local Church Level

The General Commission on the Status of Role of Women

by Lauren Heather Lay, Pastor Christ United Methodist Church of Baltimore County.

Leader: Historically and Biblically, women have been left out of the story. If mentioned at all,they more often than not were left unnamed, or were referred to as “spouse of” and never received their own identity or more than a passing nod.

People: It is time to write women back into history.

Leader: Some names rise easily into our collective memories because their moment in history set the tone for future chapters. In our own Wesleyan heritage, we cannot neglect the name of Suzanna Wesley. Her story is not limited to the particular children she brought into the world— two included Charles and John, but about how she lived out her faith in her own community, bending societal rules to do what needed to be done.

People: It is time to write Susanna Wesley back into history.

Leader: In more recent denominational history we have two women who decades apart were elected bishops. Bishop Leontine Kelly is written into history as the first African American woman so elected in 1984. She did not stand on this status and coast through her ministry, but
continues—long after retirement from the California-Nevada Conference—to see the value in all people and to work side by side on their behalf. It is this love of neighbor, this authenticity which aligns her well with a bishop serving her first term in the Eastern PA conference. Bishop Peggy Johnson is writing history as we speak. Her interest in serving the poor and the differently abled is not an intellectual endeavor but a radical and necessary approach to contemporary ministry.

People: It is time to write Leontine Kelly and Peggy Johnson into contemporary history.

To read the rest of this litany and download other resources for you local church visit: www.gcsrw.org

 Take Action: Queer the Census

www.queerthecensus.org

The census tells the story of who we are as a nation, and that includes LGBT people — but only when we participate, and only when we're fully counted. Thanks to the collection of unmarried partner data, a more complete picture of who we are has emerged. For example, we know that:

• Same-sex couples live in 99% of all US Counties.
• LGBT parents live in 97% of all US Counties.
• Black and Latino same-sex couples are raising children at almost the same rates as their heterosexual peers, but on lower incomes ($10,000/yr less).

Still, there is no question on the 2010 census that asks individuals if they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender — and LGBT questions are not included in almost all other major federal surveys.

It's a big problem. The census, which counts everyone living in the United States every ten years, provides the data that is used to determine funding and policy priorities at the national and state level.

Being counted isn’t just a numbers game, but a question of whether the LGBT community gets access to the resources that support our health, economic well-being, safety and families. The LGBT community must be visible--and that means participating in the census, but it also means being counted fully.

That's why the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, together with CREDO Action, has launched Queer the Census. We must ensure that LGBT people are accurately counted in the next census — and we need your help to make it happen.

To Take Action Click Here

 Heartbroken Between a Rock and a Hard Place / Dumbarton Statements

by Rev. Donna Claycomb Sokol
wordsfromwashington.blogspot.com

It's a great day to be a resident of the District of Columbia. On this day, countless couples are lining the steps of a courthouse a few blocks from the church with $35 dollars in hand to exchange what once seemed like only a dream for a new reality. On this day, countless individuals are being given the precious privilege of doing exactly what I did nearly two years ago when I went into a room in Durham, North Carolina, clinging to the hand of my fiance, in order to apply for a marriage license. No one looked at me twice on that day. And on this day, many of my dear friends are being given the same opportunity. On this day, the District of Columbia has proudly taken a stand to allow all people in committed relationships to marry - whether they are of the same sex or opposite sexes. It is a great day to be a resident of the District of Columbia. But, it is the most painful day, to date, that I have experienced as a United Methodist pastor.

I am heartbroken between a rock and a hard place.

With all of my heart, I believe that all people should be given the same rights I have been given. I believe that my gay and lesbian, bisexual and transgendered brothers and sisters should be able to marry, and I believe they should be able to lead a church, to be able to answer and respond to the claim God has placed upon so many of them when God called them, spoke out loud their names, inviting them to enter ordained ministry.

The God who called my name is one I know best as Jesus. When I read the scriptures, the thing I love most about Jesus is his ability to encounter all people - meeting them right where they are. Whether it was a woman at a well who had been married several times and was living with a man who was not her husband or tax collectors or hypocrites, Jesus was able to encounter people exactly where they were, calling them by name, changing and transforming their lives forever. When Jesus had a word of criticism to speak, he spoke more about rich people than anyone else. He was always going to the margins, and he has taken me to the margins so many times. I love Jesus' ability to see - to really see people just as God has created them to be.

To Continue Reading Visit: wordsfromwashington.blogspot.com

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Rev. Donna Claycomb Sokol is pastor of Mount Vernon Place UMC in Washington, DC. Mount Vernon Place UMC became a Reconciling Congregation in October 2009.  To learn more about Mt. Vernon Place UMC you can visit their website at www.mvpumc.org to read more of Rev. Sokol's writings you can visit her blog: Words from Washington

 

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Dumbarton Honors DC Marriage Equality

from www.dumbartonumc.org

With marriage equality now law in the District of Columbia, Dumbarton United Methodist Church will honor and celebrate the wedding of any couple, licensed in DC, who seek to commit their lives to one another in marriage. We rejoice that at this point in history, the arc of justice now bends toward equal recognition of marriage for all couples.

Marriage Equality Press Release

Commitment to Marriage Equality Statement

 Agape House Counter-Celebration Shares Message of God's Reconciling Love

by Rev. Lisl Heymans Paul

What better way to spend a mild March day, then surrounded by energetic, empowered students, donning rainbow flags and witty posters, speaking out for justice and love?  That was how we at Agape House Christian Ministry at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) spent our Monday, along with 200 students, faculty and staff from the UIC Community and the Gender and Sexuality Center (GSC).  We organized a peaceful counter-celebration in respond to the anti-Gay, anti-Jewish protest held by the Westboro Baptist Church at the Hillel Jewish Center at Morgan and Taylor on March 8, 2010.

Kurt (my fellow Campus Minister) and I learned of Westboro’s plans to come to UIC in late February and began discussing what would be effective and helpful to the students at UIC in response to Westboro’s hateful message.  Our plans for a response really began months ago, when the staff of the UIC Gender and Sexuality Center (GSC) approached our staff asking for help in responding to anti-gay religious groups on campus.  Their experience was that weeks after the hate groups left, the lingering effect of their hateful message was still deeply felt by the students, who in many ways continued to feel powerless and oppressed.  We worked with GSC on a comprehensive response plan, including offering trainings in non-violent resistance and community organizing.  We felt that the goal of any response was to affirm and uplift the LGBTQ and Ally community on campus with a message of God’s love and acceptance.  And so, rather than direct a message of hate and anger toward the hate groups, we would direct a message of love and peace toward the UIC community. It was clear that the students wanted and needed a public response, in which they would be empowered to speak out and act in love.  To do nothing was to perpetuate hatred, causing deep hurt to both the students and to the Christian Church.  If just one life was changed or affirmed, we would count our work as a success.

Click Here To Read the Rest of This Report

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Rev. Lisl Heymans Paul is the Director of Campus Ministry at Agape House Christian Ministry at UIC and a Reconciling United Methodist Clergyperson. She serves alongside Rev. Kurt Esslinger Lee, who is the Campus Minister and a Presbyterian Church (USA) Clergyperson. You can also find the Agape House Christian Ministry on Facebook at facebook.com/agapehouse.uic

 A Reconciling Clergy Celebration

by Jerry O. Cook
 
Can you imagine it?  United Methodist pastors performing civil unions for gay and lesbian couples?  United Methodist pastors officiating at same-sex marriages?  “When?” you might  ask.  Next year?  In another decade?  By the year 2525?

Actually these things are happening right now.  And they have been for years---within the boundaries of the New England Conference of The United Methodist Church---and elsewhere.
The group responsible for these actions in New England is the Reconciling Retired Clergy of the New England Conference (RRCNEC), an organization of retired United Methodist pastors who began a year of 10th anniversary celebrations with a luncheon held on Saturday, November 15, 2008, at the Sudbury United Methodist Church in Sudbury, Massachusetts.

During the luncheon, the group reaffirmed its Covenant in support of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons (LGBT), remembered and honored deceased members of the group, and expressed special recognition of pastors in the Conference who have helped their churches become Reconciling Congregations (often called “Open and Affirming” in other denominations).  Such congregations accept with intentionality all people regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation.

In the words of the Rev. Dr. Richard E. Harding, honored at the luncheon for his years of exceptional leadership in social justice and as founder of the RRCNEC, “In September, 1998, I wrote to the presiding Bishop of the New England Conference, informing her of my decision to officiate at same-gender holy union services and to invite other retired clergy persons in the Conference to join in this endeavor.  The Bishop responded that it would be her responsibility to follow the dictates of the United Methodist Book of Discipline in dealing with any issues that might arise from that decision.”

To Read the Full Article Click Here

 Get Connected

Do you have a story, poem, essay, thoughts, etc. that you would like to see in a future FlashNet? Is your Reconciling Community connected to a social networking group like Facebook or Myspace? If so send an email to James.

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