wfn.org | Creech calls women he blessed 'truly courageous'

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

June 29, 1998	Contact: Linda Bloom*(212) 870-3803*New York       {384}

NEW YORK (UMNS) - The United Methodist pastor who was subjected to a
church trial after performing a same-sex covenant service said it was
the two women he blessed "who were truly courageous."

As preacher at the June 28 Gay Pride Sunday service at Riverside Church
in New York, the Rev. Jimmy Creech spoke both about the women themselves
and his belief that "the church needs to be with every couple who chose
to make such a commitment."

Creech was narrowly acquitted of charges that he violated church law by
performing the same-sex ceremony and was reinstated at First United
Methodist Church in Omaha, Neb., after the March trial. However, he was
not re-appointed to that church or appointed to any other church and
currently is on leave of absence.

He received a warm welcome at Riverside, an interdenominational,
multiethnic congregation with 2,400 members and affiliates. The
Riverside Church Council endorsed same-sex civil marriage in April 1997.

Creech described the ceremony he conducted last September for the two
women he calls Mary and Martha and the journey that brought them to that
point.

Mary grew up in a Mormon family, married and had a daughter, and stayed
in that unhappy marriage until "she could no longer love and be true to
herself," he said.

Martha, raised a Roman Catholic, had three children with a husband she
considered her best friend but finally could no longer live with the
internal conflicts she felt about her sexuality. After she left the
marriage, she joined a support group and found friendship with a gay man
who also agonized over leaving his wife. They introduced their spouses
to each other and the spouses later married.

"The former husband has remained very supportive and very affirming,"
said Creech about Martha's spouse.

Previously, "God had been to them an enemy, an opposing force in their
lives," he added. But after accepting their sexual orientation, they
learned that God had not rejected them. Mary and Martha were able to
cast off their self-hatred "and embrace the gifts that God had given
them," he said.

The covenant ceremony occurred after Mary and Martha had been together
for several years, once they had accepted God's love for them, love for
themselves and their love for each other.

"It was a triumph of love over fear," Creech explained.

For Sunday's service, Riverside displayed a small portion of the Shower
of Stoles, a collection of more than 400 liturgical stoles from persons
who have been barred from the ministry because of their sexual
orientation. A stole being donated by Riverside was worn during the
service by one of its pastors, the Rev. Elizabeth Alexander, who said
she is leaving the Presbyterian Church because it prohibits her from
living in a covenanted same-sex relationship.

On Sunday evening, CNN aired a news segment about Creech and the turmoil
within the United Methodist Church over same-sex  ceremonies.

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United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
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