wfn.org | UCC President affirms gay, lesbian, bisexual members

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@wfn.org>]

Nov. 18, 1998
Office of Communication
United Church of Christ
Barb Powell, press contact
(216) 736-2217
<powellb@ucc.org>
On the Web: <http://www.ucc.org>

EDITORS: For the complete text of the pastoral letter, visit
our Web site <www.ucc.org/headline/pastoral.htm> or contact
the UCC Office of Communication at the number listed
above.

United Church of Christ president's pastoral letter affirms ministry
and rights of gay, lesbian and bisexual church members

     CLEVELAND -- The leader of the 1.4-million-
member United Church of Christ this week sent a pastoral
letter to local churches supporting the historic stand of the
denomination's General Synod and many of the church's
agencies and boards in support of the full participation of gay,
lesbian and bisexual persons in the membership and ministry
of the church, and of equal rights for gay, lesbian and bisexual
persons in society.
     Sent in the wake of such vicious hate crimes as the
death of Matthew Shepard, the letter from the Rev. Paul H.
Sherry urges local congregations to be welcoming sanctuaries
for all people and acknowledges that "we have sometimes
failed to recognize how the Bible has been used by some to
perpetuate prejudice and to justify violence against
homosexual persons."
     "When so many in our society would reject and
exclude, it is critical that we of the United Church of Christ
bear witness to the conviction that it is possible to be deeply
faithful to the Bible, profoundly respectful to the historic faith
of the church and of its sacraments, and at the same time
support the full inclusion and participation of all God's
children in the membership and ministry of the church," says
Sherry in the letter, which was mailed to the more than 6,000
UCC churches.  "Likewise, there can be no compromise that
all persons in this society must enjoy equal protection under
the law."
     "I believe our voice among the churches and within
our society is urgently needed, bearing witness to the belief
that God cherishes all and dignifies all, and to our experience
of gay, lesbian and bisexual persons as gifts of God, called
with us by their baptism into the fullest participation in God's
mission of reconciliation in the world," Sherry writes.  "By
that voice, I believe, our churches will be renewed."
     While issuing the pastoral letter comes only a few
weeks following the highly publicized murder of Matthew
Shepard, Sherry began work on its wording early in the fall
following a summer marked by anti-gay statements by a
number of religious and political leaders.  "The campaign
against homosexuals by many conservative politicians and
religious leaders this summer convinced me that another
Christian voice needed to be heard," said Sherry.
     The pastoral letter also comes during a two-year
season of theological reflection on the UCC as an inclusive
church.  In it, Sherry says that he is grateful for the difficult
path church members and bodies have traveled in support of
gay, lesbian and bisexual members of the church.  He also
acknowledges the challenge to "read the Bible again with new
eyes and listen to the Holy Spirit with new ears" that has come
from being "confronted and gifted" by baptized gay, lesbian
and bisexual church members.
     "We have had to reexamine long held assumptions
about those few passages of Scripture that appear to speak
about homosexuality in the light of transforming
interpretations from widely respected Bible scholars and
teachers," writes Sherry, "and we have begun to recognize
how our fears of those who are different, and our society's
deeply entrenched bias against homosexual persons, have
often distorted and nearly silenced the Bible's liberating and
inclusive voice."
     Saying that God "continually reaches out for those
who are cast out for any reason, those who live at the margins
of our lives," the letter reminds church members of  "our
identity as disciples of the One who often ate with those
rejected by the religious norms of the day, the One who sets
before us all the Table of God's inclusive love, mercy and
grace."
     "I hope this letter is seen in the context of our church's
long history of standing with those rejected by society," said
Sherry.  In the letter, Sherry points to the Amistad, "and the
story of our forebears, both enslaved and free, who rejected
Biblical interpretations that supported slavery and whose new
appreciation for the Gospel's mandate led them to fight for
freedom for all."  He also cites, among other examples, the
church's support for Japanese Americans driven into work
camps during World War II, women's rights, Native American
people demeaned by caricature and stereotype, and those who
fought apartheid in South Africa.
     "All of this has helped us discover that our church's
concern for the rights and dignity of gay, lesbian and bisexual
people is not a break from our past, or a departure from
Scripture, but is informed by our moments of greatest fidelity
to the prophetic voice of the Bible and the Gospel's embrace
for those who, with Christ, have been despised," writes
Sherry.
     Sherry ends the letter by acknowledging that the
discussion in the church over the subject of sexual orientation
has remained, for some, profoundly disturbing, and that the
church has "not always been properly respectful, or sought to
understand with sincerity, those sisters and brothers among us
who do not share our understanding or conviction or witness."
But he highlights the ways in which the UCC church
community has grown, and lists the "marvelous surprises"
experienced by the church, including:

     * "The growth and vitality of many local churches that
have declared themselves to be open to and affirming of the
gifts of gay, lesbian and bisexual persons;"

     * "The perseverance of The United Church Coalition
for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Concerns," which
has served as a prophetic presence in the UCC for 26 years;

     * "The growing self-esteem of lesbian, gay and
bisexual youth in the UCC who are able to worship in
congregations that respect their full humanity, as well as the
heterosexual youth in the UCC who have found themselves
called to confront the anti-gay prejudice so prevalent in their
schools;" and

     * "The renewal that springs forth as we discover,
again, that we are not trapped by the past, but are part of a
living tradition that is 'reformed, yet always reforming.'"

     The United Church of Christ, with national offices in
Cleveland, was formed by the 1957 union of the
Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical and
Reformed Church.
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