wfn.org | 'Witnesses' share personal stories regarding homosexuality

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

Nov. 22, 1999  News media contact: Thomas S. McAnally (615)742-5470
10-21-28-71B {626}

TECHNY, Ill. (UMNS) -- "These are people who follow faithfully, with great
conviction, their faith," one participant observed, after hearing six
"witnesses" share their personal experiences related to the controversial
topic of homosexuality. 

"In Disagreement Charity, A Conversation on Homosexuality" was the title of
the event, sponsored by the church's Commission on Christian Unity and
Interreligious Concerns (CCUIC) Nov. 16-17. Nearly 50 United Methodists from
across the country listened attentively as each of the witnesses shared pain
and heartache. A time of silent reflection followed each presentation. The
two-day agenda included several worship experiences. 

Unlike most other settings in the church where homosexuality is discussed,
there were no votes, no debate, no resolutions, no legislation. The
witnesses and participants represented the diversity in the denomination.

Witnesses sharing their experiences were:

·	Wyolene, who "stood firm" in support of Scriptural prohibitions
against homosexuality and saw her 30-year-old son with AIDS  "saved" two
months before his death. 

·	Linda, who with her partner of 25 years, found love and support in a
United Methodist Church, which she described as an "oasis of love in a
desert of hate and violence."

·	Ruth, who grieved at having to leave the United Methodist Church in
order to respond to God's call for her to be in ordained ministry. 

·	Jim, who at first "bought the lie that I was born homosexual," but
is now married, the father of three sons, and leader of a movement to
"transform" other homosexuals.

·	John, an ordained United Methodist pastor for 21 years, who has "no
regrets" about leaving the denomination. Its leadership, he said, has broken
trust with evangelicals who uphold Scriptural proscriptions against
homosexuality.

·	Phil, a graduate of an evangelical seminary and former teacher at a
Bible college, who is just beginning to openly affirm his homosexuality,
knowing that such an admission will block him from becoming an ordained
United Methodist minister. 

At the opening of the two-day event, the Rev. Bruce Robbins, staff executive
for the Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns (CCUIC),
admitted that "we are not clear where this will lead us." The purpose of the
event, he said, was simply to allow members to hear the voices of witnesses
as they reflect on their experiences.  

Earlier, the commission sponsored two "In Search of Unity" dialogues on
theological diversity, one in Nashville and another in Dallas. The
commission is planning a dialogue on scriptural authority and the revelation
of God for Dec. 7-9 in Nashville, in cooperation with the churchwide Board
of Discipleship.

Scriptural authority is often the hinge on which debate about homosexuality
swings.  Some argue that Scripture clearly prohibits homosexuality and there
can be no concessions made in today's society. They support the
denomination's official stance that "the practice of homosexuality is
incompatible with Christian teaching."  Others say that Christians today
must understand scriptural prohibitions in light of the time and
circumstances in which they were written. God is still speaking today, they
contend, through research and revelation. 

About half of the participants in the conversation are delegates to the 2000
General Conference, the church's top legislative body, which will
undoubtedly spend hours on the topic of homosexuality. The other half are
chair people or officers in their annual conference Commissions on Christian
Unity and Interreligious Concerns. The Council of Bishops named five bishops
to participate in the conversations. Another, Bishop Robert Fannin of the
church's Birmingham (Ala.) Area, was asked by the commission to preside.

No issue since slavery has generated more controversy in the United
Methodist Church .  For that reason, Robbins said the conversations on
homosexuality were held to provide a safe place for people to talk without
fear.

As the United Methodists were meeting in this suburb of Chicago, a church
trial was held for the Rev. Jimmy Creech in Nebraska. Creech was convicted
of disobeying the order and discipline of the church because he performed a
same-sex union ceremony. His ministerial credentials were removed.  

In an evaluation session at the close of the event, Bishop Susan Morrison,
Albany, N.Y., said: "Too often we have separated debate from stories, faces,
journeys. They must go together." 

"When people speak, we see them as people, not labels," observed the Rev.
Barbara Lemmel, Montpelier, Vt. 

Asked by Fannin what the Spirit is saying to the United Methodist Church,
participants responded with words or short phrases: "Listen," "Love one
another," "Respect," "Don't divide and split but hang together," "Listen for
the word of God" and "If you've done it to the least of these, you've done
it to me."

How can the conversations influence the General Conference? One participant
suggested bringing together advocacy groups for worship and dialogue.
Another suggested that a "safe, open" place be provided where people could
hear the views of others. 

"Most of us are problem-solving people," observed James C., Shaw,
Indianapolis.  "We want to solve problems before we know what they are. (At
this event) there were few comments about solving problems. The Spirit has
moved us to take a look at where we are."

"I very definitely felt the Spirit moving over the past 24 hours," said
Linda, one of the witnesses. "I didn't waste a trip."  

Jim, another witness, expressed amazement that he was invited to
participate. "This is the first time ex-homosexuals were invited to be
heard. Liberals don't do that. We are the new minority."

Kansas Bishop Fritz Mutti, who has lost two sons to AIDS, said "putting a
face on the issue is absolutely essential. How do you meet Christ except on
the face of someone else?"

The Rev. Mark Parris, Florence, Ala., expressed appreciation for the
acceptance and sharing that took place. "It is often said of those who are
more conservative, you're just not a thinker," he said. "Some of us do
wrestle with our convictions. This was a healthy environment in which to do
that."

The Rev. Claire Clyburn, Snow Hill, N.C., said she no longer feels the issue
has two sides, but many sides. "I hope our General Conference might have a
vision, not seeking understanding but the presence of the mystery and the
willingness to live in that."

Wyolene, who left the United Methodist Church in 1995, was one of several
witnesses who expressed regret that issues related to sexuality cannot be
discussed openly in the church. Noting that she had been sexually abused as
a child, she said: "I was a victim. I can talk about that in the church now.
I wish I could have done that years ago."

She said she has "stood firm on what the Scriptures say" against
homosexuality, although United Methodists around her believe that approving
homosexual behavior will make the guilt of homosexuals go away. "The United
Methodist Church should not compromise to ease the conscience of those
struggling with guilt," she said.

Without exception, the witnesses quoted Scripture during their presentations
and testified to the importance of their faith. Linda began her presentation
by reading the 23rd Psalm. She and her life partner are members of a United
Methodist congregation that reflects  "an inclusive gospel of Jesus Christ,"
she said. The two women are deeply involved in the congregation where they
have participated in Disciple Bible Studies and small covenant groups.
"Every Sunday at (our church), there are visitors who are looking to heal
from wounds in their various religious backgrounds." 

Linda affirmed her sexuality as a gift from God. "Elle and I were created in
love for love.  I will not bury God's good gift."

Ruth said she first learned of God from her mother and father, both of whom
accompanied her to the event here. From an early age, she said she learned
that being gay was unacceptable. She moved to another city, kept her sexual
orientation a secret, and began to suffer headaches. Eventually she found a
United Methodist church that embraced her. "I came to know God in a more
intimate way," she said. "They loved me, and I knew it." With that
assurance, she said she began to accept herself as a lesbian and the
headaches diminished. "God loved me as a person God created," she said. "God
created me a lesbian."

In her spiritual journey, she felt a call to parish ministry after 10 years
of working in a bank. She began seminary and publicly acknowledged her
sexual orientation at the age of 30. As she came near the end of her
seminary studies, she said she was "overcome with grief that the United
Methodist Church was not a hospitable place for me." In order to be
ordained, she joined the United Church of Christ where she now serves.  

Jim shared how he had "come out of homosexuality" through Christianity
despite a dysfunctional family. Lonely and in search of intimacy, he turned
to pornography at a young age and then to sex with another male. "Sex was
the closest thing to intimacy I had known. It catapulted me into an adult
sexual world."  

While in the 10th grade, he visited a United Methodist Church "where kids
were praying as though they knew who Jesus was," prompting him to plead,
"Lord if this is true, please come into my life." After 10 years of
struggle, he found Exodus International, a group that helps people move out
of their homosexuality. "I experience healing at the deepest levels," Jim
said.  Subsequently he married, had children, and his own parents, divorced
when he was young, have a relationship with Jesus. "They were not there for
me when I was younger, but they are now there for me."

He said he isn't interested any longer in fighting the politics of
homosexuality in the church. Like the other more conservative witnesses, Jim
stressed the importance of loving homosexuals "even if they decide they do
not want to change." In closing he said, "For those of us who have changed,
don't marginalize us like we have marginalized the homosexual."  

John, feeling uncomfortable as an evangelical in his annual conference, left
the denomination and today is serving as pastor of an American Baptist
congregation.  "Leadership of the United Church has broken faith with its
members," he said. "They can't be sure the General Conference will be
followed. The Discipline is ignored. Gay holy union ceremonies are done with
impunity and the blessing of leadership. When trust is broken, the
relationship is over. "  

He said he reluctantly agreed to be a witness at the event and chastised the
commission for announcing earlier that it was a "reconciling commission,"
meaning that it welcomes all people regardless of sexual orientation. Since
the church's Judicial Council ruled agencies and congregations can no longer
label themselves, the commission is no longer using the title, Robbins later
told United Methodist News Service.

John shared how difficult it was to be pastor of an evangelical congregation
when pronouncements and decisions from other areas of the church support
homosexual practice. Before he left the denomination, he said, people were
surprised to discover he was a United Methodist who respected Biblical
authority. 

"Now my local church owns its property and building, chooses its own pastor,
and yet is very loyal to the denomination, which has no power over it
whatsoever. The denomination wants us to succeed and glorify God. I'm a
happy camper now."  

He criticized the 15 bishops who announced at the 1996 General Conference
that they do not agree with the denomination's position against
homosexuality. "The ceaseless promotion of the gay lifestyle is promoting
schism," he said. "The denomination is no longer on biblical ground."

"Shouldn't our unity in Christ be based on something other than tolerating
our differences?" he asked. "Unity at the expense of integrity isn't worth
it. Some things Jesus doesn't want in his Church."

Phil shared, with both conviction and humor, his childhood on the farm where
he was "excited about God and the Christian thing."  

^From the beginning, he said, he had a pastor's heart and would preach to the
cows.  "I didn't create it, didn't want it, but it was there. There was not
a day that I did not feel the call of God on my life."

As his closeness to God increased, so did his sense of being different. "It
had something to do with other males," he recalled. So began a "painful
journey" in which he discovered references in Leviticus against
homosexuality. "I realized they applied to me, and I cried and sobbed. I was
something God hated ... I asked God to take it away."

He read, prayed, visited counselors and pastors, and even got a degree in
psychology to seek an "explanation of why was I like this."  While many
sources suggested that gay people spring from poor family circumstances, he
said his family was loving, kind and supportive. 

Anger and self-loathing built up, leading to "utter despair." He carried a
shotgun shell in his pocket, contemplating suicide. At the age of 27, he
concluded, "I don't think this is working. He finally concluded, "I know
God. God knows me. I've known God all my life. I grew up belonging to God. I
know I'm called." 

Now he questions whether he will be able to serve in the United Methodist
Church but has decided to stay on the track toward ordination to "see how
far I can go."  He expressed regret that the church is saying, "We see you
are called by God, but we cannot let you serve." 
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United Methodist News Service
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