News from the Gay, Lesbian, and Affirming Disciples Alliance

Contents: April-May 2008

A Witness for these "In Between" Times

- Rev. Nancy E. Brink, Omaha, Nebraska

We Disciples have such an uneven record on the ordination of lesbian and gay clergy. There are a few Regions who do not allow ordination, others that explicitly DO allow ordination, and the majority (like Nebraska—where I live), that does not have rule one way or another.

It is easy for us, in our own real struggles for equality and complete acceptance, to forget that the majority of US denominations are still a long way behind ours.

Right now the United Methodist Church’s General Conference is meeting. As in every global Conference of the United Methodist Church, the issue of ordination is on the agenda. GLAD Moderator, María Pérez’s best friend, Jorge Lockward, is a delegate at this event. As a gay man working for his denomination’s national office, he has all of the necessary credentials for ordination. Luckily, he is able to do his incredible music ministry as a lay man, but the pain of exclusion is still real.

Jorge shares his experience of making his own witness:

When the New Testament church had to make a difficult decision that involved what appeared to contradict the witness of the Holy Scripture and centuries of Tradition this is what happened, and I read from Acts 2:9 where Peter explains to the apostles why he went to the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them. Peter says "The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them. . . . As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them, as it had come on us at the beginning. Then I remembered what the Lord had said: John baptized with water but you will be baptized by the Holy Spirit, so if God gave them the same gift as he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God?"

In our present day the Spirit is once again moving us to places we are not sure we want to go. The Holy Spirit, despite the Church’s legislation, continues to call gay and lesbian persons to the ordained ministry. I, in fact am one of this persons.

From the time I was 14 years old and I preached my first sermon, the call of God in my life toward the ordained ministry has been clear. In me there is a fire inside, a fire that burns but does not consume. This holy call has been confirmed by the church as people continue to come to know Christ by the exercise of the gifts God has given me. I love Jesus Christ, I love the church, I know I have been called, and there is nothing I would like more than to fulfill this call within the community where God has placed me: The United Methodist Church. There is only one thing that keeps me from fulfilling this call and it is before us. The deletion of the exclusionary language in paragraph 304.3 would make possible for me and many, many others to fulfill our call.

This exclusionary language is harmful to the church. It keeps people from responding to God’s call. It holds us back from our mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

As you vote on this petition I ask you to consider how the Holy Spirit is calling people like me to the ordained ministry, and if your spirit gives you testimony of this calling, to ask your self the same question Peter asked: ‘Who am I to think I could oppose God?’

Then I was seated. After I spoke, there was a long silence, until someone dared to bring a speech against. The vote did not go our way, but the Spirit was certainly in the place.

As we continued with other issues, at the moment of counting ballots, our chair asked if someone could lead us in song. The Spirit prompted me to stand and lead a song in Swahili that says, "Who will build the church? We'll build it together!" Then I asked a delegate from Angola who had spoken very articulately against my position to come and lead us in another song "Obrigado, Senor". This surprised some, but, like I said while I was leading the first song, "Let's relax a bit. . . . Christ continues to be Lord of all things!"

Jorge, for me, joins the long line of people who have worked for justice and found that they are able to remember to make a witness of love and acceptance: Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, Jimmy Carter, Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Bishop Desmond Tutu. Our love and our joy in the face of exclusion and pain is the greatest sermon that our lives can speak in these "in between" times.