The problem with Citing Scripture

Citing references from scripture is sure tricky. Now don’t misunderstand me as saying that scripture references are unimportant. I am just a little bit wary because I’ve seen too many conversations degenerate into a process of one-upmanship where one person (or caucus) tries to pile up more references than the other, thus mistakenly believing that the bigger pile proves their point of view. We have far too many examples of how this method delays and sometimes closes down the discernment process, be it about racial justice, women’s rights, or nowadays the question of full participation of our gay, lesbian, and transgendered colleagues, so many of whom are sons and daughters of our church and who have suffered quietly for so many years while we throw scripture verses at each other.

When our family lived and worked in Chicago some 20 years ago, I regularly attended the yearly ad-hoc retreat of persons associated with the Northern Illinois Conference who were John Wesley fanatics like me. I remember one late night conversation between several of us and Stanley Hauerwas, where when the question of scripture and homosexuality came up, he readily admitted the ambiguity around this issue, but he continued by saying that for him he finally could not discount the witness and compassionate service shared by his gay and lesbian colleagues and friends. Sadly that was 20 years ago.

Paul is often quoted as condemning homosexuality and I won’t argue with that. Leviticus condemns cheeseburgers. Where I have been driven to take a second look at Paul has to do with the fact that in the sheer face of his experience, like Hauerwas, Paul was willing to re-image the tradition. Righteousness was clearly associated with the following the details of the Jewish law, but clearly Paul could not finally discount the witness and compassionate service shared by his Gentile colleagues and friends and therefore he was willing to re-think the meaning of righteousness in his age. Today, we celebrate Paul’s witness as a prime example of a willingness to faithfully discern what God (Yahweh) requires of us in our times.

Let me call your attention to the attached article by Wendy Farley , Homosexuality and Gospel Christianity as it addresses this concern. (See upper left - What Others Are Saying)

Grace and Peace,

John

The Birthday of John Wesley

Today I am grateful to share with you these words by Garrison Keilor from his National Public Radio column, The Writer's Almanac.

It's the birthday of the founder of Methodism, John Wesley (books by this author), born in Lincolnshire, England (1703), who was saved from a fire when he was five years old, and came to believe that God had saved him for a purpose. He became an Anglican priest, and later joined a religious study group. The group was nicknamed the Methodists because of their emphasis on methodical rules of living. They prayed, and they fasted according to strict schedules.

In 1735, John Wesley came to this country. He was the priest in a settlement in Georgia, but they didn't care for his preaching and they ran him out of town. He went back to England and traveled around the backcountry on horseback, preaching to all the ordinary people he came across, through England and Scotland and Ireland, preaching 42,000 sermons along the way.

He was always a member of the Anglican Church. His only idea was to create small groups within the Anglican Church to meet for prayer and Bible study. But when Methodist missionaries traveled to the United States, their ideas took hold. Their followers considered themselves members of a new church and they appointed their own bishops and ministers and created their own laws, separate from those of the Church of England.

The Methodist Church became the church of many colonists on the frontier, and by 1850, the Methodist Church was the biggest denomination in the United States. A convert needed only to believe that Jesus Christ was the son of God and was everyone's personal savior. Methodists believe that all other questions about Christianity were up for discussion.

Methodists established more colleges, more hospitals, childcare facilities, retirement homes – more than any other Protestant denomination. William Booth, who founded the Salvation Army, was a Methodist. Methodists started Goodwill Industries in 1902. They started the Temperance movement. A Methodist founded the YMCA. They were a big part of the abolitionist movement and the anti-segregation movement.

Presidents Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford Hayes, William McKinley, and President George W. Bush were all Methodists, as well as Barry Goldwater, Walter Mondale, George McGovern, and Hillary Clinton.

Ann Rice's Jesus vs. the Vampires

I’ve been fascinated to read Ann Rice’s recent book, Christ the Lord - Out of Egypt. In it, she spins a well researched but finally fantasic tale of Jesus as a Jewish boy around the time he was 12. She pays careful attention to the elements of his Jewish environment. She readily acknowledges the work of Paula Fredriksen, who I have mentioned before in this blog. Where she parts company with Fredricksen has to do with the question that asks, "Is Jesus somehow irreducibly different than you and I?" She builds her answer, a yes, on a shaky interpretation of the notion of “only begotten son,” which she ties with the complex assertion of being virgin born. As an aside, again I recommend Amy-Jill Levine’s provocative discussion of the virgin birth in her recent book, The Misunderstood Jew.

I see little ontological difference between Rice’s present Jesus and her past army of vampires. They are all supernatural, a notion that simply does not speak in a post-modern age. Not surprisingly, she also draws on non-canonical fantastic tales where an angry out of control boy Jesus “zaps” a playmate to the consternation of his parents and the concern of his neighbors.

Instead, let me ask the following question which is implied in reference to the trinity. Is there a difference between talking about a divine Jesus and a supernatural one? I would like to chew on that for a long while. I think John Cobb, whose work was the subject of my STM, maps a way to draw that distinction between supernatural and divine in his book, Christ in a Pluralistic Age.

Why we must not wait...

Meaningful discussion and appropriate change about whether our United Methodist Church will be led by compassion and a respect for God-created diversity is being regularly hi-jacked. Please note the following comment included at the end of a list of 2008 General Conference issues found in one right wing candidates letter soliciting votes - "..., the ever present sexuality issues will continue to be divisive and time consuming."

I hope so...

Peace,

John

Why we can't wait any longer!

Please see the attached post --

While I am pretty confident that the American people will reject the imperialist neo-conservative and right wing fundamentalist agenda that Bush is pushing in the next election - I am not sure that we can afford to wait for 18 months until he is out of office. Certainly, there are forces that are in the United Methodist Church that must reject any suggestion that Holsinger's participation in the denominational judicial council qualifies him as some sort of consensus leader. His participation has been nothing but a narrow-minded bullying that promotes an agenda that is out of touch with compassionate community. Justice (the context for any judiciary mechanism) has been ignored and made trivial under his leadership.

The following is a post from John Podesta's Center for American Progress daily newsletter.



ADMINISTRATION -- BUSH NOMINATES HOMOPHOBIC SURGEON GENERAL WHO WANTS TO CURE GAYS: Last week, President Bush nominated James W. Holsinger to become the next Surgeon General of the United States. "As America's chief health educator, he will be charged with providing the best scientific information available on how Americans can make smart choices that improve their health and reduce their risk of illness and injury. ... I am confident that Dr. Holsinger will help our Nation confront this challenge and many others to ensure that Americans live longer, better, and healthier lives," Bush stated. But as BarbinMD points out, Holsinger's nomination to be "America's doctor" is troubling. He has a long history of prejudice toward gays and lesbians. For example, Holsinger founded Hope Springs Community Church, which "ministers to people who no longer wish to be gay or lesbian." Holsinger said that he sees homosexuality as "an issue not of orientation but of lifestyle." In serving on the United Methodist Judicial Council -- the "court" that resolves "disputes involving church doctrine and policies in the nation's second-largest Protestant denomination" -- Holsinger "opposed a decision to allow a practicing lesbian to be an associate pastor, and he supported a pastor who would not permit an openly gay man to join the church." And in the early 1990s, Holsinger resigned from the United Methodist Church's Committee to Study Homosexuality "because he believed the committee 'would follow liberal lines.'" He also warned "that acceptance of homosexuality would drive away millions of churchgoers" [Arkansas Democrat Gazette, 5/26/07; Time, 6/24/91]. Despite this history, Holsinger-supporter Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher (R) inexplicably insists, "Anyone who knows Jim Holsinger knows that he's not an individual given to prejudice." A date for Holsinger's Senate hearings has not been set.

--

Can we wait any longer

MLK's famous statement in his Letter From a Birmingham Jail spoke to the issue of why we can't wait. As we move toward annual conference season in the United Methodist Church, it is becoming clear that somethings can not wait.

We must say loud and clear -

Homosexuality (and related GLT issues) is not an abomination!

If it is an abominatiom, the let's stone them all.

What is an abomination is our church's continued discrimination.

Christian Science Monitor published an article recently that the resolution submitted to the Council of Bishops by retired bishop Jack Tuell which would shift the focus from the condemation of homosexual relationships to sexual playing around prior to marriage outside of committed, legal relationships heterosexual or homosexual was tabled by the council's administrative committee. The resolution also contained the following phrase, suggesting that the present stance, "is based on highly questionable theology and biblical understanding and causes profound hurt to thousands of loyal United Methodist members and potential members."

Bishop Roberrt Haynes was quoted as saying that advancing the resolution would have "proven to be divisive and counterproduction to the unity that currently exists."

What tripe! There is no unity - there is only coerced silence.