THE CRIER. CHELTENHAM UMC - August 2016 Cheltenhamumc.com. One Church, One Organization, or Neither? by David Watson PASTOR S PONDERINGS

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1 THE CRIER CHELTENHAM UMC - August 2016 Cheltenhamumc.com PASTOR S PONDERINGS General Conference and Jurisdictional Conference are both complete. A lot has been written about both important events in the life of the United Methodist Church. General Conference wrestled over the issue of homosexuality and the church among other legislative matters; Jurisdictional Conference elected two new bishops - Cynthia Moore-Koikoi, from the Baltimore Washington Conference and LaTrelle Miller Easterling from the New England Conference. Bishop Easterling will be the presiding Bishop of the BWC beginning in September. The Council of Bishops agreed to appoint a special commission that would address all aspects of human sexuality currently covered in church law. Much has been written about the future of the UMC addressing both sides of the argument. You will find in this newsletter an article written by Rev. Dr. David Watson, Academic Dean and Vice President for Academic Affairs and an Associate Professor of New Testament at United Theological Seminary. Sharing it here is NOT an endorsement of this thesis, but a starting point for future dialogue and inquiry. One Church, One Organization, or Neither? by David Watson Things are moving quickly in the UMC. The latest development, of course, is the consecration of an openly gay and married bishop, Rev. Karen Oliveto. According to a story published by the United Methodist News Service, Bishop Grant Hagiya commented on Rev. Oliveto s election, stating, We understand there may be some political implications, but in our mind this was the best person. It was not a question of (sexual) orientation, it was a question of who was the best spiritual leader. The body spoke and said Yes, this is the one. We understand there may be some political implications. Yes, that seems very likely. According to the same article, Bishop Hagiya added this election will not derail the General Conference 2016 s decision to support the Council of Bishops plan to appoint a special commission that would address all aspects of human sexuality currently covered in church law. Indeed, the commission will probably go forward. We will have the commission because we must, because not doing so would be an admission that there is no plausible future as a unified denomination. Yet the work of such a commission has already been rendered futile. A segment of the denomination has made up its mind how it will proceed, regardless of what any commission or conference might have to say. We are in the midst of an identity crisis as a denomination. As my friend Bill Arnold has written, it s time to decide who we are, and, I would add, how we will live together. I will discuss these issues in what follows. (continued on page 3)

2 From the HOMESCHOOL GROUP By Carole Beckley I would like to give a huge thank you to my church family for all the support you have given to homeschooling families in our community, including ours. You have opened our doors to many in an area where there are limited resources for those of us who educate our children at home. Be assured that there are a lot of appreciative people who recognize your gracious willingness to share our facility. As we complete another school year, I would like to give you an update on what has been happening during the past 9 months. Our tutors were able to offer classes in Math, Science, Literature, Writing and Composition, Health, History, French, Spanish, Piano, Voice and Art. We assisted over twenty families. Our Art teacher, Ms. Mia Robinson, put together an amazing Art Show at the American Legion Youth Camp on Surratts Road in Cheltenham. The administrator was so impressed with the students' artwork that he asked Mia to put together a team to paint a mural on the main building of the facility. The piano and voice students presented a lovely concert at our end-of-the-year gathering, and we celebrated four graduating Seniors, all of whom have been taking classes at Cheltenham since at least middle school, with three of them starting classes here in elementary school. What we offer here is a chance for students who normally do all of their studying at home to have a chance to experience a classroom, with its deadlines, competition and interaction with peers. Sometimes parents just cannot get through to their students in certain subjects; we give them reinforcement and the gift of another voice encouraging or admonishing their children. Cheltenham has received many accolades over the years as a blessing for parents and students alike. I pray that as we continue to open our church for classes on Tuesdays that the community will be blessed. Know that they understand how generous you have been for so long. As a tiny example, a love offering of $75 was collected at our end-of-the-year celebration given (in addition to the registration fees) to help with the ministries of the church. I join with our home schooling families in expressing my loving thanks. A PIRATE IN EVERY CHOIR Page two

3 Continued from page 1 A DEAL WITH GOD By Howard Johnson In 1996 my friendly divorce was final. I helped my X move to her new place. Now I would be responsible for all the bills on the farm. Sometimes things did not always go well, my income could not keep up. One particular month, due dates had come but not the money to pay. As a child, I walked to St John s Church with my family many Sundays; in winter we drove. My mother insisted that I attend until confirmed. I served as an acolyte, yet as I got older I drifted away and had doubts about faith and God. Now, years later, I needed help with no one to call upon. Desperate, before bed, I prayed to God for help. I asked Him to help me with my money problems and that I was embarrassed to ask Him for this help; that I would always believe in him from now on, - if he would help me. The phone woke me at eight. It was Russell Watson from Robin Hill Nursery. Mr. Johnson, he said, you told me at one of our dances that you had grown 600 Kousa Chinese Dogwoods that are for sale. I need some of those for a project. Could I take a look at your trees this morning? He was there before I could fix breakfast. I like these trees, he said, May I put markers on the ones I want? Oh, yes Sir! He put orange tape on 60 trees. Now follow me down to my office and I ll cut you a check, he said. I did, and drove home with one thousand dollars, before noon. Later, eating breakfast, I wept. Only GOD could do this. My belief in Him has been strong ever since. He blesses me now, and I feel it, every day. COMING NOVEMBER 12TH RAIN DATE: NOVEMBER 19TH Page three Third Way Plans and Sexual Ethics In objection to my judgment that the bishops commission is now pointless, one might reply that this is the perfect time for a third way plan. There have, after all, been prominent voices in our denomination arguing for some time that one church can live with two different positions and sets of standards regarding homosexual practice. They often quote the old dictum, In essentials, unity; in non -essentials, liberty; in all things, charity. Indeed, this is good advice to live by. The question, however, is whether for United Methodists, our attitudes, teachings, and church law around homosexual practice are actually non-essential. There are four marks of the church: she is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. The second of these, the holiness of the church, is what is at stake when we talk about our teachings on sexual ethics. To be holy is to be set apart. And just as in ancient Israel, which was also a holy people, there are certain ways of thinking, worshipping, and behaving that accompany our being a set-apart people. If we neglect these ways of thinking, worshipping, and behaving, we compromise our holiness, and thereby compromise our claim to be the church of Jesus Christ. Though most people would not articulate it in this way, this notion of holiness is at the root of our present impasse. What does it mean for the church to be holy around the matter of homosexual practice? This is a matter in which there is no emerging consensus in the UMC. There is a majority voice, but no true consensus. Some in our denomination insist we are discriminating unjustly even hatefully against an entire group of people. They say that we are punishing people for the way in which God made them. The church s position that homosexual practice is incompatible with Christian teaching is bigoted, outdated, and deeply harmful to LGBT people. We are not teaching love, they argue, but rather contributing to attitudes that result in rejection, bullying, and even murder of LGBT people. According to this line of thinking, we are acting in direct opposition to the spirit of Jesus, who taught us to accept people for who they are and forego judgment of one another. Jesus taught his followers to represent a radically inclusive community, not a community in which people condemn one another for the way they are made. (cont. page 4)

4 Article Continued from page 3 Now imagine that we passed a third way plan. From this perspective, such a plan would simply authorize segments of the church to stop committing such egregious acts of hatred. In other parts of the church, including the fast-growing African churches, the church s deeply harmful even lethal homophobia and transphobia would continue to inhere. That will never do. From this perspective, the church that engages in such homophobic and transphobic practices cannot be holy, and thereby ceases truly to be the church. Others within our denomination hold that same-sex intimacy is a matter of sexual sin. Endorsing it would be no different than endorsing pre-marital sex or polyamory. God s design, they argue, is for one man and one woman to be united in a faithful, monogamous relationship until one partner in the relationship dies. The creation stories of Genesis 1 and 2 root the male-female binary in the order of creation, and romantic or sexual behavior outside of this order of creation is to act outside of God s design. In Matthew 19:5 Jesus himself draws upon one of the creation narratives in a discussion of marriage, quoting Gen 2:24: Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. Those who hold this position may also argue that, while the Bible does not often speak of homosexual behavior, in the few times it does so it speaks of it in univocally negative terms. Therefore we have far less interpretive freedom than we do with, say, women in leadership, in which the biblical witness is variegated. From this perspective, homosexual practice is no different or worse than any other sin, but it is still sin. A third-way plan would authorize, if not endorse, sinful practices in certain parts of the church. Under these circumstances, the church has compromised its holiness, one of the four marks constitutive of our identity as a church. When we scratch beneath the surface, we see that the church s position on homosexual behavior is not what we might call a nonessential. Our positions and practices related to human sexuality come to bear on the holiness of the church. Proponents of third way plans will be at pains to explain why such serious matters as these should be relegated to the category of non-essential beliefs. In other words, in the face of the arguments for and against the holiness of same-sex intimacy, those who favor third way plans are going to have to explain why our beliefs about homosexual behavior simply aren t that important. Page four Third Way Plans and the Dissolution of Governance There is yet another difficulty with the third way plans: we cannot isolate our position on homosexual behavior from our other ethical positions. The General Conference either has ethical decision-making authority or it does not, and right now practically speaking it does not. Five annual conferences have now reaffiliated with the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, in direct opposition to the decision of the General Conference that we would withdraw entirely from this organization. The issue is now larger than homosexual practice. It is now about our denominational involvement with a pro-choice organization. Rather than abiding by the decisions of the General Conference, then, annual conferences are more and more commonly beginning to function independently as loci for ethical decision making. The logic of this practice is quite easy to extend to a variety of topics. If an annual conference does not agree with the General Conference on a particular decision, the annual conference can simply act on its own. Up until recently the presenting issues have been same-sex marriage and ordination of non-celibate LGBT people. Now it has extended to affiliation with the RCRC. And next it will be what? Perhaps annual conferences will begin to divest from companies that support Israeli policies deemed unjust. Perhaps annual conferences will begin to identify which seminaries they will support, rather than abiding by the stipulations of the General Conference and the University Senate. Perhaps conservative annual conferences will withhold all apportionment funds for the General Board of Church and Society. Now that annual conferences have begun to function as autonomous decision-making bodies the possibilities are endless. By this same logic, churches could simply choose not to abide by the decisions of the annual conference or its bishop. If we like our pastor, our pastor likes us, and he or she wishes to stay, why should this same pastor move when reappointed? The bishop may insist, but we feel the bishop is wrong, so we will do what we like. Why should we pay any apportionment money to support any cause that we do not fully support? This way of ordering our denominational life is exceedingly un-wesleyan. Wesleyanism is not just a set of theological principles. It is a connectional way of being in ministry with one another. If we are not connectional, we are not properly Wesleyan. (continued on page 5) Who Are We Now? Most often the debates in our denomination are framed in terms of particular ethical issues, such as homosexuality and abortion. From the time Melvin Talbot

5 Article Continued from page 4 performed his first high profile same sex marriage I have felt that there was another issue that was just as pressing: our method of ordering our life together. I have worked with people of different theological perspectives on a variety of levels in the life of the church, from teaching Sunday school to the Board of Ordained Ministry to the University Senate. I have long valued these diverse professional relationships and friendships, but these are in danger now, particularly the professional relationships. The United Methodist Church is currently in schism. There are a number of conferences now that have rejected the General Conference and begun to function autonomously. They have instituted separate standards for ordination, separate standards for the consecration of bishops, and separate methods of governance. They have adopted ethical teachings and practices in opposition to the teachings and practices of The United Methodist Church. At General Conference we even had separate queer communion stations. In the history of the church, separate communions are the very definition of schism. Thus we have before us essentially three options, and we need to decide which we will choose: are we to be one church, one organization, or neither? If we are to be one church, it will take incredible resolve to heal our schism. We will need to reclaim what it means to confess one faith and order our lives according to common ethical teachings. We will have to restore our governance. We will have to get serious about discerning what it means to be one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. It would require a miracle for all of this to happen, but I never rule out miracles. There is an alternative, however. We can simply accept that the implementation of separate standards of ordination and consecration, separate methods of governance, and separate ethical teachings and practices amount to a division of our tradition. We can begin to formalize legally our de facto reality. And yet, there is no reason that we need to abandon all of our very significant work together. The denominations that will likely result from our Of course, there is one other option, and that is simply to call it quits altogether. We may allow the bitterness and rancor that will accompany a division to poison any productive ways in which we might work together moving forward. I pray this does not happen, but at this point nothing would surprise me. The United Methodist Church is presently the largest Wesleyan denomination in the world, and right now we are deeply in the midst of an identity crisis. We need to figure out who we are, not just in terms of our ethical decisions, but in terms of the way in which we will order our lives together. Will we be one church, one organization, or neither? PASTORS PONDERING... As you can see, there are many facets to this debate, many things to be considered, many prayers needed for guidance and clarity. I encourage you to do just that-be in prayer for our denomination. Also, please remember this article is just one of many that have been published. Read as much as you can find before and after your prayer time. Share your thoughts with others, not to be in debate but to hear different viewpoints and reasoning. It is my wish to hear God s call on this issue first, setting my own self aside. In that, I read a lot of opinions on all sides of this issue. I have no answers at this point, only the comfort in knowing, while we like to believe we know it all and are in control, it is really God who is in control and holds all the wisdom in the world. Thanks be to God! Cheltenham united Methodist church homecoming September 25, 2016 Worship 11am/Dinner immediately following GUEST PREACHER - Rev. Richard Gray Page five

6 AUGUST 2016 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 Leadership Circle 7pm 2 3 Band 6pm am worship & blessing book bags Band 6pm am worship Band 6pm Book club 6pm am worship Band 6pm am worship Band 6pm AUGUST BIRTHDAYS 1 Ryan Windsor 2 Clayton Groves 3 Sarah Boyd & Ryanne Ewell 4 Amanda Aist & Thomas Woods 5 Jeff Griffith & Sherry Palmer & George Aist 7 Elizabeth Putnam 8 Matt Rose 23 Wade Windsor 25 Ken Kaye 30 Angie House AUGUST WEDDINGS 3 George & Mary Aist 23 Jamie & Nick Poliansky Page six