NIC VOICE News Update 11-05-2005 NIC Reaction to Judicial Council Rulings
The following email is being forwarded in its entirety by request of Joy Royston with the exception that the “To:” email addresses have been deleted in the original emails forward from Joe.
-----Original Message-----
From: Joe Royston [mailto:joelroydton@hotmail.com]
Sent: Friday, November 04, 2005 9:51 AM
To: debbie@dgfumc.org; hsjung@umcnic.org
Cc: don@fnshome.com
Subject: RE: Midweek Message from Kent
I am not sure you meant to send this to me. As you may guess, I agree with the Judicial Council decision. That Clergy in the NIC do not follow the official Doctrine of the UMC or the Holy Bible is the major reason I left the NIC. I hope you can appreciate that I did not resort to the name calling that many on your side have used to "dialog" with me. I have been called a Bigot and hatefilled among many other things just because I believe the Bible. Joe Royston
From: "Deborah Fisher"
<debbie@dgfumc.org
Subject: RE: Midweek Message from Kent
Date: Thu, 3 Nov 2005 19:31:30 -0600
The Pastor's column for this week's Tower Bell is addressing this very issue. John and Nick also signed the column to indicate that we are absolutely united on this stand. I have sent a petition I received today to Lilian Ficht for possible action by either the congregation or the Ad Council. We may also send a resolution to our Annual Conference taking a stand against the action of the Judicial Council or we can submit one to General Conference in 2008 seeking to get the language of the Book of Discipline changed. There are many options; there are many who are as outraged as we are. Anything you do as individuals would be positive and helpful also.
Warm regards,
Debbie
From: Don Safford [mailto:don@fnshome.com]
Sent: Thursday, November 03, 2005 6:04 PM
Subject: FW: Midweek Message from Kent
Don
To all: Forgive me if some of you receive this several times, but it would be only because you are such active people. This is chilling. Maybe we should write to the Judicial Council. I know they are not expressing my beliefs and views.
From: MidWeekMessageFromKent
[mailto:MidWeekMessageFromKent@stlukesumc.com]
Sent: Thursday, November 03, 2005 10:28 AM
Subject: Midweek Message from Kent
Friends:
St. Luke's United Methodist Church defines itself as an open community of Christians who seek to share the love of God with all creation. We are open and welcoming to all persons no matter what their race, gender, lifestyle, or theological perspective might be. We want everyone to know that God's love for us is unconditional simply because we are children of God and not because we have earned it or deserved it in some way. Because of our open and welcoming stance, many gay and lesbian persons have become active members of our congregation and we are blessed by their faith, presence, spiritual gifts and leadership ability. For this reason I want to appologize to the gay and lesbian members and friends of our congregation and to all open and accepting members of our church for the recent decision of our national United Methodist Church Judicial Council.
This week, our Judicial Council, (the Supreme Court of the United Methodist Church) made a ruling that affirmed the right of a pastor in Virginia to exclude a gay man from the membership in a United Methodist congregation simply because he is gay. This gay man had been attending the church for some time, singing in the choir and requested to transfer his membership from another denomination to the United Methodist Church when the local pastor refused to accept him as a member.
The United Methodist Bishop in Virginia and the clergy of the Virginia Conference in Executive session last June, voted to put that pastor on involuntary leave of absence because our church officially welcomes all persons into membership who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. However, the Judicial Council upheld the right of the pastor to refuse membership to anyone whom they do not deem "ready" for membership. The United Methodist Council of Bishops has sent a pastoral letter to all United Methodist pastors reminding all of us that our Discipline states:
"WE IMPLORE FAMILIES AND CHURCHES NOT TO REJECT OR CONDEMN LESBIAN AND GAY MEMBERS AND FRIENDS. WE COMMIT OURSELVES TO BE IN MINISTRY FOR AND WITH ALL PERSONS." (2004 Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church Paragraph 161g)
In the United Methodist Church we have a group called the Good News movement and the Confessing Movement which are very rigid in their interpretation of Scripture and judgmental in the practice of Christianity which are seeking positions of power and authority to impose their perspectives on the United Methodist Church. At the last General Conference this group elected the majority of the Judicial Council and now we are seeing the results of those elections.
If this decision is allowed to stand, pastors could refuse membership to divorced persons, persons of color or any other persons simply on the basis of the pastor's particular prejudices.
Even if one believes that homosexuality is a sin, if we were to say that anyone who is a sinner cannot be a member of a United Methodist Church, then none of us would be allowed in the Church.
The President of the Judicial Council is James Holsinger, 4705 Waterside Court, Lexington, Kentucky 40513 (phone 859-224-8250). This Sunday you will be given an opportunity to sign a petition requesting Mr. Holsinger and the Judicial Council to reverse this decision or you may contact him on your own with your concerns.
As Christians we need to find ways to express our concerns with love for the person with whom we may disagree and seek to discern God's will for our church at this time in history.
The advertising campaign for the United Methodist Church says we are a church with "open hearts, open minds and open doors" but the Judicial Council decision allows local pastors to close those doors at their discretion.
I weep for the direction our national church is going and thank God daily for the openness, light and love that the people of St. Luke's share for all people in the world. This week my sermon is entitled: OPEN HEARTS, OPEN MINDS, OPEN DOORS??
Please join us this Sunday as we seek God's will in difficult circumstances and are fed at the table of our Lord with communion.
Grace and Peace,
Kent Millard