Letter Responding to my Stay UMC Presentation

This is a letter I was honored to receive after a recent presentation. I share it with you (edited to remove identifying information) because it beautifully and succinctly states, from a layperson’s point of view, why the vast majority of traditional United Methodists feel compelled to stay UMC.

—

Dr. West, 

I hope this isn't an imposition.  I was in the audience at {my local UMC}on Wednesday night. I wanted to speak to you after, not least to ask how you're enjoying "Strange New Worlds," but you had a number of folks waiting and we knew you had a long drive home ahead of you. 

First, I want to thank you.  It's obvious that this is a subject you're passionate about, and I truly appreciate you giving of your time.   I also have something that I simply can't get my head around.  My brilliant wife and I have talked about the matter extensively. I've spoken with {our pastor} at length, done a lot of reading, and watched what feels like hours of video (including more than one iteration of Rev. Stafford's informational session).  We have a 10-year-old son, and as I helped him with his Reading Fair project on Sherlock Holmes this past school year, we talked about the idea of "Qui bene?" that Holmes comes back to when he's stuck on a problem.  Believe it or not, that's what is really confusing to me about the present situation.  It may be that I'm not sophisticated enough or just not well-versed enough in the complexities of the thing, but I'm having a really hard time understanding how the traditionalists benefit from this.  I understand that they want a church that more closely reflects their social ideology, and that may be the answer, but I don't understand why the UMC has to be shattered to accomplish that.    

Beyond that, I find the GMC's references to Paul and Barnabas as a touchstone somewhat disingenuous.  Those two parted ways over a personal disagreement as far as I can tell, not any theological divide. It also bugs me that the whole premise of Rev. Stafford's presentation appears to be internally inconsistent, first stating that declaring Jesus as Savior is all that is required for salvation, regardless of doctrine or rules (emphasis mine), and then lamenting breaches of the Book of Discipline in nearly the next breath.  His appeal to probability, saying that because there are more and more "liberal" pastors being ordained in the UMC that even if you're a predominantly "traditional" UMC congregation, you're probably going to get a liberal pastor that doesn't align with your views, strikes me as a shabby trick more appropriate to Harold Hill.  Those, however, are my own gripes and not likely to have much of an impact on anyone else.

Sir, I know you're incredibly busy, and I understand completely if you're not able to respond.  Part of writing this was just to sort out what's been banging around in my head on this for a long while.  I'm going to vote to stay, if it comes to a vote at {my church}.  Like you, I'm sure, people I love and respect are on the other side.  If our church disaffiliates, I have no doubt we'll be able to find another church home.  What it comes down to for me, really, is that I can't see myself being part of a church that says to anyone, "You can attend worship here.  You can sit in the pew if you want. But you can't fully be part of this church because of who you are."  It seems to me it's the same as saying, "Jesus does not want you here."

Thank you, sir, again, for your time and your passion and for letting me get all this out.  I'm not sure if any of it makes sense.  If I can be of any help to you, please don't hesitate to ask.

Very Respectfully,

{name}

Addressing the Misinformation about our Core Doctrines

I've had several thoughtful and positive comments on my sermon on Trinity Sunday, so I thought I'd share a portion of it here. It's important!

I'm excited about being part of God's church because of who God is and what God is doing in us. No church is perfect. Last time I checked, it's full of people. And no denomination is perfect. All of them are struggling, but the church is the gift that God gave us, a gift of not only witness for God but for the "with-ness" of God.

And as we talk about the Trinity, I think it's important to address some misinformation that you will find out there in the world. Some opponents of the United Methodist Church say that the UMC is going to somehow abandon core doctrines like the authority of the Bible, or the resurrection, or the virgin birth, or the lordship of Christ, or the Trinity. You name it, I've heard it. Nothing could be further from the truth, and I'm going to tell you a couple of reasons why.

First of all, one method of rhetoric is to take outlying examples - something somebody said, somewhere, in a 12.5 million person denomination - and then you exaggerate it, take it out of context, wrap it into a narrative of the infidelity of the whole, and use it as justification for leaving.

It's a method of rhetoric. But it's an untruth, because second, our core doctrines of the United Methodist Church can not be changed. They're part of something called the Articles of Religion. They are in a constitutional section of our Discipline and were written by Wesley's very own hand, as he adapted them from the Church of England. It would take a 3/4 vote of all lay and clergy members of all annual conferences everywhere, throughout the entire world, to change those core constitutional doctrines.

And the very first one reads like this:

Article I — Of Faith in the Holy Trinity There is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body or parts, of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness; the maker and preserver of all things, both visible and invisible. And in unity of this Godhead there are three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

You can not be more clear, and that's "A Number One."

In Memory of Harry Sims Protecting the Freedom Riders

I had a moving experience this past Saturday. I attended the Freedom Riders Anniversary Event on Gurney Avenue in Anniston, coordinated by a friend and parishioner named Pete Conroy. There was a book signing and presentation by Charles Person, one of two living original Freedom Riders who came through town in 1961 to protest continued segregation in Alabama, after it was outlawed by the Supreme Court.

At the time their "mixed riding" was met with hostility from mobs of Ku Klux Klansmen, Person was 18 years old. I had heard the basic story, of course, but I mentioned on Sunday that I didn't realize it happened on Mother's Day.

Afterwards, one of our church members told me that a parishioner of our church, Harry Sims, was on that bus. In his blessed memory, and in honor of all those who are part of the fiber of our great church, I decided to learn more about what Harry did.

At the time of the Freedom Riders, Harry was a plainclothes state trooper who was on the Greyhound bus. He was on duty, not only keeping an eye on things with his partner (who was recording the whole thing), but ended up protecting the Riders from violence.

You probably know some of the main story. Two buses left Atlanta, bound for Birmingham, and the Greyhound stopped for a rest stop in Anniston. As soon as they left Atlanta, "beefy" Klansmen on the bus started taunting Person and the other black and white Freedom Riders. Harry and his partner were sitting in the back. Once stopped on Gurney Avenue in Anniston, out of nowhere, the Freedom Riders were met by a Ku Klux Klan mob who blocked the bus, slashed the tires, broke the windows, and beat it with baseball bats.

Once the bus was able to pull out, just a few miles out of town the bus had to stop on the side of the road. Having been chased by cars driven by the same angry mob, the infamous scene was set.

Harry and his partner blocked the doors to keep the mob from attacking the Riders. One of the KKK threw a fire bomb through a broken window, and the Riders had to get out to escape further injury from smoke inhalation. Harry drew his weapon to protect them from the mob, which then began to disperse. When the ambulance arrived, the driver refused to take the black Freedom Riders to the hospital, and the white Riders insisted that they would not leave their black friends behind.

After some stern words from Harry's partner, the driver relented and they ended up all going. Harry and his partner accompanied them to the Anniston Memorial Hospital, where there was continued agitation. After the hospital administrator told them to evacuate because of threats of burning down the building, Harry and his partner could not provide transportation or an escort. So Fred Shuttlesworth, Civil Rights leader, ended up sending cars for them from Birmingham.

I wish I had met Harry Sims and heard his version. Those were difficult times. But he was there for all that, and he protected them, and in his own way, he stood for what was right. I tip my hat to Harry Sims. For more information on the Freedom Riders, the incident near Anniston, and Harry Sims, see the NPR news article on the subject.

Better Recording of "I'll Be On My Way" by Shawn Kirchner

Some have asked to hear the most recent performance of my solo work with the Calhoun County Civic Chorale. It was a professional recording made in the recital hall at Mason Hall at JSU.

This is the spring performance of the Calhoun County Civic Chorale, doing "Ill Be On My Way" by Shawn Kirchner.

It features myself as the baritone soloist. The director is Dr. Eliezer Yansen, Jr. of Jacksonville State University.

YOU MAY VIEW THE PERFORMANCE BY CLICKING HERE.

“I’ll Be On My Way” by Shawn Kirchner

Some have asked me to share the audio recording my wife made of “I’ll Be On My Way” by Shawn Kirchner, performed by the Calhoun County Civic Chorale directed by JSU faculty member Dr. Eliezer Yansen, Jr.

I am the baritone soloist featured in the piece. 

Charles Wesley's Words Against Separation

This article was shared with me by S T Kimbrough, Jr.

A key sentences reads "Regardless of current opinions in the church, remembering the posture of our founders is essential if we would bear the name Methodist."

Kimbrough  is a retired NAC member of the North Alabama Conference and serves as a Research Fellow in the Center for Studies in the Wesleyan Tradition at Duke Divinity School

At the conclusion of John Wesley’s treatise Reasons Against Separation from the Church of England (1758) there is a rarely quoted paragraph written by his brother Charles Wesley. As one carefully considers issues related to dividing The United Methodist Church it behooves us to hear these words of one of the founders of the Methodist movement.

        “I think myself bound in duty, to add my testimony to my brother’s.

    His twelve reasons against our ever Separating from the Church of England,

    are mine also. I subscribe to them with all my heart. Only with regard to the

    first, I am quite clear, that it is neither expedient, nor lawful for me to

    separate: and I never had the least inclination or temptation so to do. My

    affection for the Church is as strong as ever; and I clearly see my calling;

    which is, to live and to die in her communion. This therefore, I am determined

    to do, the Lord being my helper.

        I have subjoined the Hymns for the Lay-Preachers; still farther to secure

    this end, to cut off all jealously and suspicion from our friends, or hope from

    our enemies, of our having any design of ever separating from the Church.

    I have no secret reserve, or distant thought of it. I never had. Would to God

    all the Methodist preachers were, in this respect, like minded with

                                                                                        CHARLES WESLEY.”

Following this statement Charles included a series of hymns and poems pertinent to this theme. I quote only one of them here. Regardless of current opinions in the church, remembering the posture of our founders is essential if we would bear the name Methodist. As “God is love,” the Wesleys remind us that this is the central force of individual and corporate life together. Charles reminds us that God transcends the opinions of our hearts: thou art greater than our heart. And humble love is to be our ongoing mark as followers of Jesus. In the current turmoil in United Methodism the deep sense of humble love in the spirit of Charles Wesley’s text below, alone is worthy of the people called Methodists who claim to be followers of Christ.

                    O Lord, our strength and righteousness,

                        Our base, and head, and corner-stone,

                    Our peace with God, our mutual peace,

                        Unite, and keep thy servants one,

                    That while we speak in Jesus’ name,

                    We all may speak, and think the same.

                    That spirit of love to each impart,

                        That fervent mind, which was in thee,

                    So shall we all our strength exert,

                        In heart, and word, and deed agree

                    T’ advance the kingdom of thy grace,

                    And spread thine everlasting praise.

                    O never may the Fiend steal in,

                        Or one unstable soul deceive:

                    Assailed by our besetting sin,

                        And tempted ’fore the work to leave,

                    Preserve us, Lord, from self and pride,

                    And let nor life, nor death divide.

                    Pride, only pride, can cause divorce,

                        Can separate ’twixt our souls and thee:

                    Pride, only pride, is discord’s source,

                        The bane of peace and charity;

                    But us it never more shall part,

                    For thou art greater than our heart.

                    Wherefore to thine almighty hand

                        The keeping of our hearts we give,

                    Firm in one mind and spirit stand,

                        To thee, and to each other cleave,

                    Fixed on the Rock which cannot move,

                    And meekly safe in humble love.

S T Kimbrough, Jr., retired NAC member