Thomas S. Russell

THOMAS S. RUSSELL

FOUNDRY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
Washington, D.C.

I credit my parents and two local United Methodist congregations in Dayton, Ohio, with inspiring me to believe in God and fostering my desire to live and serve as a follower of Jesus of Nazareth.  I served the UMC by teaching school at the Navajo UM Mission School (1979-1981) and also by serving as the Middle East Mission Intern assigned to the Middle East Council of Churches (1983-1986).  As a student pastor and deacon, I served congregations in Ohio, Texas, Oklahoma, and Maryland.

In 1990, I came out as a gay man and left the ordained ministry of the United Methodist Church.  I decided to seek a loving companion with whom to share the rest of my life.  I had to leave the ordained ministry of the United Methodist Church, for I could not be openly gay.  With great sadness, I informed my district superintendent and bishop.  I told them that I would continue in ministry as a lay person and would seek to do what I could to educate others toward a more loving and reconciling relationship with all people, including people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered.  My partner Alan and I worship at Foundry UM Church in Washington, D.C., where we have many fine Christian friends in a loving, reconciling, diverse community.

Established in 1815, Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, DC has been the home to Presidents, members of Congress, and many other public servants.  In 1995, Foundry became one of the largest Reconciling congregations in the country, working for the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people into the life and leadership of the United Methodist Church.

This is one of six stoles (#587-591, 846) donated by Foundry in advance of the 2000 General Conference of the United Methodist Church in Cleveland, OH.  In 1999, the Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN) inquired about the possibility of having a display of the Shower of Stoles at the General Conference the following April.  At the time, there were only around twenty United Methodist stoles in the collection.  We decided to introduce the Shower of Stoles to the Reconciling community by bringing the twenty UM stoles and about a hundred others to RMN’s Convocation in Denton, TX over the Labor Day weekend.  Stoles started to trickle in during the fall, and by February they began coming in droves.  In all, we received 220 United Methodist stoles – the vast majority of them arriving within eight weeks of the Conference.  Thanks to a monumental effort by a number of volunteers who pitched in to help record, inventory, sew labels and make last-minute repairs, all of the new stoles were present in Cleveland.  Twenty more people brought stoles directly to Cleveland, bringing the total number on display to 240.

 Towards the end of the General Conference, twenty eight lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender United Methodists and allies stood on the Conference floor in silent protest over the Conference’s failure to overturn the ban on LGBT ordination – a profound witness and act of defiance for which they were later arrested.  As these twenty eight moved to the front of the room, another 200 supporters stood up around the balcony railing, each wearing one of the new United Methodist stoles.  Hundreds more stood in solidarity as well, in the balcony and on the plenary floor, wearing symbolic “stoles” made from colorful bands of cloth.  A group of young people from Minneapolis, members of a Communicant’s Class, had purchased bolts of cloth the preceding evening and stayed up all night cutting out close to a thousand of these “stoles”.  In less than eight months, a handful of stoles had grown to become a powerful, visible witness to the steadfast faith of LGBT United Methodists nationwide.

 Martha Juillerat

Founder, Shower of Stoles Project

2006