Second Stone #57 - Mar/Apr 1998

Second Stone #57 - Mar/Apr 1998

57

1998

Mar/Apr 1998

SECOND STONE
PO Box 8340
New Orleans, LA 70182
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Permit No. 511
Issue #57 UVJ NG INTHEEMBRA CEOF A LoVJ NGAN DJUSTG OD March/April 1998
Pastor suspended for performing same-sex
commitment ceremony returned to pulpit Milestone
UMC victory
KEARNEY, Neb - Rev. Jimmy Creech,
suspended from his duties as pastor of
First United Methodist Church in
Omaha, Nebraska, for perfonning a
same-sex commitment ceremony, was
victoriously back in his pulpit Sunday,
March 15, after being acquitted of
violating the Order and Discipline of the
United Methodist Church. Although
found "guilty" of pcrfom1ing the samesex
union, the jury found lhat he was
not in violation of church doctrine.
For the 400 people in altendance as
the trial ended and as the verdict
was read, tears of joy flowed freely.
Had he been found guilty by the jury
of fellow ministers, Creech could have
lost his position as senior pastor of
Omaha's largest United Methodist
Church and be stripped of his
ministerial credentials.
The jury filed back into the Keamey
United Methodist gym on Friday, March
13 at 6:40 p.m. A statement from the
jurors was read by the Rev. Grant Story,
foreman of the group: "We gathered iu
prayer , in silence , and in respectful
dialogue . Our vote reflects the difficulty
lhc ( iencraJ Conference has exi"1Crie11ccd
with this issue. We have struggled - no,
agonized - together in a spirit of Jove,
and our hope is that United Methodists
everywhere will receive our verdict in
that same spirit of love and respect."
Then the j ury foreman read the numbers.
The jury announced a vote of guilty
of pcrfonning a same-gender service and
then: "On the charge (that by
performing the covenant ceremony for
two women, Jimmy Creech had violated
the Order and Discipline of the Uni led
Methodist Church], 8 guilty, 5 not
guilty."
"Seconds passed, no one moved," said
Mel White, justice minister of the
Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan
Community Churches . "Then,
together, we did the math. The United
Methodist Book of Discipline requires
nine votes to convict. Jimmy had been
found 'innocent' by a single vote."
CNN broadcast that moment live. As
his people sang. Pastor Creech told !he
nation quietly, "This is a victory for
both sides. No one loses here."
Bishop Leroy Hodapp declared the
SEE MEfflODISTS, Page 8
'I can only account for my own conscience'
GayL utheraJnx) Stsoari dre ing
honeswt asμ ut ofhisc allign
AMES, Iowa - The Rev. Steven Sabin
p roud ly po int s to the han d iwork of his
busy. growing congregation - hand-made
children's banner s telling the story of
Noah's ark, pictur es of fifth-graders
clowning at Sunday school, a mission
statement welcoming those from all
walks of life. He talks about openness
in his church, located in this community
of 50,000 - some 30 miles north of
Des Moines - that is home lo Iowa
State University and is considered fairly
liberal.
But now , Sabin's fut u re :u Lo rd of
Life Luth e ran Chur ch is un ce rta 111. A t
the moment , he is co ntinuin g his
church duties as usual despi te a disciplinary
committe e's decisio n lo remove
him from the clergy roster for living in
a relationship with another man.
"I've got a Jot of work to do around
here," Sabin said. "It's great to have the
SEE LUTHERAN, Page 9
'Disaffiliation' of University Baptist Church
Gaym ember':A vezy
encouraginsgte pi ntot hef uture'
DALLAS - Because of Uni\•crsity Baptist
Church's active support of gays and
lesbians, the 180-membcr c;,;ecutive
board of the statewide Baptist General
Convention of Tex.as voted Feb. 24 to
''disassociate" itself from the Austin
church.
It was a move that many Texas Baptist
insiders say has more to do with an
ongoing feud between moderates and
fundamentalists than UBC' s ministry
with the gay and lesbian community.
"W c cannot approve of churches
endorsing homosexual practice as bibli
ca.lly legitimate ," said Fort Worth pastor
Charles Davenport, head of lhe committee
that dr.ifted the motion.
UBC's pastor's address to the board
was hailed by gay and lcsbiau Baptists
who allended the hearing.
"A more effective aud eloquent
prophet could not have been cho~~n f~r
this hour than Larry Bethune, said
Brian Burton. president of Honesty /
Tex.as. "The eight minutes he addressed
the 250 people packed in that room
could only be described as holy. Larry
radiated so much Jove and conviction
thal his countenance glowed in that
room where so much negative energy
SEE DISAFFILIATION, Page 9
•Prayer •The Bible •Words & Deeds
Foundero f Evangelicals
Concernedan activist
.sincet hem id-'OOs
BY JIM BAILEY
IT WASN'T UNTIL the closing years
of the so -called "sexual revolution '' of
the '60s that gay and lesbian people
staked their claim in the turbulent, free thinking
decade that permanently
changed many longstanding beliefs and
attitudes. By the end of lbat decade, 1he
rage had reached a flashpoint at Stone wall
, gay and lesbian Catholic s had
begun me eting in a group they called
Dignity and Troy Perry had held his first
worship servi ce in Los Angeles . Prior
to tha t tim e, the courag eous voi ces
advocatin g for gay and les bian people
were few and eve n fewer those challenging
Chri stianit y's ostracism of gay and
lesbian people of faith.
It was durin g the 1964-65 school year
at the University of Pcm1sylvania that
Ralph Blair spoke out as an advocat e for
gay and lesbian peopl e . Ile was serving
on the lnterVa rsi ty Chri stia n Fellowship
staff when he offered a be lief
shocki ng to many at the time : tha t
homosexua li ty isn' t inco mpa tib le
with Christian faith. Becau se of this
and his suppor t of gay and lesb ian
Chris1ian s, Blair was not reapp ointed to
the staff.
Undaunted and even challenged by the
snuh, 1:3a1ir emerged as an early pioneer
in the Christian movement affi rmin g
gay and lesb ian peop le. He is the
founder of E\'a ngclicaJs Co ncemcd, a
nalional eva ngelical Christian minis try
with a specific outreach to gay and lesbian
people.
1:or over twenty years. Blai r has
taught a weekly Bihle study and edi ted
F:vangct ica ls Concerned' s quarterlies,
"Review" and "Record." He is a ps)c hothcrnpist
in pri\·ate practice in l\lanhat tan.
A native Ohioan. Blair is a graduatl' ol
Bowling (jrccn Slate I lnivcrsity a11d lhl·
Uni vcrsily of Southern (.'ahfonua. I le
2 M A I~ (' 11 • ,\ P I.: I I. I 9 •1 M
earned his doctorate at Pem1 State in
1971, where he wrote his disserlatiou on
homosexuality. Before that he attended
Dallas Theological Seminary and Westminster
Theological Seminary in Piiiladclphia
.
After serving as the Director of Coun seling
at New York City Community
College, Blair founded the Homo sexual
Community Counseling Center in New
York in 1972 and has done individual
and group coun seling with gay men ever
since.
As the founding editor of "The Homosexual
Coun seling Joumal" in the ea rly
'7 0s, he sponsored day-long seminar s
arow1d the nation to increa se under standing
among mental health professionals
of the needs of gay/le sbian people . It
was at one of these work shops that Blair
and an evang elical lead er began talking
about the special nee ds of evangelical
gay and lesbian Chri stian s. In 1975, be
founded Evan gelica ls Con cern ed to
addr ess tl1ose needs and to better educate
lhe wid er eva ngeli cal com munit y in
understanding homosex uality and Christian
faith .
E VANGELICALS CONCERNED is
one of the few national Christian organiza
tions serving gay and lesbian people
that isn't mired in church politi cs and
denomin a tion al issue s such as ordin ation
of gays and les bians, which frees
the orga niza tion to co nccntral e its
ene rgy on the sp iritua l needs of i.ts
mcmhcrs.
"T he min istry of Eva ngelica ls Concerned
is hasicHlly a Cluis tian ministry
with a membership that happens to be
mos 1ly gay and lesbian people," Blair
said. "We do Hiblc slmlies and have conferences
where the focus is not particularly
on gay and lesbian issues "
Evangelicals < 'onccmed emphasizes
that a g:1y or lc~bian C ·1iris1ian would do
well to intcgrntc thl'ir sexual identity
into their spirituali ty as opposed to the
other way around .
"I think a lot of gay and lesbian
Christian groups have the tail wagging
the dog. What I see for EC is to address
the needs of being Christian," Blair said.
"It' S not h,omoscxt~~ty a!hal we Ii vc our
lives a.rouhd~ n3'ttiore than heterosexuals
Jive their li~es a.round tliat."
For people who believe homosexuality
casts anyone Q\l~ip~ the embrace of
God, Blairis adaman' t:
"Homosexuality doesn't have anything
to do with it ," he said. "We ' re
saved by the grace of God and that grace
extends to everybody regardless of their
sexuality ... and everybody, regardless of
their sexuality, is a sim1er."
Though issues such as ordination of
gays and lesbians arc irrelevant to EC,
Blair offers that the approach to such
denominational st rugg les seems to be
reversed.
"I've always thought tl1at zeroing in
on ordination is the wrong emp hasis,"
he said. "You are dealing with people
who question the legitimacy of homosexua
lity in gene ral , and then you ask
them to ordain a homo sexual. The
emphasis should be on full membership
and participation in congregational life .
It seems to me that if a denomination is
queasy about homosexuals in tl1e pews
they' II be even more queasy about a
homosexual in the pulpit."
AJt11ough recent high publicity cases
such as one involving a pastor who was
put on trial for performing a same-sex
commitment ceremony and another pastor
who may lose his pulpit for being in
a relationship with another man are
making it more widely known that gays
and lesbians are becoming more and
more involved in the church at all levels,
the message . also seems to say that
gay and lesbian people are not welcome.
That mes sage can be changed, Blair said,
as we work not only in the church but
in the community at large to change
how gay and lesbian people are understood.
"I think that the more the general
population can see that gay and lesbian
people are like everybody else, except
that gay people fall in love with people
of the same gender, the more people
understand that they' re not dealing with
aliens, the more they. a.re accepted," Blair
said. "The more people know us as who
we are otl1erwise, ther e's a much easier
cntrce for communica _tion an~ accept-
ance. "
ONE AREA IN which Evangelicals
Concerned and its chapters have done
extensive work and offer some of the
SEE BLAffi, Next Page
Dr. Ralph Blair, founder of Evangelicals Concerned
FAITH IN DAILY LIFE
Blaira pioneeirn Christian
movementto affinng ays
From Previous Page
very best material avail able is on e:,i;-gay
ministries - organizations that falsely
claim to be able to change the sex ual
orientation of a gay or lesbian person :
Most people who experience an ex-gay
mini stry ju st delay reckonin g with their
sexual identity, according to Blair.
"Ex-gay programs are an ever present
problem because people are ignorant of
what the hi story has been," Blair said.
'They present themselve s as a ministry
of changing people from homo sexual to
heterosexual but the fine print does not
acknowledge that. Th ere 's a lot of disillusionment
among people who have
tried ex-gay program s, and many
churches are di sillu sioned as well."
AJthou gh well funded by the religious
right, ex-gay ministries are not growing
as rapidly as they could be, according to
Blair. ·
"As one ex-gay mini stry falls apart, a
new one rises up," said Blair. "All of
the lead ers of the early days are gone
now. Some of the material from early
on is still out there but lhc people who
developed it have long si111:c lert the
movement."
Many in the gay community thought
the so -called "rcpara ti vc therapy" used
by ex-gay programs would lose a lot of
steam when the Ame1ica11 Psycholog ical
Associ ation declared late last year that
homo sexuality is not a mental disorder
and does not call for treatment. Not so,
said Blair.
. ':'he people who want the ex-g ay
m111s1tn es to be succ es sful are people
who di smiss new thou ght in psychology,
althou gh their late st material is full
of inform ation from ea rly psychology ."
So where docs the ex-gay myth end?
"The more the general public and the
church experience gay and lesbian people
as simpl y their own family members
and their own church members and
neighbor s - and see that there is no difference
- is what will put the ex-gay
myth to rest," Blair said . "Ex-gay ministries
can survive as long as peop le sec
gays and lesb ians as ·t hem· and and not
'us' - and a lot of self-a ppointed gay
leaders hip tends to sec gay and lesbian
peop le tha t way too."
AMONG EVANGELICALS Concerned'
sprinted material, and often seen
cl~ewhcre. is ii brochure entitled "What
Jesus had to suy about homosexuality ."
Nothing - according to the brochure, as
the reader opens it up to an empty page .
But in Mauhew 19:4, Jesus describes a
marria ge sce nario between a man and a
woman . How are we to interpret that?
"The anatomy is not the important
thing," said Blair. "In Jesus' <lay people
did not have the underst anding of sexuality
we have today. We look in vain for
anything about homosexual orientation
in scri pturc."
Once reconciled that a homo sexua l
orientation is not condemn ed by scripture
there is the enduring question of
how a gay man or le sbia n is to live a
life of Christian faith that fully
embraces their sexuality.
The building and maintaining of
intimate relation ships is possible ,
though difficult in our culture in general
and in the gay community in particular,
according to Blair.
The "Homosexual Revolution" panel in the Open Panel series at Penn State
University, 1965-66, created and moderated by campus chaplain Ralph
Blair, center of photo, and including Clark P. Polak, founder of the early
homophile organization, The Janus Society, far left.
"The need for connec tion with auotl1er
individual is a deep human need . But in
our entire popular culture , we
never really see sexual relationships between
people other than people who have
just met. We sec that kind of model
more and more as equal to the desire to
sustain an ongoing and deepe ning sexual
relationship ."
Considering that half of all heterosexual
marriage s end in divorce and in a
high percentage of those still intact
mates say they have cheated on their
spouse , is a heterosexual model of marriage
the best we can do in defining our
■
near impo ssible to sustain a rel ation ship.
Anything that can help to stabilize
ll1e relationship is valuable. r vc been a
psychotherapist all my life and I can say
that homo sexuality really is about falling
in love with someone of the same
gender, and anything that can aid in that
relationship goes to what the heart of
homoscxua li1y is:·
Perhaps early during the new millennium,
gay and lesbian couples will have
the right to enter into a civil marriage.
The burden then will be on gay and lesbian
couples to stay married .
"Any relationship, gay or straight , is
about commitmen t, not just going to
the chapel. The couple needs to under stand
the nature of sexual intimacy .
Both gay and straight peop le put the
"I think a lot of gay and lesbian Christian
groups have the tail wagging the dog. What
I see for EC is to address the needs of being
Christian. It's not homosexuality that we
live our lives around - no more than
heterosexuals live their lives around that."
own way of living in relationship with
someo ne we love?
"I don't think it's fair to call it a heterosexual
model," Blair said . "Of course
it doesn' t make sense to model anything
that is a bad examp le. Couples must be
able to Ii vc up to the ideals of marriage,
but that docRn' t mean the answer lies in
throwing out the ideal. There arc
influences in the 7.citgcist that make it
■
emphasis on a wedding when it's all
re all y about the ma rriage." Blair
reca lled C. S. Lewis· comparing love to
a pool : "When you fall in love, you
take a dive. Once in the water the job is
to swim. What often happe ns is that
when th e dive is over. we look for
another poo l.•·
Afler over three decades of a1:tivism,
docs Blair have any concern that the
Christian movement in the gay and lesbian
community can be strangled by the
rh etoric and politics of the religious
right? "I don't ll1iuk so," Blair said.
"U nlik e times in history when gay
m')vements have been silenced, we have
a free press and ready access to inf onnation
on the intem et.
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SECOND STONE 3
FAITH IN DAILY LIFE
Forgivintgh eu nforgivabcleh allengefsu itho fo rdinaryμ :uple
BY DAVID BRIGGS
A FATHER MOURNS a son slain by a
drug addict. A daughter turns her back
on a violent, alcoholic mother. A
young man is haunted by the image of
his grandmother stabbed to death . A
husband thinks of killing himself or the
wife who abandoned him.
A mini ster, a mother , a steelwo rker.
and an attorney - ordinary people who
lived in unendurable pain .
Until they stopped it with an extraordinary
act: forgivene ss.
They are part of a national trend
refl ected in an increa se in religiou s
revivals and best-selling books extolling
the virtues of forgivenes s. But their
stories reveal the road to forgiveness is
dilTcrent for each individual .
None forgave easily or quickly . Each
got there in differ ent stages, sometime s
even when their tormentor s were unrepentant.
But none regrets it.
"The anger has total ly gone away,"
said Jim, the newly divorced man. "God
had a plan. I still don't understand the
plan. But it' s got to be something good
after all he's put me through."
The Rev. Walter Everell's shock al
the murd er of his son, 24- yea r -old .
Scott, turn ed to rage when the killer
plea -bargained his way to a five-ye ar
sentence.
When rle1 killer, a drug addictu amcd
Michael Car lucci , was sentenced, he
said that although they must sotmd like
empty words to the Everetts, he was
sorry for wbat he had done.
Evueu 's fri ends dismi sse d the
rcmon.e as a ploy [or leniency , but
Everett himself, a United Methodist
minister in Hartfo rd , Conn ., was
moved.
On the anniv ersary of his son's death,
he compo sed a letter to Carlucci in
which he talked of his family's suffering
- "the pain is almost unbe arable al
times" - and said he could not accept
oue person having so lillle rega rd for
anotJ1er.
And then he wrote : "Although words
seem so trivial in some ways (yet they
are all that we have now), I do accept
your apology, and, ns hard as the se
words arc to write, I add: I forgive you."
Those words. the bearded minister
would later recall , were a turning point. ·
"I felt a burden lifted from my shoulders
. It was the beginning of healing for
llll! .1
'
But ii was not the l'lld. llis marriage
would fail: his wife could 1101 understand
t1is forgiveness When he went lo
ti II.I /1. It ( . l I • /1. P R I l- I 9 9 8
visit Carlucci a few months after writing
the letter, he was enraged anew to
find that the murderer had already been
tran sferred from a maximum- to a
medium -security prison.
"Healing doesn't come immediatel y.
It come s in stage s. It's a proc ess that
goes on through one's life," Everett
said.
At that first meeting, Everett was
making small talk about Carlu cci' s
weight when the prisoner, who had
never been forgiven by anyone before ,
reached over and embraced him. Both
broke down in tears.
Everett and Carlucc i would become
friends . It was Everett's testimony that
helped Carlu cci win early rele ase from
pri son, and it was Everett whom Carlucci
would visit while on prison furlough.
In 1994, E\'erett officiated at
Carlucci's wedding . They still see each
other regularl y.
Everett will never forget his murdered
son. But if you are going to love your
enemies, as Christ commanded, you
first have to for give them, Eve rett
believes.
"When I look at Mike, I don't see a
man who injured my son," Everett says.
"I see a man who is forever changed by
God. And I celebrate that."
When her husband told her he had
invi ted his morher- io -Jaw to stay wirh
diem for Oui stmas , Kate was fonous.
When Kate was growing up in poverty
in a small Canadi an town , her alcoholic
mother regularly heat her and left
her alone to ca re for six youn ger
siblin gs.
No amount of brnises on Kate's face
the following morning would elicit any
remorse from her mother, who accused
her daughter of lying when confro nted
with the truth.
When Kate started her own family 111
age 20, she never looked back. But after
the birth of their fourth child, her husband
made the Christmas attemp t at reconciliation.
The visit was a fonnal one . Kate
sen sed her moth er was oft en on the
verge of telling her something, but she
was cletennined not to give her mother
the opportuni ty. Kate refused to accompany
her to the airport with her husband
" It was j ust at the moment of her
walking out the door, and she said , 'Can
you ever forgive all those years?' And
that was all I needed to hear," said Kate,
now 48, but still in tears as she relives
the moment. "That point was the hegi11-
11ing of a healing process that was ;in
absolute miracle. "
Kate had f~mnd peace in a Hutterile
religious community, where all seek to
live like the early Christians, but hatred
had burdened her. Given the chanc e, she
discovered she wanted to forgive .
"It only took me about 30 seconds to
respond to it becau se in a way this was
■
"When I look at
Mike, I don 't see a
man who injured
my son ... I see a
man who is forever .
changed by
God. And I
celebrate that."
■
what I had been struggling with for
years," she said.
Still , forgi vene ss came slowly . It
took her years to trus t her mother to
babysit her own childr en.
"Th e fir st time she ever genuinel y
wanted to hug me, afterw ard I just
ten sed up beca use the physical contact
be{Qfehabde t10111lyY iolttJI ..
Forgivin g is not forgetting, and Kate
would not want it an y other way.
"I don't think I could ever forget," she
said . Otherwise "I could not remember
the miracle of forgiveness."
Jim was a modern-day Job, the bibli cal
embodi ment of the divine mystery
of why bad things happe n to good people.
When the '90s began, he had a succes
sful law practice, kids in college or
prep schoo l, a vacation home in Ver monr.
Then he lost his mother to a long illness,
and his father was kill ed in an
auto accident. His business collapsed,
and he lost his house.
Two years ago his wife of 28 years
threw him out with the dog.
Like Job, Jim cried to the heavens. "I
blamed God. God's given me a bad set
of cards. I'd be belier off killino ,:,
myself."
Ile became consumed by "pure t111ad11l
tcrntcd anger. to the point I even
thought of killing her," the stocky ex Marine
told hi~ sup port group of
divorced and separated C'atholics in
Hamden, Conn .
What changed his life was prayer, and
the realization, after his wife vehemently
objected to court-ordered counseling
se ssion s, tha.t his marriage was
lost. At that point, "it became very easy
for me 10 forgive," he said.
"My anger went down by volumes
that were ju st incredible," said Jim, 54.
"It's given me a real inner peace ."
He could sleep at night. The fury he
carried with.in rum was repl aced by a
sense of serenity. These days , when
another driver cuts him off on the highway,
he laughs it off.
He went around to other people , asking
forgivene ss for injuries he had done
to them . He has a new job coun seling
ex-addicts.
With a smiling thumbs -up , Jim
describe s the point at which he knew he
was a changed man : when be could be
polite to his ex-wife's boyfriend, whom
she brought to t11eir son's wedding not
long after lhe divorce.
"I know where I am," be said , "and I
know where I am with God and that 's
all that matte rs."
Four girl s lookin g for mone y for
arcade games ended Bill Pelke 's life as
he knew it May 14. 1985.
On t11e pretex t of askin g for Bible
lessons. the teen s got in vited into the
home of Ruth E. Pelke, 78 , of Gar y,
Jnd. TbeY bit J,er over the bead with a
vase, stabbed her 33 tiiμes and fled, taking
her car and $ JO.
Bill Pelke's memories of his grand mother
were reduced to images of her iu
11 pool o_f blo od iu the \i.\!\\\'i t% \\\
wh~rc Ins fnmi\y wou\d gather for
Chn stmas or Eas ter.
When Paula Cooper, the most brutal
of the four, was sentenced to death, Bill
Pelke ha d no prob lem at firs t. But four
mont hs later, as he was wo rkino the
over head crane at Bethle hem Steei, his
mind suddenly flashe d back to the 15-
year -old girl at her sentenci ng, tears running
down her cheeks, and her grandfather
wai ling, "They 're going to kill my
baby. Th ey're going to kill my baby."
Then , he says, he imagined his late
grandmo ther wee ping for Paula Cooper,
and Jesus on the cross, forgivin g his
tom1en tors. At that mom ent, Pclke
made his decis ion to forgive.
And from then on, he says , he no
longer was to nue ntcd by pictures or his
butchered granchnother.
"Now I could picture her as who she
wus," he said.
SEE FORGIVENESS, Page 17
FAITH IN DAILY LIFE
Girlw hoo ncep retendetdo
• be a priestn owi so ne
BY STEPHEN J LEE
,GRAND FORKS, N.D. - When she
was 12, Page Towne slipped up to the
altar in the Episcopal cat hedral and
played a priest , going through the com mun
ion liturgy for her confirma tion
classmates while the priest was away.
In Decembe r , she was at the altar of
St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Grand
Forks, celebrating Holy Communion as
a priest for real.
"That Sunday when I celebra ted my
first Eucharist, on my own, it seemed
like I had been doing it all my life ," she
said. "It was kind of an epiphany for
me: You know you are doing what you
are supposed to be doing. It feels clean."
Her first time through the ancien t
liturgy, circa 1960 in Burlington , Vt.,
ended badly.
The priest, who was dean of the cathedral,
caught her at it and was outraged
that she, a young girl, should mock the
sacrament by pretending to be a priest.
'Times have changed," she said.
"Girls cou ldn't even serve as aco lytes
back then ."
She wasn't doing ii then in a mocking
way, and she aidn't actually handle lhe
bread ai1d wine, Towne said. "But I
knew all the words of the liturgy from
sitting up in junior choir all those
years. And I had this sense that this is
what I'm supposed to be doing," she
said.
It has been a Jong trip from then to
now for Tow ne, fonner general manger
of the Grand Forks Symphony, and for
her family.
The Eucharist and the traditional
Christian understanding that it is a
sacred moment remain a1 1hc center of
her faill1.
Towne's assignment by Bishop
Andrew Fairfield of th e Episcopal
Diocese of North Dakota is as assistant
pastor at St. Paul's , assisting the rector,
the Rev. Laddie Tlucek. Towne, who
has been on the payroll at the congrega tion
since Sept. 1 as a deacon, now can
add the functions of a priest.
St Paul's decided only recently to
stay in its .SO-year-old bui lding down town,
despite extensive flood damage in
the lower levels.
"We're not only looking at our building,
but also at our mission in the community
and the needs of the people ,"
Tlu cek said. "Page will be helping on
llwt."
·me diocese has received nearly a quarter
of a million dollar s in flood -related
donations from across lite cou ntry, Fairfield
said. Much of lltat will go to people's
needs and to bui lding costs, and
some will pay for Towne's position .
Towne is the first woman ordained at
St. Paul's and only lite fourth member
from lite parish raised to the priesthood,
members say. The congregation is
thrilled to have Towne ordai ned, having
been with her for years, said Sal ly Clayburgh,
senior warden, or president , of .
St. Paul's .
"She is an eternal optim ist, a very
nurturing person," Clayb urgh said. "She
is very good at help ing people discover
what their gifts are, and at mentoring
people ."
St. Paul's, with about 350 member s,
is one of the larges t of about two dozen
Episcopal cong regation s, totaling about
2,000 member s, in North Dakota .
Towne will spend a fourll1 of her time
traveling the northea st region of the
state, developing lay leader ship to help
the severa l small parishes without resident
priests.
"AH I can say is, given her personality
and her gif1s. ii didn' t come as a surprise
to me." said her husband , Gary.
"Her ordination gives her the acknowl edgement
of the gifts she already had."
The Towne s moved to Grand Forks in
1988, when Gary took a job as profe ssor
of music at the Uuiver sity of North
Dakota. He also is St. Paul's organist
and played at Page's ordination service.
They have two sons.
Towne is on the cutting edge of
changes in th eo logi ca l educa tion,
Bishop Fairfie ld said.
"We are going from a model of the
expert training in the ivory tower who
comes to a parish and does ministry. to
a model of a parish as a mission base
for evangelism and service, honoring the
gifts of the members and utilizing a
broad range of members for ministry,"
he said.
Towne has worked willt abused child ren,
taught music in public schools and
worked the night shift in a factory putting
her husband through grau,1atc
school.
She said she pushed God away much
of her life, angry at him for the suffer ing
in her life. Now, she said, she
knows more of what suffering is about,
and feels she can empathize better.
She also has credentials as a hospital
chaplain . "I really feel called to help
others explore God's grace in their
lives," she said . (AP)
Since 1988a, friend
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secstonc@aol.com SecoSntdo ne THE STONE THAT THE BUILD ERS REJECTED
BECAME THE CORNERSTONE- Mark 12:10
SEC O ND ST ONE 5
M·A·. · N .··N ·· .: ·----~A·:--,:·;·>. ~ .:
. . . • 1~. J .•
. .' . '
. . ,- ,. ' ,·· ... .·· , ·. . ' .... . . . ' . ·•· ....... .,. .•. -. .-·-,.~~•-a-JI t . ' . ..,. •·-;_'l..:l ,t."!JI ~. .... - .. ,~~ death on the cross . Debt is canceled in
BY REVD. ~SCHAPER ·. · ' new life.
. Jl . -~
Easter:
Canceled debts
The only reason not to cancel the debt
of the two/thirds world is the hoarding
and false self-interest of the already rich .
The reasons to cancel it are hundre ds of
thousands of childr en around the world
whose parents did no,t engage the debt
their cl1ildrcn will be buried in. Most
debt was contract ed by.authorit arian or
military regime s: the people now paying
the debt did not sign up for their
monthly fees. They are not respon sible
for the debt they cannot, at any rate.
pay.
EASTER IS OTTEN dangerously misinterpret
ed as merely a spiritual event.
Many prefer the far-away "transcendent"
God; very few worship a God who gets
close. Jesus was a close God: He Jived,
died, was buried, and Jives again.
Where? In poor children, and weary
mothers, in jails, and in the long corridors
of nursing homes. In rich people
who are poor inside. Jesus lives in the
leftover people, the ones who are missing
the living of their lives.
If Jesus were to rise today, he would
rise in global debt resolution. He would
resolve global debt, both metaphorically
and actually. He would forgive debt so
that Ugandans could pay $17 per person
on health care and $3 per person on foreign
debt, instead of the exact opposite,
as they do today. He would rise from
the death of debt. If Jesus were to rise
today, he would rise in the forgivene ss
of sills. Tl1oswe hof ailt o takep ersonal
responsibilityf or theirl ivesw ouldf ind
a ready forgiveness . They would rise
from the death of their debt. Resurrec tion
is both theological resolution and
then a physical and actual one.
New life is very rea1 to those who
know the cancellation of debt. Visit
AA any night of the week, in any com munity
in Ameri c a . You will hear th e
Right-sizing:
stories of cancel ed debts . These debts
arc not imagined ; they arc real. So is
the resurrection.
The resurrection of Jesus is co1U1cctcd
to Israel· s Y car of Jubilee as a practical
solution lo the sins of the world. Every
seven years the land would be redislributed.
Jubilee frees hopeles sly indebted
people the way bankmptcy frees au individual.
It creates new land and new
time. Freeing hopeles sly indebted countries
from all debt without condition is
what Jesus claims to have done by his
Restmcturiug Third World debt could
tum the world from death to life, over
night. Resurrection could be measured
out in teaspoons of percentage points,
nation by nation. How? Tum towards
life . Christ the Lord is risen today .
Think of the Alleluias!
C. S. LEWIS pictured Chrisr as a lion
In Christianity, there is
an unsevered relationship
between liturgy and
political community ...
Pax Christi swears that the
ritual of not eating meat on
Friday probably diq. more
for the poor than any
soup kitchen ever has.
named Asian in his famous Namm
chil dren' s seri es. Asian is not a tame
lion. He has a way of bursting out of
the spirit ual closets in which we lock
him . He shows up in ghetto s and in
banks.
In Chris tianity , there is an unsevcred
relat ionship betwe en liturgy and political
communit y. Th e bread and the wine
are not just symbol s. Pax Chri sti, the
Catholic org an ization , swears that the
ritual of not eating meat on Friday probably
did more for the poor than any
soup kitchen ever has . The heart and
the soul are not di sco1mected from the
body, nor is politic s even slightl y separated
from rel igion .
I think of the way E.B. White
described his beloved Katherine as she
aged but still knelt to plant bulbs in the
November wind. "As the years went by
and aoe overtook her, there was some thint
comical in her bedraggled
appearance - the small hunched -over figure,
her studied absorp tion in the
implausible notion that there would be
yet another spring, oblivious to the endino
of her own days. which she knew
rl"ectly well was near at hand, sitting
::ere witli her detailed chart under those
dark skies in the dying October . calmly
plotting the resurrection."
Another writer ask ed recently whether
Mary was really mistaken about Jesus
inth e garden: "When Mary Magdal ~ne
nu.s too k Jesus for the gardener. d. w a s she 1. h
altogether wrong? " If two /~lur so t e
world cowitries were to nu stakc Jesus
for canceled debt, would they be entirely
wrong either?
The new deck on the old house
I REMEMBER WHEN I still hoped I
migh t have those magical Marilyn
Monroe numbers - 38, 24, 36. I also
remember when a size 12 seemed enormous.
Now I live deep and large in the
Zen of measurements - downsizing,
rightsizing, resizing.
I am obsessed with getting to the
right size. Whatever blue jeans I wear. I
want them to fit just right. Getting to
the right size has a lot to do with getting
over the past or the way things
used to be. Getting to the right size has
a future as well as a past .
Listen to my deck tell you why. The
deck itself is inconsequential • hut what
6 MARCH•APRIL 1998
it represents is not.
A heavy snow fooled April first last
year, the day af ter Easter . It was so
heavy that it knocked down the old
arbor, built on the base of the old barn,
which had constituted the old deck.
Crash. The insurance people said we
were only able to collect $3000 or so to
repair what was clearly a $6000 project.
For months, we rung our hands . Wha t
to do? We looked all spring at the mess
of ancient wisteria wowid around rotted
poles , yellow rose bushes unable to
make their annuaJ climb, for want of a
hand : ;.
All of a sudden the idea came : tl1e new
deck could easily be half the size of the
Getting to the right size has a lot
to do with getting over the past
or the way things used tG be.
old deck. Also half the price. W c didn't
have to put it on th e bas e ·of the old
bam; we could elevate it above the base
of the old baru . Our trusty contractor
agreed and designed a new deck that
snuggles the back of the house as
tho ugh it was part of the or iginal
design. People stop to ask who built it,
so nicely does it fit. And we have a
morality play in our back yard: downsiz ing.
desigued well, may be the best
thing to do in the year one turns 50. Or
any year .
Half lhe size could be as beautiful as
SEE RIGHT-SIZING , Next Page
When God
comes close
THEOLOGIANS LIKE Karl Barth
argue that our language about God
should begin with language about
Christ. For Hispanics, the inc arna tion
exemplifies the ultimate mestizaje, the
juncture of divinity and humanity. Both
the Gennans and the American Hispanics
argue for Christ in a way that many
do not. They wanted a God close up and
personal. That's what Easter gives us.
Humanity cmcified, humanity saved.
Bloody tmth. Christ on a cross. A real
cross.
According to Orlando Cos tas, the
incarnation forces us to "plop" and contextualize
God's activity within history,
preventing us from turning God into an
abstract being removed from human
experience.
Unfortunately, American Protestants
have been more than capable of turning
God into a static and abstract notion
removed from the immediacy of human
experience.
Many of us find tJ1e closene ss of God
the opposite of comfort . The very
intimacy of GodWithUs or Emmanuel
makes us nervous. We might agree
with Rilke in his poem "Where" and
say, "Who is this Christ, who interferes
in everything?"
This matter of God being both close
and far away, this matter of God showing
up on earth, is not easy 10 understand.
Kathleen Norris said she understood
most everything about Christianity
except Christ. "I often felt a void at
the center of things: Christianity with
the center missing."
Norris uses the ima ge of quark lo
explain her understanding of the Trinit y:
She appeals to the central notion of
community and interrelation ship within
the Trinity and says that only quark s
could show us the dance of such communal
interrelationship at the heart of
God. She shows us how God could be
both very near and very far away . She
shows us how God could live and die
and live again.
Norris says that it is Tcrtullian, the
ancient curmudgeon, who brought her
religious energy into the outer planetary
rings of Trinitarian faith . His image is
that of the Trinity as a plant , with the
Father as a deep root, the Son as the
shoot that breaks forth into the world.
and the Spirit as that which spreads
beauty and fragrance, "fructifying the
earth with flower and fruit."
When God comes close, we need not
beafraid.
When God dies, we need not be afraid.
When God lives , we need not be afraid.
RIGHT-SIZING,
From Previous Page
twice the size. And twice the size could
be as beautifnl as half the size. Measurements
arc a matter of the mind as well
as the scale or ruler. &iougb is enough.
The scu lptor Giacomctte plays with
size as well, when he describes his tiny
figures in this way: Wfhe smal ler I make
them, the bigger they get."
In this year of the new deck snuggling
the old house, I also beard a rumor
about the Hubb le Telescope. If you
gave each star in the sky a grain of sand,
and counted them all, the sand of that
count would flt into a cup. If you took
all the grains of sand in the Milky Way,
you'd fill up a big bowl. If you used
the Hubble Telescope, you'd have to use
up all the sand in the world, from every
beach , to accommodat e each star's need
to be counted and included .
My deck may be smaller but the
world is larger this year. So is my perspective,
my subjectivity, my changing
life and self and subjectivity - what I
can see may not be all there is to t11c
matter. Or to matter.
My therapist joins a new movie in
humorous measurement, "Don't sweat
the small stuff; by the way, it's all
small stuff."
Measurements matter - and they
change. It all depends on how we see
what we sec. ·
The Rev. Donna E. Schaper is Associate
Conference Minister with the
Massachusetts Conference of the
United Cllurcl, of Christ. He,· new
book is "Tlie Sense In Sabbath: A
Way To I-lave Enough Time," Innisfree.
ThematterofGod
being both close
and far away,
this matter of
God showing up
on earth, is not
easy to understand.
The Un Time-Management Book
Sabbath
Sense
This is your
in vitation to pack
your spiritua l baggage
and move to the
neighborhood called
ENOUGH - enough
time, enough rest,
enough play. 'lbe
reality of "sab bath" as
a day of rest and been
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our time-starved world.
• Turn not-enough time into ENOUGH time;
• Unify fragmented time through Rnt.JALS;
• Weave a pattern of SACRED!vESiSn to your life;
• DECLUTTER, ,simplify, and slow down .
A
Spiritual
Antidote
for the
Overworked
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Sll.95 paperba ck
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SEC'O ND STONE 7
Methodist jury returns
Creech to his pulpit
FromPage1
trial ended. The audience gave Rev.
Creech and his defense team , Doug Williamson
and Mike McClellan, a standing
ovation and members of Creech' s
congregation, wearing "Support Jimmy"
buttons and matching sweatshirts, stood
in a large circle, grabbed hands and
began to sing, "Hallelujah. Hallelujah."
Following his acquiual, Creech was
immediately reinstated as senior pastor
of the Omaha church by Nebraska
Bishop Joel Martinez. The bishop said
be plans to ask the College of Bishops
of the eight-state South Central Jurisdiction
to ask the church's Judicial Council
to rule on the language in the Book of
Discipline related to the trial. The ninemember
council is the denomination's
supreme court.
''The church has spoken, 11 Martinez
said. "We trust and honor the process.
Rev. Creech is an cider in good standing
with the United Methodist Church, and
his appointment is to First United
Methodist Church in Omaha. His suspension
is lifted."
The case was the first challenge to
United Methodist policy on same-sex
marriage, and the jury's decision could
shape how the 9.5 million -member
denomination interprets mies goveming
its treatment of gays. The jury was
made up of four women and nine men,
all ministers from Nebraska.
Creech testified that be was simply
serving the spiritual need s of two
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. women church members.
The Rev. Loren Ekdahl of Lincoln ,
who argued the church's side, said
Creech went wrong by conducting the
ceremony as if it were an official rite.
"We're not talking aboul a simple prayer
or blessing here," he said.
In Crecch's defense, lhe Rev. Douglas
Williamson of Nebraska Wesleyan University
argued that the church's Social
Principles, amended in 1996 to prohibit
"ceremonies that celebrate homosexual
unions," arc merely guidelines.
The Methodist case was being closely
watched by gay rights activists and others.
"A decision against the church's rules
will not alter the rules, but it certainly
will raise the level of discussions in
church circles," said the Rev. Bill
Lawrence, a Duke University profes sor
who studies U.S. Methodists.
Creech's backers included President
Clinton's pastor, who testified on the
closing day of the lrial.
"We have to find a way to be suppor tive
of these committed relationship s,"
said the Rev. Phil Wogaman, pastor at
Foundry United Methodist Church in
Washington. "The church also speaks in
many voices.
"Gay and lesbian Christians are
already in our churches if we would only
open our eyes and see them," Wogaman
said. "Their commitments to each oilier
, to Christ, and to our Church are
authentic . They number among our
finest leaders. They fit nonnally and
actively. They only want to be affinued
for what they are ."
Joe Leonard of the National Council
of Churches, which represents 34 Protestant
and Orthodox churches in the
United States, said many congregations
of various denominations are conducting
same -sex ceremonies, "but often they
have to do it in defiance of their denomination's
policies ."
"Something happened today in Kear ney,
Nebraska, that made me feel hope
again," said Mel Whit e. "Hope that
truth will triumph, that old prejudi ces
will die, that ignoranc e is lo sing its
powerful hold, uot just here but across
the nation and around the world. But it
cannot happen without us."
As the gymnasiwn- tume<l-courtroom
was emptying, a young , gay, African.
American from t.he Midwest who has
been a victim of rel igious racism and
homophobia all his life hugged Creech .
TV cameras broadcast the scene. "You
did it, Jimmy," the black youth said
grinning up at his pastor in complete
disbelief. "We did it, Roy," Jimmy
replies, "together."
For a moment, Jimmy Creech just
held the young man. Tears streamed
down both faces. Their smiles lit up
the room. Then Rev. Creech added quietly,
"Now the work begins ."
Creech pcr fom1ed the lesbian covenanting
ceremon y on Sept. 16, after
Martinez told him not to. Creech said he
felt the church's prohibition on such
unions was "discriminatory and unjul:,t"
and "because I felt it was my responsibility
as a pastor to support the
couple."
The names of the lesbian couple, who
came to Creech in April requesting the
ceremony, have never been made public.
The issue divided the 1,900-mcmber
church and galvanized United Mell1odists
across tl1e state and around the country.
Creech was suspended from pastoral
responsibilities from Nov. IO through
March 13. He initially was suspended
for 60 days by Martinez. W11c1l1lr nt suspension
expired in January, Martinez
extended it.
Creech said he believes the statement
in the church's Social Principles adopted
in 1996 that prohibits homosexual
union ceremonies is contrary to the biblical
teachings of Christ.
He contends that his actions were
"consistent with the gospel of Jesus
Christ and with my calling as a pastor
of the United Methodist Church."
Creech perfonned more than a dozen
such ceremonies for gay and lesbian
couples while a pastor at Fairmont
United Methodist Church in Raleigh,
N.C. All those ceremonies occurred
several years before the J 9% General
Conference of Ilic UMC passed the ban,
he said.
Creech said be and his wife, Chris
Weedy, married in 1992 in a courthouse
marriage ceremony followed by a covenant
ceremony in the church that did not
include marriage vows as a statement of
solidarity to what gays and lesbian s
face . "We did it to be in solidarity with
gay men and lesbians who arc denied the
right to have their relation ship rec ognized
as legal," he said .
In part because of It.is activism on gay
issues, Creech lost his position at Fairmont
UMC, was unemployed for six
months, then served as a social lobbyi st
for the North Ca rolina Coun ci l of
Churches for five years before coming
to Nebraska.
Creech said he will continu e fighting
for the right to perf on n commi tmen t
ceremonies for gays and lesbians.
A Nebraska Committ ee on Investigation
recommended on Jan . 23 that he
face a church trial .
"Disobe dience to the Order and Discipline
of The United Mell1odist Church,"
is one of 10 offenses for which a United
Methodist clergy member may be tried
in a church court.
The primary issue Creech wanted the
trial to resolve is whe ther the church's
Social Princ iples are enforcea ble law or
simp l y guidance for con duct and deci sion-
making . Although the trial could
h;ive been closed, Creech cal led for an
open trial .
(United f'vkthodist News Service, Associated
Press. Mel Whil e, and other
reports)
NATIONAL NEWS
'Disaffiliation' of University Baptist Church
From Pagel
and darkness abounded ."
Honesty /Texas and their supporters
were seated in the back of the room during
the debate and vote, surrounded by
members of the Convention.
"A covey of fundamentali sts huddled
in the row behind us looking dour and
bitter," Burton said.
Afterwards, Honesty unfurled its banner
in the lobby and was swarmed by
reporters .
Burton said he sees new hope for gay
and lesbian Baptists in spite of the vote.
"The fact that there was a two-sided
debate that went 90 minutes represents
progress for the movement ," he said. "I
counted around 20-25 votes against the
recommendation . I wonder if the BGCr
was surprised that it wasn't a quick discussion
and a unanimous vote?''
After Rev. Bmce Prescott of Houston
failed in an effort to soften the recom -
1~1endation by amendment, several Bapl.
tst women stood and spoke against the
reconunendation.
Church was shunned
50 years ago for
inviting blacks
MEMBERS OF UNIVERSrrY Baptist
Church compare this battle to past
moral fights.
In 1948, the church was disavow ed by
the Austin Baptist Conven tion when it
allowed blacks to sit in the same pews
with whites. In the early 1970s, it was
criticized forordaining female deacons.
Hans Venable, a gay mm1 whose ordination
as deacon at University Baptist
helped lead lo the action, said biblical
argu ment s also were made against
blacks in the church.
"I do see this as a very similar issue "
Venable said. '
But Venable said he found hope in
debate that preceded the board vote.
"I have to say that there are a lot of
positive outcomes," he said. "It's just
been such a wonderful opportw1ity to
talk about our ministry and spread the
debate further about how gays and lesbians
can be safe in church, where they
can be loved and participate fully."
David Stahl, a church member and
Venable's partner of 15 years, said the
expulsion could actuaJly help the gay
and lesbian cause .
"From what I heard ... this debate is
going to continue in the BGCT
churches," StaliJ said. ··They're going to
go back to their home churches aud talk
ahout this, and know what's right. It
was a very encouraging step into the
funire."
The motion supported by the board
asks University Baptist to remove any
claim of affiliation with the convention
from its literature and Internet site. The
convention also will no longer accept
money donated from the church for missionary
progrmns.
The vote arose when top group officials
learned in January that the University
Baptist Web site mentions its convention
affiliation .
The church has had a tenumL~ relationship
with the convention since it
ordained Venable in 199-l. The church
also drew fire for sponsoring and inviting
gays mid lesbians to participate in
. Open Circle, a ministry for gays and
lesbians .
Co1iventio11 leaders insisted their vote
was not a condemnation of the church's
acceptance of gays.
.. We commend the church for their
ministry, and we feel that churches
should minister (to homosexuals)."
Davenport said ... But ministering to is
different than an affinnation of, and we
interpret (the church's activities) to be
an affinnation of."
Bethune said he doesn't undersiand the
distinction .
"I don't feel very c_ommcuded as a
church for our ministry to gays and lesbians
today," Bethune said. "The convention
has an odd way of showing it."
Bethune .said he believes the congregation
will likely respect the wishes of the
convention in removing any reference to
thf! group from their Web site and literature.
Several convention members decried
the motion as a threat to the traditional
independence of Baptist churches.
Some church members think they'll
eventually be welcomed back into the
convention.
"The time will come when we will be
invited back in because the world will
catch up with us and the world with
catch up with our understanding of what
is the Christian gospel." said deacon
Carter Wheeland.
Victim of 'political
football,' says pastor
THE CONVENTION'S administrative
committee voted unanimously in early
February to recommend the expulsion of
University Baptist Church.
Prior to the vote Davenport denied
that the convention was trying to expel
the church. The convention wanted to
,.distance itself' from the church. he
said.
Bethune said the disassociation of the
congregation seems to say that God discriminates
again st gays and lesbians.
.. Gays and lesbians and their families
are dmnagcd once again by hearing that
God hates them," he told the Austin
American-Statesman.
'They hear that the way an African
American would hear. ·Love the soul
and hate the color,· or a woman would
hear, 'Love the woman but hate the
gender.···
The administrative committee contended
that any church accepting of
homo sexuality is defying biblical. teaching
and cannot be accepted in fellowship
with other Southcm Baptist churches.
SEE BAPTISTS, Page 17
GayL uthera{nX lStsoari dr eing
hone5wt as~ ofh isc alling
From Pagel
congregation behind me."
On Feb. 3, a panel of nine church
members and miD.i"stesr dedd ed after a
two-day hearing to remove Sabin from
the official clergy roster saying he violated
policy of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America. The committee said
it admires the job Sabin has done as
pastor, but it could not allow Sabin's
"gifts of mini stry either to outweigh or
excuse" his policy violation.
Either side can take the case on lo a
disciplinary appeals committee, which
would have the final say. Church officials
declined to comment throughout
the trial and did not make themselves
available for interviews.
Philip Hougen, bishop of the church's
Southeastern Iowa Synod, brought lhc
charge against Sabin in November. During
a meeting with Sabin in January
1996, Hougen had questioned the pastor
about his rel ationship with Karl von
Uhl. Sabin said they were in a committed
relationship. and Hougen unsuccessfully
sought his resignation.
In annow1cing ti1e decision against
Sabin, Bishop Hougen said he has
"pastoral concern" for Sabin, his partner.
and his congregation.
"I know that all concerned will appreciate
your prayers," said Hougen. "I continue
to pray for God's guidance and for
continuing dialogue on the issue of
homosexuality within the Evangelical
Lutheran Church iu America."
Hougen said that he feels caught between
the traditional teachings of the
church and a "sense of compassion for
people who feel very excluded or very
hurt or denigrated by the church policy ."
But he called it necessary and important
for the church to set and uphold stan dards
for its pastors.
While others in similar positions
have generally admitted to violating
church policy and argued that it is
flawed, Sabin did not admit to any violation.
He argued that the church policy
is vague, violate s its own script ural
teachings and does not explain what it
means to be a practicing homosexual.
'The que stion is not •wink, wink,
nod, nod.• what we think this is about,
what this situation is," he said. "The
question is, what docs the policy say.
and whether or not the ELCA and
Bi.shop Hougen, specifically , have
pro, •en that I am in violation of the
clear statements of the policy. It is my
belief rhal Ibey did nor dcmonstrnlc
that.'·
Sabin said he doesn't plan to transfer
to a new denomination that accepts gay
ministers or change professions when he
is officially ousted from the clergy
roster April 15.
"I can't really imagine being anything
else but a pastor," Sabin said.
The Lord of Life congregation supported
its pastor through the trial, but
no decision has been made to retain him
in defiance of lhe national church.
.. I am not surprised, but disappointed
with the decision," said Thomas
Chacko, president of the Lord of Life
congregation ... At this point. neither the
church nor the congregation has had the
time to sort through the events of the
past few days . The council will be
meeting to decide on the next course of
action."
Chacko said the congregatiou has
many factors to consider before its pastor
is officially removed from the
church.
.. We have to decide what's good for
Pastor Sabin and what's good for the
ELCA," Chacko said.
..I feel that our clergy should be given
the same rights as the members of our
congregations, " said Nancy Lewis , a
member of Lord of Life since it started
SEEL UTHERANP, age 16
SE CO ND STO NE 9
NATIONAL NEWS
UFMCC, HRC joint sponsors
March on Washington slated for April, 2000
WASHINGTON, DC ·_ The nation's
largest gay and lesbian political organization
and the nation's largest gay faithbased
movement announced plans to
sponsor a march on Washing ton in the
spring of the year 2000. The event will
be produced by veteran march organizer
Robin Tyler who brought the organizations
together to fonnulate plru.uung.
This will be the fourth equal rights
march on Washington by the gay, lesbian,
bisexual and transgendercd communities
in the last 20 years - and is
expected to the largest U.S. gay rights
· march ever held .
The Human Rights Campaign and the
Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan
Community Churches ar!! exploring
dates in spring 2000 for the
"Mi llemuum March on Washington for
Equal Rights," the heads of both organizations
said. Several prominent organizations
have signed on as endorsers,
including the National Black Gay and
Lesbian Leadership Forum, the National
Latino/a Lesbian and Gay Organiuition,
the National Center for Lesbian Rights,
the Gay and Lesbian Alliru.1ce Against
Dcfan1ation, the National Youth Advocacy
Coalition, Parents, Families and
To prctesUt niversityd'sfr isicnto allow~ ~x ceremonies
Methodist church withholds money
from North Georgia Conference
MARIEfT A, Ga. - One of the state's
largest United Methodist congregations
has withhe ld its an annual $230,000
donation to the North Georgia United
Methodist Conference after expressing
concem about a decision to allow samesex
marriages at Emory University.
Leaders of the First United Me1hodist
Churcb of Marietta met wit11 conference
officials to discuss concerns that
included the Emory decision, said the
Rev. Jamie Jenkins, superintendent of
the conference's Atlanta -Marietta dis-.
trict.
"Homosexuality is a hot-button issue
iu churches today and it is a relevant
issue for us to discuss," he said.
The church's bulletin said the deci sion
lo withhold funds was prompted by
declining membership in the conference
and said the money will be withheld
until a church committee studies the
matter.
The Rev. Charles Sineath, the 5,000-
member church's pastor, was out of
town as tliis story was written and other
church leaders declined to discuss the
matter.
Lindsay Davis, bishop of the North
Georgia United Methodist Conference,
is one of the Emory lrustees who participated
in making tl1e decision to allow
same-sex maniages if they are performed
by au approved campus minister.
Methodist churches in the conference
pay into a $ 14.4 million budget to sup port
administration costs, church devel opment
, foreign missions and education.
(AP)
Weathers tymiesg ayc ruisea, nswering
Bahamiabni shop'ps rayer
BY JESSICA ROBERTSON
NASSAU, Bahamas - Bad weather prevented
a cmise ship with gay men on
board from landing in the Bahamas, and
clerics who opposed the visit said the
stom1 was an answer to their prayers.
The Norwegian Cruise Line already
h,nd been refused permission to dock in
the Cayman Islands with some 900 passengers
who have chartered its vessel,
the Leeward, 0111 of Miami.
Then the Bahamas government
8tcppcd in with an invitation . But 1111:
stonn quaHhed that.
"The weather wa~ a great factor
10 MAIH"H•APRII. 199 1!
beca use the government made it abundantly
clear to us that they were going
to allow that ship to come," said Baptist
Di shop Harcourt Pinder. president of the
Bal1amas Christian Council. "But I still
feel that prayer is the weapon we should
use to figh t a lot of the ills about us.
Prayer fails not and history has proven
that"
Church leaders had taken part in a
demonstration in downtown Nassau to
protest tl1e visit. Another Baptist pastor,
the Rev. Simeon Hall, said he got threatening
telephone calls nftcr the protest.
(AP)
Friends of Lesbians · and Gays, the
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
and the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund.
Representatives from these organizations
and others will be sought to participat
e on au organizing committee
whlch will help facilitate the organization
and presentation of the event.
"This march will set a new tone for a
new century," said Elizabeth Birch,
executive director of the Human Rights
Campaign. "Full equality under the law
will be our achievement in the new millennium
."
"Together, we will solidify_ the gains
we've made over the past decades and
call upon our nation to live out its
promise of 'liberty and justice for
all,"'said the Rev . Troy Perry, founder
of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan
Community Churches. "This
march will set the pace for social ju stice
and human rights ."
Not 'effective' for business
The organizations are working closely
with Tyler to produce the event. Tyler
was an instrumental organizer/producer
of the past three marche s on Washington
dating back to 1979.
"Robin's depth of experience, commmuty
commitments and unstoppable
energy uniquely qualify her to lead I.he
organizing efforts for this historic
event, "said Birch and Perry.
"This is a historic time in our movement.
Although we have much greater
visibility and a measure of cultural
acceptance, we must not be lulled into a
false sense of security,' .' Tyler said.
"This march will once again show the
self esteem, strength and unwavering
determination of the lesbian, gay. bisexual
and transgender community."
The last march was April 25, 1993
and attracted more than I million participants,
according to the organizers.
Covey apologizes for appearance
at anti-gay-marriage event
SALT LAKE CITY - Stephen R. Covey,
author and co-chainnall of Franklin
Covey, bas apologized to several businesses
about his appearance at a $100-aplate
fund-raising even t in Hawaii to
gppose gay marriag e, The Salt Lake
Tribuue said.
In letters elated Jan. 29, Franklin
Covey Vice President Greg Link told
the companies that Covey's "appearance
at the event was in fact an unfortunate
departur e from our ongoing policy and
we express our regrets. We especially
regret that Dr. Covey's appearance at
this event put you and your organi1.ation
in an w1comfortable position. "
Link, quoted in a copyright story in
The Tribune, said that the apology had
been sent 10 a handful of clients who
"exp ressed interest in whether we were
going 10 become active in politic s."
Covey, author of ''T he Seven Habits
of Highly Effective People," spoke
Nov. 21 to Save Traditional Marriage
'96, au organization working to pass a
ballot measure in 1998 that would
amend the Hawaii Constitution to give
legislators the power to detennine who
may marry.
The Honolulu Star-DulJetin and The
Tribune reported Nov. 22 that Covey
told the gathering that marriage is nol
for same -sex couples. "To me, that is n
k!nd of natural principle for a natural
law," Covey said. "And that's why I am
behind this kind of movement."
Link said Covey's remarks were taken
out of context in a rapid-fire exchange
with a reporter before his formal
remarks to the gathering, which he said
were limited lo principles espoused in
"'The Se\'en Habits of Highly Effective
Families," published iu October.
Still, he said, "Our bottom line is we
shouldn't have been there. That really is
not our place . Our presence at a political
event gave rise to the concern we were
departing from that approach , and throw ing
ours elves into heavily polit ical
issues, which we are not."
Human Rights Campaign communications
director David Smith said a transcri.
pt of the evening's address shows
Covey "wholeheartedly" took a political
stand against same-sex marriag e and
"knew exactly whom he was speaking
to, offering advice on how to handle the
opposition."
The Human Rights Campaigu asked
for an apology in December. The group
said that some of Covey 's clients have
gay-friendly company policies.
That led lo the letters of regret, Smith
said. "Clearly Mr. Covey realizes (the
dinner appc!llmnce) was a mistnke mid we
appreciate the apology," he said. (AP)
Alaska
PALMER (907)
Ch .. ch ol the Cownanl P.O. Box 2888. 99645. 746-1009 . HoMlld H.
Bess.p astor.A Welcominga ndA ffirmingA mericanB aplistC ongegatin
Arizona
PHOENIX (602) .
CasaD e Cristo EvangelicaCl hurch,1 029E . Turney,8 5014.2 65-
2831.
EvargilicalsC oo::emedW R,P OB ox6 6906. (303)657-3593.
Olive Tree Ministries, PO Box 47787, 85068-7787. 861•3424.
http'JfJV.cllxl xn/olivetre. e
TUCSON (5211)
CornerstoFneel lowship2, 902N .G eronimo8, 5705. 622-4626S. unday.
9 a.m., 10:30a.m., Wed"esday7, p.m.P rayers ervicel astS un.o r
the month6, p.m.R adaS chaff,l l'!StorC. HRISTFORALL@juno.oom.
First ChristianC hUlch,7 40 E. SpeOONa8y5, 719. 624-869.5 Surt,
8:15a.m.. 10:30amP. asu NctliK aneko.
FAYffi EVILLE (501)
OUIl aOfo r Guaclalo.pC1a tholicC hurchP, O Box8 32, 72702-083. 2
444-960.7 Sal, 5:30p.m. at St Martin'sE piso::paSl tudenCt enter,
814 W. Maple. Fr. Joseph Paul Smhh. pastor.
California
IRVINE (714)
IrvineU nitedC hurcho f Chris~4 915A ltonP kwy., 92714. 733-0220.
An Open& Alf~mingC ongegilion, proudlyp rO!J'esSi,v inetenlionaDy
inctusrie.
LA CRESCENAT ( 626)
EvangllicalsC oncernedW omen's MinistryP, O Box9 4302,P asaoona,
CA 91109. 568-4803.e csocal@aoloo.m Wee~ Bl:lles ludies,
m onthlyp otlucka ll:f raps essions.