Open Hands Vol 15 No 4 - For All the Saints

Open Hands Vol 15 No 4 - For All the Saints

15

4

2000

Spring

2 Open Hands
Vol. 15 No. 4 Spring 2000
Shaping an Inclusive Church
Affirming Congregation Programme
More Light Presbyterians
Open & Affirming Ministries
Open and Affirming Program
Reconciling Congregation Program
Reconciling in Christ Program
Welcoming & Affirming Baptists
Interim Executive Publisher
Marilyn Alexander
Editor
Chris Glaser
Designer
In Print—Jan Graves
Marketing Manager
Jacki Belile
Editorial Advisory Committee
Vaughn Beckman, O&A
Bill Capel, MLP
Ann Marie Coleman, ONA
Chris Copeland, W&A
Bobbi Hargleroad, MLP
Tom Harshman, O&A
Alyson Huntly, ACP
Bonnie Kelly, ACP
Susan Laurie, RCP
Samuel E. Loliger, ONA
Ruth Moerdyk, SCN
Caroline Presnell, RCP
Paul Santillán, RCP
Julie Sevig, RIC
Kelly Sprinkle, W&A
Kathy Stayton, W&A
Margarita Suaréz, ONA
Judith Hoch Wray, O&A
Stuart Wright, RIC
and Program Coordinators
Open Hands is the quarterly magazine of the
welcoming movement, a consortium of programs
that support individuals and congregations
in efforts to welcome lesbians, gay men,
bisexuals, and transgenders in all areas of church
life. Open Hands was founded and is published
by the Reconciling Congregation Program, Inc.
(United Methodist), in cooperation with the six
ecumenical partners listed above. Each program
is a national network of local congregations and
ministries that publicly affirm their welcome of
LGBT people, their families and friends. These
seven programs, along with Supportive Congregations
(Brethren/Mennonite [www.webcom.
com/bmc], Oasis Congregations (Episcopal),
Welcoming Congregations (Unitarian Universalist),
and INCLUSIVE Congregations (United
Kingdom)—offer hope that the church can be a
more inclusive community.
Subscription is $20 for four issues ($25 outside
the U.S.). Single copies and back issues are
$6; quantities of 10 or more, $4 each.
Subscriptions, requests for advertising rates,
and other business correspondence should be
sent to:
Open Hands
3801 N. Keeler Avenue
Chicago, IL 60641
Phone: 773/736-5526
Fax: 773/736-5475
www.rcp.org/openhands/index.html
Member, The Associated Church Press
© 2000
Reconciling Congregation Program, Inc.
Open Hands is a registered trademark.
ISSN 0888-8833
Printed on recycled paper.
For All the Saints
The Welcoming Movement, From Sodom to Salvation
The Stories of Welcoming Programs
In the Beginning, Sodom ......................................................................4
MORE LIGHT PRESBYTERIANS
A Ministry and Movement of Reconciliation ......................................8
RECONCILING CONGREGATION PROGRAM
Turning the Tables ...............................................................................12
OPEN AND AFFIRMING PROGRAM
Revisiting Sodom.................................................................................14
RECONCILING IN CHRIST PROGRAM
GLAD to Go Into God’s House ...........................................................18
OPEN & AFFIRMING MINISTRIES
Baptized Into One Family ...................................................................20
WELCOMING & AFFIRMING BAPTISTS
Salvation is Salvation ..........................................................................21
AFFIRMING CONGREGATION PROGRAMME
Dancing At the Walls of Injustice .......................................................24
SUPPORTIVE CONGREGATIONS NETWORK
Being Inclusive as God Is ....................................................................25
INCLUSIVE CONGREGATIONS
Ministries of Welcome ........................................................................26
A TIMELINE OF SIGNIFICANT BEGINNINGS
MINISTRIES
Outreach
Reconciling Congregations—Another View ............................27
JOHN BALLEW
The founder of the Lutheran program questions if being
welcoming is enough.
Welcoming Process
Saved by Grace ..........................................................................28
JACKI BELILE
A Baptist church shows the way things can be when a church is
welcoming and affirming.
SUSTAINING THE SPIRIT
Shining Like the Sun—A Sanctoral Cycle for ALL the Saints ............30
DAVID KERR PARK
A more inclusive church calendar of saints and occasions.
Spring 2000 3
Publisher
Reconciling Congregation Program, Inc. (UMC)
Marilyn Alexander, Interim Coordinator
3801 N. Keeler Avenue, Chicago, IL 60641
773/736-5526
www.rcp.org
Ecumenical Partners
Affirming Congregation Programme
(United Church of Canada)
Ron Coughlin, Coordinator
P.O. Box 333, Station Q, Toronto, Ontario
CANADA M4T 2M5
416/466-1489
acpucc@aol.com
More Light Presbyterians (PCUSA)
Michael J. Adee, Coordinator
369 Montezuma Ave. PMB #447
Santa Fe, NM 87501-2626
505/820-7082
www.mlp.org
Open & Affirming Ministries
(Disciples of Christ)
John Wade Payne, Interim Coordinator
P.O. Box 44400, Indianapolis, IN 46244
941/728-8833
www.sacredplaces.com/glad
Open and Affirming Program (UCC)
Ann B. Day, Coordinator
P.O. Box 403, Holden, MA 01520
508/856-9316
www.coalition.simplenet.com
Reconciling in Christ Program (Lutheran)
Bob Gibeling, Coordinator
2466 Sharondale Drive, Atlanta, GA 30305
404/266-9615
www.lcna.org
Welcoming & Affirming Baptists (ABC/USA)
Brenda J. Moulton, Coordinator
P.O. Box 2596, Attleboro Falls, MA 02763
508/226-1945
users.aol.com/wabaptists
Call for articles, children’s artwork, and columns
for Open Hands Winter 2001
WHAT ABOUT US KIDS?
Affirming and Welcoming Children and Youth
Theme Section: A gay uncle, a lesbian mom, emerging sexual identity,
unwelcoming churches, an antigay putdown at school, societal controversy
over same-gender marital rights—one way or another children and youth inside
and outside of our congregations are dealing with human sexuality and
homosexuality in particular. How do we reach out to them with age-appropriate
information about matters of faith and homosexuality? How do we provide
support for them as they discover the diversity of human sexuality? What do
they have to teach us? We are looking for articles and relevant artwork from
children and youth, as well as from parents (biological, adoptive, foster, etc.)
and other family members of traditional and nontraditional families, teachers,
Christian education directors, and anyone who can offer pertinent experience
and insight. 1000-2500 words per article.
Ministries Section: Columns may include: Welcoming Process, Connections
(with other justice issues), Worship, Spirituality, Outreach, Leadership, Health,
Youth, Campus, Children, and Parents. These brief articles may or may not
have to do with the theme of the issue. 750-1000 words.
Contact with ideas by August 1, 2000
Manuscript deadline: September 30, 2000
Chris Glaser, Phone/Fax 404/622-4222 or e-mail at ChrsGlaser@aol.com
991 Berne St. SE, Atlanta, GA 30316-1859 USA
Next Issue:
THE gOD OF VIOLENCE
15th ANNIVERSARY ISSUE
The Nativity and Naíveté of Open Hands…16
Memories from Founders Mark Bowman and Beth Richardson
Timelines of Prehistory and History of Open Hands
“Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes
me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a
prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s
reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the
name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the
righteous; and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one
of these little ones in the name of a disciple—
truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”
Jesus in Matthew 10:40-42
4 Open Hands
From the Shadows,
More Light…
When Bill Silver became the first openly-gay,
happily-homosexual candidate for the ministry
in the former United Presbyterian Church
in the U.S.A. in 1976, that denomination
didn’t know what to do with him. The issue
was not addressed in the Book of Order, the
part of its constitution that addresses qualifications
for ordained office. The 1970 General
Assembly (the denomination’s annual legislative
body) had added an antigay addendum
to a comprehensive Sexuality and the Human
Community report, even while taking a stand
for gay civil rights, and the 1974 G.A. had rejected
a report of the Presbyterian Gay Caucus,
organized by the Rev. David Bailey Sindt
of Chicago.
So a timid and fearful Presbytery of New
York City, where Bill Silver was “under care”
as a candidate for the ministry, overtured
(Presbyterian for “requested”) the general assembly
for “definitive guidance” on this matter.
The 1976 General Assembly didn’t know
what to do either, so they set up a task force
to study homosexuality, which included only
one openly-gay member, Chris Glaser, himself
an openly gay candidate for ordination.
Two years later, the majority of that task force
declared that homosexuality, per se, was no
bar to ordination to the offices of the Presbyterian
Church: deacon, elder, and minister.
“May a self-affirming, practicing homosexual
Christian be ordained? We believe so, if the
person manifests such gifts as are required for
ordination. … Spiritual maturity or the absence
thereof is an attribute pertaining not to
any class of people but only to individual persons.
Thus, it must be distinctively identified
and separately evaluated in each individual
candidate for ordination as the church, led
by the Spirit and guided by God’s Word, seeks
to discern and verify that particular candidate’s
gifts for ministry.”
But this recommendation was entirely too
much for the 1978 General Assembly. Instead
they declared homosexuality to be sin—“We
conclude that homosexuality is not God’s
In the Beginning, Sodom…
The great irony is that a scripture oft-used to condemn lesbian, gay, bisexual,
and even transgendered people is the story of Sodom, which is a story of inhospitality
rather than sexuality. Lot is the welcoming congregation, who faces
the wrath of his denomination by offering hospitality to two strangers, not just
“to be nice” but adamantly insisting they enjoy the sanctuary he opens to them
rather than spend the night in the public square, where they are likely to be
bashed by Sodom’s citizens.
One rabbinical tradition claims Sodom’s sin was not simply its inhospitality—
wanting to humiliate the strangers by gang rape—but that Sodom had codified
its inhospitality by making it illegal by city polity and amendments to the city’s
Book of Order or Book of Discipline for those like Lot to welcome lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender people, let alone be affirming of their ministries and
marriages.
Providentially for our modern-day Sodom, the church, which has too often
Sodified its inhospitality, there are, within its boundaries, ten righteous persons,
or welcoming movements, to save it from destruction and offer more
light rather than brimstone. Seven of them formally advise and financially support
this magazine. Two of them informally advise it. All of them want their
churches to welcome with Open Hands lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender
souls as well as their families, friends, and advocates. Several of them do their
work with the encouragement and blessings of their denominations. But most
of them do their pastoral work while serving as prophets to their denominations,
risking the vocational and ecclesiastical lives of their members in the face
of a “brood of vipers” who would figuratively kill them between the sanctuary
they offer to LGBT people and the altar of a gracious and reconciling God (Matthew
24:33, 35).
One such welcoming program, More Light Presbyterians, became the first of
these righteous programs out of necessity.
Spring 2000 5
wish for humanity”— and that therefore, “unrepentant
homosexual practice does not accord
with the requirements for ordination.”
These conclusions were based not on fact or
knowledge, but belief: “…it appears that what
is really important is not what homosexuality
is but what we believe about it.” Even the
dramatic, poignant, and eloquent coming out
of lesbian Princeton Seminary Advisory Delegate
Sandra Brawders on the floor of the Assembly
could not dissuade them. Yet the denomination
again called for the end of
criminalization, discrimination, and stereotyping
in the public sector.
Spiritual Apartheid
For the first time since women were finally
accepted as full participants and members,
this new policy, still in effect, created two
classes of members, with very different rules
for the two classes—a kind of ecclesiastical
apartheid. “Uncle Tom” gays and lesbians can
gain access to the majority rules only if they
hide their status (pass) or if they repudiate
their status (“repent”) and promise life-long
celibacy or choose to enter into a sanctioned
heterosexual relationship. Happy, openly lesbian
and gay Presbyterians, especially those
in relationships, must abide by a set of separate
laws, designed only for them.
As in the South African model of political
apartheid, this ecclesiastical apartheid has led
in recent years, with one court decision after
another, to more and more detailed separate
and unequal rules: gay and lesbian Presbyterians
may not be ordained, but if they are (at
least as deacons), their ordinations cannot be
annulled; gay and lesbian Presbyterian ministers
who were ordained prior to 1978 may
keep their ordinations, but they may not receive
calls for service; fully qualified candidates
for ministry cannot be so certified if they
are openly lesbian and gay, unless they promise
celibacy; congregations, presbyteries, and
synods may make “welcoming” statements
advocating full membership and participation
for lesbian and gay Presbyterians, but they
may not promise to act on them.
The Nativity of
the Welcoming Movement
The More Light Church movement began
soon after the close of the 1978 General Assembly.
Several congregations adopted policies
explicitly welcoming lesbian and gay
members and guaranteeing their full participation,
including ordination to offices of deacon
and elder if elected by the congregation
and found qualified by the session. These
churches became known as “More Light”
churches because the 1976 Assembly, in establishing
its homosexuality task force, had
quoted Pastor John Robinson’s advice to the
Pilgrims of 1620 in search of religious freedom:
“God hath yet more light to break forth
from [God’s] word.” As editor, Chris Glaser
had earlier renamed the newsletter of Presbyterians
for Lesbian & Gay Concerns More Light.
The More Light movement spawned similar
movements in the United Methodist
Church (Reconciling Congregations), the
Evangelical Lutheran Church (Reconciling in
Christ Congregations), and the United Church
of Christ (Open and Affirming Congregations).
Later, the movement spread to additional
denominations, such as (in alphabetical order)
the American Baptist Churches (Welcoming
& Affirming), Brethren and Mennonite
churches (Supportive Congregations Network),
the Christian Church, Disciples of
Christ (Open & Affirming), the Episcopal
Church (Oasis), the United Church of Canada
(Affirming), and the Unitarian Universalist
Association (Welcoming). (The Society of
Friends [Quakers] have been welcoming without
a formal program.) Last year, a consortium
of Roman Catholic, Church of England,
and United Reformed Church people in the-
United Kingdom ecumenically initiated an-
INCLUSIVE Congregations movement.
But there is a big difference between the
More Light Churches in the Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.) and their counterparts in other
denominations. In none of these other denominations
is it illegal, under church law, to
permit full participation by lesbian and gay
Christians at the congregational level in such
6 Open Hands
roles as member of a governing council or in
special ministries to those in need. But it is
illegal under Presbyterian law, which prohibits
the ordination of any open, self-affirming,
“non-repentant” homosexual as deacon or
elder by the session of a local congregation.
Unlike most other denominations, local leaders
in the Presbyterian Church—deacons and
elders— are ordained under the same standards
(apart from education and training) as ministers.
This makes the apartheid policies of the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) the most restrictive
of any major mainline denomination.
Law vs. Grace
Here we speak of legalities, and the Presbyterian
Church is a very “legalistic” church, with
a well developed system of law and of courts
to handle legal challenges and complaints. The
years 1984 and 1985 saw the first national
ecclesiastical court case in the Presbyterian
Church against a More Light Church. Several
congregations in the Presbytery of Western
New York brought Westminster Church of
Buffalo to trial over their More Light Statement,
which promised full participation, including
ordination as deacons and elders, to
lesbian and gay members. Westminster hadn’t
done anything but make a statement! The complaining
churches were not satisfied by the
“discipline” offered by the presbytery, so they
appealed to the Synod of the Northeast. The
Synod Permanent Judicial Commission (PJC)
ruled that the ban on ordination of lesbian
and gay Christians was clearly unconstitutional:
“By its action in 1978, the General Assembly
violated the constitutional power of
each congregation to control the selection of
its own officers for ordination. The Church is
committed to inclusiveness, and segments of
the membership cannot be excluded except
by constitutional amendment” to the Book of
Order (a foreshadowing of things to come).
In February of 1985, the Permanent Judicial
Commission of the General Assembly reversed
this lower level decision, declaring the
“definitive guidance” of 1978 to be the law of
the church and binding on every session and
presbytery. All the male members of that commission
except one voted to take away from
lesbian and gay Christians the rights guaranteed
to all members in the Church’s constitution.
All the female commissioners except one
voted to uphold the rights of lesbian and gay
members. Since the commission was heavily
dominated by males, the traditional male fear,
ignorance, and hatred of homosexual persons
easily prevailed.
A minority report by five dissenting members
declared: “This is the kind of discriminatory
treatment we have been taught to abhor.”
“The decision…contravenes constitutional
guarantees related to inclusiveness… : ‘No persons
shall be denied membership because of
race, ethnic origins, worldly condition, or any
other reason not related to profession of
faith.’” “Such denial of access to church office
is in direct opposition to an unequivocal
provision of the current Book of Order, which
states: ‘An active member is entitled to all the
rights and privileges of the church, including
the right… to vote and hold office.’”
This serious challenge to the very existence
of More Light congregations led to the first
More Light Churches conference in 1985,
called and hosted by the West Hollywood
Presbyterian Church and its ministry of reconciliation
between the church and the LGBT
community, the Lazarus Project, which had
been founded in 1977. This gathering resulted
in a national network of congregations that
met annually and published a newsletter.
Hiding More Light
Under a Judicial Basket
Ecclesiastical court cases attacking individuals,
More Light congregations, and supportive
presbyteries began popping up all over the
church after the rejection of another gay-positive
General Assembly report in 1991, this
time on the broader concern of human sexuality.
Up to this time, the only court case to
reach the national level and to receive national
attention was the earlier challenge to
the More Light congregation in Buffalo, New
York. Now, in quick succession, there were
challenges against St. Luke Presbyterian
Church in the Twin Cities Area Presbytery and
Mt. Auburn Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati
Presbytery simply for declaring themselves
“More Light.” St. Luke was barred from
ordaining a gay elder who had been elected
and certified eligible, so the position was kept
vacant and he served on the session as a
“non”-elder. Mt. Auburn not only declared
“More Light,” but preceded to ordain a gay
elder.
Another complaint was lodged against
Central Presbyterian Church in Eugene, Oregon,
for installing a previously-ordained gay
deacon and ordaining a lesbian deacon. The
court of the Presbytery of the Cascades ruled
the ordinations “irregular” but refused to annul
them as demanded by Hope [sic!] Presbyterian
Church of Portland, Oregon. The
court of the Synod of the Pacific ruled that
Spring 2000 7
there was no constitutional or biblical basis
for the ban on the ordination of gay and lesbian
Presbyterians and that the Presbytery was
out of order in ruling the ordinations “irregular.”
On October 31, 1993, the General Assembly
Permanent Judicial Commission— the
highest court— split the difference, saying, yes,
the ordinations were “irregular,” but, no, they
did not constitute “a rebellion against the
Word and will of God,” and no, they should
not (could not?) be annulled.
The Trouble With
Happy Lesbians
The most famous of the recent court cases
involved Lisa Larges and the Rev. Jane Adams
Spahr. Larges, a lesbian seminarian, had been
certified by the Presbytery of Twin Cities Area
as ready for a call and ordination. The
presbytery reasoned that the ban was on ordination,
not on certifying that all requirements
had been met. Spahr, ordained to the
ministry in 1974 before she realized she was
lesbian, had been called to serve as co-pastor
of the Downtown United Presbyterian Church
in Rochester, New York. She was a minister
member in good standing of the Presbytery
of the Redwoods, and for the past ten years
had been founding director of The Ministry
of Light (now Spectrum), an outreach and
support ministry with lesbian, gay and bisexual
people, their families, and friends in
Marin County, California. Since she had been
ordained prior to the 1978 ban, she was protected,
most people believed, by the “grandparent”
clause of that policy (Paragraph 14)
which declared that “these actions shall not
be used to affect negatively the ordination
rights of any United Presbyterian deacon, elder,
or minister who has been ordained prior
to this date.”
The PJC of the General Assembly ruled, in
the case of Larges, that an “unrepentant” lesbian
(or gay) person had no right to certification,
since it was impossible for them to meet
the requirements for ordination, which demanded
repentance and celibacy of gay and
lesbian Presbyterians. In the case of Spahr,
the PJC ruled that no call was valid for an
“unrepentant” non-celibate lesbian (or gay)
person, and that the famous “grandparent
clause” of the 1978 policy was null and void,
at least in the clear sense that most people
understood it. Instead, its scope was sharply
narrowed to “acts” committed prior to 1978:
“Paragraph 14…provides protection from the
removal of ordination for homosexual practices
which occurred prior to its adoption.
Paragraph 14 provides amnesty for past acts
but not license for present or future acts.” The
sin of both these candidates was that both were
happily and proudly lesbian. Both Larges and
Spahr initiated their own ministries to tell our
stories and serve as evangelists to the church,
Witness for Reconciliation and That All May
Freely Serve. In honor of all those denied their
ministries, Martha Juillerat and Tammy
Lindahl began the Shower of Stoles Project, a
collection of stoles representing LGBT people
who have served, are serving, or wished to
serve the church in ordained ministry.
Chastity and Fidelity
Recognizing in the votes on LGBT issues at
General Assembly and its Permanent Judicial
Commission shifts in our favor, reactionary
forces in the church chose the strategy of codifying
in the Book of Order the denomination’s
anti-gay posture in 1996. The so-called Amendment
B, ratified by a simple majority of
presbyteries in 1997, limited ordination to
those who practiced “chastity in singleness”
and “fidelity in marriage between a man and
a woman.” Amendment A, passed by the following
assembly in an attempt to soften the
hardcore stance, failed to be ratified. Already,
Amendment B has led to complicated legal
battles. It is expected to choke the church
courts as protestors to the amendment “selfaccuse,”
since the amendment also rejects ordination
of those guilty of sins listed in the
Confessions of the church, which include
working on Sunday, gluttony, and displaying
pictures of Jesus.
In the struggle over these amendments, yet
another powerful network of churches has
formed called The Covenant Network, which
wants to reclaim the church from the far right
and remove these new requirements of ordination.
Though some are also More Light
churches, most are churches which claim to
represent the moderate middle of the church,
reluctant to break church law, but resistant to
those who hold the denomination captive to
an intolerant agenda of injustice.
In 1999, Presbyterians for Lesbian & Gay
Concerns and the More Light Churches Network
merged, hiring a full-time “field coordinator”
for the first time to organize members
and member churches at the grass roots,
Michael Adee.
8 Open Hands
Gay and lesbian United Methodists began
to identify themselves about the same time
“the gay issue” came into the consciousness
of the broader U.S. culture. Among them were
clergy like Earnest Reaugh of upstate New
York, Richard Huskey of Minnesota, and Texan
Gene Leggett. Coming out cost Huskey and
Leggett their annual conference relationships.
Reaugh and Leggett, among others, came to
Atlanta in the spring of 1972 to make their
witness at a General Conference that would
be giving structure to the merged United Methodist
Church and enacting a statement of Social
Principles drafted to say:
Homosexuals no less than heterosexuals
are persons of sacred worth, who
need the ministry and guidance of the
church in their struggles for human fulfillment,
as well as the spiritual and
emotional care of a fellowship which enables
reconciling relationships with God,
with others and with self. Further we
insist that all persons are entitled to have
their human and civil rights ensured.
The Atlanta gathering had many of the signs
of a progressive event. Delegations of youth,
young adults, and seminary students were
given voice, though they would complain bitterly
about the difficulty of getting recognized
from their places in the back rows. Leggett,
Reaugh, and their small group were not the
only gays or lesbians present. Others who
would become leaders in what eventually became
Affirmation: United Methodists for Lesbian/
Gay Concerns were there in the seminarian,
youth, and young adult caucuses.
Conservative leadership from the southeast
and south central jurisdictions of the
church were unable to defeat the creation of
commissions addressing religion and race and
the status and role of women. But, aided by
parliamentary process “errors” of presiding
Texas bishop Eugene Slater, they were able to
add a negative clause to the draft statement
about homosexuality: “…though we do not
condone the practice of homosexuality and
consider this practice incompatible with
Christian teaching.” The 1972 Social Principles
statement also said, “We do not recommend
marriage between two persons of
the same sex.”
Questioning Motives
While the General Conference held a negative
posture toward LGBT people for at least
the ensuing generation, a collective of lesbians
and a separate group of gay men were at
work on the last two issues of motive magazine.
Founded in 1941 by the Methodist Student
Movement, motive had been published
for thirty years by the denomination’s Board
of Education. According to an editorial in the
lesbian/feminist issue, “radical dissension
within limits had been tolerated with a few
slaps on the wrist” until “the church fathers
really squirmed” following a special issue on
women in the spring of 1969. Because the
magazine could not survive without church
funding, the staff and editorial board closed
the magazine. A new organization, MOTIVE,
Inc., published the last two issues using its
remaining resources.
There was little directly church-related
content in the gay and lesbian issues of motive.
The writers reflected a critique of contemporary
culture that went beyond sexual
liberation to address racism, classism and misogyny.
For example, in a manifesto entitled
“What Every Lesbian Should Know,” Rita Mae
Brown and Charlotte Bunch wrote that the
lesbian “has little vested interest in maintaining
the present political system since all of its
institutions—church, state, media, health,
schools— work to keep her down.” Still, many
of those who became early leaders in United
Methodism’s Reconciling movement might
have written, as did a former seminarian in
the gay men’s issue:
Luckily for me, a year of radical organizing
in a working class neighborhood
in Chicago put me in touch with my
roots and forced me to be honest with
A Ministry and Movement
of Reconciliation
“Do not press me to leave you…your God shall be my God.” Ruth proclaimed
to Naomi out of love and loyalty. The modern-day Ruths are feminists, racial
minorities, and LGBT people and our allies who say this to our denominations
no matter how male and patriarchal and white and straight and gendered they
think they want to be! The psalmist has the right vision of God’s community:
“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies…and I shall
dwell in the house of God my whole life long.” Henri Nouwen used to quip that
community was inevitably the place where the person you’d least like to be
with always lives! How can our opposition, as wealthy and vicious and uncompromising
as they are, remove us from God’s house and our place at God’s
table? It’s time for them to “get over it,” just as we have had to coexist with
those who question our sacred worth. A true test of Christ’s reconciling Spirit is
to identify who’s trying to kick who out of the church. And look who’s the
vulnerable party as we offer ourselves as “living sacrifices” to be reconciling!
Spring 2000 9
myself. It gave me the courage I needed
to walk into a GLF [Gay Liberation
Front] meeting (half-drunk but making
it!) in August 1970. “Hello, my name is
Dan, and this is my first time here and
I’m scared.” There were many of us
there for the first time. Very much like
myself. Alone. Frightened. But we’d had
enough.
The United Methodist
Gay Caucus
Following the 1972 General Conference, “had
enough,” already described the feelings of
some gay and lesbian United Methodists.
They began organizing themselves, in the San
Francisco Bay Area, Kansas City, Texas, and
elsewhere. In July of 1975, Wheadon UMC
in Evanston, IL, hosted the organizing meeting
of the United Methodist Gay Caucus
(UMGC). In addition to Leggett, Reaugh and
Huskey, the key leaders included Peggy
Harmon (Dallas), Keith Spare (Kansas City),
and Steve Webster (Madison, WI), who had
been denied admission to Garrett-Evangelical
Theological Seminary because of his
sexual orientation. Dick Cash, a student at
Northwestern University who was an active
youth/young adult member of several United
Methodist agency boards, was a key behindthe-
scenes organizer and strategist. To the
horror of some denominational leaders, they
received a sympathetic hearing from the
United Methodist Council on Youth Ministries
(UMCYM), among other official bodies.
By early the next year, UMGC had linked with
caucuses in the Bay Area and southern California
and was planning for a presence at the
1976 General Conference in Portland.
Constraint on “Condemn,” but
Prohibition of “Promote”
In the spring of 1975, with a fury echoed 25
years later, conservatives in the denomination
were whispering about potential schism
if the Discipline were to be changed. The
United Methodist Reporter published a series
of articles by the Rev. Harvey Chinn, then
pastor of Faith United Methodist Church in
Sacramento, California. Relying on a handful
of medical psychoanalysts whose views
had already been repudiated by the American
Psychiatric Association, Chinn promoted
the mental illness view of homosexuality as
one basis for maintaining the “incompatibility”
clause.
The result was a barrage of both affirmative
and negative legislation in 1976. That
conference resisted an effort to toughen the
language “we do not condone the practice of
homosexuality” to “we condemn the practice….”
It also softened the position about
marriage to a statement saying that relationships
between persons of the same sex would
not be recognized as marriage. Delegates
struggled through considerable parliamentary
confusion to approve a footnote intended to
restrict ordination of gays and lesbians. A human
sexuality study was defeated, and the famous
ban on the use of general church funds
“to promote the acceptance of homosexuality”
was imposed.
Keith Spare, speaking to the conference on
behalf of UMGC prior to debate about the
Social Principles statement, called on the body
to act in a way that would “reflect a willingness
of our church to continue in dialogue.”
In response, professor Albert Outler of Perkins
School of Theology, argued against a proposed
explicit welcome of “all persons regardless of
sexual orientation into the fellowship
and membership of the United Methodist
Church.” He attacked GLBT people for their
promiscuity (After all, he said, “we stipulate
against homosexual marriage.”) In addition,
he held that such a welcome would constitute
an “irreversible disaster in the United
Methodist Church” of “antinomian” support
for “moral decadence.” The welcoming language
was defeated by a wide margin.
Despite the regrettable legislation, UMGC
joined with the Women’s Caucus, the Young
Adult Caucus, and the Methodist Federation
for Social Action to offer a variety of more userfriendly
experiences at the conference. Among
these was a worship service at which Bishop
Jesse DeWitt, Theressa Hoover, Jeanne Audrey
Powers, and Hazel Decker were speakers. One
attendee, an executive of a denominational
agency, wrote to organizers to thank them for
“the single most uplifting experience of this
General Conference.”
Anti-Gay Backlash
Officially sanctioned church discrimination
against GLBT people worsened following the
1976 conference. Garrett seminary denied
graduation to two gay students solely because
of their sexual orientation. Support for the UM
Council on Youth Ministries declined because
officials saw it as subversive. Nevertheless, the
UM Gay Caucus remained strong, hosting at
least a hundred participants in a spring 1978
meeting at Broadway Church in Chicago, and
renaming itself Affirmation: United Methodists
for Lesbian/Gay Concerns. In the Fall of
10 Open Hands
that year Affirmation adopted a plan to support
two staff people at subsistence level to
travel the church until the 1980 General Conference.
It was perhaps the most ambitious
effort the group has ever undertaken, and in
many ways the most important in terms of
the larger reconciling movement. Peggy
Harmon and Michael Collins traveled around
the country through those months. Their efforts
spawned local groups of Affirmation
across the country and enabled many new
leaders to emerge.
In April of 1979, deaconess Joan Clark was
fired by the Women’s Division of the Board
of Global Ministries after seven years working
for the agency because she affirmed her lesbian
identity in the report of her study leave.
As Joan wrote in the June 11, 1979, issue of
Christianity and Crisis, the event gave the
Women’s Division an opportunity to feel “the
impact of what happens to lesbian/gay persons
when well-meaning folks who want survival
at any price refuse to speak out for justice.”
This event, which enabled Joan Clark to
become a more visible strategic leader, helped
catalyze an even greater presence by Affirmation
and other progressive groups in the
church at the General Conference of 1980, yet
the final result was no change for better or
worse. The impact on those in Affirmation and
elsewhere who had believed in the likelihood
of positive change was devastating. Perhaps it
was no coincidence that the next two meetings
of Affirmation nearly brought an end to
the national organization.
Our Divisions Parallel
the Church’s
A meeting in Texas surfaced an ideological
difference between two groups of men. On one
side were those— mostly with seminary backgrounds
and some kind of experience at the
church’s national level—who did a radical social
analysis focusing on the systemic issues
of race, class, and (to a lesser degree) gender.
On the other side were those—mostly in the
hosting group and/or newcomers to national
church “politics” and to Affirmation—whose
social analysis was seen as inadequate by the
first group. The conflict surfaced during a lavish
party that included a drag act and was held
in the home of a wealthy gay man. The latter
group saw themselves as simply offering good
old-fashioned Texas hospitality and considered
the others to be boors who did not observe
basic conventions of polite society.
Gender-based conflict erupted at a meeting
the following spring, ostensibly because a
group of gay men wanted to leave the site 40
miles from San Francisco to go to bars in The
City. Affirmation has in some senses never
recovered from the loss of participants such
as Joan Clark and Peggy Harmon that followed
the painful breach. Attendance at Affirmation’s
next national meeting, in the Fall of
1981, was the lowest it had been since well
before the 1980 General Conference. This series
of events prompted for some a serious
reconsideration of the role of Affirmation, as
shown in a journal note Michael Collins wrote
in 1982:
All in all, we have reflected the same
style and struggles as the UMC as a
whole: a floundering and unsure leadership,
a scatteredness in focus, soulsearching,
anger, and finally a commitment
to continue wandering,
journeying on—with the hope that it
will get much better but a fear that what
is ahead may be nothing but another
dose of the same.
Following the 1980 General Conference
and subsequent events in Affirmation,
Michael became increasingly critical of himself
and others. He questioned the integrity
of closeted church leaders who looked for
sexual adventures with people of their own
gender but were silent or lukewarm when it
came to advocacy for lesbian and gay concerns.
He did not understand staff members
at the General Board of Global Ministries who
advocated strongly for organized labor and
racial justice outside the church but worked
to defeat union organizing among clerical
workers at the Board of Global Ministries, who
were mostly people of color. Thus it is not
surprising that he would assess Affirmation’s
work, and therefore his own ministry of ten
years, all in the same breath.
The assessment reminded Michael that Affirmation
should not judge its success solely
or even primarily on legislative results at a
General Conference. He called on the group
to recognize the much greater value of its role
as a broader ministry to a church struggling
to be true to its own calling, an element that
had already been explicit in the early mission
statement of the UMGC. He also urged that
organizing prior to the 1984 General Conference
include a focus on what Affirmation
would do after that conference so that what
he saw as the inevitable legislative defeats
would not once again be so devastating to
the group. The illness that claimed Michael’s
life in October of 1984 soon made it impossible
for him to travel and participate in the
Spring 2000 11
work of Affirmation. Nevertheless these two
key perspectives informed the development
of the Reconciling Congregation program and
its eventual announcement at the Baltimore
General Conference on the day after the delegates
voted an explicit prohibition of the ordination
or appointment of “self-avowed
practicing homosexuals.”
Reconciling Work Begins
On the day after that vote, members of Affirmation
gathered outside the conference center
to pass out brochures to delegates and visitors
inviting their congregations to become
“reconciling.” Within two weeks two congregations
had voted to become Reconciling
Congregations. Symbolically, they spanned
the country: Washington Square United
Methodist Church in New York City and
Wesley United Methodist Church in Fresno,
California.
What preceded the invitation and response
was a decision at the September 1982 meeting
of Affirmation to develop “a program in
which local churches will declare their support
for the concerns of lesbians and gay
men.” Mark Bowman, D. J. Porter, and Perry
Wiggins agreed to develop a plan. The model
of the Presbyterian More Light Program begun
in 1978 in which a local church adopted
a statement affirming lesbians and gay men
and inviting their full participation in the life
of the local church was adapted for United
Methodist congregations. Discussion about
the need for “reconciliation” between the
United Methodist Church and lesbians/
gay men at a November 1982 meeting of
Affirmation’s General Conference Task Force
inspired the name “Reconciling Churches,”
later modified to “Reconciling Congregations”
in order to emphasize that this will be
a local church network. (The second choice
was “Self-Avowed, Practicing Churches”!) The
three appointed planners presented a design
for the program to the September 1983 Affirmation
meeting that was remarkably similar
to what the program has become. Beth
Richardson and Mark Bowman served as volunteer
co-coordinators in the developmental
state of the Reconciling Congregation Program
(RCP), eventually conducting training
sessions for “RC Enablers” and Reconciling
Congregations.
In 1985, Richardson and Bowman began
a quarterly magazine, Manna for the Journey,
as a resource for the Reconciling Congregation
movement. Renamed Open Hands, and
celebrating its fifteenth year, it now serves as
an ecumenical resource to the entire welcoming
movement within denominations in
Canada and the United States.
By March 1987, twenty-two churches had
become Reconciling Congregations. They sent
125 representatives to a nationwide convocation
in Chicago for a weekend of worship,
training, sharing, and celebration. Additional
gatherings followed. By July 1990, the Reconciling
Congregation Program became a nonprofit
organization with its own board of directors,
subsequently establishing a national
office in Chicago in 1992 with Mark Bowman
as full-time coordinator, a position he held
until 1999. Marilyn Alexander, co-author of
We Were Baptized Too, now serves as interim
coordinator. United Methodist church courts
have recently ruled against churches and conferences
using designations such as “Reconciling.”
It is yet unknown what effect, if any,
this will have on the program.
Despite a Homosexuality Study Report received
by the UMC’s General Conference in
1992, the 1992 and 1996 gatherings have not
reversed the denomination’s unwelcoming
policies, and the latter added a ban on samegender
unions to the Social Principles, leading
to recent church trials of clergy who perform
them.
“Be Reconciling…”
What lessons are there for our welcoming
work from the United Methodist experience
to date?
1. A solid theological foundation for the work is
not simply an “option.” The founders and
early leaders of Affirmation sought to articulate
a broadly based theology that expressed
their understanding of the Gospel
and of the church beyond biblical and theological
“justification” for homosexuality
and “homosexual practice.” Among the important
contributions of Peggy Harmon,
apart from her work as a field organizer
prior to the 1980 General Conference, was
her role as a co-convener (with Richard
Huskey) of the UMGC’s task force on theology.
The caucus saw itself also as a community
of faith whose self-understanding
was driven not by the sexual orientation
of its members but by their faith commitments.
They affirmed in early conversations
and documents their intention to live their
lives as lesbian and gay people in the context
of an underlying commitment to Christian
discipleship, not the reverse.
12 Open Hands
nection between their feminist understandings
and issues related to gay and lesbian
people in the church. It is also true that
the welcoming movement has faced the
challenge of racism, with a limited expression
of solidarity with people of color. Fortunately
for the Reconciling movement,
the continuing leadership in the arena of
homophobia and heterosexism by African-
Americans like the Rev. Gil Caldwell in
New Haven, Connecticut has not been contingent
on being recognized and thanked
for it. The whole welcoming movement
should increase its attention to the pervasive
impact of racism.
4. The welcoming movement should include and
benefit from the diversities of a faith community
incorporating the multiple “styles” people
bring to their lives, as well as various leadership
styles and attitudes toward issues.
Among the denominations that have welcoming
groups, the United Methodist
Church may well be the most heterogeneous.
The people of Affirmation used to
enjoy dancing and prancing around the
room while singing “All God’s children got
a place in the choir.” The Reconciling Congregation
Program has been better than
Affirmation in bridging these gaps, but
there is work to be done all around.
The Open and Affirming program in the
United Church of Christ (UCC) began at the
1983 General Synod, which also voted to address
institutional homophobia, support nontraditional
as well as traditional families, encourage
AIDS ministries, and include openly
gay, lesbian, and bisexual members of Church
& Ministry Committees. The Rev. Raymond
Bradley, Jr. introduced a resolution urging local
churches to welcome gay and lesbian
people. This resolution was debated and sent
to the Executive Council for referral to national
bodies of the denomination for study
and further action. Several months later,
members of the (then-named) United Church
Coalition for Lesbian/Gay Concerns in Massachusetts
gathered to revise the 1983 resolution.
Their document was submitted to the
Massachusetts Conference Annual Meeting,
which adopted it in June 1984 and forwarded
it for consideration at the General Synod in
1985.
2. With a theological foundation, the work of
system and issue advocacy is seen as a ministry,
not merely a political agenda. The call to
the organizing meeting of UMGC included
a specific reference to going “beyond political
organizing to become a group in mission.”
The mission, like all effective ministry,
was to be based on an understanding
of the divinely-gifted nature of the prodigal
church, recalling the institution to itself,
so to speak, not manipulating it into
something unrecognizable to its Creator.
This does not mean that political understandings
and tactics were or are “unclean”
tools that should not be used. It means
rather that they should be evaluated and
used in light of the Gospel mandates. There
are profound implications in this assertion,
for example, regarding the way opponents
should be characterized or treated.
3. If the work is a ministry in the name of Christ,
it must be done with an explicit commitment
to address systemic injustice tied to race, gender,
and class, as well as homophobia/
heterosexism. Many of the early leaders of
Affirmation had also been involved in social
struggles related to racial and economic
justice and the Vietnam War. In addition,
women leaders such as Joan Clark, Peggy
Harmon, and later Mary Gaddis, among
others, understood and articulated the con-
Turning the Tables
“Jesus entered the temple and…overturned the tables of the money changers
and the seats of those who sold doves.” Not enough has been said about the
fact that the money changers and dove sellers were only helping the people
meet their ritual obligations of not defiling the temple with Roman currency
and having a sacrificial dove handy. But purveyors of ritual purity were taking
up space in the Court of the Gentiles, the closest that women, eunuchs, and
converted Gentiles could come to Yahweh, veiled within the Holy of Holies
walled within the court of sacrifice where Israelite men could gather to offer
sacrifice.
Many of the welcoming movements have played Jesus’ role overturning the
tables of church gatherings where church purity has been placed ahead of welcoming
the stranger. How refreshing it is, therefore, to have one denomination
which turned the tables themselves, inviting congregations to be open and
affirming of lesbian and gay people! In 1983, the United Church of Christ echoed
Jesus echoing Isaiah, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all
peoples,” and began the ingathering of the church’s outcasts who are gay and
lesbian, and subsequently, those who are bisexual and transgendered.
Spring 2000 13
In the spring of 1985, the resolution encountered
a roadblock. A new rule stated that
resolutions which had been debated at General
Synod in prior years could not be resubmitted.
After much negotiation, the Resolutions
Committee agreed to place the “Open
and Affirming” resolution on the agenda. The
1985 General Synod resolution, “Calling on
United Church of Christ Congregations to
Declare Themselves as Open and Affirming,”
encouraged congregations to “adopt a nondiscrimination
policy and a Covenant of
Openness and Affirmation of persons of lesbian,
gay, and bisexual orientation within the
community of faith.” The resolution was
passed by ninety-five percent of the voting
delegates on July 3, 1985. Today local
churches, conferences and associations
(within conferences) may officially become
“ONA” by endorsing a statement of welcome
after a period of study, reflection, and prayer
on the subjects of sexual orientation, homophobia,
and biblical messages about sexuality
and inclusiveness. The Rev. Ann B. Day
administers the program.
But what paved the way to that hot, historic
day in Ames, Iowa?
It Only Takes A Spark…
In 1970, a gay seminarian at the Pacific School
of Religion came out publicly and announced
his intention to seek ordination within the
United Church of Christ. The Rev. William
R. Johnson became the first openly gay person
to be ordained to ministry in a historic
mainstream Christian church in the United
States. He was ordained in 1972 by the Golden
Gate Association, a regional grouping of UCC
congregations in northern California, after serious
study and debate. His ordination was
widely reported in the media, giving hope not
only to those who wanted to reconcile their
sexuality and their Christianity of various denominations
and traditions, but also to those
already serving in ministry and those who
wished to serve who were gay or lesbian. He
would later serve as executive director of the
Council on Religion & the Homosexual, the
first attempt to bridge the chasm between
gays and religion which had been founded
in 1964 at the Glide Urban Center (Glide Memorial
United Methodist Church) of San Francisco.
The UCC Executive Council, the main deliberative
body of the church between biennial
meetings of the General Synods, recommended
in 1973 to regional UCC associations
that “as they continue to clarify their understanding
of the theology of ordination, they
give serious consideration to the position of
the Council for Church and Ministry in the
matter of human sexuality: In the instance of
considering a stated homosexual’s candidacy
for ordination, the issue should not be his/
her homosexuality as such, but rather, the
candidate’s total view of human sexuality and
his/her understanding of the morality of its
(expression).” Within a few years, open lesbians
joined the ranks of ordained UCC clergy,
including the Rev. Anne Holmes of Virginia
in 1977.
Shortly after his ordination, the Rev. Bill
Johnson founded the UCC Gay Caucus in
December 1972, which was given Special Interest
Group status during the 1973 UCC General
Synod. By 1975, the group was able to
shepherd through a pronouncement favoring
gay and lesbian civil liberties, with logistical
support from the Unitarian Universalist Gay
Caucus and the Friends Gay Caucus, both from
denominations already welcoming of gay men
and lesbians. A human sexuality study was also
commissioned, with an emphasis on discerning
a Christian ethic regarding sexuality.
Loaves and Fishes
When Anita Bryant launched her successful
campaign against a civil rights ordinance in
Dade County, Florida in 1977, the UCC Gay
Caucus introduced a resolution to that year’s
General Synod deploring the use of scripture
to generate hatred of gays and lesbians, and
reaffirming the 1975 pronouncement on civil
liberties. This was passed by a 90 per cent
majority. The same year, the report of the
human sexuality report, with 17 recommendations,
was endorsed by a two-thirds majority.
The caucus became the United Church
Coalition for Gay Concerns in 1979, and subsequently
added “lesbian,” “bisexual,” and
“transgender” along the way. Always present
at General Synods, the Coalition began
holding annual gatherings preceding the synods
in 1981. The United Church of Christ
Coalition for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and
Transgender Concerns (The Coalition), considered
the heart of the ONA movement and
program, enjoys “voice without vote” at meetings
of the UCC General Synod.
The Rev. Diane Darling became the first
openly lesbian woman called to parish ministry
in the UCC in 1984, as a pastor of College
Avenue United Church of Christ in Modesto,
California. Previously, lesbians had been ordained
to specialized ministries. The 1983
General Synod had passed a resolution rec14
Open Hands
“But [Jesus said to his disciples], ‘You give them something to eat.’” And
so, from a humble beginning of a few loaves and fishes, there was enough
food to feed the 5000-plus souls gathered to hear the gospel. A seminarian’s
faith-full decision in 1970 to be openly gay and an association’s faith-full
willingness to ordain him proved enough to bring the United Church of
Christ a harvest that has so far culminated in the largest number of churches
associated with any welcoming program to date—well over 300! ▼
ommending to associations that “in considering
a candidate’s qualifications for
ministry, the candidate’s sexual orientation
should not be grounds for denying the request
for ordination.” By 1991, the General
Synod went further, resolving the UCC
“boldly affirms, celebrates, and embraces
the gifts for ministry of lesbian, gay, and
bisexual persons” and “calls upon local
churches, associations, and conferences to
extend their welcome and support to
openly lesbian, gay, and bisexual students incare,
and to facilitate the ordination and placement
of qualified lesbian, gay, and bisexual
candidates.”
University Congregational Church, a UCC
church in Seattle, became the first church of
a mainline U.S. denomination to extend a call
to an openly gay clergy couple in 1994. A
three-fourths majority of the church endorsed
the ministries the Rev. Peter Ilgenfritz and the
Rev. David Shull.
Begun under the name “Reconciled in
Christ,” the program was designed to encourage,
recognize, and connect Lutheran congregations
that publicly welcome lesbian and gay
believers to their communities of faith. The
program intent has always included Lutheran
congregations of all affiliations. The Reconciling
in Christ roster contains independent
Lutheran churches, as well as churches from
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in Canada. One congregation is jointly ELCA
and Missouri Synod (very conservative!).
The program, administered by Bob
Gibeling and Jan Bussert, has grown to include
14 ELCA synods representing over 20 per cent
of that denomination’s geographical synods
and 25 per cent of its 5.2 million memberships.
Lutheran organizations, such as the
Lutheran Student Movement-USA and the
Urban Servants Corps, have also become “reconciling
in Christ.” In the past year alone,
growth has doubled to 180 congregations.
In 1997 the Board of Directors of Lutherans
Concerned approved using the language,
“people of all sexual orientations” in the affirmation
of welcome. In 1998 the name was
altered slightly to become “Reconciling in
Christ” to reflect the ongoing nature of the
welcoming movement. The first North
Revisiting Sodom
“But whenever you enter a [church] and they do not welcome you, go out into
its [vestibule] and say, ‘Even the dust of your [church] that clings to our feet, we
wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come
near.’ I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that
[church].” It was just such an experience of inhospitality that led to the establishment
of the Reconciling in Christ movement within Lutheran denominations.
Former president of Lutherans Concerned/North America, John Ballew
had once been ejected from a Lutheran Church/Missouri Synod when the pastor
learned he was gay. While on the board of Lutherans Concerned, Ballew
introduced the welcoming concept in 1984, drafting the original affirmation of
welcome language which is the basis for the whole program. [See Ballew’s
current thoughts on the program on p. 27.]
Spring 2000 15
America gathering of RIC communities will
be held in San Francisco in 2001, and is anticipated
to expand the network and ministry.
Roots of Reconciliation
Before the merger that formed the ELCA, Jim
Siefkes, director of developing ministries in
the American Lutheran Church’s Division for
Service and Mission in America in 1974, decided
that since every other denomination
had a gay caucus, Lutherans should have one
too. He gathered six Lutherans and three advisors
(which included John Preston, then of
SIECUS, and Louise Rose of the American
Baptist Gay Caucus) and helped form and
fund Lutherans Concerned for Gay People
(the final three words were later dropped).
Allen Blaich was the first national spokesperson;
Diane Fraser became the first openly gay
faculty member at a Lutheran College by her
public association as one of those early organizers.
A professional journalist, Howard
Erickson, edited the excellent newsletter, The
Gay Lutheran, the very name of which
“boggled the minds of many church bureaucrats,”
according to Jim Lokken, the only
clergy member of that first group.
In the late 70’s Lutherans Concerned
played a significant role in the revision of a
1966 ALC sexuality statement. As Lokken explained
recently, “The 1980 ALC statement
which resulted was not all that we hoped it
might be, but it was very much better than
the first draft. For example, while the 1966
ALC statement had regarded homosexuality
as, in effect, a sin, a crime, and a disease, the
1980 statement only regarded it as a sin.”
Lutherans Concerned published an outstanding
resource in 1985 entitled A Call for
Dialog, the result of a two-year process of drafting,
discussion, and revision in which every
LC chapter participated and for which respected
theologians gave feedback. Fifteenthousand
copies were printed and distributed.
An ALC study that followed in 1986 concluded
that the church can “neither absolutely
condemn nor ignore nor praise and
affirm homosexuality,” but that “many more
of our congregations can extend a welcome,
withhold judgment, and offer pastoral support”
to gay men and lesbians.
Ecclesiastical Disobedience
in Luther’s Footsteps
Lutherans Concerned and the Reconciling in
Christ Program are contemporary expressions
of Martin Luther’s famous quote facing down
the church of his time: “Here I stand, I can do
no other.” Celibacy was required of gay and
lesbian clergy by the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA) in 1989. Just as
More Light congregations have done in the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), two churches decided
in 1990 to challenge this requirement
by an act of ecclesiastical disobedience—the
equivalent of the civil disobedience practiced
by the Civil Rights Movement. Saint Francis
Lutheran and First United Lutheran, both in
San Francisco, ordained non-celibate pastors:
Jeff Johnson, Ruth Frost, and Phyllis Zillhart.
A church trial found the congregations in violation
of ELCA policy but did not specify exclusion
until 1995, when the unrepentant
churches were expelled.
In 1991, the ELCA Churchwide Assembly,
seeming to contradict itself, declared “Gay and
Lesbian people, as individuals created by God,
are welcome to participate fully in the life of
the congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America.” The 1993 Assembly expressed
strong opposition to all forms of verbal
or physical harassment or assault of persons
because of their sexual orientation, and
supported civil rights for all regardless of
sexual orientation. But that same year, the
press coverage of a draft of a Social Statement
on Human Sexuality outraged conservatives
within the ELCA, and the document was never
adopted.
Since then, however, positive steps have
been taken. An Open Letter from the ELCA
Bishops in March of 1996 set a tone of welcome
for gay and lesbian people and their
families. In 1997, the ELCA Churchwide Assembly
passed by an 80 per cent vote a “memorial”
from the Southeastern Synod endorsing
the Employment Non-Discrimination Act
(ENDA) before the U.S. Congress. “Gay, Lesbian,
and Straight Working Together Week”
at the denomination’s offices in Chicago, approved
by Presiding Bishop H. George Anderson,
surpassed in attendance any previous diversity
week.
The ELCA Division for Outreach completed
a formal research project in the fall of 1998
on how congregations can become more welcoming
to gay men and lesbians, entitled
“Congregational Ministry with Gay and Lesbian
People.” The report was presented to the
Conference of Bishops and the ELCA Church
Council in the spring of 1999, and now resource
materials for congregations have been
made available through the Division of Outreach.
The gift of naiveté is its release from worldly limits and
conveniences. Beth Richardson and I were novices at
magazine publishing back in 1985 when we began thinking
about an ongoing resource for Reconciling Congregations.
Had we known that most new magazines fold within their
first year and that it takes a large amount of capital to start a
magazine, we might not have taken such a foolhardy step.
The initial act of faith was to call on United Methodist
churches to become “Reconciling Congregations” at the General
Conference in May of 1984. Ten churches responded to
the call within a few months. In this euphoria, anything seemed
possible.
Realizing that some kind of ongoing resource would be essential
to nurturing such congregations and cultivating the
collective welcoming movement, Beth and I knew a magazine
was the ideal answer. So, one year after launching the Reconciling
Congregation Program, we took the next risk of publishing
the first issue of Manna for the Journey.
Publishing the first issue (“Be Ye Reconciled”) was truly a
labor of love and innocence. Beth edited the articles. I typed
the text into an unfriendly word processor. Graphic artist
Brenda Roth created titles, drew illustrations, and pasted up
the copy. Two Affirmation friends raised the funds to print
1,000 copies. —Mark Bowman
Soon after we began publishing Manna for the Journey, we
received a letter from the United Methodist Renewal Services
Fellowship, a charismatic group in the United Methodist
Church. This organization, in its letter to Morris Floyd and
Affirmation, charged that our publication’s title was an infringement
on the federal trademark they held on the title of their
newsletter MANNA. We were informed that if we did not change
the name of our publication, we would be subject to legal action.
A few months later, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
denied our trademark application for the title, Manna for the
Journey. Rather than pursue an appeal, we made the difficult
decision to change the name to Open Hands, which had been
the title of Affirmation’s daily newsletter at the 1984 General
Conference. The idea and image of Open Hands came from
John Wesley’s sermon, “The Catholic Spirit,” which was based
on 2 Kings 10:15, “Is your heart true to my heart as mine is to
yours? … If it is, give me your hand” (RSV).
Wesley’s interpretation of this passage states first that Jehu
is not inquiring if he and Jehonadab are of the same opinion
or worship in a similar fashion. Instead, says Wesley, the question
simply is, “Is thy heart right with God? … Dost thou believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ? … Is thy faith filled with the energy
of love? … Is thy heart right toward thy neighbor?” Second,
according to Wesley, the statement “give me your hand” is a
bond of faith and love and does not convey a unity of belief
and thinking. Wesley concludes by saying that a person of
“catholic spirit” is one whose “heart is enlarged toward all
mankind, those he knows and those he does not; he embraces
with strong and cordial affection neighbors and strangers,
friends and enemies.”
In the summer of 1986, beginning with Volume 2, Manna
for the Journey became Open Hands, noting that “Hands joined
together span divisions and brokenness, even if they do not
erase them.” —Beth Richardson
The first few issues of the magazine, along with some recognition
in the church media and other circles, brought a steadily
growing number of readers. It also brought overtures to publish
it with welcoming groups in other mainline denominations.
While the early magazine readers were predominately
United Methodist, a significant number were from other traditions.
Since a similar magazine did not exist in other denominations,
a joint venture was appealing. A year of discussion
and negotiations led to the publication of the first ecumenical
issue of Open Hands in January, 1993. —Mark Bowman
BEFORE OPEN HANDS
The Publishing Context of Open Hands
Though not listed here, most newsletters of organizations
and programs in the Ministries of Welcome timeline
preceded the establishment of Open Hands.
(Publisher is indicated when associated with a denomination.)
1955
Homosexuality and the Western Christian Tradition
Derrick Sherwin Bailey
1967
Social Action (UCC) and Social Progress (Presbyterian)
Joint issue on lesbian and gay civil rights.
1972
motive magazine (United Methodist)
Two issues highlight gay men and lesbians.
Controversy ends magazine.
Is Gay Good?
Dwight Oberholtzer, ed. (Westminster Press [Presbyterian])
The Lord Is My Shepherd and He Knows I’m Gay
Troy Perry
1973
Trends magazine (Presbyterian)
Features homosexuality. Controversy ends magazine.
1974
Loving Women/Loving Men—Gay Liberation and the Church
Sally Gearhart and William R. Johnson
1976
The Church and the Homosexual
John J. McNeill
Insight is founded.
A journal of gay Catholic opinion, becomes ecumenical in 1981.
1977
Church & Society (Presbyterian)
First issue devoted to homosexuality.
Christianity & Crisis (Ecumenical)
First issue devoted to homosexuality.
1978
Is the Homosexual My Neighbor?
Letha Scanzoni and Virginia Ramey Mollenkott
Jonathan Loved David
Tom Horner (Westminster Press [Presbyterian])
Take Off the Masks
Malcolm Boyd’s coming out book.
1980
Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality
John Boswell
OPEN HANDS HISTORY
1985
Manna for the Journey first appears as a
quarterly resource for Reconciling Congregations.
1986
Manna for the Journey becomes Open Hands
Melany Burrill and Bradley Rymph, Coeditors.
1988
Accepted as a member of the Associated Church Press.
1989
Honored with two Associated Church Press honors,
one for general excellence and the other
for in-depth coverage of a current issue (AIDS).
1991
Melany Burrill retires as coeditor.
Ann Thompson Cook serves as interim until Betsy Halsey is hired.
1992
Receives Award for Merit for General Excellence
for smaller magazines from the Associated Church Press.
Publication process changed to one editor and an
ecumenical advisory committee.
Mary Jo Osterman is hired as editor, and Jan Graves as designer.
1993
First ecumenical issue published with More Light,
Open and Affirming, and Reconciling in Christ programs.
1996
Welcome & Affirming Baptists join the cooperative publication.
Mary Jo Osterman leads year-long ecumenical process of
creating new Bible study curriculum Claiming the Promise,
published in January of 1997 to widespread acclaim.
1998
Chris Glaser succeeds Mary Jo Osterman as interim and then editor.
Jan Graves continues as designer.
Open & Affirming Ministries of the Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ) and the Affirming Congregation Programme
of the United Church of Canada join as ecumenical partners.
1999
Open Hands Advisory Committee and publisher, the Reconciling
Congregation Program, begin planning spinoff of magazine
as an independent publication as early as 2001.
Executive publisher Mark Bowman is succeeded
by interim Marilyn Alexander.
1981
A Disturbed Peace
Reflections of an Irish Catholic Homosexual
Brian McNaught
1984
The Other Side (Ecumenical)
Special issue on homosexuality.
1985
Lesbian Nuns: Breaking Silence
Rosemary Curb & Nancy Manahan
16 Open Hands Spring 2000 17
18 Open Hands
The Kansas City General Assembly of 1977
defeated a resolution opposing homosexuality
as a viable lifestyle for Christians, simply
referred a resolution calling on regions and
congregations to deny ordination to gays and
lesbians, and approved a study document on
the issue. A riveting moment occurred when
Carol Blakely of Caldwell, Idaho, stood at the
microphone to read a coming out letter from
her son. As she read she was ruled out order
because her time had expired; the person waiting
to speak (Rev. James Stockdale) yielded
his time to her so that she could finish reading
the letter.
The 1979 Assembly in St. Louis left the
question of ordination to the discretion of regions,
but approved a resolution that “the ordination
of persons who engage in homosexual
practices does not accord with God’s
will… If the Church ever comes to a conclusion
concerning homosexuality which differs
from those now held, the change will be the
result of the transformation of insight through
prayer, informed study and discussion rather
than the result of votes on resolutions.” It was
at this Assembly that people began to organize
what became Gay, Lesbian and Affirming
Disciples (GLAD) Alliance.
“I was at the first secret meeting for GLAD,”
recalls Debra Peevey. “We met off site and gave
only our first names. We were trying to simply
find each other.” She was already out to
her ordination committee in the Northern
California Region, which adopted the policy,
“We affirm that no one human condition can
be an absolute barrier to ordination.” She was
ordained by Lafayette (CA) Christian Church
in 1981, just a month after the first openly
gay or lesbian Disciples minister had been ordained:
Christine Leslie by University Christian
Church, Berkeley, California.
Judith Hoch Wray remembered: “We gathered
in a home somewhere in the suburbs of
St. Louis. Clandestine, fearful, and yet energized
by the sheer numbers, so many that
chairs and floor were filled with Disciples,
clergy and laity. Aware that others had not
heard the cautiously passed message to meet.
Concerned that among us would be one who
would betray us.”
GLAD Alliance, Inc. became an organization
at its first pre-assembly gathering in Louisville
in 1987. Laurie Rudel described the
gathering: “I remember the pre-assembly
gathering…It was by invitation only held in a
local church. Judith Hoch Wray led us in a
Bible study. She made the scripture sing with
grace. I believe we were studying one of the
letters of Paul. Her understanding of and compassion
for Paul, her love of the church,
startled and surprised me. As part of a closing
ritual we told our stories and placed candles
in the sand. By the end of the event the candlelight
shone brightly on our faces. It seemed
to light the path ahead that would lead from
the informal to the formal organization of
GLAD. I remember Holly Beaumont, Candy
Cox, Debra Peevey, and myself sitting in our
hotel room and dreaming up names for this
fledgling organization.” At this particular Assembly,
delegates rejected a resolution that
homosexuality was an unacceptable lifestyle
for Christians.
Three Churches Lead the Way
The first Disciples of Christ congregation to
publicly name itself as a welcoming community
was First Christian Church in Alameda,
California when, in December of 1987 it declared
itself a “Welcoming Faith Community.”
This was in direct response to the ostracism
many persons who were affected by
AIDS were experiencing in society and in the
church.
Findlay Street Christian Church in Seattle,
Washington concurrently was seeking to understand
the place that lesbian and gay Christians
have in the life of that congregation. In
response to a request by an elder to preach
about homosexuality, the Reverend Debra
Peevey preached a sermon on March 15, 1987
which catapulted the congregation into a period
of discussion and prayer. The process
culminated in the winter of 1987-1988 when
it developed a Vision Statement inclusive of
persons of “all sexual orientations, races, cultures
and economic circumstances.”
In April of 1988 University Church in Chicago,
Illinois, affiliated with both the Christian
Church (Disciples of Christ) and the
United Church of Christ, released a similar
statement of “Openness and Affirmation,”
GLAD to Go Into God’s House
“I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go into the house of the Lord!’” Thus
begins Psalm 122, and here the King James Version speaks more clearly to the
welcoming movement than other translations. It is not enough to “go to ” the
house of God as the RSV and NRSV have it; we must be enabled and empowered
to enter, to “go into ” the church. This means to be welcomed into the life
and ministry of a congregation or denomination. It has been GLAD Alliance and
its Open & Affirming Ministries Program that has welcomed LGBT people into
the life and ministry of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
Spring 2000 19
that said in part, “We welcome gay and lesbian
persons into University Church membership
and all of its privileges and responsibilities,
including full opportunities for
positions of leadership and ministry.”
These three congregations and the diverse
ways in which they approached the possibilities
and concerns of homosexuality in the
church formed the basis for the structure of
the Open & Affirming Ministries Program.
In the fall of 1988 the GLAD Alliance met
for its annual event in the facilities of University
Church. It was there that the leadership
of the Alliance was urged to formulate a
structure which would recognize and develop
Open And Affirming Congregations. An initial
coalition of pastors and laypersons was
formed to organize informative and inspirational
activities at the 1989 General Assembly
of the Christian Church, meeting in Indianapolis,
Indiana. At that gathering an
“Interact Group” was offered to all Assembly
participants entitled “Ministry With Gay and
Lesbian People: Open And Affirming Congregations.”
Additionally, a booth was provided
in the exhibit hall to provide resources for
congregations interested in the Open and Affirming
Program. Under a banner that read,
“The Body of Christ is Living with AIDS,”
GLAD held an AIDS prayer service. The Assembly
called the Church and its members
to treat persons with AIDS as children of God
and to “act as instruments of God’s compassionate
love and tender care where the seeds
of fear, prejudice and alienation have been
sown.”
Expanding Ministry
With seven Open and Affirming Congregations
and one Open and Affirming Campus
Ministry dedicated to the process, the Coordinating
Committee (now called the Alliance
Council) of the GLAD Alliance, at its January
1991 meeting, reorganized the program and
appointed two persons, the Rev. Laurie Rudel
of Seattle, and the Rev. Allen V. Harris, of New
York City, as official Co-Developers of the
Open And Affirming Congregation Program.
The Rev. Roger Wedell of Dallas later replaced
Laurie Rudel following her resignation in
1995 as Co-Developer.
During 1991 the GLAD Alliance and the
United Church Coalition for Lesbian/Gay
Concerns agreed to explore the possibilities
of cooperation between the GLAD Alliance
Open and Affirming Congregation Program
and the Open and Affirming Congregation
Program of the United Church of Christ. This
was grounded in the Ecumenical Partnership
the two denominations have been in since the
1970’s. While recognizing the unique aspects
of each of the two programs, both organizations
endorsed the mutual use of the title
“Open and Affirming Congregations,” agreed
to use different shorthand to easily distinguish
the programs, with the UCC using “ONA” and
the Disciples using “O&A,” and reaffirmed
similar goals for the two programs.
The purpose and structure of the Program
continue to be defined. At its meeting in conjunction
with the 1991 General Assembly in
Tulsa, Oklahoma, the Alliance formally
adopted a document which established procedures
for becoming an Open & Affirming
Ministry. This Assembly is remembered as the
one in which Michael Kinnamon was not
elected as General Minister and President because
of his support of gays and lesbians.
GLAD’s membership increased by 200 percent
in the aftermath, according to Liz Lang. By
1993, gay-supportive Richard L. Hamm was
elected to serve a six-year term as General Minister
and President.
In January of 1993 the Alliance Council
updated the name of the Program to be more
in line with its purpose. It became, and remains,
the Open & Affirming (O&A) Ministries
Program of the Gay, Lesbian and Affirming
Disciples Alliance. The first issue of
CrossLinks, the newsletter of the O&A Ministries
Program, debuted in October of 1993.
In 1997 a Provisional Advisory Board for
O&A Ministries was formed in order to begin
to envision the future direction of the program.
Five members of the Advisory Board
were selected at the 1997 GLAD Alliance Event
prior to the General Assembly in Denver, Colorado,
an Assembly that voted to name homosexuality
as a topic for discernment by the
whole church. In January of 2000, at the Alliance
Council meeting in Dallas, Texas, a fully
constituted Advisory Board was formed to
oversee the work and future of O&A Ministries.
Allen Harris resigned as Developer of
Open & Affirming Ministries in November of
1998. In 1999 the Rev. John Wade Payne, recently
retired Sr. Pastor of Park Avenue Christian
Church in New York City, agreed to serve
as Interim Developer of the O&A Ministries
Program from his home in Alva, Florida.
20 Open Hands
In May of 1972, during the American Baptist
Convention in Denver, what became
American Baptists Concerned for Sexual Minorities
reminded Baptists that gays and lesbians
were also baptized into their body. During
the Charleston Biennial in 1991, the Rev.
Michael Easterling, pastor of Madison Avenue
Baptist Church in New York City, led a meeting
of fifty persons to establish a network of
American Baptist Churches that would be open
and affirming of lesbian, gay, and bisexual
people during the Charleston Biennial in 1991.
American Baptists Concerned was authorized
to administer the network based on the principle
of association and to begin recruiting
member congregations. Meanwhile, the delegates
to the Biennial approved both an antigay
“Statement of Concern” and one calling
for a study on human sexuality.
University Baptist Church of Minneapolis
called Nadean Bishop as the first openly lesbian
pastor of an American Baptist Church in
January of the following year, 1992. By March,
Binkley Memorial Baptist Church of Chapel
Hill, North Carolina, granted a pre-ordination
license to an openly gay man, John Blevins,
and Pullen Memorial Baptist of Raleigh voted
to bless same-sex unions after a careful study
process. In June, ABConcerned approved the
organization of “The Association of Welcoming
and Affirming Baptists.” The first churches
listed as W&A appeared in the fall issue of the
ABConcerned newsletter, The Voice of the
Turtle. Through a never-before-used referendum
process, the General Board of the American
Baptist Church/USA (ABC/USA) passed a
resolution in October, saying, “We affirm that
the practice of homosexuality is incompatible
with Christian teaching.”
The first W&A Association Coordinator,
Brenda Moulton, was appointed in February
of 1993. Four months later, the General Board
of the ABC/USA voted in favor of a “Resolution
for Dialogue on Issues of Human Sexuality.”
The same month, the W&A Association
held its first biennial meeting with twenty
congregations and three groups as charter
members.
Dissin” the
Welcoming Movement
Mark Crosby, an openly gay pastoral counselor,
was denied an ecclesiastical endorsement
by the ABC/USA Committee on Chaplaincy
and Pastoral Counselors in March of 1994. In
May, W&A congregations were asked to
retract their welcome of gays and lesbians;
those in the west were threatened with
disfellowshipping. In August, a process began
to disfellowship First Baptist Church of
Granville, Ohio, for its welcome. The church
was disfellowshipped from the Columbus
Baptist Association in 1995. Since then, one
American Baptist church in Alaska and four
in California have been disfellowshipped from
regional associations. The general board of
the denomination since voted to remove the
four California churches from the denomination,
but this decision has been stayed
pending adjudication requests of eight American
Baptist regions that allege due process and
church autonomy have been violated. (Two
Southern Baptist churches in Atlanta and adjacent
Decatur were disfellowshipped by the
Georgia Baptist Convention last fall for welcoming
lesbians and gay men.)
In September, the Pacific Southwest region
revoked the ordination standing of Susan
Vanderburgh, a lesbian pastoral counselor.
Her church rescinded her ordination and the
denomination withdrew its endorsement of
her as a pastoral counselor. By December,
openly gay candidate Randle (Rick) Mixon’s
third attempt to be ordained in twenty years
was rebuffed by the Ordination Commission
of the ABC/USA of the West. [For a happier
Baptist story, read Jacki Belile’s article on
p. 28.]
Baptized Into One Family
“Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” Thus
Jesus welcomed family regardless of biology or marriage. The new family would
be the family of faith. “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite
your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors…invite the
poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed…” In other
words, welcome those in need, those who might not be able to return the favor.
“Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” Because God
desires mercy, not sacrifice, Jesus replied. God desires welcome, not
scapegoating. Jesus is the founder of the welcoming movement. “For in the one
Spirit we were all baptized into one body…” Christ’s Body is by definition
welcoming.
“
MINISTRIES OF WELCOME
1964
Council on Religion and the Homosexual (CRH) organized at Glide Urban Center,
San Francisco.
1968
The Rev. Troy Perry founds first congregation of the Universal Fellowship of
Metropolitan Community Churches (UFMCC).
1969
Father Pat Nidorf founds Dignity in San Diego, California.
1970
Rev. Richard Nash of Los Angeles and Elgin Blair of Toronto organize Unitarian
Universalist Gay Caucus.
1971
Rev. Ron Mattson of Minneapolis founds the Committee of Concern, American
and Canadian Friends, to deal with lesbian and gay concerns. Name changed to
Friends for Lesbian and Gay Concerns in 1978.
Sister Jeannine Gramick organizes weekly masses for gay Catholics in Maryland.
1972
Metropolitan Community Temple, first lesbian/gay synagogue founded in Los
Angeles.
Rev. Bill Johnson founds the UCC Gay Caucus, later renamed the United Church
Coalition for Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender Concerns.
American Baptists Concerned for Sexual Minorities organized (under another name).
1974
Rev. David B. Sindt begins the Presbyterian Gay Caucus, which becomes
Presbyterians for Lesbian & Gay Concerns.
Living in rural Georgia, professor Louie Crew organizes Integrity.
Gay United Methodist Caucus, later called Affirmation, is founded in Evanston,
Illinois.
1976
Dr. Ralph Blair organizes Evangelicals Concerned in New York.
Ben Pickell begins organizing lesbian and gay Seventh Day Adventists in southern
California.
1977
Jeannine Grammick, a nun, and Robert Nugent, a priest, form New Ways Ministry,
a ministry for LGBT Roman Catholics and their families, based in Mount Ranier,
Maryland.
Chris Glaser begins Lazarus Project at the West Hollywood Presbyterian Church,
the first fully funded ministry of reconciliation between the church and the LGBT
community in any denomination.
Affirmation: Gay and Lesbian Mormons founded in Salt Lake City, initiated by
Steve Zakharias.
1978
Presbyterian churches opposed to the antigay denominational policy designate
themselves “More Light Congregations.” The welcoming movement begins.
Rev. Bill Johnson organizes Maranatha, Riversiders for Lesbian/Gay Concerns at
New York’s famed Riverside Church.
Circle of Light organized for LGBT folk at West Park Presbyterian Church, New
York City.
1979
First national gathering of gay and lesbian seminarians held at Union Theological
Seminary in New York.
GLAD Alliance forms in the Disciples of Christ (The Christian Church).
Martin Rock begins the Brethren/Mennonite Council for Gay Concerns.
The Diocese of California begins the Parsonage, a ministry in the Castro in San
Francisco.
1980
National Gay Pentecostal Alliance is founded in Schenectady, New York, by William
H. Carey and Judy M. Schwarz, as a welcoming denomination.
1981
Evangelicals Together (emerging from Evangelicals Concerned) organized in
Southern California by the Rev. Steve Preston as a ministry with a focus on Bible
studies in members’ homes.
1982
Affirm: Gays and Lesbians of the United Church of Canada is founded in Montreal.
Reconciling Congregations initiated in the United Methodist Church by Affirmation.
First such congregations in 1984.
Wingspan Ministry with LGBT folk begun by St. Paul-Reformation Lutheran Church
in St. Paul, Minnesota led by Anita Hill and Leo Treadway.
Rev. Janie Spahr begins Ministry of Light, a ministry with LGBT persons and their
families based in three Presbyterian churches in Redwoods Presbytery, California.
1983
United Church of Christ General Synod calls for churches to become Open and
Affirming.
Gay People in Christian Science / Chicago organize first national gathering. The
national group Emergence emerges in 1985.
1984
Lutherans Concerned begins Reconciling in Christ program. First RIC: St. Paul-
Reformation Lutheran Church.
1987
Open and Affirming churches movement begins in the Christian Church (Disciples
of Christ).
1989
Bishop John Spong ordains and commissions Robert Williams as chief missioner
for the Oasis, a diocesan ministry with lesbians and gay men. Oasis becomes the
name of the welcoming movement in the Episcopal Church.
1990
Christian Lesbians Out Together (CLOUT) grows out of an invitation extended by
Revs. Carter Heyward, Jan Griesinger, Melanie Morrison, and Cathy Ann Beaty.
1991
Supportive Congregations Network formed for congregations from Mennonite,
Church of the Brethren, and other Anabaptist faith traditions.
That All May Freely Serve, founded in Rochester, New York, with Rev. Janie Spahr
as a national “lesbian evangelist,” now has ministries in Baltimore, Chicago, and
New York City, and is organizing others.
1992
Welcoming and Affirming church program started by American Baptists Concerned.
Affirming Congregation Programme begun in the United Church of Canada. First
church in 1995.
Other Sheep: Multicultural Ministries with Sexual Minorities begun by missionary
Tom Hanks as an international and intercultural ministry, largely focused on Latin
America.
1995
Shower of Stoles of LGBT people in ministry begun by Martha Juillerat and Tammy
Lindahl.
1999
INCLUSIVE Congregations movement begins among Roman Catholic, Church of
England, and United Reformed churches in the United Kingdom.
26 Open Hands
Spring 2000 21
In God’s Image…Male and Female,” was
one of a series of reports and study documents
prepared by the United Church of
Canada (an ecumenical union of several
mainstream Protestant denominations) dealing
with issues of human sexuality. It wasn’t
primarily about sexual orientation or about
ministry. In 1972, the General Council agreed
to carry out a comprehensive study of human
sexuality, but for various reasons it
wasn’t until 1978 that a task group met to
prepare a report. The document they wrote,
“In God’s Image,” was approved as a study
document by the 1980 General Council and
circulated to the wider church for discussion
and reflection. It focused broadly on issues
of sexuality, marriage, and family. The impetus
for this focus on sexuality was a growing
concern about marriage and family breakdown,
changing roles of women and men in
society, feminism, inclusive language, gender
roles, and growing awareness of injustice
and violence against women. The issue
of homosexuality and eligibility for ministry
had not yet begun to surface as a major
discussion in the church. It was in many ways
only a minor comment in a much larger
document.
Rev. Pierre Goldberger, Principal of the
United Theological College in Montreal, has
noted that the issue of homosexuality and
ministry was really only a subset of a much
broader discussion about roles and relationships.
“‘In God’s Image…Male and Female’
was a telling title,” he said. “We were addressing
a whole range of issues— theology, the
Bible, and of course sexuality. And one of
the footnotes of the debate was discussion
of the variety of sexual orientations that exist.”
An issue that was initially quite peripheral
to the conversation took on a life of its
own. This “by the way” took on a whole new
dimension, and became the focus for a whole
lot of unresolved issues within the United
Church. It wasn’t an issue that most people
would have chosen as a focus for the church’s
energy and life for more than a decade. But it
came to be the focal point around which the
United Church was forced to make decisions,
and to decide who it was, and who it was to
become as the United Church of Canada.
Affirm: Gays and Lesbians of the United
Church of Canada was founded in Montreal
in 1982 as a national network of regional
groups. At the same time, Affirm established
“Friends of Affirm” for others who supported
their goals. Affirm held its first national conference
in Vancouver in 1983.
In February 1984, the Division of Ministry,
Personnel and Education studied a taskgroup
report entitled “Sexual Orientation and
Eligibility for the Order of Ministry” and approved
its principal recommendation that “in
and of itself sexual orientation should not be
a factor in determining membership in the
order of ministry of the United Church of
Canada.” The full report was to be acted on
by the upcoming General Council in Morden,
Manitoba later that summer. It was circulated
to every member of the United Church, as an
insert in the United Church Observer. Some
800,000 households across the country received
a report that recommended ordination
for gay and lesbian people. There was an immediate
furor. The media had a heyday.
The 1984 General Council adopted recommendations
from the report that urged an end
to discrimination against homosexual persons,
“towards full civil and human rights in
society.” The Council also acknowledged that,
throughout its history, the church had condoned
and even encouraged the rejection and
persecution of homosexual persons. But the
“
Salvation is Salvation
“Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? I
choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with
what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?” Thus Jesus, in the parable of
the laborers paid equally though some had been there longer, illustrated the egalitarian nature
of the commonwealth of God, and the church as its reflection. Salvation is salvation—one cannot
be “saved” more than another. Yet many Christians are envious that God’s generosity,
God’s grace, should extend to LGBT people. When the United Church of Canada recognized that
God’s grace did, in fact, extend to lesbian and gay people, many of the “first laborers grumbled”
that God “made them equal to us…”
22 Open Hands
issue of ministry, particularly ordained ministry,
remained unresolved. The Council concluded
that further study was needed, and
postponed the decision for another four years.
Yet another task-group was formed to prepare
a church-wide study, collate congregational
responses, and prepare a report for the
1988 General Council in Victoria. It wrote a
document called “Towards a Christian Understanding
of Sexual Orientation, Lifestyles and
Ministry.” By the time the task-group released
its report in preparation for General Council
there were petitions flooding in from all across
the church. There had been non-stop media
coverage, most of it tending to pick up the
loudest and most polarized voices in the debate.
The church had not experienced such a
crisis since the decision to ordain women in
1936. That had taken ten years of rancorous
study and debate; some people had threatened
to leave the church if women were ordained.
And some people did.
The 1988 General Council of the United
Church of Canada made a historic decision.
The irony is that it was in many ways a nondecision.
The Council in essence voted not to
change existing policy, that is, not to erect a
barrier that had not previously existed. “All
people, regardless of their sexual orientation,
who profess Jesus Christ and obedience to him
are welcome to be or become full members of
the Church,” said the final statement. Nothing
had changed. There never had been criteria
for excluding any groups of persons from
membership.
And as for ordination, the question that was
at the heart of this whole debate, the final resolution
stated that “all members are eligible to
be considered for ordered ministry.” Again,
nothing changed. That had been policy since
The United Church came into being. All existing
procedures for discerning and approving
candidates for ministry were reaffirmed, from
the congregation’s role in putting forward
candidates to the role of a conference in final
recommendation for ordination and commissioning.
Nothing changed. Everything
changed.
Affirming Congregations Begin
Affirming Congregations in the United Church
are local churches that welcome bisexuals, lesbians,
gay men, and their families in all aspects
of church life. They are congregations
that promote reconciliation of gay, lesbian and
bisexual people within the church and also in
the larger society. And they are congregations
that minister both to and with people of all
sexual orientations.
The Affirming Congregation Programme,
initiated in 1992, modeled on similar ones in
other denominations, was created to give
greater visibility to those United Churches
that offer a ministry of inclusion and welcome
to gays and lesbians, but also to encourage
all congregations to find ways to be more open
in their welcome. A congregation that declares
explicitly that it is welcoming can create a
safer place for gays and lesbians to share who
they are. The congregation takes on more of
the risk, because there’s no doubt the decision
sometimes creates conflict and controversy.
But congregations often find they gain
new members and a renewed sense of ministry
as a result of the experience.
Congregations joining the program, now
led by the Rev. Ron Coughlin, agree to undertake
a process of study and discussion.
They consider what it means for them to be
inclusive and welcoming; they look at the
barriers and ways in which they might become
more inclusive; they consider what ministry
and outreach they can offer to and with
gay and lesbian people, and they prepare an
official congregational statement that declares
their intention to be welcoming of all. Then,
there’s a celebration!
Augustine United, in downtown Winnipeg,
is no stranger to diversity. As an inner city
congregation, it encounters people from all
walks of life. Bethan Theunissen, a South African,
a lesbian, a lay woman with Methodist
background and Baptist and Mennonite theological
training, is Augustine’s full-time minister.
Sunday morning worship reflects considerable
diversity as well. The beautiful
polished wood and stained glass reveal its distinguished
Presbyterian origins. There is a visible
presence of gay and lesbian people,
people from the neighborhood, and people
whose roots go deep into Augustine’s 100 or
so years of history.
Augustine made history in 1995, when it
became the first Affirming Congregation in
the United Church of Canada. Although the
congregation had studied and reflected on
issues of sexual orientation for over twenty
years, it undertook four years of intense study
and debate before its public statement and
celebration as an affirming congregation. The
first motion was rejected in 1993, not because
people disagreed with the vision of inclusion,
but because many people felt the congregation
needed to do more work to become a
Spring 2000 23
truly safe and welcoming place for lesbians
and gays. A statement in its Sunday worship
bulletin reads, “Augustine is a community
that welcomes, recognizes and accepts lesbian,
gay and bisexual people in our midst as
full and equal participants in all aspects of
our life, work and worship.”
“Behold, I Am Doing
a New Thing…”
The United Church has changed since its decision,
in its policy, its attitudes, its theology,
and its practice. Inevitably, other denominations
around the world have been forced to
face their own Issue Years. Many of them look
to The United Church for models and ways
to get through. They look at how far it has
come, and they ask how.
The process of change in The United
Church of Canada is not over, nor would anyone
say it has “arrived,” but there are many
signs the church is a very different place than
it was in 1988. At that time, most people believed
it would be a decade or more before
even one congregation would accept an
openly lesbian or gay minister. There have
been at least 10 out lesbian or gay candidates
since then. Many more clergy have been
called as openly gay or lesbian, or have subsequently
come out to their congregations. A
dozen or more congregations have made public
statements declaring themselves to be affirming
and welcoming of lesbians and gays
in all aspects of their congregational life, including
ministry. Many more are reflecting
more quietly on ways their congregation
might offer a more inclusive welcome to all
regardless of sexual orientation.
Like all major denominations in Canada,
the United Church still struggles with declining
membership and increasingly limited finances.
But there are many signs that it is
still a strong, healthy church, offering spiritual
nurture to the nearly two million Canadians
within the bounds of its pastoral care,
and a life-giving and caring presence in four
thousand communities across the country.
There is no question that the United Church
lost members because of the issue— some estimate
the losses to be as high as 3.5 percent—
but it gained members as well. In some places
it also acquired a new sense of its mission
and a whole new vitality.
The real costs and gains of the United
Church’s 1988 decision are in many ways immeasurable.
There was no way the United
Church could have faced the issue of ministry
and homosexuality and come out unscathed.
Whatever it decided, it would have
lost members. If it had chosen, as some people
thought it should, to completely bar lesbians
and gays from ministry, it might have lost the
skills and resources of at least 10 percent of
its clergy (some say the numbers are even
higher) and members, as well as many friends,
family members, and supporters of lesbians
and gays. Even in its compromise decision,
the Church lost people from both sides who
were unwilling to live with its uneasy ambiguity.
There are some who fought bitterly against
any inclusion of lesbians and gays in the
church, and some who fought just as bitterly
against putting up barriers— not always because
they approved of homosexuality, sometimes
just because it’s not very United Church
to shut people out, any people. Many people
were very angry. Some left. Sometimes those
confrontations left a bitter legacy. It took a
long time for people to start feeling good again
about being the United Church.
Generally, United Church people don’t like
extremism, and they don’t like people attacking
one another personally. As the more
vitriolic feelings died down, many people felt
sad and a bit disappointed that the church had
slipped into such a morass. That wasn’t how
they wanted to be as a community of faith—
whatever their position on this particular issue.
The United Church is no stranger to risk or
controversy. It was born out of a difficult and
painful union. Through all of its history it has
spoken and acted on social issues— Japanese
internment in World War II, apartheid in
South Africa, abortion, capital punishment,
rights for women, human rights, refugees,
native land claims, economic justice, child
poverty, homosexuality. It often runs counter
to popular opinion, and constantly strives to
live with integrity with its own internal disagreements.
That’s just who the United
Church is. It’s not a denomination insulated
from the world around it, and it refuses to stick
its head in the sand. It changes, and it creates
change. It is very far from perfect, as any
United Church person would be the first to
tell you. Yet it continues to risk talking about
and living out what it believes, and, above all,
it dares to be the church in the world.
24 Open Hands
Rather than remaining victims, the Supportive
Congregations Network redirected its
energy from banging heads against church
walls to “dancing” at the walls of the church.
The “dancing” conferences that have resulted
have proven to be inspiring sacred places for
telling congregational stories, developing new
paradigms for dialogue, and participating in
poignant worship experiences. The first of five
dancing conferences, Dancing at the Wall of
Fear, Bigotry, and Oppression took place in Charlotte,
North Carolina in 1995. Most recently,
Leading the Dance: Living the Church Re-Imagined
Conference was held in Milwaukee last
summer.
The Supportive Congregations Network
was formed in 1991 as a grassroots organization
comprised of people and congregations
from Mennonite, Church of the Brethren, and
other related Anabaptist faith traditions. SCN
is committed to offering support, resources
and opportunities for dialogue among congregations
which welcome gay, lesbian and
bisexual members; encouraging meaningful
dialogue at the denominational level; and offering
support and resources for individuals
who are working toward welcome. Focusing
on these goals, SCN builds closer links between
congregations which are discussing issues
of homosexuality and direct a network
of welcoming congregations.
The Supportive Congregations Network
offers something unique among welcoming
programs: three distinct categories of participation.
Exploring Congregations are those in
conversation about welcoming gay, lesbian,
and bisexual members. Accepting Congregations
welcome gay, lesbian, and bisexual persons
as full members. Publicly Affirming Congregations
have adopted a written and public statement
of welcome and agree to have their name
listed with other welcoming congregations.
The Network is now identifying individuals
who are also supportive of its work under the
“Friends of SCN” program.
The Supportive Congregations Network
was the progeny of the Brethren/Mennonite
Council for Lesbian and Gay Concerns (BMC),
begun by Martin Rock in Lancaster County,
Pennsylvania in 1976. Shortly after founding
BMC, Martin Rock lost his job with the
Mennonite Central Committee and moved
to Washington, D.C., where BMC gained
strength, momentum, and additional supporters.
BMC’s founding mission statement was
“to educate and dialogue with the church, and
support gay men and lesbians.” In 1978 early
BMC pioneers published its first edition of
Dialogue, which provided a forum for BMC
to initiate conversations about homosexuality
with Mennonite and Church of the Brethren
folks.
In 1983, the Mennonite Church and the
General Conference Mennonite Church established
a Listening Committee for Homosexuality
Concerns, while the Church of the Brethren
narrowly approved an amendment
prohibiting same-sex covenantal relationships
to a statement on sexuality. The General Conference
Mennonite Church prohibited sexual
relations outside of heterosexual marriage in
1986, and the Mennonite Church followed
suit the following year.
The first welcoming congregation punished
for its stance was the Ames Mennonite
Church, expelled in 1987 from the Iowa/Nebraska
Conference of the Mennonite Church.
Germantown Mennonite Church, the oldest
Mennonite congregation in North America,
was expelled from the Franconia conference
in 1997.
Dancing At the Walls of Injustice
“You have turned my mourning into dancing,” the Psalmist wrote (30:11).
Think of Miriam dancing with a tambourine after the Israelites’ deliverance
from Egyptian oppression, or David dancing virtually naked as the Ark of the
Covenant was brought to the new capital city of Jerusalem. Think of the walls
of Jericho tumbling down because the Israelites marched around the city. Think
of the dividing walls of hostility between Jew and Gentile in the church of
Ephesus broken down by the Lord of the Dance. And consider the man “lame
from birth” in Acts who was able to enter the temple gate “walking and leaping
and praising God,” the very temple he was unwelcome to enter because his
disability made him spiritually “impure.”
Spring 2000 25
One-hundred forty people have attended
various workshops, and 50 discussion packs
developed by the Lesbian Gay Christian
Movement (LGCM) have been sold, on the
concept of INCLUSIVE Congregations, a new
movement put together by Roman Catholic,
Church of England, and United Reformed
Church people in the United Kingdom. Four
congregations to date have produced inclusive
statements and are living up to some of
the criteria for being registered as INCLUSIVE,
according to Janet Webber, retiring volunteer
administrator of the program. These criteria
include a period of study, an agreed statement
of inclusiveness with clear evidence of the
congregation’s support, an annual renewal of
the statement and an annual contribution to
the movement’s administration, publicity of
the congregation’s stand internally and externally,
a consideration of blessing same-gender
relationships, and availability of church
buildings for gay and lesbian groups.
Because of the ecumenical nature of the
work, precision is impossible and there is a
need to be flexible in interpreting the above
criteria and accepting various responses in
fulfillment of the requirements. The designation
of INCLUSIVE represents a theological
understanding of the nature of God, as
compared with words Welcoming or Affirming
which tend to suggest human activity.
It is fair to say quick results were not expected.
Conversations with Open and Affirming
congregations in the USA suggested that
it usually takes years rather than months for
firm commitments to be made, and while
there are already a considerable number of
congregations where LGBT people are genuinely
included and affirmed, it perhaps takes
even longer than in the USA to overcome
natural British reserve and make a public
stand. The British are rather good at keeping
quiet even about their good points!
God’s Open Hands Are Our Own
“I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” In the day of reckoning, those who enjoy
the commonwealth of God are those who welcome the stranger. “Listen! I am standing
at the door, knocking…Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is
saying to the churches.” The stranger outside knocking on the church’s door is Christ;
the stranger knocking on the church’s closet door inside is a part of the Body of
Christ. “Who was I that I could hinder God?” Peter rhetorically asked the early church
about his decision to baptize those whom God had already baptized with the Spirit.
Who are we, as the church, that we can hinder God’s work welcoming lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgendered people in the church and into the church?
Even if there were a kind of divine intervention to effect metanoia, a positive aboutface
conversion of the church in which LGBT people would be welcomed wholeheartedly,
the work of reconciliation, affirmation, welcoming, openness, and more light
would need to continue for decades. As conclusion, it is helpful to review our needs
as a movement from Morris Floyd’s analysis of the United Methodist experience:
1. A solid theological foundation for the work is a necessity.
2. With a theological foundation, the work of systemic change and issue advocacy is
seen as a ministry, not merely a political agenda.
3. If the work is a ministry in the name of Christ, it must be done with an explicit
commitment to address systemic exclusion and injustice tied to race, gender, and
class, as well as homophobia/heterosexism.
4. The welcoming movement should include and benefit from the diversities of a
faith community incorporating the multiple “styles” people bring to their lives, as
well as various leadership styles, strategies, and attitudes toward issues.
It has become much clearer in the last few years than it was in the early days of the
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered movement that the controversy about homosexuality
in the churches is a symptom of deeper divisions over biblical interpretation,
ecclesiology and, ultimately the meaning of the Gospel. It is unclear when and
how—or whether—these wounds can be healed. But we can support with our prayers
and presence those with the faith, hope, and courage to keep at it in the welcoming
movement.
Being Inclusive as God Is
“Therefore be inclusive, evenly as your heavenly Parent is inclusive.” The word inclusive is
usually translated as perfect, but the word so translated means mature. If maturity is integrity,
a bringing together, a reconciliation, then surely inclusive might also be used. After all, the
verse follows the one about God sending rain and sunshine on everybody and thus we are to
include everybody in our love.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by
SO GREAT A CLOUD OF WITNESSES,
let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely,
and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,
LOOKING TO JESUS the pioneer and perfecter of our faith
who for the sake of the JOY that was set before him endured the cross,
disregarding its SHAME,
and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2
Spring 2000 27
Outreach
In 1981 I was the member of an unremarkable Lutheran
congregation in rural Illinois. In response to an article in
the Lutheran Standard, the church-wide publication of the
American Lutheran Church, I wrote a letter to the editor in
which I came out as a gay man. Ironically, the article that
prompted my letter described a Metropolitan Community
Church in Ohio that ministered to gay and lesbian Christians
who felt unwelcome in other churches.
Members of St. Paul’s were appalled to read that they had
an unrepentant gay man among their members. Some expressed
the fear that homosexuals would flock to their small
town and that they would become known as a “gay church” if
they took no action. The president of the church council
thought beating me up might be a good way to make their
displeasure known. Fortunately, the pastor declined his offer.
They held a church trial instead, and in 1982 they expelled
me from the congregation.
I became the president of the Board of Directors of
Lutherans Concerned/North America later in 1982. Hoping
to identify congregations that would provide a safe haven for
lesbians and gay men, I helped establish the Reconciled In
Christ Program (now Reconciling In Christ). It was my hope
that doing so would help others avoid the spiritual trauma I
had experienced.
We intentionally set the threshold for membership in the
program very low. Congregations were not asked to take a
stand on any issue related to homosexuality other than membership
in the parish, and then only to state that gay and lesbian
folks were welcome on the same terms as all other people.
Queer folk were encouraged and expected to participate in
the general and sacramental life of the congregation. This was
not intended as a program for radical congregations committed
to social justice. The intention was only to identify places
where lesbian and gay Lutherans might worship in peace.
In 1982 I also moved to Atlanta and joined the large downtown
church to which several of my Lutheran friends belonged.
One friend commented that the congregation (which will remain
nameless) was a good choice for gay people because it
was “so big you can just get lost here, and nobody cares who
you are.” For better or worse, I found this to be true. The
pastor was supportive when I spoke with him about joining. I
had no membership to transfer, having been disfellowshipped
by St. Paul’s Church. I joined without difficulty or controversy.
When I talked to him later about our congregation joining
the RIC program, he was adamant in his opposition. His church
would never join the program; it was not the congregation’s
place to welcome or refuse to welcome anyone. “Everyone”
was welcome in the church, and there would be no “special”
welcome to anyone. What about my previous experience, I
asked? That was unfortunate, he told me, but an anomaly.
There was no need for a special welcome for lesbians and gays.
To this day the congregation remains a place where gay folk
are welcome to sing in the choir and to give their tithes…and
where they remain largely invisible.
Eighteen years later, 180 congregations have joined the RIC
program—about one percent of the congregations of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America. At last count, 14 synods
(out of 65) have also affirmed the principles of welcome.
The glass is half-full or half-empty, depending on your perspective.
The principles remain largely the same—minimal in
what they ask of congregations. They continue to affirm membership
for queer folk, not our ordination or even the blessing
of our relationships. There is no expectation that congregations
will become advocates for justice on our behalf, either
in secular society or within the church.
I find myself ambivalent. It is hard to know what it means
when a synod— the Lutheran equivalent of a district or a diocese—
joins the RIC program. It feels like an accomplishment
to have that sort of affirmation. Does it mean that the congregations
within the synod all welcome lesbians and gay men as
members? I wonder. Would these synods take action should a
congregation be hostile to gay or lesbian people? I doubt it.
If these principles of inclusion were rather conservative in
the early 1980’s, they seem even more so now. It is true that
explicitly welcoming gay members would still be a large step
for many Christian congregations. Within the context of the
gay community, such programs seem overtaken by events.
A block away from the Lutheran congregation which has—
still— refused to become explicit in its welcome of gay folk, a
Methodist congregation has shamelessly thrown open its doors
and shouted its welcome from the rooftops. Gay folk are included
not only in membership and in the choir, but find
their lives included in sermons. They are a vital part of every
aspect of congregational life. The result is that a declining
congregation has been reinvigorated by hundreds of lesbians
and gay men who have found a genuine spiritual home.
Gay women and men make tremendous contributions to
the congregations and parishes of which they are members.
For congregations to simply welcome these gifts is no longer
enough. Churches that want to be relevant to the lives of queer
folk and their families need to find their voices and their courage,
to speak up and put their welcome into action.
John R. Ballew, M.S., is a licensed professional
counselor in private practice in Atlanta.
28 Open Hands
Welcoming Process
Ten years ago this month my partner Carla and I were in
a crucible of life-changing decisions. Seniors at Taylor
University, a conservative evangelical institution in Indiana,
we had just begun the journey toward joy and self-acceptance
as a lesbian couple. Only a few months before, we
had journeyed for the first time to visit Grace Baptist Church
in Chicago. Grace was a fairly new congregation, and still an
independent Baptist evangelical community. Founded as an
independent welcoming Baptist church, it was one of the earliest
Midwestern witnesses of welcome. Supported with Grace’s
love and prayer, we survived our senior year at Taylor and
sought refuge at Grace upon graduation. The story of our salvation
is just one of countless stories which the walls of Grace
could shout.
We moved to Chicago in 1990 to become a part of the Grace
community. We have been sustained by our loving congregation
as we have declared our story in the face of condemnation
and rejection by loved ones. We have grown in our understanding
of the Gospel, and I have grown in my understanding
of and call to leadership in ministry.
After more than a year of discernment, Grace sought affiliation
with the American Baptist Churches of Metro Chicago in
1991. There was no small amount of fear on the part of the
congregation. Why risk this affiliation? Wouldn’t we be abused
and rejected, ultimately? Considered second class citizens? After
much discussion, strong consensus led us forward: We
wanted to proclaim our witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ
in partnership with others. We were clear that our motives
were focused on the desire to do common mission in a Baptist
context of theological diversity. Several meetings occurred with
the regional investigating committee and any significant doubts
which they had were, if not dismissed, bracketed. With NO
consensus about the nature or appropriateness of homosexuality,
the committee recommended that we be approved for
affiliation. Testimony to our life was clear, and they responded
with faithfulness in recognizing it. We were voted into fellowship
in March of 1992.
In the months that followed there were numerous attempts
led by individuals and churches to remove us, or to qualify the
region’s acceptance of us with disclaimers about acceptance of
homosexuality. At every turn, brothers and sisters who are liberal,
moderate or conservative on the issue of homosexuality
held the “center” and resisted such moves. For these people,
the testimony of our congregation to the redeeming and healing
power of Jesus, which called us into mission, was sufficient.
If they had not already encountered our story, they were
nevertheless committed to preserving the possibility of such
encounter within the context of formal partnership in ministry.
Those who would “put the disease out of the camp” (an
exact quote) had no way of entering into such encounter and
have, in fact, missed out on the complete joy of fellowship.
Over the years several congregations have withdrawn their
fellowship from our region, citing their opposition to our presence
as “the” reason. Grace’s witness has continued within
our region as we consistently model commitment to regional
events, involvement in committee responsibilities, financial
commitments and mission commitments. Between 1996 and
1999 we ordained three individuals from Grace, each with the
region’s recognition and affirmation of our candidate preparation
process.
The Metro Chicago region has responded, again and again,
with an openness to actual encounter. Has it been perfect?
No! But a consistent witness remains. Those early resistances
to our exorcism were key. A tone of sanity and study was forged.
In 1993, when we put forth our first two candidates for regional
recognition of ordination, neither were then approved.
One disclosed nothing about her sexual orientation, but the
Ordination Commission, operating in a context of fear in a
highly politicized climate did not provide a safe and affirming
context for the exploration of call. In response to the other
candidate, who identified himself as a gay man, they froze the
application process for any openly gay, lesbian or bisexual candidate
and entered into a “study process” in order to adopt a
policy on openly homosexual candidates.
Of course, many regions in ours and other denominations
have entered into such study processes. They often become
embittered battles over the nature of homosexuality and/or
who is the legitimate reader of scripture. They seem constructed
to identify winners or losers. By contrast, the leaders in Chicago
were intentional about selecting a culturally and theologically
diverse Task Force for the study process, on which I
was privileged to serve. We all committed in the first meeting
that we would only produce a document which we could all
sign, and that we would, above all, model the kind of discernment
and community which we desired for our region.
From the first discussion, we approached our task from a
desire to identify its implications for ministry. What do we
really believe about Who calls people to ministry? In what
context do Baptists historically believe this is best discerned?
What are the gifts and challenges in relating to external bodies
(ordination commissions) who share a role in such discernment?
The process was one of the most amazing, Spirit-led
processes I have experienced. In the end, our group produced
a clarifying document, rather than a simple one-dimensional
recommendation. In it we highlighted the theological ground
of our work and the implications for proceeding in several
ways. Two committees and two years later, in March of 1997,
the region adopted an ordination policy which affirms the local
church’s role in the initial assessment of a candidate’s call
to ministry. Our policy clearly states that homosexual persons
will not be barred for this sole reason from entering the regional
interview process. By adopting this policy, the region
affirmed both the local church and the standing Ordination
Commissions as sites of discernment in the affirmation of one’s
call. We clarified the relationship between these two sites as it
relates to any controversial issue.
Spring 2000 29
In 1998 I became the first openly gay or lesbian candidate
to enter our regional process. My two interviews, nearly a year
apart, were intense discussions of my call, my “lifestyle” and
my theology. I entered the discussions with a spirit of peace
which, indeed, passes understanding. I engaged people with
respect and boldness because there was an invisible cloud of
witnesses in the room with me, and because a number of people
present were people whom I trusted in the discernment process.
I had clarity and joy as I testified to my call because I was
well-prepared by Grace’s ministry and my studies at Chicago
Theological Seminary.
They approved me for recognized ordination in March 1999.
In June 2000, an interfaith gathering of 180 people proclaimed
a blessing on my ordination, laid hands on me (one-by-one)
and committed to supporting my leadership in ministry. It was
a lavish, sensual, joyful proclamation of Gospel— known with
such certainty to those who have been cut off from its proclamation.
What a wonder it was to have people bless my leadership
who are outside of the institutional church! It was sacred
ground of connection and hope for the future of the church.
Nearly ten years ago, my friend and mentor Tim Phillips
(founding pastor of Grace) said to me “We’ll never change
anyone’s mind about homosexuality with mere discussion. It
takes the testimonies of our lives; our lives are the parables
which speak God’s gospel.” This truth has been borne out over
and over again in my relationships with family and friends, at
Grace, in our Region and denomination and throughout the
welcoming movements. At the heart, his words were about
incarnational witness. Maybe its the latent evangelical in me,
but I absolutely believe that our lives are essential witnesses in
the process of transformation. The transformations which we
seek can not be reduced to the helpful strategies of political
organizing, or the naivete of quietism and caution. As our lives
are lived, as we mature in and bear out the fruits of the spirit,
we become the parables which open up new possibilities of
Gospel. It was the contagious (yes, perhaps we ARE contagious!)
evangelistic nature of our witness that he was talking about.
Why has Chicago, admittedly not perfect, been fertile
ground for American Baptists? I believe it’s because there has
been a consensus among those who have remained active in
regional life that the Gospel is revealed in unexpected places.
They have stood by historical theological principles which preserve
not only the liberty of individuals (soul liberty) but the
liberty of God. It must be reiterated: There is no consensus in
our region about the nature or appropriateness of homosexuality.
This disappoints some of my beloved activist-oriented
friends. What we do have is a consensus about the ground of
our relationships in shared ministry. Grace has led the way in
incarnational witness, and the region has responded with a
renewed vision and witness of grace itself.
Jacki Belile (jbbelile@aol.com) is Associate
Pastor at Grace Baptist Church in Chicago and
Marketing Manager for Open Hands magazine.
She lives in Chicago with Carla Riggs,
her beautiful partner of thirteen years. Together,
they are in search of other LGBT
alumni/ae of Taylor University.
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an historic ecumenical gathering of Welcoming Churches
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August 3-6, 2000
Northern Illinois University (outside Chicago)
The largest ever Christian conference addressing concerns of
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered persons!
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Introduction to Shining Like the Sun
A Santoral Cycle for ALL the Saints
David Kerr Park
The writer of the book of Hebrews wrote eloquently of the
meaning of faith, and of those who set an example for us to
follow, including Abraham, Moses, and primarily, Jesus:
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of
witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and let us run
with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to
Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:1-2).
William How expressed the same idea in that hymn set to
the stirring music of Vaughn Williams:
For all the saints, who from their labors rest,
who thee by faith before the world confessed,
thy name, O Jesus, be forever blest. Alleluia, Alleluia!
This great cloud of witnesses surrounds us like a sports
stadium full of cheering fans. We are on the field of life and
they are there encouraging us to faithfully run our race. They
point beyond themselves to Jesus as our great example. This
is why it is important to remember them.
Robert Ellsberg, in All Saints: Daily Reflections on Saints,
Prophets, and Witnesses For Our Time, explained in his Introduction:
“No, the saints are not perfect human beings. But in
their own individual fashion, they became authentic human
beings, endowed with the capacity to awaken that vocation in
others. Dorothy Day, as I have noted, did not like to be called
a saint: ‘When they call you a saint, basically it means you are
not to be taken seriously.’ This book offers a different argument:
that to call someone a saint means that his or her life
should be taken with the utmost seriousness. It is a proof that
the gospel can be lived.”
Remembering the examples of those who have gone before
us gives us role models for what it means to live the gospel.
Thomas Merton said, “There is no way of telling people
that they are all walking around shining like the sun.” We are
the only saints most people will ever see. Like the saints, we
are walking around shining like the sun. They give us an idea
of what that looks like.
One part of the Church Year that is unfamiliar to most
Protestants is the ongoing remembrance of the saints on the
anniversaries of their deaths. While the Reformation omitted
most of this ancient Christian tradition, many Protestant denominations
today have begun to recover its practice. The
ecumenical movement has rediscovered the value of looking
to our common past to find our identity as God s people today.
This list is called the Sanctoral Cycle, and there are many
versions. When most people think of saints they think of white,
European, Catholic, male, presumably heterosexual clergy
from ancient history. Little wonder. The official lists in the
Book of Common Prayer and Catholic prayer books are pretty
much just that. When was the last time you were inspired by
Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester, who died in 1095?
Not many modern people can identify with most of the
names in the historic Sanctoral Cycle. Some of them are so
significant they transcend the distance of time. Some may have
meant something in a particular place and time, but aren t as
important now. For this ancient Christian idea to have any
purpose, a new list is needed that speaks to us and our time.
I have developed a Sanctoral Cycle for use in my congregation,
which includes people from very diverse backgrounds.
On any given Sunday nearly 500 people will gather, with over
half coming from Catholic or Episcopal backgrounds. We affirm
spiritual diversity as a positive value, so we also welcome
a significant number of people from non-Christian faith traditions.
We are a Eucharistic church with an odd mix of Anglo-
Catholic liturgy and Protestant music, flavored with New
Thought and Liberation theology.
The list we are now using is more reflective of the faith and
contributions of women (Fanny Crosby, Julian of Norwich),
lay persons (Dorothy Day, Thoreau), ethnic minorities (Sojourner
Truth, Seattle), non-Europeans (Oscar Romero), Protestants
(Luther, Kierkegaard), and especially modern examples
we can better relate to (Mother Teresa, Ann Frank). The objective
has been to create an inclusive, contemporary Sanctoral
Cycle that can be used in practical ways, especially in a gay and
lesbian context. It is a work in progress, and will be updated.
I have retained only a core of historical and biblical names
that are still meaningful today (Mary the Mother of Jesus, St.
Francis of Assisi). Then I added others not usually represented,
such as persons of other faith traditions through whom the
light of Truth has also shown (Rabbi Abraham Heschel,
Gandhi), or artists and musicians (Michaelangelo, Bach).
In selecting contemporary examples I have emphasized
persons who stood for inclusiveness, justice, and spiritual
diversity (Martin Luther King, Clarence Jordan). I’ve also included
gay and lesbian saints (Dag Hammarskjold, St. Aelred,
Sts. Sergius and Bacchus) and martyrs (Matthew Shepherd,
Harvey Milk) because it is critical for us to reclaim our own
heritage as spiritual leaders and people of faith.
Beyond the Sanctoral Cycle itself, some days in the Cycle
of Commemorations are not saints’ days. Some are other days
in liturgical calendars (Epiphany, Ash Wednesday, Week of
Prayer for Christian Unity). There are many days on the civil
calendar (Thanksgiving, Mother’s Day) which, while not part
of the liturgical calendar, are still important in people s lives.
It is important, in the United States, at least, to keep American
Civil Religion (Independence Day, Memorial Day) from taking
an inappropriate place in our worship. That is not to say
these cannot be occasions for prayer and awareness. There are
civil recognitions which can have spiritual significance for a
congregation, such as Black History Month, Earth Day, Peoples
of the Americas, and others. Even those Hallmark holidays
can present pastoral opportunities, like a Blessing of Relationships
on the Sunday nearest Valentine’s Day.
In some congregations it may be appropriate to remember
the celebrations of other faith traditions, especially those
of our spiritual parents, the Jewish people. In our congregation
we have a significant number of mixed faith couples. We
do not cease to be a Christian church, but we are sensitive to
find some ways of recognizing the passing of days like
Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur, Passover, Hanukkah, and Yom
HaSho-ah (Holocaust remembrance).
For a congregation that affirms the experience and pastoral
needs of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered
30 Open Hands
persons, there are several days that should be included, such
as National Coming Out Day, World AIDS Day, and GLBT
Pride Month. Depending on the particular congregation, the
founding dates of Dignity, Integrity, the Universal Fellowship
of Metropolitan Community Churches, or the various reconciling
and affirming organizations represented in Open Hands
could be celebrated and remembered in the prayers.
My hope is that this Cycle of Commemorations can be used
creatively in a number of practical ways. A contemporary calendar
that is sensitive to the spirituality of sexual minorities
(among others) could well form a core of spiritual models for
use in preaching, teaching, and prayer.
This list is not suited for each church. We all have different
denominational and local factors that must be taken into consideration.
I encourage each church to develop their own list
that speaks to their own people; but don t be afraid to expand
people’s awareness of other traditions, races, nations, and religions.
How better to emphasize our common humanity?
Those selected should be persons whose lives are prayable, as
a United Methodist cycle suggests.
Each week in the Communion liturgy at my church we
remember persons who have recently died, as well as loved
ones on the anniversary of their deaths. To this is added those
names from the Sanctoral Cycle. Some of these go by the traditional
designation of saint, while others don’t. Here is the
closing portion of our Great Thanksgiving:
One of the more popular special services we hold each year
is on All Soul’s Day. A large cross is formed with tables in the
center of the sanctuary, on which are placed hundreds of small
votive candles. Following the sermon there is a solemn Time
of Remembrance which brings many to tears. A song is sung,
such as Charles Wesley’s “Come, Let Us Join Our Friends
Above,” or others written within our congregation. While the
song is sung several large candles on the tables are lit from the
Paschal Candle, which stands at the top of the cross. The cross
is blessed with incense on all sides. Verses of Scripture are
read, such as portions of Rev. 7:9-17 or 14:13. People are invited
to come to the tables informally and light a candle in
memory of a loved one as they speak the name aloud. Also
included are the names of those from the Sanctoral Cycle that
people find personally meaningful. It is a very moving experience.
The ceremony closes with a prayer that concludes with
the traditional prayer: “Rest eternal grant to them, O God,
and let light perpetual shine upon them. May the souls of all
the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.”
Each month we publish a short biography of those from
the Sanctoral Cycle being remembered, and the significance
of each day to our lives and faith today. Our web site will
soon include this information for the entire year’s cycle. (And
I am certainly open to suggestions and additions!) Not all the
names in the Sanctoral Cycle are familiar. They were selected
not because they were perfect—far from it—but rather because
they really made a difference in our world (Florence Nightingale,
Albert Schweitzer). In the Christian Scriptures, of course,
the saints are the entire company of the baptized. One is called
a saint, not for being holy, in the sense of exhibiting some
special sanctity unobtainable by the rest of us, but for doing
something holy for God.
Oskar Schindler did not live an especially virtuous or religious
life, but he is remembered because he was used by God
to do something holy. Those whom God has chosen for special
tasks have always been flawed persons. Moses was a murderer.
Peter denied even knowing Jesus. Paul was sexist (and
maybe closeted!). Luther had a terrible temper. In spite of
these failings, God used them to do something holy. Just like
Jesus, these saints embody what God calls us to do and be.
May their witness of faith inspire us to share our light!
In the words of the contemporary hymn writer Fred Pratt
Green:
Rejoice in God’s saints, today and all days;
a world without saints forgets how to praise.
In loving, in living, they prove it is true:
the way of self-giving, Lord, leads us to you.
David Kerr Park is the Associate Pastor of Sunshine Cathedral
MCC (www.sunshinecathedral.org), and a former
United Methodist clergyperson. His M.Div. is from the
Methodist Theological School in Ohio and D.Min. from
South Florida Center for Theological Studies. His primary
work has been in the liturgical and psychosocial dynamics
of ritual in the gay and lesbian community. He lives
in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, where he is raising his two sons. He
can be contacted at DKPark@aol.com.
For further information see:
Robert Ellsberg, All Saints: Daily Reflections On
Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses For Our Time (New
York: Crossroad Publishing, 1997).
Clifton F. Guthrie, ed., For All The Saints: A Calendar
of Commemorations for United Methodists
(Akron, OH: Order of St. Luke Publications,
1995).
The Proper for the Lesser Feasts and Fasts together
with The Fixed Holy Days (New York: The Church Hymnal Corporation,
1980).
A wonderful collection of icons is offered by Bridge Building Images
(www.bridgebuilding.com). They make both traditional and contemporary
icons, including several of interest to our community:
Sts. Sergius and Bacchus, David and Jonathan, St. Aelred, Sts. Perpetua
and Felicity, Christ the Bridegroom (with the Beloved Disciple’s head
on Jesus’ breast), St. Joan of Arc, We wha (a Zuni berdache), and
even Harvey Milk!
We honor our ancestors of family and of faith
affirming our inheritance as daughters and sons of God
to manifest wholeness, abundance, health and peace
in our lives, our communities, our Earth-home and the Cosmos.
We commemorate this Eucharist to those who have recently died:
[names inserted here]
We commemorate this Eucharist, on the anniversary of their death
to our loved ones who live in the dimension called Eternity:
[names inserted here]
Together with your servants, [names from Sanctoral Cycle inserted here]
all this we ask in the name of our Master, Jesus the Anointed:
By Christ, and with Christ, and in Christ…
Spring 2000 31
JANUARY
1: Holy Name of Jesus
3: Takashi Nagai (1908-1951) mystic of Nagasaki
5: Lanza del Vasto (1901-1981) founder of the Community
of the Ark and Catholic follower of Gandhi
6: The Epiphany of Jesus
7: Felix and Mary Barreda (d.1983) Lay apostles and
martyrs in Nicaragua
13: George Fox (1624-1691) Renewer of society and
founder of the Society of Friends
14: Martin Niemoeller (1892-1984) Confessing pastor
21: St. Agnes (d. 304) Free woman and martyr
22: Alexander Men (1935-1990) Russian Orthodox
priest and martyr
24: St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622) Bishop of Geneva
25: The Conversion of St. Paul
26: Timothy and Titus Companions of Paul
28: St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Theologian and
Doctor of the Church
30: Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948) Apostle of nonviolence
FEBRUARY
2: Presentation of Jesus in the Temple (Candlemas)
3: St. Aelred of Rievaulx (1110-1167) Cistercian abbot
and patron saint of Integrity
4: Cornelius the Centurion
8: Martin Buber (1878-1965) Jewish philosopher and
theologian
11: Fanny Jane Crosby (1820-1915) Blind hymn writer
and musician
14: St. Valentine (d. 269) Martyr
16: Janani Luwum (1924-1977) Anglican Archbishop
of Uganda and martyr
18: Martin Luther (1483-1546) Reformer of the Church
20: Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) Abolitionist
25: Felix Varela (1788-1853) Cuban priest and theologian
MARCH
2: John and Charles Wesley (1703-1791, 1788) Anglican
priests and founders of Methodism
5: Karl Rahner (1904-1984) Theologian
7: Sts. Perpetua and Felicity (d. 203) martyrs
10: Harriet Tubman (1820?-1913) Abolitionist
14: Fannie Lou Hamer (1917-1977) Prophet of freedom
17: St. Patrick (389-461) Bishop and missionary of Ireland
19: St. Joseph Temporal father of Jesus
21: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Composer of
sacred music
24: Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero (1917-1980)
martyr of El Salvador
25: The Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary
26: Bishop Richard Allen (1760-1831) Founder of African
Methodist Episcopal Church
27: Meister Eckhart (1260-1329) Dominican theologian
and mystic
30: Sister Thea Bowman (1937-1990 African-American
Franciscan
APRIL
4: Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) Apostle of freedom
and renewer of society
9: Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) Theologian and
martyr
10: Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) Mystic and
scientist
23: Cesar Chavez (1927-1993) Farmworker organizer
25: St. Mark Apostle and Evangelist
28: Oskar Schindler (1908-1974) Righteous Gentile
29: St. Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) Doctor of the
church
MAY
1: St. Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471) Spiritual master
and priest
6: Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) Naturalist and
social critic
8: Beatified Julian of Norwich (1342-1416) Mystic
17: Beatified Josephine Bakhita (1869-1947) Ex-slave
and nun
22: Rabbi Baal Shem Tov (1700-1760) Founder of
Hasidism
27: John Calvin (d. 1564) Founder of Reformed movement
30: St. Joan of Arc (1412?-1431) Maid of Orleans and
martyr
31: Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
JUNE
1: St. Justin of Rome (c. 167) martyr
3: Pope John XXIII (1881-1963) Reformer of the
church
7: Seattle (1786?-1866) Chief of the Suquamish
12: Anne Frank (1929-1945) Witness of the Holocaust
25: Sadhu Sundar Singh (1889-1929) Indian Christian
mystic
27: Anniversary of Stonewall Riots
29: St. Peter and St. Paul Apostles
JULY
6: Hus (1372-1415) Czech reformer and martyr
9: Augustus Tolton (1854-1897) First African-American
priest
21: Albert Luthuli (1898-1967) Zulu chief and Nobel
laureate
22: St. Mary Magdalene
29: William Wilberforce (1759-1833) Abolitionist
30: Mary, Martha, and Lazarus of Bethany—Jesus’ family
of choice
31: St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) Founder of the
Society of Jesus
AUGUST
7: John Mason Neale (1818-1866) Liturgical reformer
and hymn writer
11: St. Clare (1193-1253) Abbess at Assisi
13: Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) Nurse and health
care reformer
14: St. Maximilian Kolbe (1894-1941) Polish
Franciscan priest and martyr
15: St. Mary, Mother of Jesus
21: Georgia Harkness (1891-1974) Theologian and
social critic
24: Simone Weil (1909-1943) Philosopher and mystic
28: St. Augustine (354-430) Bishop of Hippo and Doctor
of the Church
31: John Bunyan (1628-1688) Puritan preacher and
writer
SEPTEMBER
3: Samuel Checote (d. 1884) Creek Native-American
Chief and preacher
4: Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) Missionary doctor
and Nobel laureate
5: Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997) Founder of
the Missionaries of Charity
15: Martyrs of Birmingham (d. 1963) Four young girls
17: St. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) Abbess and
visionary
18: Dag Hammarskjold (1905-1961) Secretary General
of the UN
20: Henri Nouwen (1932-1996) Priest and spiritual
guide
21: St. Matthew Apostle and Evangelist
27: St. Vincent de Paul (1580-1660) Apostle to the poor
29: St. Michael and All Angels
OCTOBER
4: St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226) Friar and founder
of Franciscan order
6: Founding of Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan
Community Churches (1968) Anniversary of first
service held by Troy Perry
7: Sts. Sergius and Bacchus (d. 290) martyrs in death
and lovers in life
11: National Coming Out Day—Anniversary of National
March on Washington for Gay Rights
12: Matthew Shepherd (1976-1998) Victim of hate
crime
15: St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) Mystic and doctor
of the church
16: Archbishop Thomas Cranmer (d. 1556) Creator of
the Book of Common Prayer
18: St. Luke Apostle and Evangelist
22: Maura O’Halloran 1955-1982 Christian Zen monk
23: St. James of Jerusalem (c. 62) Brother of Jesus and
martyr
29: Clarence Jordan (1912-1969) Founder of Koinonia
Farm
31: Reformation Day
NOVEMBER
1: Feast of All Saints
2: Commemoration of All Faithful Departed (All Soul’s)
9: Martyrs of Kristallnacht (1938) Victims of anti-
Semitism
11: Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) Philosopher
12: Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz (1651-1694) Poet and
scholar
16: St. Margaret (1046-1093) Queen and patron of
Scotland
26: Sojourner Truth (1797-1883) Abolitionist preacher
27: Harvey Milk (1931-1978) First openly gay elected
official (USA)
29: Dorothy Day (1897-1980) Co-founder of the Catholic
Worker
DECEMBER
1: World AIDS Day
3: St. Francis Xavier (1506-1552) Jesuit missionary
to Japan
9: Blessed Juan Diego (16th century) Witness to Our
Lady of Guadalupe
10: Thomas Merton (1915-1968) Trappist monk
12: Sister Alicia Domon (d.1977) French nun and martyr
of Argentina
23: Rabbi Abraham Heschel (1907-1972) Teacher and
prophet
25: Nativity of Jesus (c. 4 bce)
26: St. Stephen (c. 34) First deacon and martyr
27: St. John Apostle and Evangelist
28: The Holy Innocents Children of Bethlehem
29: St. Thomas Becket (1118-1170) Archbishop and
martyr
Shining Like the Sun
The Cycle of Commemorations
compiled by David Kerr Park
Sustaining
the Spirit