So Many Shades of Gray - Reflections on my history and the future of The United Methodist Church
"My father was a deeply religious man. Shortly after he came to Chicago he joined the Halsted Street Methodist Episcopal Church. He joined a group of young men known as the Chicago Praying Band...they would engage a small, upstairs hall for an evening, in a slum district of the city. While some of the group remained in the hall, the others would go out on the streets and pick up drifters and drunkards..."
"...Father also bought a cottage in the Des Plaines Methodist Camp Grounds....the camp meetings were held for two weeks every summer, and many bishops and famous evangelists were on the program... There were fiery sermons and enthusiastic gospel songs were sung. Father had a strong bass voice and loved the singing. He was truly a "shouting Methodist," and joined in the loud "Amens!"
These are words from my grandfather's handwritten biography, first drafted in blue ink on college ruled paper. William Lincoln Manny was shaped by this Methodist backdrop, even though both of his parents were dead by the time he was 13. The whole family was deeply Methodist, it would seem.
He went to engineering school and received a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois. But the call to ministry was strong. He met Edna at the Wesley Foundation at U of I...the very FIRST Wesley Foundation. And he met her in its founding year. (C'mon, you cannot make this stuff up.)
While serving a student appointment in the Rock River Conference (Now part of the Northern Illinois Annual Conference UMC) of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1922, he was commuting between the church and Garret Biblical Institute by train.
Danville was a coal mining town that had gone bust. His handwritten notes do record the fact that many in the community were coal miners or worked in the Western Brick Yard. In the same neat hand writing he notes, "many church members belonged to the Ku Klux Klan - and gave us much trouble because I opposed the Klan and its cross burning."
What isn't written in his own hand is the stuff of family legend. It was during that season that family legend maintains that the KKK burned crosses on the lawn of the parsonage...perhaps this is what is meant by "gave us much trouble..."
My grandfather did not save his sermons. We have no idea what he might have been preaching at the time. Another piece of family lore is that he had been accused of being a communist. He was active in worker movements throughout his early ministry. So...I assume that from 1923 on, he might have been preaching a social gospel that felt a little liberal.
And then, there was his affection for Albert Schweitzer...whose work would have been rather groundbreaking when Rev. Manny was reading it. And maybe just a little unorthodox.
This is the root of my tree.
I was raised at Dyer United Methodist Church - where I was baptized and confirmed and sent off to college by Rev. Glen Berg. Sitting in his paneled office, me in a velveteen chair and him across a big dark desk, I asked about grace -- and expressed for myself for the first time the Wesleyan understanding of prevenient grace -- the grace that goes before us before we even know it.
Even as a young adult with a new young family, I managed to stumble into the arms of Rev. Mary Ann Moman at St. Mark's in Bloomington, Indiana. I didn't know what was behind her calm and inclusive grace but it flowed from her words and her presence at the table. It flowed as we shared communion in the round, passing bread and wine to one another, young and old.
And then I went to work for a Duke educated former UM pastor who had left the church to do radically inclusive work among those with developmental disabilities...not quite Henri Nouwen -- but I didn't even know who Henri Nouwen was when I knew Elbert Johns.
Then there was Rev. Lou Piel -- by the time I reached his doorstep, I had formed my own theology of inclusion and before I would join the church I asked for a lunchtime conversation about my gay brothers and sisters in Christ (because let's face it, for the average person in 2004, that was the extent of the conversation). He was the person who looked me in the eye and said, God's got a job for you. What if you took some seminary classes?
So this is the strong trunk of my Methodist and eventually United Methodist tree.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let me begin in a very clear place.
I believe that LGBTQIA+ people are called to ministry, to covenantal love, to marriage. I believe this is true within The United Methodist Church. I believe this because I believe each individual is created in the divine image of a loving God, with all the gifts they need to follow the path God has for them, to bear fruit in the Kingdom of God. Sin is that which separates us from God, that which keeps us from being all that God intends for us / has created us to be. Sexuality is a gift of creation. We don't talk about it enough, and as a result, it is mysterious and often deemed "bad."
And I believe the United Methodist Church of my roots and my trunk, the church of my childhood, the church which shaped me genetically and theologically, is - by Wesleyan principle - a big tent. It's global reach is testament to many years of committed mission. And as a denomination, we've encouraged the development of local leaders and indigenous theological education because scripture is understood through the lenses of our reason, tradition and experience. Experience is contextual. Reason is contextual. Tradition is contextual.
Right now, we are wrestling with how to be a big tent when we are the most globally interconnected. Instead of weeks to get from point A to point B, messages and ideas move in milliseconds. But our human understanding moves more slowly than the information we pass back and forth.
Right now, it feels like our rights and abilities in the US are being constrained by our siblings in other parts of the world. That feels unjust. It feels wrong.
And yet...
And yet...
For how many hundreds of years did colonial powers oppress our siblings in Africa? in South America? And let's not just talk about that like it is history. It happens still today. Prison pipelines. Unjust wages. Income inequality.
I am aware that we're not playing a game of tit for tat. But I am aware that 400 years of colonial madness might result in some deep need for bridge building, for relational ministry, for deep listening. Especially when we still oppress. Especially when we are part of corporate sin.
I've not been around the block to know the political maneuverings alluded to over many years of general conference. And I frankly do not trust the conservative element within United Methodism in the US. But I am also called to be in relationship with "them."
I am going to say something very difficult.
This is not only an issue of LGBTQIA+ inclusion.
To my LGBTQIA+ siblings, I see you. I believe you should be included and I will fight for you.
I am horrified and sorry for the way that you have been hurt over 44 years by the church.
But as long as we see this as a single issue, we will not repent and we will not heal, at least not as a global communion. And as anything less than a global communion we are not complete.
Oppression.
Othering.
An American economy, education and political structure built on the backs of people with brown skin...natives of this land and those "imported" and enslaved to do the work our ancestors would not do...the manual labor many of us will still not do...at least not for what we are willing to pay.
I am entering into Lent with a very broad call to repentance.
This is not about one thing.
It is about many things.
And we are all responsible.
And all called to be different.
Let's get on it.
As I hit "publish," my prayer is there is no burning on my lawn that is not the very presence of the Holy Spirit.
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”
But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
‘In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.
Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
and they shall prophesy.
And I will show portents in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
The sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
“You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know— this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power. For David says concerning him,
‘I saw the Lord always before me,
for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken;
therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;
moreover my flesh will live in hope.
For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,
or let your Holy One experience corruption.
You have made known to me the ways of life;
you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’
(Acts 2: 1 - 21, NRSV)
"...Father also bought a cottage in the Des Plaines Methodist Camp Grounds....the camp meetings were held for two weeks every summer, and many bishops and famous evangelists were on the program... There were fiery sermons and enthusiastic gospel songs were sung. Father had a strong bass voice and loved the singing. He was truly a "shouting Methodist," and joined in the loud "Amens!"
These are words from my grandfather's handwritten biography, first drafted in blue ink on college ruled paper. William Lincoln Manny was shaped by this Methodist backdrop, even though both of his parents were dead by the time he was 13. The whole family was deeply Methodist, it would seem.
He went to engineering school and received a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois. But the call to ministry was strong. He met Edna at the Wesley Foundation at U of I...the very FIRST Wesley Foundation. And he met her in its founding year. (C'mon, you cannot make this stuff up.)
While serving a student appointment in the Rock River Conference (Now part of the Northern Illinois Annual Conference UMC) of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1922, he was commuting between the church and Garret Biblical Institute by train.
Danville was a coal mining town that had gone bust. His handwritten notes do record the fact that many in the community were coal miners or worked in the Western Brick Yard. In the same neat hand writing he notes, "many church members belonged to the Ku Klux Klan - and gave us much trouble because I opposed the Klan and its cross burning."
What isn't written in his own hand is the stuff of family legend. It was during that season that family legend maintains that the KKK burned crosses on the lawn of the parsonage...perhaps this is what is meant by "gave us much trouble..."
My grandfather did not save his sermons. We have no idea what he might have been preaching at the time. Another piece of family lore is that he had been accused of being a communist. He was active in worker movements throughout his early ministry. So...I assume that from 1923 on, he might have been preaching a social gospel that felt a little liberal.
And then, there was his affection for Albert Schweitzer...whose work would have been rather groundbreaking when Rev. Manny was reading it. And maybe just a little unorthodox.
This is the root of my tree.
I was raised at Dyer United Methodist Church - where I was baptized and confirmed and sent off to college by Rev. Glen Berg. Sitting in his paneled office, me in a velveteen chair and him across a big dark desk, I asked about grace -- and expressed for myself for the first time the Wesleyan understanding of prevenient grace -- the grace that goes before us before we even know it.
Even as a young adult with a new young family, I managed to stumble into the arms of Rev. Mary Ann Moman at St. Mark's in Bloomington, Indiana. I didn't know what was behind her calm and inclusive grace but it flowed from her words and her presence at the table. It flowed as we shared communion in the round, passing bread and wine to one another, young and old.
And then I went to work for a Duke educated former UM pastor who had left the church to do radically inclusive work among those with developmental disabilities...not quite Henri Nouwen -- but I didn't even know who Henri Nouwen was when I knew Elbert Johns.
Then there was Rev. Lou Piel -- by the time I reached his doorstep, I had formed my own theology of inclusion and before I would join the church I asked for a lunchtime conversation about my gay brothers and sisters in Christ (because let's face it, for the average person in 2004, that was the extent of the conversation). He was the person who looked me in the eye and said, God's got a job for you. What if you took some seminary classes?
So this is the strong trunk of my Methodist and eventually United Methodist tree.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let me begin in a very clear place.
I believe that LGBTQIA+ people are called to ministry, to covenantal love, to marriage. I believe this is true within The United Methodist Church. I believe this because I believe each individual is created in the divine image of a loving God, with all the gifts they need to follow the path God has for them, to bear fruit in the Kingdom of God. Sin is that which separates us from God, that which keeps us from being all that God intends for us / has created us to be. Sexuality is a gift of creation. We don't talk about it enough, and as a result, it is mysterious and often deemed "bad."
And I believe the United Methodist Church of my roots and my trunk, the church of my childhood, the church which shaped me genetically and theologically, is - by Wesleyan principle - a big tent. It's global reach is testament to many years of committed mission. And as a denomination, we've encouraged the development of local leaders and indigenous theological education because scripture is understood through the lenses of our reason, tradition and experience. Experience is contextual. Reason is contextual. Tradition is contextual.
Right now, we are wrestling with how to be a big tent when we are the most globally interconnected. Instead of weeks to get from point A to point B, messages and ideas move in milliseconds. But our human understanding moves more slowly than the information we pass back and forth.
Right now, it feels like our rights and abilities in the US are being constrained by our siblings in other parts of the world. That feels unjust. It feels wrong.
And yet...
And yet...
For how many hundreds of years did colonial powers oppress our siblings in Africa? in South America? And let's not just talk about that like it is history. It happens still today. Prison pipelines. Unjust wages. Income inequality.
I am aware that we're not playing a game of tit for tat. But I am aware that 400 years of colonial madness might result in some deep need for bridge building, for relational ministry, for deep listening. Especially when we still oppress. Especially when we are part of corporate sin.
I've not been around the block to know the political maneuverings alluded to over many years of general conference. And I frankly do not trust the conservative element within United Methodism in the US. But I am also called to be in relationship with "them."
I am going to say something very difficult.
This is not only an issue of LGBTQIA+ inclusion.
To my LGBTQIA+ siblings, I see you. I believe you should be included and I will fight for you.
I am horrified and sorry for the way that you have been hurt over 44 years by the church.
But as long as we see this as a single issue, we will not repent and we will not heal, at least not as a global communion. And as anything less than a global communion we are not complete.
Oppression.
Othering.
An American economy, education and political structure built on the backs of people with brown skin...natives of this land and those "imported" and enslaved to do the work our ancestors would not do...the manual labor many of us will still not do...at least not for what we are willing to pay.
I am entering into Lent with a very broad call to repentance.
This is not about one thing.
It is about many things.
And we are all responsible.
And all called to be different.
Let's get on it.
As I hit "publish," my prayer is there is no burning on my lawn that is not the very presence of the Holy Spirit.
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”
But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
‘In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.
Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
and they shall prophesy.
And I will show portents in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
The sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
“You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know— this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power. For David says concerning him,
‘I saw the Lord always before me,
for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken;
therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;
moreover my flesh will live in hope.
For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,
or let your Holy One experience corruption.
You have made known to me the ways of life;
you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’
(Acts 2: 1 - 21, NRSV)
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