Commentary: Verdict represents God doing a new thing
Commentary: Verdict represents God doing a new thing
March 25, 2004
A UMNS Commentary By the Rev. Jeanne G. Knepper*
"Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it is springing forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert."-Isaiah 43:18-19.
On March 20, 2004, a trial court of 13 clergy of the Pacific Northwest Annual Conference voted to acquit the Rev. Karen Dammann of charges springing from her own admission that she was a lesbian in a committed relationship.
The Rev. Chuck Cooper, observing the trial for the Reconciling Ministries Clergy, wrote, "The Spirit of God was present without a doubt."
On the other hand, Patricia Miller, executive director of the Confessing Movement, said, "I believe the vast majority of United Methodists are in grief and shock today. ... I think the issue is, a part of the jurisdiction has broken covenant with the rest of the church and has decided to go the way of the world, as opposed to being faithful to and abiding by church law."
These two statements mark a growing chasm in United Methodism, of which the Dammann trial and acquittal is both the most recent and the most vivid illustration. If this chasm is not bridged, the denomination will not avoid schism.
What was once a situation of differences of deeply felt opinions has become one in which schism is increasingly possible, precisely for the reason that Miller observed: The division is increasingly geographical and jurisdictional in nature.
Although United Methodism has a high regard for law and structure, clergy credentials rest in the care of the annual conferences. When the clergy of an annual conference are unable to find convincing reason to convict an admitted lesbian pastor of "practices declared by the United Methodist Church to be incompatible with Christian teachings," that decision is final.
The most telling part of the Dammann verdict is that not one member of the trial court was willing to vote to convict. All of the jurors were clergy members of the Pacific Northwest Annual Conference who had agreed that they would be willing to set aside any personal convictions in order to apply relevant portions of the denomination's Book of Discipline. Yet, 11 voted to acquit, and two declared themselves undecided; none was convinced that the law of United Methodism required them to convict Karen Dammann.
The trial court's decision is a harbinger of change to come, whether it occurs through the actions of United Methodism's quadrennial General Conference or through the actions of United Methodists who are simply unwilling to ignore God's new thing.
Change will come because the majority of clergy members in the Western Jurisdiction's annual conferences have been unwilling to remove pastors who officiated at a lesbian covenant service in the California-Nevada Annual Conference, have been unwilling to remove the Rev. Mark Williams, an admittedly gay man, from ministry, and are now unconvinced that they are required to remove the Rev. Karen Dammann from ministry.
The same jurisdiction that has sent petitions asking the last four General Conferences to amend or delete disciplinary language about homosexuality is increasingly unwilling to shape its practices by that discriminatory language.
In little more than a month, the General Conference will meet and determine the rules of United Methodism for the next four years. Following this trial, it is clear that delegates have momentous choices to make.
On the issues of homosexuality and justice, they can decide to adopt petitions asking the church to become more specific in its prohibitory language, more forceful in its legislation, more narrow in its determination of appropriate United Methodist beliefs and practices - a choice that will be followed by widespread dissension and probable schism.
They can decide to uphold the status quo, knowing that annual conferences in the West, and perhaps in the North as well, will increasingly interpret the Book of Discipline through eyes that see God longing for greater inclusion in the church. That status quo would lead to an unacknowledged but de facto situation where church law is enforced differently in different regions, and much energy is spent in trying and decrying those differences.
Or the delegates could finally recognize and acknowledge that people of unabashedly Methodist and Christian convictions do not, cannot, and will not agree on the subject of homosexuality. They could set aside the wrangling and allow annual conferences to determine the worthiness of clergy as they always have, by evaluating call, gifts, graces and fruits of ministry.
Only by such action can the church acknowledge God's new rivers of grace flowing in the desert, join hands as one people of God and bridge the chasm that will otherwise tear the church apart.
*Knepper is the pastor at University Park United Methodist Church in Portland, Ore., and a former co-spokesperson of Affirmation, a caucus dealing with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues. She can be reached by e-mail at jgknepper@comcast.net. News media can contact Tim Tanton at (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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