Rock Bottom Remainders

Last night I lucked out and got a free ticket to see the Rock Bottom Remainders, a band composed (almost) entirely of famous authors. And yes, they were about as good as you would expect given that description! :) Actually, they were very entertaining, and I knew far more of the songs they played than I did for the band that opened for them (Crazed Individuals, who I could tell were talented, but still could have done without), which says more about my lack of with-it-ness than anything else.

The concert was a benefit for Denver SCORES, an afterschool program that seeks to fight both illiteracy and obesity among children by combining soccer and poetry. (Unusual, but cool.) A friend of mine works there, which is the only reason I heard about the event in the first place. I'll post some photos later today - and can I say, I haven't actually read The Joy Luck Club or any of her other writing, but having seen Amy Tan in dominatrix get-up to sing "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" has given me a whole new level of respect for her as a person!

Dining Out for Life - Today!

For those in the greater Denver and Boulder areas, I encourage you to participate in Dining Out for Life today, a fundraise for Project Angel Heart. Project Angel Heart provides nutritious, home-delivered meals and a caring presence to those with cancer, HIV/AIDS, and other life-threatening illnesses. Today, participating restaurants donate 25% of their food and non-alcoholic beverage sales to support Project Angel Heart.

Tons of restaurants participate (yes, that is the statistically accurate quantification), so it's easy to find a good meal in your price range to help out this wonderful organization. Sorry not to have gotten this out sooner (like yesterday), but there's still time to grab dinner!

Pastoral Letter from LGBT United Methodist Clergy

I'm back from a young adult retreat in Glenwood Springs - not as relaxing as it would have been if I were attending without leading, but still very enjoyable - and trying now for the third time to post this press release (work with me, Blogger!).

The Judicial Council of The United Methodist Church (UMC), our denomination's highest church court, will meet this week in Overland Park, Kansas, to decide, among other things, whether to reconsider a ruling made last October reinstating a pastor who had excluded a gay man from membership in a United Methodist church. Seventy-five United Methodist clergy have issued a pastoral letter to the UMC via the Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN), and they invite other LGBT clergy in the denomination to join as co-signatories (see bottom of press release for contact info).

To learn more of the background, read the United Methodist News Service stories about the issue, or my post responding to the ruling last fall.

In addition to spreading the word about the letter and press release, I ask your prayers, as students from both Iliff School of Theology and St. Paul School of Theology (two of the 13 United Methodist seminaries) will offer a Reconciling Witness during the Council session (learn more at RMN's website; scroll down on the front page). May hearts, minds, and doors be opened to God's unconditional love.


---------------------------------------------------------------

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts:
Susan Laurie 773.736.5526
Rev. Troy Plummer 773.315.9225

Letter from 75 UMC Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender Clergy Notes Defrocking Fears yet a Continued Commitment to Service

On Eve of UMC Judicial Council, Clergy Insist On Inclusion of LGBT Community and Say Hundreds Still Serve Silently in Church

(Chicago - April 18, 2006) -In an unprecedented move and at great personal risk 75 United
Methodist Church (UMC) lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender (LGBT) clergy issued a letter to UMC church leaders today seeking full inclusion in the life of the church and outlining their deep fear of coming out of the closet because, like Beth Stroud, they will be stripped of their ordination credentials. The letter also reaffirmed their commitment to serve the Church.

The 75 signatories were collected by the Reconciling Ministries Network, a "national grassroots organization that exists to enable full participation of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities in the life of the United Methodist Church, both in policy and practice." The list includes clergy from every jurisdiction in the UMC and represents a unified voice of hundreds of others who serve the church in silence at all levels.

The Methodist denomination has been wrestling with the issue of homosexuality since 1972, when it declared homosexuality "incompatible with Christian teaching." Since that time, legislation has been passed preventing the ordination of "self-avowed, practicing homosexuals." The ban against homosexuals extended from clergy to the laity when an October 2005 Judicial Council ruling allowed a pastor to withhold membership vows from a gay man.*

"This letter represents hundreds of clergy from around the United States who are giving their heart and soul to the United Methodist Church and its ministry through work in local congregations and specialized settings," said Dr. Joretta Marshall, chair of the Reconciling Ministries Network and RMC clergy member. "Their voices and experiences are silenced out of fear of losing their standing in the church and, as a result, fear of losing their ability to respond to the call of God for their lives. It is a tragedy that so many good pastoral leaders have to hide and live in fear when they have gifts and graces in abundance to share."

While the debates around homosexuality will continue in the church, the signers of the letter emphatically state that "even with the most restrictive legislation, LGBT people will still be raised up through the UMC's Sunday School and youth programs. They will hear God's voice calling them into ministry, and Boards of Ordained Ministry will continue to find them called and gifted candidates, regardless of their sexual orientation."

Additional clergy are welcomed to confidentially add to the number of signers in a secure way. For instructions on how to do so, contact Jennifer Soule, Attorney At Law, at 312-616-4422 (indicate "RMN confidential respondent" when calling).

# # #

----------------- Pastoral Letter -----------------------------------------------------------

A PASTORAL LETTER TO THE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH FROM 75 LESBIAN/GAY/BISEXUAL/TRANSGENDER UM CLERGY

For Immediate Release

The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don't, the parts we see and the parts we don't. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance. You are Christ's body--that's who you are! You must never forget this.

- 1 Corinthians 12:25-27 (Peterson, The Message)

We are 75 lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender (LGBT) clergy in The United Methodist Church and we feel it is time our voices were heard in the debates regarding sexuality and the church.

We have known the church at its best through first hand experience. In baptism, we were welcomed into the loving, waiting arms of the family of God. The United Methodist Church both nurtured and confirmed our faith, saturating our lives in God's grace. You are the church that opened our minds and hearts to God's irrevocable call into ministry.

As your pastors, we have embodied God's presence in worship and in your lives, blessing your marriages, responding to midnight calls, holding your hands, wiping your tears, and laying your precious loved ones to rest. We have had the joy and privilege of baptizing you, your children, and your grandchildren, and we have experienced the profound mystery of the spirit of Christ in serving you Holy Communion.

At the same time, we have known the church at its worst. Since 1972, the UMC has been on a slow but steady course to exclude LGBT people from the life of the church as a whole. Many in our denomination support this dismembering of Christ's Body. Yet even while our sister Beth Stroud was stripped of her ordination credentials, LGBT clergy continue to serve the church faithfully at every level of leadership.

We serve our beloved United Methodist Church at great cost. We have experienced personally the church's power to harm as it rejects an elemental part of who we are. The UMC's official policy has pushed us, as well as our families, into closets of fear and isolation. We are not deceitful people, but the church has given us no choice. To deny God's calling in our lives would leave a void in the Body of Christ.

As LGBT clergy, we are also keenly aware of the suffering of LGBT laity who question whether they can continue to support the UMC with their ongoing prayers, faithful presence, personal and financial gifts, and dedicated service when the church has declared their lives to be incompatible with Christian teaching. Judicial Council Decision 1032 has revealed what we have known for a long time: there are those in the UMC whose agenda is not only antithetical to our Wesleyan heritage, but a dismembering of the Body of Christ.

Yet we know that it is ultimately impossible for the church to amputate us from Christ's Body. Even with the most restrictive legislation, LGBT people will still be raised up through the UMC's Sunday School and youth programs. They will hear God's voice calling them into ministry, and Boards of Ordained Ministry will continue to find them called and gifted candidates, regardless of their sexual orientation. Many will realize, as we have, that seeking ordination in another, more welcoming denomination, is impossible-for it is in the UMC that our spirituality is rooted.

If you are an ordained, commissioned, licensed, or lay LGBT person in The United Methodist Church, take heart! Hear the good news: If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. You are not alone!

We call upon our UM sisters and brothers to break the silence and bear witness to these truths. We implore you to do all in your power to support LGBT people and their families so that we may live our lives as ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ with integrity and without fear.

John Wesley's prayer is our prayer, that we might serve the United Methodist Church with "purity of intention, dedicating all the life to God... giving God all our heart...devoting, not a part, but all, our soul, body, and substance to God... loving God with all our heart, and our neighbor as ourselves." (John Wesley's Theology--A Collection from His Works, 1982.)

# # #

*Clarification: the Judicial Council ruling does not categorically ban GLBT laypeople from membership in The United Methodist Church, but it declares that the pastor in charge has sole authority to determine who is fit and ready to take the vows of membership to join the local congregation.

A recipe for Easter

I'm heading off to a young adult retreat in the mountains this weekend, but so you don't all go crazy from the suspense of waiting for me to post again (what? you didn't know I was posting regularly to begin with? :P), I leave you with this Recipe for Easter Bunny Stew, courtesy of Landover Baptist Church (unsaved unwelcome, even on Easter).

Please enjoy responsibly.

Something about that Jesus guy...

Nothing like the high holy days to bring the armchair theologians and momentary church nerds out of the woodwork... Okay, that sounds snotty and disparaging, and actually, I appreciate that at least a couple times a year the mainstream media pays attention to more serious questions of faith. Slate has several articles up currently about the life, death, and identity of Jesus, conveniently summarized here.

Mostly it seems "religion" isn't even considered a newsworthy category; MSNBC's articles on the recently authenticated Gospel of Judas have links to other Science stories, while CNN's article reporting the Archbishop of Canterbury's response to The DaVinci Code considers it primarily a matter of Arts, Culture, Entertainment.

Anyway, just something I noticed recently. I guess the compartmentalized life is just easier to handle for most people.

Crashing the Gate book tour comes to Colorado

In case anyone actually in Colorado has stumbled across this blog, there will be a couple of worthwhile book signings at Tattered Cover (LoDo) this week:

Crashing the Gate: Netroots, Grassroots, and the Rise of People-Powered Politics, by Jerome Armstrong and Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, is "a shot across the bow at the political establishment in Washington, DC and a call to re-democratize politics in America. Written by two of the most popular political bloggers in America, the book hails the new movement that is changing the way political campaigns are waged." Visit http://www.crashingthegate.com/ or http://www.dailykos.com/ to learn more about the book, the blogs, and the online progressive movement. Moulitsas will be in Boulder tomorrow and Denver on Wednesday, for a book signing at 5pm (and then "Drinking Liberally Denver," a progressive meet-up at Double Daughters, 7:30 - 9:30).
[In addition to having great insights on today's political scene, Markos is married to a friend of mine from high school, so I met him at our 10th class reunion last fall!]

Ending Hunger Now: A Challenge to Persons of Faith, by George McGovern, Bob Dole and Donald Messer. Dr. Don Messer, a professor at Iliff School of Theology, and former U.S. Senator George McGovern will discuss and sign their book at Tattered Cover (LoDo), beginning at 7:30.

...and in the usual Murphaic way of things (that would be due to Murphy's Law), Anne Lamott, author of the wonderful Traveling Mercies and Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith, will be at Tattered Cover's Cherry Creek location, also beginning at 7:30 p.m.

And I have choir rehearsal that evening, which means I need to learn to be in three places at once!

Happy Easter!

To celebrate the joy of the Resurrection this Easter Sunday, I offer you this photo of our own (non-Easter) bunny, Lucy.

She likes to sit on top of her cage these days. It makes her feel important.

And here's a pic of springtime in the park.

Pretty, no?

More Book Recommendations

I just realized I never posted the rest of the books I wanted to recommend. So here they are.

Theology, Church, and Culture
Transforming Our Days: Spirituality, Community and Liturgy in a Technological Culture, by Richard R. Gaillardetz. Fascinating Christian cultural criticism of the mindset/worldview created by technology in today's culture, proposing that a (partial) solution to the commodification of life may be found in Christian community, liturgy, asceticism, and mystery.

Process Theology: A Basic Introduction, by C. Robert Mesle and John B. Cobb. Very accessible introduction to a contemporary theology that seeks to integrate the findings of science with belief in a God who is good.

The Practicing Congregation: Imagining a New Old Church, by Diana Butler Bass. How mainline churches across the U.S. are finding new life in ancient Christian practices. Also check out Practicing Our Faith : A Way of Life for a Searching People, by Dorothy C. Bass.

Reimagining Christianity: Reconnect Your Spirit Without Disconnecting Your Mind, by Alan Jones. Didn't get very far into this, but it seemed a good introduction to a faith that encourages questioning and critical thinking without losing a sense of mystery.

Also, not a specifically faith-related book, but I'm currently reading Sight Hound, by Pam Houston, a Colorado writer. Very enjoyable, although perhaps a couple too many characters to keep track of (each chapter is written from a different character's perspective, including the dogs and cat).

Blessings on your Easter weekend, everybody!

Welcome to Holy Week

Looking to focus a little more intentionally on prayer or scripture reading as we prepare for Easter? Consider visiting Sacred Space, the prayer site run by Irish Jesuits. I've listed a couple other links at my church's blog.

And if you're not sure what to think about all the pro-immigrant protests, try this article from Slate: the author's take is that the happy medium between the House's amnesty bill and the Senate's criminalization bill is to do nothing at all - make it neither harder nor easier to get into the country legally, and neither offer more incentives nor threaten brute force to undocumented immigrants who are here already.

It seems a plausible policy, likely to satisfy no one (but perhaps won't enrage anyone as much as either of the bills proposed currently). Yet as a Christian I believe in hospitality for the sojourner, and welcoming the stranger - check out Sojourners' faith-based perspectives on compassion, not criminalization.

The Religious Left

Slate has an interesting article about the emergence and categories of the religious left. Of course, as with any taxonomy, broad generalizations are made, but at least we're getting some mainstream press attention. I found myself identifying with more than one classification - how about you?

And as a good Iliff grad, I have to point out that describing African-Americans and Hispanic/Latino people as "ethnic" implies that white European descent is the standard or norm, instead of having its own array of ethnicities and cultural backgrounds. We (and by we, I don't just mean white people) need to come up with better language to describe our diversity that does not reinforce white privilege by keeping it invisible.

On a fictional note, a bittersweet end to the Santos-McGarry campaign last night... It's too bad the West Wing producers have slowed the pace down so much this season to build to the finale. It's getting hard to imagine what they'll spend the last few episodes on. (Will next week really be only about Leo's funeral? Let's hope not.)

Effectiveness of Prayer

Another example of trying to find scientific evidence to support faith truths and practices: "Does Intercession Work?"

I thought the analysis of the limitations of the study was helpful, but again, it all seems to be a little beside the point. All this focus on the "most effective" way to pray is, I'm sure, important to the ones asking for prayers, but where is the reflection on prayer's role in helping us to see that we are all interconnected, and that our connections to other people are what can help us to draw closer to God?

There are many assumptions made in religious communities about the reasons for and value of prayer that cannot legitimately be analyzed in a scientific study, and there are many understandings of prayer that go way beyond the "vending machine" approach to God or spirituality (put your token prayer in, get your healing effect out). I'm no naysayer of science and medicine, by any means, but I think a holistic approach to health and wellbeing - one that takes into account the psychological and spiritual as well as the physical - by definition cannot be broken down into the cumulative effect of partial approaches.

In other news, I'm going to see a play tonight called "Praying with my eyes open." I'll let you know if they have anything new to add to the scientific study's results.

The Spirituality of Materiality

One of my favorite professors from Iliff, now teaching at Yale Divinity School, has written an excellent article on valuing the material world without worshiping materialism.

As we approach Holy Week, the incarnation takes on special meaning: Jesus bears witness to God's self-giving love, which does not back down or compromise with fear, and in so doing shows us that God is here with us, that God shares our suffering and weeps with us for the brokenness of our world.

Did Jesus Walk on Ice?

Found this article interesting - although I have to say, the literal historical/scientific accuracy of the miracle stories seems beside the point to me.

Book recommendations for thinking Christians

My frustration with The West Wing and this long, drawn-out, attempted swan song of a season is up again today, after an episode about Election Day that did not reveal the results of the election! And although next week promises the "Moment of Truth" about who the next president will be, I am growing more suspicious of a conspiracy to delay the climax of the past TWO SEASONS of campaigning - and since I'm bitter and angry about the political situation and current administration in real life, the show is not living up to its one-time function of providing a lovely alternate reality where smart, witty, attractive Democrats rule the free world.

All of which is to say, I have actually been trying to reduce my TV-watching as one of my Lenten disciplines, which means I've been doing more reading lately. And I thought I'd share some of my recommendations with all 4 of you who read this space. :)

Novels:
Leaving Eden, by Ann Chamberlin. Fascinating mythological/anthropological/fictional account of the primeval couple, told by the Na'amah, daughter of Adam's first wife, Lilith. Offers a thoughtful glimpse into the world of matriarchal hunter-gatherers as they shifted to agriculture and a patriarchal worldview.

Father Melancholy's Daughter, by Gail Godwin. I read the sequel, Evensong, last year, and finally got around to reading the story of Margaret Gower's early life as the precocious daughter of an Episcopal priest who suffers from depression. Her mother's sudden departure from their life, and Margaret's journey to an identity that incorporates but transcends her parents' struggles, are told with careful reflection and an appreciation for both spiritual formation and psychological growth.

Spiritual Growth/Devotion

A Clearing Season: Reflections for Lent, by Sarah Parsons. Whether you have tried observing some form of spiritual discipline during Lent without success, or never understood the point to begin with, this is a wonderful guide to some intentional inner work that is both practical in its specificity and powerful in its insights.

Incandescence: 365 Readings with Women Mystics, compiled and translated by Carmen Acevedo Butcher. Beautiful imagery and fresh phrasing make this collection of brief daily readings both accessible and captivating.

Coming soon: more book recommendations on Theology, Church, and Culture.