St. Thomas’ Parish at Dupont Circle
Archive for May, 2008
United Methodists uphold homosexuality stance
May 12th
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By Robin Russell*
April 30, 2008 | FORT WORTH, Texas (UMNS)
Delegates to the 2008 General Conference on April 30 rejected changes to the United Methodist Social Principles that would have acknowledged that church members disagree on homosexuality.
Delegates instead adopted a minority report that retained language in the denomination’s 2004 Book of Discipline describing homosexual practice as “incompatible with Christian teaching.”
The adopted wording in Paragraph 161G also states that “all persons are individuals of sacred worth, created in the image of God,” and that United Methodists are to be “welcoming, forgiving and loving one another, as Christ has loved and accepted us.”
Delegates also approved a new resolution to oppose homophobia and heterosexism, saying the church opposes “all forms of violence or discrimination based on gender, gender identity, sexual practice or sexual orientation.” . . .
After replacing the majority report with the minority report, delegates approved it 501-417.
In other action on sexuality issues, delegates voted to:
- Add the words “sexual orientation” to an existing resolution regarding a commitment to educational opportunity regardless of gender, sexual orientation, ethnic origin or economic or social background;
- Retain language of Paragraph 341.6 in the Discipline that prohibits United Methodist ministers from conducting ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions;
- Reject a proposal to add “civil unions” to a list of basic civil liberties in Paragraph 162.H because delegates felt the language was already inclusive;
- Reject amending Paragraph 161.C to include “committed unions” in a section describing the sanctity of the marriage covenant.
*Russell is the managing editor of the United Methodist Reporter.
News media contact: Deborah White, e-mail: newsdesk@umcom.org.
Gene Robinson interview on MSNBC
May 9th
Click here for a recent MSNBC interview with Gene Robinson, in light of the threats he has received for his plans to be present in Lambeth during the Lambeth Conference this July.
St Thomas – You Tube – Blessings
May 9th
Louie Crew sent this out to the House of Bishops and others, including Sally Breul, the widow of former Rector Henry Breul, who thanked him in the message below:
Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:33:24 -0400
From: Sally Breul <sbreul@verizon.net>
To: lcrew@andromeda.rutgers.edu
Subject: Video of St. Thoms
Dear Louie: I can’t tell you how excited I am to see the video of St.Thomas’s blessing on my computer. Thank you so much for making it available to those ofus who were much invoved in the turbulent days of history that it recalls. Wonderful!! I am thrilled. Thanks again.
Love, Sally Breul (Henry’s widow - who liveth forever!)
Whitsunday
May 8th
This Sunday is my namesake day – my middle name being Whitson, which derives from the Middle English Whitsonday or Whitsunday or White Sunday, in recognition of the white liturgical garments traditionally worn on the day of Pentecost.
I’m a Jr. so the name was inherited for me from my father, the original Wayne Whitson Floyd. His mother had named him that because of a Rev. Whitson who is said to have lived nearby and had been a close “friend of the cloth” with my grandfather (who also was a Methodist parson) and my grandmother.
Whitsunday or Pentecost is, of course, the day in the Christian calendar that celebrates the birth of the church with the coming of the Holy Spirit into the midst of Jesus’ followers after his crucifixion and the appearances of Jesus raised from the dead.
With the arrival of the Spirit on that first Whitsonday, diversity and hospitality where etched indelibly onto the souls of Christians. As Christ had done when alive, the coming of the Holy Spirit reached out and touched a dispersed and diverse crowd of people who — differences of language and culture notwithstanding — came to understand that they were now the very body of Christ in the world, with the power to transform and change that world — the power of unquenchable love.
The symbols of the coming of the Spirit are, as artist Jan Richardson has described it, “Fire and Breath” — a rushing wind was heard by some, tongues of flame were seen by others, and all heard the Good News in their own language and understood that God was alive in the world by being alive in them as the Holy Spirit that day.
It’s one of the reasons that Episcopalians baptize people on Pentecost, because in that act they too then are brought into the community that is symbolized by fire and breath, by wind and flame. To be baptized is to be washed clean — thus the white of the garments — and started anew with the Spirit being blown into our midst like God blew the breath of life in Adam. And it is also to have the spark of the Holy Spirit to begin to burn more fully and visibly in the life of one being baptized — thus the red of the decorations and garments used that day.
Fire and Breath – Flame and Wind – life renewed and enlivened, washed white with the breath of life and now encouraged to burn red with the power of love that knows no boundaries, shows no favorites, and heals all divisions and brokenness.
It’s much too big a name, Whitson, for one soul to bear. And yet on Whitsonday it is light as the breeze, weighing no more than flame. Yet it is the symbol of all that we are and all we are called to become.
Myanmar Cyclone Relief
May 7th
My Alban colleagues at the Congregational Resource Guide have put together a very helpful list of links to disaster relief efforts, many of them faith based, in response to Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar (formerly Burma). Fatalities now are estimated to be as high as 100,000 in this low-lying rice-producing country, and many others will die of starvation and disease. Please don’t wait for someone else to help; make a contribution to the organization of your choice. But do something.
