Reconciling UM's in NEBRASKA and friends :
Reconciling Ministries Network and its Love Your Neighbor Coalition partners celebrated Sunday worship
April 29 together in Tampa, Florida: along with daily speakers and lunch in the white Tabernacle Tent, daily newspapers, fabric prayers flying in the wind to God and each other etc.
Love Your Neighbor Sunday Worship Service
Straz Center for Performing Arts was held Sunday, April 29, 2012 at 12 noon Eastern Time
Preeminent Black scholar Dr. James Cone of Union Theological Seminary and author of The Cross and the Lynching Treepreached. Look for his sermon online or you tube. Rev. DeLyn Celec and Rev. Tanya Linn Bennett, Ph.D. served as our worship leaders.
Get this book THE CROSS and the LYNCHING TREE by Dr Cone this summer to read or Adam's Gift by Jimmy Creech in it's third printing! Share with your groups or find other books telling the stories of inclusive church.
Here is a synopsis of GENERAL CONFERENCE 2012 and HOPE FOR TOMORROW with stories, VIdeos and images! See RMN online for reflections on GC 2012 : www.RMNetwork.org or MFSA online for daily proceedings, Church Within a Church and other websites : www.cwac.us Our Ne news : www.umcneb.org
SEE Stories and you tubes below to start healing our HOPE FOR TOMORROW!
You can get Flashnet on email by subscribing today! Become a Reconciling UM today: www.RMNetwork.org
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, May 06, 2012 2:26 PM
Subject: RMN Flashnet: May 6, 2012
|
|
Hope for Tomorrow
By Rev. John Oda
Hundreds of people worked very hard in the months and in fact years leading up to this General Conference. But as the General Conference unfolded my hope dwindled. My optimism grew as a proposal from Rev. Adam Hamilton, the pastor of the Church of the Resurrection in Kansas, was brought forth. His proposal acknowledged "our disagreement on a huge issue that is separating churches in North America today."
I and others took to the floor of the General Conference. We broke the bar and essentially shut the General Conference down. As I stood at the communion table, I closed my eyes and wept. In my mind I pictured all of my friends who were gay and lesbian, many of whom were standing next to me. I imagined all of the young people, especially the young LGBT people, who had been watching the actions of the General Conference online. The church had failed them. My hope was shattered; my hope smashed, my hope was gone.
I was ready to leave the United Methodist Church. They could keep their bloody anti-gay and dying church. Why should I stay in a homophobic church? Why should I continue to support a church that actually took a vote on whether or not God's unconditional love reaches everyone-and only passed it by 56%? I kept saying to myself, "This isn't the United Methodist Church that I know and love!"
And then I realized, this is precisely one of the reasons why I must stay. This is NOT the United Methodist Church back home that I know and love. This is precisely one of the reasons I now have hope for tomorrow. Rev. Bonnie Beckonchrist, the Chair of RMN, said to me later that afternoon, "My hope is not in the larger UMC, it is in my church back home."
My own church, Lake Park UMC, is full of loving people who care for all people - gay and straight. We affirm the LGBT community. In fact our church is getting ready to launch an LGBT Bible Study this month.
I remain hopeful for tomorrow not because I agree with nor will I uphold the Book of Discipline but because I know back home the reality is a much different story. I will also remain hopeful because of the Reconciling Ministries Network which brings hope to thousands and thousands of people, including myself. I will remain hopeful because of people like Jan Olson, Board Member of Affirmation, who told me, "I stay because if I don't who is going to continue the fight?" I too will stay to fight another day.
It was Martin Luther King Jr. who said, "We must accept finite disappointment but never lose infinite hope." And from Romans 12:12 "Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer."
My sincere prayer for all of us is that we will continue to be the all inclusive church for today and tomorrow even if the United Methodist Church is one step behind us. And I hope to see you all at the Reconciling Ministries Network Convocation in 2013!
Rev. John Oda is a past Chair of Reconciling Ministries Network, current Board Member and Chair of the Grassroots Committee. He is the pastor of Lake Park United Methodist Church in Oakland California.
|
|
Beyond General Conference
Rachel Harvey, Deaconess and Associate Executive Director of Reconciling Ministries Network, offers words of hope after General Conference as well as a glimpse of RMN's plans for the next quadrennium. Listen to Rachel and consider how you'll advance justice for LGBT people in The United Methodist Church.
 |
| Rachel Harvey Offers Words of Hope |
|
Neighbor News
Looking for a fuller account of General Conference? Check out the Love Your Neighbor News, the daily newspaper of the Love Your Neighbor Coalition during General Conference:
|
Bishop Talbert:
A Call for Biblical Obedience
 |
Altar For All - Celebrating Marriage:
Witnessing God's Inclusive Love |
"I declare to you that the derogatory language and restrictive laws in the Book of Discipline are immoral, and unjust and no longer deserve our loyalty and obedience. [...]
"I call on the clergy who have signed the pledge to stand firm in their resolve to perform marriages among same-sex couples and to do so in the normal course of their pastoral duties. Encourage your congregations to support you by taking actions to support you in your efforts to be faithful to the Gospel by taking action [to use] your local church facilities for such marriages."
- Bishop Melvin Talbert
|
| Support RMN
As you know, expenses expand and we did more at this General Conference than during any previous General Conference to get our messages to the delegates and to the larger world:
- Daily distribution of the Love Your Neighbor News newspaper to all delegates and observers;
- Web-broadcast videos to help tell our stories;
- Daily meals at the Tabernacle to provide hospitality to delegates; and
- Translation of resources as well as provision of translators to delegates.
Without your support, RMN could not accomplish any of this justice-seeking work. Thank you for your consideration and support of a just and fully-inclusive United Methodist Church. Donate today!
|
|
|
|
Mission Statement
Reconciling Ministries Network mobilizes United Methodists of all sexual orientations and gender identities to transform our church and world into the full expression of Christ's inclusive love.
Vision
Reconciling Ministries Network envisions a renewed and vibrant Wesleyan movement that is biblically and theologically centered in the full inclusion of God's children.
Reconciling Ministries Network is committed to making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world by living out the Gospel's teaching of justice and inclusion.
|
|
|
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment