I write with a heavy heart at the close of the General Conference 2019. The United Methodist Church voted in the closing hours of the Special Session of the General Conference to adopt the Traditional Plan as the way forward for the denomination. The vote of 438 (Yes) to 384 (No) was a stark and painful mark of deep divisions within the Church and institutionalized rejection of the full inclusion of LGBTQIA peoples.
The Traditional Plan was the only plan before the Church that left no space for the ordination and marriage of LGBTQIA people and very little space for people who hold diverse views on LGBTQIA full inclusion, The plan is accompanied by an intensified enforcement of the restrictive language that is already in The Book of Discipline, thus closing spaces within the denomination for people who cannot in good conscience exclude the LGBTQIA community from full participation in ministry and the blessings of marriage. The result will likely be a considerable escalation of church trials and stronger consequences for persons who act counter to The Book of Discipline as a matter of conscience.
The Church also voted in favor of two dis-affiliation plans that are designed to allow churches to remove themselves from the denomination if they cannot remain in good conscience. The decisions made by the General Conference have been referred to the Judicial Council to rule on Constitutionality, and the results of the Judicial Council decisions will shape the enactment of the plan. It may also identify parts of the plan and the petitions as unconstitutional.
The Boston University School of Theology will continue to hold our statement on diversity, equity, and inclusion as our standard for a fully inclusive community. We are committed to build a future in which we enact our ideals with full commitment, honest critique of ourselves, and prophetic witness. We will continue to seek justice and compassion for all people – people who are LGBTQIA, people of diverse races and ethnicities, people who hold diverse theological commitments, people from all countries and regions, and ALL of God’s people! We commit ourselves to do justice and work for full diversity, equity, and inclusions in the church and society. We are not perfect, but we will continue to grow in our capacity to be the School of the Prophets – a vision that has guided our 180 years of existence and will continue to shape us.
I close with respect for all of you, whose views are as diverse as the stars. I close with determination to find a better way forward that does not deny the sacred worth or full inclusion of any of you or any part of the human family. I do this in full awareness of my own shortfalls and my deepest hope to live into the Wesleyan vision of growing always in love.
- Mary Elizabeth Moore, Dean and Professor of Theology and Education
School of Theology Dean Mary Elizabeth Moore urged the United Methodist Church to “make space” within its community for those who identify as LGBTQ Friday. Moore published the message ahead of the church’s 2019 General Conference.
A special session of the General Conference is voting on competing plans to either remove or strengthen the church’s current ban on same-sex weddings and the ordination of gay clergy. The conference is located in St. Louis, Missouri, and began Friday and will finish Tuesday.
The final vote will take place Tuesday. A preliminary vote on Monday showed that the plan to maintain the existing LGBTQ policy received nearly 56 percent support.
Moore said that the church’s current language condemns homosexuality and the ordination of open members of the LGBTQ community. This language, she said, has been a part of the church for more than four decades.
“The restrictive language first entered into the Book of Discipline in 1972, and efforts to remove it have been unsuccessful every four years when we’ve had a general conference since then,” Moore said. “In fact, some of the language has become stricter.”
As many of us United Methodists head to General Conference, our denomination faces big decisions. Any decision will effect change in the Church but also in the larger cultures in which the Church dwells. When a young gay man commits suicide or a lesbian woman is thrown out of her home, something is badly wrong. When a trans person can find no job, no church home, no acceptance anywhere, something is badly wrong. The teachings of our Church bear much responsibility for these wrongs, both inside and outside the church, because our teachings give a rationale for rejection, hatred, and denying the full dignity of precious children of God. Whatever happens in this General Conference, the church needs to do justice. More than one plan can move toward that end, but I pray that justice will prevail – justice for all people, all of whom have been created in the image of God.
The General Conference also faces a huge challenge to make space – space in which people can share themselves, their diverse faith commitments, their humanness, and their love for God and other peoples across the world. The church needs space to find common ground. Such space has nothing to do with sameness or agreement, and it cannot be bought at the cost of one group of people. The church is God’s. God did not create the church in our images, but created us in God’s image. At its best, the church provides home for all of God’s children, with our beautiful differences. If sameness were the mark of the church’s faithfulness, the church would have died on the first Pentecost when everyone spoke in different languages; it would have died in the conflicts between Peter and Paul, or the differences in Corinth, Rome, and Ephesus.
God’s church can be a space of hospitality – bound by genuine love and deep-rooted justice Hospitality without justice is a veneer; justice without hospitality is not rooted. No matter what plan United Methodists choose, I pray that it will make pathways to do justice and to make space for one another. Without justice, we poison the community; without space, we close ourselves off from one another and from the in-breaking of God.
-- Dean Mary Elizabeth Moore, speaking for myself, as I hope each of you will speak. I am listening.
Dr. Iain Maclean passed on June 2, 2017 at the age of 61. While Dr. Maclean's final degree was from Harvard, he was a regular at BU and attended STH for several years. His full obituary can be found here.
A Guide to Ministry Self-Care offers a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of both the causes of stress and strategies for effective self-care. Written for both new and long-time ministers, the book draws on current research and offers practical and spiritual insights into building and maintaining personal health and sustaining ministry long term. The book addresses a wide range of life situations and explores many forms of self-care, from physical and financial to relational and spiritual.
Dr. Olson shares that A Guide to Ministry Self-Care has been selected as one of the top ten books for clergy by the Academy of Parish Clergy. Dr. Olson shares more of the story behind the book in a description that can be found here.
Rev. Ralph Shunk, age 92, (STH '52 & '53) died Sunday February 10, 2019 at his residence in Dublin, Ohio. A Memorial Service will be held at the Linworth United Methodist Church, 7070 Bent Tree Blvd Columbus Ohio 43235 on Wednesday, February 20, 2019 at 3:00pm with burial to follow in Toledo, Ohio at a later date. Read Rev. Ralph's full Obituary here.
Dr. Herman O. Kelly, Jr. Pastor Of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana was nominated to receive the African American Cultural Center Legacy Award on Saturday, December 23, 2019 at The Annual Jazz Brunch on the Louisiana State University’s Campus. The Legacy Award is given Annually to the faculty member who is committed to the African American community at Louisiana State University. Dr. Kelly is an adjunct Instructor in The African and African American Studies Program And The College Of Education in Human Sciences Division. He teaches African American Religion, The Black Rhetorical Traditions In The Civil Rights Movement And Introduction to College Studies. Recently, Dr. Kelly received a travel grant to present his research at The National African American Studies Conference at affiliates in Dallas, Texas
Last year Dr. Kelly was awarded the Kuumba Award For Church And Community engagement.
Rev. Jim Hipkins (STH '54) died peacefully Friday evening, February 15, 2019. Our prayers are with Gail, and with his family and friends. A Celebration of Jim’s life is scheduled for March 18, 2019, at 3PM in the Brooks-Howell Home Memorial Chapel in Asheville, North Carolina.
Wednesday, February 6 - A message from Dean Mary Elizabeth Moore:
Horace Allen, one of our distinguished colleagues, died last night after a life of creativity and ecumenical liturgical leadership. As many of you know, he served on the Boston University faculty from 1978 to 2003 when he retired as Professor Emeritus. He was the first Professor of Worship here, and he taught in areas as broad as liturgy, music, architecture, and preaching. Our alums have told me a multitude of appreciative comments and funny, touching stories about Horace. Some say that they are conscious every week of things they learned from Horace; others credit him with their love of liturgy.
In 2012, Horace was honored by the Massachusetts Council of Churches with these words:
On Saturday, we honored Rev. Dr. Horace Allen, a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) pastor and liturgist; Professor Emeritus at Boston University School of Theology; the first Ministerial Warden at The Iona Community; integral in the creation of the Revised Common Lectionary and youth steward at the 1954 World Council of Churches assembly in Evanston, IL (after the assembly, he swiped the sign of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople - see photo!) Here's a brief summary of Horace and why we celebrate his many years of ecumenical ministry! [Quoted from: https://www.facebook.com/Masscouncilofchurches/posts/on-saturday-we-honored-rev-dr-horace-allen-a-presbyterian-church-usa-pastor-and-/164613103665918/.] See also the description of that event and more about Horace’s life and contributions at: https://reveverett.com/2012/05/02/horace-allen/.
Rest in peace, Horace!
Mary Elizabeth
Update: Tuesday, February 12
A memorial service will be held for The Rev. Dr. Horace T. Allen on Sunday, March 3 at 2pm at Marsh Chapel at Boston University, 735 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA. His obituary can be found here.
