D.C. Methodist Building Renovated as a “Light on the Hill”

Every Wednesday at noon a few individuals gather for worship in the Simpson Memorial Chapel at the United Methodist Building on Capitol Hill, located across the street from the U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. Capitol.  The denomination’s controversial General Board on Church and Society (GBCS) owns the building, which serves as the church’s lobby office in the nation’s capital.

The over 80-year-old chapel was recently renovated for the first time since 1954. And it was re-consecrated during a noontime, February 15, 2012, interfaith service that included Islamic clergy.  It is named in honor of Bishop Matthew Simpson, who was a prominent leader in the Methodist Church in the 19th century. He served “as pastor, college professor and president … and bishop for 32 years.” Bishop Simpson was “a friend and confidant of President Abraham Lincoln, one of the most influential orators during the Civil War, and a spirit-filled preacher dedicated to making disciples for Jesus Christ.”   

In 1954, the chapel was dedicated “to the things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely and of good report, and to the promotion of Christ’s Kingdom.” According to the re-consecration prayer in 2012, the “chapel has been renovated for praise, prayer, study and advocacy.” Jim Winkler, General Secretary of GBCS, led the congregation praying, “Bless us and make sacred what we do here, that this place may be holy for us and a house of prayer for all people … save us from the failure of vision which would confine our worship, study, and advocacy within these walls, but send us out from here to be your servants in the world.”

Winkler often advocates highly debated political causes on behalf of GBCS. Most recently he has endorsed Obamacare’s mandate that even religious groups must provide health insurance coverage to employees for contraceptives, abortifacients and sterilization. Unlike the United Methodist office, Roman Catholic and evangelical groups have strongly denounced the policy. GBCS rents office space in the United Methodist Building to other liberal lobby and advocacy groups, all of which have access to the chapel.

The renovation replaced the small chapel’s red carpet with dark hardwood floors, pews with chairs, added a flat screen television, and a new communion table. To make it a “house of prayer for all people,” the re-consecration service featured prayers and readings from a rabbi, an imam, and the national director of the Islamic Society of North America. Rabbi Henry Weiner read Hebrew Scriptures and Imam Yahya Hendi read a passage from the Qur’an. Dr. Sayyid Sayeed from the Islamic Society presented a short reflection and prayer, sharing his hope that the GBCS chapel could be a place for “Jews, Muslims, and Christians to stand shoulder to shoulder.”  

This strong interfaith emphasis at the chapel rededication might have surprised the original builders of the Methodist Building, who were Methodist temperance activists in the 1920’s who envisioned the office as an advocate for specifically Methodist causes of civic righteousness.

Bishop Deborah Kiesey of South Dakota, president of GBCS, delivered a short sermon from The Message translation of Ephesians 5:1-2, about how we must “watch what God does and do it,” because “most of what God does is love us.” She contrasted how “the way of the world is to get to the top first because second is still losing, the way of the world is to distrust those who disagree with us and to believe we are the only ones with the answers. The way of the world is to encourage the fear of those who are different.” She said the GBCS chapel can be seen as a “light on the hill” in Washington, DC where political discourse is far from loving.

“If we listen to the political dialogue in an election year, we hear an amazing number of words;  many words are used to describe those who seek the highest office, words such as strong and assertive and visionary, competent, powerful,” Kiesey said. She explained these “are very good words for a potential president, and yet here is what he preaches in Ephesians: no more lies, no more pretense, watch how you talk, be gentle, don’t break God’s heart.”

Instead of following the way of the world, Kiesey said “if we are to imitate God, if we are to live as Christ lived we must listen to this other list of values.” These “values” listed by “the author of Ephesians … make sense [in theory], but in the practicality of life … living together in unity, and peace, and love, we have an awfully hard time doing it,” she lamented. The bishop urged congregants to “learn a life of love.” “May our love be so extravagant that we would be willing to give ourselves away for the sake of God and this world,” she urged. “Why do we [keep this chapel open]?” Kiesey asked rhetorically, and answered, “here we can offer a sacred space in this city.”