In a vigil marking the end of a pivotal session by Methodism’s top court, LGBTQ activists and clergy gathered for a time of singing, sharing, and communion. The Judicial Council of the United Methodist Church (UMC) heard arguments and deliberated about numerous key cases, including one regarding the election of openly lesbian clergywoman Karen Oliveto as a bishop.
Mark Miller – a songwriter, music minister, and professor at Drew Theological School – led worship. Toward the end of the vigil, he expressed discouragement about the Judicial Council’s proceedings:
I think I could cry for the rest of my life. You know. All the bottled up s*** that we’ve dealt with for so many years, standing in front so many councils and churches, and conferences, and people who are so filled with hate and racism and sexism. And I’m mean, I’m like, “Oh my God, how are we going to do it again?”
Miller led the group of activists in various songs. Lyrics to these songs proclaimed:
“No matter what the Church says / Decisions [or] pronouncements on you / You are a child of God”
“We will tear down the walls / Love has called us one and all / Love has broken down the walls”
“We’re accepted as we are / Through love’s power all is reconciled all / We’re accepted as we are / Cast aside your doubts and fears”
The group also sang Miller’s original song “Draw the Circle Wide,” popular among LGBTQ activists in the UMC. It included the lyrics:
“Draw the circle wide / Draw it wider still / Let this be our song / No one stands alone / Standing side by side”
Queer clergy Elyse Ambrose, who was recently commissioned as a provisional deacon under a New York Conference pro-LGBTQ ordination policy which is being challenged to the Judicial Council, prayed along similar lines at a separate point during the vigil. “We give you thanks for this circle drawn wide, an image of your kin-dom being made real among us,” prayed Ambrose. She asked that God would empower the activists to continue standing up for their “just cause” in the UMC.
“We lift up the Judicial Council. We lift up our Church. We lift up closed minds, closed doors, closed hearts, to you God,” she added.
Earlier, directly before communion, gay United Methodist pastor Rev. Alex da Silva Souto, who was recently ordained under the same New York Conference policy, encouraged activists to partake of the sacraments to “strengthen our bonds and our resolve to find Easter amidst Good Friday.” Da Silva Souto drew the same parallel between efforts to liberalize sexual ethics within the UMC and Christ’s death and resurrection just hours earlier on Twitter:
This Good Friday shall turn into Easter! #CalledOUT #NoSuchLaw #umc #UMQueerClergy #UMQCC https://t.co/UDOGGu4BBH
— RevAlexAtion (@revalexation) April 28, 2017
Oliveto made a similar comparison on Wednesday while preaching at Iliff Seminary in Denver. “Every time I see someone come out as LGBTQI or gender queer, there is a resurrection going on,” Oliveto asserted.
Below is video of the vigil with LGBTQ activists streamed by the Reconciling Ministries Network via Facebook Live:
Closing witness in Newark, NJ as Judicial Council members disperse today. Tune in as Mark Miller leads us in a short service along with United Methodist Queer Clergy Caucus Public Page. #nosuchlaw #calledOUT
Posted by Reconciling Ministries Network on Friday, April 28, 2017
Comment by Eternity Matters on April 29, 2017 at 9:51 am
What a bunch of wicked wolves. They consciously and brazenly defy the Book of Discipline, so they should be fired — just as any employee of a regular company would be fired for violating the known rules of the company in that manner.
How blasphemous to equate their pride in their perversions with the resurrection!
Comment by Gary Whiteman on April 30, 2017 at 10:02 am
Not “We Will Tear Down the Walls,” but
“We Will Drive the Christians Away, Just Like the Other Mainline Denominations Did.”
And brother, does it work.
Comment by karolekay on April 30, 2017 at 2:47 pm
The “closed minds, closed doors, closed hearts” are theirs – closed to the truth of the Word, the holiness of God, and their need of repentance. May God have mercy on them.