Dear Council of Bishops,
I read your letter to the church this morning. In it you
claim that your proposal is a way forward that commits to “having a different
kind of global conversation that allows all voices to be heard.” I have to
admit that every time I hear this statement I am puzzled. With respect, Dear
Bishops, What voices have not been heard?
I ask this question because prior to General Conference I
listened to the Connectional Table conversations which were taken over by the
ironically named “Love Prevails” group. I followed almost every word of the
livestream at General Conference and saw the demonstration by the LGBTQI
supporters on the floor of General Conference – within the bar and therefore
supported not only by the Marshalls who were supposed to protect the bar, but
the bishops who allowed the demonstrators access. I watched the feed from the
RMN coalition as they “ordained” Sue Laurie and as they presented various
people who told their stories from an LBGTQI perspective. I have listened to
the voices of the African delegates on the floor and in previous years I have
listened to them in person (having been a recorder and transcriber at the two
previous General Conferences). I also followed the videos and blogs put out by
the Renew and Reform Coalition. All of these were loud and clear, so I ask
again, What voices have not been heard?
We have at least four Annual Conferences in the United
States that have vowed to break their vows of ordination and ignore the Discipline. We have 120 clergy and
clergy candidates that have “come out” and have acknowledged that they lied to
their own Boards of Ordained ministry. We have 2000 and counting clergy who
have signed a letter of support for those who have and will in the future come
out and/or break the covenant by performing same sex weddings. So I ask again, What voices have not been heard?
I have a Facebook friend who suggests that the chair of the
commission should be a Ph.D. level ethicist and that it should contain “at
least one scholar trained in the behavioral sciences who has done research on
persons with a same gender orientation.” I have my own suggestion: that the
commission contain at least one biblical scholar who has worked on developing a
theology of sexuality based on the whole bible and not on either the “7 clobber
passages” or a vague “God welcomes
all” reading of scripture. If there is any voice I have not heard, it is this
one.
I haven’t heard a lot of voices like mine, either. I have
spent the last twenty-five years or so listening to the voices of those who are
LGBTQI. Being scientifically trained, I have been keeping up with the
scientific research into gender, reading not just the popular literature, but
the scientific journals. As a biblical scholar, I have looked at both sides of
the debate from a biblical point of view, reading and listening to scholars
with a wide variety of hermeneutical and exegetical approaches. As a pastor, I
have welcomed LGBTQI people into my congregations and made it clear to the
congregations that all are welcome to come to the table. I have come to my
conclusions after a great deal of study, listening, and prayer. I deeply resent
being labeled “homophobic and evil” as I have been on numerous occasions,
though I have tried to respond graciously. I also resent the attitude that I am
just not as far along in my thinking as the “progressives.” I am usually
represented in debates by those who are clearly far more conservative than I am
and who do, in fact, lean toward a homophobic attitude. All of this to say,
that if there are voices that are not being heard, they are voices like mine
from people who have agonized over this issue for years and have come to some
conclusions that the LGBTQI community doesn’t like. Honestly, I don’t like them
either; I would rather be one who just goes along with the culture and lets
people do what they like. But I can’t. All of that study, listening, and prayer
has led me to the conclusion that I can’t.
So, Dear Bishops, though I really think that the voices
which claim to have been silenced have spoken loud and clear and that this
commission is an attempt to wait out those of us who are not “progressive,” I
beg you to hear voices like mine. I beg you to place on your commission people
who have listened with compassion, studied diligently, prayed fervently and yet
still believe that 1) while love is from God, not all love must be expressed as
sexual intimacy, 2) that one does not have to express oneself sexually to be a
whole person, and 3) that sexual intimacy between two human beings is a gift
from God to be shared only within a covenantal marriage between a man and a
woman.
Along with many in the United Methodist Church, I will be
praying for the work of this commission.
Blessings,
Rev. Dr. Martha Myre
Elder on Leave of Absence
North Texas Annual Conference
