South Hill UMC’s New Member
Rev. Barry Burkholder has finally - after two years - accepted the transfer of an openly gay person to the South Hill United Methodist Church in Virginia.
Said gentleman (his name is not known) applied for membership in 2005 after having worshipped there for a while, joined the choir and participated in other fellowship. When he asked to join the church, he was denied because he was gay. This decision was appealed to the bishop and annual conference. All told the then-pastor Edward H. Johnson to accept the man if he was willing to take the various oaths required for membership. Johnson then appealed these ruling all the way to the United Methodist Church’s version of the Supreme Court, called “The Judicial Council”. Much to everyone’s surprise, Johnson won. The Judicial Council ruled that a pastor, as the head of the congregation, had the right to accept or reject any membership application she or he may see fit. This ruling caused something of a fire-storm in the United Methodist Church, primarily among the bishops, clergy and lay leadership. While the UMC bars “open and practicing homosexuals” from becoming clergy or being appointed to churches, it has never made any such restriction for membership. In fact, the UMC has always had a very open and welcoming membership policy. For my own part, I believe that there were two miscarriages of justice in that case. The first is that a United Methodist minister was permitted to reject a man from membership to the church in spite of the fact that he could make every necessary vow. He was able to confess Jesus Christ as his savior, put is trust in His grace, and offer his loyalty to the universal church and the United Methodist Church. These have always been our criteria. We ask that everyone admit that they are a sinner before God and that they are working on their sin. We do not ask that a person delineate each and every sin, and that they even agree to what are sins and what are not. Methodists have always opposed gambling. I would be turning away many good Christian souls at the door if I rejected for membership every person who went to Atlantic City once in a while and thought there was nothing wrong with that. For that matter, I’d turn even more away if I rejected everyone who like a beer with a steak once in a while. We do not demand perfection. We demand a willingness to work on perfection.
The second miscarriage of justice was that the person was denied for being a person who our own theology claims is “a person of sacred worth” even in and as a practicing homosexual. The pastor thought that the theology of the church was not strict enough, rejected it in violation of his covenantal obligation to uphold the church’s teaching, and then claimed that a “person of sacred worth” is not worthy enough to be a self-professed disciple of Jesus Christ in communion with other such disciples.
That is mind boggling!
I offer a big and warm welcome to my new brother in Christ and within the connection of the United Methodist Church, whoever you are. In fact, I applaud you for sticking with it when you could have left, gone down the street, and found another church. Your commitment has made us better Christians.
