I don’t diary very often – those that know me here know me primarily through comments. But I have occasionally referenced my Mom, a retired United Methodist pastor and former district superintendent and cabinet dean for the UMC in the Northern Illinois conference. My Kos tagline references the book she wrote and published last year about both her own experience of having been married to a closeted gay man (my dad) and how that experience affected her perceptions of the trial of Rev. Greg Dell in a similar UMC circus to the one she describes below more than a decade ago. Rev. Dell was my own pastor at the time.
I have since left the UMC- thinking the fight for GLBT equality there hopeless. She chose, bravely, to stay and fight. For the last year she has been very involved in the defense team for Rev. Amy DeLong, a UMC pastor who is set to go on trial for the UMC equivalent of heresy on June 21st. We are getting much closer to full legal equality for GLBT people in the U.S. – but in the battle for equality in the “Christian” community we still have a long way to go. Mom joined Daily Kos about a year ago, but hasn’t quite gotten the hang of Kosland herself yet – so her first diary here is coming from me.
JUST SHOW UP!
If you are a person who wants to see the GLBT community welcomed everywhere AND if you are anywhere near or could get to Kaukauna, Wisconsin next Tuesday, Wednesday and/or possibly Thursday, June 21-23, then please just show up at Peace United Methodist Church, 1201 Maloney Road. for the trial of Rev. Amy DeLong. We really need your support!
If you are under the impression that church trials were no longer held after the Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692, think again. For beginning on June 21, the Wisconsin conference of The United Methodist Church will seek to punish one of their clergy for daring to love as Jesus taught us to love: neighbor as self. Rev. Amy DeLong has openly admitted that she loves her 15 year life-partner, a woman, and that she has offered the love of the church to two lesbian women in a service of holy union – both chargeable offenses by church law.
The Church has chosen a tiny town near Green Bay and a small church to host the trial, and a date which will follow the Wisconsin Annual Conference when most clergy are worn out and ready to rest - with the hope that they can rid the church of one more “undesirable” without many people noticing.
However, 205 clergy of the Northern Illinois Conference have noticed and signed a statement last week affirming that we will joyfully offer the grace of the Church’s blessing to any prepared couple desiring Christian marriage – gay and straight alike. This followed the action of more than 100 Minnesota United Methodist clergy who signed a similar statement the week before.
Other movements are occurring in New York and other states throughout the country. Many clergy are outraged that while all other major Protestant mainline denominations welcome the GLBT community as pastors and members, The United Methodist Church continues to enforce homophobic church law while, at the same time, engaging in a nationwide advertizing campaign celebrating its “Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors.”
Those gathered at the trial will hear some powerful speakers at ongoing rallies including: Rev. Jimmy Creech, whose ordination was stripped from him after his own church trials, Dr. Tex Sample, widely published author and Professor Emeritus of Church and Society, St. Paul School of Theology, and Rev. Amy DeLong herself, of Kairos CoMotion, a progressive organization dedicated to helping people move together in partnership with God and with one another. And if you are able to find a space in the limited seating inside the church, you will hear the eloquent presentations of Rev. Scott Campbell, a Massachusetts pastor who also teaches at Harvard and is acting as Defense Counsel.
1. Soulforce, a national organization devoted to changing the hearts and minds of religious leaders who engage in anti-homosexual campaigns, will also be on hand leading demonstrators outside of the church.
I will be available for press conferences and strategizing on site with the defense team who has been working together for more than a year since DeLong was first charged with breaking the homophobic church law of The United Methodist Church that forbids the ordination of homosexuals and forbids pastors from officiating at same-sex unions.
If you are unable to come to the trial, please consider contributing to the defense fund, send an encouraging word to Amy DeLong and/or pray for Amy and her defense team. Visit her website: to learn more.
Since the death of Jesus, the Church often speaks of his blood saving us. I don’t use this language much because it has been hijacked by religious conservatives who take it to mean that they, individually, and those who are just like them have been elevated to a privileged position in God’s sight, which is odious heresy. However, these days I’m thinking that the blood language might still be useful if we think about it in terms of being open to receiving a spiritual transfusion of the life-force, aka blood, of Jesus. Such a spiritual transfusion leads us to loving as Jesus loved; in other words – loving everyone.
Please support us as we try to offer a spiritual transfusion of Christ’s blood/life force to the Church’s prosecuting team. Nightly updates of trial activities will be available on the Love on Trial website and periodic postings on Facebook
You might also watch a three-minute video I made on behalf of Amy’s defense, which speaks of the great damage the church is inflicting upon families as well as on the GLBT community.