![Diverse leaders’ group offers separation plan]()
by Steve | Jan 3, 2020 | In the News
Members of a diverse group of bishops and other United Methodist leaders gather for a group photo in Washington after reaching agreement on a proposal that would maintain The United Methodist Church but allow traditionalist congregations to separate into a new denomination. Photo courtesy of the Mediation Team.
By Sam Hodges, UMNS – A diverse, 16-member group of United Methodist bishops and other leaders has offered a proposal that would preserve The United Methodist Church while allowing traditionalist-minded congregations to form a new denomination. The separating group would get $25 million in United Methodist funds and would keep its local church properties.
Details are in a nine-page “Protocol of Reconciliation & Grace Through Separation,” released Jan. 3 along with an FAQ and press release.
The proposal — reached with the help of famed mediator Kenneth Feinberg, who worked on the federal September 11th Victim Compensation Fund — requires approval by the 2020 General Conference. Drafting of legislation is still underway for the legislative assembly, which is the only body that speaks for the 13 million global denomination.
But given the broad, influential coalition involved — including bishops from around the global connection and advocacy group leaders often sharply at odds — the potential seems strong that the separation proposal can end or at least greatly reduce the denomination’s decades-long struggle over how accepting to be of homosexuality.
New York Conference Bishop Thomas Bickerton, part of the group, said the contentious 2019 special called General Conference in St. Louis underscored intensifying divisions and the need for amicable separation.
“It became clear that the line in the sand had turned into a canyon,” Bickerton said. “The impasse is such that we have come to the realization that we just can’t stay that way any longer.
“This protocol provides a pathway that acknowledges our differences, respects everyone in the process and graciously allows us to continue to live out the mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world, albeit in different expressions.”
The plan looks toward a restructuring of the remaining global United Methodist Church into regions, with flexibility to adapt church policies, including on LGBTQ inclusion.
Meanwhile, traditionalists forming a new denomination could continue what they see as Bible-supported restrictions on same-sex marriage and ordination of gay persons as clergy.
The traditionalist Wesleyan Covenant Association already has taken steps toward forming a new denomination, such as drafting a book of policies and doctrines. Bickerton and the Rev. Keith Boyette, WCA president, said the negotiating team’s assumption is that the new church would emerge out of the WCA.
Boyette was part of the group developing the proposal. He said traditionalists have long felt that divisions in The United Methodist Church were irreparable, and that an amicable separation was the best way forward.
“I believe this is a fair and equitable solution that puts decades of conflict behind us and gives us a hopeful future,” he said.
Also negotiating and signing onto the agreement was Jan Lawrence, executive director of Reconciling Ministries Network, which has long sought to remove restrictions against LGBTQ participation in the denomination.
“As a United Methodist who is LGBTQ, my priority at the table was to make sure we addressed the full participation of LGBTQ people in the life of the church, making sure the answer was not `ask us again in 2024,’” she said. “The language needs to be removed now. I am pleased that there is opportunity here for that to happen in 2020.”
The new proposal would allow other United Methodist churches to form their own denominations, while foreseeing ecumenical agreements and cooperation on some fronts.
Representatives of traditionalist, centrist and progressive advocacy groups joined with a handful of bishops from the U.S., Africa, Europe and the Philippines to reach the agreement. They promised to support it and no other.
“We humbly offer to the delegates of the 2020 General Conference the work which we have accomplished in the hopes that it will help heal the harms and conflicts within the body of Christ and free us to be more effective witnesses to God’s Kingdom,” said Bishop John Yambasu of Sierra Leone, who last summer began the private talks that led to the proposal.
The group had the help of Feinberg, who oversaw the victims’ compensation funds after 9/11 and the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster.
Feinberg donated his time, as did other lawyers who helped the group.
“(Feinberg) has a deep interest in religion and the preservation of the public witness of religion, and this is what intrigued him and enabled him to say `yes’ to us,” Bickerton said. “We are extremely indebted.”
Feinberg called it “an honor and a privilege” to be part of the negotiations.
“As a result of weeks of intense, voluntary mediation in Washington — ably assisted by Richard Godfrey and Wendy Bloom of the distinguished Kirkland & Ellis law firm — and with the intense, direct and ongoing participation of all church representatives, a comprehensive resolution of all issues and principles has been achieved,” he said in a statement.
A clear catalyst for the negotiations was the 2019 General Conference, which saw passage of the Traditional Plan reinforcing restrictions on same-sex weddings and ordination of LGBTQ persons — but also igniting passionate, ongoing resistance in the U.S. by full inclusion supporters.
The tougher enforcement provided by the Traditional Plan went into effect Jan. 1, but the new proposal calls for holding “in abeyance” any administrative or judicial processes related to same-sex weddings or ordination of gay clergy.
“You cannot stop someone from filing a complaint. Neither can you stop someone from requesting a trial,” Bickerton said. “You can hold a complaint in abeyance. That’s our request.”
Key elements of the group’s proposal include:
- The General Council on Finance and Administration of The United Methodist Church would provide $25 million, over four years, “to the traditionalist Methodist denomination established pursuant to this protocol.” The new denomination would give up further claims to United Methodist assets, including those of general boards and agencies.
- GCFA would escrow $2 million to help other potential new denominations.
- To support communities historically marginalized by racism, GCFA would allocate $39 million over eight years to strengthen Asian, Black, Hispanic-Latino, Native American and Pacific Islander ministries, as well as Africa University. Of that total, $13 million would come from funds the separating traditionalist denomination chose to forgo.
- After the 2020 General Conference, set for May 5-15 in Minneapolis, there would be a special General Conference for the remaining denomination. “The protocol also references a plan which calls for a special general conference of the post-separation United Methodist Church. The purpose of the Special Session would be to create regional conferences, remove the current prohibitions against LGBTQ persons, and to repeal the Traditional Plan,” said a press release from the negotiating group.
- A (non-U.S.) central conference would be able to choose with a two-thirds vote to affiliate with a new Methodist denomination. The vote deadline would be December 31, 2021, and if no vote is taken the conference remains in The United Methodist Church.
- An annual conference, whether in a central conference or U.S. jurisdictional conference, also could vote to affiliate with a new Methodist denomination. A vote of 20 percent or more at an annual conference session would be needed to have the disaffiliation vote, and a disaffiliation vote would have to pass by 57 percent. The disaffiliation vote deadline is July 1, 2021.
- The leadership body of a local church considering disaffiliation could determine a threshold of a simple majority or two-thirds for the vote on whether to separate. Decisions about disaffiliation must be made by December 31, 2024.
- A local church affiliating with another Methodist denomination “pursuant to the protocol” would keep its assets and liabilities.
- The pension plans of The United Methodist Church would remain in place for all current clergy and lay employees, even if they affiliate with another Methodist denomination under the protocol.
Though the petition deadline for the 2020 General Conference is months past, church rules allow for special annual conference sessions to consider submitting additional petitions. Bickerton noted that some such sessions are already planned for the weeks ahead.
The General Conference Committee on Reference also can allow late petitions.
The group behind the new proposal has asked the Council of Bishops to request that the Judicial Council consider the constitutionality of the still-being-developed legislation before the opening session of the 2020 General Conference.
The group also wants the Council of Bishops to seek a report from GCFA on the financial impacts of the proposal.
The FAQ accompanying the protocol directly addresses post-separation realities:
“The United Methodist Church will be smaller. The church will need to quickly assess the impact of churches leaving and adjust infrastructure and spending accordingly. The long-term solution lies in the broad reform that is needed.”
Various plans for dramatically restructuring or breaking up The United Methodist Church are already headed to the 2020 General Conference, and a range of behind-the-scenes talks about the denomination’s future have been underway.
Yambasu organized a meeting in Chicago on July 19, 2019, that brought central conference bishops together with five representatives each from the traditionalist, centrist and progressive camps.
A smaller group met Aug. 16-17 at Floris United Methodist Church, in Herndon, Virginia, to start the mediated negotiations that led to this new proposal. The group would expand, mostly with bishops, as the process continued.
Kenneth Feinberg. Photo by Samuel Wantman, Wikimedia Commons, 2007.
Key sessions with Feinberg occurred Oct. 17-18, Nov. 11-12 and Dec. 16-17 in Washington.
Council of Bishops President Kenneth Carter was among the far-flung episcopal leaders who joined in discussions and signed the agreement. So did Yambasu from Africa, Bishop Rudy Juan from the Davao Area in the Philippines and Bishop Christian Alsted from the Nordic-Baltic Area in Europe.
Boyette and Patricia Miller represented the coalition of traditionalist groups that includes the WCA, Good News, the Institute on Religion & Democracy and the Confessing Movement. Lawrence and the Rev. David Meredith were there for Reconciling Ministries Network, Methodist Federation for Social Action and Affirmation, and Meredith is listed in the protocol as a member of the UM Queer Clergy Caucus.
The Rev. Tom Berlin and the Rev. Junius Dotson represented UMCNext, Mainstream UMC and Uniting Methodists.
Those in the room consulted with “outer circle” advisers, as well as financial experts.
“The process was a journey,” said Dotson, top executive of Discipleship Ministries. “It was filled with anxious moments. It was filled with moments of hope. I definitely felt the weight of these discussions.”
All of those signing the protocol agreed to support the development and implementation of enacting legislation.
“The fact that we were able to come together from across the world, from across theological spectrums and define an opportunity to collaborate for the sake of the church we all love is a monumental thing,” Bickerton said.
He added: “My hope would be that the delegates to the General Conference would be able to employ that same spirit as they undertake their work in Minneapolis.”
A live-stream panel discussion with members of the Mediation Team will be held on Monday, Jan. 13. Additional details will be provided in the days ahead.
Hodges is a Dallas-based writer for United Methodist News. Kathy L. Gilbert contributed.
Signatories to the Protocol
Bishop Christian Alsted (Nordic-Baltic Episcopal Area)
Rev. Thomas Berlin (representing UMCNext, Mainstream UMC, Uniting Methodists)
Bishop Thomas J. Bickerton (New York Episcopal Area)
Rev. Keith Boyette (representing the Confessing Movement, Good News, Institute on Religion & Democracy, and the Wesleyan Covenant Association)
Bishop Kenneth Carter (Florida Episcopal Area)
Rev. Junius Dotson (representing UMCNext, Mainstream UMC, Uniting Methodists)
Bishop LaTrelle Easterling (Washington Episcopal Area)
Rev. Egmedio “Jun” Equila, Jr. (Philippines Central Conference)
Bishop Cynthia Fierro Harvey (Louisiana Episcopal Area)
Bishop Rodolfo “Rudy” Juan (Davao Episcopal Area, Philippines)
Janet Lawrence (representing Affirmation, Methodist Federation for Social Action, and
Reconciling Ministries Network)
Rev. David Meredith (representing Affirmation, Methodist Federation for Social Action,
and Reconciling Ministries Network, member of UM Queer Clergy Caucus)
Patricia Miller (representing the Confessing Movement, Good News, Institute on Religion & Democracy, and the Wesleyan Covenant Association)
Randall Miller (representing Affirmation, Methodist Federation for Social Action, and
Reconciling Ministries Network)
Bishop Gregory Vaughn Palmer (Ohio West Episcopal Area)
Bishop John K. Yambasu (Sierra Leone Episcopal Area)
![Diverse leaders’ group offers separation plan]()
by Steve | Jan 3, 2020 | In the News
By Walter Fenton, Wesleyan Covenant Association –
Bishop Cynthia Fierro Harvey presides at the 2019 General Conference. Bishop Harvey is the Council of Bishops’ president-elect and she is one of the 16 signatories of the protocol agreement. Photo credit Council of Bishops file photo.
A prominent group of 16 United Methodists released a detailed proposal today calling for an amicable separation of The United Methodist Church. The group included individuals representing all the major advocacy organizations affiliated with the church and eight bishops from around the world, including Bishop Kenneth Carter, current president of the Council of Bishops, and Bishop Cynthia Fierro Harvey, the council’s president-elect.
The distinguished attorney Kenneth Feinberg served, pro bono, as the mediator who guided the diverse group to an agreement. Among many important assignments, Feinberg is widely known as the special master of the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund.
In a document entitled “Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace through Separation” the group said, “The United Methodist Church and its members aspire to multiply the Methodist mission in the world by restructuring the Church through respectful and dignified separation.” The group went on to say, “the undersigned propose restructuring the [Church] by separation as the best means to resolve our differences, allowing each part… to remain true to its theological understanding, while recognizing the dignity, equality, integrity, and respect of every person.”
The protocol agreement calls on the 2020 General Conference to adopt a process that would allow central conferences, annual conferences, and local churches to join a new traditionalist Methodist denomination while maintaining control of all their property, assets, and liabilities.
“This is a very important agreement, and the most hopeful development in a dispute that has undermined the health and vitality of both local churches and the denomination in general,” said the Rev. Keith Boyette, president of the Wesleyan Covenant Association and one of the 16 individuals who negotiated and signed the agreement. Boyette and Indiana Annual Conference laywoman Patricia Miller, president of The Confessing Movement, represented the Renewal and Reform groups that include their organizations, plus Good News and the Institute on Religion and Democracy/UMAction.
“Since the close of the 2019 General Conference Renewal and Reform groups leaders have engaged in conversations with other advocacy group leaders, bishops, and church officials in an effort to resolve our differences through a negotiated plan of separation,” said Boyette. “We are thankful for those who have stepped forward since that contentious General Conference to propose an agreement respecting the sincere theological and ethical convictions of Methodists across the board.”
Under the terms of the protocol agreement central conferences, by a two-thirds vote, could vote to join a new traditionalist Methodist denomination, and annual conferences, by a 57 percent vote, could vote to do the same. However, central and annual conferences are not required to hold such votes, and if they do not do so, they will remain with the “post-separation United Methodist Church,” the body that will continue the name and infrastructure of the present church.
Local churches, whether their annual conferences take action or not, could also vote to join a new traditionalist Methodist denomination. The local church council would “determine a voting threshold of either a simple majority or two-thirds of those present and voting at a duly called church conference [i.e., a conference that includes all church members present and voting].” According to the protocol agreement, “A vote on a motion to opt for a different affiliation would occur in a church conference held not more than 60 days after the request for such a vote is made by the church council.” Those conferences would be held in consultation with a local church’s district superintendent, and he or she would be required to authorize the conferences. Local churches voting to join a new traditionalist Methodist church would retain all their property and assets, and be responsible for their liabilities (e.g., loan repayments).
The mediation team assumed the Wesleyan Covenant Association would serve as the vehicle for creating a new traditionalist Methodist denomination. It is also assumed the post-separation UM Church would quickly move to adopt legislation creating a U.S. Regional Conference, and that conference would consider changing its sexual ethics, allowing same-sex weddings, and ordaining openly gay clergy.
All 16 members called for the creation of a fund that would seek to address “the historical role of the Methodist movement in systems of systematic racial violence, exploitation and discrimination.” The protocol agreement proposes setting aside $39 million to be allocated over eight years “to support communities historically marginalized by the sin of racism.”
The Rev. Keith Boyette, President of the Wesleyan Covenant Association, signed the protocol agreement. Photo Credit WCA by Mark Moore
While the post-separation United Methodist Church would retain the denomination’s various general boards and agencies, it would designate a sum of $38 million to the new traditionalist Methodist church over a four-year period. The new traditionalist Methodist church would in turn contribute $13 million of that sum to the fund to address racial and ethnic injustices. While the post-separation UM Church would administer the fund, local churches from the post-separation UM Church and the new traditionalist Methodist church would be able to apply for grants from it.
“The WCA Council met yesterday via a conference call,” said the Rev. Dr. Jeff Greenway, the council’s chairman and senior pastor at Reynoldsburg UM Church in Reynoldsburg, Ohio. “While the council did not receive copies of the protocol agreement, our president did walk us through its terms, and then answered questions. The council is guardedly optimistic about the agreement, and in the coming days it will decide whether to formally endorse it or not.”
In early October 2019 the WCA Council endorsed the “Indianapolis Plan for Amicable Separation.” It too was an agreement hammered out by a diverse group of United Methodists calling for separation. Although no bishops were party to that agreement, the group did include notable leaders from progressive, centrist, and traditionalist advocacy groups. The plan it agreed to was put into legislative form and in early September it was submitted as a petition to the 2020 General Conference.
While not identical to the “Indianapolis Plan for Amicable Separation,” the “Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace through Separation” is similar to it. Both plans allow for the continuation of a post-separation United Methodist Church that would retain the denomination’s various general boards and agencies. Each plan also allows for the creation of a new traditionalist Methodist church that central and annual conferences, and local churches could join while retaining all of their property and assets.
The protocol has an advantage over the “Indianapolis Plan for Amicable Separation” in that the protocol’s signatories include persons identified with all of the major advocacy groups in the UM Church and persons associated with the major plans previously filed as legislation to be considered at the 2020 General Conference.
“Our president and several council members were party to the negotiations leading to the creation of the Indianapolis Plan,” said the Rev. Dr. Carolyn Moore, the WCA council’s vice-chairwoman, and the lead pastor at Mosaic Church in Evans, Georgia. “When they brought that plan to a council meeting, we all engaged in spirited conversation and debate before we ultimately decided to endorse it; I’m confident we’ll do the same with this proposal. And at this juncture, I’m hopeful that we, like most United Methodists, are reaching the conclusion that a negotiated plan of separation is the best way forward.”
Boyette said he and his leadership team also will be holding a series of conference calls in the coming days and weeks with the WCA’s 49 regional chapter leaders and its 228 global assembly delegates. In early November the WCA’s second Global Legislative Assembly also endorsed the “Indianapolis Plan for Amicable Separation.”
“Our regional chapter leaders and global assembly delegates are at the grassroots of our movement, so we’ll want to share the details of the protocol agreement with them as quickly as possible,” said Boyette. “They will bear the burden of informing pastors and laity in thousands of local churches about the agreement and interpreting its features for their particular situations. They’ve been fully engaged in all the developments over the past year, so once they’ve had time to digest the protocol agreement, we will seek their endorsement of it.”
The terms of the protocol agreement have a long way to go before the delegates at the 2020 General Conference will have the opportunity to debate them and ultimately decide whether to approve of them or not.
The terms will first have to be converted into legislative petitions and submitted to the Commission on the General Conference. Since the date for receiving petitions was September 18, 2019, the protocol petitions will have to come from one or more annual conferences. Annual conferences can convene special sessions to approve petitions for General Conference consideration as long as the approved petitions are received by the Commission on the General Conference 45 days prior to the convening of the conference.
Those party to the protocol agreement believe several annual conferences will hold special sessions in February or early March to consider the petitions, approve them, and send them on to the General Conference for consideration.
The 16 member group has also asked the Council of Bishops to request a declaratory decision from the Judicial Council (the UM Church’s “Supreme Court”) regarding the constitutionality of the plan’s petitions prior to the 2020 General Conference. At the 2012 General Conference the delegates approved a major restructuring of the denomination only to have the Judicial Council rule many of the restructuring petitions unconstitutional. The 16 signatories to the protocol agreement have committed to jointly defend its implementing legislation should it be challenged on constitutional grounds. They have also agreed to advocate for the plan’s passage by the 862 delegates attending the 2020 General Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota, May 5–15.
“I’m under no illusion about all the challenges a proposal like this will face as it winds its way to the 2020 General Conference,” said Boyette. “However, I would like to think that when the delegates see the diversity of the members who hammered out this plan, when they take note of the highly regarded attorney who served as our mediator, and when they carefully consider the plan’s details, they will come to the conclusion this separation proposal is the best way to ‘resolve our differences, allowing each part of the Church to remain true to its theological understanding, while recognizing the dignity, equality, integrity, and respect of every person.’”
In the coming days and weeks the WCA will continue to analyze the protocol agreement, and it will share the implementing legislation when it is ready. To read the “Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace through Separation” click HERE. An FAQ can be found HERE, and the names of those who signed the protocol can be found HERE.
The Rev. Walter Fenton is Vice President for Strategic Engagement for the Wesleyan Covenant Association and is an elder in the Greater New Jersey Annual Conference.
by Steve | Dec 30, 2019 | In the News, Perspective E-Newsletter
Screen shot from “Love Actually”.
By Steve Beard –
There is a grand Christmas tradition at our house on the evening of December 25: separating the crumpled wrapping paper from the bows that can be reused next year. For many families, Christmas Day signals the winding down of the holiday. Soon the decorations will be packed away and the Christmas tree will be at the curb.
For many Christians around the world, however, the Christmas season only begins on December 25 and is observed over the next 12 days until Epiphany (January 6) – marking the visit of the Magi to the Christ child and the revelation of God becoming flesh.
Remember the song “The 12 Days of Christmas,” with its Turtle Doves, French Hens, Swans-a-Swimming, and Pipers Piping? There are all kinds of theories about the song’s origin, including it being used as a catechism tool to teach theology. Among the Geese-a-Laying and the Maids-a-Milking, there was supposed to be a symbolic spiritual message generations ago.
In our modern era, the quirky British comedy Love Actually inevitably shows up on television at Christmas time. One of the more memorable scenes is when Daisy (Lulu Popplewell) proudly tells her mother Karen (Emma Thompson) about her role in the Christmas play at school.
Daisy: I’m the lobster.
Karen: The lobster?
Daisy: Yeah.
Karen: In the nativity play?
Daisy: Yeah, “first” lobster.
Karen: There was more than one lobster present at the birth of Jesus?
Daisy: Duh!
The nativity play ends up being the climactic conclusion to the film. Not only is the lobster on stage, but she is joined by an octopus, a few penguins, Spiderman, and an assortment of other peculiar creatures.
That scene came to mind several years ago while I was visiting the set of The Nativity Story — a charming film about the birth of Christ. As we were checking out the cave-like location in Matera, Italy, for the manger scene, a five-foot black snake slithered through as though he owned the place.
As alarming as it seemed, it should not have been terribly shocking. Matera is an ancient city known for its neighborhoods that are literally carved out of rock. It is an ideal home for slinky, slithering, and creepy animals of all varieties – perhaps a little like Bethlehem.
Like a lobster (or Spiderman), a snake is an unlikely character for a nativity scene. Nevertheless, its appearance seemed strangely fitting to the incarnational reality of Christmas. After all, at the precipice of hope and redemption, evil lingers and looks for a way to corrupt. Sometimes we lose sight of that reality when we watch our cute Christmas pageants with shepherds wearing bathrobes, the Three Wisemen draped in silk kimonos, and the Virgin Mary lugging around a vintage Cabbage Patch doll.
In reality, it is difficult to downplay the seemingly raw scandal involved with the birth of Christ; but somehow we have managed. Perhaps we have anesthetized the story’s sting since it took place long ago and far away.
At Christmas, we properly celebrate the birth of Jesus. What we don’t dwell on is the horror that surrounds it. No matter how elaborate our nativity scenes may be, they seem to have the antiseptic cleanliness of the crosses that we wear as necklaces. Just like you don’t see blood stains on sterling silver jewelry, you don’t really get a sense of how Christmas may have been anxiety-ridden, unsanitized, and vile – a little like real life.
We don’t often think about Herod ordering the infanticide of all little boys 2 years old and under after the Magi asked him about Jesus. With the slaughter of the innocent, Christmas ends up as gruesome as Good Friday.
We don’t often think about Joseph’s dilemma in discovering that his fiancée was pregnant. Would he divorce her? According to the law of that day, he would have been within his rights.
We don’t often think about a frightened, unmarried teenage girl who has been told she will carry the son of God in her belly. How could she explain that to her family and friends – let alone to the man to whom she pledged her faithfulness?
We don’t often think about an elderly religious man telling the teenage Mary, “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too” (Luke 2:34-35). Whoa. That’s a pretty heavy gothic trip for a young girl.
Holidays don’t suspend dark clouds. Not even Christmas can cancel out the tragedies and hardships of everyday life. Car accidents. Family disputes. Medical emergencies. Bad news slithers on despite the holidays.
Christianity does not pretend that hardships will not occur. All around the globe, believers face horrible circumstances and perilous persecution. “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,” said Jesus, “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10).
Faith, hope, and love are the pivotal factors that sustain and strengthen in the darkest of seasons. Most importantly, we depend upon God’s abiding presence. “I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love,” wrote St. Paul. “Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow — not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love” (Romans 8:38, NLT).
Go ahead, sing “The 12 Days of Christmas” with gusto. Feel free to chuckle about the oddly-placed lobster and octopus and penguins and Spiderman in the nativity scene. But don’t dismiss the snake in the cave as a joke. At Christmas, the historic Book of Common Prayer intones: “Almighty God, you have poured upon us the new light of your incarnate Word: Grant that this light, enkindled in our hearts, may shine forth in our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord….”
Even though a snake may slither through the manger, Christmas remains the only light sparked in a cave that can illuminate the human soul and bring peace in the midst of chaos.
Steve Beard is the editor of Good News.
by Steve | Dec 23, 2019 | In the News, Perspective E-Newsletter
By Steve Beard –
For more than 150 years, The Salvation Army has been the most consistent, creative, and trustworthy symbol for a warm hearted faith and a generous helping hand for those in need. With a legacy of rushing into where the need is greatest, it has earned a coveted reputation for integrity and compassion without prejudice or discrimination as both a Christian church and an excellent charity.
Although it is most well-known for its Red Kettle campaign at Christmas, the Wesleyan-oriented ministry works year-round to alleviate human suffering and offer hope.
Having served survivors of every major national disaster since 1900, its industriousness is a powerful testimony for its purpose and passion. The Salvation Army annually helps more than 20 million Americans fight poverty, addiction, and economic difficulties through a variety of outreaches. Through emergency relief in disaster situations, rehab work with those battling drug and alcohol abuse, providing food for the hungry, and clothing and shelter for people in need, The Salvation Army operates from 7,600 centers around the United States. It is simply indispensable.
The Salvation Army was launched in Victorian London by William and Catherine Booth, a powerhouse Christian couple who were overwhelmed and horrified by the conditions of the poorest of the poor – the “submerged tenth” – who had virtually no escape from the clutches of misery and poverty. Booth’s spirited response was, “Go for souls and go for the worst!”
He was passionate about reaching the people the established church had overlooked or ignored. “While women weep, as they do now, I’ll fight,” Booth proclaimed. “While little children go hungry, I’ll fight; while men go to prison, in and out, in and out, as they do now, I’ll fight – while there is a drunkard left, while there is a poor lost girl upon the streets, where there remains one dark soul without the light of God – I’ll fight! I’ll fight to the very end!”
Today, The Salvation Army – complete with its iconic uniforms and brass bands – operates in 131 nations of the world. The first Salvationist preacher George Scott Railton and a troop of “Hallelujah lassies,” as they were called in those days, arrived in New York in 1880. “Salvationists marched up the avenues and down the boulevards – even raiding brothels, saloons, and dance halls – in pursuit of lost souls. Their ‘Cathedral of the Open Air,’ a figurative canopy spread over the city, turned all of New York into sanctified ground,” writes Diane Winston in Red-Hot & Righteous: The Urban Religion of The Salvation Army (Harvard).
Winston reports that the early Salvationists “sent out ice carts in summer, coal wagons in winter, and salvage crews all year round. They established soup kitchens, rescue homes, employment bureaus, hospitals, shelters, and thrift shops.” Their work was tireless consequential.
The Salvation Army crowd-gathering techniques were as effective as their innovative social services for the down-and-outers. “In the early days their brass instruments, jingling tambourines, and resonant bass drums clamored over the din of horse-drawn carriages and noisy peddlers,” reports Winston. “Their testimonies, shouted from street corners, captured the curious and noisy peddlers. Their renditions of popular tunes – ‘Swanee River’ or ‘Tramp, Tramp, Tramp’ rewritten as hymns – roused critics to decry such blasphemous strategems.”
The trailblazing methods – loud music, dancing, posters resembling P. T. Barnum’s advertisements – were not welcomed by respectable religious observers, nor by those outside the fold who were annoyed by their message about a transformed life. The Salvationists were attacked in print and sometimes physically assaulted for their public preaching and worship services.
“A more motely, vice-smitten, pestilence-breeding, congregation could seldom be found in a house of worship,” wrote one reporter from the New York Herald. “There were Negroes, dancing girls, prostitutes, and station house tramps sandwiched between well-dressed visitors who had sauntered in out of curiosity. The floors were as clean as a deck of a man-of-war, but in a few minutes they were frescoed with tobacco juice, the stench became overpowering, and a yellow-fever pest-house could not have been less attractive.”
Throughout its colorful history, the public mockery and vicious assaults were never been able to dim the bright light projected from The Salvation Army. “Whether parading in the streets, singing in the saloons, or appearing on the city’s stages, the Army used the venues and forms of the contemporary culture to promote an alternate, even subversive message,” writes Winston. Booth never wanted to surrender one square inch of life or culture to his spiritual enemy. “Why should the devil have all the dancing?” he asked. “You must sing good tunes … I don’t care much whether you call it secular or sacred. I rather enjoy robbing the devil of his choicest tunes, and, after his subjects themselves, music is about the best commodity he possesses,” he concluded. “It is like taking the enemy’s guns and turning them against him.”
It’s a provocative countercultural message – similar to the Red Kettle in front of a department store at Christmas time. Yes, enjoy Christmas, Booth might say, but please don’t forget the less fortunate. The kettle was first utilized in San Francisco in 1891 when Joseph McFee wanted to raise funds for a free Christmas dinner for the poor. He borrowed a large crab pot and hung it from a tripod on a busy street. With a sign that read, “Fill the Pot for the Poor – Free Dinner on Christmas Day,” he was able to collect enough spare change to feed more than 1,000 hungry men, women, and children.
That’s the creative spirit and spiritual legacy of The Salvation Army.
Steve Beard is the editor of Good News. This editorial first appeared in 2019.
by Steve | Dec 20, 2019 | In the News, Perspective E-Newsletter
Christmas Carolers in front of the Bay Center, downtown Victoria. Photo by James Abbott.
By Tom Lambrecht –
One of the popular activities during the Christmas season is to sing Christmas carols. As a musician myself, I find that music moves me in a deeper way than many other forms of expression.
When it comes to Christmas carols, however, sometimes the familiarity of the songs allows us to gloss over the impact of the words they contain. We sing by rote through the music and miss the impact of the message. Here are a few significant lyrics that have the potential to take us deeper into the Christmas event.
“Now ye hear of endless bliss; Jesus Christ was born for this! / He hath opened heaven’s door, And man is blessed evermore. / Now ye need not fear the grave; Jesus Christ was born to save! / Calls you one and calls you all, To gain His everlasting hall.”
(“Good Christian Men, Rejoice”)
The point of Christmas was not to create a beautiful tableau that could be reproduced year after year in the Sunday school program. No, Jesus came to save us, to deliver us from the fear of death, to “fit us for heaven to live with [him] there” (“Away in a Manger”). Have you responded to his “call” on your life?
“Come, Desire of Nations, come, Fix in us Thy humble home. / Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; Hail th’Incarnate Deity, / Pleased as man with men to dwell; Jesus, our Immanuel!”
(“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”)
God himself came to earth “veiled in flesh.” He lived with us in human form. More importantly, though, he wants to live in us, to fix his home in our souls. Have we opened our lives to his indwelling presence?
“No more let sins and sorrows grow, Nor thorns infest the ground. / He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is found.”
(“Joy to the World”)
In Genesis 3 we read about the curse upon humanity and the earth itself because of sin: “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return” (Genesis 3:18-19).
Nearly every day we experience the results of the curse of sin. Our lives and world are broken. But God sent Jesus into the world to roll back the curse, wherever it manifests itself. Every act of healing, every moment of mercy and understanding, every sin or offense forgiven is a rolling back of the curse. Someday, we will rise from the dead in the ultimate victory over the curse of death. Finally, we look forward to the New Heaven and the New Earth, where “no longer will there be any curse” (Revelation 22:3).
“How silently, how silently The wondrous gift is given! / So God imparts to human hearts The blessings of His heaven. / No ear may hear His coming, But in this world of sin, /Where meek souls will receive Him, still The dear Christ enters in. / O holy Child of Bethlehem, Descend to us, we pray; Cast out our sin and enter in, Be born in us today…O come to us, abide with us, Our Lord Immanuel.”
(“O Little Town of Bethlehem”)
The essential meaning and significance of Christmas is that Jesus came into the world for you and for me. He came for each individual who would ever be born. Until his birth is personal for us, it has not achieved its purpose. The songwriters plead with us to open our heart and soul meekly, submissively to Jesus, so that he may “cast out our sin” and live within us, now and for eternity.
“There’s a tumult of joy O’er the wonderful birth, For the Virgin’s sweet Boy is the Lord of the earth. / Ay! The star rains its fire while the beautiful sing, For the manger of Bethlehem cradles a King! / In the light of that star Lie the ages impearled; And that song from afar Has swept over the world. / Every hearth is aflame, and the beautiful sing In the homes of the nations that Jesus is King!”
(“There’s a Song in the Air”)
The supreme contradiction of Christmas is that this weak, vulnerable newborn is in fact “the Lord of the earth.” Hidden in the mystery of Christmas is the matchless power of God. It is a power so great that, through the life of this one baby, God transformed all of human history. We even date our calendars according to the year of his birth! Jesus is a world transformer. He is ruler of all the nations - or he will be one day, when the world is set right again.
“What child is this, who, laid to rest on Mary’s lap, is sleeping?” / “Shepherds why this jubilee? Why these songs of happy cheer? / What great brightness did you see? What glad tidings did you hear?”
(“Angels We Have Heard on High”)
Christmas carols love to use questions to draw us in. We need to answer the questions for ourselves. It is the same question that Jesus asked his disciples: “Who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15). Who is this child to us? How is our life different because we know him?
May you experience the joy and deep peace of Christ living in you this Christmas. May his blessings flow in ways that overcome sin’s curse in your life in the year to come. And may we together look forward to all that God has in store for us in heaven and on the new earth!
Thomas Lambrecht is a United Methodist clergyperson and the vice president of Good News.
