Methodist leaders hear about gay minister

HOUSTON - A lesbian Methodist minister should retain her ordained status because defrocking her would amount to discrimination, and would fly in the face of the inclusiveness that the church preaches, representatives of a Pennsylvania minister argued Thursday before the church's Judicial Council.

The nine-member council - seven of whom attended a hearing at First United Methodist Church in Houston - began deliberating the case of Irene "Beth" Stroud with plans to rule on Monday. The Judicial Council is the highest court within the United Methodist Church, the nation's third-largest denomination.

Stroud, 35, was found by a church panel in December to have violated the denomination's ban on "self-avowed, practicing homosexual" clergy. The decision was later overturned and then appealed to the Judicial Council.

Alan Symonette, representing Stroud, said the church is asking gays and lesbians to deny their sexuality in order to serve as ordained ministers. "We contend this is discrimination based on status," he said. "This United Methodist Church is an inclusive church. Beth Stroud has been called into the ministry."

But the Rev. Thomas Hall, acting as prosecutor, said if the council decides in Stroud's favor it will cause confusion throughout the denomination.

"What is at stake in this appeal is the ability of the church to uphold its own laws," Hall said. "If we lose, everybody loses."

Stroud, who became an associate pastor at Pennsylvania's First United Methodist Church of Germantown in 1999, said she never revealed her sexual orientation in documents related to her ordination, but didn't keep it a secret.

Stroud said she decided to come out in 2003 because she felt she was being held back in her faith by not sharing the complete truth about her life. A complaint was filed against her last year.

"This is a very difficult situation to be in because there are important points being made by both sides," said Richard Heitzenrater, who also argued for the church. "It is part of the pains of growing into the 21st century, but what our side has been trying to say is that there are certain processes and procedures and guidelines."

As Symonette argued Stroud's case before the council, Stroud sat next to her partner in the front row of a congregation hall. Dozens of supporters from a local Methodist church sat behind Stroud. Many wore brightly-colored rainbow stoles or collars.

"No one has ever questioned my effectiveness as a minister, my gifts for service," she said. "So clearly my sexual orientation doesn't affect my effectiveness as a minister. So to me, that makes it clear that the rules about homosexuality in the ordained ministry are not about effectiveness in ministry, they are about something else."

Since her ordination was revoked, Stroud said she has felt profound sadness and loss.

"But at the same time, I am so grateful to be out of the closet," she said. "That's something that I wouldn't give up for any price."

Hall said the impact "will be phenomenal" if the appellate court's ruling is upheld. "We will have set in motion a very dangerous precedent," he said.

Stroud, who has declined reinstatement of her credentials until the council rules, continues working at the Germantown church.

"No one has ever questioned my effectiveness as a minister, my gifts for service," she said. "So clearly my sexual orientation doesn't affect my effectiveness as a minister. So to me, that makes it clear that the rules about homosexuality in the ordained ministry are not about effectiveness in ministry, they are about something else."

Yes dear it is about something else. And as a minister of God’s word you should be well aware.

It is obedience to God’s Word.

""So clearly my sexual orientation doesn't affect my effectiveness as a minister. So to me, that makes it clear that the rules about homosexuality in the ordained ministry are not about effectiveness in ministry, they are about something else." Revisionist spin! I suspect that its not her "orientation" which is the problem but rather that she is engaged in a) a type of sexual practice condemned quite clearly by the Bible and 2) she is engaged in a sexual relationship outside of marriage. Her ministry is inherently flawed since by her life she is not an icon of Christ but rather of sin. ""But at the same time, I am so grateful to be out of the closet," she said. "That's something that I wouldn't give up for any price."

No, I suspect not, since it would seem this woman's "orientation" is towards herself, not God. No picking up her cross and following Him for her! It has always struck me as strange how so many Western Christians believe that the "here and now", experiencing the personal fulfillment of being "of the world" rather than working, by God's grace, on our theosis while being merely "in" the world, is the better choice. A couple of days ago I posted a comment by +John Chrysostomos about how the devil works. It bears repeating: "The whole essence and effort of the devil is to separate and remove our attention from God and entice it toward worldly concerns and pleasures. He works interiorly, in the heart, suggesting good works and resolutions and reasonable, or rather unreasonable, thoughts. We must not pay the slightest attention to these things. The spiritual combat consists in keeping the mind fixed on God, in not entertaining or approving impure thoughts, and in not paying any attention to the phantasms which the detestable, diabolic picture maker stirs up in our imagination."

One of the saddest aspects of all of this, and perhaps the most instructive, is our own reaction to this woman's situation. The devil has successfully tempted her into sinful practices, beguiled others to proclaim her sinfulness as no sinfulness at all but indeed something holy enough to qualify her for a pastoral position at the head of a community of believers while at the same time so inflaming others against her that rather than simply dismiss her after a couple of admonitions, or themselves walking away if they find that this community has apostatized, they descend into strife and turmoil.

Its a narrow path we are called to walk.

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