As many of you are aware, I have been gone most of this week to serve on the "Trial Court (the jury) for the church clergy trial of Rev. Amy DeLong. Church trials for clergy are not a common occurance in the United Methodist Church. This is the first one I have known in my 35 plus years of active ordained United Methodist Mnistry. And I hope it is the last.
CLICK HERE to read the trial court decision.
Church trials are difficult, emotionally draining and stressful for everyone involved and every one else connected with and a part of the church. We all have been touched by this and will need to personally evaluate the outcomes, clarify our views, our beliefs and our feelings about what took place and the final results.
I will not go into the charges, the proceedings and the detailed outcome of the trial here. There are tons of website links with all the details. Simply GOOGLE the name Rev. Amy DeLong for more information.
I have respondeded to several forum threads already on the general church website at www.UMC.org. Click the icon link related to the Rev. Amy Delong trial to learm more and read my postings. What I want to do is share some "insider" perspective with you.
Being on a trial court (jury) puts one in the position of being a judge of one's colleague in ministry. Everyone involved in the trial proceedings were United Methodist Clergy, excepting the attorneys advising the sides. Here I was, in 11 total hours of deliberations with the task of assessing, deciding and measuring out a penalty for a fellow clergy. What I want you to know is just like in our church setting in Lake Mills, I approached this task with prayer, scripture study, and deep humility.
Often times,a person will read a verdict and if it not what a person wanted to hear, they say "those jurors are heartless and power hungry people who want to ruin a person's life." Or, "Those jurors were weak and they should have really made that guilty party hurt more."
Not one of the 13 jurors and 2 alternates asked to be there. Yet we all took our work seriously, with great prayer and trusted that God would guide us to a decision that would be fair and just and seek always to build up Amy, renew the church and provide a way for growth and health for all involved. For me, our goal was not punishment but restoration and renewal.
Yet inspite of our hopes and prayers we understood that the final outcome of our verdict and the consequences we placed on Amy would be totally up to her AND the people we invited and brought into the collaborative process with her. We knew what we had to do and we understood that the media may spin it one way and those who disagreed with us would spin it some other way. But when you know what you have to do is the way God is leading you to go you must keeping moving in that direction no matter what the costs or the consequences. Click here to go to our church website for a PDF file to read the exact jury decision for Rev. Amy.
For me, I sought and will seek always as a Christian and as your pastor to follow the higher law spelled out by Christ to love God always and love my neighbor. I can do no less and will always be guided by the law of love.
I thank all of the Lake Mills congregation who prayed for me and emailed me wishing me well these past several days. And I want to say how proud I am to have been able so share with my fellow colleagues our congregation's open and loving inclusive statement for our shared ministry in Lake Mills. My colleagues knew where I stood and I hope I represented our church well.
Inclusive statement: We, the Lake Mills United Methodist Church, affirm that all people are part of the fabric of God's creation. We believe the fabric of God's creation is weakened when anyone is excluded and complete only when everyone is included. Therefore, we welcome to our faith community all people without regard to age, race, gender, sexual orientation, economic status or human condition.
Blessings
Rev. Bill McBride
Want to talk more? Call me at 262-370-6101
Thanks, Bill, this was a helpful perspective on how we make decisions in difficult situations. Blessings on you and the inclusive congregation there.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Bill, for this powerful and caring reflection. Thank you for the gift of heart and opportunity of a new day for the United Methodist Church that you and the others on the trial offered in your decision.
ReplyDeleteBut what about the further division the outcome has caused in other churches who disagree with the outcome. This did not bring healing in many churches but has caused more problems for clergy and the United Methodist Churches. You have judged and rejected those people who have gifts and graces for ministry because of their Biblical views. You have decided to exclude their views and their desire to uphold both the Discipline and Biblical holiness. Take a listen as to how be-littling and condescending your video is to those who hold these views which you call legalistic and might as well have said "small-minded."
ReplyDeleteYou would not have been so gracious to someone who was having an affair with a secretary or another church member. What about a pastor who refused to baptize babies? Would the trial court allow that to continue in our UMC, even though it is against our teaching at United Methodists? You need to think about your answers.
You and the others were wrong in your decision. You all caused more division, in the US and abroad.