Thursday, May 08, 2008

Methodists Deny Baptismal Promises


The General Conference of the United Methodist Church has chosen not to include all of the Baptized in its most recent decision this week. The Episcopal Church is not alone in its struggle to include all of the Baptized and to allow the fulfillment of those promises.

Here is a video clip of a portion of the General Conference, held every four years, that speaks to the grief and sadness of members of this church, to the exclusion of all the Baptized in its ministry. The "clip" is about 20 minutes long but worth every second. We are not alone in this struggle to include all the Baptized in the complete ministry of the Church.

I wish to acknowledge my source for the video as being that of The Rev Elizabeth Kaeton of "Telling Secrets", her blog that originated at our last Episcopal Church USA convention in 2006 to journal and report the happenings there in Cleveland, Ohio.

Catherine

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Their demonstration, especially the silent portions, was very moving, emotionally. The Episcopal Church and the progressive branch of the Lutheran church were out in front of this movement, but the Presbyterians and Methodists are struggling with it, too. Interesting to see the cultural differences between Episcees and Methodists -- we use a lot of words, parse them carefully, trying hard to dance around what we really need to say. The Methodists state things very directly, and back it up with moving symbolism and silence.

It's an interesting time to be both Christian and lesbian.
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MH

Anonymous said...

Catherine -- Thanks for including me on your distribution list. I watched the video -- powerful stuff.

Carolyn A