Unsettling News
/by Rev. Eric Folkerth
As a society, we do not seem to be able to have complicated conversations about complicated issues. Maybe this has always been so, but this seems especially the case right now as our nation ever-more drifts toward stark, binary choices in our politics and life.
This week, our society and our Church has been rocked by two bits of news:
An announcement of the formation of the “Global Methodist Church.”
A “leaked” draft of an alleged Supreme Court decision that would fundamentally change abortion law in this country.
It would be tempting to jump into the weeds of both issues in my column to you today. But, instead, I invite you —members and friends of Kessler Park— to step back and see the underlying challenge that unites both these bits of news:
Our society is *not* good with nuance, ambiguity, and complexity.
The "Global Methodist Church” has been formed by current and former conservative United Methodists who claim to be unhappy with the direction our denomination is moving with respect to LGBTQ inclusion. Separately, yet connected, they are frustrated with what they believe to be doctrinal looseness.
With respect to abortion, we cannot help but know that for decades now activists have sought to overturn current law and declare abortion illegal.
What undergirds both fights is a failure to see moral complexity and nuance, and a world that does not simply rest on “binary” choices.
Affirming LGBTQ rights means understanding human sexual preference/identity in a non-binary way.
Affirming a woman’s right to choose means understanding as our United Methodist policy states:
“Governmental laws and regulations do not provide all the guidance required by the informed Christian conscience. Therefore, a decision concerning abortion should be made only after thoughtful and prayerful consideration by the parties involved, with medical, family, pastoral, and other appropriate counsel.”
We Christians must admit —and, I think lament— that far too often the loud voices of fundamentalist and evangelical Christians have undergirded both of these fights: the opposition to LGBTQ rights and the opposition to abortion.
Literal interpretations of scriptures…in some cases…an outright twisting and MIS-reading of scriptures…provide theological “cover” for these political fights.
You should know that, as your pastor, I am committed that Kessler Park remain a place where you don’t have to check your brain at the door. We don’t have to all agree on all these issues and you don’t always have to agree with me. In fact, you might well disagree with me in terms of what I am about to say. But it feels important to say them, based on the news of the week…
For thirty years now, I have been a pastor that supports a woman’s right to choose. I cannot embrace the theologically foolish idea that life begins at conception (a theological idea that undergirds many of these current laws…).
I have counseled with women who have chosen abortion, and I have counseled with women who have chosen to give birth to a child. And I am 100% convinced that these women made the right moral and ethical decisions for their lives. Being “pro choice” doesn’t mean being “pro abortion.” It means listening to, and supporting, women.
However, this position will always be more morally nuanced than the binary statement that “abortion is murder.” (A statement I theologically reject…).
With respect to marriage, I have also now had the great blessing to perform weddings for many opposite-gendered couples and also same-sex couples.
Ministry with the LGBTQ community has allowed me to see the complexity of human love in ways that, I believe, God calls us to affirm and celebrate.
I have learned that human love, God-created and blessed, is far more complex than the binary statement “marriage is between one man and one woman.” (A statement I theologically reject…).
But all of this relies on diving deeply into complex moral issues and not simply relying on trite and easy statements. It also means stopping the foolish pretense that “binary choices” don’t also have moral and ethical consequences and downsides that reverberate for years.
And finally, it relies on this: Truly *listening to* and respecting the personhood of actual human persons…the LGBTQ community and women. It relies on understanding that they are all created in God’s image and, frankly, can make their own moral, ethical, and theological decisions.
As a CIS gendered straight White man, one of my longterm callings has been to learn their wisdom and to follow their lead, to get out of their way, and to respect and admire their courage.
Therefore, please know that today I am especially thinking of, and praying for, all those human beings who are harmed by these developments: Women and the LGBTQ community.
I am sorry that our society, our denominations, continue to make you all a “punching bag” for harmful laws.
I am sorry that the Christian Church so often aids and abets this.
I am sorry that your lives are continually reduced and degraded by false “binary” thinking that is tragically, far too often, theological at its core.
I am committed to standing with you in these dark times. I am committed to creating a Church where none of us have to check our brains at the door.
I am committed to loving and supporting you fully as members of Christ’s Holy Church.
Grace and Peace,
Eric Folkerth