Apocalyptic Hope
CNV News: August 2002--- Woodland Park United Methodist Church
Seattle , Washington
Remember when I sent the following UMC news item
out? It was in the CNV Nov-Dec 2001 Newsletter. Now a subscriber
sent me a follow-up to this news item. Read it following this
item previously sent out.
UMC "SUPREME COURT" DECIDES MORALITY; NOT GOD'S WORD.
(Excerpts from UMC News Service-10/31/01)
Following the latest United Methodist Judicial Council decisions
regarding gay clergy, a few things have become clearer to Bishop
Elias Galvan, leader of the denomination's Seattle Area.
First, statements made by two pastors regarding their sexual
orientation are sufficient to initiate a review process of their
ministerial standing and relationship to the Pacific Northwest
Annual Conference, Galvan told United Methodist News Service on
Oct. 30.
The Seattle Area comprises the annual conference.Second, the
bishop said it's clear that he cannot deny the two pastors
ministerial appointments. "Therefore, they will be appointed
immediately, as soon as possible," he said.
Meeting Oct. 24-26 in Nashville, Tenn., the Judicial Council
clarified for Galvan's conference the relationship between two
passages of the denomination's Book of Discipline. The Pacific
Northwest members had asked the church's supreme court for a
declaratory decision on what they viewed as conflicting rules:
One states that "self-avowed practicing homosexuals"
should not be ordained or appointed to serve in the church; the
other requires that all clergy members in good standing receive
appointments. The two pastors, the Rev. Karen Dammann and the
Rev. Mark Edward Williams, were deemed in good standing.
In a lengthy and complex decision, the nine-member court ruled
that the passages are not contradictory. Neither Williams nor
Dammann was mentioned by name in the decision.
Williams is being reappointed pastor of his congregation,
Woodland Park United Methodist Church in Seattle, Galvan said.
Williams, who had served as pastor, was assigned to a different
staff position at the church following his announcement at the
Pacific Northwest Conference's annual gathering last June that he
is a practicing gay man. The Rev. Bob Hoshibata, Seattle District
superintendent, was named interim pastor.
Negotiations are under way with Dammann for an appointment,
Galvan said.
Dammann had led a Seattle-area church in 1999 before going on
family leave. In a Feb. 14 letter to the bishop, she asked to be
taken off family leave and given an appointment with a local
congregation. She also told the bishop that she was in a
covenanted same-gender relationship. Galvan responded that he
didn't see how he could give her an appointment without violating
the Book of Discipline, but that her case would be handled
through the appropriate process. During the annual conference
clergy session in June, she was taken off family leave, effective
July 1, and Galvan did not give her an appointment.
A review takes time, and the Book of Discipline specifies a
process designed to protect the rights of the person involved,
Galvan said. "We're dealing with the lives of persons and
their careers. We want to be careful and responsible and follow
the Book of Discipline and be fair."
[Editor] Have you read the word, "BIBLE", in this news
report? Have you read the word, GOD, or JESUS CHRIST
You DO read words like "SUPREME COURT", "BOOK OF
DISIPLINE", and "JUDICIAL COUNCIL", though
FOLKS, THIS is a MAN MADE RELIGION. It doesn't have ANYTHING to
do with JESUS CHRIST. I say Jesus Christ rather than God because
salvation cannot be found in GOD. God DOES save people, but ONLY
through the PERSON and WORK of HIS SON JESUS CHRIST.
There is NO SALVATION to be found IN GOD. There is NO NAME UNDER
HEAVEN by which man can be saved but the Name of JESUS CHRIST.
(Acts 4:12)
Salvation cannot be found in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Salvation cannot be found ANYWHERE but in the PERSON & WORK
of the LORD JESUS CHRIST.
Notice that I include Jesus' FULL Name here. His title; LORD; His
earthly first Name; JESUS; and His last name identifying WHO He
is. The CHRIST/MESSIAH/SAVIOUR.
It's a SHAME that MOST so-called Christians call Him Lord and
treat Him as Santa Clause. They want him only for what THEY can
get out of Him. They want HIM to serve THEM.
They, and especially the United Methodist Church, I say this
because this is a UMC news article; there are MANY other
denominations like such. The UMC has not Jesus as Lord. THEIR
Lord, for THEIR objects of obedience are the RULE BOOKS of the
UMC Conference, (Supreme Court-Book of Discipline; Judicial
Council, etc) much like the Roman Catholic Church with their
Traditions; Infallible utterances of the Pope, etc.
You MUST NOT remain in a church that has its headquarters/ruling
body in the depths of HELL
THE UMC as a WHOLE is WHOLLY heading to HELL via a ONE-WAY
ticket.
If you remain IN THERE, I must wash my hand of you. YOUR BLOOD
will NOT be on MY HANDS. I am innocent of the blood of these
stiff-necked people. (Eze 3:18-21)
***************************************************
HOMO'S WIN AGAIN IN UNITED METHODIST CHURCH. (Editor's heading)
The waiting is over for the Rev. Karen Dammann -- and the news is
good.
For more than a year, Dammann, a lesbian minister and former
pastor of Woodland Park United Methodist Church, has stood aside
while others in the United Methodist Church decided her future.
That changed Wednesday when an investigative committee of the
church's Pacific Northwest Conference decided to dismiss a
complaint that Dammann disobeyed church law barring
"self-avowed, practicing homosexuals" from being
ordained or serving as pastors.
Dammann, who lives with her partner, Meredith Savage, and their
4-year-old son, Beckett, said she's happy with the decision.
She said she hasn't decided whether she will return to Seattle or
stay in Massachusetts, where she fills in preaching for a United
Church of Christ congregation.
The United Methodist Church forbids openly practicing homosexuals
to be pastors. But pastors cannot be removed without due process,
according to the Methodist Book of Discipline.( Seattle Post
Inteligencer- http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/-7/27/02)
*********************************************************************
WOODLAND PARK SYNAGOGUE OF SATAN (Editors heading)
Gay Methodist pastor will keep pulpit, church panel rules
The Seattle United Methodist pastor who last year became the
faith's only openly gay ordained minister to serve a congregation
will not face a church trial for his homosexuality and will
remain in the pulpit.
The Rev. Mark Edward Williams, who announced his homosexuality at
a regional church conference, faced a formal complaint that had
the potential to strip him of his ordination.
But the United Methodist version of a grand jury, called an
investigating committee, yesterday determined there was
insufficient evidence to file formal charges and proceed to
trial.
For Williams, 32, the decision marks the end of a yearlong ordeal
that threatened his future as a pastor.
"I'm very excited, very relieved," Williams said.
"I'm thrilled with the decision. ... I'm very happy with to
be able to continue in ministry."
For the 160-member congregation of Woodland Park United Methodist
Church, which supported Williams throughout, the decision also
came as a relief.
"It has been a long year for this congregation -- but during
that time we never wavered in our support for Pastor Mark,"
said Maggie Brown, chairwoman of Woodland Park's Staff-Parish
Relations Committee.
The investigating committee's decision cannot be appealed;
yesterday's decision is final.
The United Methodist Church, the nation's third-largest
denomination with 8.4 million U.S. members, has struggled
publicly with the issue of homosexuality since 1972, when the
General Conference declared homosexuals "persons of sacred
worth" but found homosexuality "incompatible with
Christian teaching."
The church prohibits "self-avowed practicing
homosexuals" from being ordained or appointed as pastors.
Two years ago, the national United Methodist Church debated, then
retained, the denomination's prohibition.
In essence, the investigating committee ruled yesterday that
simply admitting to being homosexual is not enough to remove a
minister from the pulpit without evidence that the clergy person
is sexually active with another person of the same sex.
"The complaint alleged that a statement Reverend Williams
read into the record of the Pacific Northwest Annual Conference
on June 15, 2001, constituted a 'statement of homosexual
practice' incompatible with the United Methodist Book of
Discipline's standards for clergy," the committee said in a
released statement.
The committee did not find "reasonable cause" in that
statement alone to forward the matter to a church trial.
Williams would not discuss specific questions asked of him by the
investigating committee, but he said, "I was able to make
clear that my statement at (the) annual conference was not an
invitation to discuss my sexual behavior in any specifics."
To those who have championed the full inclusion of gays and
lesbians in the United Methodist Church, yesterday's decision was
a step forward.
The Rev. Paul Beeman, a spokesman for the Reconciling Ministries
Network in Washington state, said the decision indicates that
admissions of specific sexual acts would have to be made in order
for a homosexual to be removed.
"This gives tremendous encouragement to lesbians, gays,
bisexuals, transsexuals in the ministry who realize that if they
won't testify against themselves, it will be very hard to make
charges against them stick," Beeman said.
Williams, who stepped into the public spotlight with last year's
announcement, was not reappointed as pastor of Woodland Park,
although he continued to preach under the supervision of another
minister. Last October, he was reinstated as pastor pending
resolution of the complaint against him.
Yesterday, he said he's happy to be able to continue in his
calling as a parish pastor.
At the same time, he said the church has a "long ways to
go" in fully accepting gay and lesbian pastors.
"While my story was a 'happy ending,' there are still clergy
who live within the closet," Williams said. "I hope my
success is the first step toward full acceptance within the
United Methodist Church."(Seattle Post Inteligencer-
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/-5/31/2002)
**********************************************
[Editor] If you are waiting for God to tell to leave this
denomination you will be there till you die. God will not speak
to you personally, as He sends His ministers to speak, THUS SAITH
THE LORD. Can "I" say this? Well, I can repeat what
Jesus Christ the Son of God says in the Bible. I have this
AUTHORITY you know. (John 20:21)
What does the Lord say in this case. How 'bout-2 Cor 6:14-18.
Kinda reminds me of a little humorous story that goes like this.
One upon a time there was a great flood. The river had flooded
much land, and one man was in the window of the second floor of
his house and he asked the Lord to save him from drowning, as the
water was rising higher and higher. He had faith that the Lord
would work to save him. He was waiting for THE LORD to save him,
when along came two men in a boat. "Climb in", they
said, the river is still rising and you must get out while you
can" "You'll go on, the Lord will save me", he
replied
A short time later the man was perched on his rooftop and two men
in a helicopter came by and lowered a basket to the man.
"Climb in" they said. "the river is still rising
and you must get out while you can". "You'll go on, the
Lord will save me", he replied
A short time later the man drowned. When he got to heaven, he
asked the Lord, "why didn't you save me"? " I had
so much faith in you".
The Lord answered, "I sent two men in a boat and a
helicopter". He replied
"What more did you want"?
You UMC members. What more do YOU want?
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