On October 16, our Lay Sunday speaker, long-time Soapstone UMC member Cathy Knowles spoke from her heart about five theological issues that have caused her to wrestle with God and faith as well as her present thoughts on each topic: 1) the tension between scriptural authority and the interpretive challenges of what scholars refer to as “historical distance”; 2) A legacy of slavery and racism which some have justified by scripture; 3) a diminished role for women in the church, more broadly, which some have also grounded in scripture ; 4) the issue of bodily autonomy for women. “As Christians, how will we decide to care for the least of these our children – before and after birth – and their parents? What do we Christians think the rights of women should be?” she asked.; 5) oppression throughout history of people who identify as LGBTQ+, where scripture has been used as a basis for harm.
She concluded, saying: “These are some of the issues I wrestle with as a Christian living in today’s world. I know as I face you today that there are many different opinions on these same issues within this congregation. I encourage you to wrestle with these issues yourself. Look honestly and with an open mind at opinions different from your own. Engage in respectful and healthy debate. Pray that the spirit of the Living God will guide us all, particularly our leaders.”
Many of the 300 people who heard the message either live or online immediately rose to the challenge to discuss these topics. On Thursday, October 20, I chose to remove the service from our YouTube channel for pastoral and practical reasons.
By Thursday, members of the staff and I had been contacted by dozens of people (meetings, texts, calls, drop-ins, Facebook, chance encounters, etc.) who wanted to discuss the message. Many of our church family found the message honest, brave and healing. Others struggled with the conclusions expressed or wondered how they fit with official UMC doctrine. (Some could hold both of these positions at once). Sometimes, folks agreed with a particular conclusion, but perhaps not with the scriptural rationale that led to it. Still others expressed concern with particular oratory choices. Others said they would have felt more comfortable if the talk had been presented as a “Testimony” and not a “Sermon” as it did not reference the Genesis text that preceded it. There was a lot to discuss.
I chose to remove the video for two main reasons:
1. Too many of the conversations put me into triangulating posture of siding with one church member over another or acting as an intermediary or proxy of someone who was not present to speak for herself. I am Cathy’s pastor as well as the pastor of most (but not all) of the others who came to me. Debating an argument made by a published author or trained theologian is one thing, but debating a member’s personal testimony with another church member is not a loving pastoral move.
2. The second reason is more practical. The talk opened up discussion on five huge divisive issues at once, often with great anger and animosity targeted at me, personally. Also, I was being asked to engage deeply with these topics on a daily basis. For the very practical reason of the demands of leading a busy, complex church, I am not able to engage in all of these topics daily and “on demand” and still have the time and emotional stamina to conduct other necessary duties and responsibilities. I am open to discussing controversial topics, but in a time and format where covenant and boundaries can be established and maintained.
As a colleague asked me, “Did you find the talk opened up cracks in your congregation you didn’t know existed?” The answer is, “No.” I’m aware that our community holds different views on many topics of great importance. The fact that we chose to worship together anyway is one of the things I love about Soapstone UMC. Laity Sunday has prompted me to think about how our community can best engage in these topics in ways that draw us closer and build up God’s Kingdom.
Grace and Peace,