My Reaction to Matthew Shepherd’s Service Today
I’d taken Friday off for some recuperation. I wound up watching the Service for Matthew Shepherd today from that National Cathedral. I was particularly struck in two ways. If you haven’t watched it, please do.
The first was a reminder of the hateful things said by U.S. House Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C. of course). During the floor debate over the Matthew Shepherd John Byrd Hate Crimes Act, Foxx took to the floor, and with Matthew’s mother in the gallery stated that Matthew’s death was, “a hoax.” Yes…that’s a quote. So I called her Boone and Washington Offices, explained what I was watching and how ashamed it made me to be a son of North Carolina to know what a hateful person represented the State in the U.S. House, and suggested they watch it too. I’m betting they don’t.
The second was the participation by the Washington-Maryland area Bishop of the United Methodist Church, LaTrelle Easterling. It bothered me because she recently ruled against ordination of two otherwise-qualified candidates because of their sexual ordination. (To give her some credit, she did write that she thought the Book of Discipline is in error.) Bishop Robinson’s eloquent statement about Matthew loving his church, the Episcopal Church, and it loving him back, reminded me that 20 years ago, Matthew was welcome in the Episcopal Church, but would not be welcome today, 20 years later, in the Methodist Church. So, as I’m want to do, I am posting a letter to her:
Dear Bishop Easterling:
This morning I watched the service for Matthew Shepherd from the National Cathedral in Washington. It was a beautiful and moving service, and I noticed you participated in that service.
I choked and teared up many times during that service and found it a poignant moment when Bishop Gene Robinson said, “Matt was luckier than most gay men in 1998. He had parents and a brother who loved him. He loved his Church, the Episcopal Church, and they loved him back.” It was especially poignant for me as a cradle Methodist because some years back my local Church in Tampa, FL adopted, by vote of the Church Council, a statement of welcome which read, “We affirm that worship and membership at Palma Ceia United Methodist Church is open to all who seek to know Christ and share His love, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious affiliation or economic status, and we welcome and respect all members of our community without regard to these characteristics.” The current pastor, shortly after his appointment, made a unilateral decision to remove the statement from all places where it appeared. A complaint to the Bishop resulted in acknowledgement that the statement did not violate the Order, as Bruce Toms claimed, and that he didn’t have the authority to unilaterally overrule an action by the Church Council, yet Bishop Carter allowed the action to stand. So, I was especially saddened when Bishop Robinson’s statement reminded me that 20 years after Matthew’s death, my own UMC still holds no welcome for people like him nor me.
I found it disingenuous for you to participate in such a celebration after your recent ruling rejecting two otherwise qualified candidates for ordination in your Conference because of their sexual orientation. (Enforcing an un-Christian rule just because it’s a rule is about the worst reason to enforce a rule. As William Penn wrote, “to delay justice is to deny justice.”)
I am sad today…I’m sad with the memory of Matthew. I’m sad for his family, I’m sad that my Church clings to hate and exclusion and uses the Book of Discipline as a bludgeon against people who you don’t welcome, and I’m sad you didn’t have the self-awareness to recognize how hurtful and inappropriate you participation today is given your adherence to the exclusionary policies towards the LGBTQ people in your own denomination.
As a great old hymn of the church says, “the saint’s their watch are keeping, their cry goes up, how long?” That’s a good question. How long will the United Methodist Church continue to exclude people?
