We lost another one

In an article on the Reconciling Ministries Network blog, Michael Overman, a gay man, tells about finding acceptance at Holy Covenant, a welcoming United Methodist Church. He fell in love and was married. He and the church realized he would make a great minister. He began seminary and started the process of being a pastor in the UMC. Though the local round of screenings went well, he was told that at the district level he would have to appear single.

In the weeks since, I’ve prayed and fought and yelled and screamed and cried and talked and sat in silence. I’ve wrestled with what to do. Slowly, the recognition of what was being asked of me came, and I could not foresee myself complying. My family at Holy Covenant taught me how to be a whole person and gave me the strength to start loving myself, truly for the first time. It would be a grievous sin for me to undo all their hard work, and all of my own. My identity and relationship are something God loves and finds joy in and takes pleasure in. I am God’s beloved in the entirety of who I am, and God has not asked or called me to change. I am worthy because my Creator has called me worthy, and to lie or be inauthentic would be to make unclean what God has called clean, to make bad what God has called good. I cannot do that… I will not.

Overman will complete seminary. And join the United Church of Christ.

Walking in another's shoes

I have a post in my brother blog about a young conservative Christian man who pretended to be gay for a year to understand the discrimination we face.

October Events

First Sunday Worship on October 7. The speaker will be Rev. Larry Wik. There will be refreshments and social time at 6:00 pm. and service at 6:30. This will be held at Nardin Park UMC, 29887 W. 11 Mile in Farmington Hills.

The Methodist Federation for Social Action (MFSA) National Board Meeting will be in the Detroit area Thursday through Saturday, October 18-20. Volunteers are needed from Wednesday evening through Sunday morning to take board members to and from the airport and between host churches Waterford Central and Detroit Central. Hosts are needed to house board members and provide breakfast. Volunteers are needed to prepare and serve lunch on Friday and Saturday. If you are able to volunteer for any time that weekend please contact Rich Peacock at rjpeacock@wowway.com.

DRUM Fall Potluck and Program will be on Sunday, October 21 and Nardin Park UMC. The potluck will begin at 5:00 pm. Please bring a dish to pass and your own table service. At 6:00 there will be a worship service and program. Rev. Louise Ott will tell her coming out story and how it affected her ministry. The evening will conclude with fellowship time at 7:00. The program is jointly hosted by Dedicated Reconciling United Methodists and The Church and Society Committee of Nardin Park UMC.

There is no incompatibility

I have an entry in my brother blog that includes a note about a wonderful song of inclusion and also a note about the Western Jurisdiction instructing its local churches to ignore the "incompatibility" clause.

A Taizé Service

Rev. Bob Schoenhals sent me this guide about the First Sunday service this weekend.

The Music of Taizé
Services at Taizé and those in the pattern of Taizé, now held all over the world, are characterized by simple melodic chants, sung repeatedly as a form of meditation. The act of singing the words over and over serves to clear and relax the mind and spirit and to focus one’s attention on the presence of God. These are interspersed with scripture reading(s), silence and prayer.

About the Taizé Community
Today, the Taizé Community, centered in Taizé, France, is made up of over a hundred brothers, Catholics and from various Protestant backgrounds, coming from around thirty nations. By its very existence, the community is a “parable of community” that wants its life to be a sign of reconciliation between divided Christians and between separated peoples.

The brothers of the community live solely by their work. They do not accept donations. In the same way, they do not accept personal inheritances for themselves; the community gives them to the very poor.

Certain brothers live in some of the disadvantaged places in the world, to be witnesses of peace there, alongside people who are suffering. These small groups of brothers, in Asia, Africa and South America, share the living conditions of the people around them. They strive to be a presence of love among the very poor, street children, prisoners, the dying, and those who are wounded by broken relationships, or who have been abandoned.

Over the years, young adults, both men and women, have been coming to Taizé in ever greater numbers; they come from every continent to take part in weekly meetings and the simple services, drawn by their hunger for deeper experiences of the spirit.
Church leaders also come to Taizé. The community has thus welcomed Pope John Paul II, four Archbishops of Canterbury, Orthodox metropolitans, the fourteen Lutheran bishops of Sweden, and countless pastors and pilgrims from all over the world.

First Sunday in September

The First Sunday Service will be on September 2. It will be a Taize Service led by Rev. Bob Schoenhals and George Jonte. Fellowship time with refreshments will begin at 6:00 with the service at 6:30.

First Sunday for July 1

First Sunday @ Nardin Park UMC, 29887 W 11 Mile Rd, Farmington, MI: July 1, 2012 @ 6:30 p.m. will wlecome George Jonte to the pulpit as he brings the message, "The Myth of Holy Conferencing". Using passages from the book of Ezekiel and Second Corinthians, he will weave a message of how the term holy conferencing has evolved and moved away from the original concept of John Wesley.

Eric and Karen Roth will provide music and Doris Hildebrand and members of the Nardin Park Church & Society committee will provide hospitality. Communion will be observed during the service. Join us at 6:00 for fellowship and then the service at 6:30 p.m.

George Jonte is a certified lay speaker in the Detroit Annual Conference and serves two churches in our conference: Minister of Music @ Berkley First UMC and Coordinator of LGBT Advocacy and Ministry at Detroit Central UMC.