June 8, 2006
A UMNS Commentary
By the Rev. Gregory D. Stover

On a recent Sunday, a new class of students was confirmed at the church I serve. We ask the parents of the confirmands to stand with their daughters and sons. One young man was joined by the two women listed as his parents in the service materials.

I was glad for this young man. He came to our church through our youth ministry and experienced a vibrant, new faith in Christ through the confirmation preparation. I felt good that both his mothers had come to worship and participate in this joyful moment in their son's spiritual life.

Yet, as one who supports our current stance on homosexuality, I also sensed that morning the depth of the controversy that grips us as United Methodists.

How do we reach out to include gay and lesbian persons, as persons of sacred worth, without condoning sexual practice understood by generations of Christians to be contrary to Christian teaching? More pointedly, how does our understanding of homosexual practice speak about membership in the United Methodist Church and speak to those who contemplate becoming members?

With regularity, we hear the painful cry that some choose not to become members (or leave) because of our stance on homosexuality. These represent the real experiences of gay and lesbian persons (and those who believe the United Methodist Church is denying justice to gay, lesbian, and transgender people).

My colleague in ministry and brother in Christ, Bruce Robbins, has proposed a "small, symbolic" response – the creation of a new category of membership called "anticipatory membership."

Undoubtedly, this action (especially if it became an official part of the United Methodist design of membership) would provide a place of respite for those who believe our current stance is unjust. At the same time, it would be deeply problematic for many across the church.

One difficulty is that the creation of this new category of "anticipatory member" would be an implicit confession that our current position is off the mark. Why would we as a denomination affirm that anticipatory membership is needed unless we believed our current stance is flawed? For many, such a confession would be unconscionable.

A second difficulty is that those who believe our current stance is unjust are not alone in their struggle of conscience. I have spoken with those who have chosen not to become members (or left the United Methodist Church) because of disagreement over the church's stance on war, abortion, and other moral and theological issues. Others have grown weary and left because continued pressure to change our stance on homosexuality has left them feeling alienated and hopeless.

Compassion and respect for one another in our human experience is always right. However, human experience alone should not be the final arbiter of our moral/ethical teaching, or our categories and standards for membership.

For United Methodists, the teaching of Scripture is the primary foundation and point of reflection as we grapple with homosexuality and other moral issues of our day. Tradition, reason and experience shape our reading and interpretation of Scripture, but Scripture remains primary.

The struggles of some people over whether to seek membership and the current debate over whether a pastor may refuse membership are really flip sides of the same coin. That is the coin of conscience and integrity. All of us want to feel we can be a part of the church without compromising our personhood or our core beliefs about Christ and Christian living.

At a deeper level, our painful conversation over membership is about how to faithfully invite people to discipleship and wholeness in Jesus Christ. Our current stance invites those who become members to believe that in Jesus Christ there is a future reality beyond homosexual practice that represents God's fullest measure of grace. It invites them to anticipate and seek that future by faith.

In reality, all of us should be members in anticipation. None of us yet has become all God has called us to be in Jesus Christ. We anticipate the day all our brokenness will be healed, and all our sin redeemed through the grace of God and sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit. Keeping God's vision clear is essential to the gospel journey.

United Methodist News Service
Gregory D. Stover is Cincinnati District superintendent and senior pastor of Armstrong Chapel United Methodist Church.