PSUMC Among Signers of Reconciling Letter to Bishop
Sixty members of PSUMC were among the hundreds that signed the following letter sent to Bishop Park earlier this year.
Dear Bishop Park:
As United Methodists committed to reflecting God’s love for all people in the practices of the church, we are deeply disturbed by recent developments in our denomination and are writing you today to ask how we can work together to make the New York Annual Conference a powerful voice for inclusion.
The recent Judicial Council decisions allowing a minister to deny membership to a gay man and upholding the removal of Beth Stroud’s ordination credentials have brought new urgency to the struggle to end discriminatory and exclusive policies in the UMC. As it stands now, we cannot claim with any integrity to be a church that has “open hearts, open minds, open doors.” We were heartened by your letter in response to the rulings to NYAC members that stated, “I believe that membership in our church must be a witness to inclusiveness, not exclusion. Encouragement of those in our church who feel themselves excluded because of their sexual orientation is very important to me.” Your letter of October 20, 2005, responding to the report some of us prepared on our experience at the Hearts on Fire Convocation, was also a welcome message affirming, in your words, “the United Methodist Church as an open church to all people.” In it, you sought our “prayers for and partnership in forging our annual conference to a sacred space for holy conferencing.”
We welcome that call to partnership and believe firmly that we must redouble our efforts to make our conference a witness for inclusion in and to the larger United Methodist Church. We would like a small delegation of us to meet with you to strengthen that partnership and to discuss concrete ways for NYAC to be an example of Christ’s ministry to all people. In light of the urgency of this mission, we propose a meeting at your earliest possible availability, and eagerly await your response.