LAKE JUNALUSKA — Some Methodists are optimistic that a planned conference involving homosexuals will be an opportunity to promote understanding for those individuals seeking inclusion in the church.
The Hearts on Fire conference is being sponsored by the Reconciling Ministries Network Sept. 2 through Sept. 5 at Lake Junaluska, and organizers hope to attract 400 people to the meeting.
As the date for the four-day Hearts on Fire conference draws closer, public reaction to the event has been mixed, said Jimmy Carr, executive director for the Southeastern Jurisdictional Administration Council. Carr has received about 350 e-mails and letters, with a balance of support and opposition, he said.
“I am getting some hate mail, all in the name of Jesus,” Carr said. “That’s probably the thing that disappoints me most.”Carr said the group coming to Lake Junaluska Labor Day weekend will include a majority of heterosexuals, as well as homosexuals and possibly parents or spouses of homosexuals.
“Our position is that we will be hospitable, without approving or disapproving of what they represent,”he said. He referred to the United Methodist Church’s Book of Discipline, which affirms that all persons need the ministry and guidance of the church, but adds that the church “does not condone the practice of homosexuality and considers this practice incompatible with Christian teaching.”
Human rights for homosexuals are supported, but the church denies ordination to practicing homosexuals, refuses funding for pro-homosexuality advocacy unless the church’s position is fairly and equally represented, and forbids same-sex unions. Because The Reconciling Ministries is an affiliated caucus of the United Methodist Church, Carr said the administrative council felt obligated to meet their needs for housing and meeting space.
“They are coming here to worship, have Bible study and conversations,”Carr said. Carr said the administrative council sought advice, however, before agreeing to rent Shackford Hall to The Reconciling Ministries. There has never been a similar conference at Lake Junaluska in the past, he said, adding that he does not expect any major problems. “If there are demonstrators, they need to let us know, and we will have a place designated for them. We always increase security for large gatherings, but Lake Junaluska is a very safe area,” Carr said.
The Rev. Troy Plummer, executive director of the Reconciling Ministries, said he also is optimistic that the conference can promote understanding.
“As a faithful United Methodist that trusts in God’s love and grace that includes us all, I am doubly happy that Lake Junaluska shows hospitality to our whole church, including the Reconciling Ministries Network,”Plummer said.
“I am perplexed by those who say the Gospel of Jesus would require us to close our hearts, our minds, our doors to those who are different from us or that we may not understand or that we just disagree with,”he said.
“I hold dearly to John Wesley’s differentiation between the essentials of our faith in Jesus and the nonessentials that we tend to bicker about,”Plummer said.
“We believe that Hearts on Fire will be a time and space of healing the brokenness, both in the individual lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and heterosexual persons,”he said. Methodists interviewed by “The Mountaineer” Tuesday say they hope members of the Reconciling Ministries will be encouraged by knowing they are not being excluded.
“I know there are people here and elsewhere opposed to the conference,” said Jean Macon. “But a lot of the members of the Reconciling Ministries have been faithful Methodists and have helped support the Junaluska Assembly through their churches,” she said.
She and her husband, Fred Macon, a retired Methodist minister, say they feel very strongly that the church should be more inclusive. “My hope is that we can lower the rhetoric and listen to each other,” said Fred Macon.
The Macons know first-hand the pain and discrimination homosexuals often suffer for a lifestyle others do not approve of. Not long ago, their son confessed to them that he was homosexual.
However, Fred Macon said he felt the church should be more inclusive even before his son came to the realization that he was gay.
“We should support them in their faith journey. Perhaps that will happen one day,” he said. Julia O’Neil said she has mixed perspectives about the issue of homosexuality. On one hand, she said she thinks there should be more effort to understand and address the religious needs of homosexual men and women.
“But I have a hard time with those who change their sex and feel it would be a mistake if the church should ever decide to allow a traditional marriage ceremony for homosexual couples,”O’Neil said. The conference could be a beginning point for developing a better understanding of the needs and concerns of homosexual men and women, said Mary Abston.
“I think it’s a wonderful idea,” Abston said. “These are people seeking the truth, and Lake Junaluska is a beautiful place to do that. “Any time we say we support someone’s quest for truth, but then say we don’t want you to do it here, we do that person great harm,” she said.
Carol Wingeier said she is very happy that the conference will be held at Lake Junaluska and plans to attend the event.
She was a member of a Reconciling congregation in Chicago.
Her husband, Doug Wingeier, said he finds it curious that some people focus on one biblical prohibition while ignoring others.
“My heart goes out to those who feel alienated from the church because of hostile rejection,” he said.
Participants will include eight bishops: Susan Morrison, Melvin Talbert, Sally Dyck, John Schol, Minerva Carcano, Richard Wilke, Scott Jones and Linda Lee.
Other speakers will include openly lesbian United Methodist minister Beth Stroud, San Francisco same-sex “marriage” convener Karen Oliveto, and Erin Swenson, a male Presbyterian minister who had a sex-change operation and now professes to be female. “The Mountaineer” has received dozens of letters in the past two weeks, most written by people opposing the conference.
Mark Tooley, director for the United Methodist committee for the Institute on Religion and Democracy, said his group will be contacting 100,000 United Methodists in the southeast to alert them to the “Hearts on Fire” meeting and to urge them to protest the Southeastern Jurisdictional decision at Lake Junaluska.
Peggy Manning can be reached at 452-0661, ext. 127, or at peggy@themountaineer.com.