Special to United Methodist Insight
On August 8, 2019, a Committee on Investigation for our United Methodist Church will gather in Des Moines, Iowa, to conduct a hearing. The person charged is one of the bright and shining stars of our denomination. Several years ago, The Rev. Anna Blaedel came to our church (Grace United Methodist in Des Moines) to serve as Associate Pastor. Our congregation fell in love with Anna. Later she distinguished herself as Campus Minister in the Wesley Foundation at the University of Iowa.
Anna Blaedel
The Rev. Anna Blaedel. (Photo courtesy of enfleshed)
To date, the leaders of our Church, our governing body, have responded insufficiently to this persecution. They have left this wonderful person to fight alone. Well, not entirely! Hundreds of laity and clergy are coming to her defense. And of course, we will be with her when her inquisitors hold their session in Des Moines next month.
In other times and places when our Church has been caught in social change, especially the racial struggle, we have had brave leaders who simply said to those who persecute, “Enough already!” In the 1960s we could be proud of our denomination for its courageous stand against bigotry. I also remember, after it was over, those meetings of reconciliation following the persecution of white pastors who stood their ground against bigotry and suffered loss of appointments and other punishments. How crazy it was for the church of Jesus and John Wesley to be cruelly persecuting rather than loving.
So here we are putting ourselves through this kind of craziness again. Anna and many like her are not (hopefully) going away or leaving the church they have served and loved. A growing number of our congregations and pastors have put themselves in harm’s way by standing up to those who would drive a class of people out of the church. At Grace, our Church and Society committee composed a banner, using the colors of the rainbow with the words:
“Without Condition, Without exception, God loves all”
Those words provide a new Christian call for love and justice within our Church.
When the Committee comes to town, we will be there to support Anna. It is time to say, “Enough already!”
As an 86-year-old retired pastor, I write this to also say, please do not judge our Church by the behavior of a few. Hearings and church trials are not typical of the way we Methodists behave, and as a pastor, I am ashamed by our behavior. It is a blight and stain on all of us who claim Jesus the Christ as our neighbor, our Sovereign, our only hope in this world and the next. Did we not clearly hear his message to “love one another”?
The Rev. Dr. William D. Cotton of Des Moines is a retired clergy member of the Iowa Annual Conference.