Sunday, Aug. 18, 2019: Hebrews 11:29-12:2
Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,12:2 looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.”
“Therefore” is what I would call a hinge word. The way has been cleared and here it comes. The door swings open wide. The next words will determine action, a direction, in some cases a call for perseverance, a way out or through.
We are to look to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, this one who endured the cross. He is the door.
Blaedel hearing
Supporters of the Rev. Anna Blaedel demonstrate outside a hearing by the Committee on Investigation of the Iowa Annual Conference Aug. 8. (UMForward Photo. Used by Permission)
I was thinking about all of this as I stood with over 100 United Methodists in the parking lot of our Iowa UM Conference Center last Thursday. Inside, an investigation committee was holding forth to decide whether one of our number should be tried by Church trial. Her crime: she had openly acknowledged that she was queer. And someone from Indiana calling himself a United Methodist and “disciple of Jesus” filed a complaint.
Never mind that this whole thing is about biology rather than theology. In order to please the church, this person would have to give up who she is, and go back into hiding. But, thank God, she is a person of great courage and faith. She is clear and so are many of us who simply have said, Enough already! With the world in trouble, pain and suffering everywhere, a terrible dark political shadow is moving across the land, and here we are as a church, determined to persecute and drive out a whole class of people. For shame!
Standing there in that parking lot in front of a magnificent building, sixty years of ministry came flooding back. I remembered when the Native Americans led by Dennis Banks took over our headquarters. We clergy put our pension fund on the line as bail to free Dennis for his work. Later when I was Human Rights Director for Cedar Rapids, where we fought the fair housing fight, allowing the first black families into a white suburb, our home was vandalized, a cross was burned in our yard, but we were surrounded by love and we won the day. The Bishop, some members of the cabinet, and folks from across the state became my backbone. Where has the spirit gone that allowed those kinds of support? Rev. Anna Blaedel could use support from all of us. The only thing that she has done is to be honest about who she is—a beloved child of God –she can do no other.
This loving God who is revealed in Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith, frees us to be a new kind of church. Time and again, the witness of some church or group or person has become the spark that lights the fire. Standing there last Thursday, the words of an old hymn came to mind. My mother used to sing it as she ironed, using one of those old heavy flat irons:
“I must need go home by the way of the cross, the way of the cross leads home. There is no other way but this.”
Lord, have mercy, Christ, have mercy on us all. Love and blessings to you, Anna Blaedel, for your courage, your witness, and your deep faith. You inspire us to remember who we are, and to have the courage to speak in this time of persecution.
The Rev. Bill Cotton of Des Moines is a retired clergy member of the Iowa Annual Conference. Together with friends and colleagues, he produces the weekly "Memo for Those Who Preach," distributed by email.