Lot of Good Things Happening

 Friends, 

 

Today’s message has three distinct parts. The first is from SueJeanne Koh about an event coming up next week that you will not want to miss. The second part is about our siblings in the United Methodist Church and a huge decision that they made this week. The final part is a reminder from last week. 

 

1. From SueJeanne: Next Thursday, May 9, from 6-7:30pm, we will be hosting the first of four interfaith climate events that are themed according to the four elements: water, fire, earth, and wind. The organizing interfaith committee is part of a larger UCI-led grant effort called WUICAN (Wilderness-Urban Interface Climate Action Network), and was formed with the belief that faith communities and traditions have much to contribute to addressing the climate crisis. The program will include teaching on how Judaism, Christianity, and Islam reflect on water in their respective traditions, as well as presentations by Steve Allison (UCI faculty) and Keila Villegas (Orange County Environmental Justice). 

 

Given St. Mark's vibrant and ongoing commitment to climate action efforts, it would be wonderful to have a good number of our congregation be in attendance - to engage with others, as well as demonstrate hospitality. You can learn more about the event here and register at this link. For questions, please reach out to SueJeanne Koh here. 

 

2. Back to Mark: This week the United Methodist Church (UMC) General Conference voted by a 93% margin to delete harmful language discriminating against gay and lesbian people that has been in their Book of Discipline since 1984. The previous language declared homosexuality incompatible with biblical teaching and forbade “practicing homosexuals” to serve as pastors and did not allow UMC pastors to perform same-sex weddings. Please join me in acknowledging how the official language of the UMC over the last 40 years has caused harm in silencing the voices of many whom God has called into ministry and denied the church’s sanction of marriage to many couples who love one another deeply, while offering a prayer of thanksgiving for our Methodist siblings’ change of heart.

 

Our friend Paul Capetz, pastor of Christ by the Sea (UMC) on the Balboa Peninsula, sent a letter to his congregation, which included: “This historic vote is especially meaningful to me. I graduated from Yale Divinity School forty years ago this Spring and though I had completed all the academic requirements of ministerial training, I was rejected as a candidate for ordained ministry by our Board of Ordained Ministry on account of sexual orientation. Just last month, however, the Board of Ordained Ministry decided to recommend that I be received as a minister (elder) in full connection at the upcoming meeting of the California Pacific Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church in June. I never dreamed this would be possible for me!” 

 

3. Once again, back to Mark: And here is the reminder. We are still working out the logistics of registration, so we will be able to offer that option soon. 

 

On Sunday, June 9 at 1:00, St. Mark will host a documentary film entitled, “True Believer.” Brian McLaren describes “True Believer” as “an insider account, supported by a wide array of experts and informants, who brings us along on [a] journey of discovery and departure from white, right-wing Evangelicalism.” St. Mark member Robin Voss is one of the film’s Executive Producers and we will have a panel discussion following the film with Diana Butler Bass, Lisa Sharon Harper, Julie Ingersoll, and Randall Balmer, as well as Kristen Irving, the movie’s subject and director. More details and an opportunity to register are forthcoming. For now, I encourage you to save the date and plan to attend.

 

Mark of St. Mark