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Hoosier United Methodist News Archives
| Hoosier United Methodist News |
October 2001 |
What do YOU think?
The Hoosier United Methodist News welcomes all letters to the editor. In order to be considered for publication, letters must be signed and should include the name of your local church along with a daytime phone number for verification purposes. All letters may be subject to editing for clarity or length. Deadline for each upcoming issue is the 15th of the month.
Our wish is to provide a forum wherein all voices and points of view have an equal opportunity to be heard.
Send to Editor, Hoosier UM News, 1100 W. 42nd St., Suite 210, Indianapolis, IN. 46208; fax: 317.924.4859; e-mail: Editor
Amazing Grace, PK memories
I have just finished reading Dr. Carver McGriff's book, Amazing Grace, and it was just that -- amazing! I would highly recommend it for any and all Hoosier Methodists.
Although I am now 82 and have lived in Ohio for over 50 years, my roots go back to my youth and young adult life as an involved Hoosier Methodist. My father was Ernest J Wickersham, a minister for many years in the North Indiana Conference, and as I grew up as a "PK." My parents instilled in me a deep interest and respect for the various churches that my father served. When he became a District Superintendent in 1948 of what was then the Richmond District, Bishop Raines was his bishop.
However, when I first saw Bishop Raines goes back much further. My father was minister at Auburn in 1933 and we were at Epworth Forest Institute. I was a young teenager and our Morning Watch speaker that year was a Richard Raines from Hennepin Ave. Church in Minneapolis.
When this handsome young man drove up in his convertible with golf clubs in the back seat and dressed in sport clothes, we were duly impressed! He was a dynamic speaker even then and filled the auditorium every morning at 6:15 a.m.
That same year three young ministers (unmarried at that time) asked if they could stay with our Auburn group at "Welcome Inn" cottage, and such a joy they were! Those three were Wayne Paulen, Don Bailey and Howard Brown. Little did I realize then that my father would serve under Bishop Raines 15 years later, or that the three young ministers that stayed in our cottage that year would all become outstanding ministers in the years to come! (I am truly grateful to have been a "PK" in those days.)
These are the kind of memories that Carver McGriff's book evoked for me, along with his historical research leading us to the present day. Indeed, Methodism in Indiana has come a long way!
Margaret (Wickersham) Sommer
Wayne St. UMC, St. Marys, Ohio
Giving to FUMC
I am wondering if the local United Methodist churches in the South Indiana Conference are aware of the opportunity for regular missionary giving that is on their door (church) step. This giving is to the Franklin United Methodist Community (FUMC).
There are several funds to which giving may be made. I name two, the general and benevolent funds. The benevolent takes care of those who have lived longer than expected and whose funds are low or exhausted, and they can not pay all of their living expenses each month.
There are age levels of care given here. One enters the level of his or her needs. I have been here 13 and a half years and have seen four levels added, either by renovation or new buildings.
It is a marvelous place and I am fortunate to be here.
Myrtle C. Standiford
Franklin UM Community
Objection to 'diversity' TV ad
I have heard the criticism of the Igniting Ministry campaign, but I find the harshest notes of that criticism really apply only to one of the ads in the series, the one called "Diversity."
I share their concerns about this ad -- not because I am against diversity, but because the language of this ad is antithetical to the understanding of a community of faith in which it is necessary to judge the lives of other people, including one's own, and to believe and live out a commitment to the belief that Jesus Christ is Lord and that the Church is his living body. This implies that one cannot simply believe or do whatever one wishes and call oneself a Christian.
The fundamental problem of this ad -- and perhaps of more of them in subtle ways -- is the implicit assumption that human freedom to choose overrides God's norms, revealed in Scripture and the practices and teachings of the Church, for the people of God.
I say these things as a pastor who has used some of these ads for our local congregation and who is in the process of partnering with another congregation to use them again, later this fall, on local cable. I'm not opposed to the campaign in general. But the language of the diversity ad is offensive, not to "my personal theology," but to the heart of any Christian theology grounded in our Wesleyan heritage of accountable small groups and the Articles of Religion and Confession of Faith. I will not use it. I recommend you don't either.
Taylor W. Burton-Edwards, Pastor
First UMC, Anderson
Apology to North Conference
The Diversity Monitoring Report of the Commission on Religion and Race, found in the 2001 Annual Conference Journal included a significant omission for which we apologize. The naming of Rev. Oscar Ramos-Gallardo as Hispanic Ministries Coordinator is a major step toward greater diversity and inclusiveness within the North Indiana Conference, and his consecration to this task was an important moment during the Annual Conference sessions at Purdue. We should have celebrated this in our report, and we regret our failure to do so. We apologize to Rev. Ramos-Gallardo, the Hispanic Ministries Committee, Bishop White and the members of the Annual Conference.
Rev. Dennis D. Hensley
for the NIC Commission
on Religion and Race
Serpents and syndicates
It shouldn't surprise us that the gambling syndicates have had such easy access to Indiana. In fact, according to the Bible, a rep. of the Syndicate showed up only a few days after Creation.
Tall, well-dressed, polite and soft-spoken. You had to like the guy.
"You must be Eve," he said, holding out his hand.
"Yes, I am! How nice of you to stop."
"Actually I dropped by a few days ago. Couldn't find you or Adam, but I did notice that fruit tree over there."
"You mean the one with a 'No No' sign nailed to it?"
"That's the one. Why the sign?"
"All I know is He told me if I eat the fruit, I'll die."
"Well, that raises another question. Should you eat that and die, how could you 'be fruitful and multiply'? It takes two to multiply. And, as you know, Adam can't afford to lose another rib."
The Syndicate always makes its initial appearance as a benefactor. You know -- taxes for schools, new highways, higher employment. or apples. That's what it promises, but never talks about what it takes out of society.
The gambling interests have deep pockets and access to "power people." So they bide their time. And sure enough, they shamelessly appear beneath the cross on Friday afternoon. They kneel down, not to pray, but to play for the seamless robe.
The gamblers, with no apology, will still take the shirt off your back.
Walter L. Mayer, NIC elder, ret.
Bringhurst
No compromise of holy Law
Letters in recent editions of HUM News reflect the continued division within the Church regarding homosexuality, Some seem to have made it their primary mission to push this social issue and are using the church as a podium to express their views. Unfortunately, we have both laity and church leaders working to incorporate in the Discipline the notion of homosexuality as normal behavior.
The writer of the letter "Less-than-loving views … " in the July/August edition left no doubt where she stands in the debate. Her pride and confidence suggest that only the power of God can change her mind. We pray that this will come to be.
Should the Church be ministering to the gay community? Yes! All of us are children of God if we accept Jesus Christ as Lord. Must we compromise our beliefs to appease those who are determined to have behavior that is sin in the eyes of God be acceptable in the eyes of man? No!
Jesus made clear that he did not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill the Law. Therefore, do not try to justify homosexuality by pretending that it would be acceptable to Christ.
Let us get back to the Bible, live lives pleasing to God, and quit trying to circumvent the teachings in God's Holy Word.
Ronald L. Scott
Mt. Zion UMC Kentland