Responses to the verdict

I have grown from having Beth as our pastor.
08 Dec 2004

My head and heart have been full of thoughts and feelings since the trial.

First, I felt very well prepared for the trial because of Beth's pastoral care to FUMCOG. I believed Beth when she told us during the evening service on November 28 that the two of you were really ok and that she was worried more about FUMCOG's people than herself at that point. I also believed her when she said she was anticipating a guilty verdict, although, obviously hoping and praying that the Spirit would work a miracle. Driving out the PA TPK on Wednesday morning, I strongly felt the impact of Beth's prayers being manifested in my soul. I felt peaceful and committed to spending those days in community with all of Beth's other supporters, knowing that bearing witness in that way was the best contribution I could make at that time. So, although the verdict made me very sad, I didn't feel overwhelmingly outraged and unbearably grief-stricken. Thank you, Beth, for that precious gift.

Second, I can't view the trial in isolation from the rest of the events at FUMCOG over the past several years, which are about to be chronicled on national television. I was very moved by Fred's testimony in support of Beth. In a way, I feel that a part of his coming to FUMCOG was inextricably interwoven with him ending up in that witness stand. He brought such presence and such credibility to that role, as a former DS and someone who had favorable contacts with many people in the EPAUMC over the past many years of his ministry. To have him witness to his own conviction that the Discipline is wrong in the specific articles on which Beth was convicted spoke volumes to all of the trial court members, no matter what their feelings on this subject are. As I processed Fred's testimony, it made me sad that his gracious support of Beth being the person and pastor that God created her to be came after several years of struggle. Our recent vibrant services and events and growth, particularly of attendees in their 20's and 30's, tells me that the church is turning a corner, becoming revitalized and energized, with Fred as the senior pastor.

Finally, as much as Beth's sermons provide light and inspiration to me with respect to "seeing Jesus" in the world and in the gifts and graces brought to life at FUMCOG (I'm particularly thinking of her sermon of 9/26/2004), I have also been seeing more of Satan these days. I see Satan at work when individuals attending the general conference of a denomination that encompasses progressives, moderates, and conservatives, vote on language in a Book of Discipline that creates a straitjacket hampering and marginalizing those who would follow a more loving and inclusive vision of God's calling. This divisiveness hurting the UMC is not of God, is not of the Spirit, is not of Jesus.

The decision that Bill and I made to join FUMCOG was truly paradoxical. To my knowledge, Bill is the only FUMCOG member to be a retiree from a career in the military. Through grace, over time at FUMCOG we have learned a great deal about issues that we were ignorant of through lack of exposure earlier in our lives. It was a tremendous gift to our spiritual growth to travel to Haiti in 2000 with the high school youth, with Beth and other church members including Ray Torres, Eileen Gilkenson, John O'Neal, and Dave Fonda. We started to perceive the role of faith communities like FUMCOG in working towards the kingdom of God, in part, by providing opportunities to learn more about poverty and social injustice and by partnering with groups like APF to make a difference in the world. The social justice work towards full inclusion of gay and lesbian church members in ordained ministry and all aspects of church life is another area of my personal ignorance, and an area in which Bill and I have grown from being at FUMCOG and having Beth as our pastor

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The Bible tells us that God's love extends to all persons.
28 Dec 2004

Chestnut Hill United Methodist Church
Response to the Trial of Rev. Beth Stroud

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