Would the Great Society’s War on Poverty have been more
successful if Lyndon Johnson and Sargent Shriver had donned ball
gowns and jumped into the Potomac?
Possibly, at least according to Santa Monica, California’s Ocean
Park United Methodist Church, which will host its annual “Fancy
Dress Swim to Make Poverty History” on July 13. The church uses the
“playful, fun, spectacle of going in the ocean or other bodies of
water in fancy dress(es) to attract attention to ONE: The Campaign
to Make Poverty History, launched by Bono of the band U2.” The One
Campaign’s goal is for the U.S. to spend at least one percent of
GNP on foreign aid, or about $140 billion a year.
Church members and others will slip into their fancy dresses at
the church and then run several blocks to splash in the Pacific
Ocean to showcase their solidarity with the poor.
Judging from the hairy arms and legs of some of the dress
wearers splashing about in the church’s photos of past Fancy Dress
campaigns against poverty, the event is an opportunity for some
cross dressing. An activist church, Ocean Park United Methodist is
gay friendly and is hosting on July 6 a “Love Celebration” to honor
“all couples — gay and straight — and their commitments to each
other.” All couples, of whatever orientation, who want to renew
their vows or get married in the “sacred ceremony” are invited to
join in. Of course, the church wants to exploit the California
Supreme Court’s legalization of same-sex unions.
UNFORTUNATELY FOR THE CHURCH at Ocean Park, the United Methodist
denomination officially prohibits any celebration of same-sex
unions by its churches or its clergy. Some liberal churches
circumvent the ban by hosting rites in public spaces with clergy
from other denominations. It is not clear what Ocean Park Church’s
specific maneuver will be. But recently, 80 retired United
Methodist clergy in northern California announced their
availability to defy the ban and preside over same-sex rites.
Theoretically, retired pastors can still be defrocked, but it is
unlikely. “We’re willing to challenge the injustice and
contradictions of this,” the Rev. Don Fado, a retired United
Methodist pastor, told the Sacramento Bee. “There is a lot
of support here,” he asserted. “We are called on to provide the
full ministry of the church to homosexuals and their families, and,
to us, that includes marriage.”
Meanwhile, the southern California United Methodists, at their
recent annual conference, resoundingly approved of California’s new
homosexual marriage stance. They “support same-gender couples who
enter into the marriage covenant and encourage both congregations
and pastors to welcome, embrace, and provide spiritual nurture and
pastoral care for these families.” They also urged a witness
against “heterosexism and any discrimination based on sexual
orientation,” and opposition to the “Marriage Protection Act,”
which would confine marriage to man and woman, and on which
Californians will vote this Fall. Raining a little on the party, a
church official reminded the conference that the bishop is
“obligated to process complaints” based on the church’s prohibition
against same-sex unions.
The 84,000 member California Pacific Conference of The United
Methodist Church nonchalantly reported that it lost over 2,200
members last year, continuing a 45-year trend of decline. Methodism
in California over the last 40 years, during which the state
doubled in population, has lost half its church membership. Despite
all the fanfare about “inclusivity” by liberal church prelates
there, the legacy of theological liberalism has been near empty
churches. The “Fancy Dress Swim” Church at Ocean Park in Santa
Monica in 2005 reported only a little over a 100 members and an
average Sunday attendance of about 30. Sadly, the church
prominently advertises that its sanctuary can be rented for
weddings, as clearly its own congregation is not producing very
many, of whatever orientation.
THE CONFUSION OVER same-sex unions in California among religious
bodies is not confined to United Methodists. The Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America’s (ELCA) bishop of the Sierra-Pacific
Synod, David Mullen, along with his successor, wrote almost
incoherently to their pastors after the California Supreme Court
decision: “No pastor is required to preside over any marriage for
which s/he does not feel it would be pastorally appropriate to
perform such a service,” the bishops said. But pastors who do
conduct same-sex rites, along with those who decline, may be
“assured of our support for you as you prayerfully deliberate such
questions and choose to act out of your pastoral
sensibilities.”
Noting that the ELCA denomination does not recognize marriage as
any other than man and woman, Bishop Mullen promises that neither
he nor his successor have “intentions to bring charges for
discipline against a pastor who chooses to solemnize a same-gender
marriage, [but] we cannot guarantee that other pastors or
congregations will not choose to do so.”
“You might be asking, in the words of Luther, ‘What does this
mean?’” the bishops admitted. “Simply put, it means that as pastors
in the ELCA, we are expected to abide by the standards and policies
of this church, and are not, therefore, constitutionally permitted
to solemnize same-gender marriages. This does not mean, however,
that you are prohibited from offering pastoral care to same-gender
couples who seek the blessing of the church in their lives.”
FAR MORE BOLDLY than the Lutherans, Episcopal Church Bishop Mark
Andrus of San Francisco is urging his clergy to push forward full
throttle on same-sex unions. “I welcome the ruling of the
California Supreme Court affirming the fundamental right of all
people to marry,” he enthused in a pastoral letter. “For far too
long the onus has fallen on marginalized people to bear the burden
of inequalities that exist within the Church, and the decision by
our state’s Supreme Court has given us the opportunity to level the
playing field.”
Admitting that the Episcopal Church does not yet have canonical
rites for same sex couples, Bishop Andrus still urged Episcopalians
to volunteer as marriage commissioners in California so they can
conduct civil unions for homosexuals. The church should celebrate
and exploit the “prophetic opportunity provided by the California
Supreme Court’s ruling.” And his diocese will publicly advertise
its opposition to the ballot initiative to overturn the court’s
same-sex ruling.
There’s also retired Presbyterian minister Jane Spahr, who wed
two women at the Marin County Civic Center. Her Presbyterian Church
(U.S.A.) denomination’s biannual General Assembly coincidentally
was meeting at about the same time in San Jose in June, and
declined to overturn the denominational teaching defining marriage
as man and woman.
Perhaps with the most enthusiasm of any liberal denomination in
California, the United Church of Christ’s Northern
California-Nevada Conference “received with joy the word of the
California State Supreme Court ruling.” The court’s decision is an
“affirmation of the Biblical truth we hold so dear — that ALL
people are created in the image and likeness of God.” Like the
United Methodists, the Evangelical Lutherans and the Episcopalians,
the UCC is losing members in California, as it has across the
nation, for four decades.
Meanwhile, evangelicals Protestants, Roman Catholics, and
Mormons are supporting the “California Marriage Protection Act”
that would overturn the California court ruling and define marriage
as between man and woman. Their organizing likely will not be quite
so flashy as a “fancy dress” dip in the Pacific Ocean. But it might
be more effective.
