22 May Repentance and Rejoicing

Dear Westwood Family,

Yesterday, in Wildwood, New Jersey, the United Methodist Church reinstated Rev. Dr. Beth Stroud as a clergy member of the church. This was twenty years after the UMC tried her for breaking church law by being in a relationship with another woman. Twenty years after the church revoked her credentials as an ordained pastor.

Later that day during worship, Bishop John Schol knelt in front of her, and received a grace-filled blessing from Rev. Stroud.

Earlier this month, when the UMC finally removed the harmful words that have spoken judgement against gay and lesbian people for more than 50 years, and have explicitly banned their ordination for 40 years, I imagined the difference this would make for the generations that will come after us. I am not sure that I dared to believe in the power of God’s Holy Spirit to do the difficult and tender work toward reconciliation even now, with some of those we have caused specific and deep harm.

The image of a Bishop of the church kneeling in a posture that conveys humility and confession is powerful, and needed. That Rev. Stroud was willing to lay hands on him in prayer speaks of such powerful grace and the hope-filled possibility of transformation.

I keep getting surprised and blessed by the power of repentance. Not only in dramatic moments like this one, but in small apologies that lead to forgiveness. I’m coming to learn again and more deeply the power that an apology has, especially in the way that it allows someone who has been harmed to know that they are seen, and worth the work of confession.

I watched scenes from the day, as Rev. Stroud reclaimed her belonging in the clergy community of the Eastern Pennsylvania Annual Conference, in video clips on Facebook and sent from a friend. In one, she put on a red stole–a physical marker of her status as an Elder in the church. The stole said: “Rejoice.”

Rejoice, indeed: at our capacity to practice confession and forgiveness. Rejoice that God is at work in us, drawing us toward the heart-rending work of repentance. Rejoice, because we have seen that God continues to lead us toward liberation, life, and joy.

We have so much work to do, to acknowledge the ways we have participated in harm against one another. So often unintentionally, we continue to do things that repeat painful patterns of abuse, that perpetuate sexism and racism, that further ways of living that harm our planet. We certainly have this work to do in the church, as we reckon with anti-LGBTQ+ legacies and so much more.

For today, I’m heartened by this rich image, which reminds me that this work leads to life. It makes space for blessing. It invites us to rejoice, already.

Grace and peace,
Pastor Molly