| Direction of Episcopal Church a call to pay attention BY LES LONGDEN Some observers think a major shift in social attitudes is overtaking the United States. This summer has seen a series of events marking new advances for the recognition and even endorsement of homosexual relationships. The latest: the election of an openly homosexual bishop. The bishops of the Episcopal Church USA decided, by a vote of 62-43, to confirm the election of the Rev. Gene Robinson, thus separating their church of 2.3 million members from the consensus of the Anglican Communion of nearly 80 million members in 164 countries. How shall United Methodists respond to this event? After all, the Anglican Communion is the mother of Methodism. The Anglican Communion the home of John and Charles Wesley, and the womb of Methodism is now torn and divided. Of course, this is not the first time we have been called upon to respond to calls for the revision of the churchs moral teachings on sexuality. As Bishop Lindsey Davis puts it in Staying the Course: Supporting the Churchs Position on Homosexuality: During 30 years of debate, our church has not affirmed homosexual lifestyles as consistent with the holiness of life expressed in Scripture. We have by majorities of 75 to 80 percent chosen to maintain the orthodox Christian stance. The United Methodist Churchs position is compassionate yet firm. Nevertheless, I believe that our first response to the action of our sister church should be to mourn and grieve. Its American bishops have decided to depart from the teaching and practice of not only Anglicanism but the apostolic and consensual teaching that the church has maintained for two millennia. This is a cause for our fervent prayer. Our next response should be to look to our own house. The actions of the liberal Episcopal bishops will embolden the bishops and pastors in United Methodism who are eager to follow in their footsteps. There are movements and organizations within our church that have long been at work to bring about the very same result. So we need to ask our bishops: Is this where you are leading us? People in United Methodist pews can take heart in remembering the General Conference of 2000. Petition after petition was presented demanding that our church remove the disciplinary boundaries regarding sexual behaviors. Yet our laity and clergy reaffirmed by decisive majorities the churchs commitment to fidelity in marriage and celibacy in singleness. However, the direction of the Episcopal Church is a call for United Methodists to pay attention. First, we must pay attention to the real hurt and pain that many homosexual people experience. Our firmness in adhering to Christian teaching must be accompanied by an equally passionate practice of ministering with and to homosexuals. In spite of the cultural assaults that attach the label of hate speech to biblical affirmations of human sexuality, we must not abandon hurting people by retreating to a safe haven of correct teaching. A robust theological defense of our churchs position on homosexuality must be accompanied by dynamic ministries that welcome homosexual people into the transforming power of the gospel in the midst of congregations. Second, we must pay attention to the ways in which our hold on the churchs teaching may be bartered or squandered away. On the one hand, the Episcopalians have been unable to prevent their bishops and pastors from dismissing classic church teaching on sexuality. On the other hand, United Methodists have constitutionally established doctrinal standards. That is, we have made it clear that we have corporate commitments as a church, not merely as individuals, on issues of the day. And these ecclesiological commitments have chargeable offenses attached to them. That is why United Methodists must pay attention. We are often reluctant to hold our leaders and teachers accountable. Our inherited ethos of think and let think, received from Wesley, now seems more influenced by cultural themes of tolerance than Wesleys Anglican commitment to the root of Christianity. As we pray for the whole Anglican communion, we must pay attention to the ways in which we, too, could end up in the ruins of a tradition. The Rev. Les Longden, a United Methodist, is the associate professor of evangelism and discipleship at the University of Dubuque (Iowa) Theological Seminary. He also is a board member of the Confessing Movement and a member of the Confessing Theologians Commission. | 
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