From the Pastor...

Rev Terry Dowdy has been pastor of First United Methodist Church in Three Rivers since June of 2003. He has served churches in the Southwest Texas Conference since 1978 when he transferred here from the North Arkansas Conference. Terry received his Master of Theology degree from Perkins School of Theology in 1971 and spent an additional five years doing advanced studies in Old and New Testament in the Ph.D. program of SMU's Graduate Studies in Religion. In the last ten years he has worked with Matthew Fox in Creation Centered Spirituality and attended and led numerous workshops and classes using the biblical and depth psychological methods of the Guild for Psychological Studies out of San Francisco.

In addition to his biblical studies and church involvement, Terry loves hiking and photography and spends as much time as he can photographing flowers, birds, mountains, Native American ruins and petroglyphs in the Southwest. Terry also loves cycling, gardening and cooking. He has one daughter Rebecca who is 20 years old, a son Sean who is 32 and married to Jill, and two grandchildren Gretta, 5, and Thatcher, 1.

Two quite distinct events in the past month have caused a lot of comment in the press, in the church, and in private conversations:

• The debut of Mel Gibson's new movie The Passion of the Christ and
• The acquittal of Rev. Karen Dammann on the charges of "practices declared by the United Methodist Church to be incompatible with Christian teachings."

I would like briefly to address each of these issues and invite you to contact me privately, as others have already done, to discuss these further.

What a lot of valuable discussion this has produced in churches across the country! In the Adult Sunday School class that I teach, we have spent most of the last month comparing the gospel passages concerning the "passion narrative" - the arrest, trial, suffering, death, and burial of Jesus.

Here are a few of my opinions about the movie:

• Much in the movie fairly accurately reflects the reports we have from the Gospel accounts. And much in the movie is not found in any of the Gospels.

  Two examples:

  • In Matthew, Mark, and Luke a certain Simon of Cyrene carries the Cross for Jesus. But the Gospel of John says that Jesus carried the cross himself. In Mel's movie Jesus carries the cross and then Simon carries the cross, not in agreement with any of the four Gospels.
  • The "Evil One" (Satan or the Devil is never named) is repeatedly present in scene after scene, once accompanied by a serpent, once by a demonic imp, once by demonic Jewish children. But in none of the gospel accounts of the Passion is there an appearance of the "Evil One."
• It was Mel's portrayals of the "Evil One" that I found to be the most intriguing parts of the entire movie, even though there is no mention of this figure in the passion narratives of any of the gospels.
• The violence was overdone. I don't mean that it was too violent and that I didn't like it. I mean that it was unrealistic. When Jesus was flogged 39 times with the cat of nine tails, there simply wasn't enough blood. He should have bled to death long before the 39th lash. I can go on about the floggings, but I won't.
• One of the major points of the movie was that Jesus Christ died for our sins. That's fine. That's one of many Christian interpretations of the meaning of the cross, and it is biblical, but it is not found in any of the Gospels. It is found in some of Paul's letters and in Hebrews. It is not even contained in the earliest statements of faith the early Christian Church, the Nicene Creed and the Apostles' Creed.
• Many of the parts of the movie that are not biblical come from the visions of a 19th century German nun named Sister Anne Emmerich (1774-1824) that are recorded in a book titled The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
• The movie is well worth seeing, but do read the appropriate passages in your Bible (Matthew 26:36-27:60, Mark 14:32-15:46, Luke 22:39-23:53, John 18:1-19:42).

Rev. Dammann has been an ordained pastor in the United Methodist Church for a number of years and is currently appointed to serve the First United Methodist Church of Ellensburg, Washington. After disclosing to her bishop that she was living in a "partnered, covenanted, homosexual relationship," she became involved in a legal (church law, not civil law) process that has been going on for the last three years. She was ultimately charged with "practices declared by the United Methodist Church to be incompatible with Christian teachings." Last week she was acquitted of that charge. In the jury's words, "We searched the Discipline and did not find a declaration that 'the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.'" And that is accurate. The jury of her peers, made up of thirteen ordained United Methodist clergy had no choice but acquit her because homosexuality is not a chargeable offense. It is not a chargeable offense because it has not been declared so in church law.

Consider all of the following statement from the Social Principles of the United Methodist Church (principles, not laws.):

Homosexual persons no less than heterosexual persons are individuals of sacred worth. All persons need the ministry and guidance of the church in their struggles for human fulfillment, as well as the spiritual and emotional care of a fellowship that enables reconciling relationships with God, with others, and with self. Although we do not condone the practice of homosexuality and consider this practice incompatible with Christian teaching, we affirm that God's grace is available to all. We implore families and churches not to reject or condemn their lesbian and gay members and friends. We commit ourselves to be in ministry for and with all persons.

General Conference, the legislative body of the United Methodist Church, meets next month. It will certainly reconsider the laws of our church concerning homosexuality and the ordained ministry - as it has every four years for the past 32 years.

One reason that I am proud to be a United Methodist is that we have a history of prayerfully reflecting on the issues of our day and modifying our positions so that we are better able to bring the good news to all persons.

Grace and Peace,

Terry