Mabuhay!

Mabuhay Ka Dakilang Dios is a favorite hymn in the Filipino-Methodist tradition. Roughly translated, I believe it means “welcome, you great God”. This is my deep sentiment as we enter November 17^th, our celebration of 100 years of Methodist faith journeys with God’s children of Filipino heritage.  I am excited to accept the invitation for our congregation to recognize the ways that diversity has been weaved into our faith communities. (“All Means All” in so many ways)  Welcoming God is also my sentiment  as we grieve in solidarity with people whose lives have been change forever by Typhoon Haiyan. The pictures and stories of horrific destruction and heart wrenching recovery are unsettling, even soul quickening – restless spirit, work through me. God is a loving and creating God. Certainly this Dakilang Dios is welcome in the most tragic of circumstances. From a distance, it seems like all we can do in a time like this is unite in prayer, but I am not sure that is true.

Mabuhay Ka Dakilang Dios is also the sentiment that calls each one of us be made new by God today. The creating God of all is creating in us as well – stirring our hearts, rending a compassion that changes lives. Today I read a story about the aftermath of Haiyan. The author of a British newspaper was astonished at the unusual characteristics of this aftermath. He wrote that normally we see masses of people flocking away from disasters as fast as possible. Yet, in Tacloban the traffic is decidedly headed INTO the center of devastation and heartbreak. With the Philippine Government paralyzed and infrastructure demolished, people are charging in to towns and villages to bring aide to people that are mourning, starving, and resurrecting all at once. Sometimes a heart open to Dakilang Dios is moved to act in unpredictable ways. I hope we all feel urged to new levels of compassion – called into the fray instead of out of the way.

Bishop Warner H. Brown encourages our 
solidarity in a formal statement of compassion, even as the storm was striking the coast of the Philippines. “Our humanitarian relief and development agency, the United Methodist Committee On Relief (UMCOR), is monitoring the developing situation (currently, on the ground at the point of devastation). For this emergency, and others that arise, donations to UMCOR are channeled through The Advance. One-hundred percent of each donation goes directly to the disaster. Donations to International Disaster Response, Advance #982450, will be used to respond to this and similar emergencies.”

Merced is home to a growing and thriving Filipino – American community. My neighborhood in particular is a wellspring of influential, supportive, community shaping people of Filipino heritage.  I am certain that our community would be set back in the absence of the significant contributions of those who came from the Philippines to journey with us as citizens and workers in a common community.

The same is true of our entire annual Conference. I would like to share some of the history that was written by the California-Nevada Filipino American Methodists in reflection of the 100^th anniversary of Filipino participation in the Methodist tradition. These are the words of our own Filipino faith community. They are proud to share the history of partnership and enrichment that Filipino Methodists have contributed to the life of our church. Please read and enjoy the exciting contributions that have reinforced our conference and our faith.

To date, the list of Filipino churches and other United Methodist Churches with predominantly Filipino presence in our Conference includes: Grace-St. Francis, Vallejo Fellowship, South Hayward, St. Paul’s in Fremont, Fresno Christian Fellowship, St. Paul’s in Stockton, Daly City UMC, Geneva Avenue UMC, Pinole UMC, Valley Faith, and Delano UMC. It should be noted that only four out of the eleven churches are served by Filipino Pastors.

In addition to local Filipino churches developed and chartered, another unique and significant contribution of Filipino ministry in our conference was the adoption of a century old yet new ministry to the youth in this Annual Conference called Christmas Institute. It is a school of faith for youths and young adults held annually for five days after Christmas Day. This Methodist Church program in the Philippines attracted many young people whose faiths were nourished and their love for the church deepened. It

facilitated friendships among the participants that later blossomed into committed relationships. The school also became a vehicle of clergy and deaconess recruitment.

 In this Conference, this program ministry started when Arturo Capuli took some young people from Grace UMC and Fresno Fellowship to attend the Christmas Institute held December of 1984 at the Los Angeles National Forest sponsored by the Filipino Caucus of the California Paci fic Annual Conference. The following year, with the leadership of Rev. David Rodriguez, Rev. Nathanael Cort

ez, and lay members Rosadia Escueta, Regina Eng, Boni Capistrano, Marcelo and Josefina Capistrano, and Ruth Cortez, a Christmas Institute was held in San Francisco attended by a large number of youths and young adults. Since then, this uniquely significant ministry program is held annually participated in by youths from Filipino churches and their friends. The program has now evolved to

be self supporting and largely led by youths and young adults. The yearly average attendance is 150.

 List of Filipino Clergy in the 2013 Journal of the California Nevada Annual Conference: (see Appendix A. Out of this number, two served as District Superintendents: Ruth O.Cortez and Benoni Silva-Netto. In 1999, Ruth Cortez was appointed Shasta District Superintendent by Bishop Melvin Talbert to become the first Filipino in California Nevada Annual Conference and the first Filipino woman in the United States to hold such an office. Benoni Silva-Netto was appointed District Superintendent of Shasta District by Bishop Beverly Shamana in 2005. Among the clergy, Felicisimo Cao was elected Chair of the Conference Board of Ordained Ministry in 2013, becoming the first Filipino to assume such responsibility in this Conference. Another Filipino clergy, Bener Agtarap, has been appointed by Bishop Warner Brown as Superintendent for Church Growth and Vitality.

This Conference wide recognition is not confined to the clergy. Many of the lay people in our Conference became actively involved in the work and organizational structure of the Annual Conference. Laddie Perez Galang have been chair of the Committee on Nominations for many years and currently serves as chair of Conference Mission Service (formerly Conference Board of Missions). Alice

Pena have been involved actively in the work of the Conference. All of the recent Filipino recipients of

the Annual Conference Bishop’s Award were lay women: Alice Pena (deceased), Virginia

Maniti Williams, and Ruby Bago.

 In more recent years, Filipino churches, groups, lay and clergy, have contributed to the growth of the total ministry in California Nevada Annual Conference.

In the realm of liturgy and music Ministry, Pasasalamat (A Call to Thanksgiving) is the Annual Thanksgiving Gathering of Filipino American churches, usually held in November on a Saturday before Thanksgiving Day. The whole day is dedicated to worship, fellowship, sharing of talents, and dining together. The liturgy and music have distinctly Filipino flavor expressing the experience of the past, appreciation of the present, and hope for the future. Among the local church singing groups that have been notably appreciated are the Pinole UMC Singing Ensemble and the Melrose UMC Spiritual Image.

The latter has been invited to sing in local churches, civic gatherings, and musical concerts including performances during 2004 and 2008 General Conferences (Global Gathering) of the United Methodist Church. The Spiritual Image also sang in concerts in the Philippines and Myanmar.

In the sphere of social justice, in 2006, a group of Filipino pastors and lay people brought to the attention and action of the Annual Conference in session the spate of extra-judicial killings in the Philippines targeting journalists, civic leaders, human rights activists, clergy and church lay leaders. The response of the Conference was the creation of the Philippine Pastoral and Solidarity Task Force, who in partnership with the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP), made its first solidarity trip in 2007. The then presiding Bishop, Bishop Beverly Shamana, led the first team of sixteen (16) clergy and lay persons. The first team and all the teams that since made the trip had face to face meetings with families and other survivors of victims of extra-judicial killings, abductions, harassments, and torture. The team also met with government and military officials, most notably, the Chief Justice of the Philippine Supreme Court, Reynato Puno, a United Methodist. From this initial trip, a DVD and Study

Guide on human rights issue in the Philippines were made and distributed to United Methodist Churches in California and Nevada. Bishop Warner Brown, the current resident bishop, has also made the solidarity visit with the task force in a recent year. The latest solidarity trip was made in July 2013. Participants in the on-going program have become advocates for justice bringing backstories of injustice to the United States and the international community. The National Council of Churches in the Philippines and other human rights advocates in the Philippines have been urging the members of the Task Force and the whole Annual Conference to help in pressing both the Philippine Government and the National

Democratic Front to continue the peace talks and eventually end the more than thirty years war of insurgency.

Volunteers in Mission is another area where Filipino AmericanUMCs are actively involved. The most notable is the Medical Mission that visits the Philippines yearly and partners with some Philippine medical practitioners to provide healthcare assistance to the poor.

To continue the work done in the formation of new congregations and revitalization of existing ones, the Annual Conference Session in June 2009 approved the creation of a Committee to focus on this program ministry. The Conference Committee on Filipino American Ministry (CCFAM) was created and mandated to grow a strong sense of unity among Filipinos, develop a sense of mission and ministry, celebrate and enhance Filipino cultural roots and values, fully engaged and support NAFAUM (National Association of Filipino American United Methodists) And PAGLAGO, the national Filipino program for church growth and development.

The previous paragraphs provide some clues on where the ministry of and among Filipinos in California Nevada Annual Conference is headed and what may be the shape and contour of that ministry.

Currently, there are twenty seven (27) active and retired clergy in the California Nevada Annual conference

1.Jeannelle Ablola

2.Bener Agtarap

3.Leonard Autajay

4.Mark Buenafe

5.Paul Cabotaje

6.Alex Cambe

7.Felicisimo Cao

8.Arturo Capuli

9.Arnel Clemente

10.Ruth O. Cortez

11.Winston Cruz

12.Estan Cueto

13.Elmar de Ocera

14.Wilson de Ocera

15.Deborah Dillon

16.Elpidio Estolas

17.Romeo Gunzon

18.Rodrigo Estrada

19.Reynaldo Letana

20.Edilberto Lubiano

21.David Rodriguez

22.Emil Sazon

23Benoni Silva-Netto

24 Dante Simon

25.Florante Tangonan

26.Tony Ubalde

27.Romeo Velasco

The Road of Paradise

It’s all too sudden; shocked, grieving, frozen in a moment of “what just happened?”. I think that I am alone when I say that I am not ready. I’m not ready to stop talking about the good old days with the trustees. I’m not ready to stop thinking that if I need someone to work with wood, I know just who to call. I’m not ready to stop bracing myself for an argument at the men’s breakfast. I’m not ready to stop hearing the large, loud, bearded man talk about “the situation.” I’m not ready to stop being cared for and thought of by a travelling grandpa that always kept his friends in mind when he stopped at the fruit stand with the sweetest corn in the valley. I’m not ready to say goodbye to Richard Conrad; are you?

Once again, God has laid out a life before me that makes me feel so lucky – all I have to do is participate. It occurred to me that I should visit the Conrad house because the men at the breakfast meeting were concerned about their friend Richard. What a magical day. Richard was in good spirits because the medicine that he was given dried up some of the excess fluid around his heart that was making every motion difficult. He was excited that there was marked recovery in his energy. It was this day that I began to learn about the 62 year journey that has been the shared life of Jeannine & Richard.

It all began like a chapter torn right from the pages of John Stienbeck’s, “Grapes of Wrath.” Jeannine’s family was on the move. It was 1947 and pa was a United Brethren preacher in search of a permanent pulpit. The family had answered a call from California and decided to head for Paradise. In Paradise, California there was a United Brethren Church that was looking for a preacher. Little did anyone know that the road of paradise would wind and turn in such beautiful ways. I am sure that a car packed with every possession in this family’s world and the whole loving, struggling, restless, anxious clan would be like a spring loaded jack-in-the-box, daring to burst with energy at every bump and turn in the road. A journey like that is probably more fun to remember than it was to experience.

Paradise couldn’t hold on to Jeannine’s family, so they kept to what they knew – they stayed on the road. The road is not such a bad place. That’s why I call it the “Road of Paradise.” Who says that Paradise is a destination? Jeannine’s family landed in Reedley next. The church there was a little bigger and Jeannine’s preaching pa would find a perch for a time. That’s where Richard joined the journey. He wasn’t much for church in those days but some friends told him that the preacher’s daughter might make the whole adventure worth a look/see. That was seventy-three years ago. I guess those friends were right. 

Richard was a farm boy; helping his family who grew grapes and stone fruit. As “luck” would have it, Richard had a taste for adventure. He went to college just to find a little direction. Someone suggested that when he graduated he might consider teaching. It was moments like this that would define Richard – he was known for his “I can do that; why not?” attitude. All he had to do was hit the road (the Road of Paradise). A college was growing in the Imperial Valley (it was a junior college – a great way to narrow the gap of privilege). It was here that a career began; but more importantly, Richard built a relationship with a senior faculty member. It wasn’t long before that senior faculty member was enticed into starting a new college at the Fair Grounds of Merced and needed help from someone with a can do attitude. The Road calls and the Conrad’s answered once again.

It was the early sixties; I think that was the “miracle grow” decade. Everything grew in the sixties; churches were busting out at the seams, neighborhoods were sprouting like weeds, service clubs became a necessity because people needed a venue to spend all the pent up power of volunteerism and benevolence. What the world needed was builders, action people, planners/workers that could bring a vision to life.

 I think the road took a few laps around Merced (thank God). The college was built; temporarily at first. Then, it was built again at its permanent home on Yosemite Avenue. The College would need a stadium; guess who supported his family by building the stadium in his “spare time”? The college was going to need to produce knowledgeable tradesmen for all of this building. Richard would build a department that taught Ag science, welding, mechanics, electronics, engineering, carpentry and more. By the eighties, the college was going to need to join the computer age. Richard would take on the learning curve and start the college’s first course on computer added drafting. Curves were no problem. I think if you told Richard that the Road of Paradise had a lot of curves, he would remind you that the curves are the exciting part.

I was so happy to hear Jeannine tell me that Richard’s retirement lasted more than twenty years. They still had a lot of road to travel. The road was always travelled with friends. They would find their way to Panama; explore the wilderness of Alaska, and journey by train to the performance Mecca of Branson, Missouri. Hobbies popped up everywhere. Jeannine and Richard golfed together four or five days a week. It would never surprise Jeannine to find herself on a strange road, looking for signs, winding through neighborhoods; just to find that beyond the next curve was another golf course. Richard liked guns; so, he built his own musket. Richard was amazed by the craft of needlepoint; so, he set to learning and ultimately created a piece of art worthy of framing. Is it any wonder that Jeannine lights up like a Christmas tree when she remembers the Road of Paradise? What a gift.

I am not ready to say anything like” last words” for Richard, but maybe we can say the words written by John Stienbeck –  the words of Preacher Casy at the burial of Grampa Joad in The Grapes of Wrath – This here ol’ man jus’ lived a life and jus’ died out of it.  I don’ know whether he was good or bad, but that don’ matter much.  He was alive, an’ that’s what matters.  An’ now he’s dead, an’ that don’ matter.  Heard a fella tell a poem one time, an’ he says, “All that lives is holy.”  Got to thinkin’, and purty soon it means more than the words says.  An’ I wouldn’ pray for an old fella that’s dead.  He’s awright.  He got a job to do, but it’s all laid out for 'im, an’ there’s on’y one way to do it.  But us, we got a job to do, and they’s a thousan’ ways, an’ we don’ know which one to take.  An’ if I was to pray, it’d be for the folks that don’ know which way to turn.  Grampa here, he got the easy straight.  An’ now cover ‘im up an’ let ‘im get to his work.

Enjoy the Road of Paradise.

Enjoy God,

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Bishop Moves

It was posted on the Reconciling Ministries Network that the United Methodists have been holding the tension about the validation and valuation of the homosexual identity since the General Conference of 1976. Faithful people on all sides of the issues have worked diligently to create respectful space for the people of our church to disagree in love. These efforts included a proposal to claim publicly that United Methodists disagree on the issues of Homosexuality in the church. What could be truer? Is it not a loving act to recognize a minority opinion exists? Where are we on the issue of loving one another? As the church votes grow more conservative, owing to our willingness to expand globally, compassion would demand the recognition of the cries for justice from a significant minority voice. Instead, the power hand at General Conference in 2012 decided to vote down even the notion of disagreement within our church divided. 

Can silence be demanded by committee? The action history of the Council of Bishops in the United Methodist Church would suggest, yes (until recently). Since 1976, it has been difficult to detect support for the cause of full inclusion from the office of bishop. The council has been united in silence, allowing the tension to work itself out within the church’s body. Maybe the wisdom of this tactic has come into question in light of the lack of compassion demonstrated in the last General Conference. Suddenly, bishops are taking action and making statements that state; even more publically than a phrase in the Book of Discipline would, our church does in fact disagree on this issue. As a reconciling community of faith, the United Methodist Church of Merced can celebrate the response from our bishops. I always celebrate when church can be loving, compassionate and responsive to the voices at the margin. A similar example happened at the California Nevada Annual Conference in 2009. The regional church body was voting with overpowering voice to make statements that uphold the dignity of the GLBT community. When our sisters and brothers from the other side of the issue wanted to declare dissent, the majority voice itself voted to bring the issue back to discussion so that voices on the margin would not be stifled by power.

Bishops move: I am glad to say. Bishops in our church have taken action and made statements that give voice back to a heartbroken body of faithful United Methodists. First a decision was made by Bishop Talbert to accept an invitation to marry Bobby Prince and Joe Openshaw in Birmingham, Alabama (I for one appreciate the choice of venue – Birmingham is where Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was jailed for demonstrating civil disobedience and called out the clergy in the area for the sin of their silence in the face of injustice). Wanting to maintain calm face of unity, the council of Bishops formally requested that Bishop Talbert decline this action. Then, instead of the council legislating silence, Bishop Mary Ann Swenson wrote a letter of dissent about the Council’s decision to sanction Bishop Talbert. You can read her beautiful remarks here.

http://www.rmnblog.org/2013/10/bishop-mary-ann-swenson-writes-dissent-on-council-birmingham-statement.html

The movement continues when Bishop Talbert follows through with his decision to conduct the marriage. These are Bishop Talbert’s words in explanation, “I am fully aware of the role of bishops in The United Methodist Church, but I am reminded that the role of a bishop is not only to do certain things for the church, it has the responsibility to do some things to the church.” I deeply appreciate the notion of bishops that “do” even more than the notion that bishops “Unite”. You can read the story of the “doing” of Bishop Talbert here.

http://umcconnections.org/2013/10/26/bishop-talbert-performs-alabama-wedding-two-men/

 This “doing” is new, but it is a new reason for hope in a community that has experience far too much silencing and rejection in our churches. I personally feel uplifted and encouraged in the ministry at UMC Merced by the moves of these bishops.  My heart breaks for the millions of GLBT people that have stood wounded and traumatized by our struggle to church. We can be a voice of hope. We can take actions in loving relationship. And now, we can stand with our bishops.

Below are a few words of hope that I was able to deliver to the Lambda Club at UC Merced this week. I was invited through our churches PFLAG relationships to speak to the GLBT community at the University about “Homosexuality and the Bible.” I was warned by the leaders of this group that the community has been hurt very deeply by this topic. I was told that I should be ready for people to walk out and/or disengage. Still, I thought that it was important for me to say words that would stand counter to the meta-narrative of our culture out loud and in public.

I am Pastor George Bennett. I am here today at Jack’s invitation, to talk about the bible.  I am going to speak about biblical truth. I know that hearing those words can be like fingernails on a chalk board to this community. I promise that I am not here to pour salt in wounds. I am here to challenge the narrative that has caused the wounds in the first place.  I wear this stole as a symbol of the pledges that I have made to God, to my community, and to myself. This stole reminds me that I am committed to speaking well of God, and speak well of the gospel.  The rainbows on this stole remind me that I am committed to delivering Gods message of love without excluding anybody’s identity. We have a saying in our community, “all means all.”

To give you a point of reference, I would like to locate myself socially in my own words. I am an opposite gender-oriented, European- American, gender- amenable male. Even though my identity, like everyone else’s, is one that I cannot change; I would like to admit that the privilege that I have experienced in my life over this identity is an embarrassment to my community, to my faith community, to my church, and to myself in many ways that I will cover soon.

I am currently serving the community of Merced as the Senior Pastor of the United Methodist Church of Merced (Yosemite Prkwy & Laurel). We are a reconciling community of faith; open & affirming – not a community that just says welcome, we can fix you; but a community that says you are created and cherished just the way you are). I have had the unique privilege of having a seminary education at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, CA – the only seminary in the world with a College for Lesbian & Gay Studies) – where the faculty immerses itself and the students in alternative theologies and critical thinking.

Let me explain how I got started on this path. Like many of you, I was baptized. I was eight days old and my family’s tradition was that babies would be welcomed into the community of faith almost immediately after they were welcomed into the world. Everybody loves these moments. Family member’s generations deep gather to celebrate. The church family jockeys for position to hold the new baby. It would be cute if I smiled. It would be cute if I cried. Nothing about me that day would get in the way of people that wanted to show me love. On days like this, I think God celebrates because connections are being made, support is being offered, it is plain and simple an environment of love.

The story of being embraced by a faith community is not unique. I share this story with millions of people; even many or most of you. In this day and age, our stories begin to separate when it come to the point in our lives when we begin to lean into and live out the identities that we are created with. There are all sorts of levels of awareness about this point in our lives.  You certainly have yours. How many times have people attempted to show compassion by asking you, “When did you know…?” I confess, I have done this myself. We ask this person who is risking deeper relationship with us, “when did you know about…(your identity).” We ask this like we are going to identify the point of trauma in a person’s life. Unfortunately, we think that the trauma occurred when s/he found out about their identity and we couldn’t be more wrong. If we want to be able to identify the point of trauma, we would need to ask a different question entirely. Maybe it would be a question like this,

“When did you know…When did you know that we wouldn’t love you? When did you know that the promises that we made at your baptism would be taken back? When did you know that we would try to convince you that even God can’t love you.” “When did you know…”

We don’t ask these questions because these questions challenge our faith and our actions rather than pointing the figure outward. We don’t ask these questions because we are afraid we are wrong and we don’t want to pay the price for being wrong.

So what we do is build a case for ourselves. It’s only natural. We look for ways to claim the high ground, to take authority, and to establish that our fears, our biases, and our systems for protecting our points of view are justifiable. This is not right. In most people’s cases it is not even intentional. So many of us spend our lives going with the flow; and before we know it, we are incorporated into a narrative that hurts people in the deepest of ways. Part of the case building is done by influencing people to agree with us. Part of the case building is using important books like the bible, the torah, or the koran to show that religion and tradition are in our corner. But all of this case-building is an injustice and to be silent in the face of injustice is to be complicit.

I believe that “the closet” is not a place that GLBT people created out of shame; not even a place that GLBT people created for protection. I believe that “the closet” is a prison created by the case builders. Quoting verses from Leviticus…slap a board on the closet. Co-opting the story of Sodom and Gomorrah…slap a board on the closet. Belittle someone’s identity…slap another board. Take steps to “heal someone” – because you believe that their identity is unlovable…pound in some nails. The gospel is the story of how Jesus is setting the prisoners free. To speak well of God and speak well of the gospel, I need to let you know that the bible is not the obstacle to love and healthy communities. We can’t let people say that their interpretation is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. We can’t believe that the interpretation of a case-builder is the voice of God.

So I brought a helpful document with me that was created by a justice minded group called Soul Force in 1998. I have actually met and worked with some of the members of Soul Force, and they have justice and resistance experiences that go back to the times of the equal rights demonstrations.

Let’s go over some of these points together… (this link is the document we finally discussed)

http://soulforce.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/whatthebiblesays.pdf

 

I am Thankful for the invitation from the Lambda club, for the fact that the group was actively engaged in the conversation, for the support of Jamie Bradley who accompanied me, for the United Methodist Church of Merced that calls me pastor, for bishops that lead by example, and for God who empowers us and calls us to love one another.

Enjoy God,

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