The upcoming “Hearts on Fire” Reconciling Convocation, to be held September 2 to 5 at Lake Junaluska, has sparked a bit of controversy, both locally and across the nation. This 8th annual meeting of the United Methodist Reconciling Ministries Network will bring together more than 400 persons from at least 37 states and the District of Columbia for four days of worship, study, training and inspiration. The RMN, which is made up of both gay and straight persons, is “a national grassroots organization that exists to enable full participation of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities in the life of the United Methodist Church, both in policy and practice.” Founded in 1984, it has spawned the Parents’ Reconciling Network, Reconciling Ministries Clergy, United Methodists of Color, and the student movement, MOSAIC.

I belong to the RMN and plan to attend the convocation for the following reasons:

· I believe that God is still at work in the world creating and reconciling. Speaking through the prophet Isaiah, who was predicting a return from exile more wonderful than the liberation from Egyptian bondage, God says, “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth; do you not perceive it (43:18-19)?” Opening our eyes to the spiritual gifts that homosexual persons bring to our church and society is one of the “new things” God is currently doing in our midst. I’ll be at “Hearts on Fire” to see God at work.

· I believe that when Jesus defied the legalism of the Pharisees by healing and plucking grain on the sabbath, saying “the sabbath was made for humans, not humans for the sabbath” (Mark 2:27), this was a manifesto of the freedom he brings from bondage to all legalisms – including those in Leviticus that ban eating ham and shrimp (11:7,10) and same-sex relationships (18:22), and those of Paul that prohibit women from speaking in church (1 Corinthians 14:34), demand subservience of wife to husband (Ephesians 5:32) and subject to ruler (Romans 7), and identify same-sex relationships as “unnatural” (Romans 1:26-27). Law erects barriers; love opens the doors. I’ll be at “Hearts on Fire” to experience the collapse of barriers and the opening of doors.

· I believe that, were Paul writing today, he would add, “There is neither gay nor straight” to this statement: “There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). In this proclamation of inclusiveness, Paul was contending with the chief obstacles to full participation of his day. The RMN is addressing today’s major obstruction – heterosexism. I expect to find both gay and straight – “one in Christ Jesus” – worshiping together around the same altar at “Hearts on Fire.”

· I believe with Methodism’s founder, John Wesley, that “if your heart is right, as my heart is right, give me your hand.” Many devout, committed gay Christians, some of whom are my friends and colleagues and all of whom have “hearts that are right,” will be present at “Hearts on Fire.” I intend to be there to give them my hand.

· I believe that the slogan “Open Hearts, Open Hands, Open Doors,” adopted by the United Methodist General Conference, means what it says. For the Junaluska Assembly to have turned away fellow United Methodists from meeting on their grounds would have been a hypocritical violation of this widely-circulated statement. For them to be receiving “hate mail sent in the name of Jesus” for this faithful act of hospitality is deplorable. I will participate in “Hearts on Fire” to help make good on this pledge of openness. As one bumper sticker puts it, “I’m straight, but not narrow.”

· When the apostles were brought before the Sanhedrin for proclaiming a new gospel of freedom and grace, the more conservative priests wanted to kill them. But a wise old Pharisee named Gamaliel warned, “Men of Israel, take care what you do to these men….Let them alone; for if…this undertaking is of men, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God” (Acts 5:35, 38-39). Persons opposed to “Hearts on Fire” might do well to heed these words.