National Tent Day, May 13, is an observance that calls attention to inclusion in The UMC.
KAY DEMOSS
Senior Editor-Writer, Michigan Area
For over 40 years United Methodists have debated the topic of human sexuality. At General Conference 2016 that debate continues to be a central topic of discussion. Throughout every hallway of the Oregon Convention Center in Portland OR, delegates and observers representing a broad expanse of perspectives, spend hours attempting to persuade others to share their point of view.
Outside the convention center, delegates are greeting each morning with handbills, buttons and pins. Over breaks and meals, small groups of delegates can be seen huddled together discussing the intricacies of legislation calling for changes to church doctrine on human sexuality.
What is clear is that there is a divide on where the church needs to go for the next four years and beyond.
Near a statue of Dr. Martin Luther King, outside the convention center, a clergyman from the West Michigan Conference, Rev. Mike Tupper, has pitched a tent on the lawn to protest the denomination’s position on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and questioning (LGBTQ) persons.
Tupper, who has garnered media attention across the country for sleeping in a tent for the past 168 straight days, commented. “For most of those nights I have been alone. Tonight there will be two others in the tent with me.” One of those persons will be Frank Schaefer, the other his son, Tim.
Schaefer, now serving in the California-Pacific Conference, like Tupper, is an advocate for full inclusion of LGBTQ persons in The United Methodist Church. Both officiated at same-sex weddings of their children, one of a daughter (Tupper) and the other of a son (Schaefer).
Concern for persons like his daughter, Sarah, being “pushed out and left in the cold by discriminatory policies of The United Methodist Church,” led to Tupper’s symbolic act. He then expanded his personal calling to declare a National Tent Day, inviting others to sleep outside home or church on May 13. He encourages prayer focused on the voting that the General Conference delegates will engage in around LGBTQ issues.
During today’s mid-day rally, Tupper told the story of his journey with his daughter and LGBTQ community to a crowd of 100 persons. When asked if he believed what he is doing will make a difference at General Conference, he answered, “Everyone I talk to says there’s no chance for change. We are still closer to Good Friday than we are to Easter but Easter is coming. God can bring new life.”
An open invitation was made to Michigan delegates to offer their perspective on this sensitive debate.
Rev. Laurie Haller, Clergy Delegate for the West Michigan Conference reflected, “We open the doors of our churches when we realize that each person in this world bears the image of God. We open the doors when we open our own hearts to the bountiful grace of Jesus Christ for us and for all. We open the doors when we humbly confess our blindness, our prejudices and our reluctance to welcome different expressions of faith and practice. We open the doors when we refuse to make assumptions or form opinions about others without getting to know them. We open the doors when each one of us decides that rather than being a doorkeeper (Psalm 84:10), we will be a doorstop, ensuring that the doors will never close again.”
Detroit Clergy Delegate, Rev. Matt Hook, says, “Perhaps we should not just open our doors but actually go OUT through our doors with the message of the Gospel.”
With another week still left in General Conference and legislative committees still perfecting petitions around these issues for action on the floor next week, it remains to be seen where the 2016 General Conference will take this 40+ year debate.
Last Updated on December 15, 2023