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Keeping faith
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by Foon Rhee The Table, a church in East Sacramento, displays banners welcoming the LGBQT community and promoting Black Lives Matter.
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I’m glad that my local church is choosing tolerance and diversity over an awfully narrow and antiquated view of the gospel. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen a few years back. When I first arrived in Sacramento in 2010, I most often went to Fremont Presbyterian Church. But in October 2011, the congregation voted to leave the national denomination, which had decided to allow the ordination of openly gay clergy. After I left Fremont, I attended a storefront church in Midtown until I found The Table at Central United Methodist Church a couple of years ago. Like many believers, my faith journey has had many twists and turns, stops and starts. When I first came to Faith is personal and religion is local, or at America in fourth grade, my parents sent me to least it should be. a church around the corner. I still have the Bible I’m reminded of that with the soulpresented by the Sunday school class at Sunset searching that I and other United Methodists Hills Christian Church in Raleigh, N.C. must do now. After falling away from organized The co-pastor at the church I go religion from middle school to in East Sacramento reassured through college and early the congregation that no matter adulthood, I returned to what the national denominaWhen churches are the fold in my mid-30s as tion did, we would still be I sought more meaning losing members in open to all gender identities in my life. At Davidson and sexual orientations. droves, why would you United Methodist Church Two days later, on in North Carolina, I tell anyone in our diverse February 26, delegates worked with its Habitat from around the world at a nation that they are for Humanity chapter. special session in St. Louis not welcome? Though my construction of the United Methodist skills were limited to some Church voted 438-384 to hammering and painting, I keep and strengthen a ban on led a house project—raising the same-sex marriages and openly gay money, organizing volunteers and ministers. showing up every Saturday morning for nearly How does that keep with the United a year. That’s my proudest accomplishment— Methodist motto: “Open hearts, open minds, not anything in journalism. open doors?” And when mainline denominations Nowadays, I don’t show up at Sunday are losing members in droves, why would you services as often as I should. But when I do, tell anyone in our diverse nation that they are not it’s valuable time for reflection—of how far I welcome? am from the more patient, more generous, more With the vote, some more progressive forgiving person I want to be. congregations may split from the national And once in a while, there are moments United Methodist Church, the nation’s second of discernment. Last fall, I was sitting in the largest Protestant denomination with 7 million pews when I decided to seek this job as a way members. The decision is opposed by the bishop to become more committed to this community. of the California-Nevada conference, which It’s not the first time I’ve felt called. As includes nearly 80,000 members in more than with so much else in my life, I thank God for 370 congregations. that. Ω Photo by Foon Rhee
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