c. 1999 Religion News Service

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. _ A jury of 13 United Methodists stripped one of the denomination’s most outspoken ministers of his clergy credentials Wednesday (Nov. 17) after finding him guilty of disobeying church law by presiding at a ceremony of a gay couple in Chapel Hill, N.C., last April.

The Rev. Jimmy Creech, who made headlines when he was acquitted of a similar charge last year, will now become a lay person in the harshest penalty the denomination has yet meted out for the blessing of a gay union. The verdict sends a clear signal to the 44,000 ministers in the United Methodist Church that the denomination will not tolerate gay unions and will, in effect, fire those who perform them.

Sixty-seven ministers from California and Nevada are currently waiting trial now for jointly performing a ceremony uniting two lesbians in January.

The Creech decision could also have wide-ranging consequences at the denomination’s General Conference _ its highest decision-making body _ in May where the issue of homosexuality will be hotly contested. Various sides have lined up to draft new proposals to include or exclude gays from covenant ceremonies and ordination.

In the short run, it also may lead gay and lesbians and their supporters to find alternative places of worship, though it is unlikely to cause a permanent schism in the 8.5 million-member denomination, Creech and his supporters predicted.

Creech, who presented no defense in the trial while arguing the process was immoral, was visibly moved and teary-eyed when the verdict was announced, though he had anticipated it for months.”Those who love justice and are compassionate and merciful, those who have a vision of Jesus where all are welcomed without favor are injured by this decision today,”he told reporters outside Trinity United Methodist Church, where the trial was held.

Creech said he does not plan to appeal, a continuing sign of his opposition to the entire process.

Conservatives, who feel that gay unions fly in the face of biblical teachings, were careful not to publicly rejoice in the verdict though they were obviously pleased.”I admire Jimmy’s courage of conviction, but I’m dismayed by his arrogance of superiority, believing his stance is more right than the collective wisdom of the church and its traditions,”said John Grenfell, a board member of Good News, an independent evangelical movement within the denomination.

Many United Methodists believe marriage between one man and one woman is part of God’s created order, and is a blessing that cannot be transferred to two men or two women.

Creech, who has disagreed since the mid-1980s, officiated at a ceremony in a ballroom of the Holiday Inn in Grand Island on Tuesday where he renewed the vows of Larry Ellis and Jim Raymer, the two men he united in Chapel Hill. The ceremony was attended by hundreds of gays and lesbians and their supporters who flew in from across the country as part of a gay civil-rights group called”Soulforce.” The same group also held a candlelight vigil outside the church. On the day of the trial, 74 Creech supporters blocked the doors to the church, were arrested by police officers, charged with trespassing and paid a fine of $48 each. There were no forced arrests or violence.

Creech, a 54-year-old North Carolina native, delivered a forceful testimony during the daylong trial. Facing the jurors, he urged them to change the direction of the United Methodist Church by refusing to comply with a church law forbidding its ministers from conducting unions.

He is the first minister in the history of the United Methodist Church, the second-largest Protestant denomination in this country, to be stripped of his ministerial credentials for performing such a union. The Rev. Gregory Dell of Broadway United Methodist Church in Chicago was suspended earlier this year for performing a similar ceremony.

Dell, who sat in the pews Wednesday, said he was dismayed at the outcome.”It’s gone beyond a family dispute when we’re willing to excommunicate those with whom we disagree,”Dell said.”Unless we change the rule, what’s happened to Jimmy today is the destiny of a significant number of us.” Ellis and Raymer, who stood outside the church fighting back tears after the verdict, said they were not looking for publicity when they decided to exchange vows in church. They only wanted to celebrate in word what was already obvious in deed: that they were a couple and they planned to spend the rest of their lives together.

In All Things Charity, one of the groups of United Methodists who support inclusion of gays in the church, responded to the jury’s action by calling it”a travesty of justice and a violation of the integrity of the ministry of the church.”As part of a coalition of three other United Methodist groups, it hopes new policies can be adopted at next year’s General Conference.”We are saddened that during this time _ from today until the session convenes on May 2, 2000 _ the United Methodist Church will continue to inflict grave harm to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered persons through its discriminatory policies and actions,”the group said Thursday in a news release.”We grieve the lost opportunity to witness to God’s love and compassion.”

DEA END SHIMRON