Posted on: Saturday, May 8, 2004

Hawai'i delegates support unity

By Mary Kaye Ritz
Advertiser Religion & Ethics Writer

The local delegates to the national Methodists' assembly support unity of the church, said Barbara Grace Ripple, superintendent for Hawai'i, though they also were dealing with the divisive issue of homosexuality and the church.

"In Hawai'i, we're also struggling with the issue," said Ripple speaking from Pittsburgh, where she is attending the gathering as an observer.

Back home, people in the pews watched the controversy unfold with interest.

Naty Lagaso, a member of Aldersgate United Methodist, said she is accepting of homosexual clergy, but expects to be in the minority. "For me, our United Methodist Church is a very accepting church and we want to welcome everyone as an equal child of God," she said.

At one time, blacks and women also faced the struggles that gays and lesbians are facing today, Lagaso said.

"They are also people of God and need to be treated and accepted as equally as me," she said. "Why should they not be accepted by God as servants of God?"

While Ripple predicted all three Hawai'i delegates voted for unity in the face of a split by an evangelical group, the votes, which are not open-ballot, may not have been so easy to predict when it came to ordaining openly gay clergy.

Hawai'i was represented by one pastor, the Rev. Tom Choi of Kailua United Methodist, and two lay members of Trinity United Methodist.

Hawai'i is part of the California-Pacific district, which was allowed 10 delegates.

Choi in Pittsburgh was not available to discuss Hawai'i's reaction to the recent controversy. But back at Hawai'i Trinity, the Rev. Colleen Chun has been keeping up via the Internet.

"It's an ongoing battle that started quite a long time ago," said Chun, pastor at Trinity, who called the controversy over gay ordination "a wedge issue" by a "right-wing evangelical" contingent.

When asked for her reading on the Hawai'i Methodist opinion, she referred to the sermon she was working on for tomorrow's service, based on the passage from Acts 11, 1-18, that has Peter spending time with "unclean" Gentiles:

"It's the question, who am I to hinder God? ... That's the big question. Are we saying no to something that God created? ... I truly think God is telling us to be inclusive of everyone. We can't point fingers, because then we'd have to point at ourselves."

Ripple agreed that the struggles show the wide range of opinion: "How can we come to conclusions we feel are God's will, while at the same time accepting the diversity we bring? This is the struggle."

When it comes to human sexuality, she said, the diversity grows.

"While I have seen headlines that say 'The United Methodist Church condemns homosexuality,' really, 40 percent of us did not. ... Forty percent believe the church should be open and inclusive of all persons, that gender identity should be a private matter. ... "That's one struggle we have. All use and read same the Bible, but (have) different interpretations of what those words mean."