View from the Pew
A look inside Hawaii's houses of worshipBy Mary Adamski
When Sunday-schooler Emily Igoshi shared her perfect memorization of a scriptural verse at the beginning of last week's service at First Christian Church, she didn't realize it also set the theme of the day. Small church
welcomes gay peopleThe Rev. Vaughn Beckman used that passage from St. Paul's letter to the Galatians -- "You are no longer Jew or Greek, no longer slave or free, no longer male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" -- later in remarks to underscore the church's stand as an "open and affirming" congregation.
In the insider shorthand among Protestant denominations, the expression indicates that homosexuals are welcome. It is a significant title among the many national religious organizations whose members have struggled and even split in recent years over acceptance of homosexuals -- as ministers, as couples seeking church blessing of their union, as people whose sexual expression is condemned as grievous sin by some Christians.
The theme was carried in the hymns of the day. A verse in "They'll Know We Are Christians" asserts "we will work with each other, we will work side by side, we'll guard each one's dignity and save each one's pride ... and they'll know we are Christians by our love."
It was echoed by special speakers to whom Beckman gave the microphone.
Hawaii Civil Rights Commission investigator Wayne Akana said the law won't allow discrimination in employment based on sexual orientation, but landlords are under no such restriction.
Carolyn Golojuch, president of Parents, Friends and Families of Lesbians & Gays, told the congregation that their choice to be affirming of gays is rare among churches and ensures that the church "is truly your refuge, your haven of peace and joy."
Beckman said it was one of a series of "theme" Sundays in which he set aside the seasonal lectionary of scriptural readings. Members' questions set the agenda for programs about applying God's word to justice issues, war and struggles in the world, the environment, the relationship of sin to sickness.
Tomorrow the role of women will be the topic at the 10:45 a.m. service at 1516 Kewalo St.
Inclusion is not a new subject at the Makiki church, which is affiliated with the Disciples of Christ, a denomination with a history of involvement in social-justice causes. Congregation members voted in the 1990s to be "open and affirming."
Their affirmation has been brought into the active voice since the arrival of the new senior pastor nine months ago. Beckman comes with an activist history from San Jose, Calif., where he was most recently executive director of the Council of Churches of Santa Clara County. For that group "I pulled together 53 affirming congregations, including some non-Christians, into an alliance of welcoming ministries." He was selected recently as one of seven directors of a national Welcoming Ministries project with 10 Protestant denominations.
Beckman started up a chapter of Gay, Lesbian and Affirming Disciples, which meets at the church after the service on the first Sunday each month. He is on the national board of the organization.
The church was also the site of a post-Sept. 11 discussion group about Muslim and Arab understanding. That has segued into a monthly meeting of a new local chapter of Friends of Sabeel, which aims to educate people about justice issues in the Palestinian territories.
The First Christian Church membership is small -- about 75 -- and only 30 people attended Sunday due, Beckman said, to the Korean-language members being at a church picnic. The congregation included senior citizens, families with young children and some pairs of men. The small size made for a very personal service, with murmurs and interjections from the pews as individuals' prayer petitions were spoken.
"I feel acceptance. It's a real open congregation where you're free to let your hair down," said Bob Delawder. He and Chris Lee have attended for a couple of months. "We have felt judged by the churches we grew up with," he said.
Beckman said only seven churches on Oahu have specifically voted to welcome homosexuals as members. Others may believe they are open, but he compared them to people who supported the civil rights movement in a remote fashion. "We had to name the black Americans. ... We must state it clearly, that we are there with them."
The other options churches choose are either "to ignore they exist, a religious closeting," or to "tell them they are damned and going to hell. For these churches this becomes more significant than any other sin."
"This condemnation is not biblical; it is not spiritual; it does not reflect the love of Christ in our lives," Beckman told the audience. "We are commanded to teach Jesus' message. Are not the gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual community our neighbors?"
Beckman's journey as a minister, from a conservative seminary through struggle with his own sexual orientation, is told in a profile appearing this month in the quarterly Open Hands magazine. He was ordained in the Disciples of Christ in 1994. Santa Clara County gave him a Unity in Diversity award in 1998 for his involvement in numerous community programs.
When the Makiki congregation called him to be pastor, it was fully aware that it was selecting a gay man, he said.
"When a church votes to be affirming and open, it does several things," he said. "It lets a group of people who feel very wounded by church now feel they are accepted. When you don't say them specifically, they will think you don't mean them.
"It also empowers a congregation when they face a question, 'Do we mean it seriously?' and make a decision."
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Mary Adamski covers religion for the Star-Bulletin.
Email her at madamski@starbulletin.com.
