Dear friends:
Thanks to [those] who wrote commending me for taking part in the arrest at the church trial (United Methodist) of Jimmy Creech at Grand Island, Nebraska. Rev. Mel White and Soulforce had planned this with the city of Grand Island, so that the whole thing was more or less a formality.
We merely walked across the street and paid the costs and fine, after waiting in a dark hall for over half an hour. I am told that I was the most senior (translate oldest) person "arrested." But you must realize that there were three types of involvement. The hardest was perhaps doing an hour vigil outside the church in the middle of the night. My niece from Lincoln did that. The church at Grand Island treated us so well. Waiting in the afternoon sun for the punishment would have been a picnic, enjoying one another, children coloring in the shade, going into the church parlor for veggies and dip, had it not been for the anxiety of the announcement.
Then, 74 of us were "arrested," and I put that in quotes. I have friends who have done jail time for civil disobedience. Then there were dozens of others who stood outside the church and were not taken across the street and fined.
I am glad to see you UM people talking about this. We at First Church in Omaha now have the daunting task of taking on the decision to become a Reconciling Congregation. We have gone thru the education part. On Mondays I like to go to the Detroit News and read Deb Price's column. She is a Christian lesbian who persuaded her paper to include acolumn on gay rights. It is detroitnews.com.
Thanks to everybody. Victoria |
