Between Sundays
Dear Calvary Family,
As your new senior pastor, now just a couple months into this journey with you, I’ve been listening deeply. Listening to your hopes, your stories, your questions, your convictions. I’ve also been walking alongside our Reconciling Team, current administrative leadership, and many of you in individual and group conversations about Calvary Frederick’s long path of discernment around becoming a Reconciling Congregation.
This conversation isn’t new here. In fact, it has spanned more than a decade, with more organized steps taken in recent years to explore what it would mean for Calvary to officially align with the Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN) of the United Methodist Church.
In light of the 2024 General Conference, where our denomination voted to remove language in the Book of Discipline that labeled homosexuality “incompatible with Christian teaching,” and allowed ordination and marriage decisions to be made at the discretion of clergy and conferences, it might seem like this issue is “settled.”
But I want to lovingly suggest that it isn’t. At least, not in the way that matters most.
The General Conference addressed institutional policies. What we are doing here at Calvary Frederick is soul work.
Where We Are
In February, about 100 of you completed a survey. You were asked two questions:
- How would you feel about your church performing same-sex marriages?
- How would you feel about Calvary formally adopting a Reconciling Statement and becoming a Reconciling Church?
The first question has essentially been answered by the General Conference, those decisions are now fully up to the discretion of the officiating pastor, which includes me as your appointed clergy.
But the second question? That’s the one still before us.
The survey revealed a 2/3 majority in favor of becoming a Reconciling Church and 1/3 not in favor.
As we move toward a final vote by the end of this year, my deepest pastoral hope is that we could be unified, 100% in support of whatever next faithful steps God is calling this church to take. I know that may not be realistic. But I do believe it is possible for us to walk this road together in grace, in love, and in mutual respect.
That’s why we’ve begun Listening Sessions this month.
This past Sunday, our first session focused not on convincing one another, but on understanding one another, especially those who may not support this step. The conversation was honest, compassionate, and a powerful reminder that Calvary is a place where hard conversations can be had in holy ways.
We have two more sessions scheduled:
- This Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.
- Next Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. during our Pastor’s Bible Study time
If you are someone who falls into that 1/3 who holds hesitation, concern, or simply feels unsure, I want to hear from you. These sessions are not debates. They are spaces for listening. If those times don’t work, please reach out to me personally. I am always available to sit down with you.
For Those Who Missed the August 17th Sermon: “The Bearing”
Due to technical difficulties, many of you were unable to hear my sermon that Sunday. It was titled “The Bearing”, rooted in Philippians 1:3–11. Paul, writing from prison, speaks not of despair but of joy and hope. He writes:
“This is my prayer: that your love may overflow more and more in knowledge and depth of insight…”
Paul speaks of a love that is overflowing, not shallow or sentimental, but wise, discerning, and generous. This love doesn’t stay within the church walls. It spills outward. It bears fruit.
We’ve spent weeks this summer talking about seeds, how they’re planted, watered, and tended. But eventually, those seeds are meant to bear. And fruit, by its nature, is meant to be shared.
Bearing Fruit in a Reconciling Way
Our discernment about becoming a Reconciling Congregation is, at its heart, about what kind of fruit we want to bear as a church.
Do we want to offer fruit that is reserved, cautious, and comfortable?
Or are we willing to offer fruit that is abundant, inclusive, and life-giving to those who have been told they don’t belong?
This is not a theoretical exercise. For many of us, this is personal. We know and love people who have been wounded by the church. People who have questioned whether there is a place for them in God’s house. People for whom this conversation is not abstract but deeply connected to their own belovedness.
As I said in the sermon: when you know someone who has been told, “You don’t belong,” the call to bear the fruit of love becomes not just theological, it becomes urgent.
A Safe Place to Bear Fruit
I asked that Sunday: Can you remember a time or place when you were safe to be fully yourself?
Where you didn’t have to hide your questions, your identity, your story?
That kind of space is sacred. And it is rare.
Our children, youth, elders, and neighbors need a church like that.
Let’s be that church.
Let’s be a church where all are welcome to bring their whole selves into the presence of God. Where diversity is not just tolerated but celebrated. Where we bear fruit, not just sweet fruit, but fruit that is courageous, nourishing, and rooted in overflowing love.
The Invitation
So, here’s my invitation this week:
- If you’ve already made up your mind, keep praying. Keep listening.
- If you feel uncertain or uneasy, please come to a listening session.
- If you are in the 1/3, your voice matters deeply to me. I am committed to walking alongside you, not pushing past you.
As we prepare for a congregational vote later this year, we do so not to win or lose, but to discern. Discern the fruit we are called to bear. Discern what kind of witness we want to offer the world.
And through it all, my prayer echoes Paul’s:
“That your love may overflow more and more in knowledge and depth of insight… to the glory and praise of God.”
Until Sunday, and all the days between,
Dr. Hutton