NEWSLETTER OF RECONCILING MINISTRIES NETWORK
KATALYST VOL. 26 NO. 4
WWW.RMNETWORK.ORG
Seeing Beyond By Rachel Harvey Fall is my favorite season…and wardrobe. From the vibrant colors of mums that often grace the steps of homes and churches, to the sounds of leaves crunching beneath my feet. I love the smell of apples baking into pies and the taste of apple butter on toast. I look forward to the soft landing a pile of leaves provides and the solid seat of a hay bale on a hayride…I love it all! As I think back about my experiences of fall, I realized that even the parts I’m not so fond of hold a memory of things I love. While I remember waiting all evening at an auction to get the best price on a flat of mums, I also remember the joy my brother and I had impersonating the auctioneer. The hours we spent raking leaves after school balanced out when we’d take breaks to jump in the huge piles we’d created. Now that my Nana has passed and my mom lives hundreds of miles away I treasure the hours spent peeling apples and rolling dough for pies consumed in one sitting. I had to think long and hard to find some part of baling hay that I enjoyed, I’m not fond of sweating, lifting heavy, scratchy, awkward rectangles…but I do love community. As much as I fought the activity, baling hay was a way our family came together and the meals we shared after a long day in the barn provided a deep communion that held us together for a long time. Continued on Page 6
AUTUMN, 2009
I’ve Needed You By Rev. Troy Plummer “Why didn’t I know about you? I’ve needed you.” This oft heard refrain— as folks discover Reconciling— engenders hope for the new one who has found longed-for community and challenge to those of us who seek to make sure no one is left out of Christ’s inclusive church. Word of mouth is great. It has the highest rate of engaging new persons in the life of our church and movement. The new Believe Out Loud campaign celebrates RMN’s 25 years of ministry. It both strengthens local work for inclusion in Annual Conference teams and builds the larger movement for equality. It is built on the wisdom of knowing we change when we know one another. It is organized, intentional grassroots word of mouth at its finest! Yet, there are tens of thousands of United Methodists longing to hear of God’s inclusive love for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender folk
in their home church. Some will be lucky enough to hear from one of you what it means to be involved in reconciling work. Others will keep praying for that connection still unaware of this vital faith movement of inclusive United Methodists. Even as we celebrated at Justice and Joy, we knew we needed to come down from the mountaintop and keep doing the valuable one-on-one work spreading the word and to also find new ways to reach more of those who are in need. I’m so excited our blogging and Facebook communities are thriving. Additionally, I’m looking forward with great anticipation to a new web tutorial and introductory curriculum coming out in 2010. Maybe we can make it “viral”— word of mouth keeps redefining itself. Tens of thousands are still longing to hear. Who will bring the word to them? That’s you and me and all of us together…The fields are ready for the harvest.
Opening Worship at Justice & Joy. More photographs from Convo on pages 4-7.
Autumn 2009 • Katalyst | 1