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Our Spirit DAVID CRUMM: Shattered chalice becomes a symbol for Methodists Leaders' division over homosexuality painful May 7, 2004 BY DAVID CRUMM FREE PRESS COLUMNIST When a communion chalice was smashed on the floor of a worldwide gathering of United Methodist leaders in Pittsburgh this week, hundreds of bishops, pastors and laypeople were shocked. The hours leading up to this explosive moment had laid bare the church's deep divisions over whether to accept or condemn gay and lesbian members. In the debate, the Rev. James Preston, a delegate from Rockford, Ill., hadagonized over the stern voices of antigay delegates, including one man who angrily declared that gay people are bound for hell. Preston kept thinking about a close relative back home who is gay. As his church voted to maintain its strict condemnation of homosexuality, he felt the verbal assaults on homosexuality as attacks on his family. Near the end of a communion service, the central symbol of unity in Christianity, Preston felt a powerful impulse to step toward the altar, raise an empty ceramic chalice high above his head and then open his fingers. What happened after the gut-wrenching crash, however, turned this act of desperation into one of the few symbols of hope in a global gathering that, by Thursday, had broken down into calls for schism. Former Michigan Bishop Donald Ott witnessed Preston's act and transformed it with a simple response: The bishop silently stooped and gathered up some of the broken pieces, which had shot off in a hundred directions. "I was shocked," said Ott, "but I thought: How true this was to what we all were experiencing. The body of Christ was broken. I felt a strong instinct to pick up those pieces, to place them back on the altar and even to save one piece to remember this." Soon, others followed. The Rev. Trey Hall of Glenview, Ill., also has gay relatives and now carries with him a tiny chip from the rim of the cup. "What's happened here is so painful," Hall said. "This small piece is such a perfect symbol of that. I'll keep it and reflect on it, I'm sure, for the rest of my life." Michael Mumme, a seminarian at the Candler School of Theology in Atlanta who hopes to be ordained in several years, said he was shocked "that something so sacred was broken in front of us." But there also seemed to be a profound truth in the broken chalice, he said. "This was a symbol of our failure to live up to Christ's call to love everyone. And, I knelt down, too. I plan to carry a piece with me as a reminder that God calls everyone to come to the table." The chalice was broken on Tuesday and, by Wednesday, a new chapter in the chalice's story emerged. It turned out that the chalice belonged to Barbara Day Miller of Atlanta, who leads music at the conference. As word of Miller's personal loss spread through the 1,000 delegates, several people came to see her. "They came to me at different times," she said. "Each one said, 'I'm a potter. May I make a new chalice for you?' And that's where I see a symbol of healing. There are people we don't even know who are waiting out there, ready to make new chalices for us. I told each one, 'Yes, please.' " On Thursday, as evangelicals launched an effort to split the church, Ott said his shard suddenly took on a new meaning. "Now, I just hope that, if we separate, I live long enough to come to the conference when we reunite, and I can return my piece to the altar," he said.

Copyright © 2004 Detroit Free Press Inc. All rights reserved.

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