Church #22: First United Methodist Church of Evanston (2024)

I was particularly excited to visit this church. This is the church where I was baptized, where I went to nursery school, where my parents met my godparents, and where my family attended church until we moved to St. Louis when I was in fifth grade.

This church is a bit out of the area where I want to explore, but I thought it important to include this church on my list.

When I first arrived in Evanston, I was confused. The sanctuary was locked. Then I saw people entering the Tittle Chapel next door. (The chapel is named after Dr. Ernest Fremont Tittle, the church’s minister from 1918 to 1949.) That was incredibly disappointing since the only reason I went was to once again see the sanctuary. I asked someone afterwards why we were in the chapel instead of the sanctuary and was told that in warm weather they do not conduct services in the sanctuary because it does not have air conditioning. So that explains that.

First, let’s explore the history of this church.

The First Church, as it is referred to, was founded in 1854 and was the first church in Evanston. It was started by the same Methodists who founded the town of Evanston as well as Northwestern University.

Initially, church members met in a log cabin and then in 1856, they moved to “the White Frame Church.” By 1872, they had outgrown that building and moved to “the Church with the Spire.” Unfortunately, in 1909 the church had to be torn down because its spire was unstable and in danger of collapsing. Its replacement, designed by a member of the congregation, was completed in 1911 and is the church that stands today. I cannot find any information specifically about when the chapel was built, so I assume it was around the same time.

As a side note, one of the most famous members of the church was Francis Willard (1839-1898), an activist in the temperance, labor reform, and women’s suffrage movements. The church also hosted both Martin Luther King, Jr. and Martin Luther King, Sr. as guest preachers. On May 19, 1963, a month after he had been released from the Birmingham jail (an experience that led to his famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”), MLK, Jr. preached at the church in a celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation.

A quote that I found from his sermon, which was focused on challenging the congregation on whether or not they were good neighbors that I particularly liked was the following:

“It is impossible to love other persons adequately without loving ourselves properly. We cannot all be doctors or lawyers, but all work has dignity if it contributes to the welfare of humanity. If you sweep streets, then sweep streets as Shakespeare wrote poetry."

Yes.

This church in particular has been part of a larger conflict among the Methodists that first erupted decades ago.

To start, in 1968, the Methodist Church and the Evangelical Brethren Church merged into what today is called the United Methodist Church. And from the very beginning of this merger, disagreements over sanctity of marriage and the qualifications of ordained ministry emerged.

The United Methodist Church has followed what is called the Book of Discipline; originally published in 1784, it outlines the doctrine of the church and is periodically amended during the meeting of the church’s General Conference.

In terms of the controversial issue of sexuality, in 1972, the General Conference added a statement that hom*osexuals were people of sacred worth, but it also added that the practice of hom*osexuality was incompatible with the church’s teachings.

In 1976, same-sex marriage was banned in the church.

Then in 1984, hom*osexuals were banned from being ordained. Also in 1984, the Reconciling Ministries Network was formed as a “faith-based response to institutionalized hom*ophobia braided into the fabric of The United Methodist Church.”

Here is a bit about that group, coming from their website:

Our Focus

See Also

The Creator God is the source of true justiceOne creator—one human familyNew Louisiana law requiring classrooms to display Ten Commandments churns old political conflictsCharlie Kirk once pushed a 'secular worldview.' Now he's fighting to make America Christian again.

Reconciling Ministries Network celebrates that LGBTQ+ persons are a good expression of God’s diverse creation and exists to advocate for the affirmation of all of God’s children in the Church and the world.

Our Mission

Reconciling Ministries Network is committed to intersectional justice across and beyond the United Methodist connection, working for the full participation of all LGBTQ+ people throughout the life and leadership of the Church.

Our Vision

Reconciling Ministries Network envisions a transformed Church that ensures justice, equity, and dignity for all of God’s children in their diverse intersecting identities.

In 1988, clergy in the church were forbidden to perform same-sex weddings.

Then in 2019, the traditional position of the church regarding LGBTQ+ issues was affirmed, and the church decided to allow individual churches who disagreed to leave the United Methodist Church. This resulted in about a quarter of the churches to leave. But also, more and more UMC affiliated churches simply ignored the Book of Discipline doctrine.

But by 2022, traditional Methodist congregations could see that they were going to lose the fight regarding forbidding LGBTQ ministers and same-sex marriages within those churches. So they formed the conservative Global Methodist Church (GMC).

This website of the GMC has a useful chart explaining the differences between the UMC and the GMC:

• The mission of the church in the UMC is to “make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world,” whereas in the GMC it is to “make disciples of Jesus Christ who worship passionately, love extravagantly, and witness boldly.”

• Bishops provide leadership in both denominations but there are some differences. In the UMC, bishops are elected for life by the jurisdictional conference. In the GMC, they have term limits and the process for election has not yet been determined. In both denominations, the bishops’ salaries and benefits are set by the general church, but in the UMC they are paid through a general church apportionment while in the GMC they are paid from the annual conference budget. Bishops are considered an employee of the GMC annual conference.

• The educational requirements for pastors have some differences in that the GMC does not require a seminary degree to be ordained as an elder or deacon, but there is a lengthy list of required courses that could be fulfilled with a seminary degree.

• The UMC teaching on human sexuality affirms the sacred worth of all people and states that hom*osexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching. The GMC says human sexuality is a gift of God to be exercised only between a man and woman with the covenant of marriage and gender is defined at birth.

As a result of this split, at the May 2024 UMC General Conference, which did not include those conservative churches, voted to remove the language prohibiting pastors from performing same-sex marriages. It also voted to allow the ordination of LGBTQ+ people as pastors in the UMC.

The First United Methodist Church of Evanston is not only a part of the UMC, but it is also a member of the Reconciling Ministries Network, which will become fairly obvious as I relate my visit to its Sunday service.

When I first arrived, there were very few people in the chapel, which made me think that maybe they also meet in the chapel because the congregation is so small. But eventually, the room filled up. Maybe there were 75 or so people there. But why is it so often the case that so many people arrive after the service starts? The congregation was also pretty elderly.

The chapel was not only small, but it also wasn’t in very good condition. Portable air conditioners lined the walls at the end of the pews. And there appeared to be quite a bit of water damage on the stone walls and ceiling. It was pretty distracting!

When things started, two women came out of a side door and went to the altar. There was no procession. One of the women looked like a 15-year-old boy in a polo shirt and men’s pants. Turns out that her name is Britt Cox. In her bio, Cox describes herself as “a lifelong United Methodist and a mystic by choice.” Huh? The bio also lists five reasons the church chose her as an associate pastor. The third reason is her “[c]ommitment and passion for social justice, antiracism work and lgbtqia+ inclusion with the UMC” (more on that later!). We also find out on the church’s website that she is married to a woman, and they live with their French bulldog (and that she is a foodie and loves nature, story-sharing, and snorkeling).

The other woman was Grace Imathiu, who is from Kenya. She had her hair in gray and black dreadlocks, and she wore a long dress that looked like a potato sack (ugh - sorry).

Every few pews, a notebook sat near the center aisle. We were asked to each fill out a sheet in the notebook and to pass it along the pew and to the pews around us. When it came back, we were told to read what others filled out and then introduce ourselves. I really did not want them to have my contact information. But if I passed it back down the pew, everyone would know that I didn’t fill it out. So when my pew wasn't looking, I just passed it to the woman behind me. The woman next to me later asked if I filled it out. I told her I sure did! And that I passed it behind me. Hmmm. Lying in church. Probably not good!

The Gospel Reading was from Matthew 9:9-26

9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.

10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

14 Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” 15 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast. 16 No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. 17 Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

18 While he was saying this, a synagogue leader came and knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.” 19 Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.

20 Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 21 She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.”

22 Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment.

23 When Jesus entered the synagogue leader’s house and saw the noisy crowd and people playing pipes, 24 he said, “Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him. 25 After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. 26 News of this spread through all that region.

Next came the sermon, which was given by the Kenyan woman, Grace Imathiu. As of this point in the service, she had not participated at all. She walked up to the lectern and went straight into her message, with no greeting or intro. She was very difficult to hear. Her voice was so quiet, but I am not sure if that was because of problems with the microphone due to just terrible acoustics in the chapel. Plus, she had a heavy accent, making it even more difficult. I really struggled and felt like even with my heightened, focused attention only caught every other word. Her delivery was also strangely robotic, completely void of any personality.

She began with a summary of the Gospel reading. But the modern day examples that she used throughout were jarring and seemed out of place. For example, she compared the Last Supper to a Pride Parade Meal. Huh? I don’t even know what a Pride Parade Meal is. And I simply cannot figure out the points of comparison. But ok.

In the reading, a man’s daughter dies.He goes to the synagogue to ask Jesus for help. Jesus follows the man as he leads him back to his daughter. The pastor said, “Jesus follows the man like he was his GPS.” Honestly, what in the world?? Who does she think she’s appealing to using similes like this??

Back to the story. On way to see the daughter, Jesus passes a woman who has been bleeding for twelve years. The text doesn’t tell us why she is bleeding. But not to fear. The pastor has an idea: “Maybe an abusive husband punched her in the nose.”

At this point, I don’t even know what to say. As a literature professor for many years, interpreting stories with students, the one rule was that every interpretation had to be supported by the text. Where in the world is she coming to the conclusion that the woman was punched in the nose, ostensibly, no doubt, by some man demonstrating toxic masculinity? Talk about inserting an agenda. Wow.

When the bleeding woman touches the edge of Jesus’s cloak, she is healed. And when he holds the hand of the dead daughter, she rises up, alive.

The pastor then went on to discuss that the original passage was written in Greek. This is the type of sermon I look forward to. I love learning about the impact translations have on a text. And since the Bible is arguably the most impactful text in history, I find the issues of translation fascinating.

She explained that in the King James Bible version, the passage states, “And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment.”

In other translations, she explains, the woman’s condition is described in the following ways: a hemorrhage, a flow of blood, been bleeding, suffered from bleeding, had a bloody flux, discharge of blood, severe bleeding, chronic bleeding, disease of blood, sickness that made her bleed, flow of blood, troubled. (I know this isn't a parallel construction, but this is how she listed translations…)

I find it interesting that none of these translations provide any indication that she had an abusive husband.

I also find it interesting that she never discussed the original Greek word that was used.

Moving on to a new topic, she explained, that the setting of this passage is the empire. We should note, she reminds us, that Jesus lives on the edges. Any tyrannical system cannot tolerate when people say, “It doesn’t have to be this way.” And Jesus’s stories are all about “It doesn’t have to be this way.”

(This was a bizarre transition. I’m not sure how this is related to the bleeding woman and dead daughter.)

The pastor went on to explain what the empire looks like today. Success, she said, means seven cars, having the right color skin, being the right gender. And depression means failure.

I know I am probably being more harsh on this pastor than probably any other that I have listened to, but some of the things she said just made me shake my head.

The pastor then went through many stories in the Bible showing that “It doesn’t have to be this way.” She kept repeating this phrase very poetically, mimicking Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

For example, when Jesus meets Matthew, he works for the empire. Jesus says “Follow me,” and Matthew is courageous and says yes. He leaves security and comfort, which takes courage. We need to do the same, she told us. We have to redefine success, redefine how we spend our money and time.

She also criticized the Southern Baptists for continuing to expand restrictions on women in leadership roles, including becoming preachers. (Again, this seemed to be a random point…)

Next, she told a story from when she was preaching in Africa about this same passage. A woman in the congregation raised her hand and asked, “Did you say it was a little girl that was saved by Jesus?” She couldn’t believe that Jesus would humiliate himself for a girl.

The pastor then went on to tell the congregation that the woman in the Bible who was bleeding had been forced to choose between food and health. And the story is the same today.

Nothing that I heard in the passage that was read in church gave me any indication that this was true. That the woman had to choose between food and health. Of course, I’m not an expert, and perhaps this is indicated somewhere else. But after spending some time searching the Internet, I could not find anything indicating this to be true. In fact, I also found that nearly all of the interpretations of the bleeding indicated that the woman most likely had menorrhagia, which is a prolonged, heavy menstruation. At the time, a menstruating woman was considered “unclean,” and by touching Jesus’s cloak, she would have made Jesus unclean also. This makes a lot more sense to me than the idea that she was punched by a man and didn’t stop bleeding…

Finally, she relayed that at a recent Race against Hatred a homeless man was upset because the public restrooms were locked. She wanted us to understand that locking those restrooms is dehumanizing. No one is advocating for the homeless man.

And in conclusion, the empire, the pastor preaches, convinces us that we can do nothing about gun violence and homelessness. “It doesn’t have to be this way.”

This was probably the most political sermon I have heard to this point. And one of the most disorganized.

The only other point I want to make about the service is that Pastor Cox gave the petitions (prayers). She couldn’t have had less energy when she read them. The bizarre part was that most of them had to do with summer. For example, “We pray for people for whom summer is hard.” Or “We pray for people who suffer when it is hot.”

The organ played as the congregation emptied the church. Throughout the service, the organ and the choir were up in a loft in the back. This final song on the organ after the service was filled with fire and brimstone (which seems to often be the case!).

I do have a couple of final thoughts about my visit to this church.

For one, I attended on Father’s Day. However, there was not a single acknowledgement that it was indeed Father’s Day. That seemed so strange to me. Why would there not be a word about dads or a mention of celebrating dads? That makes no sense. And so rude. But this clearly feels like a very “feminist” (anti-man?) church.

The other note I want to make has to do with what happened at the end of the service. I had made the decision that I was going to ask someone if I could possibly peek into the sanctuary.

As I walked out of the chapel, I saw that Cox was at a folding table serving drinks in paper cups (not sure what they were) and offering cupcakes. I also saw another woman who wore a button that read, “Ask Me.”

So I asked her: “Would it be possible to take a peek inside the sanctuary?”

The answer was a clear dismissal: “No.”

She told me I would have to come back some other time.

I told her that was disappointing because I had come that day specifically to see the sanctuary. I explained that I was baptized at this church, went to nursery school here, and hadn’t been back since our family left in the fifth grade.

She smiled at me and said, “Oh! But nope. Sorry.”

I was shocked. And upset.

She further explained that the front office woman was busy and that people were currently decorating the sanctuary for an event. She could not, nor could she ask someone to, take me to the door to peek inside.

I pleaded my case one more time and was faced with a cold stare.

I walked away and was overcome with the need to cry. My eyes welled up, and if I had allowed it, I would have had quite a good cry session. But I was meeting someone for lunch after that, and I didn’t want to mess up my makeup (haha). So I did my best to hold it in, which of course made my throat hurt.

I was surprised I had such an emotional response to being turned down. I guess because inside the chapel, so many women were clearly trying hard to make me feel welcome and trying to engage me in conversation.

During the service, a woman sitting next to me, Bonnie, asked me, “Have I met you? Is this your first time here?”

When I said yes, she continued, “I’ve been here a long time - it’s a great church. Do you live nearby?” etc. And at the end of the service, a woman behind me made sure to talk to me: “Is this your first time here?”

And of course, there was the “Ask Me” button.

But the one thing that would have actually made me feel like they cared and that they welcomed me would have been to take a moment and let me peek into the sanctuary. And I was so carelessly dismissed. It felt like a big “f*ck you.” I will not be back. I will never go back to see that sanctuary another time. I no longer care.