A friend just bought a retirement house in his home town. Well, it’s not actually a town. It’s a hamlet. Well, it’s not actually a house. It’s a church. And it’s not actually a church. It’s a church building. There is a big difference between a church and a church building, although they often go together. [1]
This church building is big! Been empty for three years but in great shape. He showed us photos. Red brick. Beautiful stained-glass windows. Pleasant surroundings. Knowing we are Methodists, he showed us a photo of the corner stone: M.E. Church South. [2]
Yes, South, the slave denomination. He grew up in a swing state. Some folks there detested slavery. They were of The M.E. Church. Period. Some folks there wanted slavery. They were in the break-away M.E. Church South… of God.
At least, that’s the story Bob Matheny told me. He was a prominent Methodist preacher in Mississippi in the 1960s. Like other preachers there who started saying that it was time for black folks to have the same rights as others, Bob got run out. Richard Raines, the Indiana bishop, operated a sort of underground railroad of his own for those radical preachers, accepting them into The Indiana Conference and appointing them to Hoosier churches.
Anyway, Bob told of the ministerial association meeting in an unnamed Mississippi town. They were introducing themselves. “I’m the preacher of the Assembly of God.” “I’m the preacher at the Cleveland Tennessee Church of God.” “I’m the preacher at the Anderson, Indiana Church of God.” [3] When it came the turn of the Methodist, he didn’t want to be left out, so declared, “I’m the preacher at The Methodist Episcopal Church South of God.”
The M.E. Church South was formed in 1845 when the M.E. Church split over the issue of slavery, much as The United Methodist Church is splitting now over the issue of homosexuality. Are black folks fellow Christians even though they were born black? Are gay folks fellow Christians even though they were born gay? The new anti-Negro M.E. Church South quoted the Bible to show that black folks were unacceptable The new anti-gay Global Methodist Church quotes the Bible to show that gay folks are unacceptable. Same split. Same Bible. Just different differences.
My friend is gay. He will have a lovely retirement in a building erected by people who thought folks born different should be kept out of that building. That’s neat.
Even neater is the way the building is built. He explained to us that the sanctuary has two floors. A flat one below, and a tilted one above for the pews. My imagination immediately went into gear…
…that M.E. Church South was fooling its neighbors. It put that “South” on its corner stone as a red herring. They built those floors much farther apart than the plans called for. Secretly the people of that church were hiding run-away slaves between those floors, as part of the underground railroad.
There is no evidence of that, except my imagination, but it’s too good a story not to write. Or at least imagine…
John Robert McFarland
1] My late, great Academy of Parish Clergy colleague, Kim Egolf-Fox, always corrected me, gently, when I said “church” when I meant “church building.” I miss Kim, but his influence lives on.
2] M.E. stands for Methodist Episcopal. Episcopal simply means “with bishops,” unlike The Methodist Protestant Church denomination, which believed in Wesleyan theology and Methodist methods but did not believe in bishops. Episcopoi is the Greek word for bishop. Episcopos is the Latin.
3] Since there are two “Church
of God” denominations, they are always cited according to the place of their
origin and college/theological school.
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