Here’s the deal. We’re hypocrites. We’re hypocrites if we act on the side of grace and unconditional love on behalf of straight people and yet make a point not to do that for our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters. The vast majority of our population is straight (or at least straight-leaning bisexuals) – with only 5-8% of the population being gay or lesbian. You know what it’s called when the majority of the population allows the members of the majority to do something but then don’t allow a minority group to do it? It’s called scape-goating.
A group of over 800 United Methodists in New York and Connecticut today announced their intention to make weddings available to all people, gay and straight, in spite of their denomination’s ban on gay marriage.
"I had an idea that churches were trying to please everybody; that in their desire to welcome everybody, which I think is a positive thing, they’re trying not to offend anybody, but the consequence of that is that they’re not taking a stand on something that is very important. When I looked at the Methodist guidelines (on homosexuality) it was completely what I’d imagined about where churches were trying to be because it had all of this wonderful language about the mysteries of sexuality, about welcoming gay people, about how everyone is loved by God. And then one paragraph later it says that no self-avowed practicing homosexual can be ordained into the ministry and that it’s incompatible with Christian teaching. So it’s a very mixed message. That mixed message was the heart of the cultural question I wanted to explore."
— Laura Lee talks about her book Angel on the Christ Enlight podcast. Listen to the full interview here.
Activists for LGBT equality within the United Methodist Church are meeting in Ohio this weekend to make plans to challenge church policy on homosexuality and same-sex marriage.
At the Baltimore-Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church last weekend, a groundbreaking same-sex marriage resolution was narrowly approved.
According to the Washington Post, the resolution, which was passed at the church’s annual local conference, means the church’s Book of Discipline would now have to be amended “to allow pastors to perform same-sex marriages and ceremonies in member churches in jurisdictions where legislatures already have approved gay marriage laws, such as the District.”
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The Reconciling Ministries program in the United Methodist Church encourages and cultivates leadership among laypeople. An itinerant pastor’s beliefs may not be in line with the congregation’s; lay leadership also increases ownership of the process. So when a UM congregation adopts a “reconciling statement,” this comes from an effort within the congregation, not something imposed on it.
But as important as it is for a congregation to express its welcome to all people, in the UMC we do not ordain “self-avowed, practicing homosexuals”—and our clergy are not allowed to officiate at same-sex weddings, civil unions or commitment ceremonies.
That’s increasingly difficult for me to bear.
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-Bromleigh McCleneghan in The Christian Century
P.S. I love the name Bromleigh McCleneghan
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