A Divided United Methodist Church


church dividedGrace and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. That’s what we need right now, a whole lot of grace and peace. For the most part I don’t preach on divisive political issues, even ones on which I hold strong views (you may not know for instance that I am a pretty strong pacifist). I’d prefer to preach the Scripture text and let Jesus speak to each one of us wherever we are in our faith. But I feel I should make an exception since you’ve probably read all about this in the news anyway, and may wonder what it all means. As you’ve likely heard, a United Methodist pastor was found guilty of performing the gay marriage of his son, and yesterday was sentenced to a month probation and told to surrender his pastoral credentials before presiding at another gay wedding. You can read the United Methodist Reporter article.

I know for a fact that there are people within our congregation who feel strongly on either side of this debate. Even my own clergy colleagues are not of one mind. I want to be up front with you about my own struggle in taking a position – in fact I might describe my current position as agnostic. I hope that doesn’t anger everyone on both sides! Let me expound on a bit of my agnosticism … (Click here to keep reading)