In the excitement of Obama's historic victory, comes the pain of realizing that my birth state so badly wants to turn its back on folks who are just like so many others in wanting to gain the glory of a love relationship that is affirmed by others; denying that such a relationship is legal; denying that the covenant expressed in the public setting of a church is preferred over folks just having serial "living together" points in their lives (which is what our state will now declare).
As I feared that Florida might go 60% in making unconstitutional "Gay Marriages," I began to speculate on what my role might be as a UMC pastor--who is prohibited by our church rules from even conducting a ceremony that celebrates homosexual unions--whether I should even continue being an agent of the state in performing state-sanctioned marriages?
Gaye and I laid in bed several hours last night anquishing over the pain of such a state that relegates living, breathing, intelligient, productive, and caring persons who usually are living full lives thrust upon them by God's divine accumulation of genes and environment into sub-human folks, who, by some perspective of "what the bible teaches" places them outside the pale of God's love and grace. I can't believe that in our nation that such a religious perspective can legally be thrust into a state constitution. I pray that a US Supreme Court will one day honor that First Amendment right that says a religious belief dressed up to look non-religious will fail to pass the test.
In the interim, I plan to undertake a historical search for the role of clergy in becoming the agents of the state in sanctioning and performing state-licensed marriages, seriously consider the prostitution of my ordination in being such an agent of the state, and make a public statement of such inappropriateness. What I am contemplating is that what I do in church, through my action as an ordained minister is strictly a religious ceremony of marriage and that I refuse to do that part of a wedding that authorizes the licensing of a union as civilly authorized.
In other words, I am honored to be the pastor in my church conducting and celebrating the union of two persons in covenant with each other as fully married in the eyes of God and God's sacred church (currently my position as being a United Methodist pastor prohibits those two persons from being in a "homosexual" union) but I will not allow my church ordination status to be corrupted as an agent of the "state." I will do a religious marriage within the church; I will not do the civil licensing union that the state requires for the union of one man and one woman to be recognized as marriage. They will need an agent of the state to obtain that, not from me as a "called-out and ordained" follower and disciple of Jesus Christ.
I obviously need quite a bit of prayer and study prior to taking this step and I request your thoughts, prayers, and insights on these matters. I recently became aware of a UMC pastor who has taken a different step and so, I wanted to share with you her story as follows:
Activist Rev. Still Performing Gay Marriages
by Santa Monica Mirror
Reverend Janet McKeithen, the leader of the interfaith Church in Ocean Park, continues the Church’s activist tradition by her insistence on officiating at gay marriage ceremonies in defiance of the United Methodist Church’s official doctrine.
Reverend McKeithen cites her Church’s main focus as helping its congregants grow spiritually, while engaging in community activism. Sandy Richards, the Church’s former leader, was frequently seen on the picket lines during the Living Wage battles. The Church was also involved in the formation of Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights (SMRR) and the Ocean Park Community Center. The Mirror spoke at length with Reverend McKeithen, a kind and soft-spoken woman who prefers to be addressed as Janet, about the stand she has taken on gay marriage, and how that stand is, in her strong opinion, in line with Christ’s Biblical teachings on tolerance and compassion. Special Focus: The Rev. Janet McKeithen Story
In the photo on the right, Rev. Janet McKeithen of the Church in Ocean Park signs the marriage license for Jennifer Seat and Stacy Stoldt, a couple who traveled from Chicago to be married in her church.
I have not always been a part of the United Methodist Church or any church. I have sampled many spiritual traditions during my life, and have now been a United Methodist minister for 24 years. My choice to become a United Methodist minister was very intentional. While serving as a staff member of the Sierra Service Project in its early days, I was a part of an aspect of the church that I could relate to. We were allowing God to work through us to make a difference in people’s lives. We didn’t preach to them. We didn’t expect them to become Christian, yet we were the hands and feet of God in working with Native American families to make their homes a little more comfortable. The words of Tex Evans, founder of the Sierra Service Project, were pivotal in my faith journey, when he said, “We go to people right where they are, just the way they are, with no strings attached!!” That means unconditionally loving people, not loving them into becoming something other than they are. It means loving all of who they are, and providing hospitality to all people. This United Methodist Church made sense to me.
The United Methodist Church has a history of standing in solidarity with the oppressed and working to set them free. The United Methodist Church is a place of healing and nurture and discovery. Through UMCOR, it was the first one to take care of people in many disaster situations. It was out in front during much of the Civil Rights movement and the 100 year old Social Creed is incredible. The United Methodist Church understands that Jesus was always fair-minded and would never impose a different set of standards on one particular group. He repeatedly chose to be with the religious outcasts of his time. The people he heartily criticized were the self-righteous religious leaders who excluded lepers, women, people with disabilities and others from the community. The focus of Jesus' life and death was on the marginalized, those on the edges of society.
Many compassionate and dedicated Christians who are gay face intense pain and internal hatred because they have been told by the church that something is wrong with them. Most of these people are not in the church. They will not be in the church. We will not reach them with God’s love or anything else. They are staying away in droves because instead of offering love and a place of hospitality we have created a very frightening and unwelcome place.
Jesus focused on bringing Good News to people, not bad news. And it is bad news when you tell people that the creator who created them as they are despises who they are! I can tell you, that kind of God does not exist. I am sure of it.
I attended part of General Conference this year for the first time. I witnessed painful decisions and hurtful language from the floor. Although I realized that this is what has happened at General Conference for many years, I had never experienced it first-hand. I was sickened. This is the church that I know stands for justice and love and compassion. This is the church that I know and love speaking and acting in incredibly unloving ways. This is a church that seemed to me to not understand the pain it was causing.
One of the hopeful things about the UMC is that it discerns God’s call through scripture, tradition, reason and experience, and can change when its errors are brought to light. It has happened before and it can happen again. And we have made incredible progress and are on our way. But, we cannot wait four more years, and four more years after that. There are people whose lives are at stake. There are people who believe that God despises who they are. There are parts of the church that condemn the GLBT community loudly and clearly. Those of us who experience Jesus in a more inclusive way are so silent as to not even be on their wavelength. That is not okay. God does not despise what God created! There are lives at stake. We cannot continue to be silent!
