As reported on Towleroad, Methodist clergy in New York and Connecticut will ignore their church’s stand on same sex marriage and begin performing marriage ceremonies for homosexual couples. The clergy have the backing of many of their congregation, who also stand “in defiance of the denomination’s ban, to support same-sex marriage.”
These individuals defend their stand, as stated on their website Methodists In New Directions (MIND), by quoting from Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,”Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
King’s astute observations about racial inequality stand true today for inequality for homosexuals, and MIND wholeheartedly agrees:
Yet injustice continues to threaten us, in the United States and in the United Methodist Church. The recognition of the full humanity, sacred worth, and equal rights of gay and lesbian people is crucial to the civil rights struggle of our time. Gay, lesbian, and straight United Methodist laity and clergy are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. The continuing denial of full access to all the rights and privileges of church membership in the United Methodist Church is causing deep spiritual harm to our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters and is a threat to us all.
To prove their dedication to true equality, members of MIND made the following declaration:
Pastoral care and the sacraments and rituals of the church are means of grace by which the lives of all Christians are blessed by God. Therefore we, as congregations and as individual laypersons and clergy, declare our commitment to offer such means of grace to all persons on an equal basis. We refuse to discriminate against any of God’s children and pledge to make marriage equality a lived reality within the New York Annual Conference, regardless of sexual orientation or gender expression.
Afterwards, they then asked all the clergy and laity, who support this pledge to sign the document. To view the full list of signers, click here. (The list is pleasantly long.)
To see such proclamations by church leaders fills me with hope. It’s nice to read that there are church officials who recognize the inequality endorsed by many churches and who are willing to make a stand against prejudice and ignorance, even if it means opposing their own leaders.
People in New York and Connecticut should be proud of their Methodist Church leaders.
