Sitting in church this afternoon for a funeral of a gay friend… 

Light in this space is absolutely stunning…

streams sometimes, like now… and

other times glows and grows slowly 

taking off the cloak from darkness.

The outer cloak covering disgrace, shame…

lifted in this celebration… a beginning

of removal altogether from the dark reality of

denial of full acceptance of all people.

A hero for me today is the associate pastor who declared in his eloquent, beautiful eulogy that our gay mutual friend, now deceased, and all people regardless of sexual orientation, should not be denied full participation in all ceremonies offered by the church to its members and to the wider community.  The minister affirmed the validity of love and commitment to mutual care of our friend and his partner.  

The minister today didn’t violate church law by officiating at a gay funeral, but he would be in jeopardy of losing his pastor’s credentials if he officiated at a gay wedding.  He is a brave man of honor and integrity, so I am confident that if he is asked to officiate in their wedding by a gay couple who declare their love for each other, he will do it. The risk for him is real. First United Methodist Church in San Diego where he is one of five full-time pastors accepts gay and lesbian members and does not make acknowledgment of heterosexual orientation a condition of employment.  The San Diego church, however, is a member of the 1,000-member General Conference which officially reaffirmed at its last worldwide meeting in 2012 it’s rejection of homosexuality as “incompatible with Christian teaching,” the language which was written forty years ago into the church’s  Book of Discipline. Clergy who perform same-sex unions risk punishment ranging from a reprimand to suspension to defrocking. Newspapers all across America are publishing an Associated Press report that a Methodist pastor faces ecclesiastical trial for officiating at his son’s gay wedding.  The trial is set to begin November 18 in Spring City, Pennsylvania. 

Hundreds of Methodist pastors, declaring that they are charged to minister to all people regardless of who they are and what they are, have publicly rejected the church’s doctrine regarding homosexuality as described in the Book of Discipline. Clearly the matter will not be resolved soon, so in the meantime pastors have permission to bury gay people but not to marry them. They may legally under church law administer other sacraments to gay people and presumably will continue to accept gladly for the church all financial contributions of LGBT members.