So, here I am, Tampa, 2012, as the General Conference of the United Methodist Church gears up yet again gearing up to debate my life and "decide" if who I am is compatible with Christianity.
It started 47 years ago in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic where I was born and raised in an evangelical family. I could not wait for 6 p.m. on Sundays when we would go to my favorite service, Holy Communion and sing our hearts out.
Everything was picture perfect. I was expected to follow in my father's steps. Prominent Biblical scholar, amazing preacher, distinguished diplomat, educator and politician. My first sermons were delivered with much trembling and received with surprising gratitude and affirmation. I was encouraged in this path and later became a deacon in my congregation.
In the middle of it all, I had my first crush. Pretty natural for a 14 yr old except it was on a classmate... in an all-boys school.
What followed was a private hell of desperate prayers and clever self-imposed mini-programs designed to change myself into who I thought God wanted me to be. There was a program for learning how to "walk like a man", another program to deepen my voice, a program to learn what to do on a date with women (you know, first base, second base, etc.).
Yet, no matter how much I prayed and "practiced," things remained the same. One day, at the end of my rope, asking God to change me, I heard an inner voice that said "OK, but if I take that part out there are other parts that will also need to go." That's when I saw, how everything that I am is linked together, my creativity, my spirituality, my sense of wonder, my kindness. My "gayness" was not an appendage that could be severed; it was integral to my being. In that moment, I experienced the love of God, in a fresh new way. Before then, I knew that God loved people, but at that moment, I knew that God loved me.
On that day I was born again.
Moving to New York brought about a return to the Methodist roots of my grandfather. The "gay" thing was a still a secret but no longer the heavy burden it was in my teen years. Slowly, I came out -- first to close, supportive friends, then to family and eventually to the church.
In the year 2000, I experienced my first General Conference. For some it was a disaster for gay rights, for me it was an exhilarating ride. Leading people in song as we marched on the streets Cleveland, seeing bishops go to jail because of their commitment to gay rights, their commitment to me, was something I never dreamed possible.
The 2004 General Conference in Pittsburgh was a mixed bag, I was a part of the music and worship team which severely limited my witness.
Fort Worth in 2008 was great. I was elected a delegate from New York and was able to speak from the floor of General Conference on behalf of the ordination of gay and lesbians persons (check me out on Youtube). We were so close... the committee brought a recommendation to eliminate discriminatory language but the full house voted it down by a slim margin.
And now, here I am, in Tampa 2012, surrounded by almost a thousand delegates from 125 countries, once again elected to be a delegate from the New York area. We are marking 40 years of exclusion of gay people and arguing about why we are losing members. An hour ago we had "holy conversations" in small groups meant to open dialogue among delegates on this matter. A sister delegate from Sierra Leone said, "I just don't know how to even start speaking about this 'thing.'"
I get it. She has not had the opportunity to see openly gay people in stable relationships, raising children, worshipping together. She does not know parents who are proud of their gay children. The concept of a pastor who is gay is unthinkable to her.
So, what do I hope for in Tampa? It sounds petty and selfish, but primarily I hope to survive it. I hope to be given the inner strength to stay in relationship with people who see no problem in comparing who I am to a thief or a murderer.
But I hope for more. I hope for a miracle of grace, for a moment when God does something we thought impossible.
My mentor, Rev. Pedro Pirón was the last person I came out to. He was just too important to me to risk. I waited until he was retired in Florida and very ill. In his car after hearing me speak the difficult words "I am gay."
He looked at me long and said, "Yoryi, God has called you to be a prophet."
Now I see that it was Rev. Pirón who prophesied that day -- that no one could separate me from the love of God and that be being myself, I can share that love of God with a hurting world.
The church is catching with the Holy Spirit who moves among us and brings life to us all. I pray that no child will ever again wonder if God Loves them because of who they love or how they express their gender. It is time to live into love.
Christopher H. Evans: United Methodists in Tampa: Looking for Scapegoats, Living in Fear
Rev. Malcolm Boyd: America's Least Known Civil Rights Leader
Rev. Gil Caldwell: The United Methodist Church Has Voted to Be Inclusive Before. Can We Do It Again?
My problem is ordaining gay clergy. Methodists don't call ministers the way most Protestant denominations do. Our clergy are appointed, as Catholic bishops and archbishops appoint priests. So, a congregation gets whomever the bishop and the district superintendants feel is best suited. The problem is that sometimes, they get that wrong. I belong to a Methodist church that has desparately wanted a young minister (in his or her 30s with school age children). They keep getting ministers who usually retire from the ministry at the end of the appointment. That's been going on since 1976.
If you have a very conservative congregation, someone who is gay is likely to send members out the door and close the checkbooks.
Ask Noah (as one example) if God gets mad at us mere humans or not. Ask Adam, who blamed the woman, who blamed the snake, who didn't have a leg to stand on. While we are "saved by grace," that is not a blanket permission to sin without repercussion. Are there any perfect humans? No, but the point is that we strive to become better people and that cannot happen if you continue in sin.
Remember that it is not the Christian that opposes homosexuality, it's God who has a problem with it and ignoring this fact unfortunately does not change anything.
What did you Repent of to receive the Holy Ghost?
Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
What "old things" passed away?
I do not agree with your conclusions or theology.
You seem to be a straight talker . So let’s talk straight.
The Christian message is an invitation for all to come, learn and CHANGE.
The message is, a better way, a new birth, a new you.
It is” come as you are”. Not “stay as you are.”.
The Christian Community has had the time to consider the challenges the gay community has presented and most fall on the side of orthodox teaching which is …homosexual acts are a sin.
As more and more people leave the homosexual lifestyle your argument “born that way” falls apart as well as you theology.
The standard of Christian Life as defined by Christ as “Holiness” and there is nothing holy about the gay lifestyle. How do we know? We have read the wittings of those in the forefront of the gay movement and watch what they do.
Marriage as defined by Christ is one man and one woman bound together in Holy Union.
The truth is you like the gay lifestyle and the freedoms they uphold. You have no desire to change and that is your right.
You have no right to impose your position and practices on the Christian Church or UMC in particular.
Find a church that you do agree with.
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It really does not matter if the scripture of your religion (Torah, Bible, Quran, Veda, etc.) labels LGBT behavior as a sin. What matters is the actual teachings of your brand of that religion. So, if the official teaching of the Methodists is homosexual acts are sin, then they are a sin within the Methodist Church. If the United Church of Christ says it is not a sin, then within the UCC, it is not a sin. Arguing across denominations or religions about what is sin makes no sense. If you do not agree with your denomination's teaching, find another denominiation.
However, most people who teach 'homosexuality is sin' do not believe that God loves homosexuals. The combination of your statement and the fact of what people who teach 'homosexuality is sin' say and do, means that people who teach 'homosexuality is sin' are not Christians.
"The Bible is clear regarding homosexuality, it's sin. "
Nope. There is no text in the Bible that declares that homosexuality is a sin.
"If you're living a homosexual lifestyle,"
There is no homosexual lifestyle, and using that phrase as you did is the sin of bearing false witness. If you are living the false witness lifestyle, by making false claims about other people, without repentance, you are in the wrong.
""We intend to challenge homosexuals and heterosexuals to live out the sexual ethics taught in the Scriptures--which encourages full sexual expression between a man and a woman in the context of marriage and prescribes sexual abstinence and purity for everybody else. "
Someone who truly was filled with the Holy Spirit would recognize the inherent injustice and favoritism of this demand. Heterosexuals are allowed sexual, emotional and spiritual intimacy, homosexuals are denied it their entire lives. That is unjust. That is favoritism. That is actually just a way for heterosexuals to make themselves feel special, a way to engage in the sin of pride.
No, but that is a case of bearing false witness, which is sin.
Why is it always homosexuals who are supposed to sacrifice to follow God, even when we testify from our personal experience that the human sacrifice that homophobes demand of us - is neither necessary, nor beneficial to our spiritual relationship with God?
Sacrifice your prejudice, John Camp. The one that cause you to revile our lives by equating our loving relationships, my loving relationship, with stealing and drunkenness and drug abuse? The moment you made that comparison, not only did you sin against me and millions of other GLBTQ people - you destroyed your credibility with us.
We know directly, better than you ever can until you listen to us, that our lives and relationships and intimacy - is nothing like stealing or alcoholism or drug abuse.
ROM 6:2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 1 Corinthian 6:9-10
But, you are have no excuse, as I said, because homosexuality is not like any of the other things on the list. As Sesame Street taught us 'one of these things is not like the others'. But when you accept that flawed translation, you reviled millions of human beings by equating their innate capacity for love and intimacy with stealing and so on.
Oh - and Luther was an anti-semite. Not the best role model these days.
I hope greatly that the General Conference changes it affiliation, allegiance from a book, to the Living Word of God who greeted all as equals to himself. I might rejoin my childhood church if they do, otherwise no way.
Okay let me explain my phrasing a bit for you, when people came to him- he didn’t start with scripture or God says you are a sinner repent first then I will talk and break bread with you (Luke19:1-10). He accepted people where they were, in sin, he usually was successful. See Matt4:18-25. I can go through the rest of your examples of my Lord lording his exulted position above the people. Showing you where he did not in reality, but instead will leave you with one last example supporting my position-Luke7:1-10.
Never accept the lie that once we become His, we are better than when he first found us. We have simply been reborn into new creature-hood, and like all newborns, we start with milk, totally helpless growing slowly into adulthood (Matthew13:1-9). Where once, we get there He expects full return not from out of pride but from humbleness, and earnest effort just as He showed while in life (Matthew25:14-46).
Thank you for your comment. Have a nice day remember to study the books of James, John, and Peter they walked, lived with Him and knew Him.
And the result is that the verses you supply are ones you really, really need to start applying to your belief about GLBTQ people.