We recently visited our daughter in Portland, Oregon, where we attended First United Methodist Church, which posts a reconciling banner on the lawn in a rose garden. The worship leader welcomed everyone, shared a few announcements, and commented about persons in the legislatures from the congregation who were involved in the passage of a law making same-sex marriage legal.
The service continued with prayer joys and concerns. The pastor in his prayer included those in the congregation needing prayer as well as eloquently expressing joy that all persons can be joined in marriage.
I sat in my pew proud to be a United Methodist in those moments when a pastor and lay leader of a local church honored a law passed to legalize same-sex marriage in Oregon. I thought how I will probably never witness the same declaration in the church I attend in the Midwest, where there is talk of The United Methodist Church splitting over same-sex marriage.
Different pews, different churches, different places in the United States .......when will we be one?
Jacquie Reed,
Indiana
No comments:
Post a Comment