The Wall Street Journal reports on California UMC Clergy marrying same-sex couples and the career risk involved.
WALNUT CREEK, Calif. -- On a Sunday morning last month, the Rev. Eileen Lindsay stood smiling at the front of her California church, sunlight streaming through the stained-glass windows. She was about to sign three couples' marriage licenses, and asked her congregation to join in blessing their unions.
It was a joyous occasion, but for one thing: The act could bar her from preaching in United Methodist churches. That's because the couples were gay.
"Most Holy God," she prayed before the assembled. "Today is a day of lament and a day of thanksgiving." Her congregation of about 100 people, many wearing rainbow pins on their shirts, read from their programs in response: "We confess that we are members of a denomination whose official policies hurt and oppress people."
The California Supreme Court's decision that gay couples can wed went into effect in June, with much national attention on images of happy couples. But it suddenly put religious leaders like Ms. Lindsay in a bind because of their dual duties: They must care for their flocks' religious needs, including performing marriages; but they must also adhere to church rules, which often bar them from performing gay marriages.
After the Supreme Court decision, Todd Marler and Tim Barron, a couple in Ms. Lindsay's congregation, asked her to sign their marriage license. Messrs. Marler and Barron had exchanged vows a few years prior and were eager to make the union official.
Ms. Lindsay faced a dilemma: Should she marry the couple and risk losing her right to preach -- or refuse to marry them, and risk damaging her relationship with them and her congregation?
Reconciling Ministries Network mobilizes United Methodists of all sexual orientations and gender identities to transform our Church and world into the full expression of Christ’s inclusive love.
