Prayers, Presence, Gifts, Service

By Don Deems

My partner and I are both life-long United Methodists.  We were baptized in the United Methodist Church, confirmed in the United Methodist Church, and were essentially raised in the United Methodist Church.  Our parents and grandparents served their Methodist churches in many capacities, including chairing Administrative Boards.  In fact, my partner and I met as a result of our involvement in the UMC.  We were introduced by a mutual friend who went to college with him (Ohio Wesleyan University  — Methodist school) and worked with me on an UMCOR mission project to North Carolina after Hurricane Fran.  We have been together over ten years and are quite active members of Clifton UMC here in Cincinnati.  He is the music director, and I serve as finance chair.  I have also sung in the choir, served as treasurer for over eight years, worked with our ministry to the homeless, and we have both taken several Disciple classes, served as delegates to Annual Conference, and enjoy helping with the church lawn care and landscaping, among many other things.

So why have I given you my Big Methodist Bio?  I guess just to preface what comes next. Many friends have asked why I remain affiliated with an organization whose official stance is that I am “incompatible with Christian teaching” and in fact, some have even likened this to staying in an abusive relationship.  While I can certainly at least understand the logic behind such thinking, I also think that the only way the church is ever going to become fully inclusive is for us to stay.  After all, it is MY church.  My spiritual journey is on a path that was set in motion and is guided by the UMC.  Through the church, I have come to know the love of God through Jesus Christ, and I do not plan on abandoning those relationships any time in the near future.

Additionally, I feel so blessed to be part of a United Methodist community where all are TRULY welcome.  How many of God’s beloved LGBT children have been told that they are not welcome, as God created them, in the church?  What a wonderful blessing it is then to be a sanctuary where those who may have been marginalized or excluded by other churches can come and worship and be part of a community where they can know and share God’s love.

Our church has a booth at Cincinnati's Gay Pride Festival.  Among the many people we met at that event was a young gay woman who was looking for a United Methodist Church where she would be welcome and could worship in the tradition in which she had grown up.  She walked right up to our booth and said, “I’ve been looking for you!” to which my friend Heather quickly replied, “And here we are!”  Indeed, here we are.  And we’re staying.  Thanks be to God.