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U.S. Supreme Court
The U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. (USDA Photo by Ken Hammond)
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Photo Courtesy of Sarah Rohret
Rev. Sarah J. Rohret
The Rev. Sarah J. Rohret
A UM Insight Exclusive
The U.S. Supreme Court's Oct. 6 ruling to turn away appeals from the 4th Circuit regarding same-sex marriage rulings means that marriage equality has come to the Southeastern and the South Central Jurisdictions of The United Methodist Church.
Fourteen couples married that same day in Oklahoma at the Mayflower Congregational Church, according to newsok.com. With this decision, 30 out of 50 states have marriage equality. In the next 18 months before General Conference this number could easily increase.
This means that for the first time, delegates to General Conference from the Southeastern and South Central Jurisdiction will have experienced marriage equality in their communities. With the inevitability of marriage equality across the United States being openly discussed in the media, why is it still a question for our church?
It would be easier on UMC leadership to sit back and hold the status quo until the civil authorities decide the question of marriage equality, and then change the minds of General Conference delegates, but that's a lazy way forward. And it is not the way the church has taken in the past. In the past, we led the country.
The Methodist Episcopal Church General Conference of 1844 took a stand against slavery as immoral, resulting in the Plan of Separation and the division of the church. While it took another 20 years for the issue to be decided by war and by civil authorities, Methodists did not wait. The church did not prioritize the status quo and staying together as the ultimate good. The main priority, the ultimate good, was following Jesus and standing against slavery, oppression and injustice.
The result was that the Methodist Episcopal Church had "major gains in membership and new vigor in its program." This means that the division was good for the church. Clarity of moral compass led to growth. Bishops who took a stand were heroes. The church led the way for the civil change that would come. The Methodists led the nation and it was good for us as an institution as well.
What is the result of church leadership sticking to its wishy-washy, let's-all-just-stay together-at-all-costs anti-leadership? We see decline. We see distrust of leaders who seem to lack a moral compass, who won't stand for truth at all cost. We see churches fighting and division that is slowly tearing us a part. We see the church failing to lead, meekly hoping the civil authorities will lead us.
Is this really the best way forward? "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it." We have not learned from our own history of how separation for the right reasons leads to truth, growth and health. We have counted the costs rather than follow Jesus. And we are dying anyway. When marriage equality is the law of our nation and the church is still fighting, will we rejoice and say "now we can follow"?
I call on our Bishops to lead meaningfully, to stand for justice and equality now, to end all trials, to openly ordain regardless of orientation, to conduct LGBT weddings and to prepare a Plan of Separation. Either the UMC will go down in history as a church that led the way for equality and justice, or the church that followed.
The Rev. Dr. Sarah J. Rohret is pastor of Calvary UMC in Arnolds Park, Iowa, and chair of the Board of Church and Society of the Iowa Annual Conference.