With Tears of Joy ...

by

Advocating Justice

With tears of joy streaming down my cheeks, I watched the reports of the Supreme Court's decision which made same-sex marriages legal across the United States. I am incredibly thankful that millions of same-sex marriages must now be recognized legally.

Although the legal decision has been made, there are many who disagree with it. In my opinion, their views need to be understood. While they have the right to hold dissenting opinions, they need to understand that the law of the land has changed.

Some of my tears this morning relate to the on-going struggles within The United Methodist Church (UMC), the church I have loved and served for decades. I have many friends within our denomination who hold differing views on LGBTQ matters and I love and respect all of them.

In my opinion, it is now time for The UMC to change its official positions on same sex marriage. Those churches and clergy who believe they are being called by God's Spirit to ministries of full inclusion and who believe this includes offering Christian marriage to LGBTQ couples should be allowed to perform those services in their sanctuaries. And, those who are opposed to such services should not be compelled to perform them.

My wife and I have great LGBTQ family members and friends, many of them married. For The UMC to deny marriage to these incredibly loving, committed couples is anathema!

Some of my friends will ask how I can possibly advocate such a position. For me, this is a deeply spiritual matter. I believe that God loves all people and that nothing can separate anyone from the love of God in Jesus Christ. I also believe that Jesus came that all people might have life and have it more abundantly. In this light, if the gift of marriage is one of the most significant relationships any two humans can share, I think that Jesus would advocate for marriage equality.

I do take the Bible very seriously and I think its writers were inspired by God's Spirit. However, I do not think that there is any way for a finite compilation of Biblical writings to possibly contain all of the thinking of an infinite God on matters dealing with God's love. And, I do not think that the inspired yet finite-minded writers accurately discerned God's leading in every case. The books of the Bible need to be examined in the contexts in which they were written over a number of centuries in a very heterosexual male-dominated world. The books were translated and interpreted over subsequent centuries by a heterosexual male-dominated church. I think there have been mistranslations and misinterpretations, some intentional and some accidental.

I also believe that God's Spirit is at work in the world as a whole and is continuing to lead the society in which we live toward the ideal of full inclusion for all of God's people. In the case of same sex marriage, it looks as though the society about us is willing to move far faster that many denominations. The speed with which this has occurred is mind boggling.

It seems to me that God has heard the cries of LGBTQ people, their families, and their allies who have been the objects of condemnation and discrimination and that God has softened the hardened hearts of our nation's leaders. For me, it is akin to the way God responded to the cries of oppression by the Hebrew people in Egypt and the oppressed African Americans in the United States.

In my opinion, God is in the business of helping people live fulfilled, loving lives. God is not about the oppression and condemnation of committed, long term loving LGBTQ or heterosexual relationships.

It is time for a transformation in The United Methodist Church to be manifested at the General Conference in 2016! Please join me in praying that God will soften hearts across The UMC between now and next May so that our denomination will openly include all of God's people!

I hope and pray that it may be so!

A frequent volunteer with the Reconciling Ministries Network and the Western Pennsylvania Annual Conference, Tracy Merrick lives in Wexford, Pa. This article is reprinted with the author's permission from his Facebook page.