Please read this heartbreaking story first. At about three
pages, I believe it’s way to long to post on my page.
The author isn’t totally clear, but I believe the family was
part of a Methodist congregation in North
Carolina and I can remember the ads a few years ago
with the “open hearts, open minds, open doors” tagline. So, did whoever ordered
the ad not know about the UMC book of discipline? "The practice of homosexuality is incompatible with
Christian teaching." The
so called book of discipline was never mentioned at anytime when I went through
the Methodist membership schtick. Twice. Of course, the first time I was in
high school. The second time was back in the eighties.
I know from personal
experience that getting blindsided with anti gay rhetoric in a church situation
can leave you speechless. There was one church service back in those ill fated
eighties when at least three people got up in the sanctuary and spewed their
hatred. And we all just sat there. Including the pastor. Not one of my finest
hours.
So, now it’s thirty years later and I have questions. Who
was supervising this pissant “youth pastor” and if not, why not? Did the senior
pastor know what was going on? And again if not, why not? Did any of these kids
go home and tell their parents what happened? Apparently not, if the blog
report of the incident is accurate. Was going on that mission trip so f’ing
important that they’d sit by and let a kid who thought they were his friends be
savaged.
I’m no longer a Methodist, for a lot of reasons, and this is
one of them. Trying to fit into the box defined by the denominational rules
starts to look a lot like that famous bed of Procrustes. He promised that he
had a bed that anyone would fit perfectly. But, if you were too short he
stretched you. If you were too long, well there was a cure for that too.
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