NO ROOM IN THE INN OR ANYWHERE ELSE

I was raised Methodist. I left for a lot of reasons before this vote yesterday at a general council. I suspect that this particular denoination will soon be "united" in name only. If that. Apparently many of the votes against inclusion came from the so called global south. And the church is trying to stay united. But, isn't one of the reasons the Protestants split from the Roman church was because one size fits all didn't work anymore? It didn't then and it doesn't now.

I wrote this entry in my blog a few years back. I've made a couple of adjustments to add thoughts that I was too damn mad to include in the first place. The original title was The Procrustean Denomination. The new one fits too.

Please read this heartbreaking story first.  At about three pages, I believe it’s way to long to post on my page. And she does not state whether or not the pastor or the youth pastor were confronted about his despicable behavior. Not only towards her son but towards the rest of the group for abusing them as well. And no he didn't go home and immediately commit suicide. It came a few years later when he finally decided that there was no place for him in THIS world.

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. Including me. 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. I'm barely a Christian for a lot of reasons And this is one of many. 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.