United Methodists to debate allowing same sex blessings and openly gay clergy

from The Lead by Andrew Gerns

I expect that the UMC has learned from the pecusa, Lutheran, and Presbyterians and they will defeat this unbiblical agenda.  ed.

The United Methodist Church will gather for their General Conference in 2012. On the agenda will be whether the language of their Book of Discipline which bans gay and lesbians from serving as clergy and prevents United Methodist pastors from blessing same sex unions will be changed.

Since their last meeting in 2008, more than 900 active and retired clergy have signed a petition advocating change, while another 2500 clergy have signed letters demanding that the denomination stand pat.
Kathy Gilbert writes at the UMC 2012 General Conference website:

Impassioned pleas, protests and prayers. Broken chalice, broken hearts. An altar draped in black, a same-sex wedding, arrests, amends and a statement of unity.

At each General Conference for more than 40 years, The United Methodist Church has debated its position on homosexuality.

Church law states all persons are children of God and of sacred worth but homosexual practice is incompatible with Christian teaching. Gays cannot be ordained and United Methodist pastors may not perform same-sex marriages.

When the 2012 General Conference convenes in Tampa, Fla., April 24-May 4, the language and laws about homosexuality will be up for debate once more.

Will gay rights be debated with the same fervor in 2012?

Complicating matters is that while the stance against homosexuality has softened in some quarters in the United States, the church’s worldwide growth is in the Philippines and in Africa, where the support for an outright ban can be more stringent and backed by the force of law. In Liberia, for example, “voluntary sodomy” is punishable by a year in prison....

...When the 2012 United Methodist General Conference convenes in April, members of unofficial United Methodist organizations on various sides of the issue will be lining the halls and entrances handing out pamphlets for and against the church’s stance.

In January during the pre-General Conference news briefing, Sue Laurie, one of the women who was married during the 2008 meeting, told a panel discussing holy conferencing that she was more concerned about “inflammatory silence than inflammatory language.”

“Silence maintains the status quo. It hurts the church. Silence stops that transformation. This will be my fifth General Conference; we are tired of telling our stories. Some of the hurtful language I have heard just now is ‘we need more time.’”

Since the 1972 General Conference, when the phrase “homosexuality is not compatible with Christian teaching” was added to the denomination’s law book, emotions have run high, tears have been shed and people on all sides of the debate have been hurt.

Are lesbians, gays, bisexual, and transgendered people deliberately defying God’s word or just being the person God has called them to be?

Where will the discussion end this time?