This may be 2013, but it still takes guts to stand up for your beliefs in the South, particularly if you don’t cotton to “traditional family values.” That’s why it was so surprising – and, frankly, delightful – that the Green Street United Methodist Church in Winston-Salem vowed to stop performing any weddings until same-sex marriages can also be performed there legally. In a state where an anti-same sex marriage constitutional amendment was overwhelmingly approved by voters last year, the church’s move isn’t to be taken lightly. It’s no secret that our region has a history of rightwing vandals’ anger being taken out on churches that dare disagree with the Southern Taliban view of life. In addition, no one is sure how the United Methodist Church’s national organization will react.
- Green Street United Methodist Church
- The congregation of Green Street United Methodist Church in Winston-Salem, which this week announced it will no longer perform weddings until same-sex couples can also be legally wed there.
Members of the Winston-Salem church released a statement on their website that said:
Green Street UMC sees injustice in the legal position of state government and the theological position of our denomination. North Carolina prohibits same-sex marriage and all the rights and privileges marriage brings. The Leadership Council has asked that their ministers join others who refuse to sign any State marriage licenses until this right is granted to same-sex couples.
The national UMC has banned non-celibate gay clergy and same-sex marriage for decades and believes that “the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.” The Rev. Kelly Carpenter of Green Street UMC told a Huffington Post reporter that the new policy is an attempt to “send a signal” to the church’s fellow Methodists as well as to North Carolina politicians. Even if the signal is ignored by the GOP, the symbolism of Green Street’s commitment is a just one, an impressive one – and one that deserves our thanks.
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This article appears in Mar 13-19, 2013.
Nice that they came to this conclusion. My friends and I halted all services to weddings the day Amendment 1 passed. We are makeup artists, DJs, officiants and planners.
Well done, Green Street UMC
Each individual must decide the truth of God’s Word and obey [It] or not.
It doesn’t matter what they decided as a ‘church’…
There will come a day when they will stand alone. Each will be accountable to God as one individual, and the shepard of that flock will be judged first.
/ Geez, what a nut job. I understand some of us are bound to be sheep. Everyone cant be smart. But there’s no need to be corrupted by religion. Instead of listening to some crazy preacher, take your time and look around with logic, an open mind and an open heart. Life’s not that difficult to figure out.
Or, if you think this way just so you can put other people down making your self feel better, then screw ya
Why are religious leaders so obsessed with other people’s sexual practices? I think it is a symptom of some deep seated psychological issue.
Revelation 18:4 “Come out of her my people”
May Yahuwa, grant us the mercy, strength, and boldness to accomplish His commission without stumbling or fainting. SHALOM……
Confronting and rebuking someone for acting sinfully places an enormous burden on the Christian that is not revocable or transferable. However, Yahuwa, does give us a great deal of liberty in how we approach and discharge this responsibility.
As we attempt to prove obedient to this awesome obligation, we will decidedly injure the feelings of others and suffer our own insults. Insults are often not sins and over and over in the scriptures we are commanded to forgive the one who hurts our feelings and forget the insult without a Matthew 18 confrontation.
Finally, all confrontations must be on the basis that someone has violated an actual command from the word of God. If we begin judging anyone on the basis of our own preferences and our own standards of “righteousness”, we ourselves stand to be judged by Yahuwa, as sinners. We are not permitted to tell others how to act or to judge their hearts. “Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and stand he will, for the Lord is able to make him stand.” Romans 14:4
Fear of punishment is a Yahuwa-given emotion to prompt men to take the action of repentance. Matthew 18 confrontations and “church discipline” are just two methods the Creator has ordained to encourage His church to act as it should and to help redirect it when it strays off-course
All that is predicated on the authority of the book you are quoting. Not everyone shares your belief in that book. Christians and Jews are not even a majority of world religious believers.
YahuWHAT? Eyes rolling.