Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Weird and Surreal: Being an Openly Gay Pastor at the General Assembly of the PCUSA

It is weird being an ordained clergyperson in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and part of the General Assembly of the denomination, signing books like ON BEING A GAY PARENT and SCHOOL OF THE PILGRIM when they are discussing whether or not to ordain openly gay and lesbian candidates for ministry. Michael Adee of More Light Presbyterians and I started counting how many openly LBTG clergy there are, and we had to admit we were counting a handful out of the 2.2 million members of this denomination.

To use Walker Percy's analogy, I feel like the turd in the punch bowl at a gala event.

While we have a progressive moderator in Bruce Reyes Chow, he hasn't come fully out for LGBT people. He is playing it close to the chest. And the commissioners who will vote later this week may not be "for" all the amendments to the Constitution that would make our denomination more welcoming.

I'm off to sit in on some hearings!

More later!

Pace!

B

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