As progressives within the United Methodist Church continue to resist and openly disobey church teachings on gay marriage, all eyes are on the upcoming church trial of Rev. Frank Schaeffer, who in 2007 officiated the gay wedding of his son. After a member of his congregation filed a complaint, Rev. Schaeffer will face a trial in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference on November 18th. But the case became even more interesting recently when 31 United Methodist pastors announced their intention to jointly perform another gay wedding in solidarity with Rev. Schaeffer.
The clergy are all from the Eastern Pennsylvania and includes a mixture of men and women and retired and active clergy. All are members of UMC churches currently affiliated with or planning to affiliate with Reconciling Ministries Network, the unofficial gay caucus within the UMC, in open violation of church law. The 31 pastors plan to all sign the marriage certificate in a show of solidarity, despite the fact that gay marriage remains illegal in Pennsylvania.
United Methodists will recognize that the 31 pastors’ actions are hardly new or exciting. Back in 1999, “the Sacramento 68,” a group of United Methodist pastors from the California-Nevada Conference participated in a same-sex ceremony for a lesbian couple. The liberal leaders within the California-Nevada conference (then presided over by Bishop Melvin Talbert, now threatening to officiate a same-sex marriage of his own) refused to even bring the pastors to trial. But since 1999, the position of the United Methodist Church against same-sex marriage has become more unambiguous, and much more firmly entrenched in church law. No less than the Executive Committee of the United Methodist Council of Bishops recently reaffirmed their commitment to the UMC Discipline’s that “[c]onducting ceremonies which celebrate homosexual unions or performing same-sex wedding ceremonies are chargeable offenses in the United Methodist Church.”
While proudly publicizing the planned wedding for the world to see, the pastors have refused to provide their names or the name of the couple until after the wedding. The stated reason for this secrecy is a respect for the privacy for the couple. “It’s a statement. It’s a movement. But it’s also a marriage ceremony that’s going to celebrate the love of two people,” one of the pastors told The Philadelphia Inquirer, “And we want to maintain that integrity.”
While respect for a couple’s privacy is important, what sort of expectation of privacy does a pastor really expect? Especially when the entire wedding has intentionally been set up as a publicity event as part of a politicized media campaign. It seems to me that whatever “integrity” a wedding might have, same-sex or otherwise, evaporates when its stated purpose is to make a political point. Ironically, the 31 UMC pastors end up demonstrating what opponents of same-sex marriage have argued for years; that the push for same-sex marriage prioritizes earthly concerns at the expense of the sanctity of marriage.
It’s no secret that not all UMC clergy agree with church teachings when it comes to homosexuality. But upon ordination, these men and women agreed that they would set aside personal opinions and follow the Book of Discipline. By agreeing to join Rev. Schaeffer in his disobedience, they make a mockery of that solemn oath. If these pastors truly believe that the rules prohibiting gay marriage are unjust, and if they really wanted to make a show of support for Rev. Schaeffer, why not resign en masse? That’d get the headlines they want, but without breaking the vows they made in the sight of God and man.
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