Tom wrote:
GiLUU **is** the middle way – it allows those who in all good conscience
hold a conservative view to continue holding that view, it makes no
requirement of Church Councils to permit same-sex marriages to occur in
property they are the Managing Trustees of if they do not wish to, it
explicitly acknowledges that we are not of one mind on this matter.
Amen to that! We've been engaging in making some good old Methodist Fudge,
not necessarily a bad thing in my view, but to strain a Biblical
metaphor well beyond breaking point some are telling us that we need to now
make fudge without sugar. GILUU is about saying "all are welcome" - that
it's possible to disagree and yet remain in fellowship; and yet for all the
compromises that means, and I think Dignity and Worth have shown much grace
on this issue, there are others who felt that even the Derby Resolutions
were dangerous backsliding and will never accept anything less than "Not
ever" on this issue. Instead, I have seen them shout down and refuse to
listen even to the likes of Paui Smith when he suggests that it is indeed
possible for people to earnestly study the scriptures and come out with
different answers... And yet GILUU doesn't say to those opposed to Same-sex
relationships "You are not welcome"; it says "how can we remain in
fellowship with one another". If the answer from some is "By you changing
your views and agreeing with us", then we can't go with that - we lose
people from the other end who have been waiting faithfully, in many cases
for years, for a sign that the church may be ready to fully welcome and
affirm them. In some ways, given how we have treated many of those who are
LGBTQI+, the amazing thing is that they are still here, part of our
fellowship, at all...
God Bless
Rob
--
Rev. Rob Weir
Cheshire South Methodist Circuit
St. Johns Whitchurch, Tallarn Green and Brown Knowl Methodist Churches
