Methodist Minister found guilty of performing gay marriage
Somewhere in heaven God has to be wondering what in tarnation is wrong with the shepherds who claim to serve him and pledge to follow his word. Even though it is abundantly clear that same sex marriage is not accepted in the church a Pennsylvania Methodist pastor decided to officiate a gay wedding. Rev. Frank Schaefer, according to the Philadelphia Enquirer held matrimonial services for his gay son’s wedding.
Even though the Methodist Book of Discipline is very clear in forbidding this type of wedding ceremony, the pastor stated that “he tried to follow God’s command to minister to all,” suggested the Philadelphia Enquirer. The only problem with that, the church officials of America’s largest Protestant denomination begged to differ. In fact, the errant minister was brought up on charges by the church hierarchy even though the church itself has accepted lesbian and gay members in its congregations.
Rev Schaefer stepped over the line and apparently decided to push the church’s moral envelope in deciding on a church trial instead of simply agreeing to not engage in the forbidden practice again. It is not clear why church officials waited several years to bring charges against the Methodist minister for his son’s gay marriage ceremony which took place in Massachusetts.
What is clear is that the minister, who has been ordained for 20 years, decided that the punishment which ranges from a simple official reprimand to being stripped of his pastoral credentials was worth the risk. He stated, “”I love the United Methodist Church,” and even he agrees with a great number of its tenets, except for the gay marriage provision.
And there lies the problem with ministers like Rev. Schaefer of Pennsylvania or Bishop Allyson D. Nelson Abrams, 43 of Detroit who married a female bishop and hid her act from her church; you cannot rewrite the word of God in the bible. Being an ordained shepherd is not a menu which allows you to select which holy tenets of God you feel like obeying and others you can conveniently ignore.
