Personal relationships
Dec. 7th, 2004 05:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lillibetSo, this happened a few months ago and I meant to write about it then, but I don't seem to have done so. If I missed it, and you're reading this for a second time, my apologies for the redundancy.
The phone rang in the office at First Church, where I do some admin work. The caller wanted to speak to the minister, but when informed that she was not in the office at the time, said that perhaps I could help him. His purpose in calling, he explained, was that he was doing a survey of church attitudes toward homosexuality. I was somewhat uncomfortable speaking for the church, since I'm not actually a member, but I do know a fair bit about that area of their policies, etc. so I said sure, I'd give it a stab. He asked whether the church accepts gay people as part of the congregation. I said definitely. He asked if I knew of any members of the congregation who are gay. Again, I said definitely. He had learned from our website that First Church is an ONA ("Open and Affirming," the UCC's code phrase for "We're Cool with Queers") congregation and asked if the decision to become ONA had been an easy one. I said no, not easy--that there had been much consideration, some argument and unhappiness--but that First Church had made the decision, like all major ones, by congregational vote. He asked how the church demonstrates its openness and I talked about the rainbow flag on the front of the church and that members of the congregation march in the annual Boston Gay Pride Parade and that on the day that equality in marriage became legal in the state of Massachusetts, the minister and others were out front handing out lollipops with signs saying the church happily performs marriages, regardless of the sex of the partners. Then he asked how the church would handle someone who wanted to stop being gay. That was a tricky one, but eventually what I said was that the UCC is all about having a personal relationship with God and that if someone came to the minister and said that they felt their sexuality was interfering with that relationship, she would certainly pray with them and do whatever she could to help them reconcile themselves with God. Then he asked if that had ever happened and I said that I wouldn't know, but that I found it somewhat unlikely, just because it's pretty clear that First Church, as an entity, doesn't think there's anything wrong with being gay. He then said that he was from Alabama and that I would be surprised at how different my answers were from those of most of the churches he had talked to, especially around there. I said no, I wouldn't be all that surprised, and I encouraged him to call back and talk to our minister sometime.
I mention this now because of a conversation going on in![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dpolicar's journal. It's not a direct response, but it's what popped up when I started to think about his questions, so I thought I'd post it over here.
The phone rang in the office at First Church, where I do some admin work. The caller wanted to speak to the minister, but when informed that she was not in the office at the time, said that perhaps I could help him. His purpose in calling, he explained, was that he was doing a survey of church attitudes toward homosexuality. I was somewhat uncomfortable speaking for the church, since I'm not actually a member, but I do know a fair bit about that area of their policies, etc. so I said sure, I'd give it a stab. He asked whether the church accepts gay people as part of the congregation. I said definitely. He asked if I knew of any members of the congregation who are gay. Again, I said definitely. He had learned from our website that First Church is an ONA ("Open and Affirming," the UCC's code phrase for "We're Cool with Queers") congregation and asked if the decision to become ONA had been an easy one. I said no, not easy--that there had been much consideration, some argument and unhappiness--but that First Church had made the decision, like all major ones, by congregational vote. He asked how the church demonstrates its openness and I talked about the rainbow flag on the front of the church and that members of the congregation march in the annual Boston Gay Pride Parade and that on the day that equality in marriage became legal in the state of Massachusetts, the minister and others were out front handing out lollipops with signs saying the church happily performs marriages, regardless of the sex of the partners. Then he asked how the church would handle someone who wanted to stop being gay. That was a tricky one, but eventually what I said was that the UCC is all about having a personal relationship with God and that if someone came to the minister and said that they felt their sexuality was interfering with that relationship, she would certainly pray with them and do whatever she could to help them reconcile themselves with God. Then he asked if that had ever happened and I said that I wouldn't know, but that I found it somewhat unlikely, just because it's pretty clear that First Church, as an entity, doesn't think there's anything wrong with being gay. He then said that he was from Alabama and that I would be surprised at how different my answers were from those of most of the churches he had talked to, especially around there. I said no, I wouldn't be all that surprised, and I encouraged him to call back and talk to our minister sometime.
I mention this now because of a conversation going on in
dpolicar's journal. It's not a direct response, but it's what popped up when I started to think about his questions, so I thought I'd post it over here.
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no subject
Date: 2004-12-07 06:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-08 06:32 am (UTC)