Methodists, split on LGBTQ issues, are at a crossroads
When Pastor Ross Johnson preached from the Book of Exodus last Sunday, he wasn’t just delivering a standard sermon. He was risking his livelihood.
It was a risk he was willing to take, as he spoke at “Queer Resistance,” a service he and other LGBTQ clergy organized in defiance of the United Methodist Church’s recent vote to reinforce its ban on gay clergy and same-sex marriage.
“Oh, Lord, hear me when I cry out in anger — angry that others may believe that I, a queer minister, am anathema,” Johnson told about 200 congregants seated in a circle inside Old West Church near the base of Beacon Hill. “Oh, Lord, hear me when I cry out in fear, fearing the loss of my career and my first parish, the loss of my church, of all that I hold dear, and all that we know. Oh, Lord, hear me when I scream that I cannot take it anymore.”...