Fwd: UMC live updates: United Methodists remove same-sex wedding ban

Pete and Tess

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Mr. Pete" <PeteAndTess@gmail.com>
Date: May 5, 2024 at 10:41:08 AM EDT
To: Linda Epstein <linda301@mac.com>, Lauren Fuller <c.lauren.fuller@icloud.com>
Subject: UMC live updates: United Methodists remove same-sex wedding ban



I thought I'd  send this headline out to both of you. This would be the kind of thing that Tess and I would talk about. It was just a few years ago that the church had split up over this issue but now they're coming back together. 

Tess was raised in the church. She would say that many, many times. I was raised in the church, we went to church every Sunday and every Wednesday night. She knew every hymn and sometimes when we were watching tv she would stop on one of those religious stations and sing along, knowing every chorus and every word. Her church was her community, her extended family. They lived in the parish house and moved every four years. Her mom would get there ahead of time and fix it to where it would feel like home when they arrived. The minister's wife had very specific roles and responsibilities and one was singing in the choir. The minister was also a family counselor and comforter. Tess was the preachers kid and that came with a lot of pressures. When she was a toddler she used to have a habit of taking her clothes off. She told the story of Lee Lee calling out after her at supper time, Tess Elaine… Tess Elaine…

Then she said, I don't know where she is but wherever she is she's stark naked…

They would often be invited to a parishioners house for dinner and to watch TV because in those days they didn't have their own TV and it was something very special like going to the movies. They watched Milton Burl, Uncle Milty on a small screen black and white TV. On Sundays all the stores were closed and they would walk downtown and window shop. The most memorable gift Tess ever got, there were two, she got a set of roller skates with a key and one year she got a portable radio. She was So excited about her little radio but she wasn't allowed to play that rock and roll music so she had to sneak off to do that. Her Papa was such a gentle and tolerant man but there were a couple of times when she got in trouble for using a 'bad word'. She got a whippin' which is what happened to kids in those days but Papa told her later he was sorry. She, to this day, would say a word, then stop and say, I said a bad word. This was so cute and innocent. There was not a word she ever said that didn't come out sweet and innocent somehow.

These issues of gay marriage and the southern flag and racism were never big or divisive issues when Tess was growing up. She always said that integration took place very quietly in her experience and the flag was just something they were proud of, not racist. She always had a warm and loving attitude towards good people and she especially loved gay guys. She was always so fascinated by how creative and smart they are. She had a friend at work who was trans and she was curious but never judgmental. So when Joey and John Michael came into her life she was completely enamored and just Loved Joey completely. She thought John Michael was the funniest guy alive. 

She often said her Papa was a true Christian. He followed the teachings of Jesus. He entered the ministry because he felt 'a calling' to do so. He packed Lee Lee and Barry into their little car and went off to Kentucky, I think it was, to go to college and to join the ministry. This was a huge, huge step and nothing guaranteed. But Papa and Lee Lee followed their calling and created a whole new life for their family from what they would have had in the mill village.

So gay marriage wasn't an issue. It wasn't a subject but I know that for Tess it was total choice of the people making it. It was just as much love as for anyone  and I know it was a sad thing to see the church so divided over it and a good thing to see the Methodist Church rejoined as the United Methodist Church once again.

United Methodists officially lift same-sex wedding ban in final blow to LGBTQ+ restrictions

The UMC General Conference lifted a 28-year-old prohibition on United Methodist clergy and churches blessing same-sex unions, the last major decision by the assembly to remove longstanding anti-LGBTQ+ restrictions.

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/religion/2024/05/03/united-methodist-church-umc-general-conference-same-sex-marriage-budget-cuts/73505594007/

Pete and Tess