We lost another one

In an article on the Reconciling Ministries Network blog, Michael Overman, a gay man, tells about finding acceptance at Holy Covenant, a welcoming United Methodist Church. He fell in love and was married. He and the church realized he would make a great minister. He began seminary and started the process of being a pastor in the UMC. Though the local round of screenings went well, he was told that at the district level he would have to appear single.

In the weeks since, I’ve prayed and fought and yelled and screamed and cried and talked and sat in silence. I’ve wrestled with what to do. Slowly, the recognition of what was being asked of me came, and I could not foresee myself complying. My family at Holy Covenant taught me how to be a whole person and gave me the strength to start loving myself, truly for the first time. It would be a grievous sin for me to undo all their hard work, and all of my own. My identity and relationship are something God loves and finds joy in and takes pleasure in. I am God’s beloved in the entirety of who I am, and God has not asked or called me to change. I am worthy because my Creator has called me worthy, and to lie or be inauthentic would be to make unclean what God has called clean, to make bad what God has called good. I cannot do that… I will not.

Overman will complete seminary. And join the United Church of Christ.