letter 87

Bishop Mark Webb,

Upper NY Conference Office,

324 University Ave., Third Floor,

Syracuse, NY 13210

September 12, 2013

Dear Bishop Webb,

I am writing in regards to the issue of fully accepting gay people into the Methodist Church.  Most poignantly now, is the issue of gay marriage and the fact that Methodist clergy cannot marry gay people.  This whole issue is so dear to my heart because within my inner circle of friends and family I have two heart-breaking situations.

The first is that I have a gay friend who a minister and he has not come out to his congregation.  I see him agonize over it.  He longs to be accepted as he is—as we all do.  I ask you to use your authority and influence as a Bishop so that he and all others will be fully accepted.

The other heart-breaking situation is that I have a brother who is a leader in the evangelical movement.  He writes and speaks widely about this issue.  His stance is that gay people are to be accepted as members of a local congregation but they are not allowed to be leaders.  My heart aches for all the damage he is doing to so many gay people. Again, I beg you to use your power to change the Methodist church and to stop it from doing this psychological damage to our dear brothers and sisters.

I realize you are in a very difficult situation and I pray that you will have wisdom in all of this.

To protect the privacy of the above two people, I feel I have to write this anonymously.

Prayerfully,

Anonymous.