The Rev. G. Scott Cady of the New England Synod said rejecting gays who feel a call to ministry was tantamount to questioning the will of God.
''We have vacant pulpits and altars in congregations all over this country, We have people crying out for pastoral care,'' he said. ''The Holy Spirit has said, `All right, here they are. Here they are.' Are we going to now say, `Thanks Holy Spirit, but we prefer something else.'''
This quote strikes me because my conservative christian brother, a fringe member of the liberal ELCA (go figure, I know, I was hoping this vote would go the other way so he would have to move to a more conservative synod), would have said nearly the same thing if they'd voted to allow gay clergy. One of the things about "faith" that gets me is the extent to which folks feel they need to act as if it is "God's will" that they are doing while refusing to acknowledge that what precisely "God's will" is doesn't seem to be patently obvious, is often a subject of disagreement, and that their personal understanding of God's will is frequently strangely in tune with their own preferences and desires. For instance, Rev. Cady clearly believes that gays in his church want to be ministers because it is God's will. My brother believes that gays will "burn in the fiery pits of hell" (let's ignore the fact that hell isn't particularly biblical) and, thus, any homosexual who thinks it is God's will that they serve as a minister is either very mistaken or, even more likely, working for Satan. In cases where there is a vote on church doctrine, I find myself all the more puzzled - wondering how we know the difference between "God's will" and the tyranny of the majority.
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