Petition for Support of the LGBTQ+ Community from PUMC

My wife and I and our children drove out from Munich, Germany one day with only a road map to guide us to our destination, Dachau, the site of one of the first of an entire set of concentration camps in Nazi Germany. We went into a museum where we saw a film about the history of the place and we moved quickly through a display of artifacts and old prison uniforms. What we learned was that immediately after the national election of 1932 which put the Nazi Party in power and led to the selection Adolf Hitler as Chancellor, arrests were made. First arrested and detained were political enemies of The Party; then intellectuals who opposed The Party; then people deemed "asocial" (that is, counter-cultural people such as Gypsies or those called "bohemian", people such as our "Hippies" of a later generation; then they took Jews; then they arrested clergymen; and also homosexuals. they were put to death and burned in ovens. Dacahau is a reminder of the awful destination toward which our prejudices and hates can drive us.

Enough hate.! God bless all. People often turn away....it's not God that they turn away from but the arrogant people that claim to be religious. Yikes!

Love your neighbor as yourself

God loves all

God is Love

“If the gospel isn't good news for everybody, then it isn't good news for anybody. And this is because the most powerful things happen when the church surrenders its desire to convert people and convince them to join. It is when the church gives itself away in radical acts of service and compassion, expecting nothing in return, that the way of Jesus is most vividly put on display. To do this, the church must stop thinking about everybody primarily in categories of in or out, saved or not, believer or nonbeliever. Besides the fact that these terms are offensive to those who are the "un" and "non", they work against Jesus' teachings about how we are to treat each other. Jesus commanded us to love our neighbor, and our neighbor can be anybody. We are all created in the image of God, and we are all sacred, valuable creations of God. Everybody matters. To treat people differently based on who believes what is to fail to respect the image of God in everyone. As the book of James says, "God shows no favoritism." So we don't either.“ - Rob Bell

Love your neighbor, love the whole person

We WILL move forward in a FULLY inclusive way

The UMC says it supports open hearts, open minds, open doors, but the Traditional Plan does not. I love PUMC and our inclusivity!

Amen, Karen W.!

Yes

This should be the first of many signs of inclusiveness and followed up by action!

Cool ig

Hi

Love is love.

Sending support and sharing love.

A point of clarification: This was NOT written in anger, not towards our church or Traditionalists. Pastors Randy and Cole have both stated in church that all are welcome at Providence. My hope is that we can make that statement more visible and apparent to anyone who may wonder where we stand. This petition is NOT asking for us to denounce the ban, only to support the LGBT community and guide our church forward in productive conversation. Thank you all for signing and sharing!

Why is this even up for debate ?

Jesus loves the little children. All the children of the world. Not just some of them. Thanks for expressing these thoughts, Karen!

How can we still proclaim "Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors" after a decision such as this? I still hope for a better resolution.