Across seven years in the early 2000s, I served on the staff of Strength for the Journey San Diego , a one-week camping retreat for people living with HIV/AIDS. Launched in the 1980s by Burt All, a United Methodist pastor who was himself living with AIDS, the camp evolved across its many decades -- from a camp about how to die from a disease that didn't have a name, to a camp about how to live with AIDS, to a camp about how to live while managing what is now, for most, a chronic disease called HIV. I t is a remarkable chapter in the life of the United Methodist Church, and one in which I am proud to have participated. For the better part of a quarter century, my church was ahead of the curve. Sadly, my church is now officially "behind the curve." Our Book of Discipline still contains language that would prevent the church from ordaining as pastors people who live honestly and openly as lesbian-gay-bisexual-trans gendered persons. It also contains language that would ...
Life & Death, Faith & Doubt, Here & There