Thanks for the Indiana Minister Who Risked His Congregation to Marrying a Gay Couple

OUT MAGAZINE
By Michelle Ehrhardt

A sermon for the celebration of the wedding of Paul Schulz and Jim Cline on Friday, August 29, 2014. Rev. Dave Kovalow-St. John, First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Valparaiso, Indiana

INDIANA--On August 29, 2014 in Valparaiso, a small former train hub with a population of just over 30,000 in Northwest Indiana, gay couple Jim Cline and Paul Schulz were married inside their church by their minister. What for most couples would be a standard venue proved to provide a challenge for Jim and Paul, as their congregation divided over the minister’s decision to perform the ceremony. With same-sex marriage not yet legalized in Indiana and a strong cultural, often religious, bias against it, the wedding proved controversial, losing the minister an unfortunate number of worshippers and putting his job at risk. [link]

>>>Click through to read the full sermon