RButler

Hi Everyone, I was recently ordained through ULC on June 5th of this year. I haven't taken any huge steps in actually *doing* anything with the title of "Minister" but am looking forward to exploring the possibilities. The reasons for my choosing ULC reach back almost fourteen years ago when I first felt the calling to the ministry at 19. I actually was voted in to pastor a church by it's members at 19 too which was an amazing experience. I started taking issue with my denomination almost straight away because of it's "joining" requirements. Then there was also the fact that I am gay, which I'm sure most people know pretty much ruins a lot of really good ministers chances of fulfilling their calling. So over the years, I have pretty much broadened my spiritual views and grown personally to the point of not really being able to find a fit church wise. In frustration, I eventually gave up on trying to be a minister because of my frustrations with the organized churches of the world. This year though, the state in which I live (Minnesota) passed a law that legalized same sex marriage in the state. For the first time, I realized that the door was open for me to be able to fulfil every obligation to my calling. It always bugged me that if I were ordained, I would be able to perform weddings for my best friends legally without ever being able to legally marry my best friend. This combined with the fact that when you have a calling like ministry it never really goes away if it's sincere, you just learn to ignore it in the face of not knowing what to do with it anymore, has made me consider my spiritual leadership path again. So, I guess we'll see what comes of it.