Their names were Cathy and Carly (at least that’s what I’ll call them today). It was the first gay or lesbian commitment service I had ever attended. I watched as they made their vows. They were so in love. So serious. So sure. Every bit as committed as Kurt and I were the day we got married. No different. As I had the privilege of witnessing Cathy and Carly make their life-long commitment to one another, it was obvious to me, their love was a gift from God, no question. Two followers of Jesus; they were standing in a chapel, in the presence of God and God’s people, making their promises and asking for God’s blessing. It was a holy moment.
At the Village Church, we believe that whether you are trans or bi, straight, lesbian or gay, you can follow Jesus. Here’s what matters. Do you love God, and love your neighbor, as you love yourself? That’s what is important. Love. But there are a whole lotta people in the world, good Christian people who disagree with us. I’ve been at this more than 20 years. I can stand firm in my truth. But some of you, have never met a preacher before who said it’s ok to be gay and Christian. And so together, we’re going to learn how to have the conversation with other folks.
At the Village Church, we take the stand that “Yes, we can be gay and Christian.” And yes, here at The Village Church we center our faith on the Bible. We have not thrown it out, even though some might think we have. In fact, it’s because we believe in the Bible and it’s because we follow Jesus that we stand firm in our belief that gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender persons must be fully included in the life of our church. This puts us in the minority among Churches, but that’s ok. We like to be trend setters. You see, there was a day in this country, when many Church-goers, including our United Methodist fore bearers, thought it was their God-given right to own slaves. Now by the way our United Church of Christ forefathers and foremothers were some of the first brave folks to speak up against slavery (if you've seen the movie "Amistadt", the people who helped the slaves try to gain their freedom).
It was not until 1956 that the United Methodist Church would have allowed me to be a pastor, because I am a woman. We got over that one too. Right now the United Methodist Church does not allow gay people to be pastors unless they are celibate or closeted. The United Church of Christ does. Some of us believe that is only a matter of time before the UMC does too. And here is why.
Jesus always stands with the oppressed. He announced his agenda as a preacher with the bold word we read in Luke, chapter 4:
the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: 18“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, 19to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 20And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
“Whoever is on the edge of society, whoever is being persecuted, whoever is the victim of hate crimes and discrimination in the work place and in housing,” Jesus said, “that is the person I came for. I came to set that person free.”
Do you know what Jesus said about homosexuality? Who can tell me? Do you know? NOTHING. He said plenty about money and greed. Said plenty about how we should forgive one another. He did not spend one minute talking about homosexuality.
He spent plenty of time talking about love and about relationships. He said love one another. Love God. Love your neighbor as yourself. This is my greatest commandment: that you love one another as I have loved you. (John 15:12)
Yeah, Jesus said plenty about love. Not one word about homosexuality.
When I see two people who love God, and who love one another, and who want to be in a committed relationship with each other, for life, and when those two people want to follow Jesus together, and ask God to bless their home and their life together – I gotta think that brings God joy – regardless of whether it’s two men, a man and a woman, or a man who has transitioned to become woman who is then in relationship with a man, or a woman. Two people – who love each other and love God – I think that’s really all God cares about.
And that’s why when we read scripture and try to understand how God wants us to live our lives, it’s important to use some other lenses as we read. So we use these lenses: church history, our own reason and our own experience. Now so far in church history, folks have pretty much agreed that homosexuality is a sin. However, those are the same folks that thought women should not be spiritual leaders; and it was ok to have slaves. So sometimes, we need to repent of our history, and move forward into a new life.
So, the other two lenses we use to read and interpret scripture are reason, our ability to think, and our experience. We have to be careful here. We need to be sure that we are grounded in a deep prayer life, and in community with others who are connected to God. But scripture has always been interpreted by people in their own context. Don’t let anyone try to tell you it’s not.
So, the other day, a friend here at The Village asked me how I become such a fierce advocate for LGBT persons? I said it was really quite simple. I went from college in Abilene TX in 1985, where I really didn’t consciously know any gay or lesbian folks; and I moved to the big city of Atlanta, where there were gay students at my seminary. They were wonderful folks who loved God and who were clearly called to be in ministry. Now I had grown up in a liberal family that taught me the value of working against racism. I was a feminist when I was in the 3rd grade. It was a no-brainer for me to join the cause of standing with my gay and lesbian classmates who were being denied ordination. They were gifted people, who loved God and wanted to serve God in the church just like me. I knew what it was like to be told I should not be a pastor because I was a woman – back home in West Texas. So I was sympathetic to my gay friends. My REASON and my EXPERIENCE told me these friends had just as much right to be pastors as I did, and that who they loved and who they chose to be in life-long partnerships with had nothing to do with whether or not they could be good pastors. And so I became a straight ally. An advocate. A fighter for justice.
So, here we are today. I promised we would look at those six scriptures that people use to say you can’t be gay and Christian, so let’s take a look, briefly, at them.
Two are in the Jewish law book of Leviticus.
Leviticus 18:22
22You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. (NRSV)
Leviticus 20:13a
If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death; (NRSV)
Now the truth is, most of Leviticus is full of laws that we modern Christians no longer worry about, things like not eating shellfish, and not touching pigskin, which means football is out. To give you a response to Lev 18:22 and 20:13, we’re going to show you a clip from the “West Wing.” In this scene the President enters a reception with a bunch of radio show hosts. One of them, is a character like our Dr. Laura who offers advice on her show.
* WEST WING VIDEO CLIP - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eD52OlkKfNs&feature=related
The other Old Testament scripture that is often quoted is the story of Sodom found in Genesis 19:1-29. In an article by Michael Piazza from the Cathedral of Hope in Dallas, found at http://tinyurl.com/Piazza-article, you can find more details about this text and others. I really don’t have time to go into great detail in the time constraints of this sermon. But basically, we’ve been told that the sin of the town of Sodom was that they were homosexuals and that is why God destroyed the city. But this is not a city of people in loving committed monogamous homosexual relationships. In the story, there are guests, angels, staying in a man’s home, and then a mob comes. They demand that the guests be brought out to them so that they might rape them. This is a story of abuse. And in fact the man offers his virgin daughters instead. Don’t even get me started about that – if God destroys the city because of their homosexuality then why does the man offer his daughters? In another place in scripture, Jesus refers to the inhospitality of Sodom (Luke 10:10-13).
Here is the truth. In the time when scripture was written, they did not have scientific knowledge that we have now. There was no sense that homosexuality was a natural thing. And even if there was, this story is not about two people being in a same gender loving committed relationship. This is a story of abuse and violence.
So that is the three scriptures in the Old Testament. As I have said, Jesus himself, says nothing about homosexuality that is recorded in scripture. There are only three verses in the New Testament that have been translated as having anything to do with homosexuality, and each of these present some problems in terms of translations. Here are the three:
Romans 1
26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural, 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error. (RSV)
I Corinthians 6:9-10
9Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, 10thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers—none of these will inherit the kingdom of God. (NRSV)
I Timothy 1:9-11
9This means understanding that the law is laid down not for the innocent but for the lawless and disobedient, for the godless and sinful, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their father or mother, for murderers, 10fornicators, sodomites, slave traders, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching 11that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me. (NRSV)
Here is one problem. We are reading the Bible in English. We are dependent upon translators and they are all going to have some sort of bias. But here is the other problem. There really was no sense, in the time that the Bible was written, that it could be natural for a man to have relations with a man; or for two women. So when Romans 1 refers to unnatural relations, it’s because there was no sense that two men or two women could have natural relations.
As far as the other two scriptures, in I Corinthians and I Timothy, these really refer to prostitution. They have nothing to do with what we would know today as a loving same gendered relationship. In fact the word homosexual did not even appear in the English translations until 1958. Until then the word was translated Sodomites or male prostitutes.
So you see, the Bible really has nothing to say, directly, about two women or two men, who fall in love, and make a decision to spend the rest of their lives together, gather with their friends and their pastor, and ask for God’s blessing for their covenant relationship. So, we are on our own to read what we do have in scripture, through the lens of tradition, and our own reason and experience, and determine what Jesus would have us do.
As I think of the people I know. . . as I look around this room. . . it seems quite clear to me. Because you see, I’m not just thinking about some abstract “homosexual people” I’m seeing the faces Cathy and Carly at their commitment service, and the faces of Pat and Cindy ; and Kristen and Shelly, people who have been together in committed relationships for 25 years; People who love God, and who are single but who have always known themselves as gay or lesbian. I don’t really understand how other churches and other pastors can say you are not welcome just because of whom you are attracted to and who you love. And so, here, we say that everyone is welcome, no matter who you love.
Both of our denominations have groups of churches within them that are committed to being publicly welcoming to Trangender, Bisexual, Gay and Lesbian persons.
United Church of Christ – Open and Affirming Churches - ONA
ONA is "shorthand" for Open and Affirming, the designation for congregations, campus ministries, and other bodies in the United Church of Christ which make public statements of welcome into their full life and ministry to persons of all sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions.
United Methodist Church – Reconciling Ministries Network
Reconciling Ministries Network mobilizes United Methodists of all sexual orientations and gender identities to transform our Church and world into the full expression of Christ’s inclusive love.
Village Church Statement of Welcome
We invite and welcome into the full life and ministry of The Village Church persons of every gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, physical and mental ability, age, race, nationality, economic, and social status. No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome in The Village Church.
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1 comment:
Sing it, sister!
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