God and Gays
When I was younger - much younger - I was a delegate for several years at the United Methodist Annual Conference for my area. An issue that was just coming up at the time was the idea of allowing homosexuals to be ordained as ministers. I remember very vividly a couple of the alternate delegates trying to distract me or trick me off the floor when the crucial vote was upcoming because they knew I would vote differently than they would.
Recently I learned that lo these many years later, the United Methodist Church is STILL struggling to figure out what to do about gay people within their congregations.
I am not a Methodist anymore - I'm not even a Christian anymore - but as someone who does have warm memories of the United Methodist church, and memories of good times I had while a member of the church, I hope that you will allow me to address this issue from my perspective, for all those Christians who are struggling with this issue at the moment.
Walk forward, I say! Walk forward and towards the light!
There was a time when most Christians were part of the Roman Catholic Church, a monolithic and hierarchical structure in which all power was vested in the clergy, and virtually none in the people. But brave individuals walked forward, towards the light, and carried the church with them.
There was a time when people of color were not considered to be suitable as parishioners in white churches. But brave individuals walked forward, towards the light, and carried the church with them.
There was a time when the church condoned the keeping of human beings as property. But brave individuals walked forward, towards the light, and carried the church with them.
There was a time when the church condemned the idea of divorce. But brave individuals walked forward, towards the light, and carried the church with them.
There was a time when the church considered the idea of people of different races producing children to be repugnant, and supported laws regarding miscegenation. But brave individuals walked forward, towards the light, and carried the church with them.
There was a time when the church considered women to be subservient to men, and inappropriate for positions of leadership. But generations of brave individuals walked forward, towards the light, and carried the church with them.
Now, while your holy books - filled with many, many, many passages about treating others with compassion and kindness, words of your Messiah about not judging others, and repeated instructions to love one another, care for one another, support one another -while these books lie dusty on the shelves you bicker about what people should and should not be allowed to do with their genitals. To you I say this - love is at the heart of the gospels, not sex. Your decisions should be based on that fact - to encourage committed relationships, to foster love, to allow all men and women the opportunity to share their love with another and have love shared with them alike.
Sex has nothing to do with it. Jesus never talked about sex. He talked a lot about love though, and how there isn't enough of it in this world, and how important it is to foster it.
There are biblical injunctions against homosexuality. I say to you - so what? Honestly, do not kid yourselves - it will not be the first time a biblical dogma and literalism has been set aside. Ask your women pastors and lay leaders. Ask your black pastors and parishioners. Ask the divorcee sitting next to you in the pew. For that matter ask the guy in the front row wearing clothes of differing fabrics. For two hundred years in America the Christian church has been reinterpreting biblical injunctions in service to the greater message of the gospels - and the movement has always been towards inclusiveness, not dogma.
Now there are families standing at your door. Families who want nothing more than to become members of your greater family. Families who want the same thing that you do, only with the minor matter of some variant in the sex part. Is the sex part really so important to you? Is the sex part, on which Jesus said nothing, more important than the loving and caring for one another part, on which Jesus said quite a bit? Why do you cling to a few minor statements about sex, and ignore that which is the heart of the gospels - God's love for everyone?
When your faith stood on the side of slavery and oppression and segregation and denial of civil rights it was wrong. When it opened its doors and accepted freedom, worth, equality, and respect it was right.
When your faith stood on the side of gender inequality, denied women leadership positions, and opposed woman's rights it was wrong. When it opened its doors and accepted women as equal partners, able to lead as well as follow, in both the laity and the ministry, it was right.
Now your faith finds itself once again standing in opposition to a group who wants only to be your friends and allies - who believes largely as you believe, who wants only the recognition and acceptance that you grant now freely to ex-slaves and ex-suffragettes.
You can stand there and block their path.
Or, you can turn and walk with them, towards the light.
There will always be nay sayers - those too comfortable where they are or too afraid to pick up one foot and place it in front of the other. There are always those afraid of change. Staying in one place, never moving, makes for a great wall but a terrible community. Communities are dynamic. Your Messiah walked. You should walk too.
Some of you are afraid of change, afraid of what that change means, afraid of what that change will bring. It is OK to be afraid - being afraid of the new and different is part of human nature. We like security. We like consistency. We worry about making mistakes. This is natural. But do not take council of those fears. Do not let them rule you. Being afraid and still doing the dangerous thing, the frightening thing, because it is the RIGHT thing, is what makes courage a virtue. Your Messiah went voluntarily to a painful death because he knew it was the right thing to do. This, too, is the right thing to do. Have courage and walk forward, towards the light!
They are your brothers and sisters. They are your aunts and uncles. They are members of your community, openly or in secret, and they want nothing more than to walk in the light, hand in hand - as you walk in the light, hand in hand. So walk forward, my former brothers and sisters in Christ! Let those who wish to walk with you do so, no more or less loved than any other, treated no differently than any other! Do not stand blocking their way. Turn and walk with them. Walk forward, and towards the light!