Reconciling Love

Today’s sermon on homosexuality is the fifth sermon in our Hot Topics series.  While there is a lot that might feel unresolved for many of us on this subject, there is one thing that we are clear about as a church:  we welcome each and every person fully into membership and the life of the church, regardless of sexual orientation. For our time today because much of the debate on this subject is scriptural in nature, the sermon will be more like a teaching time.  You will have the scriptures to which I refer on the hand out, although there isn’t time to include each verse that has been a part of this conversation.  As with all of our sermons, this is not the end of the conversation; rather my hope is that it will invite you to ponder, to pray and to dive into our holy scriptures more deeply.  Please pray with me.

Few contemporary subjects have divided Christians more sharply than issues related to homosexuality.  For the most part, these divisions originate in “competing moral visions based on fundamentally different assumptions about moral authority.”  These assumptions are rooted in our differing religious traditions, our differing experiences and our differing family histories and all of this has led us to craft our core beliefs as human beings about ‘what is right and wrong, good and bad, acceptable and unacceptable in our private and public lives.’   And I suspect that this topic feels difficult for us as people of faith because it forces us to engage deeply profound questions.  Even raising the subject in the context of our faith brings up questions about what constitutes a healthy family and who decides.  Talking about homosexuality in church brings up questions about the authority of the Bible, the intersection between religion and politics and sexuality in general.  And yet as with all of our hot topics, we engage this subject, knowing that we will not all agree, but that asking what our Christian faith has to say on the matter is a worthy endeavor in order for us to grow as disciples of Jesus Christ.

Christianity as a whole and mainline Protestant denominations in particular, have been battling for decades about whether it is acceptable for clergy to officiate at ceremonies uniting gay and lesbian people in civil unions or marriage and whether gay and lesbian people can be ordained into Christian ministry. In 2005, the United Church of Christ became the first mainline Christian denomination to support same-sex marriage officially when General Synod passed a resolution affirming, "equal marriage rights for couples regardless of gender," but this is surely the exception.  The United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Episcopal Church in America and the Presbyterian Church USA among others, have all remained deeply divided on the matter. 

As with most Christian debates on ethical issues, the subject of homosexuality demands us to thoroughly examine how the Bible should be interpreted in light of textual criticism, modern sensibilities and modern science.  And given that much of the debate on the subject is grounded in what the Bible says and does not say, I would like to spend our time together today looking at a variety of scriptures.  As Christians, we believe that the Bible is our primary source for understanding how we are to live and love in this world and yet we can read the text faithfully and each end up in entirely different places.  This is okay and reminds us of the diversity of response that this compilation of books has evoked throughout time.  It is in this spirit of openness that we will explore some of the range of human experiences recorded in our scriptures.

The Bible is frequently cited as a source of pure and holy family values, but as we will see today, much of the scripture used to lift up these values are in fact deeply morally questionable themselves.  We are invited into the often-tricky realm where parts of our scripture stand in sharp contrast to the life and words of Jesus.

From the very first book, in the early chapters of Genesis, we are provided poetic answers to some of our first questions as human beings:  How did the world begin?  Who am I?  Who made me?  Why do I exist?  We learn that both female and male elements were present at creation, both sharing equally in the image of God.  And we learn that despite all of the beauty, God saw that man should not be alone.  When Adam receives his partner, he sings out to God in gratitude with the words, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.”  Adam’s response to God’s gift of a partner is often the first of many pieces of scripture cited when conversation about homosexuality emerges.  We read in Genesis, “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.’”  And we also read that a man clings to his wife and “they become one flesh.” 

These pieces of scripture are frequently cited in an effort to condemn same sex couples. There is clearly an emphasis on the presence of both maleness and femaleness, but these scriptures are often used to further the argument that people of the same sex should not partner because it is not possible to procreate.  Yet there are many healthy and faithful couples who simply cannot have children and we do not label them as any less Christian.  At the very least, we can conclude that the Genesis story celebrates the hope for human beings to find a mate on the journey of life.

Another part of Genesis often cited is the infamous story of Sodom.  Many use this story in the debate on homosexuality, but it seems to me that few people actually read it.  If you have not yet read this story, be prepared because it is not what we might call “family friendly.”  In Genesis chapter 19, we read about Lot’s visitors and the men of Sodom.  (Read the scripture aloud.) Lot has offered lodging in his hometown to strangers, who we learn are angels in disguise.  Before the visitors lay down for the night, some men of the town arrive at Lot’s door demanding to “know them” which in biblical terms means a request for sex.  The scripture reads, “But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house and they called to Lot, ‘Where are the men who came to you tonight?’  Bring them out to us, so that we may know them.”  Lot panics because he wants to protect the men who are in his care for the night and so offers them his virgin daughter instead, which for our modern ears sounds worse.  And while the visitors do not like his offer, they escape and the destruction of Sodom and Gommorrah is interpreted as God’s judgment against the evil plans of Lot’s neighbors, the plan of men “knowing men.”   This story closely parallels other biblical stories, in that it demonstrates a strong contrast between the essential Near Eastern commitment to radical hospitality and the brutality of a violent sexual attack, something we assume was common in the time in which these stories were written.  In the book of Judges, the men of Gibeah demand that a guest be brought out for sexual abuse and instead the host offers his daughter who is sexually abused and found dead the next morning.  

These stories are fraught with pain and lifted up as scriptural evidence that God condemns homosexuality, although the category did not yet exist. The distinction that we now make between heterosexuality and homosexuality did not exist in Jesus’ time or anywhere in the ancient world.  The word homosexual was not coined until 1869 to describe the theory that was just beginning to form, that from birth some people are affectionately predisposed toward persons of their own sex.   Although the word sodomy is never actually mentioned in the Bible, Sodom comes to symbolize evil and going against God’s commands, as we later read in the book of Ezekiel.  But many scholars believe that the evil to which the Bible refers in these stories, is about “those who violate the right of any stranger to be provided hospitality- a tradition deeply rooted in the culture of the ancient Near East.”   Regardless of how these stories are interpreted, the sheer violence, brutality and the violation of the women who are offered up for the taking is enough to leave us wondering where God can be found in these texts.

The next scriptures used in this debate are those found in the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy.  In Leviticus we read, “Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.” (Leviticus 18:22)  But the verse in the 20th chapter of Leviticus changes the tone quickly.  It reads, “If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.” (Leviticus 20:13)

Even those of us who struggle with homosexuality, would be quick to condemn this passage.  The foundation of our Christian faith is first and foremost love.  And this is the very place where we begin to stand on challenging theological ground because for Christians, our first source for authority is Jesus.  We might look to his response to the inquiry of a scribe in his presence.  When seeking to understand the bottom line of Jesus’ ministry, the scribe comes to him and asks, “Which commandment is the first of all and Jesus answered, ‘The first is, ‘Hear oh Israel:  the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.  The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  There is no other commandment greater than these.”  (Mark 12: 28-31) 

So what do we make of these seemingly opposing scriptures?  Do we get out of this theological bind by giving Jesus’ words more weight?  Do we give less power to the words found in the Old Testament and let Jesus’ life and message serve as our primary guide?  This, however, does not offer us an easy way out.  We might become stuck again when we hear Jesus’ words in the Gospel of Luke.  He says, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery, and whoever marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.” (Luke 16:18)  And even though we cannot deny that Jesus condemns divorce, which is our hot topic for next week, we do not exclude those among us who are divorced from our life of faith, we do not question the faith of those who are divorced and we do not believe that God loves those who are divorced any less.  We return again to Jesus’ response to the scribe:  there are no greater commands than loving God and loving each other, just as we are.

But for some of us, we might continue to struggle.  Even though we know that Jesus said with the brightest hope in the Gospel of John, that he came “not to condemn but to save,” we want to have clarity on how we are to live.  We want clarity on what is right and wrong, especially when it comes to human relationships.  And even if Jesus said nothing on same sex relationships or sexuality in general, which he didn’t, we can be sure that Paul had a lot to say.  In his first letter to the community in Corinth, Paul writes, “The body is meant not for fornication but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?”  Throughout his writings, it is clear that Paul saw himself as nothing less than holy.  He gave himself the title of Apostle, despite his years of condemning early Christians.  In his first letter to Timothy, he writes, “This 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, fornicators, sodomites, slave-traders, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.” (1 Timothy 1: 8-11)  Paul believed that he had it right.  He saw himself as the keeper of the true Gospel.  So what do we make of something else he wrote in his first letter to the community in Corinth.  He writes, “As in all the churches of the saints, women should be silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as the law also says. If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.” (1Corinthians 14: 34-35)

You might be wondering what all of this has to do with homosexuality.  And the point is that we must be cautious of how we use the Bible, especially when it is used as evidence that God condemns or excludes any group.  We must be cautions when using the Bible as way to deny rights or limit possibilities.  The Bible is our primary source for understanding how we are to live and love in this world and yet it is a product of human beings and as such we can see in it evidence of our prejudices throughout time: prejudice against children, against women, against people with mental illness, against people with dark skin, against people who were different from those in power.  In the words of William Sloane Coffin, “It is not scripture that creates hostility to homosexuality, but rather hostility to homosexuals that prompts some Christians to recite a few sentences from Paul and retain passages from an otherwise discarded Old Testament law code.  In abolishing slavery and in ordaining women we’ve gone beyond biblical literalism….The problem is not how to reconcile homosexuality with scriptural passages that condemn it, but rather how to reconcile the rejection and punishment of homosexuals with the love of Christ.  It can’t be done.”

The truth is that it is difficult to know for sure the intentions of the biblical authors and we live in a time that could not be more different from the time in which they wrote.  But that is okay because we know something about God. We know God through Jesus of Nazareth who went to great lengths to express God’s love to people who were labeled as outcasts.  Jesus’ first task for those who wanted to follow him was reconciling love.   Even as some among us may struggle to understand those whom we see as different from us, we are bound together in love.   We are bound together: gay and straight, liberal and conservative, single and married, young and old, rich and poor, not because of anything the world offers.  We are bound together because of the love of Christ. May it be so.

Caught in the Crossfire:  Helping Christians Debate Homosexuality Edited by Sally B. Geis and Donald E. Messer (Nashville:  Abingdon Press, 1994) 14.

Caught in the Crossfire:  Helping Christians Debate Homosexuality Edited by Sally B. Geis and Donald E. Messer (Nashville:  Abingdon Press, 1994) 59.

Harper Collins Bible Commentary Edited by James L. Mays (San Francisco:  Harpercollins San Francisco, 2000) 95.

Caught in the Crossfire:  Helping Christians Debate Homosexuality Edited by Sally B. Geis and Donald E. Messer (Nashville:  Abingdon Press, 1994) 58.

Caught in the Crossfire:  Helping Christians Debate Homosexuality Edited by Sally B. Geis and Donald E. Messer (Nashville:  Abingdon Press, 1994) 60.

Credo by William Sloane Coffin (Louisville:  Westminster John Knox Press, 2004) 39.