Hello
Emmanuel,
Ok,
so here it is. I’m finally angry, frustrated
and somewhat irritated enough by this whole issue. This edition of the MMP is about same-sex
marriage. It is the current hot topic in
the United Methodist Church as well as other denominations. It is an issue that is very divisive and
threatens the unity of the UM Church.
However, I have come to the conclusion that the church should know how
the pastor views the issue. This is a
longer edition than normal. I simply
invite you not to anticipate what you think I’m going to say here. If you do, you’ll be disappointed. If you don’t, you might still be
disappointed, but at least you’ll hear what I have to say.
First, I fully admit that I’m not
as passionate about this issue as a few of you are. I try to be, but I just can’t. I see too many other issues in the church
that touch my heart in more significant ways:
addiction, family dysfunction, bitter friendships, abuse, neglect,
people shooting other people, financial hardships, cancer, tragic loss of life,
etc; I just can’t find time to spend on
whether or not this certain expression of love is condemning or
praiseworthy. I realize I put myself in
a tough spot. The liberals will say I’m
not standing up for the oppressed like Jesus would. The conservatives will say I’m not standing
up for God’s laws as a pastor should.
I’m not trying to sit on the fence, but it is where I find myself. Which leads to more frustration and to
finding the reason why I don’t care as much as I should………
And
here is why I think I lack passion on this issue…….
Second, the core of the issue in
the church isn’t about gay marriage. It
is about how we treat Scripture. Let’s be clear. Churches can’t even agree on how to approach
homosexuality. The reason? Churches can’t agree on what is a sin and
what isn’t a sin. There are 600+ laws in
Scripture, all of them originating in the Old Testament. I don’t follow all of them and don’t think I
need to follow all of them. And, by the
way, regardless how conservative or liberal you think you are, none of you
follow all of them either and, if you familiarize yourself with all of them,
you will also believe you shouldn’t have to follow all of them (read Leviticus
and Deuteronomy if you dare). I could
beat the drum on gluttony, make-up, tattoos, long hair, tithing 10%, keeping the
Sabbath Holy, envying your neighbor’s new car and boiling baby goats. Somehow I don’t think even the most
conservative of us would take up the cause on all of it. Each of us would pick and choose as we have
done since Paul debated whether or not it was okay to eat pork in the Church
and whether or not it was okay to be uncircumcised. (sorry for the imagery, but hey, it’s in the
Bible).
The
Church simply doesn’t know what to do with those verses that don’t feel as
significant today. And the Church can’t
agree on what which verses those are. Is
homosexuality on that list? Boiling baby
goats is on that list. For many people,
tithing 10% is on that list. I would
even submit that, in large part, we’ve pretty much passed on making issues like
divorce and drinking alcohol such hot topics.
Why? What happened? What made divorce and alcohol suddenly not a
big deal? And what is making
homosexuality a big deal today? What
will be the big deal 25 years from now?
It isn’t because it’s in the Bible.
It’s ALL in the Bible. So why are
we being so wishy washy about what we choose to detest and what we choose to
give a pass on? (are you picking up on
my frustration yet?)
And
because the Church doesn’t know how to treat Scripture, we come away looking
terribly hypocritical and selectively hateful.
We give free passes to some for certain behavior, but not to others for
other behavior. This inconsistency makes
me irritable. It is also frustrating
because, as a pastor, I don’t always know how to respond to the non-churched
who claims we are hypocrites. There are
times when I have to nod my head and agree.
Third, I’m not going to let this
issue define my ministry, nor the ministry of Emmanuel. At the core of my Call is to help broken
people know that there is hope. That
hope is found in Jesus Christ. Over the
years I have witnessed hundreds (thousands?) of people walk into the church as
broken souls. I could give a list as to
the reasons for the brokenness (likely related to at least one of the 600+ Laws…
though we can’t seem to agree on which ones really matter), but I don’t have
enough room here. Additionally, there
were people who came relatively healthy who I thought were broken. And there were people who came who I thought
were pretty healthy who were, in fact, terribly broken. I am not a good judge of who is broken and
how badly. Soooooo…..
I’m
going to minister to others with the assumption that all of us are broken
(regardless of the reason) and show them Jesus as the Hope for New Life. Jesus came to help the sick, not the
healthy. My ministry will be defined by
how I connect with Jesus, how I connect people to Jesus and how I help others
connect people to Jesus. It will be
defined by how Jesus has treated me, how I treat people and how I teach others
to treat people. And in the end, God
will read my heart and, by His grace, it will be a good read.
It
goes back to the basic teachings of Jesus:
The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.
Love God, Love your neighbor as yourself and try not to be a hypocrite.
Fourth (and the reason you read
this article), there is a lot I don’t know or
understand around the issue of homosexuality.
Many of you likely want to know my stance on same-sex marriage. I honestly don’t know. I do know that I will not preside over
same-sex marriages. Before any of you
applaud or boo, know that my reason is a selfish one. I like my job. And my lack of passion in this area doesn’t
lead me to want to risk my employment. Don’t
get me wrong. I have gone against the
grain of UM stances before, but only when my conscience gave me little
choice.
I
do hope you understand that this fourth point is miniscule in my mind, compared
to all the other points in this article.
The Church is in trouble. We need
to figure out how we are going to treat Scripture or the Church will slowly
become irrelevant to the community that seeks guidance amidst brokenness.
Fifth and finally, we need to pray
for the United Methodist Church. Next Spring is General Conference. Many petitions around this issue of same-sex
marriage will be debated and voted on.
Regardless of the outcome, the UM Church is as close to splitting as it
ever has been and the UM Church will continue to decline until we start making the
hot topic the topic that matters to people who are broken (which is all of us). I love the UM Church. It introduced me to Jesus and showed me how
my brokenness could be forgiven and healed.
I, in turn, will continue to introduce others to Jesus and show others
how forgiveness is prevalent and healing is always a possibility.
God
is Good,
Pastor
Joe
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