Christianity and Homosexuality: Positive Movement in Delaware

OK, I'm about a week late on this one, but if I am brutally honest the Hockessin Community News often remains on my driveway for a couple of days before we rip it open and page through to get The Crownery Chinese Restaurant 10%-off coupon.

Sorry about that. Last week it caused me to nearly miss Andrea Miller's article Two local churches consider clarifying stance on homosexuality about the changes occurring at the Skyline and Newark United Methodist Churches:

Leaders at two local UMC churches, Skyline and Newark, feel it may be time to add explicit language to their Mission Statements to let people know that whatever an individual church member may think or feel, that yes, homosexuals are included in “all,” that “welcome” means they won’t be judged, lobbied or shunned by church policy or practice.

If Skyline and Newark did so, they would not be violating the UMC’s stance, as long as the churches do not ordain openly homosexual men and women (unless the candidate commits to a lifetime of celibacy), or perform commitment ceremonies for gay couples.

Inclusion advocates like Skyline Methodist Church’s Outreach Pathway Minister Judie Riley, recognize questions about the church’s stance on sexuality remain controversial, and know that coming to a consensus as a congregation can be easily hindered by misinformation, political agendas and fear of being ostracized by other churches. That is why both churches are engaged in a congregation-wide process that aims to clarify their positions through conversation, study and prayer. [Emphasis added]

OK, it's interesting so far, even if it's only (technically) an elevated form of second-class citizenship--come in, you're welcome, we won't try to cure you, but you can't be ordained and you can't get committed (er. ah, married).

Let's read further:

Newark and Skyline are already known as progressive and open-minded churches. Both have baptized homosexual couples. Both allow openly gay men and women to serve communion, preach, teach and help to run the church. Both have connections to Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN) – a group devoted to bringing homosexuals into full church participation.

In fact, when Newark’s lay leader Paul Stazesky recently approached the congregation about starting an RMN Bible study, a lot of people were confused.

“Many said ‘I thought this is who we already are,’ and ‘I thought we were already doing this’,” Stazesky says. They wondered why it was necessary to add special language or special classes.

Riley says there’s a very important reason.

“We are talking about a marginalized population that hungers for God but is afraid to come to church because they have traditionally been shunned, excluded and singled out by the church,” she says. “They need a way to identify [as] us safe.”

It’s not unlike the first century Christians who faced persecution, she says. They signaled to each other by drawing the symbol of a fish. Today, gay and lesbian Christians look for RMN’s symbol of the rainbow.

It’s worked just that way at Newark: in just two months since their RMN study began, participation has more than tripled in size to 35 people.

I've seen a lot of Bible studies on homosexuality over the years, so you might excuse me for a healthy skepticism here. And it's evident that the world is not changing without angst:

At Skyline, not everyone has been comfortable with the church’s increasing inclusiveness. In the last two years, nine families have left Skyline because of it. That is not a mass exodus for a church of 250 regular parishioners, but Skyline co-pastor Bo Gordy- Stith says it surprised him, and highlighted the need for a congregation- wide conversation and Bible study.

Yet I still wonder exactly what they're teaching about homosexuality and the Bible:

Gordy-Stith says many straight people at Skyline may share her fear of upsetting the current calm: Skyline the center of debate and criticism among other churches if it adopts new inclusive language, particularly among those that believe the Bible’s condemns homosexuality and people who practice it should be corrected.

“This isn’t about throwing out the Bible. It’s about bringing an open mind and heart to the studying it,” Gordy-Stith says, because he does not believe the passages that seem to condemn it are translated accurately.

But even for Christians who believe today’s popular translations are accurate, to ignore their historical context would be like ignoring the impact of context on passages that condone genocide, slavery, patriarchy and polygamy, Stazesky says.

“The Bible calls for stoning drunkards to death. As a recovering alcoholic, I am relieved to know we recognize that is not appropriate today,” Stazesky says.

“Everyone has inherent value as a child of God. Social justice in the church can transform lives, but there is still discrimination and injustice in the church today,” he says. “I believe it is time to do the right thing.”

I have several thoughts about this, the first of which is admiration for a congregation willing to deal with the tough questions about what it means to be a Christian.

But I also wonder where it's going and what the ultimate barriers are. What happens when we reach the point where homosexuals are accepted at worship and then start asking for ordination and marriage? How far will toleration go then?


Historian John Boswell's Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe collects hundreds of pages of evidence that the modern church's prejudice against homosexuality is actually an artifact of the Renaissance; indeed, Boswell argues, the ancient and medieval Christian churches not only canonized openly gay saints, but also had explicit ceremonies for solemnizing same-sex unions. I have to admit that Boswell's work remains controversial, and his conclusions are suggestive rather than definitive, but ...

... it raises important questions regarding the history and inclusiveness of Christianity that our society is desperately attempting to avoid.

My final thought: would that my own Catholic Church could display the moral courage of these two local Methodist congregations.