Musings: Notes From My Daybook

Earlier today I spoke to about two dozen Disciples of Christ pastors at a luncheon meeting. The topic: ministry to the gay and lesbian community. As the "outsider" I was asked to give some shape to the divisive and difficult landscape that comprises this topic for churches and Christians. I invited Victor McCracken, a Ph.D. student at Emory to join me. The primary intent was descriptive—to give a clearer picture of the vast differences and similarities between conservative and liberal perspectives.

Following the work of Larry Holben, I offered six responses—condemnation, restoration, costly discipleship, accommodation, affirmation, and liberation. The group of ministers had a lively time talking at their tables at varied ways in which, within their own congregations, different perspectives are held. Together with Victor, we offered some important themes to keep in mind as churches wrestle with a response.

Namely, we suggested the following:

1) Broader Sexual Ethic. Homosexuality needs to be addressed within the wider concerns of a biblically-based sexual ethic. Homosexuality is not the only problem that churches face in seeking to live faithful lives. The distortion of heterosexual faith as evidenced by pornography, promiscuity, broken marriages, and divorces are signs that we have much to learn about faithful sexual practices.
2) The Reality of Human Sin. Whether a person is gay or lesbian because they were born that way or whether it is a way of life that acquired through circumstance and social conditioning, there are some basic Christian affirmations that need to anchor our thinking. Quoting Max Stackhouse, Princeton ethicist, “Human beings are both finite—made, as Genesis puts it, from the dust of the ground, and free—made with the capacity to cultivate the earth, name the animals, related to one another, and respond to God. We are, thus, both rooted in the concrete limitations of physicality, social location, and need, and always able, in some indeterminate degreee, to transcend precisely these limitations. The essence of human nature is that we have a complex character. We are in turn material, relational, and spiritual; we are less than angels, but more than beasts; we are products of our societies, but makers of civilizations; we are driven by passions, but we also choose whom to love and how to enact that love; we make real choices, but we know that we ought to choose rightly and well.” Finite and free. The mixture of these two realities must be kept in tension.

Other trajectories are rooted in some of my comments in the Christian Chronicle in September. Click here.

Interestingly enough, the “costly discipleship” response—that is, to say, abstinence—which is held with Roman Catholic tradition took on added interest with today’s announcements from the Vatican regarding ordination and homosexuality.

In a nutshell, the Catholics continue to recognize the difference between homosexual orientation and homosexual practice. They also acknowledge that homosexual practice can reflect a deep "disordered" state in a person and hence such persons should not be considered for Christian ministry.

Here is a lengthy quote:

"Concerning profoundly deep-rooted homosexual tendencies, that one discovers in a certain number of men and women, these are also objectively disordered and often constitute a trial, even for these men and women. These people must be received with respect and delicacy; one will avoid every mark of unjust discrimination with respect to them. These are called to realize the will of God in their lives and to unite to the Sacrifice of the Lord the difficulties that they may encounter.

In light of this teaching, this department, in agreement with the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, holds it necessary clearly to affirm that the Church, while profoundly respecting the persons in question, may not admit to the seminary and Holy Orders those who practice homosexuality, show profoundly deep-rooted homosexual tendencies, or support the so-called gay culture."

A lot could obviously be said about this statement. We could comment about the politics or about abuse. But I would suggest that at the heart of the Vatican's statements is a deep seriousness about scripture that is joined with a seriousness about the human condition and the complex psychology that continues to emerge about homosexual practice.

Certainly, I am no Roman Catholic. But a church tradition that affirms the sanctity of life, opposes the death penalty, and is in the forefront of issues regarding poverty and ethics can not easily be said to be uncaring or uninformed about the human condition. So I guess I'm listening to their perspective and am interested to learn more.