August 10, 2003; Proper 14, Year B
The Rev. Harold "Skip" Comer, Rector
I thought that by living in a small community in northern Michigan that I would not be bothered by the news media when the Episcopal Church made national headlines. Well, I was wrong. Evidently a reporter from the Record Eagle was going through the yellow pages of the Traverse City telephone book trying to find an Episcopal priest to quote in an article she was writing. Having no luck in contacting a priest in Traverse City or Elk Rapids, she called St. Philip’s. Late on Friday afternoon I talked to the reporter who wanted to know my response to the approval of a gay man as the next bishop of New Hampshire. I am hesitant to do interviews over the telephone with reporters because you never know how they will put your words together. To make matters worse, the article was not going to appear until this morning’s paper. I grabbed a copy on the way to church this morning and hurriedly read the article to see if she had written my comments accurately.
By now I would imagine that all of you have heard that the General Convention of the Episcopal Church has confirmed the election of The Rev. Canon Gene Robinson, an openly gay man who has a male partner, as the next Diocesan Bishop of New Hampshire. Canon Robinson’s election earlier this year guaranteed that the General Convention would have to formally address the homosexual issue. Emotions have been on edge ever since his election and now with the results of the confirmation hearings there are many Episcopalians that are expressing joy, while many others are very angry.
I felt that I needed to say something to you this morning about the whole issue of homosexuality and Christianity in light of what has happened. I am well aware that there are some here this morning that are happy because of this confirmation and others who are very angry. Then there are others who have very little feeling about it one way or the other. My challenge is to be a pastor to all of you. I believe that we have something very special here at St. Philip’s and my concern is that an issue like this could harm the fellowship of this community of believers. While we cannot avoid what has happened, we can decide that it will not become an issue that will tear us apart. It is a fear that I have because I have personally seen it happen in other parishes. No one wants to come to church on Sunday morning if there is fighting over this issue or that issue. No, rather, we want to gather in joy and praise God with our friends and the guests who come through our doors.
Now that I have danced around the issue, let me say first of all that the General Convention has left us with a paradox. While the General Convention has affirmed an openly gay man who is in a relationship with another man, and presumably it is a sexual relationship, for bishop, it has skirted the issue of whether or not the church should formally recognize homosexual relationships and develop rites or ceremonies to affirm or bless them. Yet by giving their stamp of approval to Robinson to become a bishop, the General Convention has essentially said that the relationship at least doesn’t matter, and quite possibly has even placed its stamp of approval on gay and lesbian relationships. We’ll have to wait another three years for the General Convention to address this issue again.
So, here we are, a denomination that has taken a bold step. Are we a leader or a renegade? For certain there is no Biblical support for the action taken by the General Convention. Yes, gay and lesbians have been ordained to the priesthood for some time. For a while they were “in the closet,” but in recent years openly gay and lesbian people have sought and been ordained to the priesthood by several bishops in the Episcopal Church. It has been done under auspices of what is know as “local option,” whereby clergy act on their own often times in contradiction to the teachings and practices of the Episcopal Church. Does this make it right? Certainly not. But it seems that we as a denomination are unwilling to confront and stop this type of action. The exercising of “local option” by a few priests and bishops in the ordination of gays and lesbians is a contributing factor for where we are today.
If we are to be honest with ourselves, I believe that most of us know or have known homosexual priest. I have probably had greater exposure than anyone else, by virtue of the number of priest I know. Let me just say that I have known many priest who are gay. Many of them are or were good priests. What happens to gay and lesbian priest also happens to heterosexual priest – when ever their sexuality becomes a soapbox for their ministry or their sexual urges go unchecked, they violate the sacred vows that they made at ordination and the trust that the church and people have place in them. A minister, whether it be a deacon, priest, or bishop is defined by his calling from God, not his or her sexuality. The same is true of us as Christians. We are defined by our relationship with God through Jesus Christ, not by our sexuality.
Let me say at this point that I do not believe that anyone should engage in genital sex outside of a marital relationship, whether they are heterosexual or homosexual. I take this position because the Bible, which we believe is the inspired Word of God, does not condone physical sexual expression outside of marriage. And from a physical viewpoint, it seems obvious to me that God being the creator, sexual intercourse was intended to occur only between men and women.
Having said this, I must also say that I do not believe in gay bashing or looking down my nose at people who do not have the same values that I do. As Christians, we are suppose to be agents of God’s transforming power in the world. I believe that we have the responsibility to live a life that imitates that of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We, as individual Christians and as a church are accountable for what we do and what we do not do. There appears to me to be standards or laws by which Christians are to live, these being established by God. Who decides which ones to obey and which ones can be bent a little bit, ignored, or even changed? The answer of course is the Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Church is the custodian or steward of the faith. When individuals, congregations, or denominations act contrary to the established century old morals of the Christian faith, one has to question whether they are being led by the Holy Spirit or the spirit of the age.
One of the most difficult aspects of being a Christian is complying with the second part of the Great Commandment – “love your neighbor as yourself.” To put it another way, we are called to love the sinner and not the sin. This is a very difficult thing to do, separating the sin from the person, especially when we abhor the actions of someone. Yet we know from the example of Christ that it is possible to reach out in love to someone who has sinned and at the same time make them realize that we do not approve of what they are doing or have done. Christ in this way was able to transform the lives of many people that he came in contact with. We are called to practice this same type of love and compassion toward all of the people we come in contact with.
We are not their judge, that is reserved for God and God alone. What we are, are people of God who are trying to be faithful and obedient. Yes, we make wrong choices in our lives, we all are sinners. And it is by God’s grace alone that we have any hope of forgiveness and redemption. Pray for me a sinner.
Undoubtedly there are questions and concerns around this issue. I have only touched on it briefly this morning. Part of this is intentional. I am not a Biblical scholar, a moral theologian, a geneticist, or psychiatrist. I have offered a brief opinion of what has occurred with the confirmation of Canon Robinson and my own position on the issue of homosexual relationships and sex. If you would like to talk to me further about this issue, I am willing to do so.