23 FEBRUARY 2014 Civil Unions and The United Methodist Church Part 2 Rev. Rusty Butler Scripture Luke 12:54-57 Last week, Valerie gave a tremendous sermon about the issue of same sex unions and the United Methodist Church. She told how when she, Tim and I met to discuss what we were going to do with worship these past two weeks that I said about my part that I would, mop up whatever she left behind. Last week she gave me a mop. Well all that wasn t very smart on my part! Because in my mind there is nothing to mop up! Her words stand on their own as a prophetic and pastoral testimony to what she believes and also what many people here at AUMC support. Copies of her sermon are on the welcome desk as well as on our website at ArvadaUMC.org. I urge you to get a copy of that and share it with neighbors, family and friends. In response to her sermon, almost 300 people signed the letter of support to Rev. Frank Schaefer. Rev. Schaefer performed a same sex marriage for his son six years ago but was recently defrocked by the United Methodist church after a church trial. Copies of our letter are on the back of the insert that you have in your bulletins today. If you weren t here last week and care to add your signature to the list, you will have the opportunity to do so at the end of the service. Copies of the letter and our signatures will be sent to Rev. Schaefer and Bishop Carcono, bishop of the Cal Pac conference who has offered Rev. Schaefer a position in her conference and our own Bishop Stanovsky of the Rocky Mountain Conference.
By sending the letter of support, we add our voices to a growing movement that is trying to shift the United Methodist church from its current position about homosexuality and same sex unions. In addition, we let our Bishop, Bishop Stanovsky continue to get to know just who we are at AUMC. As I said, Valerie had a terrific sermon last week, laying out the issues that face our church and the denomination over the issue of same sex marriage/or unions. She received a number of well deserved supportive notes and emails about the sermon and our church s willingness to discuss it. She also received one note that disagreed with that position. We were somewhat surprised that she just got one. In it, there was this line, God himself gave us the example of the unions he wants to see when he created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. Sincerely,. That little saying is cute because it rhymes doesn t it? Certainly when you read the first two creation stories at the beginning of Genesis, it is quite obvious that sexual orientation or same sex unions is not the reason for the existence of those two stories. One person has written in response to the Adam and Eve and Adam and Steve quip, Well, if God made Adam and Eve, then who made Steve? Exactly. Would you pray with me? In the midst of a changing world, as generations come and go, as we learn about the universe and each other, may we gain the wisdom that allows us to continue working so that there is abundant life for all. What I would like to do this morning is to share with you two things. First, we will look at scripture and homosexuality and second, we ll think about The United Methodist church and it s movement forward. Last week after Valerie s sermon, a member mentioned to me that the elephant in the room is scripture. Do you know what means? There s not an actual
elephant in the room named scripture that would be interpreting the sentence literally. No we all know that what the person meant is that one important piece of our response to the issue of homosexuality is what the scriptures say about homosexuality. Regardless of whether you consider yourself a liberal, a moderate or a conservative I think it behooves us to have a background with the text. In the gospels, Jesus sometimes begins a parable with a question: What do you think? By that introduction, he was inviting his hearers to think along with him-in other words to be interpreters. In the scripture from Luke that we heard, he asks the question, And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? Now the question that I want to put before us is this Was he just saying those things or did he actually expect the hearers to think for themselves to interpret and to make decisions themselves? What do you think? (That was a joke.) Lay people often understand themselves as only the recipients of biblical interpretation from teachers, scholars or pastor. But I believe you can and should think of yourselves as biblical interpreters in your own right. So what would it mean to interpret the scriptures about homosexuality for yourselves? How would you go about doing it? Where would you start? What questions would you ask? First, I think you have to gauge what you understand the Bible to be about, it s view of sexuality and of course you have to add into that, what you think people are about. You have an idea about the Bible. You may see it as a set of guidelines or rules or instructions. You may prefer to think that the important thing about the Bible is lists of do and don ts found in the Ten Commandments, or in the Sermon on the Mount or the rules found in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Lots of people
understand the Bible as a book of rules follow the rules and you will receive a reward. You may on the other hand see the Bible not so much as a set of rules or guidelines but as a source of great ideas like forgiveness, or grace or faithfulness or liberation. You may see the Bible as a partner in dialogue which allows you to encounter God. When you read the words you may feel like you are talking with God. You have a view of the Bible and it s authority. You have an your own understanding about sexuality which has been the result of family, friends, the culture, the age which you grew up in and the many different authors of the Bible do also. So just exactly what does the Bible say about sexuality? All of us probably have our ideas of that, we know that it speaks about the creation of male and female, Adam and Eve, marriage, polygamy, concubines, births outside of marriage, celibacy pro and con, temple prostitutes, the place of women and men, the list goes on that s all part of it. You have your view of sexuality and what the Bible says about that. It s very possible that you may approve or disapprove of people based on your values and the values of your family, your friends or perhaps your bridge group, or you may believe that people should be evaluated based on what they provide to society or you may think that people should be seen as individuals of intrinsic worth. You have an idea of what you think about people. When we take all of that together, our understanding of what the Bible is, the Bible s view of sexuality, our view of sexuality, our view people,, when we ve got that down then we re ready to tackle the texts.
Are you ready? First we need to know the key texts that are used in most discussions and studies and books about homosexuality and the Bible. Do you have a pencil to write these down? Genesis 19:1-11 this is the story of Sodom and Gomorroh. There is also a parallel story found in Judges 19:22-30. Sodom and Gomorroh are referred to several times throughout the rest of the Old Testament and the New. For some interpreters the problem was understood not to be the sin of male on male sex, it was the sin of inhospitality to the outsider. Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13. This is the part of the holiness code, which states that you shall not lie with a male as with a woman it is an abomination. The holiness code is also where you will find other prohibitions such as tattoos or eating shrimp or lobster, or sowing your field with two kinds of seed, or wearing a garment made of two different materials. So on and so forth. You will find other rules that were intended to make sure the jewish people were set apart from their gentile neighbors Deuteronomy 23:17-18. This text is a restriction on daughters and sons of Israel being temple prostitutes. The tension here is obviously the one which allowed gentile sons and daughters to serve as temple prostitutes. Do you think there should be temple prostitutes? Romans 1:26-27 which for some interpreters is the most important text in the discussion about homosexuality because it is the one, the only one which mentions female to female relationships as well as discussing men. In this, Paul makes a statement that the genders are giving up natural for unnatural intercourse. Obviously this brings up the tension about what is natural or unnatural for homosexual people.
1 st Corinthians 6:9-11 and 1 st Timothy 1:8-11, are the last two texts which make use of the greek words malakoi and arsenokoitai whose meanings have been hotly debated for the last 50 years, but which have been translated in the latest NRSV Bible as sodomites. We ve already heard about what the tension is in that story back in Genesis is it male on male sex or is it inhospitality to the stranger. So there you have the important texts to read and study about. Now some interpreters think that all the texts about homosexuality point to the same concept, namely that homosexuality is an abomination. But when you read them and spend some time with them, you may come to the same conclusion as I have and find that there are arguments to be made on both sides. The question always comes back.as Jesus said, What do you think? When I think about the Bible and what it is all about, I lean heavily toward an understanding that the overarching message is about humans searching for God, and in relationship with God, and God searching for humans I happen to see messages of love and acceptance and grace and forgiveness as being important aspects of the overall message. I find these Particularly in the life of Jesus.. I see the goodness of people, and the pettiness. I see the willingness to sacrifice for a higher cause. Obviously, not everyone gets that out of the Bible. Maybe that s what I m hoping will be there and so I cling to the scriptures that lead me to those more positive aspects of the story. Scriptures like Love your neighbor as yourself and Do not judge, so that you may not be judged, and God is love. I give those scriptures more weight than some of the others. I know I do that is called the canon within the canon. That s part of my answer to Jesus questions. What do you think? And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?
Now for the second part of what I wanted to share with you this morning.. I said we would look at the United Methodist Church. I believe we are at a tipping point in the larger church and certainly in the culture about how we will go forward with issues around sexuality. I say that because Led by five Sacramento-area congregations, 34 United Methodist churches in Northern California and other Western states have declared that their members support same-sex church weddings a stance that defies international church rules. 15 Seattle area United Methodist pastors recently put an advertisement in the Seattle papers indicating that their churches and they would be open to doing same sex weddings or services. In addition to that, two active United Methodist pastors were married in a same sex wedding by their district superintendent. That happened in Dec. Bishop Carcono publicly offering a position to Rev. Schaefer. Retired Bishop Melvin Talbert officiating a same sex wedding in Alabama. In the Pacific Northwest conference led by Bishop Hagiya, two pastors who were charged with violating the Book of Discipline for performing same sex weddings were charged and the penalty rather than losing their credentials was to have to return their pay for a day to their churches. It s not just on the west coast that this is happening. This week, our church, Valerie and I were offered the opportunity to sign on with pastors from three other Metro area churches, Highlands, Cameron, and Christ in placing an advertisement in the Westword newspaper and the OutFront magazine which will state that those churches and pastors are open, ready and willing to perform same sex unions/marriages/blessings. Will this church do that? Is it ready to do that?
One retired United Methodist Bishop suggested in a recent conversation that the issue could very well precipitate a division or a split in the church within the next decade. I don t know if that will be the case or not. But what I do know is that the number of pastors and churches who have begun to challenge the current status is increasing in significant ways. In a recent gathering of young clergy (clergy under 35) in Washington DC, the The Rev. R.G. Lyons of the North Alabama Conference said the overwhelming majority of people his age and younger affirm gay marriage and the ordination of gay and lesbian clergy. We do so not in spite of our faith but because of it, Lyons said. Time and again when the Church has failed to be on the side of inclusion on any issue, it has realized it was wrong and apologized often too late when the apology lacked substance. This week, Valerie and I will be at a meeting with pastors of other large UM churches in our conference. One of the issues that the Bishop is asking us to discuss will be same sex unions/marriage. All of this and more make me think that the church is moving on this issue. It s not all the churches, and it s certainly not all the people but there is a movement that is significant. We have the choice to sit on the sidelines and watch it or we can be involved in it. What do you think?