This morning, I preached for the first time following the gay marriage ruling by the Supreme Court. What I shared is written below.
July 5, 2015
Mark 6: 1-13
As many of you know,
I was on vacation last week…
We had a lovely time in
Florida
and I was so grateful to be able to spend
the time
with my family and friends
It also happened to be one
of the most active news cycles
we have seen lately…
some commentators have reflected
that with the shooting in Charleston
and the supreme court rulings on the
Affordable Care Act
and gay marriage
It may have been one of
the most historic two weeks of my lifetime..
time will tell
Before vacation,
we reflected in worship upon the shooting
in Charleston
and now that several black churches have
also been burned
we need to continue to keep this issue
before us
through prayer and action
I was out of the pulpit
immediately following the gay marriage
ruling
and on this weekend when we celebrate and
give thanks
for our nation, it seems an appropriate
time to pause
not only to give thanks for our nation,
but to reflect upon the happenings in our
great land
“The fact of the matter is
that
we are a divided nation,
a
divided people.
In
today’s culture,
every
possible division between people
is emphasized and expanded
and exaggerated and exploited.
Everything is turned into an “either/or”
scenario.
Either
you agree with me, or you’re a bigot.
Either you agree with me, or you’re completely immoral.
This week, there are people who,
in
the midst of their story and their struggle
are
celebrating equality.
But this week, there are also people who
disagree,
people
who have a different story
and a different experience.
The reality is
that there are not “two sides” on this issue.
There’s not a singular gay experience
or
a singular straight experience.
Each of us has a different story,
unique
experiences, particular struggles,
and
when we make anything a simple “either/or,”
we miss the mark.
When we proclaim from our soapboxes
that you’re either in favor of this decision
or
you’re a hateful bigot,
we’re being shortsighted.
When we say you’re either against this decision
or
you’re championing immorality,
we’re
failing to understand the complex reality
in which we find ourselves.
What I’m feeling this morning
in such a divided time and cultural landscape,
is a deep sense of gratefulness
that I believe in a God who loves
all people.
I’m thankful to be part of a church
that has an open table:
all people are invited to sit at God’s
table.
Which means, by the way,
that
people with whom I strongly disagree
are loved by God
and
invited to sit at God’s table.
People
who are and have been hurtful to me
are
loved by God and invited to sit at God’s table.
After all, Jesus died for bigots.
Jesus died for the immoral.
Jesus died for all of us.[1]
Our gospel lesson for us
this morning
has, as always, an important word for us
this morning…
It is the story of Jesus
returning to his hometown
and finding no welcome there
The social conventions
of the day
proved more powerful than the good news
Jesus brought
Jesus was appalled by
their unbelief
So Jesus shook the dust
from his feet,
and he set off for the surrounding villages…
he went looking for the places that were
ready to hear
a Word from the Lord
He refocused upon the
mission before him..
and he redoubled his efforts to share the
love of God’s kingdom
He sent the disciples out in pairs
with instructions to trust radically in
God
by taking nothing for the journey
He charged them with sharing the gospel of healing and peace
Whether you are dismayed
by this week’s ruling on gay marriage
or heartened by it, as I am,
I submit to you that the word from the Lord
this morning is the same:
We are to go out, two by
two in community,
to proclaim the gospel of love and peace
I am so grateful for
this community of faith..
As I begin my fifth year
of service as your lead pastor,
I have been thinking about
what God has taught me through you
You have given me deeper
appreciation
for what love for God and country looks
like
You, my church, have
given me my most significant experiences
with active duty and retired military
service men and women
Before being sent among
you,
I was not blessed with so many experiences
in such abundance
You continue to witness to me about courage,
duty, honor,
respect for authority, and diversity.
What you have witnessed
to me about diversity
has been the biggest blessing…
we are a church that knows how to tolerate
differences of perspective
and opinion
At its core,
this is of course a fruit of the Spirit…
because loving our sisters and brothers,
even when they disagree with us,
is rooted in love and commitment….
Here, you have shown me that tolerance for
difference of opinion
is
reinforced by military service…
So long as we are all focused upon the same
mission,
we will find a way to get there
together…
The gospel of Mark
reminds us this morning
of the importance of remaining focused upon
our mission
We are to shake the dust from our feet
and share
the gospel of healing and peace
We are taught to do this together,
in community
We are a diverse church
in many ways…
theologically, socioeconomically, racially,
and in sexual orientation
we are a beautiful mixture of perspectives
held together by the same Lord
We have a diversity of
reactions to the gay marriage ruling….
I know that for many,
hearing
your pastor say that I am supportive of the gay marriage ruling
are
very hard words to hear…
While others celebrate the ruling
Regardless of your
reaction,
I hope that you will hear the words from
Mark
Inviting us to shake the
dust from our feet
and share
the gospel of healing and peace
and to do this together, in community
John Wesley, the founder
of Methodism,
published a sermon entitled Catholic
Spirit.
John Wesley has an
important word for us to hear…
The sermon is based on
Jehu’s question to Jehonadab in 2 Kings 10;
‘Is thine heart right,
as my heart is with thy heart?’
And Jehonadab answered:
‘It is. If it be, give me thine
hand.’
While acknowledging that Jehu was not exactly
a model saint,
Wesley urges that his example here
is one that every Christian should imitate.
Jehu’s question is not
about Jehonadab’s opinions
but about his spirit,
his attitude and his affections.
How does he regard his
neighbour?
In a word, is there love in his heart?
And then Wesley writes a glorious sentence,
pleading that even allowing our
differences of opinions,
we must not let this stand in the
way of brotherly affection.
‘Though
we can’t think alike,
may
we not love alike?’
John Wesley wrote much
in defense
of that understanding of Christian
sanctification
that he understood as love
perfected,
and this sentence is as good a
practical summary
of it as anything he argued elsewhere.
Wesley taught and
preached the essentials of the Christian faith..
and yet in a time when people being executed
for their faith
as a part of recent history in England,
he urged unity across a diversity of
theological perspectives..
focusing upon unity in the love offered to
us
from the Cross of Christ
‘Though we can’t think alike,
may
we not love alike?’
The Supreme Court ruling
does not directly address how
pastors, churches,
and individual Christians must or
should view
the issue of same-sex marriage.
Pastors and churches are
still permitted
to refuse to marry same-sex couples,
and indeed in the United Methodist Church,
I continue to be barred from performing
these marriages
As an ordained elder,
I have vowed to follow the Discipline of
our Church
and
the Discipline specifically prohibits clergy
from performing these ceremonies
And yet, even as I
grieve that I cannot provide
this kind of pastoral care
to members and family of Wesley Church
(and
yes, I have been asked)
I trust that God is at work in all of us…
and that we see through a mirror dimly
as the Apostle Paul reminds us
I trust that even though
we may not think alike
we can love alike…
Even as we struggle with
knowing God’s will concerning same- sex marriage
I trust that if we are faithful,
Jesus will not be amazed at our unbelief
as he was in his hometown,
but that he will send us out,
two by two,
to love, and teach, and heal…
Even as I find it
persuasive
to understand scripture as complicated and
sometimes contradictory
I hold Scripture as the normative Word for my
life
and for our lives together
“Within its pages we learn of the heart,
character, and will of God,
but
we also find on its pages things that we might question.
Things that seem to reflect the culture and
times
the biblical authors lived in
more than the timeless will of God.
We find that women were often seen as second
class
in much of the Bible.
Concubinage and polygamy
and
the use of slave girls as surrogates in childbirth
were
all acceptable family values in the Old Testament.
Slavery
was found to be morally acceptable
in
the Old Testament
and slave-owning Christians in the early
church
were not asked by the apostles to set their
slaves free.
Priests were commanded
to
burn their daughters alive if they became prostitutes,
and rebellious children were to be stoned to
death.
Women who were raped were required to marry
their rapist.
And when
Israel went off to war
she believed God called her to destroy
every man, woman, and child among the nations
she conquered—
what
today we call genocide.
The writer of some of the Epistles teaches
that
women are to pray
with their heads covered
and to not wear their hair in braids.
They are not permitted to teach a man,
and
Corinthians notes that it was “shameful”
for a woman to even speak in church.
The
Bible, in its writing, content, and canonization,
is
wonderfully complex
and we do not do it justice,
nor are we always able to discern
God’s will,
simply by quoting a handful of verses.
If it worked this way we’d still embrace
slavery,
polygamy, and concubinage.
Victims of rape would still be forced to wed
their rapists.”[2]
Yet, even as I find this
persuasive,
I respect and admire many faithful
Christians and staff members
who feel very very differently about gay marriage..
and I say to our whole community
even
And so to all of us
Though we can’t think alike,
may
we not love alike?’
We agree on the main points of Christian
teaching
we
are all sinners saved by grace
we are all dependent on God’s healing
love
and we are all sent out
by the same Lord
to shake the dust from our feet
and share
the gospel of healing and peace
and to do this together, in community
On this weekend of
celebration our nation’s independence
let us not only focus upon the overarching
truth that
we are all loved by the same Lord…
Let us also remember
that we are blessed to live in this nation
which enables us to live peacefully
among a diversity of opinions and
perspectives
united by the truth that we are all
Americans
For truly, though we may
not think alike,
surely we can love alike
To this truth we must
hold fast..
for God has work for us to do
