What about these other gay voices in the Church?
In my Church - that is, The United Methodist Church - our "canon law" (The Book of Discipline) states that "homosexual practice is incompatible with Christian teaching", and goes on to forbid sexually active gay clergy, and same-sex union ceremonies in our churches. Since most UM Christians live in the West (at the moment - that may well change in my lifetime), you can imagine that this policy is often criticized and denounced - sometimes even by bishops (who are in theory the defenders of Church doctrine and discipline). Oftentimes revisionist (I dislike buzz word-labels and realize "revisionist" is one, but it is closer to being neutral than some others) leaders call for "listening to the stories of gay Christians" apparently in the hopes that, if the rest of us listen long enough we will be moved by this emotional experience to change our Church's official position on this issue to conform to their own position.
What has long irritated me about this process is not that these conversations are happening - they probably should be - but rather that gays who are faithful to the universal/catholic and traditional position of Christianity are not often given equal time with the "revisionsists" in such "conversations." So, to do my part to correct this imbalance in the discussion, I commend to all concerned with these issues the powerful testimony of a gay Christian. This voice has often been excluded in the name of being "inclusive" because it does not fit with the revisionist agenda (to change church norms 180 degrees on this issue), but then whole church needs to hear this if biblical, catholic, cross-bearing discipleship really is the life that we are trying to share. Perhaps it can even be the beginning of a (highly counter-cultural) conversation about the place of (gasp!) "self-denial" in the Christian life.
Another personal testimony comes from an African American Woman who left the church after coming to the conviction that she was gay, only to return years later after being powerfully transformed by the Spirit of the Lord. I hope that these stories will add more breadth to what, from my vantage point, appears to be a very narrow "conversation" indeed. Feel free to comment; this issue (while uncomfortable for many) is important for us in the West at this point in our history to really examine.
What has long irritated me about this process is not that these conversations are happening - they probably should be - but rather that gays who are faithful to the universal/catholic and traditional position of Christianity are not often given equal time with the "revisionsists" in such "conversations." So, to do my part to correct this imbalance in the discussion, I commend to all concerned with these issues the powerful testimony of a gay Christian. This voice has often been excluded in the name of being "inclusive" because it does not fit with the revisionist agenda (to change church norms 180 degrees on this issue), but then whole church needs to hear this if biblical, catholic, cross-bearing discipleship really is the life that we are trying to share. Perhaps it can even be the beginning of a (highly counter-cultural) conversation about the place of (gasp!) "self-denial" in the Christian life.
Another personal testimony comes from an African American Woman who left the church after coming to the conviction that she was gay, only to return years later after being powerfully transformed by the Spirit of the Lord. I hope that these stories will add more breadth to what, from my vantage point, appears to be a very narrow "conversation" indeed. Feel free to comment; this issue (while uncomfortable for many) is important for us in the West at this point in our history to really examine.
Labels: God and Sexuality
posted by Rev. Daniel McLain Hixon at 6/28/2007
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