Sexual Orientation and Ordination in the Presbyterian Church: Reflecting On it Again

Here is what I wrote in the summer of 2004 to try and express the common faith of the Presbyterian Tradition, which has always tried to read the Bible as a whole when addressing moral issues. I wrote this to find a way to address the very contentious issue in my denomination over whether persons who have a homosexual orientation should be allowed to be ordained as ministers. ************************************************************************************
We, regardless of sexual orientation, confess that we fall short of the glory of God in the expression of our sexuality. We acknowledge that we are part of a society that is saturated with unholiness of thought, word and deed in matters of sexuality.

We confess that God created human beings, male and female, in God’s goodness and that the gift of sexuality is a blessing from God that we have so often turned into a means of manipulation, bondage, hurt and self-destruction.

We confess our tendency to worship the creature rather than the creator, becoming idolatrous when we fail to love God with all our mind, and soul, and body.

We confess that we are so far from being made whole that we can only place ourselves humbly in the hands of God trusting that by God’s grace we will move step by step towards holiness in thought, word and deed.

We are unable to judge how far along the way that we or our brothers and sisters are towards sexual holiness. For we are not complete, but putting the past behind us, we look forward to the upward call of Christ Jesus, our Lord. God alone is judge. We leave the judgment of our brothers and sisters, and ourselves, in God’s gracious hands.

We encourage all members of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. to consider others first in choosing how to express themselves as sexual beings as we join together in discerning God’s guidance in this fragile and precious area of human life.

We confess that we are not our own, but we are God’s – body, mind and soul. We confess that we are not our own, but we are God’s – in life and in death.

We have been embraced by God’s love. We do not have time to judge. We do not have the desire to condemn. If the Holy and Righteous Son of God came into the world, not to judge, but to save; then how can we as an unclean people do anything but love and believe in God’s love for each other?

We confess that the log in our eye keeps us from being able to remove the speck from our brothers’ and sisters’ eyes. We realize that our unholiness makes us unable to receive the type of truth and clarity that our world needs. But, we trust that God is preparing us each day to receive that truth and clarity that we need to proclaim the Gospel.

We confess that we are simply not wise or holy enough to declare on this matter of human sexuality and sexual orientation. We also know that God has not called us to “straighten out” others but to show mercy. We confess that part of this mercy is that we become able to provide clear guidance to children and youth and all who struggle for clarity in this area of life. We commit ourselves to providing such guidance as God’s Spirit finds room within us to work.

We acknowledge that there is an apparent conflict between what the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans, chapter 1 and acceptance of homosexual practice, but we also acknowledge the tremendous force of the Gospel Paul preached that shattered barriers, culminating in Paul proclaiming that ‘in Christ there is no Greek or Jew, no male or female, no slave or free.” We also acknowledge a tension in the New Testament between such celebration of the Gospel’s freedom and passages which sanction the subordination of women and institution of slavery. We look to the holy ground of scripture for new revelations through God’s Spirit, a Spirit that opened the doors of the church to those who had been excluded (Gentiles, eunuchs, tax collectors, prostitutes, Samaritans). We celebrate the powerful Gospel of Jesus Christ that Paul preached, and assert that the freedom of that Gospel sometime es pushed ahead of Paul’s ability to receive and understand the egalitarian consequences of the Gospel in all areas of human life.

We acknowledge that parts of scripture which at one time seemed to stand as barriers to full participation of women and enslaved persons in society and church leadership have been overcome in our tradition by the witness of other parts of scripture through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

We acknowledge that we in the Reformed tradition have rarely bound ourselves to a simple, literal understanding even of specific ethical commands in Holy Scripture, whether the passage be Jesus’ clear prohibition on divorce except in cases of adultery, Jesus’ instruction to give up all possessions and follow him, or Jesus’ prohibition against self-defense and use of “the sword.”

We confess that the Bible is God’s holy ground, and when we step onto such holy ground in faith we should do so with fear and trembling. The Bible is not a tool in our hands, but a tool in God’s hands to be used by God’s Spirit to awaken faith and to bring about God’s glory in human beings. We have been accustomed to questioning the Bible for answers, instead of first allowing God to question us through the Bible. Having failed to answer God’s question of us first, we confess that we may be asking the wrong questions of scripture and that may be why the Word of the Lord is rare in our day.

We acknowledge that the Apostle Paul was humble enough when addressing sensitive moral/social issues such as divorce, marriage after the death of a spouse and marriage to unbelievers to admit at times that he did not have a word from the Lord, but nonetheless bore his responsibility and offered what advice he felt was in accordance with the will of God.

We confess that God alone is holy and we are not. We do not take our stand on our righteousness, but on the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. Just as this righteousness surprised the religious of the world in the days that Jesus dwelt among us in the flesh, so also we expect that God’s righteousness may express itself again in such a way that the religious, both conservative and liberal, may miss the time of God’s visitation and misunderstand the nature of God’s Word.

We confess that we may be those who think we are strong in faith, but are using our so-called freedom to hurt our brothers and sisters. We confess that we may also be those who think we are free when we are actually enslaved by immorality. We confess that we may be those who place moral burdens on others backs that we are not willing to bear.

But, we confess above all that God’s grace is greater than our sin, and that the good work God has begun in us, God will complete in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Thanks be to God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ who is our peace and our hope and our salvation. Amen.*************************************************************************************

Now, my personal views on this matter of sexual orientation focus right in on Paul's declaration: 'In Christ, there is no Greek or Jew; no slave or free; no male or female, but all are one in Christ Jesus.' Galatians 3:28. And, my position of saying that homosexuality in itself should not be a bar any more than heterosexuality should be a bar to ordination comes from my experience that Jesus really means freedom in human life. And, it comes from a deep sense that sexual orientation is usually biologically/genetically determined.

We see in history that God's Spirit continues to reveal just how broad a reach the Gospel has. Gender barriers are falling; racial barriers are falling. We are still learning about the reach of God's redeeming grace and how it breaks down all barriers to true and healthy human unity. The liberty that Paul proclaims with the regard to male and female and Jew and Greek and slave and free surely applies to heterosexual and homosexual as well.

Once we affirm our true unity in God, then we can start understanding the way to be heterosexual and homosexual in a way that helps instead of harms. And, once we understand that our true identity is in God then we will quit making such a big deal about our identity being all tied up in our sexuality. We have put the cart before the horse. The deepest part of us is that we share the humanity of Christ,who is of the very being of God. Once this comes alive in us, then we will be able to grow into a true human being, whether we have this sexual orientation or that. And, how we express ourselves sexually will build up instead of breakdown ourselves and others.