A Via Media Manifesto
These are interesting times we live in! So many momentous events in such a short period of time… The Supreme Court ruled to keep subsidies for the Affordable Care Act. Some folks cheered, others booed. Governor Bentley took down the Confederate Flag from the Capitol grounds. Some folks cheered, others booed. And then last Friday, the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage would be legal in all 50 states. Some folks cheered, others booed. Well…that might be a slight understatement. What we really have is an all-out culture war!
Reactions to the same-sex marriage ruling have been extreme and predictable. I saw on Facebook where a minister set himself on fire in protest of the ruling. (Dude…really?) I also saw a bunch of people on Facebook change their profile pictures to rainbow colors in support of the ruling. Several of my friends have voiced their support or their concern. Some have been respectful. Some have been snarky. Some have been downright hateful.
Myself? I resisted the urge to offer a knee-jerk response. I wanted to spend some time thinking about – and praying about – my response. Where do I stand? What is my position? I find myself standing where I live – in the via media. The middle way.
What that means is that you will not see me waving Confederate flag, or a rainbow flag. That doesn’t mean I don’t have a position. It means that my position is in the middle. I have some really liberal friends. They think I’m a bit too conservative. I have some really conservative friends. They think I’m a bit too liberal. Sometimes they get ticked off at me. I had one really conservative friend say to me one time, “If you walk in the middle of the road you might get run over.” I replied, “Yeah, and if you get too far over to one side or the other you might run in a ditch.” (I know – sounds like an elementary school playground kind of thing…what can I say?)
What does it mean to live the via media? First let me say a word about what it doesn’t mean. It doesn’t mean that I’m wishy-washy and change my mind all the time. It doesn’t mean that I have no principles and lack the courage to take a stand. It doesn’t mean that I have no position on a particular issue. The middle way is my stand. It is my position. It doesn’t mean that I’m taking the easy way out – the path of least resistance. Let me tell you, it ain’t easy standing in the middle when you dwell in a land where folks rush to one side or the other like a herd of wilderbeasts.
What the via media does mean – at least to me – is that I try to understand all sides of any particular issue. It means that I try to encourage other folks to take a deep breath and walk a mile in the other person’s shoes. I am a peacemaker by nature. I try to be a reconciler. Why? I really believe in God, and that “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself,” and that God “gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” (2 Cor. 5: 18-19) That is the foundation of my faith, the core of who I am and what I am called to do. It is why I stand in the middle and reach my hands out to both sides. It has also gotten me “unfriended” by some people. I’m OK with that.
So where does this via-media-United-Methodist-Christ-following-Southern-American-man stand on the same-sex marriage issue? Where else would I stand? In the via media. I am truly happy for my gay friends who feel like the Supreme Court ruling is a victory. They feel like they are finally receiving equal treatment under the law. I can see their point. I also understand why my more conservative friends are so upset about this. They see this as a departure from hundreds of years of tradition and an affirmation of something that the Bible specifically condemns. I can see their point, too. Both “sides” in this debate declare that this is a simple issue. One side says that it is a simple matter of equal rights under the law. The other side says that it is a simple matter of following the black-and-white instructions of the Bible. Might I suggest that things are rarely as simple as we make them out to be, nor are they as black-and-white as we would like? (That’s the voice of the via-media, by the way.)
What is my position on same-sex marriage? It’s simple for some folks. It’s complicated for me. Let me explain. To do that, I will talk about war and divorce. I know – it’s not apples to apples, but stay with me.
I object to war on religious grounds. I have read the blood-soaked pages of the Old Testament. I understand that they lived in a violent culture – a kill-or-be-killed time in history. I’d like to think we have evolved as a society. But why I really object to war centers around the life and teachings of Jesus. I don’t think he was joking when he said, “Love your enemies.” That being said, I am not a pacifist. I have friends who are. I understand why. I love them. But for me – living in a complicated, broken world, I choose to extend grace to the military and I really want to live in a country with a strong military. I just might need a soldier to fight for me one day. War is not God’s perfect will, but I am open to the possibility that sometimes it is God’s provisional will. (I am making a reference to Leslie Weatherhead’s book, The Will of God, where he talks about God’s perfect will verses God’s provisional will, with thanks to Adam Hamilton in his book, Seeing Gray in a Black and White World for reminding me of this.)
I object to divorce on religious grounds. Not only is divorce the breaking of a vow, it is condemned by Jesus, and it is one of the things that the Bible says God hates. I have friends who don’t believe that anyone should divorce…ever. I have other friends who allow that sometimes divorce is inevitable, but that a divorced person is not free to re-marry, and that a divorced person should never be a pastor of a church. I understand why my friends feel this way. I love them. But for me – living in a complicated, broken world, I choose to extend grace to divorced persons. I have needed that grace extended to me. And as far as my being a divorced minister – I know my calling, and if you disagree with it, then you will need to take that up with God. In some countries, divorce is illegal. I’m glad I live in a country where it is not illegal. Divorce is not God’s perfect will, but I believe that sometimes it is God’s provisional will. I guess I could be the poster-child of this particular view.
Now – I come to homosexuality. I object to homosexuality on religious grounds. Every passage in the Bible that mentions homosexuality does so in a negative way. (If you want a more detailed look at the 6 passages in the Bible, refer to my sermon “The Hot Button” posted in an earlier blog) I have friends who are very vocal in their condemnation of homosexuals. I love my friends, and I believe most of them are just trying to be true to Scripture. I understand why they take the stand they take. It’s simple for them. But for me – living in a complicated, broken world, I choose to extend grace to homosexuals. I ask myself the question – “If homosexuality is not God’s perfect will, could it not be God’s provisional will?” For me, the answer is yes. If a person is of homosexual orientation, what choices does he or she have? For now, let’s set aside the “fixing” of the homosexual person – the pray-the-gay-away thing. Most folks – even some really conservative folks – believe that sexual orientation is not something a person “chooses,” and the organizations who claim to have “repaired” homosexuals have mostly closed down. (I’m speaking generally here…you might have anecdotal stories to the contrary.) So – if a person is of homosexual orientation, their choices would basically be:
1. Celibacy
2. Promiscuity
3. Monogamy
Of these three, for a person who objects to homosexuality on religious grounds, the best option would be celibacy. But not everyone has that gift. I’ll be honest – if the shoe were on the other foot? If most people were homosexual and I was one of the minority who was heterosexual? Would I be able to live a celibate life? Nope. I don’t have that gift or that calling. I have at least one friend who is homosexual in orientation, and who has chosen the path of celibacy. He is one of the bravest people I know.
Promiscuity? Nobody is really advocating for that. Not even my non-religious friends think that is a good idea. I mean – do we really want to see homosexuality relegated to the bath houses and the Interstate Rest Stops? Ewwww!
So what about number 3? What about monogamy? If I were gay, I think I’d really like to have that as an option. To be committed to sharing life with one person…faithfully…for better or worse… Could this be, if not God’s perfect will, God’s provisional will? For me it just makes sense. (Oops. Some of y’all just unfriended me.)
Am I about to start performing same-sex marriages? No. It’s not an option in my denomination, and I take my ordination vows very seriously. But I would certainly attend a same-sex wedding. The reason I would do so is because I choose to extend grace in all my relationships. Why? Because I remember what it is like to need that grace myself.
I stand in the middle. My role is that of a reconciler. I will suffer the slings and arrows of both conservatives and liberals, but I have to be true to who I am.
At the bottom of it all is my belief that God is in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, and that God has given me the ministry of reconciliation. I want to see all my friends reconciled to God. I want to see all my friends reconciled to each other. I know it is a tall order…but did I mention that I’m also an optimist?
No comments:
Post a Comment