The Hot Button

3-15-15

Lexington UMC                                  “The Hot Button”

Lev. 20: 13

When I asked for requests for what you would like to hear a sermon on, I got some requests to hear a sermon on the “hot button issues” of our day.  Today I’m going to talk about the most “hot button” issue I know.  It is an issue that you can bring up just about anywhere to just about anybody and stir up a debate.  It is a political hot button with battle lines drawn on either side.  It is a church hot button – with battle lines drawn on either side.  I will say something about the politics and the church battle lines – but I want to try to keep the focus on the personal.  I want to keep the focus on relationships.  That’s why I am sitting at this table this morning instead of standing behind a pulpit.  I’m sitting here, because I want you think of this in terms of a conversation that people can have around a table – instead of a debate where two people get behind a podium and go back and forth with each other.

So – like Joan Rivers used to say – Can we talk?  Can we talk about homosexuality as an issue?  But more than that – can we talk about how we can respond to our gay neighbors?

Out of the 6 or so passages in the Bible on this subject, I chose the verse of Scripture I read at the beginning for a reason.  I chose it because I wanted you to see how Old Testament law dealt with homosexuality.  They stoned homosexuals to death.  If that sounds sort of shocking to you…then OK, maybe it should.  What should shock us more is that there are 10 countries around the world that still carry the death penalty for homosexuality.  Six are in the Middle East, and 4 are in Africa – and all are heavily influenced by Muslim Shariah law.

That should make us stop and think.  Is that how we want to respond to this issue?  Is that what we want to do to our gay neighbors?  Stone them to death?  Do we really want to align our response with countries like Iran, Iraq and Yemen? 

The polar opposite of that reaction might be the “anything goes” attitude.  I read a story recently about how that on Valentines Day this year, 3 men got married in Thailand.  That’s right – 3.  They became the world’s first throuple.

Maybe multiple spouses is not your bag.  Did you know that you can go to marryyourpet.com, and print off your own marriage certificate if you want to marry your cat or your dog?  I should point out that these last two examples are not legal marriages….but I know folks who really are afraid that this is the slippery slope we are sliding down if we legalize same-sex marriages. 

How about the church?  So how do we respond as a church?  Will we be an “anything goes” church?  If it feels good, do it?  Or maybe we would rather join the ranks of Westboro Baptist Church, and start protesting at military funerals, holding signs that say, “God hates fags.”

I’m holding up the extreme responses for a reason.  I want to say to you that there has to be a middle way…a way somewhere between “anything goes” and “stoning gay people to death.”  And I believe that it is in our DNA as Methodists to find the “Middle Way.”  That’s what we have been doing since the very beginning.

I want to call us to go back to our roots as Methodists and look at homosexuality through what we call the Wesleyan Quadrilateral.

Have you ever heard of the Wesleyan Quadrilateral?  It is a balanced way of looking at whatever issue is at hand, taking into consideration four things:  Scripture, Tradition, Experience and Reason.

I.  Scripture

Scripture is the first and primary authority, and that by which all other truth is tested.  It is the “source of all that is necessary and sufficient unto salvation, and is to be received through the Holy Spirit as the true rule and guide for faith and practice.”  (Articles of Religion and Confession of Faith for UMC)

Methodists have a very high view of Scripture.  Don’t let anybody tell you otherwise.  It is the first place we turn.  That being said - let’s look briefly at six main passages in the Bible that deal with homosexuality.  I am going to look at these briefly this morning, and try to give you more than one point of view, and I’m going to let you know where you can go to dig more deeply into them if you want.

1.     Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19: 1-29)

You probably remember the story.  Sodom and Gomorrah were wicked – so wicked, that God sent a couple of angels down to see if the cities could be salvaged.  Lot takes the angels into his home, but that night all the men of the city gather around and ask for Lot to send out the men so they can gang rape them.  The angels strike the men blind, get Lot’s family out, and God destroys the cities.

We need to understand that there is disagreement over whether this passage can be used as a blanket condemnation of homosexuality.  Many Bible scholars see this as being an example of rape as a way of showing power and dominance over an enemy (a practice used by invading armies in the ancient world).  Is it reasonable to assume that all the men in Sodom were homosexuals the way we understand homosexuality today?

Next are 2 passages in the Book of Leviticus:

2.     “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.” (Lev. 18: 22)

3.     “If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death; their blood is upon them.”  (Lev. 20: 13)

We also need to understand that these passages in Leviticus present some problems.  There are many laws and codes in Leviticus that we no long practice, right?  For example, I ate catfish last night.  I was breaking a law of Leviticus, because only fish who had fins and scales were allowed to be eaten.  Emily Kate had shrimp.  She broke the law, too, because shellfish were a no-no.  If you were to look at the tags on your clothing today, you would probably find a blend of different kinds of fabric.  That is a violation of the law in Leviticus.  How many will plant a garden this spring?  You will be breaking the law of Leviticus, which prohibits the planting of more than one kind of seed in a field.  You see what I mean?

So - according to Old Testament Law of Leviticus, people committing homosexual acts were to be executed.  This is the clear command of Scripture.  Right?  So why don’t we do what they do in Iran, Iraq, and other countries and execute homosexuals?  Maybe it is because we take the written Word, and we hold it up to the Living Word – Jesus Christ – and we ask ourselves, “Is this really what Jesus would do?”  We’ll talk about that a little more later.  For now, I want to move on to the New Testament passages on homosexuality.

4.     “Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God?  Do not be deceived!  Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers – none of these will inherit the kingdom of God.”  (1 Cor. 6: 9-10)

5.     (Speaking about those for whom “the law is laid down – the lawless and disobedient”)  Included in this list are:  “Fornicators, sodomites, slave traders, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching.” (1 Tim. 1: 10)

There is some disagreement over the translation of the word “homosexual” in these passages in 1 Corinthians and 1 Timothy.  Some say “effeminate,” others say “male homosexuals” and still others say “male prostitutes.”  I have some books that slice and dice the Greek words for you if you want to see them.  For now, just know that there is not agreement over how these are translated.

And – in case you haven’t noticed – women have not been mentioned as of yet.  What about them?  Well, this 6^th passage does mention women, and it is really the main passage that is used in most discussions about homosexuality.

6.     “For this reason God have them up to degrading passions.  Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another.  Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error.”  (Rom. 1: 26-27)

Here the Apostle Paul gives us what is the most unambiguous condemnation of both male and female homosexual activity.  And any which way you slice it – all 6 of the passages in the Bible that mention homosexuality do so in a negative, condemning way.  Again we keep in mind that all the Word is to be held up against the Living Word as we discern what Jesus would do.

That’s a brief look at Scripture.  Now we move on to Tradition.

II.  Tradition

How about Tradition?  What has our church traditionally said about this subject?

All tradition is to be judged by the norm of Scripture.  We all have a tradition.   None of us approaches the Bible in a vacuum.  We shouldn’t try to leap from Old or even New Testament times to the present as though there is nothing to be learned from all the folks who lived in between.

When we come to something like homosexuality – or any other subject – after we ask, “What does the Bible say?” we go on to ask, “What has the church traditionally said about this matter?”

Our United Methodist Book of Discipline has been addressing the issue of homosexuality specifically since 1972.  Every 4 years during General Conference, proposals are brought up as to whether or not to change the language in our Book of Discipline.  So far, the language has been tweaked a bit – but it is essentially the same.  Here’s what the Book of Discipline says about human sexuality in our Social Principles section:

Here’s what the Book of Discipline says about homosexual persons:

We affirm that sexuality is God’s good gift to all persons.  We call everyone to responsible steward of this sacred gift.

Although all persons are sexual beings whether or not they are married, sexual relations are affirmed only with the covenant of monogamous, heterosexual marriage.

We affirm that all persons are individuals of sacred worth, created in the image of God.  All persons need the ministry of the Church in their struggles for human fulfillment, as well as the spiritual and emotional care of a fellowship that enables reconciling relationships with God, with others, and with self.  The United Methodist Church does not condone the practice of homosexuality and considers this practice incompatible with Christian teaching.  We affirm that God’s grace is available to all.  We will seek to live together in Christian community, welcoming, forgiving, and loving one another, as Christ has loved and accepted us.  We implore families and churches not to reject or condemn lesbian and gay members and friends.  We commit ourselves to be in ministry for and with all persons.  (Par. 161 F)

About the celebration of homosexual unions in our churches – the Book of Discipline expressly prohibits it in Par. 341.6. 

One more thing – Par. 304.3 says that “self-avowed, practicing homosexuals are not to be certified as candidates, ordained as ministers, or appointed to serve in The United Methodist Church.”

United Methodists around the world meet every 4 years for General Conference.  The next one will be in 2016.  Will the language in our Book of Discipline about homosexuality be changed?  That’s the big question.  I think it is highly unlikely.  Talk to me after the service, and I’ll tell you why.  For now, let’s move to the 3^rd leg of the Wesleyan Quadrilater –

III.  Experience

We recognize and examine our individual and corporate experience as it interacts with Scripture.  All of us read Scripture in light of the conditions and events that shape who we are, don’t we?  And it also moves the other way – we interpret our experience in terms of Scripture.

Up until now, it has been easy to talk about homosexuality as an issue…something to be argued and debated in the light of Scripture and Tradition.  But with Experience and Reason, we are called to move from issues to relationships.  For example, you can talk about the military and war all you want to as an issue…but when your son is deployed and sent overseas to fight, then it ceases to be an issue.  At that point it is personal, right?   I am asking you to take the journey from issues to relationships with me this morning, as I tell you about my friend, Ken.

I can’t remember when I first met Ken.  His family owned the jewelry store in the small Mississippi town where we would take my grandmother to shop every Friday.  Ken was about my age.  If you were to meet him, you couldn’t help but like him.  He was so outgoing, and funny.  He never met a stranger, and he could sell ice cubes to an Eskimo.  For that reason, he was always successful as a business man.

When we were teenagers, Ken was good friends with a girl I was dating, so we would go on double dates together.  We always had lots of fun, and we would laugh until our sides hurt.  Ken had a different way of seeing things.  He was super creative and artistic.

I went off to seminary, and kind of lost touch with Ken.  But I did get a call from him one day.  He was about to marry his sweetheart and best friend, Rene, and they wanted to know if I would do the wedding ceremony.  I said it would be my honor – and it was.

Well – I finished seminary and moved to Huntsville, and didn’t hear from Ken as much.  He opened his own jewelry store.  He designed jewelry.  When Tammy and I got engaged, Ken drew up the design for her ring on the back of a scrap of paper, and then made her ring.  You need to see it.  It is one of a kind, just like Ken was.

Life moved one, and things got busy – you know how it is.  I heard that Ken and Rene divorced.  It broke my heart.  I loved them both and hurt for them.  Ken moved to Nashville.  One day I got a call from Ken and he said he was coming through Huntsville and wanted to meet up with me and Tammy.  I said, “Great!”  because we hadn’t seen him in a while.

He came by the house, and Tammy was still at work.  Ken wanted to take me for a ride in his new car – it was an old Mercedes convertible…really cool car.  Anyway, we were riding around up on Monte Sano Mountain, and I asked Ken what was new, and he told me some things about his business, and then he said – just out of the blue – “And by the way…I’m gay.”

You know how they say that some people see their whole life flash in front of their eyes in a moment?  I saw my whole relationship with Ken flash in front of my eyes in that moment.  From childhood – to teenagers – to adulthood – all of it…  This was a pivotal moment in our relationship.  What came out of my mouth next would determine what our relationship would be in the future.

I opened my mouth, and by the grace of God, said these words:  “Ken, I still love you, and you are still my friend.”

I marvel at the courage it took for him to “come out” to me.  When I said what I said, it was like he went, “Whew!”  OK – now we can move on with life.  For the next I don’t know how long, we drove around in his old Mercedes, and for the first time I was able to ask someone what it was like to be gay.  I know my questions might have sounded stupid or naïve – but we were friends, and my questions were from the heart and his answers were from the heart.

Tammy and I continued to be friends with Ken and with Ken’s friends.  For the first time in my life – that I knew of, anyway – I could say that I had gay friends.  It was quite a learning experience for me!

Fast forward a few years…  Tammy and I and the kids had moved to Heflin, Alabama to serve the church there.  That’s a long way from Nashville – so we had not seen Ken in quite a while.  We got back from our vacation that year, and walked in and there was a message on the answering machine.  Our friend Ken had committed suicide.  He had hanged himself in his apartment in Nashville.  I was devastated.

I asked all those questions you ask when someone you love commits suicide.  “Why?  Is there anything I could have done?”  You know the ones.  And the what ifs…  Lord, the what ifs…  What if Ken’s small-town-Mississippi church had welcomed him, instead of showing him the door?  And then on a more personal level – What if I had called him more?

I’m telling you about Ken today because I want you to know why homosexuality is not an “issue” for me.  It is personal.  I don’t see a word on a piece of paper or a statistic, or a political football to carry.  I see faces. 

I could say a lot more about Experience – but I need to move on to the fourth leg of the Wesleyan Quadrilateral…

IV.  Reason

God gave us our brains and the ability to reason.  It is by reason that we read and interpret Scripture.  It is by reason that we interpret our Tradition and Experience in the light of Scripture.

We believe the Holy Spirit is still at work in our lives, don’t we?  The Holy Spirit is continually teaching, uncovering, and leading.

We believe all truth is from God; therefore, we are not afraid to reason… to ask questions on how faith and science and grace and nature work together to inform our lives.  When you come to a United Methodist Church, you are not required to check your brain at the door.

Because the issue of homosexuality is so important for us today – but also because of the friends and acquaintances I have who are gay – I have done a LOT of thinking, reading, praying, studying, and reasoning on this.  I am part of a panel of ministers who meets in Birmingham with our Bishop to have what we call a Holy Conversation about human sexuality.  This group was selected to represent the diverse people and points of view about homosexuality within the church.  This stack of books on the table this morning is part of our reading list.  We have met one time already, and will meet in April.  Our last meeting was a powerful, holy, sacred time.  In my opinion, it represented what we need to be doing…sitting around the table, talking and listening to each other.

I want to say something here that may sound simple – but we need to hear this and let this sink in.  People don’t all see this issue the same way.  Christians don’t all see this issue the same way.  Whatever your point of view – you need to know that someone else might have a different one.

I want to close this today with telling you my own point of view, and then give you a challenge. 

Sam’s Point of View, based on Scripture, Tradition, Experience and Reason

And let me say from the get-go that my point of view is just that…a point of view.  It is a view from a point.  It may be different from someone else’s point of view.  My point of view has three simple truths that I want to live by:

1.     Some people are gay. 

You might say, “Well, Duh, Preacher!”  But not so fast…  A lot of people I know act as if all people are heterosexual, and some people just “choose” to follow a “homosexual lifestyle.”

I don’t use the words “lifestyle choice” any more.  I used to…when homosexuality was just an issue for me.  But then I actually talked with gay people.  Never once did anyone say that they “chose” a “lifestyle.”  I had one gay man say to me, “So – tell me about when you chose to be straight.” 

There are many arguments on why some people are gay – whether it is biological or something caused by a person’s family experience, etc…  I’ve heard and read the arguments.  I don’t think anyone can prove anything one way or the other.  So I will just stick with, “Some people are gay.”

2.     Gay people are our neighbors.

If you are thinking, “Well, I don’t know anybody who is gay,” I would ask you to stop and think.  Depending on which statistics you look at, anywhere from 5 – 10% of the population is gay.

You probably do know someone who is gay, even if they have not “come out” to you.  They are our neighbors.  They are here – even in our small towns.

3.     As Christians, we are called to love our gay neighbors.

The same man who wrote 3 of the six passages in the Bible about homosexuals, Paul, also wrote these words in Galatians 5: 14…

For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

What does loving our gay neighbors mean?  Does it mean we need to hit them over the head with these six passages in the Bible?  Probably not.  I can promise you – they have read these passages a lot more than you have.  Doesn’t it mean that we judge them?  That’s not our job.

I want to quote Billy Graham here.  How can you not love Billy Graham, right?  He said,

It is the Lord’s job to judge.  It is the Spirit’s job to convict.  It is our job to love.

What it means for us to love our gay neighbors is no different that what it means for us to love all our other neighbors.  We just love them.  And we show them Christ by our lives.

What does it mean for me as a pastor?  It means that as far as I’m concerned all people are welcome in this church, including Lesbians, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered persons.  And if such neighbors come to our church, I will not treat them as second-class citizens.  I will show them the love of Christ the best I can, and ask them to join us as we all try to follow Jesus together.

If you want to know more about my point of view, we will have to sit at another table and talk, because I’m about out of time here this morning.  I want to leave you with a challenge, though.

Would you ask God how you can love your gay neighbors?  Would you ask him how we as a church can love our gay neighbors as ourselves?

For the most part, we have failed to do this.  If I were giving the church a grade on how we treat our gay neighbors, I would give us an “F”.   The Christian church as a whole has met our gay neighbors with rocks in our hands instead of with open arms.  What would happen if we actually welcomed them?  Loved them?  Like we want to be welcomed and loved…

We have forgotten something, church.  It is a truth that Jesus taught us by the way he lived.  My prayer is that we can remember that truth this morning as we leave:

You can embrace someone without endorsing them.