God's glorious, ragbag, mixed-economy church

‘It has taken countless hours of prayer, study, conversation and emotional turmoil to bring me to the place where I am finally ready to call for the full acceptance of Christian gay couples into the Church.’ The words, last week, of a prominent American Christian Tony Campolo signalling his change of heart and mind. A similar announcement followed from a second high-profile US evangelical David Neff, former editor of Christianity Today.

In Scotland, at last month’s General Assembly, the Kirk somewhat incongruously both affirmed its traditional teaching on the issue, and voted to permit churches which are so disposed to call to their pulpits ministers in same-sex partnerships.

To which onlookers might say ‘Why the delay? What’s the problem? As a society we accept gay partnerships and affirm the love shown between gay partners. What’s the problem with these Christians?’

At the heart of the issue is the fact that Christians – all Christians – see God as the highest authority on how to live our lives. God’s directives have a higher call on us than social customs and ideas of what is ‘normal’, a higher call on us even than the law where the two are in conflict.

And all Christians believe that the Bible is ‘God-given’ although understandings of the mechanism by which it was ‘given’ vary.

Christians who oppose gay relationships – upholders of tradition, but including many young Christians – read the Bible’s comments in opposition to homosexual practice, and conclude in all sincerity that gay partnerships are in breach of God’s will for us. Christianity Today last week reminded its readers that 2bn Christians around the world take this line.

Many of these Christians are fine people, compassionate people – they argue that because God opposes gay relationships it is compassionate to warn people against them. And there are many fine, courageous gay people who remain celibate from a sense of loyalty to God, and God’s will as they see it.

But that is only one view. Others, who regard the Bible as the sole authority in matters of faith, study the vocabulary of the anti-homosexuality passages and their cultural context and conclude that they are not referring to gay relationships as we see them today.

Other Christians still believe God also speaks through history and through our prayerful reflection, bringing us back with new eyes to our foundation document, the Bible. They recognise that most gay people do not choose to be gay, and that the same Bible-affirmed qualities of love, support and mutual encouragement are seen in gay as in straight partnerships. They observe the spirituality and God-focussed joy and commitment in Christian gays and conclude that these are not people from whom God has withdrawn the divine smile.

As a young man, I didn’t question the tradition. But by the 1990s, I had a growing sense of compassion for gay people. Christians would say ‘It’s OK to be gay if that’s the way you are. But the practice is wrong.’ But how, I wondered, could you separate physical expression of your sexuality from what at heart you knew yourself to be?

I’m familiar with many of the debates about what the texts do or do not say, the deep traditions and theologies. But for me love lies at the core of Christian faith, and in the very heart of God and I was powerfully drawn to affirm gay people and committed gay relationships.

It is good when Christians have the courage to stand up for what we believe is right even when it costs us dearly. Society is strengthened by strong Christian voices. But some Christians, supporting gay relationships, find that the hardest, most courageous thing is to express that viewpoint within their own churches. It can be as difficult as it is for a gay person to ‘come out’ to their families.

I urge my fellow Christians who take the more traditional view to reflect deeply on the issue; to read the views of those who think differently; to explore the testimonies of gay people who know themselves to be blessed by God; to feel the pain of gay people rejected by churches; to pray for wisdom.

The Church of Scotland has opted for a ‘mixed economy’ in which churches can hold different views.

Sometimes the language of the debate among Christians is hard, judgemental, disrespectful.  Those who stand in a different tradition are at times depicted as being ‘outside’, ‘apostate’, facing God’s wrath.

Sisters and brothers, let us not use such language, for we are all one in Christ Jesus. We have different views on many issues, but we have found that there is room for us all beneath the shelter of God’s love. We are God’s glorious, ragbag, mixed-economy church, loved and blessed every last one of us.

(Christian Viewpoint column from the Highland News dated 18 June 2015)