I have posted these thoughts on the Anglo-Catholic message board, but I thought I'd reproduce them here with addenda since this is rather an convoluted and intensely uncomfortable subject.
In a situation like this where we have Society and Church at war, everyone needs to be clear what battle is being fought, and we must all do our best to ensure that the casualities are not ontological, i.e. that a person should not be persecuted just because he has a particular orientation, in the eyes of the Church a particular temptation.
The Church must make that clear, and be seen to make that clear.The Church has to promulgate a community whereby everyone is accepted and supported in their route to becoming the person whom God made them to be. It also has a duty to keep the command of Christ and live according to the commandments that arise from His being our King. We have a duty to prevent anyone teaching doctrine which does not come from God - e.g. whether homosexual practice is or is not sinful. The Church's teaching is clear - homosexual practice is sinful.
The fight then is for understanding:
- That homosexual people know that the Church rigidly and absolutely upholds the celibacy of homosexual persons, but that the embrace of a person given by the Church is independent of any personal characteristic that person has. They must realise that Christianity expects of every Christian an attitude of personal conformity and submission to the rule of Christ, but they must also be comforted by the fact that this is not a rule aimed specifically at them, but to anyone who has the audacity to call themselves Christian and that we are duty bound to support each other.
- That the Church must know that it is right to uphold the rules, and be committed to do so, but that the rule is a rule of love, so it must seek a way to interpret and promote the doctrine of homosexual celibacy in terms of that rule of love, and not by a doctrinal shouting down or (God forbid) ontological persecution of homosexuals. The ministry of the Church is to encounter folk where they are and minister to them bringing the love of Christ by example first before words.
Everyone has a right to lend, or not, their property for use by another.
Everyone has a right not to be discriminated against.
Perfectly valid Human rights in both cases. However, observing a right is not always the Christian thing to do.S o should the Church withhold the use of its property from those who are publicly exhibiting a position contrary to its teaching? Well, if the lending of the property sends the message that the Church is condoning heresy, then no. If the lending of the property sends the message that the Church is an institution founded on love, then yes.
The problem is now how do we send the correct message to a world that is easily misled? Clearly because there is no such thing as a same-sex marriage, a ceremony claiming to be so can never be held in a Church.However, considering the uses of an average British Church Hall being used for 18th birthday parties, receptions et c, which are not exactly promoting the Christian message either (particularly in Britain with its present me-first culture), it seems difficult for the C of E to refuse on grounds of morality. If you've set the precedent in your church hall, you have to abide by it. The only way we can prevent an "apartheid" (which I hope is a rather hyperbolic term) of homosexuality is by developing the understandings of both parties involved.
If we want an end to this deadlock, and a proper peace then we need to sit down and talk. It is not acceptable for either side to start casting epithets and adjectives such as "evil", "intolerant", "perverted" or "satanic" which have been used by people on both sides of the situation. Let us remember that it isn't just an issue of God's law being debated here, but the personal lifestyles and choices of individual human beings. Some choose to follow the teaching of the Orthodox Church, others will choose to follow the knowledge of who they believe themselves to be. No matter which camp you are in, sin will be present, and sin will affect that choice that you make.
However, the Church, when it is doing its job properly, points to the Salvation and Redemption from Sin in Christ. All we need do then is just what God tells us, to love Him more than anything else with every faculty that we possess, and love our neighbour, acts which certainly doesn't involve the words "faggot" or "bible-basher" being used perjoratively
1 comment:
Good comments.
Church property should never be used for any function that presents a message the church must condemn. If that means a drastic reduction in the revenue stream, so be it. The Message is more important than the money. One simply cannot preach that an action is sin, and then encourage it on one's own property.
Homosexual persons, on the other hand, even those actively involved in what we call sin, are to be loved with the fullness of the love Hesus demonstrated on the Cross, for us miserable sinners. That love, we must remember, did include a directive to 'Go and sin no more.'
ed
Post a Comment