Go out into the world...

The word of the meeting spread quickly. There was some of the usual hate mail by people who were too frightened to sign their name but there were also some very poignant phone calls. Several people called and said that they had always been afraid to talk about it but that one of the members of their family was gay as well. Others talked about friends who were gay and about their confusion as to how to respond.

After about two weeks some members of the board called and confessed that they were ashamed of their own behavior during the meeting and asked for forgiveness. Howard and Lisa began to realize that by their willingness to speak up they were slowly releasing others from a prison of fear that had entrapped them.

Someone expressed the fear that Howard and Lisa would leave the church after the way they were treated in the board meeting. Howard was quick to respond. “That passage from Romans about not judging lest you be judged continues to live with me. If I left the church, it would be like I was judging them. I don’t have a right to judge them anymore than they have a right to judge me. We all are in need of forgiveness.

“What Lisa and I will continue to do is to listen for how Christ addresses us in this congregation. This is the church to which Christ has called us. This is the community of faith in which he has spoken to us.” And so they stayed.

Eventually a small group of people asked if Howard and Lisa would lead a Bible study on sexuality in their home. Some of the very board members who had treated them poorly asked if they could come. “If you come to listen to Christ in our midst, you are welcome,” said Lisa.

Later they would give thanks to Christ that he had called them to ministry. Someone asked him later why they had stayed and Howard responded, “One night when I was feeling pretty low about the church, I came across a passage where Jesus said, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.’ I figured that that meant that our church was a pretty good place to be with Jesus. I certainly knew that I was in need of a physician and I have to admit that I felt there were many others here that could use one too.”

There is not experience in the Body of Christ in which Christ cannot speak to you if you are willing to listen.

The 218 General Assembly is all over except the shouting. There will probably be some shouting but it was an Assembly that may well reflect the changing climate of our society. It began with the election as moderator of Bruce Reyes-Chow, the 38 year old grandson of Filipino and Cinese immigrants. He was clearly the youngest and most liberal of the candidates. Yet, what probably tipped the scales was a combination of his energy and his desire to listen to everyone.

A signal of the Assembly mood may be in the fact that when the tough question of how they stand on ordination arose, three of the four candidates suggested in some way that they wanted the church to move in the direction of inclusion. Bruce was the most direct about it but also he emphasized the importance of “deep listening” to those who disagreed with him.

The Assembly did vote to remove G.60106b, popularly known as the Fidelity and Chastity portion of the Book of Order and to overturn the recent PJC decision that emphasized this criteria as almost an essential to ordination. This does not mean that this was a liberal Assembly. Rather, reflective of our larger society and its current political debate, the Assembly was searching for another way to get beyond a tired debate. It also reflected a desire to put the question back to the Presbyteries where it will now be debated. The issue is whether there has been a similar change in mood in the Presbyteries.

The irony is that I do not view this as a particularly liberal Assembly. Rather, it seemed like an Assembly that was invested in trusting the process. In the early part of the week, the commissioners were sent into a series of committees to examine and then respond to the various overtures before it. I was in the Health Committee but I also heard from many people in the other committees that people were willing to take a lot of time to make sure that all voices were heard. Then when the proposals were brought to the plennary, every opportunity was given to make sure that all voices were heard. When they voted, however, the tendency of the Assembly was to trust the committee and their work. The assumption was that they had more time to hear all the voices and that when they made a considered opinion, the Assembly was willing to support them. There were only a couple of minority opinions that prevailed among the many that were put before the Assembly.

There will be much discussion about several of their decisions, as there should be, but it is my opinion that the Assembly was a reflection of a strong and vital church that hungers to be faithful to God in their witness even when it is a difficult witness to make.

So they went to their official board, told them about Ferris and offered to start a chapter of “Parents of Lesbians and Gays” (P-Flag) in their church as a way of helping other parents who might be having the same experience.

Their reception was awful. The pastor did quote some Scripture at them and suggested that they should get counseling for Ferris to straighten him out. One prominent member loudly proclaimed that if the church ever allowed organizations like P-Flag to meet in the building, he would leave the church. Some did say that they were sorry for this terrible tragedy that had befallen Lisa and Howard’s family and that if they could help they should give them a call. It was clear by the looks on other people’s faces that they either agreed with the negative opinions expressed or were more interested in avoiding conflict than in expressing contrary opinions.

Howard and Lisa were stunned. They left the room and walked out to their car. “Well, so much for revelation,” said Howard. “I’m sorry that I got you into this, Lisa.” “I’m not,” said Lisa. “I really do think that Christ spoke to us in that passage. Jesus didn’t always meet with success when he was obedient and we shouldn’t expect to either. Actually, now that its out in the open, I am a little less afraid. I also know the risk Ferris took in telling us.”

Howard and Lisa were really shaken. First, they had been told by their son four months ago that he was gay. They had not expected such news but because they loved him so deeply, they spent a great deal of time and effort trying to understand and stay in close contact with him.

First, they had to disabuse themselves of all the myths that they had about homosexuality being an illness or something that was created by bad parenting. Once they put that behind them, they had long conversations with their son and read several books that he recommended to them. It had opened up a whole new world of understanding for them and a deep compassion for the suffering caused by bigotry and fears in society.

Still, they had not risked telling their church. Then one night as they were having devotions together they were reading the first chapter of Romans which has been used so often to condemn homosexuality. “It’s verses like that which make me fearful of being honest at church about Ferris,” said Lisa. “I’m just not a good enough Biblical scholar to answer if people start hurling Scriptures at me and it would hurt terribly if they said terrible things about our son.” Howard was about to agree when his eye fell on the first verse of the second chapter. “Listen to this,” he said. “Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others; for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things.” (Romans 2:1) “Maybe Jesus is speaking to us in this passage, Lisa. What does it say to you?” Lisa thought for awhile and then said, “I think rather than judging our church we should go to them and share our concern.”

One of the images that Jeremiah used for the faith community was that of the potter and the clay. (Jeremiah 18:1-11) While Jeremiah used it in reference to the destruction of the nation, there was also in the image a suggestion of hope. There was nothing, including the destruction of the very people that God had called to be a light to the nations, which God could not remold into a new possibility of hope.

This same truth was revealed at the crucifixion of Christ. The act of crucifixion was a reflection of the worst that the world could do in rebellion against God. Yet God took the clay of that experience and remolded it into the way of salvation for the world. The God of redemption is not defeated by even the worst of sins and is capable of working redemptively through them.

There are many things that happen in the life of the church which could not be pleasing to God. Yet there is nothing that happens in the Body of Christ that God cannot remold into a saving possibility. While a member may well protest the decision of a church or the behavior of its members as that which is not faithful, that same member needs also to listen for how Christ can address him or her in that very experience.

The Body of Christ is the locus of God’s continuing revelation of God’s Word and that revelation is not defeated by those times of disobedience anymore than it was defeated in times of disobedience of the disciples.

The gift of Christian community which God offers those whom God has called is an invitation to both be in communion with each other and with God. In the history of Israel, God’s revelation often came in powerful ways precisely in times of distress. When members of the Body of Christ can trust that God can take the clay of all of their experiences and mold them into saving possibilities, then they have the capacity to face their own sinfulness honestly and also to celebrate what God continues to do in their midst.

In the next few posts, I will try to give you a fictional account of how this might work out in a local church.