My own road to accepting the LGBTQ community with thoughts on the Methodists

I normally don’t write about the issues over which other Christian denominations are wrestling; however I can’t help but share some thoughts on the decision of the Methodists regarding homosexual ordination and gay marriage.  Last week the United Methodist Church voted to continue its opposition to the ordination of gays and lesbians and its opposition to same-sex marriage. 

The Methodists are the only main-line denominations that don’t ordain gays and lesbians and don’t permit congregations to celebrate same-sex weddings.  The United Church of Christ; the Evangelical Lutherans, the Episcopals and the Presbyterians can ordain gays and lesbians and celebrate same-sex weddings.  .

The decision by the Methodists has prompted me to share my own journey about accepting and celebrating the LGBTQ community. 

This acceptance is part of the policy of Chain of Lakes Church.  Last month Chain of Lakes celebrated a same-sex marriage. It might have been one of the first same-sex weddings celebrated in a church in Anoka County.  The Session of Chain of Lakes approved its celebration, and the people of Chain of Lakes embraced the moment.

However I know that for some accepting a gay or lesbian with a Rev. in front of their name is hard; accepting that a church would celebrate a same-sex wedding is just as difficult.  I understand how hard it is for some to accept these views. 

I have taken a long winding road in my own views about homosexuality.  I grew up in Worthington, Minnesota, a town of 10,000 on the southwest Minnesota prairie.  If you had asked me in high school if I knew any homosexuals I would have said “No, we don’t have homosexuals in Worthington.” How ignorant could I have been!  I discovered that some of my classmates are homosexual.  They just didn’t feel safe in coming out. 

In high school and college I spent a lot of time in locker rooms with other football players.  My sense of masculinity was initially formed in that environment.  In those locker rooms it would have taken a great amount of courage to admit a same-sex attraction.

           

In my early 20’s when I worked with the farm workers in California, I developed a friendship with two gay men.  I learned that they weren’t much different than me.  We just had a different sexual orientation. 

           

As I developed friendships with gays and lesbians I learned that their sexual orientation was not a choice.  Once in a conversation I was asked, “Did you choose to be heterosexual?”  The question startled me.  I had never thought about it.  “I have always been attracted to girls.  This is how I was wired,” I said.  “This is how it is for me,” said my gay friend.  “I’ve always been attracted to boys.  It’s how I was wired.”

           

My gay and lesbian friends would go on to tell me that they had experienced harassment because of their sexual orientation.  They had been called names that I would not repeat, or they had not gotten a job for which they were qualified.  They had moments of fear for their physical safety because of their orientation. 

           

My gay and lesbian friends would ask me, “Why would we choose a sexual orientation that can cause us pain?”  The answer is my homosexual friends didn’t choose.  My friends would ask me, “If you suffered harassment or were called names or were denied a job because you were heterosexual would you choose to stop being heterosexual?"  “Well, no” I would say.  “I can’t stop being heterosexual.  That’s who I am.”

A foundational teaching in Genesis is that all of us are created in the image and likeness of God.  The way we come into the world is part of God’s design.  We have no choice about our own gender and even our sexual orientation.  If we accept that we’re created in the image and likeness of God, then we believe that God didn’t make a mistake when approximately ten percent of the population came into the world as gay. 

Doesn’t the Bible say homosexuality is a sin?  There are five, maybe six passages in the Bible that talk about homosexuality.  Two of them are in the Old Testament and four of them are in the letters of Paul.  Jesus never talked about homosexuality.  It wasn’t an issue that concerned him. 

           

However Jesus spent a lot of time with people who the culture described as outcasts.  He loved them, he cared for them, and he went out of his way to defend them.  Of course, I don’t believe that homosexuals are outcasts, but throughout history the culture has identified and treated them as outcasts.  I believe that if Jesus was alive today he would spend time with homosexuals—he would eat with the, he would care for them, he would go to parties with them.  And most importantly he would love them.  He would have had a blast at the same-sex wedding we celebrated last month at Chain of Lakes.

The Scriptures teach that sexuality is a gift from God.  I believe that sex is meant to be enjoyed in a loving, mutual, and monogamous relationship.  If this is the case, it only makes sense to me that gays and lesbians can make a life-long commitment to another partner.  This is why my own personal faith led me to encourage the Session of Chain of Lakes to develop a policy where same-sex weddings would be celebrated. 

Some people believe that to celebrate a same-sex marriage is to deny the authority of the Bible.  This view has always bewildered me.  To celebrate a same-sex wedding means we’re throwing out the whole Bible?  Do we think the Bible is a big jenga game?  It all comes tumbling down if we celebrate a same-sex wedding? 

For me personally there’s not a book I love more than the Bible.  I’ve been preaching and teaching from the Bible for over 25 years, and I still want to learn more.  Right now I’m developing a video series on the gospel of Luke; I’m teaching a Bible Study on Sunday mornings on the book of Revelation.  My faith resolution of the year is to read through the Bible using Eugene Peterson’s, The Message.  I’m reading four chapters a day.  I own at least ten Bibles and would not hesitate to purchase more. 

My reading of the Bible does not lead me to exclude the LGBTQ community; instead my reading of the Bible leads me to accept, welcome, and celebrate the LGBTQ community.

The LGBTQ community is welcome at Chain of Lakes Church. You will be accepted and loved. Our faith informs our welcome.

I’m grieved that the United Methodists have not come to this conclusion. I look forward to the day when they do.

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