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WHEN sometime before Civil Partnerships I conducted a service of blessing of the commitment to each other of two gay men in Edinburgh, two things in particular both encouraged and angered me about that event and its aftermath.
The first was that in that congregation of straight, gay, bi-sexual, and transgender folk there were those who found this a place to safely engage with spiritual matters. The conversations afterwards with a number at the bar convinced me that there were some with a deep longing to connect with the things of the Christian faith, but familiar expectation and experience of rejection drove them a thousand miles away from the Christian Church. The second was the response. Any hostile letters or e-mails were greatly outweighed by those that expressed support. A number of these came from ministers or elders of the Kirk who were gay or lesbian or those who had gay, lesbian, bi-sexual or transgender relatives or close friends. This might be surprising to those who pretend that there are any elders, let alone ministers, who are not heterosexual! But sadly so many in the ministry live in fear of being "outed" and are unable to live with those whom they love deeply and to whom they are committed. This climate of fear needs to be changed. If, despite the significant support from some of Scotland's largest presbyteries such as Edinburgh or Glasgow, the recommendation of the Kirk's Legal Affairs Committee is rejected, that will be more difficult. Yet until and unless the General Assembly forbids the blessing of gay partnerships (and it has always held back from that), ministers are free to exercise their pastoral ministry as their conscience dictates. I belong to the Iona Community. I know two other members who have lived in a committed loving partnership together almost as long as the 39 years in which I have enjoyed a committed and loving marriage. Together they have served others and work passionately for peace. To suggest that their relationship is condemned by God is for me an example of what a wise professor of divinity in the 1960s used to term "the nuttiness coefficient in the Church". We can all trade interpretations on sexuality in the Bible. We can also ignore passages telling us to slay our enemies, stone a rebellious son or an adulterous woman (but not man) or take off any clothes with mixed fibres - these are all in the Bible. When the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is attributed to homosexuality the offer by the "righteous" Lot of his young daughters for gang rape is conveniently forgotten. Much of this insults our intelligence and ignores the inclusive embracing of all by the founder of the Christian faith (who said much about abuse, cruelty, war and exploitation but nothing on same gender relationships). We have all too short memories of history. A former Moderator of the US Presbyterian Church, Jack Rogers, who describes himself as "an evangelical Christian," has recently written a book titled Jesus, The Bible, and Homosexuality. In it he describes the justifications in his own land for slavery, racial superiority, and the denial of rights to women, commenting that no mainstream church today would dream of supporting these justifications. Rogers then argues for the Church today shedding its homophobia and including those of various sexuality and relationships. There were many Christians who believed that the abolition of slavery and rights for women and black people were fundamentally opposed to Christianity and would destroy society. Future generations will be amazed that we use the religion of love to condemn and exclude some of those who wish to celebrate their love for each other. Those who seek to ban the blessing of gay relationships often claim that this alienates us from fellow Christians. The world church is divided on this issue but one of the world's best loved church leaders, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, has stated publicly that the exclusion of gay and lesbian folk from the Church is akin to the apartheid system against which he courageously fought. The Reformed Church in the Netherlands has for some years accorded the same pension rights to partners of gay clergy as to spouses. That church has neither collapsed (it is now the Protestant Church in the Netherlands) nor been cut off from the world church. I hope the Church of Scotland will resist any attempts to restrict its ministers in the exercise of their pastoral ministry. Our society has seen too many freedoms removed in recent years without the Kirk adding to them. But more than that I look forward to the day when ministers, elders, and members of all varieties in their God-given sexuality will be accepted, included, and free to be themselves and to love and serve others without fear. • The Rev Dr Iain Whyte is a Church of Scotland minister. He has been a parish minister, University Chaplain, and Mental Health Community Chaplain. Source: scotsman.com |
