For centuries the institutional church has had a history of having a difficulty in dealing with human sexuality. The Apostle Paul was ambivalent about it. The monastic movement preached that abstinence was the ultimate holiness and devotion to God. Theologians and philosophers taught that the body was evil and that the spiritual life must repress bodily urges, especially sex. The goal was personal salvation of our soul and not service to humanity as we were commissioned by Jesus to do.

Although celibacy of the clergy is still the policy of the Catholic Church, that was abandoned in the Protestant Reformation 500 years ago yet that is the policy of the United Methodist Church if you are a member of the clergy who also happens to be gay or lesbian. But that repression is not limited to the clergy; it also is applied to lay members. You can be gay or lesbian, but you can’t act on your sexual orientation and be accepted by the church into full membership. You cannot participate in all of the rituals of the church. Such restrictions are not placed on any other group or class of people by the church. The Book of Discipline implies that homosexuality is a sin although it uses a more hesitant phrase that it “is inconsistent with Christian teaching.” It is a perversion of the mission of the church to evangelize the whole world while excluding a select group of people simply because they traditionally have been social outcasts. We are put in the same class as alcoholics, prostitutes, drug addicts, and pedophiles that can achieve redemption only by repenting of our “sin.”

Picture7Getting Lost in the Continuing Shuffle of Position Papers, Pronouncements, and PostponementsThe Methodist Church split over the issue of slavery and was not re-united for almost 80 years. The debate about homosexuality has raged on within the church for more than 30 years and has divided congregations and inflamed passions on both sides of the issue so that we no longer can listen or speak with one another. Sex is such an emotional hot button that it has assumed the position of becoming the primary definition of morality with little regard to the Ten Commandments. They don’t seem to matter much in current church theology or polity. Thou shall not kill has many exceptions as far as the church is concerned. The church condemns war in theory but in practice eulogizes those who promote war. Where is the patriotism in an unjust war? Why is it more Christian to fight than to love? Why are we fighting a new crusade against the Muslims and reliving the pain and suffering of a thousand years ago? Because we in the United States suffered a terrible calamity on 9/11 we feel justified in attacking a whole civilization in retribution? Justice is done when those who are guilty are punished but not when the entire religion of Islam is blamed.

The church leaders say that we have more important issues to resolve but ignore the assault on services to children, women, elderly and the poor in the name of eliminating government waste while providing welfare in tax hand-outs to corporations. Is that not a relevant issue to the church? Is social justice a liberal versus conservative issue? Does the separation of church and state prohibit political action?

The Methodist Church was started by a courageous priest in the Church of England who felt that the institutional church of that day had abandoned the working poor and not only made them feel unwelcome to attend worship but also abandoned them in supporting their human and spiritual needs. We saw a “Great Awakening” of religious fervor as it was made relevant once again to all of society and not just the comfortable middle and upper classes that dressed well and paid for their pews. We read about a new evangelistic movement today, but where is the Methodist Church? So we encourage so-called “contemporary” worship services as though what we do on Sunday defines the whole mission of the church. We have commissions, boards, and agencies, but does the local church have any real connection to them other than being asked to donate once a year or to support the “connectional ministries” through apportionment?

To use the current shorthand, GLBT people are only grudgingly accepted into membership of the Methodist Church at the discretion of the local pastor but are not considered worthy enough to be evangelized and so they either ignore or leave the church. Sometimes they move to another denomination, but most often they leave the church completely. How can the church justify knowingly sending those people to live a life without Jesus?