Special Sermon Archive
On the Church and homosexuality
I was asked to preach on this subject quite a long time ago, when the Windsor Report first came out: but for various reasons it has been put off until now. Actually this is quite a good time, since the whole issue has been rearing its head again in recent days.
The talk will be in two parts: a preliminary bit, to look at one basic question; then the sermon proper.
The question that needs to be cleared up first is: is homosexuality sinful? Let’s consider some possible reasons for thinking so:
Is it a perversion? A perversion is something contrary to nature, so possibly if I, who am not in general homosexually oriented, were to go out and indulge in homosexual acts, that would be a perversion. But for gay and lesbian people it does not go against their nature: it is their nature. It is not a perverse choice, for they have no choice, any more than one could choose whether to be left-handed or right-handed.
Does it do harm? Of course it can do: all sexuality is a powerful thing, and can do a lot of harm when wrongly directed. But, rightly directed, it will do no more harm than hetero-sexuality: it is not in the nature of love to harm.
Is it contrary to scripture? Well, in the first place, scripture is not particularly interested in the matter: there are only some half dozen references to it in the whole bible. Secondly, Jesus has nothing at all to say about it (it’s worth noting that the only two people he is said to have “loved” were men – not that one can infer much from that). And, thirdly, those texts which are usually cited (1) are not about homosexual love or inevitable gayness, ideas unknown at the time. The only passage which quite clearly does describe homosexual love, namely the story of David and Jonathan (2), does not condemn it at all.
Finally, it is common today to make a distinction between “orientation” and “practice”, and to say (if rather grudgingly) that it’s OK to be homosexually oriented, but not OK to practise it. But what is this “practice”? It appears to mean “genital activity”, but, if so, what a crude definition! We are sexual beings, and we all “practise” our sexuality all the time - in the way we think, look, relate, touch, talk, move, feel, in the way we are – and not just if we go to bed with someone. To say that one only practises one’s sexuality in bed is as foolish as to say we only practise our Christianity in church. It is both futile and destructive to call on gay and lesbian people “not to practise their sexuality.”
Now for the sermon: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
What’s the right place to begin a sermon on this, or indeed any other question? Not with the pronouncements of bishops, or with arguments from expediency, or with our own feelings, or even with texts from scripture: but with GOD! Now of course people have many differing insights about the nature and will of God: but at least one thing is absolutely clear in the Christian tradition: God is not mean! God is infinitely and overflowingly generous! look at the exuberance of creation, or at the exaggerated abundance of Cana and the Feeding of the 5000: everywhere God exemplifies Jesus’ saying about “good measure, poured out, shaken together, running over” (3). And God is not petty! God does not work through ifs and buts, riders and caveats: as Paul says, in him it is never Yes and No, but always Yes! (4)
That’s a better text to start with than some dusty old bit of Leviticus; and here’s another (from Genesis 1): “God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them..... God blessed them..... and God saw that it was very good”. There are no ifs and buts here, no meanness. God does not say “they are all in my image (except gays and lesbians)”. God does not say, “humankind is very good, except gays and lesbians, who are only quite good; and not good at all if they go to bed together, and very bad indeed if they are clergy, and unspeakable if they are bishops.” There is no room in the generosity of God for this sort of nitpicking pettifogginess; and if that’s how we see God, we are looking at him through a very murky glass indeed – or perhaps in a mirror. In fact God gives a resounding YES to gay and lesbian people as to the rest of us: God’s image is sufficiently glorious and multifarious to encompass all sorts of people, not just people like us: and, if we don’t see God’s image in gay and lesbian people, we are missing out on the fulness of his glory.
And if we want help from the bible on the matter, let’s not cobble together a few isolated texts out of context, but look at the whole story of salvation: in this case it would make sense to look at the story of the relations between God’s people and the gentiles. By the time of Christ, it was normal to regard the gentiles as unclean, people who should not be mixed with, uncircumcised disgusting people who ate pigs. Jews felt about gentiles as white South Africans – even well-meaning ones – were brought up to feel about black people under apartheid. So when Peter had his vision of unclean food being lowered from heaven, and was told to “kill and eat”, he was disgusted. Not me, Lord! I have never eaten anything unclean! But he was told, “Do not call unclean what God has made clean”. All this was a sign that he should go and preach to gentiles – and off he went (5). And, to cut a long story short, gentiles were welcomed into the church, the few initial restrictions (like not eating blood(6)) were soon dropped, and they took their rightful place in the Body of Christ. And notice that they were welcomed as gentiles, not as surrogate Jews: Paul insists in many places that they are not to be circumcised, but celebrated for who they are (7).
Isn’t there a strong parallel here? doesn’t this speak to us now? isn’t there a strong tendency around to think of gay and lesbian people as unclean, even disgusting? don’t we call them unpleasant names? don’t we say “he’s quite nice – even if he is gay”? And then isn’t God saying to us also “What God has made clean, don’t you call unclean!”? There mustn’t be any ifs and buts about it, there mustn’t be impossible qualifications that turn them into second class citizens: we should be saying, like God, that they are Very Good! that gay and lesbian people are an essential part of the Body of Christ, with a precious and unique contribution to make. If the church lacks this contribution, if they are missing from the body, then the body is seriously deficient. We must never admit them grudgingly, hedging them about with impossible conditions: but always with God’s own limitless celebration and joy.
So, finally, to the Windsor report. If what I have said is right, then it is not the churches of the USA and Canada that are being unscriptural, but those of Nigeria and Rwanda and all others who want to live by the law instead of the Spirit. It is not the American churches who should “repent” of welcoming gay and lesbian people, but the rest of us who should repent of our ungodly stinginess, of putting the interests of the church before the justice and loving-kindness of God, and of all the unacknowledged prejudice and fear that underlies our attitude.
So let’s pray that God will cast out this fear, filling us instead with his own generous, unbounded, and dangerous love. Lord, convert the world, and begin with me!
E.g. Leviticus 18.22 and 20.13, Romans 1.26-27. 5 Acts 10
E.g. 1 Samuel 18.1-3 6 Acts 15
Luke 6.38 7 E.g. in Galatians 5.2-6
2 Corinthians 1.19-20
