I have done it again.
The issue of homosexuality in the United Methodist Church came up this week. I got upset. I got upset because I know that this issue is going to dominate the denomination as we move toward General Conference. Again.
Then – instead of staying out of it – I started writing posts on the very issue I wish we could spend less time talking about.
So, I’m going to try again.
In all truth, nothing I have to say about the issue will break any new ground. Neither will it persuade anyone. I don’t bring a particularly interesting personal experience or perspective, either.
I’m going to try to stay away from the conversation. The hardest part for me will be ignoring statements that strike me as unfair or wrong or misleading. I have a knee jerk reaction to such things. Here’s a chance to practice some personal discipline. We’ll see how that goes.
I am a part-time local pastor serving 
This love we believe to be the medicine of life, the never-failing remedy for all the evils of a disordered world, for all the miseries and vices of men. Wherever this is, there are virtue and happiness going hand in hand. There is humbleness of mind, gentleness, long-suffering, the whole image of God; and at the same time a peace that passeth all understanding, and joy unspeakable and full of glory.
John,
I rarely write on the subject anymore. I chimed in on one of your posts but I am extremely weary of the discussion.
I’ve been listening to this debate for thirty years and no new ground has been broken and we will not reconcile this issue as a church. Either things will continue to stay the same and folks on the other side of the issue will leave, or at some point a change will be made and the other group will leave.
For me what it boils down to is that as a denomination we are obsessed with sex just like the world; and anything that two dogs can do without instructions cannot be all that significant.
And in the spirit of your post, this is the last time I will comment.
KInda sounds like what I remember hearing in high school: Let’s just put all the gays on an island and eventually they will all die out.
Problem solved.
Scott, everyone else is free to talk all they want. I’m not really sure what you mean by this comment.
I really wish you would speak on this topic. My church has been non-productively “debating” it for quite a few years but nothing has been resolved. I think this is because we refuse to discuss the comments of St. Paul and what to do with them. These seem to be the 800 pound elephant that is missed in all of the talk.
So…what do you—or any other commentators—make of St. Paul’s thoughts? They seem painful but straightforward to me.
Actually, it is an 800 pound gorilla, not an elephant. The issue is larger than that. An 800 pound elephant would be pretty small.
No matter how long the debate has been going on or what side you have taken, there’s always those who are going to ask for whatever reason, “What is the problem?” I guess you can tell them to go fish somewhere else.
I agree John, In fact… I am about ready to draft legislation to declare a moratorium on the word, and any derivative of, homosexual.
Allan is right – we are as obsessed by sex as a denomination as the world is, and I think the Church should not not be of the world. (Didn’t I read that in a book somewhere?)
This debate has been going on almost as long as I’ve been alive.
The false assumption was that by putting all gays on an island and letting them die off, and thus not bearing children, we would *solve* the problem of gays.
By saying we shouldn’t talk about homosexuality, or by saying we need a moratorium on the issue, is like saying we should stick our head in the sand and ignore gays and they will go away. It feels like a complete dismissal of a whole group of people.
The argument that someone hasn’t dealt much with the subject with their lay people in their church does not hold a lot of water. It very well could be that people are so deeply in the closet the pastor is completely oblivious to the presence of gays and lesbians in their congregation. Or their views may be so well known that a lay person with a gay member of their family would never dare mention it to that pastor.
I have discovered in the past couple of years that there are far more gays and lesbians living among us than we realize.
The issue simply isn’t going to go away.
And with more and more gays becoming prominent in our society and more and more young people accepting of gays and lesbians, ignoring the issue in the church can’t be helpful.
What we need in the UMC is a clear and honest description that we are not of one mind in the church on this issue.
I do think there are times that people can become so enmeshed with an issue that it is the only issue they know. And I do think it’s healthy to take a step back at times.
Nevertheless, words do have meaning. And people matter. Gays and lesbians matter. The gays and lesbians, whether closeted or not, who participate in our churches, who give financially, and who are serving Christ in the church and in the world, are to be loved, respected, and welcomed, not dismissed or be made to feel that they are a secondary or tertiary issue.
Scott, as you demonstrate, my decision to step out of this conversation will not put an end to it.
You and those on the other side of this debate will carry on quite well without me.
You said you didn’t understand my comment. So I explained.
Thank you.