Guest Preacher at Green River, WY UCC church

No Distinction between Believers
By Rev. Steven R Mitchell
Union UCC, Green River, WY 2/21/2010
Based on Romans 10:1-4, 8-13

It was this past December Curtis shared with me about the bible study that you as a congregation were going to be undertaking this first part of the year about Homosexuality and what the scriptures say about topic. In that conversation Curtis asked if I would be open to coming over and sharing with you my perspectives on this topic as well as sharing some of my experiences as they have related to the church. One basic reason for my being asked is that I am the closest minister within the UCC who happens to be “gay.” So, most of this morning’s discussion at its basic level is dealing with perception; perception of who can do what and by whose standard. We all have pre-conceived ideas as to standards and from time to time we have the privilege to examine those pre-conceptions. When I first started seminary, I saw a wide range of ages of people studying for the ministry; those straight from their undergraduate degrees to those who had newly retired from 30 or more years in secular work. Then there was one student who had cerebral palsy who was also studying for the ministry. My first thoughts were, “how can this person serve the church in that physical condition.” I had in my mind excluded him from the gifts that he could bring to the church; I had at that point in time devalued him as a person. After becoming acquainted with this gentleman I changed my understanding as to just “who” God could use and would use in ministering to His church.
Curtis sent me three of his outlines that he was going to use in this study, so I have some idea about the subject matter and references that you all have been exposed to in these conversations. When Curtis asked what scripture I would be using, I originally told him I would probable use something from I Corinthians where Paul was talking about the body of Christ and how all members of the body were needed to make up the complete body and function as a healthy entity. So for those of you who recall those particular passages within the bible that are used to condemn Homosexuality are probably wondering why I am using anything out of Romans since this Epistle has one of the most used “clobber” passages within its chapters? The reason is because of this statement that Paul uses in verse 12, “For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile – the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Before we get too far into today’s thoughts, I want to give you a very brief overview of what Paul’s letter to the Romans is about. I realize that for most of you, this will be a repeat of information, but you never know, we may have someone here this morning who hasn’t heard the basic thrust of this letter.
“To these believers in Rome, Paul wrote the longest of his thirteen letters, introducing himself in advance of his upcoming visit. Sometimes called ‘Paul’s testament,’ Romans presents a beautifully detailed doctrinal statement of Christianity (as Paul see’s it.)
Paul presents the need for all people to realize their position before God – of which falls short of God’s glorious design and plan for their lives. But by an act of God’s grace and by faith, people are restored to their rightful relationship with God. Because of the confidence of forgiveness, all believers can present their talents, gifts and abilities – whatever they are – as an act of worship to God.
Paul also encourages his readers to realize that God is in control when he says “all things work together for good to those who love God” (Rom 8:28) He also comforts them with the knowledge that nothing can separate them from the love of God.” Robert Schuller commentary in Possibility Thinkers Bible
Chapter 10 starts off with Paul saying, “Friends, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.”
What Paul is saying, of course, is that the established church of his day did not recognize Jesus as the true gift from God. Rather they had become entrenched with the “law” that had been giving to them through Moses, not understanding, as Paul says, given to them to prepare them for the true messiah, this gift of grace, that came through Jesus.
We as Christians still have the issues today, in that too often we forget that God is in control. Too often the church of today gets so focused on issues that have nothing to do with Spirituality, our relationship with God, but rather we prefer to exclude with the help of the “law” those that we have decided don’t fit and only allow those that agree with our perspectives to be “welcomed” into the “grace” of Christ.
One of those areas that I am speaking about is on the topic of Homosexuality. The word “Homosexual” is a very highly emotionally charged word. In a recent survey that I saw this week on the internet news, when asking the public about their opinion with respect to who should be allowed to serve in our military, when the word Homosexual is used, the % of people who think this portion of the population should serve, drops greatly; where as if the phrase, “should gays be allowed to serve in the military” the % of people who think “gays” should be allowed in the military greatly increases. This usage of language is also used by what is termed “religious right” when speaking out about topics where ones sexual orientation is being attacked, by using the term “Homosexual”. No longer is this group using the phrase, “the gay agenda” but have changed their phrases to say “the homosexual agenda”, solely because of the negative emotional power that is invoked.
I suppose what I am trying to relate with these first four verses from Romans is that we are too eager to use scripture to prove a point and too often support a bias or bigoted point of view. Instead of letting scripture speak to our hearts, letting it help us grow in understanding, we prefer to keep the Holy Spirit out of it, because if we let God’s spirit speak to us, it could just possibly confuse the issue. What Paul was saying to the church of his day, was that by hanging onto the “law” they were “not letting go and letting God” rather they preferred to stagnate and let their hearts harden instead of letting go and letting God grow their hearts into a fuller life, and in the process wanting to keep those who were wanting to follow God out of the club, so to speak; of not letting God be available to those who didn’t measure up to their expectations. But Paul say’s, “Surprise! Even though you are trying to keep certain people out of the synagogue, God has over ridden your narrow views and has opened up His love to be available to the whole world.”
Now as a way of preparing for our discussion after worship I would like to share just a little bite about my journey of faith and inner action with the church. At age fourteen, I made a profession to Christ. Coming from a faith tradition where there was what is called, “Believers Baptism” which would be equal in my eyes to confirmation of those who have been baptized as infants. In those early years I read scripture nightly for hours after completing my home work and although “the sins of homosexuality” were not addressed from the pulpit, I had no guidance as to understanding what scripture was saying in passages like the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. I knew that socially, male to male attractions were not viewed as normal just by the way other guys would talk about their attractions to females. I was never accused of being “gay” nor did I really ever hear out and out condemnation of it. That is with the exception that my father seemed to realize that I wasn’t a typical “boy” as he through his limited social and communicational skills would demean me in an effort to help make me a “man.”
Although I dated girls, my attraction to them sexually was basically none existent, while my attraction to men continued to increase. I assumed that I my hormones were just overly active and once I married, which was the proper thing to do, that my attraction to men would disappear and my attraction to the female body would naturally increase to be what was normal for most men; this turned out not to be the case.
While in my twenties, my struggles with sexual orientation issues continued to increase. I was in a terrible situation. I was married, had three children, believed in committed relationships and standing true to those commitments and found myself struggling between two worlds; that of living a heterosexual life style (out of duty and because this is what society said was the normal thing to do) while having increasing homosexual desires. Eventually the strain became too much for me and after confiding with my wife about my struggles went to couples therapy. The bottom line with my wife was, either I get fixed or lose my family.
Because of my love for my wife and children coupled with the thought of losing everything that I had been raised to value as well as not wanting public humiliation or even censure from the church, I tried to bring my life into the wholeness of heterosexuality. While in seminary, I discovered an amazingly large number of books on the topic of Homosexuality. During those 2 ½ years at seminary I read every one of those books, some pro, others con on the subject. What I came away with from all that reading was, “Nobody really knew what they were talking about” on either side of the topic. I eventually found my way into “reparative” therapy and a Homosexual’s anonymous group. At that same time, my wife had come to the conclusion that “I” wasn’t going to change and filed for divorce and taking our children and moved back to Kansas. I was on the verge of suicide because of the disgrace of the divorce and because I had failed at being “heterosexual”. I was not able to control who I was basically and who I was, was not acceptable to the church. The only thing that stopped me from destroying myself as the knowledge that suicide often made the survivors feel guilty and the last thing I wanted was to put my children into a situation that they might have blamed themselves for my death.
Ultimately I completed my ordination and soon after went to a national convocation on “ministering to people living with AIDS”. It was at that event where I was confronted with all the teachings about homosexuality that I had been taught up to that point. The very first lecture given was about the wrongful preaching and misunderstanding about what the bible actually said about homosexuality by a professor from Colgate Rochester Seminary. That professor delivered from the pulpit every citation from almost every book I had read while in seminary about the topic of Homosexuality and the misunderstanding and abuse that had been used toward men and women who by natural process had same sex attractions. I cannot tell you the power to hear from the pulpit that I have been misunderstood and even abused by the very institution that I had dedicated my life to serve.
As I was flying back to Washington State and processing all that I had heard and experienced during that convocation, I had an epiphany. I heard God tell me that I was a whole, healthy person of whom He loved. For the very first time in my life I felt the peace that I had been looking for my entire life come over me. This was truly what we talk about when we say, “I give you a peace that passes beyond all understanding.” From that time forward I have come to know that God loves me and more importantly accepts me for who I am. I am positive that is because of this relationship that I have with God that I have never faulted in my faith journey with God. I can tell you that I literally lost everything that was dear to my heart. I lost my wife; I lost my children, in respect to being able to live with them 24/7; I lost my vocation in ministry.
Let me share one last thought with you, an apology made by Rev. Brent Childers Executive Director of Faith in America, again coming from the book Crisis. He writes: …
Because of who I am, a man who happens to be gay, in secular society, I have have more of my rights recognized than I do by the church. I have to ask myself “why”, why is it that human rights is being acted upon by the general population and it is in the church, where most of the resistance and hateful language and behavior comes from. The institution that says, “it is the body of Christ?” Paul writes in Romans: Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame. For there is no difference between Jew and gentile, the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him. Because of the understanding of some congregations within the United Church of Christ, where they practice their belief that, “God is Still Speaking” I have found support as a person who is loved by God. I applaud you as a congregation who is asking the questions and willing to listen to what God is telling you, for if you are asking the questions then this means that your hearts are open to the leading and the teaching of God’s holy spirit for, Anyone who trusts in Jesus and the guidance of the Holy Spirit will never be put to shame. Amen