Tale of Two Calls

Ervin was with me when I got a call yesterday. He told me he had taken several last week and told them to call back if they wanted to speak with me. The call went pretty much as I expected. Someone was upset by what they had been hearing in the community about the church, and they wanted to straighten me out on what the Bible says.

Well, I’ve actually read the Bible. I got the Bible Award at my Christian High School for the highest grades in Bible class in the school’s 25-year history. I took several Bible courses in college. I have a degree from seminary. I’ve read the Bible through multiple times in three languages, translated several books from Greek, worked through many passages in Hebrew, and read at least a dozen commentaries all the way through. I take the Bible seriously. When I was asked by a parishioner a few years back about homosexuality, I gave a very cursory response along with the promise to do a deep dive and get back on it. That took a few weeks, but it was important to me to give a more complete and accurate response than some gut reaction or passing along heresay or common positioning.

There are only seven passages popularly associated with homosexuality. None of them address what we understand today as homosexuality. They refer to what we used to call pederasty, even if we have rather much set that term aside. It is a form of sexually abusing one’s social inferiors. When the Bible talks of sexuality it is most generally from the context of an interaction between people who are not considered equals. Sure, Jesus elevated women to a position of equality with men, but the Hebrew Scriptures pretty much do not understand that concept. Paul’s writings seem to waver back and forth on it at times.

We talked for a good 15 minutes about various issues like Ezekiel calling the sin of Sodom that of pride expressed in mistreating outsiders to press forward a message of personal virility, manhood, superiority, and power at the expense of folks they deemed less worthy. We talked about the suicide rate among LGBTQ+ teens being 40%. We talked about a Barna study from a decade ago reporting that 91% of young adults perceive Christians as hating gays. We talked about the need to overcome that message with a clear statement of God’s love, acceptance, and grace reaching all persons.

We talked, but she was not convinced. I heard her out. I listened to her arguments against what she called promotion of sin. She asked if this was something I had prayed about and if God talked to me. I assured I did and that I understood my actions, words, and decisions as faithful to following God. We closed the conversation with her statement that she wanted to register her opposition to any church involvement with Union County Pride events. I went about my day.

I got another call this morning. “Hi, Bishop!” “Well, I’m not quite a bishop,” was my response. She identified herself as the same person who had called yesterday. “While I was picking blueberries this morning, God spoke to me. He gave me a new charge, to find other churches who will support [the LGBTQ+ community]. This community needs to hear God’s love for them. I just wanted you to know.”

And I thought you should know, as well.


— ©Copyright 2022, Christopher B. Harbin

http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/

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