"Yes, But What If You Are Wrong?"
Sermon Presented May 1, 2005
John 13:31-35
A week ago last night as I was reading The Killer Angels, Michael Shaara's Pulitzer Prize winning historical novel about the Battle of Gettysburg, something jumped off the page at me. That "something" was a conversation between Colonel Lawrence Chamberlain, a college professor who took a leave from teaching to become a colonel in the Union Army and a fellow officer. Chamberlain told of walking away from a Southern Baptist minister who equated his black slaves to his horses, stating that a Negro was not a man.
Chamberlain said: "I don't really understand it. Never have. The more I think on it the more it horrifies me. How can they look in the eyes of a man and make a slave of him and then quote the Bible? "When he walked out on the minister, another slave holder posed this question to him: "My young friend, what if it is you who are wrong?" Chamberlain said that he had "one of those moments when you feel that if the rest of the world is right, then you yourself have gone mad. … (but) something at the time said: you cannot be utterly right. And there is still something every now and then which says, 'Yes, but what if you are wrong?'" (Pp. 187, 188.)
As I read those words, I thought of all of the injustices that have been imposed on people because of a biblical interpretation. I thought of women who were denied church leadership roles, the right to vote, and property rights because of a biblical understanding of gender roles. I thought of slave owners who justified holding slaves because of what the Bible said! I thought of my seminary professors who lost their jobs because of how they interpreted the scripture. I thought of homosexual people who are railed against from the pulpits of our land because of the way the Bible is interpreted. And the question comes: "What if you are wrong?"
I have chosen as my text this morning a portion of Jesus' final words to his disciples. It is what we call "The Great Commandment."
John 13:31-35 (Read text.)
When I was in seminary, I began to reevaluate my understanding of homosexuality. Marcia, a friend who is now senior pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Kansas City gave me new insight. Broadway is a member of the Welcoming and Affirming Baptist Churches - an alliance of Baptist churches that welcomes and affirms homosexual people. (In Wisconsin, there are three Welcoming and Affirming Baptist Churches.) I read scripture, books and articles and listened to people with differing perspectives. In time, I came to believe that we are created with our sexual orientation, that God loves us equally, and that homosexual persons shouldn't be denied sexual expression just because of how they are created. That was a tremendous shift in attitude. But until 10 years ago, no one confided in me that he or she was gay. Then suddenly, that changed.
It was the Fourth of July - my first year in Marysville, KS. The phone rang and I was surprised to hear Judy's voice, the voice of one who had been my best friend from kindergarten through high school. We took the same classes and worked together at Jerre Anne's Cafeteria in St. Joseph throughout our high school years. I had only seen her a few times since graduation. She had married, raised three sons and was divorced. We kept in contact through Christmas letters and an occasional call.
Judy was crying and was sure that I knew she was a lesbian. I had no idea! I knew that another woman was living with her, but assumed it was because Judy needed help after her leg was amputated because of complications from diabetes. The next week, I met Judy in Kansas City and she poured out her grief over her exclusion from the Church. She told me that her uncle, her brother Roger, and one of her sons were also gay. She said that she was attracted to women from her early teens, but she married Aaron because he was a "good Christian boy" and it was expected of her.
A couple of weeks after talking to Judy, I received a call from my best male friend from seminary. I was delighted to hear his voice and asked: "What's new, Donnie?" His reply brought a gasp. He said: "I came out last month and Lori and I are getting a divorce." He and Lori agreed that he should have primary custody of their sons because he was one who cared for the children while Lori worked long hours in an administrative position.
Donnie told me that he knew he was gay at the age of 11 and Lori knew of his sexual orientation from the beginning. But they were best friends and wanted children, so they married believing it would work. But it didn't work because Donnie couldn't live the lie any longer. His grandfather - a Baptist minister - refused to have anything to do with him when he received this information.
A couple of months later a lesbian couple - Tina and Kay - moved next door to the parsonage along with their 3-year-old twin sons. They came to Marysville to open a restaurant - Tina was from Marysville - but because of abuse from the neighbors on the other side and lack of acceptance in this small town, they moved back to Lincoln, NE after a few years. I spent many hours listening to them grieve over how they were treated. (By the way, after they moved to Lincoln, they invited me to a party and introduced me as their good friend who happened to be a Baptist minister. That introduction gave me the opportunity to hear many gays and lesbians share their grief at being alienated from the Church.)
Soon after Tina and Kay moved to Marysville, Tim, the man in Kansas City who cut my hair asked for prayer. He had been in counseling for many years because of his internal conflict over his sexuality. He wanted prayer because he, his brother and his therapist were meeting the following week. His brother didn't want anything to do with him because of his sexual orientation, but finally agreed to meet with them. Tim's comment: "I don't know how he can be a Christian and treat me the way he does." I felt that each encounter paved the way for the next.
While in Marysville I wrote a letter to the editor and a "Pastor's Column" in support of the gay and lesbian community when a fellow minister railed against them. I served on the NE Area Kansas AIDS Task Force working with other religious and social leaders to help those with AIDS and their families cope with the devastation of that illness. I affirmed homosexual people when I was with fellow ministers. I believe I am right, but there were many people of faith who believe differently than I. The inability to tolerate differences is fracturing our denomination and most other Christian denominations.
Two teachings delivered in May of 1993 by Dr. Paul Duke - then pastor of Kirkwood Baptist Church in St. Louis helped me tremendously. He opened up the scriptures in ways that I had never heard before. I didn't have these documents when I prepared the bulletin inserts, but there is some information in your bulletins if you are interested in pursuing this further. I have also included a copy of the Rochester Declaration - a document that I support.
Most of our conflicts concerning this topic come from how we have heard scripture interpreted. And most of the passages dealing with this issue are from seldom read biblical books. If we are honest, none of us gives equal weight to the entire canon. The gospels always take precedence over Deuteronomy and Leviticus. I have never preached from many books of the Bible - for good reason. We don't obey the dietary laws of the Hebrew community or their cultural prohibitions because we believe that Jesus set us free from the law. That is good news! We enjoy freedom in Christ and not the legalism of ancient Israel or the Pharisees. We don't want a creedal denomination and we don't want to have someone dictate our beliefs to us.
Rev. Lo Ann Trembley, in an essay on this topic said: "If we return to obeying Leviticus, at the very least, it will mean no more pepperoni and cheese pizzas - because we will be obliged to follow the rules of Kasruth along with every other Levitical admonition. Pizza is one of my favorite foods; I'm not willing to give it up. Adhering to Leviticus returns us to the realm of bad news from which Christ has set us free." (No More Pepperoni and Cheese Pizzas?)
In the gospels, Jesus mentions the Pharisees 84 times and never once mentions homosexuality. He condemns those who spew righteousness all over their neighbors rather than those who are born with a homosexual orientation.
Jesus says in our text that we are to love one another as Jesus loved! That is unconditional love! That admonition to love should keep us from saying: "Oh, I hate the sin but love the sinner" because "hate" is the only word that will be heard in that statement. When Christians rail against homosexuality, people see no love - only judgmentalism and a sense of moral superiority!
Tony Campolo, an American Baptist professor emeritus of sociology at Eastern University states in his new book Speaking My Mind: "Beyond any arguments over what the Bible says or does not say about homosexual behavior is my concern about the meanness and ugly untrue rhetoric that gay men and lesbians have to endure from many Christians…. Given the likelihood that their sexual orientation will not change, we must do more than simply bid them to be celibate; we must find ways for them to have fulfilling, loving experiences so that we affirm their humanity - ensure their participation in the body of Christ" (p. 70, 78.)
We are a diverse denomination and a diverse congregation. With that diversity, Jesus calls us to love as he loved. When we act in love, we can't really go wrong, can we? We can't really be wrong!
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