Bishop David addresses the Chapter

La Zenia dawn

Synod day 1

Arrived safely at La Zenia. Lovely to hear the sea crashing against the rocks.

Homosexuality and the Church as Body of Christ

1 Corinthians 12.12-end

Paul’s letters to the Church at Corinth can be a frustrating part of scripture to read, because we only have one side of the correspondence and we may not even have all of Paul’s side of it. Reading between the lines, together with what we know of the history and culture of Corinth, we can appreciate some of the problems Paul was writing to address:

·         Membership was divided, with different loyalties splitting the church and so reducing its health and effectiveness.

·         Some members felt shame and inadequacy, that they weren’t good enough to be part of the church.

·         Others felt proud of who they were in the church and looked down on other, inferior members. They rejected some others from church membership altogether, saying “I don’t need you”.

In today’s passage he addresses both these kinds of people within this lively but chaotic and divided church. Each person, each member is part of a body, the body of Christ and needs to be functioning healthily in order for the whole body to be healthy.

If you prevent a body part functioning healthily, it will function inadequately or unhealthily, affecting the health of the whole body. For example, there is nothing in the Bible against smoking. But if I choose to fill my lungs with tobacco smoke ten or twenty times a day, my lungs will be unhealthy – and not just my lungs; my whole body will be unhealthy as a result. Or I might decide to wear a patch over one eye all the time, as some sort of fashion statement. It will not only be that eye which can’t function normally, my whole body’s judgement of distance and speed will be impaired. If I wear this patch long term, the sight of that eye may eventually be lost. The eye will become incapable of functioning as a healthy eye.

First (v14-20) Paul addresses those who felt INFERIORITY, SHAME, JEALOUSY vis-a-vis others in the church. “Because I am only a foot and not a hand I don’t really belong here. I am not part of this.” Paul insists that they do not cease to be part of the body just because of their feelings of inferiority. God put them there for a purpose and they need to be living healthily, to their full potential, if the body of Christ is to be healthy.

Then (v21-26) he addresses those who felt SUPERIORITY, PRIDE, SELF-IMPORTANCE vis-a-vis others in the church. He tells them firmly that they cannot say “I don’t need you” to others in the church, without losing something essential to the healthy life of the church, the body of Christ (NB not just some-body or any-body, but the body of Christ).

(V25-26) In a healthy body, all the parts serve and support and value each other. When one suffers, all suffer; when one rejoices, all rejoice. Neither shame nor pride are healthy and the body of Christ needs to be healthy if it is to fulfil its purpose in the world.

Now I’d like to relate this teaching to a controversial issue, which is the position of homosexual people in the church. This was in the news last week because of high profile Baptist Church Minister Steve Chalke’s article in Christianity magazine and interviews he has done.

(Here is a link  to Steve Chalke’s article in Christianity magazine and here is a response from Steve Clifford of the Evangelical Alliance, defending the traditional view.)

Many other evangelicals, myself included, have reached same conclusions as Steve, briefly that the Church should bless and affirm gay and lesbian people who wish to live in faithful, stable partnerships. It is not a matter of throwing away the Bible and just deciding to be nice and liberal and inclusive. This change of viewpoint has been reached through seeking to understand the experiences of gay and lesbian christians and a re-evaluation of what the Bible actually teaches about homosexuality. It is not a subject that Jesus said anything about at all and although there are a few Old Testament and New Testament passages which appear to prohibit homosexual relationships, it is likely that the former refer to temple prostitution and the latter to the sexual abuse of vulnerable people such as slaves. It is extremely unlikely that faithful, stable partnerships between people of the same gender are the target of any of these Bible texts.

Personally I agree with Chalke that there is a strong case for revising the Church’s view of the subject and whilst you don’t have to agree, it should at least give us all pause for thought. Especially when we relate this controversy to the Bible passage we are looking at today. If homosexuality is not an aberration or something that needs to be repented or healed of, but intentional and part of the diversity God has created, it follows that the body of Christ as a whole will not function healthily unless homosexual people can live healthily within the Church. The Church of England’s official teaching currently allows homosexual members to live in partnerships but does not allow blessing services for these partnerships. If one of the partners is a priest, the relationship must also be celibate.  Is forcing people to stay single, celibate or silent about their orientation healthy? Celibacy is a very specific and demanding vocation and not something which should be forced on anybody because of their sexual orientation. Wouldn’t it be healthier for individuals and for the whole body of Christ  to encourage, bless and support faithful, stable partnerships, including same gender partnerships?

The Anglican Communion is deeply divided on this issue, with homosexual partnerships already allowed and blessed in the Anglican Church of Canada and the Episcopalian church of the USA, but firmly rejected by many other Anglican Churches.For the time being, many of us may have to agree to differ on this emotive issue and I pray that we may be able to do so with respect and compassion and that we may avoid our natural pitfalls of shame and pride.

Forget-me-nots. A short story.

This story came to my mind completely and instantly, as I was preparing for yesterday's service. I hesitate to claim it was from God, but it seemed to touch a lot of people anyway. Here it is:

There was a man who loved God and who also loved flowers. He loved all kinds of flowers, but his favourites were the small, delicate blue flowers called forget-me-nots. They reminded him of God and heaven, and the man thought they were probably God's favourites too. The man moved to a house which had a rather bare garden with no flowers. As he went to bed on his first night at the new house he prayed that he would be able to work with God to grow beautiful flowers in the garden.

That very night, God answered the man's prayer, and when the man opened his curtains in the morning he saw that the garden was covered with beautiful flowers of every colour and variety you could imagine. The man rejoiced and thanked God. Then after breakfast the man found his scissors and a pot of blue paint and went out into the garden. He worked with great care for several hours, painting and trimming the flowers. Finally he stood back and looked at his garden full of forget-me-nots and rejoiced.

And God looked at the garden and wept. And God's tears fell on the garden and tried to wash away the blue paint. But they couldn't, because the man had used waterproof paint. That night the man went to sleep, satisfied with his day's work. But unfortunately, all the flowers which had been painted blue died. And when the man got up in the morning he noticed that some flowers had died. He also noticed that some of the naturally blue flowers which had not been forget-me-nots were beginning to grow back into their original shape. He made a note that he would have to bring his scissors and trim them again. But sadly, during the course of the day, all the flowers in the garden shrivelled and died.

In his sadness, the man walked to the end of his garden and leant over the garden wall. And as his tears fell onto the ground outside the garden wall, tiny buds opened and new flowers of every variety and colour began to open.

It seems as though we see our task as to flatten out the differences between people. Differences which God has built in for a reason. So when we try to make everyone the same and bring them into line we may actually be working against God. And that's not a clever thing to do.

Rob and Mark

Reposted from Robin Parry's "Theological Scribbles" blog. LOL!