An Open Letter to my Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
From V. Gene Robinson, Bishop in the Church of God in a blessed place called New Hampshire:
Let's allow ourselves to be re-infused with that Holy Spirit which has never abandoned us, no matter what the Church does or doesn't do. Many of you have been writing to me, in the aftermath of General Convention, to ask what I am thinking, now that the Convention has called upon the Church to deny consent to the consecration of partnered people as bishops. Frankly, like all of you, my thinking is all over the map. But here is where I am, only a few days later.
Read it all here.
1 comment:
"If you listen carefully, God is STILL saying to God's LGBT children, 'You are my beloved. In you I am well pleased.'" - +Robinson.
This reminds me of Oral Roberts locking himself in his tower and saying that God would kill him if he did not raise x number of dollars. This "new revelation" stuff just doesn't play well.
It seems that the collective GLBT panties are in a wad. And why?
The allegiance to one's sexual identity seems primary to many of the GLBT people I have met. Most outwardly consider their orientation to be a gift from God. To me it appears to be a stumbling block to others, whether or not homosexual actions are intrinsically sinful. How many African children will die because some are adamant about their sexuality?
Paradoxically, the current fracas is not about sex (or allegiance to scripture). As I see it, none of us are wholly hetero or homo sexual. We are all on a sexuality continuum that just happens to be weighted in this culture more toward the hetero asymptote.
With that being said, the current cultural marriage to sexuality seems counter-Christian to me. It seems that it has become an idol, a touchstone of how we see ourselves - not first as Christians, but as hetero or homo or bi sexual Christians.
Moreover, this current fracas is not about sin. I sin daily. I believe my predilections for sin are ingrained. God made me a sinner. If I outwardly appeared to be living a righteous life, I would be living a lie. The wonderful thing is that God died for me - a sinner. Then he told me to try to be righteous.
For those things that I do but consider sinful - I repent. For those things that many other people consider sinful (drinking alcohol, gambling, etc.) I refrain from doing while in their presence so as not to create a stumbling block. I don't lie about it, I just don't parade it.
What is the current fight about then? It is about the unwillingness of some of us to bear the burden Christ gave us. For those who come to Christ as GLBT, the unwillingness is to be born again as Christians with no acronym qualifiers. The cross the Orthodox has dropped is represented by their inability to welcome GLBT people and allow the Holy Spirit to do its work. Too many orthodox take it upon themselves to try and save "sinners." That's God's job, not Betty Bible-Thumper's.
May heaven help us!
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