8 December 2005

Stephen G. Ray, Jr. presses the point of defilement by continuing to say it becomes a part of the persons existence. He says it like this:

The problem is not what the homosexual does, but that the homosexual exists at all.
The damaging effects of this view of same-sex relationships have been and continue to be profound... One example of the social harms produced by the exclusionary logic of this form of sin-talk is the modern day reality of HIV/AIDS. Throughout much of the gestation period of this plague, the entire issue was treated by society and by much of the church as a purely moral issue - because of its association with an "immoral lifestyle" - and not as a medical issue... During the early stages of the epidemic when proactive research and educational intervention could have made the most significant impact, resources were made scarce. Because it was a disease associated with sinful people, it ws not as aggressively treated as it should have been.

In some ways we could say that society and the church were so enveloped in their own dis-ease that the world was left without the power of the one of the greatest gifts we have as humans - the ability to create community and the willingness to be sacrificial as we care for others without judgment or discrimination. That could be the greatest sin in all of this talk about homosexuality in the church. We too often would rather live separated from "them" and throw our stones of damnation at "them" and in doing that, we become the ones who live in sin - that is - living in separation from others and in that in separation from God. That is not the best description of the Church that is called to be a light to all people...and a community whose love is seen through sacrificial living for the welfare of the other...any of the others. We must keep pinching ourselves so that we will wake up and resist this dis-ease of humanity that we let rule us so easily. This "rule" is always less that the community into which we have been grasp by our God.

Connection: Maybe a good bit of homework would be to read the Magnificat in Luke's gospel (1:46-55). It is a good word for all of us when we are slipping into the dis-ease that comes with any form of power that forgets the least among us and those in need.

Come, O God, and stir up our hearts. It is not easy to keep focused on the vision of your Reign. Instead, we too easily fall for much less and when that takes place, everyone stumbles and none of us have the time to care for one another. Stir us up so that in this day we will be awake for your coming even now. Amen.