|
Christ Church Covington
The Rev’d Pamela P. Snare
9 Pentecost
Deuteronomy 8:1-10
Ps.34:1-8
Ephesians 4:25-5:2
John 6:37-51
August 10, 2003
“Putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors,
for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the
sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil. . .Let no
evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building
up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear.
Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and
slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as
Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and
sacrifice to God.”
In view of the events which took place at the 74th General Convention of
the Episcopal Church this past week, and the media coverage which they
have received, I consider these words from St. Paul’s epistle to the
Church at Ephesus to have been given to us providentially on this Sunday
following the General Convention.
Out of ten days of proceedings and decision making, all of which involve
our common life and mission as the Body of Christ, the two decisions which
have captured the focus and attention of the media are 1) the consent to
the election of the Rev’d Canon Gene Robinson as bishop of the diocese of
New Hampshire – a man who is living in a non-celibate homosexual
relationship, and 2) the adoption of a resolution which states, “that we
recognize that local faith communities are operating within bounds of our
common life as they explore and experience liturgies celebrating and
blessing same-sex unions.”
These decisions have brought into the open, indeed into the public forum,
what was already true in the Episcopal Church. Namely, that we in the
Episcopal Church are not all of one mind regarding these issues; that
there has been and continues to be disagreement on these issues among our
leaders and members, in the national church, in our diocese, and in our
parish. This disagreement about homosexuality is not particular to the
Episcopal Church. Regardless of official teaching, Christian churches of
almost every stripe have members who hold a variety of opinions on the
issue.
On Friday, our Bishop, Charles Jenkins, sent a pastoral statement to all
of our clergy to be used as we thought best. Copies of his pastoral
statement may be found in the narthex of the church, and I urge all of you
to take a copy home and read it, if you have not picked up a copy already.
It is an honest, faithful, and compassionate statement, in which he shares
his own struggle and decisions on this issue. I commend it to you highly,
and I will tell you that I believe we are fortunate to have him as our
episcopal leader. Although he makes it clear that he believes the Church’s
traditional teaching on marriage to be the standard revealed to us in
Scripture, he openly acknowledges that we are not all of one mind in this
diocese and that he believes, “This is an occasion for us to model and
practice the unity for which Jesus prayed and to demonstrate the level of
Christian maturity that is a value of and characteristic of the Diocese of
Louisiana.” He is not reactionary. He is modeling for us, and challenging
us to model, the standard of humility, patience, forbearance, and
compassion that is shown to us in the life, person, and ministry of Jesus
Christ. He is challenging us to live with and through our disagreements as
mature Christians, and to keep firmly before us, rooted in our hearts and
minds and actions, the example of Christ as our standard in our
relationships with one another, our words and our actions toward each
other, and most especially toward those with whom we disagree.
What does it mean to model Christian maturity? Our second reading today is
an apt summary of what it means to be a mature Christian, to seek to
follow the mind and example of Christ. “Putting away all falsehood, let
all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one
another.” It is only fair and responsible of me to speak the truth to you
as God has led me. With our Bishop and our rector, I affirm the Church’s
traditional teaching on marriage as the standard revealed to us in
Scripture. I have thought and rethought and prayed over this issue since I
was first ordained in 1983, and was appointed to the Commission on
Ministry in the Diocese of North Carolina. It came before us then and has
continued to be part of our life together as the Body of Christ.
“Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and
slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.”
At the same time that I affirm the Church’s traditional teaching, I must
also tell you that I frankly acknowledge, not just with my lips, but in my
heart, every time I pray the general confession, and receive the
Eucharist, that I am a sinner in need of God’s mercy and forgiveness and
compassion. When we get to those phrases, “we confess that we have sinned
against you, in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what
we have left undone,” I rehearse in my mind and heart those things of
which I am aware that I have thought and said and done, or left undone,
which have grieved the mind of Christ, which have fallen short of his
example. No week, indeed no day, passes that I have not grieved Christ.
That knowledge helps to discipline me from condemning others or passing
judgment on the offenses of others. As the psalmist writes, “Who can tell
how often he offends? Cleanse me from my secret faults. Above all, keep
your servant from presumptuous sins; let them not get dominion over me”
(Ps.19:12-13a).
Christians who are homosexual are as much in need of the sacraments, the
ministry of the Church, and the mercy, forgiveness and compassion of God
as I am. I cannot slander or be malicious toward them without harming my
own relationship with God and without endangering my own salvation. I
cannot slander or be malicious toward anyone without failing to live
according to the standard of Christ. Christians who are homosexuals are
given gifts for ministry on behalf of Christ. As Bishop Jenkins states,
“by all accounts. . .the Rev. Canon V. Gene Robinson is a capable and
gifted priest.” This is why Church teaching has distinguished between
being homosexual and homosexual behavior. Church teaching does not exclude
homosexuals from being members of the Body of Christ, nor from exercising
their gifts in ministry for Christ. For centuries, the Church has ordained
homosexual persons while requiring them to be celibate. What the Church
has not condoned is homosexual behavior.
This morning, at 9:00, we are celebrating the baptism of Callie Shay
Cooper. When we reaffirm the baptismal covenant, we promise that we “will
seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves,”
and that we “will strive for justice and peace among all people, and
respect the dignity of every human being.” There are no exception clauses.
Our promise implies that we believe Christ is present in all persons –
those with whom we agree and those with whom we disagree. It implies that
we will show respect for every person’s dignity because all of us have
been created in God’s image - those with whom we agree and those with whom
we disagree. To act otherwise is to fail to live according to the mind and
example of Christ.
Our bishop is challenging us to exercise these virtues of mature
Christians: humility, patience, forgiveness, kindness, and forbearance as
we live together as a community of faith in our parishes and in our
diocese. He is encouraging us not to indulge in bitterness, wrath,
wrangling, slander, and malice. He is asking us to unite around that which
we do have in common – the mission of the Church – to reach out to those
who have no church home, to minister to those in need in our communities
and our diocese, to focus our efforts and our energies on taking the
gospel of Christ to those who have lost hope, who have lost faith, and who
have lost love
What does the future hold? None of us can tell, none of us ever can tell.
But I can say, with our bishop, that even though “I do not know what the
future holds, I know who holds the future.” God does not abandon us. God
has not abandoned us. God is faithful even when we are not.
My faith in God and commitment to God has not changed. My commitment to
the Episcopal Church has not changed. There is no perfect church in this
world and in this time. There is no church where there is not disagreement
over one or another doctrine and/or practice. The fullness of the Kingdom
of God is not to be found in this world. It is reserved for the next. In
the meantime, I must try to be as faithful as God grants me the grace to
be, living in an imperfect world, in an imperfect Church, with imperfect
people, and with an imperfect self. Nevertheless, I will press on to the
upward call of God in Jesus Christ, doing my best, through God’s grace and
with his help, to lay aside all bitterness, wrath, wrangling, slander and
malice, and to be clothed with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness,
patience, and love toward ALL. This is the only thing I know to do because
God has called me to do this, to serve in this time and in this place,
regardless of the difficulty or the cost. So be it. Amen.
Sermon by the Reverend Pamela P. Snare
Return
to Recent Sermons |