Ordination of Homosexuals

.... the Presbytery ... will be debating an "overture" to the larger church suggesting that the ability to ordain people who are homosexual be restored to local ordaining bodies (presbyteries and congregations) without restrictions from on high. Below is what I intend to say at the meeting.

I speak in favor of the overture. I see it as a breath of fresh air. After years of agonizing yet paralyzing debate at the national level about the issue of ordaining homosexuals to be ministers, elders, and deacons, it would be a relief to turn our national attention to other pressing concerns and to let presbyteries and congregations decide whom to ordain--dealing with persons they know and love rather than with categories and stereotypes. To know a person only in terms of his or her sexual orientation as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered is not to know very much about a person; it is wrong to make this aspect into a "master status" which overshadows everything else. We need a sense of proportion and perspective. Jesus accused the religious leaders of his day with lack of proportion: "You strain a gnat out of your soup but swallow a camel whole. You tithe mint and rue and cummin but neglect weightier matters of justice and mercy and faith." So, I fear, it has been with us. Many have focused with "selective literalism" on a few verses of scripture but missed the general drift. Perhaps a joke will lend perspective. "There are seven scriptures that deal with homosexuality but 341 dealing with heterosexuality. It's not that God does not love heterosexuals; it's just that they require more supervision!" Joys and problems involving sexuality abound in our society, but they cut across the distinctions we draw between heterosexuals and homosexuals, and they have no overarching relevance to ordination. As a sociologist (and theologian and minister), I am impressed with the way experience can change attitudes. In an earlier phase of the civil rights struggle, a two-part study was done of attitudes toward having black clerks work in department stores. Before any were hired, a great majority of customers surveyed opposed having black clerks; after legislation outlawed discrimination and black clerks had served for a few months, most customers said it was fine. We know that our sister denomination in the Reformed tradition, the United Church of Christ, has ordained persons who are homosexual without problems. Many of us know closeted lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered persons performing effective ministries as ministers, elders, and deacons in our own church, but this knowledge is not widespread. Now there are a set of persons who have a healthy openness about their sexual orientation who are waiting to be ordained. I know some of them personally, and I have read the stories of many more. They are an impressive lot. They show great promise for ministry, and I, for one, do not think we should continue to deprive ourselves of the gifts they offer. They are knocking at our church door. Setting aside the constriction of "definitive guidance" (which then stated clerk William P. Thompson advised but now regards as mistaken) and allowing the opening wedge of local initiative, let us welcome the stranger at the gate that all may freely serve. In so doing, I believe, we will experience and extend the inclusive love of God. I recommend the overture.