I am writing in response to the two letters published in the July 30 edition of the Dowagiac Daily News about same sex marriage.  While I assume the letters were published with all good intentions, they both reveal a certain ignorance of the facts of history and a narrow, though common, understanding of Holy Scripture.

I write as the rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Dowagiac and priest in charge of Trinity Episcopal Church, Three Rivers.

History is replete with people who have broken laws in order to accomplish a greater good.  Martin Luther and Martin Luther King are two such examples.  Their sacrifices were made in order that more people might have freedom which they interpreted as a greater share in the kingdom of God insofar as that kingdom can be realized on this earth.

The Gospels themselves testify to new the “new thing” that Jesus was and is doing though the cost to him is well known.   The church is here to work out and proclaim all those new things that are the result of his original ministry guided by the sure presence of the Holy Spirit.  Is this work uncomfortable and difficult. Yes. It is necessary. Absolutely.

While it may not be obvious to some, the paradigm of creation intends a good deal more than God’s desire that men and women should be married.  Marriage is established, if we wish to use that term, as an ordered way to propagate humanity although the form of marriage has taken many forms both within and outside of the church.

The creation accounts do not close the door on further ways to understand this most intimate of relationships.  Those of us who understand same sex marriage to be of the Gospel of Jesus Christ do so because God has given creativity and freedom to humans as long as those qualities are exercised in the Spirit of love.   Scripture tells us that we Christians will be known by our love, which should include everyone, not merely those of whom we approve.

Men and women who are gay or lesbian wish to acknowledge the importance of God and the church in their lives and so cement their relationship with the blessings of marriage that heterosexual men and women enjoy.  It is a profound testimony to great faith that gays and lesbians remain in the church despite the centuries of condemnation and persecution.

The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament speak to an acceptance of the “other” in all times and places despite any perceived difference in nationality or creed.  God’s gift of freedom to us does not include the freedom to judge.  We are given the freedom to love everyone following the example of our good and gracious Lord.

We must refrain from pointing to the so-called “sin” of homosexuality as a cause for hate that we express.  This is necessary because we humans do not have the capacity, except very rarely, to “love the sinner and hate the sin.”  Invariably our hate of the sin turns to violence of one kind or another, either to those who express the hate or those who are its object.

We live in challenging times that require the best from all of us whether members of a church, synagogue or mosque.  Love will conquer fear.  Hate will only multiply the devastating consequences of fear.

 

Carlton Kelley

Dowagiac