An
Inkling
In a
way it’s big news: the Supreme Court
refused to rule on marriage cases, thereby opening the way for same sex
marriage in Virginia and elsewhere. It’s
big news in that it’s the top story in every paper. But it’s not really news, in that it has been
a foregone conclusion for some time – ever since our society bought the notion
that it’s all about civil rights.
Americans
believe everyone should be treated equally.
Though equality is clumsily applied (see immigration issues, crimes on
Wall St, etc), we really believe in it.
And that passion has trumped all other considerations in our
understanding of marriage (e.g., well being of children, public health, the
broadly practiced family patterns of humanity across the ages, etc).
So
there it is. How should we respond? A full response goes beyond the bounds of a
blog, but here are some brief suggestions, cast as what we will and won’t do.
We will love and befriend all who are willing to be
our friends, both hetero and homosexual, both marriage traditionalists and
revisionists.
We won’t back down from a gently stated but persistent
affirmation of the plain teaching of scripture about marriage.
We will create a community of grace and truth, where
Jesus followers flourish in God’s transforming power that reaches across the full
breadth of life, including our sexuality.
We won’t celebrate what God would redeem.
We will advocate for religious freedom. This matter of constitutional rights is one
public debate that is not already a foregone conclusion.
We won’t roll over as secularizing and marriage
revisionist forces seek to reduce freedom of religion to a mere freedom of
worship (i.e., you can do whatever you want in the four walls of your
sanctuary, just don’t try to apply your beliefs to how you treat the unborn –
see Catholic hospitals and the healthcare law – or how you run your business –
see wedding caterers who are being sued for referring same sex couples to other
caterers who can serve them in good conscience). America’s passion for equal rights can and should
extend to acts of religious conscience.
We will learn from Christians across the ages and the globe
who have had more experience in living counter-culturally than we have. We’re going to need it.
We won’t panic.
Jesus is just as much Lord today as he was yesterday, and our final
trust was never in the Supreme Court, our Constitution, or anything else but
him.
That’s
enough for now. I’m planning a class and
sermons for the winter in which we’ll be able to think together at greater
length about such matters.
And
in the meantime, let’s keep the “big news” in perspective. The really big news happened 2000 years
ago. Ever since it’s been a foregone
conclusion that Jesus’ lordship will finally determine the whole of life. That’s the really big news around which we’re
building our lives, and he’s given us the privilege of doing so in Virginia in
2014. May he be praised!
Blessings,
Keith
