17 April 2005                                                                  Bells Corners United Church

Easter 4                                                                           Rev. Martha ter Kuile

John 10. 1 - 10

Hearing His Voice

           Three of our readings this morning seem to focus on questions of danger and safety. The letter of Peter is written to Christians in Asia Minor, to encourage them in a time of persecution, to reassure them that in some profound way their difficulties and trials are to be understood as part of Christ’s suffering. The words of the Twenty-third Psalm, written deep in our hearts, are perhaps the most consoling words we know. ‘I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.’ The Gospel of John gives us a liquid, changing image of a sheep’s life - the sheepfold and the pastures, the thieves and vandals who threaten, Jesus as shepherd and as gate, of God as the one at the door between the safety of the sheepfold and the perils of the wilderness surrounding. We receive this message: although there is danger, you are safe.

           It doesn’t matter who or where you are, there are times when you need to hear this. I’ve been reading a novel about the civil war times in the United States, and reflecting that we don’t always get a chance to choose our issues, or our timing. We don’t get to say, okay, I’m ready to face a major issue, I’m ready to wrestle with a tough question. If you were in the United States in the 1850s and 60s, you had to take a stand on the abolition of slavery. I think of my husband and his Jewish roommate in Amsterdam in 1941 - are you going to Poland to the work camps, or are you going underground? (For those were the alternatives for students - unless you wanted to sign on with the Nazis)

           Although the drama is perhaps not as high, we too have an issue that we can’t evade. Our parliamentarians are wrestling with it on our behalf, the court system has done its work, and the media keep it before the public. The issue is marriage, and whether couples who are both members of the same sex may be considered as marriage partners of each other. For the church, the question is whether to marry two men or two women in the same way as we marry one man and one woman.

           The position of the United Church of Canada is this - as a denomination, we support equal marriage and have encouraged the government to enact legislation that would clarify the right of a gay or lesbian couple to be married. Further, because our denominational roots are congregationalist, our United Church policy is that each congregation must determine whether it will offer the hospitality of its sanctuary to same-sex couples, and whether it will agree that the ministers in pastoral relationship with the congregation may officiate at same sex weddings outside the sanctuary. The objective is to preserve as far as possible the freedom of the congregation and also the freedom of the minister to make this choice. Because of the historic exclusion of gays and lesbians from the privileges of marriage, a decision by a congregation not to decide is in effect a decision not to perform same-sex marriage.

           I believe it will be helpful if, as one of your ministers, I am explicit on my own view of the this question. With the leadership of the Christian Education Committee and the Worship Committee, the congregation has undertaken what I consider is an exemplary process of education, discussion, and feedback in preparing for its task of discernment. I recognize that there is a broad range on opinion within the congregation on this topic. I hope my remarks today will be received as additional perspective that may be helpful in your deliberations. I am in favour of equal marriage, and I hope that the doors of this church will not remain closed to couples of the same sex.

           I’d like to share four main observations on the question, to give you a sense of how I have reached my conclusions. First, I believe that sexual orientation is built in. The tendency to fall in love with and to wish to join one’s life in partnership with a member of the same sex is natural to some individuals. That is, I don’t believe that homosexual orientation is a choice or a lifestyle decision, or that it can readily be modified. On the contrary we should see it as a gift of God as much as heterosexual orientation is. [And let’s just note for the record that it seems to be a fairly common phenomenon in the animal world as well as among human beings] The diversity that makes God’s world so wonderful and so interesting includes diversity in sexual orientation. So this would imply that being gay is not just something to be tolerated grudgingly, but to be affirmed and celebrated - for where do we learn more deeply what it is to be human than when we fall in love? As a Christian community, I believe we should encourage each of God’s children to discover and to live out his or her sexual identity with integrity.

           Second, I’d note that long term committed relationships are difficult to sustain, for anyone. From the challenge of harmonizing hopes and dreams to the irritations of daily life - from career dovetailing to getting the garbage to the curb on time, it is not easy to be a couple. Nobody stays together for fifty years because every day is a picnic. Two people on their own, or with children, need the encouragement and support of friends and family, and of society as a whole, in order to flourish. Straight or gay, we need the blessing of the faith community and of God.

           At the same time, a flourishing family unit contributes to the overall stability of society. When a couple marries, their private relationship becomes part of the social fabric. Their ability to assist and inspire and protect one another and their children, becomes part of the social capital that we all rely on for a productive and wholesome community. Supporting stable relationships, whether heterosexual or homosexual, benefits everyone. When two people promise before God to love each other with perseverence and fidelity, we are all blessed.

           Third, I’d observe that this is only one of a number of social practices in which our culture departs quite intentionally from the social norms described in Scripture. We would disagree with the injunction in the verse immediately preceding today’s passage from 1 Peter - “Slaves, obey your masters”. And with the one immediately following - “Wives, obey your husbands” The abolition of slavery, or the granting of the vote to women, or the right of divorced persons to remarry - all those were considered very radical at first. Socially subversive. For each of those, too, there are Bible passages which argue the other way. But the proponents asserted that love and inclusion lie deeper, that equality and justice are the bedrock in the witness of scripture. When we move beyond traditional practices, in Moderator Peter Short’s words, ‘it’s not because we’ve abandoned the Bible but because we’ve read it’.

           In making my final point, I want to acknowledge that this whole question is not easy for most of us. Same sex marriage is certainly far from the traditional idea of marriage, from what we were brought up with. But it is also close to home - either you are gay yourself, or you know someone who is gay or lesbian, or bisexual, or transsexual - perhaps a family member, perhaps a friend or a person at work. It does make a difference when there is a particular face and a particular relationship to reflect on. It sharpens our sense of the challenges that a homophobic world presents. [What if one of those kids who went to Cuba turns out to be gay - or one of my children, or yours, or your grandchild - it does change our perspective]

           Even with good intentions, though, the question of marriage may take us out of our comfort zone. Some of the debate in the United Church has implied that each congregation should more or less go with its gut feeling. There seems to be a feeling that if it seems too upsetting, a congregation should just not press it. I want to question that approach. I think we are called to move out of our comfort zone. It is my hope that in determining a policy on same sex marriage, this congregation will decide to open the door as wide as it will go, so that everyone may be included.

           In the Gospel passage we read this morning we see Jesus as a shepherd. He calls to his sheep, and he offers to lead them in and out of the sheepfold. It is a pastoral image in which he leads them in, to find rest and safety, but also out to find new pasture and nutrition. The promise of scripture is that he will lead and that we will be able to follow because we know his voice. May it be so.

           Let us pray.  

Loving God, you remind us in the words of the psalms and in the words of Jesus that we are safe. Help us to listen for your voice as each one ponders the challenging questions of the day. We ask it in his name Amen.

           Hymn 359 He Came Singing Love