Unfortunately, we regressed in our Blog participation last week – after a record 8 comments on our question, “How Would Jesus Vote?”, we got a grand total of…zip, zero, nada…last week. I’m sure folks were thinking about the question though, yes? My wife said she was going to comment, were it not for the fact that you have to sign up with Blogger (hope our new note, above, will encourage people). Still time to comment on last week’s too!
But, for this week…as alluded to in last week’s entry, the logical progression is from politics…to money…to sex, of course. This week’s question will really put our electronic conversation to the test–whether we can have a healthy “virtual” conversation about the gospel and human sexuality.
So…the question for the week is,”Would Jesus hang out with gay people?” And if so, how might we imagine him being with people who are gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgendered?
I think that’s a different question than, “should gay folks be allowed to be ordained?” or “Is homosexuality a sin?” The question really goes to the quality of relationship Jesus might have…were he living in this time, place, culture…with people who are of a different sexual orientation than the norm.
I guess I like putting the question that way because the whole theoretical business–all the highfalutin questions about biblical standards, theological integrity, how we interpret scripture, etc.–gets transformed when you are in relationship with someone who is experiencing the attendant issues first-hand–whether they are “liberal” or “conservative” on the issue. People’s theoretical ideas tend to change when they are able to really be with and hear the very concrete experience of the other.
The lack of any kind of relational element in the conversation over human sexuality in the church seemed so evident for me when I was at General Assembly. Of course, sexuality was the “hot” issue (as it’s been for the last 25 to 30 years). But what was remarkable to me was how divided that body (and our church) is – how neither camp really talks to each other. They just divide up into camps of folks who already agree with each other. It’s a tragic thing to see, to my eyes.
Sure – let’s weigh in on what the biblical witness, what the gospel has to say about the deep theological/theoretical issues. But, since a lot of the theologizing we do has to do with *how* Jesus was in relationship with the real human beings of his time – let’s imagine how he might be with real people in our own time, and how we might imagine his attitude toward them.
And…can we break 8 responses this week???
Imagine away!
Jeff Vamos
