Voices must rise as community

Voices must rise as community

This is the second article to appear in the KCStar, there should be a review forthcoming from Paul Horsley.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/living/religion/11288870.htm

Posted on Sat, Apr. 02, 2005

Voices must rise as community

By BILL TAMMEUS

The Kansas City Star

When the Rev. Mel White opens the Heartland Men's Chorus presentation of “All God's Children” tonight at the Folly Theater, he plans to say these painful words:

“For the vast majority of religious organizations, the idea of accepting homosexuals fans fires of anger and conflict.”

White, a gay man who once ghost-wrote books for the Rev. Billy Graham and the Rev. Pat Robertson, will narrate faith stories from members of the chorus, almost all of whom are gay.

The faith communities to which these men belong include Baptist, Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist, Mennonite, Jewish, Buddhist, Disciples of Christ, Pentecostal, Mormon, Assembly of God, Unity, Community of Christ, Unitarian-Universalist, United Church of Christ, Metropolitan Community Church and Wicca — to say nothing of the atheists and agnostics among them.

In some way, most of them have struggled with how to be gay in congregations that often think of homosexuality as a sin.

I am not gay. So I cannot speak for anyone who is. But I am someone with a commitment to one of the faith communities — the Presbyterian Church (USA) — that officially refuses to ordain otherwise qualified gays and lesbians to ministry or to the office of elder or deacon. I disagree with my church on this.

If I could speak to members of the chorus, which also will perform Sunday afternoon, I would say to them what I said to a national gathering of three Presbyterian gay advocacy groups last year when I was the keynote speaker: Stay in your religious community and fight from inside.

From my perspective as a Presbyterian elder, I also would tell them this:

“Even when the church gets things wrong — as it surely does sometimes — those of us who disagree are called to do so publicly and aggressively but lovingly, even if sometimes the church itself doesn't behave that way.

“It's important to acknowledge how hard the call can be for gays and lesbians to stay active in the church. And we should not be judgmental and intolerant of people who have made another choice, even if that choice breaks our hearts.

“It helps to think about what it means to be a faith community. The Greek word most often used in the New Testament for church is ‘ecclesia.' It means ‘called out.' That is, the church is not a voluntary organization. Rather it's made up of people whom God has called out of the world and to whom God has given gifts that the church needs. You have some of those gifts, without which your own faith communities will be impoverished.

“That's part of why I believe you should stay within your religious bodies to work for change so they will repent of their exclusivity, discrimination and misuse of the Bible as a weapon of sexual oppression.”

Religion generally — and the Christian church in particular — has been a major reason that the broader society has oppressed gays and lesbians and that such oppression continues. So the church must become a leader to change that.

The faith journey of gays and lesbians must seem incredibly lonely at times. And I will be the last person to condemn them if they decide they can't be part of what they consider an abusive relationship any more.

But they are not alone within congregations. There are allies, friends, brothers and sisters who want to walk with them and who are, in fact, beside them on this journey.

Beyond that, their faith communities need them. I won't say those congregations need them more than they need the congregations. I think that the grace churches can help to mediate to everyone is a treasure without price. So I would say they need the church, too, even if it fails to live consistently as a channel of God's love and grace.

We together make up communities of faith, but if those communities are divided — and they are — all of us suffer.

So I would ask the men who will sing in this weekend's choral presentation to stay the course, to renew their faith commitments to be light and life, to help their religious organizations find their way.

That may not happen in my lifetime or theirs, but it will happen, and their faithfulness will be part of the reason we'll get there.

To reach Bill Tammeus, call (816)-234-4437, or send e-mail to

tammeus@kcstar.com. Visit his Web log at billtammeus.typepad.com.