A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 27 January 2013 by the Rev. Phyllis Wong. The scripture readings that day were Nehemiah 8:1-10; Psalm 19 and Luke 4:14-21
May the word of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Amen.
I have been disturbed again recently by some pastors from the evangelical churches for their stand against homosexuality. I am frustrated and angry not because we have a different stand and understanding on the anti-discrimination legislation on sexual orientations and gender identity. I am frustrated and angry because they gave misleading facts and arguments that may create fear in the Christian community. One of their arguments they raised was that the legislation will limit their freedom of religion and expression. Extreme examples cited include - ‘some biblical scriptures that are against homosexuality may have to be taken away.’ ‘Parents who do not agree with their children’s sexual orientation and same sex relationship may be prosecuted.’ It has created much anxiety and fear amongst Christians.
The stand for and against homosexuality, and the legislation of an anti-discrimination law to protect sexual rights have made the churches divided and Christians who have different positions distant from each other. This is very sad indeed.
The debate on homosexuality has taken place in my family too. I had a conversation on this topic with my elder sister last Sunday. We ended up with my intense emotion and I hanged up the phone.
I was upset by the stand my sister held. Her view basically is same as the conservative evangelical churches and her opposition reveals a fact -- She does not understand the lives and struggles of the homosexuals. Like many others who stand against homosexuality, she holds that homosexual behavior is a sin and God reject it. Another typical response is that they love the homosexual people and do not discriminate them. But due to the fact that their behavior is wrong and against Christian faith, thus they disagree to the enactment and even consultation of the anti- discrimination legislation.
My hot emotional response to my sister was a projection of the accumulated negative emotion towards the conservative church leaders. I feel bad for my manner towards my sister. Although we have different views, I should still stay calm and communicate with her in peace and with patience.
I called my sister the next day and apologized for my inappropriate manner over the phone.
We then had a good talk. We tried to communicate with each other of our views in a peaceful way. It was not easy.
It does take time for us to understand each other. After all, I must admit that we have gone through different experiences and exposure in life.
My reflection on my intense emotion
I can tell why my emotion was so intense. On the one hand I feel ashame of Church leaders and Christians of their discriminative attitude. The more they talk about loving the sinner but rejecting sins, the more I find it hypocritical. But the deeper level of feeling inside me is a strong sense of sorrow for friends who have been discriminated against and suffering in pains because of their sexual identity.
I have heard many sad stories from friends who are gay or lesbian. Their humanity and basic human rights are deprived because they are regarded as abnormal. The label that homosexuality is a sin has casted them away from the love and from the house of God. The rejection of their families and church community has driven them into depression. Many of them live with guilt and cannot lead a life of wholeness. It is heart breaking to me.
Their honesty to accept their own sexual identities becomes a curse. Why? Who has the right to deprive these friends from the love of God? Who has the right to deprive their claims of being whole and accept who they are before God?
The sexual minorities that include the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people have been held captives by the heterosexual structure and culture in which we have been living for so long.
We are living in a heterosexual world where over 90 % of population is heterosexual human beings. Only 5 to 7% population is homosexuals. Putting this into perspective, I have no wonder my sister like many other people find it hard to accept homosexuality. It is simply because homosexuality is something out of their experience and imagination as heterosexual relationships is a norm. I have more knowledge and understanding about homosexuality only when I had the chance to meet friends of this background and experience. And I am blessed enough to hear their stories and struggles.
I then begin to understand one truth, the liberation of the homosexuals requires an honest and critical examination of our current heterosexual structure and culture in which the majority has been living since birth. It requires that the people who have been embedded in the heterosexual relationship to open their eyes and take away their blindness to see the realities and needs of the homosexuals and their sexuality. It is through this process of understanding, that people may break the chain of homophobia. The fear of someone and something which are unfamiliar to us is understandable. When this something is about sex, the fear generated is even more intense. The presence of thousands and thousands of sexual minorities in our midst urges us to admit the realities and honor the uniqueness and the mystery of God’s creation in them. As inspired by Psalm 19, like nature, the sexual minorities are the gentle voice speaking about God and manifest God’s glory. In my encounter with friends who are gay, lesbian or transgender, I find that they are God’s revelation to me and gifts to humanity. Sexual minorities give us a chance to relate sexuality and life with a different lens. It is a paradigm shift indeed to acknowledge the existence of the homosexual world. Homosexual relationships do challenge our traditional values and family practices. But it is not necessarily a bad thing. Be honest, many development in the world such as technology and increasing number of divorce have posted challenges to family and society. From a religious point of view, the diversity of sexuality may help us to learn how to embrace one another in differences, but at the same time to live and acknowledge we are all ONE in God.
Jesus’ proclamation of the year of Jubilee is powerful as it gives the hope of life through the holy spirit. The prophetic message of God’s promise to open the eyes of the blind, to set people free from chains and lead a life of liberation is heard today.
The good news of liberation found in Luke has inspired Christians to understand biblical scriptures with light. Together with an open and critical perspective to understand the heterosexual and homosexual worlds that we are living in, Christians are able to employ a different lens to read and interpret the bible.
Some Church leaders and Christians have claimed homosexuality a sin by quoting the six to seven readings in the bible.
But the liberation theology that stand for setting people free from human abuses and discrimination will not take the teaching from the ancient Jewish community thousands years ago as a rigid law for today’s believers to follow.
The scripture is holy and become the word of God only if it embraces lives, gives hope and relevance to the lives of the believers in their context. The word of God is a living word and not words of the dead. The scriptures should never be used to judge people or to ask people to conform according to ancient laws and traditions which in fact are no longer relevant to our life today. As shared in the readings from the Book of Nehemiah we heard today, the people who learnt the laws of God must have understanding. They did interpret the laws according to their life circumstances. They have to make sense of what they heard and learnt in their lives.
The word of God must be life giving and lead people to liberation and to love.
Jesus, anointed by the spirit, has proclaimed the good news of freedom. He further said to the people in his time, “today’s scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing”.
Jesus said, “The scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing”. What does it mean? I would take it as an invitation and calling from God to us.
Sisters and brothers, God has given us this calling to make the promise of freedom a reality. God has sent us the spirit to do it with strength, courage and wisdom. In God and with God, united in Christ the One body, we are not doing it alone.
With faith, let us receive the spirit. With hope, let us receive the spirit. With love, let us receive this spirit.
May I invite you all to close your eyes and pray to God.
Holy spirit, come to us. Break our chains and give us new vision to see.
Holy spirit, come to us. Comfort our souls and heals our wounds.
Holy spirit, come to us. Lead us to set the world free.
Please open your eyes and sing together the ‘spirit song’ as a response to the message you have heard today.
# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, January 27, 2013
