| Memphis School of Servant Leadership |
| Contact Information: Phone: (901) 320-7005 E-Mail: memphisssl@gmail.com |
| Our Journeys, Our Stories: |
 |
| “Incompatible” with Christianity by Nancy As I said in an earlier paper, the Book of Discipline in the Methodist church says that homosexuality is incompatible with Christianity. There are several definitions in the dictionary for incompatible, but for the sake of this conversation lets use the one that says “incapable of association or harmonious coexistence.” It’s frustration and disappointing to know that the church, the Methodist church, my church, accepts me to be on their committees, the secretary of the Church Council, accepts me to teach their Toddlers Sunday School and help with some of the youth activities. They accept me to sing in their choir, and willingly seem to accept my pledge every year and my monthly checks to meet that pledge, BUT I’m incapable of harmonious coexistence with them. I’m incompatible with Christianity. My Methodist church did not recognize my Holy Union with my partner and my Methodist church does not ordain openly gay people. My church forces gays to live a lie or live an abominable life. My former partner began taking classes at MTS after we took our first Servant Leadership class, but soon questioned why she was going to seminary if she could not be ordained or supported by her church. I think the more I learn about scripture I realize it’s just that….its written word. It’s someone’s interpretation of the stories that happened or as was handed down to them. Jesus supposedly did not say anything about homosexuality. I say supposedly because it’s not to be found in the scripture. I don’t know if he did or didn’t say anything about it, if he did, it didn’t get written down. Jesus did say that we should love him above all and love our neighbor as ourselves. I know that I tend to simplify things but I believe that I will continue to say until I hear something that changes my thinking, that life is NOT about an eye for an eye, but it’s about do unto others as you would have them do to you. I don’t want to be hated therefore I can not hate others. I don’t want to be discriminated against therefore I can not discriminate against others. I don’t want to be judged therefore I can not judge others. I don’t want to be lied to therefore I can not lie to others. I want my church to accept me therefore I must accept my church. I want my church to love me therefore I must love my church. I feel maybe justified somewhat by the Luke scripture, “Why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?” I don’t think Jesus is giving us free reign I mean there are certain things that are wrong and we know what they are. But that can give way to a whole other discussion. For me it comes back to “do unto others”. What is right for me is to love my neighbor, to look for the brokenness and the likeness we have with each other. We are all God’s children. |