Same Sex Blessing: Struggling With a Vestry Letter

I continue to struggle with preparing an e-mail to the vestry of my church concerning the same sex blessing.  One of the major reasons I hesitate is that I don't want to get into a war of biblical quotations to try to explain my position.

I know there are two or three passages in the bible that can be construed to be condemnatory of homosexuality. The bible's references to sexuality are scattered, sometimes contradictory, and mostly, in my opinion, not there as holy writ, but as indications of Bedouin culture and with trying to establish male dominance and male property rights.

I know that there are many, many things condemned in the bible that we either laugh at or ignore.  The length of women's hair, how we rotate our crops, treating rape as a kind of property crime, what we can or cannot eat, and many, many more. For whatever reason there is much more in the bible that we disregard than what we follow.

Marriage is defined many ways in the bible.  Multiple wives were all the rage for awhile.  Handmaidens abound.  Jesus advocated leaving your family to follow him.  Paul argued for celibacy because he thought the second coming was imminent.

I know that the sin most often mentioned in the bible, by a wide margin, is usury.And by that I mean more than just making money off of loans.  It is the whole concept of the exploitation of the powerless by the powerful, the rich becoming rich by taking advantage of everyone else.  And yet, there is not a church out there that would stop a church member from communion or participation because he charged too much interest on commercial loans, or paid his workers at a wage that he knew they could not survive on.

The trouble with the use of the bible is that everyone picks out trees and ignores the forest.  What are the great themes of the bible?  What is it trying to tell us?  I insist that the broader message of the bible is more important than selective quotes.

And that is this....God loves us.  Without him, we are like the Jews in Egypt, exiled and alone, wandering in the wilderness   With the grace of God, we come to a better place, more loving, tolerant and caring.  He cares not a whit for our sexual peccadilloes   He cares about how we love each other and care for each other.  Love God.  Love your neighbor. Sex of any kind is evil when it is exploitative, designed to dominate, enslave or hurt someone.  It is not wrong when it is consensual, loving and caring.

Being gay is not a sin.  Participating in loving, consensual sexual acts with another adult of the same sex does not make you a sinner.  It makes you gay.

Thanks for your patience while I continue to sort out what I should say to the vestry.  I know this post won't be everyone's cup of tea, but that's part of the point, isn't it?  We're all different, except in one important aspect.

God loves us all.