by Shawn Koester » Sun Jun 28, 2015 9:34 pm
As a pastor to be in both the Christian Church (Disciples) and the American Baptist Churches USA, I support LGBT rights in and outside the church. I respect the soul liberty of my brothers and sisters that hold on to more conservative views. We can agree to disagree in Christ like love without finding the opposing views or the people who hold them disagreeable. I hold to affirming views of the LGBT community for several reasons and primarily because of my commitment to follow Jesus as my Lord and Savior. If Jesus is our Lord, as we proclaim, than we must be faithful to him and him alone. If Jesus is our Savior, as we proclaim, than he saves us from our sin and aimlessness. Jesus said that the two greatest commandments that sum up the law, prophets and the whole of Scripture is "To Love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul and all of our might and the second likened to it is "we must love our neighbor as self". Jesus also said, "Whoever welcomes a child in my name, welcomes me and whoever welcomes me welcomes the Father who sent me" Jesus also said, "Suffer not the little children to come unto me and forbid them not for such people the kingdom belongs". As Christians we are to recognize the immortal light and love of God in each person and to see the face of our Lord on each person as if they were Jesus himself. I find that as a straight, engaged ally of the LGBT community and a Progressive Evangelical, I find that God's gay, lesbian, bi and transgender children are some of the most faithful disciples I know because they have been rejected at the hands of many in the church, they have suffered second class citizenship at the hands of our own government and through it all, they have remained faithful witnesses of our Lord. By dragging the Lord's name into hate we have essentially driven people away from the Lord and out of the church. In that light we say, Jesus, son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
By listen to each other and being constructive can we move forward in our efforts to work and pray for the kingdom of God.
I recommend some reading particularly God and the Gay Christian by Matthew Vines, Stranger at the Gate: To be Gay and Christian in America by Mel White, Does Jesus Really Love Me?: A Gay Christian's Search for God in America by Jeff Chu.