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Pastor's Message - Jan/Feb 2010
Sexuality, the Bible & the ChurchI have spoken before about the
different ways that we interpret God’s word for us and discover what
God is like. Martin Luther proclaimed “Scripture alone” in
response to how church doctrine had been formed by traditions of
interpretation by the various Popes. This is a bold statement and
at first glance would seem to be rather obvious. But as I have said
before in sermons and conversations with people at St. Peter’s, there
are other ways that also inform our understanding of God and God’s will
for us:
 1. Scripture
2. Tradition
3. Experience
These
three have been modeled as the “Three Legged Stool”. Simply
stated, it takes at least three legs on a stool to provide something
substantial to sit upon. That describes theology quite well
too.
There is a “fourth leg” that can be added to this
model and is known as the Wesleyan Quadrilateral and is credited to
John Wesley, the leader of the Methodist movement in the late 18th
Century. Wesley used four different sources in coming to theological
conclusions. The four sources are: (note 1)
- Scripture - the Holy Bible (Old and New Testaments)
- Tradition - the two millennia history of the Christian Church
- Experience - a Christian's personal and communal journey in Christ
- Reason - rational thinking and sensible interpretation
The
added source is reason. Our knowledge and understanding of the world
has changed over the years and should factor into how we interpret
God’s word for us. In my sermon on October 4th 2009, I
talked about divorce in light of the passage in Mark 10:2-16 where
Jesus says some hard words about divorce. I talked about how the
church has changed its teaching on divorce over the last 30-40 years. I
also talked about the role of women in church and that the ELCIC has
ordained women since the mid 1970’s and St. Peter’s has had women on
council for longer than that. In my sermon on Reformation Sunday,
I joked that Lutherans do not know the meaning of the word CHANGE, but
the truth is, we do change, even if it seems too slow for some people.
A
major issue that faces the church today, not just Lutherans, is the
question of church doctrine/practice and sexuality, in particular,
homosexuality. The current doctrine of the ELCIC states, or least
implies, that pastors cannot bless same sex marriages. There are
many other issues surrounding the question of sexuality and the church
i.e. marriage, ordination.
 In
the October/November 2009 issue of the Canada Lutheran, an invitation
was made for congregations to talk about human sexuality. The
article about this issue, by Ron Friesen, starts this way: “The
ELCIC wants to know where you stand on the topic of human sexuality as
it relates to the church. So whether you have firm beliefs - or you're
not sure where you stand - the church is challenging all members to
participate in a historic church-wide discussion. The ELCIC has taken
an important step toward developing a position on human sexuality by
releasing a major study for its members to consider and react to. The
study will help National Church Council develop a social statement on
human sexuality to be presented at the 2011 ELCIC National Convention.
The time is overdue for such a statement because the church has not
spoken out on the subject since our adoption of a social statement by
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in the early 1970s, says
National Bishop Susan Johnson.“
There is a time limit on
responding to the study issued by the ELCIC. All comments need to
be received by February 28, 2010. You can comment individually or
as part of a group. So the important thing for us to do, is to talk
about this issue. Therefore, I am organising two sessions to
review the study prepared by the ELCIC. Each session will be the
same – time for study and dialogue, coffee, tea and desert.
Session 1 Wednesday 13th January from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Session 2 Saturday 23rd January from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.
Sessions
will be rearranged if weather conditions force a cancellation. Please
consider participating in our study time together. This is important
stuff, and this is a chance for your voice to be heard. You are
asked to sign up for the sessions so that I can gauge your willingness
to participate. You can sign up on the sheets on the notice boards,
email me or just give me call.
To help you prepare for the
study, copies of the article from the Canada Lutheran will be available
in the narthex. Also, I have a copy of the ELCIC’s study if you would
like to read it before our session, or it can also be found online at
www.elcic.ca under the “Resources/ Human-Sexuality” link.
Peace
Pastor Steve
steve@webfeed.ca
519-345-2807
- Note 1 Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wesleyan_Quadrilateral
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