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Two Lepers; (sermon 2/15/09)
Topic Started: Feb 14 2009, 04:45 PM (790 Views)
Dewey
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HOLY CARP!!!
Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy. Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, “If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha’s house. Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.” But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, “I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy! Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?” He turned and went away in a rage. But his servants approached and said to him, “Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean. - 2 Kings 5:1-3, 9-14

=========

A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, “I do choose. Be made clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. After sternly warning him he sent him away at once, saying to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” But he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the word, so that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter. - Mark 1:40-45


=========

These two passages of scripture both deal with healings of two people with leprosy, a general term that referred to any one of several skin afflictions. More accurately, both stories deal with “cleansings,” which addressed both the physical aspect of healing, as well as a person reclaiming his rightful place within a society. According to Jewish Law and tradition, people who suffered from leprosy were ceremonially unclean and had to stay separate from the rest of the people. In the Scriptures, Leviticus tells us that a leper couldn’t touch anyone else, and no one else could touch him, or they would become ritually, religiously unclean as well. The lepers had to wear torn clothes so they could be easily identified, and to call out “Unclean! Unclean!” wherever they went, so no one would accidentally break the rules of Scripture by having any contact with them. The lepers were outcasts from the rest of proper religious society.

Let’s look at the healing account that we read from Mark. A leper, a man considered unclean, comes to see Jesus. The man begs him and says to Jesus, “If you will to, you can make me clean.” This wasn’t just a random expression. In those days, that expression was used in prayers to acknowledge a degree of power and authority reserved for God alone. Jesus himself used the same terminology when he was praying in Gethsemane before his arrest: “Father, if it be your will, you can remove this cup from me…” In other words, the leper’s words were actually a strong statement of faith in Jesus – one that would have earned him a charge of blasphemy from the religious leaders. The text says that Jesus was moved by the man’s words, and he did want to heal the man – and maybe more importantly, to enable him to be restored into the rest of society and the faith.

In order to accomplish that, Jesus did what the Scriptures said specifically not to do. He reached out, and he touched this unclean man. In the process, Jesus didn’t become unclean, but the unclean man became clean.

There are two current situations that affect us as a congregation that have some parallels to these stories of healing, and cleansing, and restoration to our proper place in humanity. These two situations are both a kind of symbolic, or allegorical form of leprosy in the world today. The first of these situations is the issue of HIV/AIDS in the world. Most of us remember when the disease became a big news story 15 or 20 years ago. It was seen as a plague. There was serious talk about quarantining people with HIV, taking them out of normal society. People were terrified that they’d catch the disease too, just by touching them, coming into contact with them. Using a drinking fountain after them. People didn’t want their kids sitting in the same classroom as a kid with AIDS, or eating in the same cafeteria. Here in the U.S. and around the world, people with HIV and AIDS became pariahs. Outcasts. Lepers.

As human beings, we all need to have interaction with other people. We need to know friendship, and acceptance, and compassion. We need to have physical contact with others. An arm of friendship on our shoulder. A pat on the back. A hug. Without these seemingly small gestures of love and compassion, none of us can really be human in the way God intends for us to be.

Since the early days of the AIDS epidemic, we’ve learned a lot about the disease, and the people who live with it. We know that the disease is spread in very few, and very specific, ways. We know that we can go to Montana de Luz and not be afraid of playing with the kids, or carrying them on our shoulders, or hugging the stuffing out of them. That’s important. This very simple, human contact is almost as important to their living as the medicines they take. They need to know that they’re not the outcasts – they’re not the lepers that society has often made of them. Scripture said don’t touch the leper. But Jesus did.

The second situation that I think parallels the old issue of religiously unclean lepers, and their separation and isolation, is the question of how the church should deal with gay and lesbian believers. It’s obviously a hot-button issue within our own denomination right now. It’s currently Presbyterian policy that while non-celibate gay and lesbian individuals can become active, fully participating members of the church, Sessions may not ever ordain any of them to serve as deacons or elders, and Presbyteries may not ever ordain them as Ministers of Word and Sacrament. They're seen as being in a kind of separate category from the rest of us. At the last national gathering of the denomination, the General Assembly voted to send a proposed policy change, dealing with this question, out to the Presbyteries to vote on. Cutting to the chase of the proposed change, the revised language would permit Sessions and Presbyteries to consider gay and lesbian Christians to serve in ordained office within the Presbyterian Church – that the issue of their sexuality wouldn’t be an automatic “deal-breaker” in considering their ordination. It will take 87 of the 173 total Presbyteries to either accept, or reject, this proposed change. On Tuesday of this week, our Presbytery will be debating, and voting, on this proposal.

This is a very difficult issue for the church to address, and it isn’t as clear-cut – in either direction – as some people might claim. Serious, deeply devoted Christians are found on both sides of the debate. They both appeal to the same Bible. They are both committed to the same Christ. They both struggle with faithfully discerning God’s will. Both try to balance the scriptural passages that define homosexual activity as sinful with passages that say we’re all irretrievably sinful – that none of us is righteous.

The question really isn’t whether a person who’s gay or lesbian can be a Christian, or even a “good” Christian. There have been many throughout the history of the faith. Over the years in this congregation, I suspect there have been more than 200 ordained deacons and elders, and at least 15 or more ministers – and following human statistics, I’d pretty much guarantee that a handful of them, who served God honorably, were actually gay or lesbian.

Here’s a book from our library, written by Henri Nouwen. He was a brilliant Christian author who wrote movingly about the deepest issues of our faith. Many of the Advent and Lenten devotionals that get passed out here and countless other churches, contain his writing. Yet just before he died several years ago, it came out that for his entire life, he’d hidden the fact that he was gay. Despite the fact that his thoughts inspired and taught literally millions of Christians worldwide, the Presbyterian Church today would not allow him to serve as a deacon or elder in a local congregation.

The Christians on one side of the debate aren’t just a bunch of liberal, politically correct heretics who are trying to destroy the authority of the Bible. And the Christians on the other side aren’t just a bunch of conservative, homophobic sticks in the mud who are just using the Bible as cover because they hate all gay people. On both sides, people are trying to put together a cohesive understanding of all of Christ’s teaching and Scripture. Are the scriptural definitions of homosexuality being sin a deal breaker for ordination? Or are they passages that we have to interpret through other scriptures, the same way we treat scriptural prohibitions of eating shrimp or lobster, or women ever teaching men, or that women have to wear head coverings and stay silent in church?

Whatever the outcome of this Presbytery vote, and the entire vote across the denomination, two things are certain. First, it won’t end ongoing debate about the issue, whichever way the vote goes. Second, this is just a bigger version of countless smaller battles that we wrestle with all the time: whether the right “Christian attitude” is to be for the racetrack or against it. Whether the local embezzler should do long, hard time or get shock parole. In all of these issues, large and small, we need to pray for unity wherever possible, and when that isn’t possible, to pray for understanding and mutual Christian love.

“What in the world
is a Christian to do,
When he doesn’t agree
with his friend in the pew?”


Thanks be to God.
"By nature, i prefer brevity." - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 685.

"Never waste your time trying to explain yourself to people who are committed to misunderstanding you." - Anonymous

"Oh sure, every once in a while a turd floated by, but other than that it was just fine." - Joe A., 2011

I'll answer your other comments later, but my primary priority for the rest of the evening is to get drunk." - Klaus, 12/31/14
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George K
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Finally
Thanks, Pastor. Good one (as usual).

At first I thought this sermon was going to be about some people you know here. I was thrilled to see it was not.

As an aside, how long does it take you to prepare something like that? They are consistently good, and your effort shows.
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"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
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Dewey
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HOLY CARP!!!
Thanks, George. Overall, this one took a little longer than usual. I usually do a few hours of sermon prep/research through the week, and letting the impressions from that research gel in my mind before sitting down and actually writing it. I was headed down a related, but slightly different path on this one originally, but when I got my notice that the Prebytery vote regarding gay ordination was coming up this week, that fact cast all of my research in a somewhat different light, and the sermon went mostly in that direction - while still addressing the HIV question as well, which has undoubtedly been on people's minds as they're thinking about going to MdL, and seeing all these pictures of people interacting with the kids. It was a topic that I had to address promptly, and the leprosy/uncleanness aspect was a perfect to address both of these points. All in all, a normal sermon takes me around 12 hours of research, writing, and prep; some a little less, some a little more.
"By nature, i prefer brevity." - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 685.

"Never waste your time trying to explain yourself to people who are committed to misunderstanding you." - Anonymous

"Oh sure, every once in a while a turd floated by, but other than that it was just fine." - Joe A., 2011

I'll answer your other comments later, but my primary priority for the rest of the evening is to get drunk." - Klaus, 12/31/14
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George K
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Finally
Thanks for your (as usual) thoughtful reply. I have a question that I'll start another thread for.
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
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Dewey
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HOLY CARP!!!
And FWIW, a big part of my original sermon thought revolved more around the Naaman passage, and the sometimes twisted human dynamics concerning healing, cleansing, and restoration (demanidng restoration/healing, but on one's own terms, not God's) - which would have been much informed by recent events here. ^_^
"By nature, i prefer brevity." - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 685.

"Never waste your time trying to explain yourself to people who are committed to misunderstanding you." - Anonymous

"Oh sure, every once in a while a turd floated by, but other than that it was just fine." - Joe A., 2011

I'll answer your other comments later, but my primary priority for the rest of the evening is to get drunk." - Klaus, 12/31/14
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BeeLady
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Middle Aged Carp
Dewey, I enjoyed your sermon but in all honesty had to read it over several times..even then I am left with a nagging feeling....Lumping HIV/AIDS with gay rights?......the two issues are distinctly different.

I belong to a UU church and despite our liberal hippie ways, when a vote came deciding whether we were to become an official "welcoming" church (for gays) a few older members objected and their sole reasoning was the AIDS issue.... :doh:

This baffles me....while HIV/AIDS originally came to this country via a few gay channels, it is a disease of concern to ALL....I suspect more so in hetero communities now....Consider the kids at MdL...gay relationships have little to do with their situations.

So when a church is discussing gay acceptance in their congregation, I would hope the HIV/AIDS would not be an issue that influences anyone's vote.
"My wheel shall sing responsive to my tread,
And I will spin so fine, so strong a thread
Fate shall not cut it, nor Time's forces break"
"Distaff and Spindle: Sonnets by Mary Ashley Townsend" 1895
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Dewey
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HOLY CARP!!!
Good comments, Bee Lady. The issues are vastly different, and my intention isn't to really lump them into one at all. The idea is solely that both issues involve trying to separate and isolate some group of "others" from the rest of us "normal" folk.

In fact, there's already a feeling of bonding beginning between the kids of MdL and the congregation just through stories, pictures, and newsletters. To be honest, I want them to think about the awareness and fondness for the kids that's already building, to see how wrong the earlier attitudes about HIV/AIDS were. I want them to make the transfer - the connection - to see what I believe is the current error and inconsistency within current church policy regarding the second issue, which just happens to be coming to a head within our regional body this coming week. A big part of the point of the sermon is to pre-emptively snuff out nastiness between the two positions, and to say "hey, we all disagree on a lot of things, and we find a way to deal with that in love. This situation is not one bit different, so we'll handle it in the same way."
"By nature, i prefer brevity." - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 685.

"Never waste your time trying to explain yourself to people who are committed to misunderstanding you." - Anonymous

"Oh sure, every once in a while a turd floated by, but other than that it was just fine." - Joe A., 2011

I'll answer your other comments later, but my primary priority for the rest of the evening is to get drunk." - Klaus, 12/31/14
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BeeLady
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Middle Aged Carp
Yeah, I do see what you are trying to say but I worry that others may not quite understand....


Maybe if you include a few other misunderstood groups as well for emphasis?....Using just HIV and the gay community is just a bit too raw and current...There are still plenty of people who feel that these two issues go together......

Then again..there are those who think that a person with the name of Obama is automatically a terrorist...... :silly:
"My wheel shall sing responsive to my tread,
And I will spin so fine, so strong a thread
Fate shall not cut it, nor Time's forces break"
"Distaff and Spindle: Sonnets by Mary Ashley Townsend" 1895
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Dewey
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HOLY CARP!!!
It's a great observation. As I deliver this, I'll make a point to emphasize the differentness and unrelatedness of the two issues - that they affect the congregation in two very different ways.
"By nature, i prefer brevity." - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 685.

"Never waste your time trying to explain yourself to people who are committed to misunderstanding you." - Anonymous

"Oh sure, every once in a while a turd floated by, but other than that it was just fine." - Joe A., 2011

I'll answer your other comments later, but my primary priority for the rest of the evening is to get drunk." - Klaus, 12/31/14
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ivorythumper
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
Dewey: You would do a grave injustice to the memory of Fr Henri Nouwen* if you promulgated that as written. First, he never identified himself as homosexual, let alone "gay" which has the implications of the active lifestyle; and secondly, that there is no evidence that despite a same sex attraction that he ever broke his vow of celibacy. Whatever turmoil occurred in his soul -- as turmoil occurs in the souls of all Christians given conflict, passion, appetite, ego, sin, and disorder -- he aligned it in love to God and in the service of humanity, not as some "celebration of diversity" as contemporary queer theology** advises. Use someone else as your poster boy.

*And I knew Fr Nouwen, in the interest of full disclosure.
**the preferential term of "queer theologians", not my term: e.g., "queering the bible".
The dogma lives loudly within me.
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jon-nyc
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Cheers
Lighten up, IT. Presbyterians don't ask for a vow of celibacy so that odd distinction of yours doesn't apply.
In my defense, I was left unsupervised.
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Dewey
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HOLY CARP!!!
I understand and respect your opinion, IT, but I disagree. I don't believe I do any discredit to Nouwen at all. I don't believe that a person being gay is a discredit to him.
"By nature, i prefer brevity." - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 685.

"Never waste your time trying to explain yourself to people who are committed to misunderstanding you." - Anonymous

"Oh sure, every once in a while a turd floated by, but other than that it was just fine." - Joe A., 2011

I'll answer your other comments later, but my primary priority for the rest of the evening is to get drunk." - Klaus, 12/31/14
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jon-nyc
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Cheers
Dewey
Feb 15 2009, 04:19 AM
I don't believe I do any discredit to Nouwen at all.
Quite the contrary, you use him as an example precisely because you view him as worthy of respect. (based on my read, at any rate)
In my defense, I was left unsupervised.
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Dewey
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HOLY CARP!!!
Man, I'm glad that sermon is in the can. It was literally, physically draining to deliver. Bee Lady, your comments were invaluable. I did need to more clearly distinguish between the two points, and I managed to do so "as-delivered." Thanks.
"By nature, i prefer brevity." - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 685.

"Never waste your time trying to explain yourself to people who are committed to misunderstanding you." - Anonymous

"Oh sure, every once in a while a turd floated by, but other than that it was just fine." - Joe A., 2011

I'll answer your other comments later, but my primary priority for the rest of the evening is to get drunk." - Klaus, 12/31/14
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sarah_blueparrot
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Fulla-Carp
How was it received?
Death is simply a shedding of the physical body like the butterfly shedding its cocoon. It is a transition to a higher state of consciousness where you continue to perceive, to understand, to laugh, and to be able to grow.

- Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
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Dewey
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HOLY CARP!!!
Exactly as hoped. There was a very good conversation period immediately after the sermon - easily the most involved one since we started doing that. Very clearly, there were people who supported, and people who opposed, the change, even right there in this very rural, traditional congregation, and both sides expressed their thoughts. While you all know my position on this, and anyone listening to the sermon this morning could clearly see the same. But despite making my own thoughts clear, a huge point in the sermon was to try - before this week's upcoming vote - to deflect the very destructive polarization that occurs over this issue in the church, and to try to get everyone to realize that the person who thinks differently than you do isn't some abstract "other" person far away - it's the person sitting next to you, whom you've known all your life, and whom you have respect for. The point is that whether you believe X or Y on the issue, we're all part of the body of Christ, and we need to pray for unity, and mutual love and respect when we disagree.

Very rarely do you hear negative comments right after a sermon. Those usually trickle in over the coming week. But also very rarely do you get positive feedback with very detailed comments on specific sermons points or analysis of the point of the sermon - and I received several after the service, and spot-on in terms of getting my intended point. I also got quite a few handshakes and pats on the back for having the guts to deliver a sermon that they knew was difficult, but that they felt was necessary. I was surprised to have someone tell me they thought this was my best sermon to date, but even more so, I was surprised at the person who said it - it was someone who I would have guessed would have hated this message.

So, I'm sure I'll get some negative feedback. And since our congregation will have two votes in the meeting on Tuesday, and I know who will be casting the other vote, I know we'll merely be casting offsetting votes. But, that's the presbyterian way. I know that despite our different votes, Charlie and I will still get together for dinner at the pizza shop, and enjoy each other's company and fellowship.
"By nature, i prefer brevity." - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 685.

"Never waste your time trying to explain yourself to people who are committed to misunderstanding you." - Anonymous

"Oh sure, every once in a while a turd floated by, but other than that it was just fine." - Joe A., 2011

I'll answer your other comments later, but my primary priority for the rest of the evening is to get drunk." - Klaus, 12/31/14
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ivorythumper
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
jon-nyc
Feb 15 2009, 02:47 AM
Lighten up, IT. Presbyterians don't ask for a vow of celibacy so that odd distinction of yours doesn't apply.
What "odd distinction"? That someone shouldn't distort everything the man stood for to make some political point out of his life?
The dogma lives loudly within me.
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jon-nyc
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Cheers
The odd distinction of practicing homosexual vs. celibate homosexual.
In my defense, I was left unsupervised.
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ivorythumper
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
jon-nyc
Feb 15 2009, 02:05 PM
The odd distinction of practicing homosexual vs. celibate homosexual.
The language of "gay" is political. Whatever battles one has in one's soul, in the Catholic tradition, properly belong between the person and his confessor or spiritual director. The notion that "he’d hidden the fact that he was gay" is a profound injustice to the man and his life, and makes him a poster boy for Dewey's political agenda. I understand if that is lost on both you and Dewey.
The dogma lives loudly within me.
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jon-nyc
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Cheers
Its not lost so much as irrelevant.
In my defense, I was left unsupervised.
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Dewey
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HOLY CARP!!!
IT, your point is not lost on me; I understand it. I simply disagree with it. The point of mentioning Nouwen was to assist in making the immediate point in that part of the sermon: that there are, and have been, many "good Christians" who are, or have been, gay. Nouwen was a man whom many in the pews have read and been touched by, even if some of them didn't remember his name. The fact is that Nouwen was one of the most important Christians of the twentieth century who - as I said in the sermon - taught and inspired literally millions of Christians to a deeper understanding of their faith.

Further, I have not at all done "a profound injustice to the man and his life" by pointing out to my congregation that he was gay. Nouwen himself, while he discussed the matter only rarely, did, in fact, discuss it toward the end of his life. Your implication that I've somehow smeared or misrepresented Nouwen, or that I've essentially posthumously "outed" him in some way is rather silly.

I also disagree with your assessment that to use the term "gay" is to make a political statement. At this point in the history of the English language, using the term "gay" instead of the more cumbersome "homosexual" is no more a political statement than it is to refer to "facial tissue" as "Kleenex."

The points in my sermon are actually not political at all; they're entirely theological. I'm sorry that you missed that. But I don't apologize for mentioning Nouwen.
"By nature, i prefer brevity." - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 685.

"Never waste your time trying to explain yourself to people who are committed to misunderstanding you." - Anonymous

"Oh sure, every once in a while a turd floated by, but other than that it was just fine." - Joe A., 2011

I'll answer your other comments later, but my primary priority for the rest of the evening is to get drunk." - Klaus, 12/31/14
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apple
one of the angels
Dewey
Feb 15 2009, 04:19 AM
I understand and respect your opinion, IT, but I disagree. I don't believe I do any discredit to Nouwen at all. I don't believe that a person being gay is a discredit to him.
way to go Dewey.

Oddly, our priest today gave a sermon on leprosy.. going in a totally different direction/

good sermon and i've a question regarding this statement.

"The lepers had to wear torn clothes so they could be easily identified, and to call out “Unclean! Unclean!” wherever they went, so no one would accidentally break the rules of Scripture by having any contact with them":

were there specific Scripture passages that decreed that one not have contact with lepers?

it's always interesting to me how are holy teachings have evolved.
it behooves me to behold
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Free Rider
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Fulla-Carp
Dewey
Feb 15 2009, 12:03 PM
:Quote: But despite making my own thoughts clear, a huge point in the sermon was to try - before this week's upcoming vote - to deflect the very destructive polarization that occurs over this issue in the church, and to try to get everyone to realize that the person who thinks differently than you do isn't some abstract "other" person far away - it's the person sitting next to you, whom you've known all your life, and whom you have respect for. :quote:

I like that part.
:thumb:
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Dewey
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HOLY CARP!!!
Quote:
 
Oddly, our priest today gave a sermon on leprosy.. going in a totally different direction/


Probably not so oddly - While they aren't requred to use it, many if not most Presbyterian pastors preach on scriptures for a given Sunday following the Revised Common Lectionary, which is almost exactly the same as the Lectionary used in the RCC. And my sermon would have gone in a different direction too, had we not just kicked off planning for a mission trip to an AIDS orphanage, and had this pending vote not been on my mind and on the calendar this week.

Quote:
 
"The lepers had to wear torn clothes so they could be easily identified, and to call out “Unclean! Unclean!” wherever they went, so no one would accidentally break the rules of Scripture by having any contact with them":

were there specific Scripture passages that decreed that one not have contact with lepers?


There are multiple scriptural references that to come into contact with anything ritually unclean made one's self also ritually unclean - but my reference was specifcally to Leviticus 13:45-46:

"The person who has the leprous disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head be disheveled; and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, “Unclean, unclean.” 46He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease; he is unclean. He shall live alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp." (NRSV)
"By nature, i prefer brevity." - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 685.

"Never waste your time trying to explain yourself to people who are committed to misunderstanding you." - Anonymous

"Oh sure, every once in a while a turd floated by, but other than that it was just fine." - Joe A., 2011

I'll answer your other comments later, but my primary priority for the rest of the evening is to get drunk." - Klaus, 12/31/14
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ivorythumper
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
Sorry, Dewey, you can't just do a bunch of handwaving about the politics of language or "cumbersome" terms. The difference of language can account for up to a 10% shift in polls, as even the Advocate acknowledges. .

Homosexual is a psychological term, gay is a social term. Gay is a self defined thing, which implies lifestyle and activity. If you label someone as gay that carries the implication of activity and sexual identity. That is what thing that I take exception to.

But the bottom line is one of justice: if Nouwen never identified himself as "gay" or even "homosexual" -- who the heck are you to do so? And based on what? Speculation? Rumor? Interpretation of his own psychological self reflections about his need for intimacy? What evidence do you have that he ever acted as a homosexual? If you have no actual evidence, might you not actually be bearing false witness?

As an aside, I am curious about the Presbyterian position. You state "It’s currently Presbyterian policy that while non-celibate gay and lesbian individuals can become active, fully participating members of the church, Sessions may not ever ordain any of them to serve as deacons or elders, and Presbyteries may not ever ordain them as Ministers of Word and Sacrament." Does that also apply to chaste, celibate homosexuals? I realize the Protestants don't take vows of celibacy, but you seem to be drawing a distinction here for "non-celibates". Do you just assume there is no such thing as a true celibate, and that all people are sexually (genitally) active? Or are celibates who have a homosexual orientation also not eligible for ordination?

The dogma lives loudly within me.
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