Content for Jan. 26, 2012

I'm human, obviously, and thus able to make errors in judgment and mistakes. I always hope they are few and far between.

This past week, my previous blog post drew some sharp criticism. Part of it may be from my failure to communicate clearly, part may be from an error on my part, and part may be due to the extreme sensitivity of the topic: homosexuality.

I received an email from trusted friends and supporters, questioning one of my recommendations given to campus ministers to find a GLBT person to co-lead a Bible study on campus with you.

My friend suggests that this act would communicate that the campus minister would be condoning the gay lifestyle.

I certainly see the point my supporter is trying to make.

First, let me be certain to communicate with you where I stand...I believe homosexuality is a serious sin, and should not be condoned. I believe God abhors sin of any kind, and I also believe that the sin of homosexuality is explicity condemned by God in Leviticus. To me, it is very clear in those straight-forward words that God absolutely abhors the homosexual act. My position is that in the act of homosexuality we are willfully spurning the design of God, acting in extreme pride and arrogance against God. God always hates it when we, as His creation, do not give Him the glory that He is due.

Setting my beliefs aside, my point was to encourage campus ministers to engage the GLBT community as a member of God's kingdom by taking steps to "live among" the GLBT community. This is a "mission field" on our college campuses that is in need of our presence. I will remind us all that the purpose of this blog is to stretch our thinking, as campus ministers who serve in the context of the university.

Whether we recognize it or not, students are already engaged in the conversation with their friends (this is a fact of the social context of the university), and we need to find ways to allow Spirit-led dialogue to exist. We should lead the way for them in this. So, with this in mind, my thought was that if we could gather both the GLBT community and Christian campus ministries together, this would allow room for the Holy Spirit to lead through the study of scripture.

Whenever we engage with others, we in a sense, I believe, have to allow them to "lead" with us (or perhaps the term should be to "walk" with us along the path to Christ-likeness). It is very difficult to simply walk into someone else's home and tell them you are going to lead them in a Bible study. Instead, we have to commit to a dialogue, and to the possibility that they might have something to teach us, approaching them in humility. When we do this, we give the Spirit the opportunity to work among us--He is, afterall, the One who convicts of sin and who leads us into righteousness.

When I lived in Africa as a missionary, I learned so much from the people who I served. To this day I reflect on the lives of some of those men who sat "under me" in Bible study when I think about a visual image of "God as a loving father".

Learning to love people, all people, means that we love them no matter their lifestyle. We can find ways to love people without condoning sin. My point in this is that the Church often has not loved the GLBT community, and that we need to find ways to bridge new relationships for the purpose of allowing the Spirit to work in us, and through us.

But, even saying all of this, I submit myself to the greater Body of the Church, and to correction. If there is an error of which I am to be corrected, please correct me, and keep me from falling into sin. This is YOUR role, as my brothers and sisters in Christ...to hold me up, and to keep me on the path, as I walk this journey of faith.

May He be glorified in me, and through me.