there are a thousand sanities worth leaving,

I have had this on my mind for a few years, maybe by publishing this out to the ether of the internet I will get it off my mind a little more successfully.

A church friend announced his homosexuality. Soon after the leaders of our church got together and decided to follow what St Paul writes about putting people out of the church if they wilfully live in sin. They called the church together for a big meeting and then sprung this on us, saying they were officially warning our friend to stop his ways or else they will put him out the church.

If I could go back to that evening, with more guts than I had then, I would stand up and ask how many people there in the hall have wilfully looked at another man’s wife with lust, or how many there have driven past our brothers and sisters sitting on the side of the road, jobless, homeless, desperate, hungry, and not bothered to stop on the way to their homes with extra bedrooms and food going off in the fridge because they have not had time to eat it all. I would ask how many make prideful selfish decisions every day, knowing that they should rely of GOD, but instead rely on their own greed. This would be all of us. So we are all wilfully living in sin. Rejecting GOD’s perfect plan for our own more self-gratifying plans. So, following this rule of St Paul, we should all be warned and excommunicated. 

And, if the leaders are so keen to follow St Paul’s letters, to the letter, then what about that line about woman wearing head coverings and not talking in church? No? Rather choose what suits?

I want to go back in time and scream at them all. Why not rather realise we all have weaknesses, none of us are perfect and sinless. Why not welcome our little brother to worship with us, just as he has been doing for his entire 20+ year life, and just show him love and understanding? God wants to love us to death. God wants to love us and love us and love us until we cannot see any good reason to sin any more.

We have demonized one or two sins and let a whole multitude of others infest our lives because we deem them minor or insignificant. I remember a verse where Jesus says that He will turn away from eternal life those who did not feed and clothe and visit the poor. In fact He said a whole lot about our mistreatment of the poor, but I don’t recall Him saying much at all about homosexuality… 

There. Off my chest!