Robert Duncan, deposed Bishop of Pittsburgh, leader of schism
The Gay Issue Can Only Be Understood through Prayer
An Open Letter to the Bishop of Pittsburgh
Right Reverend Sir:
As you prepare to effect schism, pro or con, I have a humble request.
Please make sure that you pray to God one last time about your interpretation of Scripture concerning homosexual behavior.
If after prayer you can say with confidence that your current
understanding is right, because the Holy Spirit makes that abundantly
clear to you in your body, then go in peace and feed your flock.
Theological education, reading and reflection are insufficient on this
issue. We bring too many biases to it, pro or con. It is a difficult
issue because it touches each of us so personally. You’ve said
correctly (NPR interview, 12/04) that sexuality is located in the core
of personhood, and that the Bible recognizes this.
You also assented to the interviewer’s clichéd formula, “Hate the sin,
love the sinner.” I believe that’s a mistake, bishop, because hate is
nowhere found in the vocabulary of Jesus. The correct formula is
“Forgive the sin, love the sinner.”
We are not allowed to speak hate. It results in death for both the hater and the hated.
But my point is that we all have to pray about Gay people and the
Church. Thought alone is insufficient, because we also bring emotion to
it; all of us do. So I ask you to pray to God in a way that
acknowledges the possibility that you could be wrong.
I’ve done that very thing: admitting to God that I could be wrong. Each
of us must acknowledge the possibility that our beliefs are not God's,
because to do otherwise is to set ourselves up as God.
I had the experience of praying about this, explicitly acknowledging
that I could be wrong and pledging to God that I would order my life by
his answer. One does not want to put God to the test, or make demands,
even for discernment. But our questions are reasonable and God will
direct us if we ask. All we’re doing is asking God to be God, to show
us the way as we adore him.
When I asked these questions in prayer, in a room in Dodge Hall at
General Theological Seminary in 1974, I spent a night in tears and
anguish.
And then I heard the voice of God—that is to say, a thought, a set of words came to me, implanted in my mind from outside of me.
I was awestruck; why should God notice or listen to me? Why should God change my body to make his presence known?
Since that night I have devoutly believed that the Spirit leads me in the opposite direction from yours.
This is troubling, because you and I cannot both be right. No one can
know the mind of God, although he reveals himself to us constantly if
we have ears.
Have you noticed, bishop, it’s always “if we have ears”?
My observation is that the opponents of Gay Christians never, ever ask
God about it. They don't have to; they're full of rectitude.
That’s a red flag. They assume they know the mind of God. They never
have the courage to say in prayer, “God, your Church is of two minds
about this. What’s up with that?”
They just assume. Or maybe presume.
If we’re to take the gift of human intellect seriously, then at some
intersection of the cross, we have to acknowledge that in our Father’s
house are many mansions, and the people who live in them don’t always
agree with each other.
We also have to admit, preferably on our knees, that God is God and we
are not. So I ask you, bishop: Have you taken this step? Have you ever once asked
God in prayer?
I am sure you pray constantly for the whole state of Christ’s Church.
But have you prayed (in terror, I’d suggest), “Lord, could the
homosexuals be right?” And “Lord, if they are, would you kindly show
me? Zap me if you have to, slap me silly; I don’t want to persecute
anyone, I want to love you. That’s why I’m doing what I’m doing. But
this isn’t about me, it’s about you. Could my opponents be right?”
Saul had to be blinded on the road to Emmaus before he realized, He had
no eyes. (God could have struck him deaf, but Paul apparently needed
more intervention than that.) God made him helpless, though Paul was so
sure of himself.
As are you.*
That’s a precarious place to be in, because none of us is allowed to
supplant God. And if we try to do it, we don’t even realize our
temptation.
Pride never announces itself like the other sins do. Gluttony, sloth,
lust—they have discernible effects. But pride only separates us, and
it’s commonplace that people come and go.
We separate ourselves without knowing we drove people away.
Here’s what God said to me amidst my wailing in Dodge Hall in 1974: I love you just the way you are.
Which was pretty remarkable, considering the sins that some people would say I was involved in.
I was deeply in love with a man who turned out to be heterosexually
married, even a father, who failed to tell me about the rest of his
life. Cue the tears and anguish, huh? While I was at seminary, falling
for Amos and Hosea, their demands for justice, and the nightly Evensong.
A nearly identical phrase, We love our children just the way they are,
was shortly adopted by Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. Could
that be evidence of the Spirit at work? One piece of evidence anyway?
I do not want to argue with you; I respect that you bring a lifetime of
experience in prayer and study in devotion to our God. Hi, Bob. I see
you.
But I also know you don’t want to be responsible for murdering a single
prophet. None of us does. Followers of Jesus are the people who try to
keep from murdering the prophets, because our Savior was murdered.
So I respectfully caution you, you’re in a precarious place. God can
forgive you (if you even require forgiveness), but don’t put him to the
test. God changes his mind (in Hebrew nacham, in English “repents”)
fairly often in the OT.
What if he changed his mind on Gay people and Gay sex? What if he changed his mind on you?
You’d better make sure, that’s all I’m saying. And of course we have to
approach God the right way, worshipfully, acknowledging that God is
God; Bob isn’t, Josh isn’t, Gene Robinson isn’t.
Make sure you don’t denounce God’s prophet before you go one step further. Do it in prayer and the Lord will supply.
If you will pray in the way given to me to pray, your soul will be fine
regardless. God loves you and me simultaneously. Feed your flock, sir,
and all will be well.
* About that precarious place: I’m in it too, we all are. After 32 years of relying
on this message from God, I certainly realize that God never
said, “I love anonymous sex, serial relationships and porn” or even “I love Gay
marriage.” He only said he loved me to the core.
Where my sexuality is.
How I take this message is my responsibility. So tonight I’ve returned
to God on my knees, praying that he will provide further discernment to
me on this issue. I do know that human love is a holy thing; about everything else I could be wrong, you could be right. It’s up to God
to say, if we have ears.
Jesus told us: We don’t have ears anywhere close.
Many times I've been earless; don't put yourself in that way.
Ultimately I think it’s all about surrendering to the Lord on our knees; he’s God, we’re not, get used to it.
Sincerely yours,
Josh Thomas
Founder, dailyoffice.org
January 10, 2007
