there's a lot to like about this church (see my previous review)... so I was greatly saddened to attend service here in late June and have the Pastor (Kahu) start the service grumbling about what a difficult week it had been.... since the Supreme Court struck down DOMA , giving federal recognition to same-sex marriages. This was not what I expected to hear coming from the pulpit of a UCC church. As I left, I told him I disagreed, and that I knew in my heart Jesus would have been celebrating the decision.
Kahu Brian, your words are important. Your words are not going to change someone's sexual orientation... this is how God created them. But your words can drive the LGBT kids in your school to feelings of alienation, desperation, running away, running off-island, and even suicide. Some studies estimate gay and lesbian kids are 4 times more likely to attempt suicide than heterosexual kids http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_among_LGBT_youth. If you have several hundred kids attending your summer program, statistically speaking you have several dozen LGBT kids in the program whether you know it or not.... do you really want them to be hearing the message that they are not welcome in your church?
Also, Kahu Brian, it seems quite likely to me that you have at least one LGBT person leading your worship service... maybe they are not openly LGBT... but how do you think they feel when they hear your words? Do you really think Jesus would not love them just as they are? That Jesus would not be willing to celebrate and affirm their loving, comitted relationships through marriage?
If you want to learn about the DOMA decision in the words of the 81 year old woman who filed it, please watch this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blcHIfTkHRs ....favorite quote from this video: "there is no wrong time to seek justice"
To quote Bishop Desmond Tutu's recent remarks: ""I would not worship a God who is homophobic and that is how deeply I feel about this"
Yes, some Christians still choose to pick phrases from the Bible that justify their discrimination and rejection of LGBT people.... just like ignorant bigoted Christians of previous generations used the bible relentlessly to justify their denials of equal rights to women, and to justify slavery and oppression of other races, and fight against interracial marriage (illegal in many states just 45 years ago!).
Jesus never said a word against gays. He was however willing to break the rules of the old testament to bring justice and healing (Luke 13:10-17) and rightly called out those who chastised him hypocrites for picking and choosing which old testament rules they would keep or break, when the need for healing was obvious. He also said "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd." (John 10:16). I know calmly and fully in my heart that Jesus would have (did!) welcome lgbt people to his church. We too are his other sheep.
Yet do many of today's Christian churches never connect the dots between their staunch upholding of last century's proudly ignorant and discriminatory viewpoints and their declining memberships today.
If you are still with me down at the bottom of this review, I close with this simple message: please watch this beautiful short video by Macklemore titled "Same Love" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlVBg7_08n0 read more