I came across this post on the blog of Hugo Schwyzer, and thought I shoudl share it. It is the tail end of a meditation on Christian obedience.
“When progressives endorse same-sex marriage in the church, our conservative opponents accuse us of “disobedience” to Scripture, tradition, and so forth. Over and over again, we are told that we have capitulated to modern secular culture and abandoned the teachings of God and His Son. According to traditionalists, by endorsing same-sex marriage, we progressive Christians are encouraging people to follow their own selfish desires rather than obey God. And the most frustrating thing is, most of the time we progressives don’t fight back against this argument. We concede too easily, often because we’re so reluctant to talk about obedience.
“But when we welcome gays and lesbians and marry them, we ARE being obedient. Indeed, when we risk schism and international opprobrium, we do so because of a fundamental belief that we are obeying the Gospel. Straight folks make up the majority of liberal Protestants in this country; permitting gay marriage doesn’t give us any new or special privileges. Why then are so many of us in the Episcopal Church willing to argue, debate, and possibly get thrown out of the Anglican Communion all so that our GLBTQ brothers and sisters might feel completely included? Secular liberal conviction isn’t enough to bring most progressives to the precipice of schism — what brings us there is a quiet conviction that to love radically, fearlessly, and inclusively is to obey the will of Christ. We know, just as our conservative brothers and sisters know, that obedience has a cost. And we know as believers we have to be willing to pay it.”