Sermon on Homosexuality

[TotallyOz]

OK. A very odd question and many may not want to answer but a friend of mine from my childhood days is a preacher. He is also a friend and we have had many communications about being gay. He is always supportive of me but now he wants to bring this to his church and preach about Homosexuality in a more positive light. He feels this may get him fired but he is going to do this anyway. It is a very conservative Baptist Church in the South.

 

He asked me for my thoughts and I'd appreciate anyone chiming in. He asked:

 

I plan to implement some thoughts on the homosexual community and how the church views and treats them as opposed to how we should treat them. I would like you to write me back all of your thoughts on homosexuality and the church.

[Guest fountainhall]

I've no idea what I would write in an attempt to persuade a deeply conservative society that homosexuality is not a sin - as the Old Testament in several passages declares it to be, notably Leviticus Chapters 18 and 20.
 
I guess I'd open the 'sermon' or whatever it will be with the words -
 
"Somewhere, sometime in your life you have come across a gay man or a gay woman. Almost certainly there are homosexual men and women in your extended families or amongst your friends. You may not know they are gay and so you do not recognise them as gay. Almost certainly you will have felt they are in no way different to you. And the fact is - they are in no way different to you, other than they were born with an attraction to their own sex. 
 
"Do you discriminate against those who are physically challenged? Were you not excited by the amazing talents of the thousands of athletes at last year's London Paralympic Games? Do you still discriminate against people whose skin is not of the same colour as yours? Are Chinese, Indians, Japanese and other nationalities really any different to us as human beings?
 
"As has been proved in many hundreds of studies, homosexuality is not a mental disorder. It is a fact of life, just as is the estimate that some 5% of the population is gay. Think of that for a moment. 5%! Let's discount children and young people under the age of, say, 20. For argument's sake, let's also discount those in the elderly community who are over, say, the age of 65. So we are looking at somewhere in the region of 50% of the population of our world. Of those 3.5 billion souls, therefore, the chances are that up to 175 million may well be homosexual. Whether or not you like that situation, it is not one whose existence we in our community and the world in general can deny. 175 million of God's children!
 
"In the last 50 years, there have been vast changes in our American society. Who would have thought 50 years ago that Hispanics would play such a major role in the election of an American President? Who would have thought that our Universities would be teeming with Asian students, many of them from families who were refugees from our wars in Vietnam and Cambodia? Who would have thought that gay men and women would not only be able to live and love openly in our country, and even to enter into marriage in some of our states?
 
"My friends, the world is changing, and we have to change with it. That does not mean we must immediately accept that change. What I suggest it does mean is that we must start to think about that change. And if we do eventually change our thinking about our gay brethern, will that really change us? If so, in what ways? Surely it is far, far more important that we remember Jesus' teaching -

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another."

 

Here endeth the sermon! Contributions by PayPal will be gratefully received 

[TotallyOz]

Eloquent and beautiful sir! Thank you.

[Guest thaiworthy]

Part of me would accept the invitation to speak, part of me wouldn't. It's about 50-50. The part that wouldn't says I am not the authority on such matters and could be better expressed by other people more qualified to speak. But I think the 50% of me that would accept would overrule the other 50%, only because it is an extraordinary opportunity to get things off my chest.

 

However, I would not say it as eloquently or nearly as erudite as Fountainhall. Above all, you should do what comes naturally for you. I would get quite a bit more personal. I would talk about childhood and adult experiences that would hopefully evoke some small bits of empathy that the congregation could possibly relate to. I can't make a speech. My style is more interactive, off-the-cuff. When I see bad reactions to something I said, I go in a different direction. People want to be entertained and not preached to, even though it is a church, they have already made their own decisions about things, and the only way to open up their minds is to put them at ease. You have to be humorous, make them feel comfortable, like you are sitting beside them and they are your Aunt Gert and Uncle Bill and actually do care about you.

 

If you can't get that far, it's a waste of time. You have to make yourself memorable, even if the message doesn't get through. Then, at some point in time later, they will meet another gay person they also like, and they will remember you. And only then, will they put the whole thing together into something they can live with for life.

[Guest RichLB]

I applaud the inputs to this post so far.  I think, though, that if I was asked to give your preacher friend any advice for such a sermon, I would remind him that he undoubtedly has several gay parishoners and even more who have gay children.  Maybe by asking his congregation to show Christian love to fellow Christians, gay and straight, might open ears.