Summer 2005

It is with great urgency and a passion for the spiritual integrity and wellbeing of our churches that I am writing to you. As the denomination comprised of many of the founding churches of our republic, our witness to the truth of God’s word and gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is critical. 

We are in the vortex of political and social forces that would sweep marriage and family into the confusion of a sexually licentious culture.  Sadly, many leaders and congregations in the United Church of Christ have publicly sided with this culture against marriage between one man and one woman as the foundation of human order.   The Synod of July 2005, tragically, gave a false and idolatrous religious encouragement to the spiritual forces that are in revolt against the sanctity of marriage. 

It is imperative that we be mindful of the realities ---

When “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it’” (Genesis 1:28), He was unequivocal.

Jesus speaks in powerful affirmation of this truth. “ ‘Haven’t you read,’ he replied, ‘that at the beginning the Creator “made them male and female,” and said, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh”? So they are no longer two but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.’ ” (Matthew 19:4-6)

This reality is reflective of the very character of God himself in his relationship to us. “Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.   . . . ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’  This is a profound mystery -- but I am talking about Christ and the church.” (Ephesians 5:25) 

This truth is not vague or confusing. It is at the core of our faith, not the periphery.  Marriage is marriage. It is an ordained reality in the natural moral order that supersedes all humanly devised agencies and institutions such as governments and religious organizations. The effort to humanly redefine marriage by political activism, votes, and persuasion is a vain exercise in idolatry.  Such actions only serve to degrade the credibility of those governments and organizations that participate.   Some folks esoterically plead that the love of Jesus calls us to accept sexual license as a moral good.  They claim that Old Testament teaching is irrelevant.

The love of Jesus in his every expression is transformational. He speaks to the issue of self-discovery and self-actualization that would enable us to rationalize our sin, “. . . and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:38,39) “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” (Matthew 16:24) 

Jesus speaks clearly to the notion that he has overturned the Old Testament law when he warns us, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of the pen, will by any means disappear for the Law until everything is accomplished.” (Matthew 5:18) 

The assumption that the statements in Leviticus belong to some “purity code” along with detailed dress instructions to the priesthood is incorrect. Leviticus chapters 18 through 20 in which the prohibition against sex outside of marriage is described in detail, including the prohibition against same gender relations, is clearly a moral code for all the people. The sections begin with “The Lord said to Moses, ‘speak to the Israelites and say to them: I am the Lord your God’.”   The introduction verses make clear three times that the choice is between the cultural values of the open and affirming societies of Canaan and Egypt and “I am the Lord your God. Keep my decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them. I Am the Lord.” (Leviticus 18:1-5).

This teaching is paralleled in Romans 1:18-32, which is a vivid description of the paradigm shift in our own culture. Every teenager in my classes who reads this passage without additional commentary immediately exclaims, “This is what is happening today in our society.” 

Welcoming one another from every lifestyle, situation or condition with the transforming love of Jesus Christ is a primary aspect of our mission.  We must recognize within ourselves the barriers we erect in our own attitudes and prejudices that make our churches exclusive. Yet this does not relate in any way to redefining what God revealed in His Word. It does not change the mandate of the gospel for repentance and transformation from sin. It certainly has no connection whatever with any attempt to redefine such intrinsic aspects of the natural moral order as marriage.

Bodies of the American church that condone sex behavior outside of marriage, will place themselves into a state of apostasy separated from the orthodox consensus of Christianity. It would be an act of schism that will add to the fragmentation and dissolution of the Church of Christ.  The shift of spiritual leadership in the Christian church to Africa, South America, and Asia is directly related to this issue.  The strong warnings by this emerging church leadership through the Anglican Communion should be a powerful message to all of us.  The degraded self-worshipping variant of Christianity being popularized in many of our churches is leading us to self-destruction. 

We have made a transition from tolerance, in which our society sought not to deny basic human rights such as housing and employment from those engaged in sexual relationships outside marriage to acceptance by which those engaged in such relationships demanded to be received into fellowship without repentance. Now we face a demand for legitimization, to set in law the value and virtue of such relationships.  This sequence has been an exercise in deception.  This transition has no moral or rational basis.  We are not in a period of social enlightenment.  Every sociological measure of the impact of the sexual revolution on children, women, physical and mental health indicates it has been a dehumanizing and destructive movement toward confusion and chaos.

Who can doubt that if Massachusetts and other states fail to uphold marriage,  that clergy who refuse to acknowledge alternative relationships or to perform “weddings” for these relationships will be subject to civil litigation and sanctions for “violating civil rights”?  Who can doubt that churches in this kind of cultural environment that hold firm to Biblical teaching and standards will be subjected to legal actions to remove their tax exempt status?  Intolerance of those who hold to Biblical teaching is already a well-documented trend in the United Church of Christ. 

We would urge you to honor Jesus Christ as Lord in this matter and to reject this overture to legitimize counterfeit relationships as marriage in your life together and in your public witness to the community you serve.   We urge you to be faithful to uphold the sanctity of marriage in your model.   We would urge you – in the face of a crisis that will only acerbate the issues of fatherlessness, detachment disorder, and risk that threaten our children – to stand firm on their behalf.  As the indigenous, historic church of our region, our faithfulness in this critical hour will strengthen Christian believers of all affiliations.  May our Lord Jesus give you courage.

Yours in the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ