I'm sure by now most everyone, unless you've been in the wilderness for 40 days like Jesus in his temptation, has heard of the Supreme Court's ruling on Obergefell vs. Hodges, or as most everyone knows it the "gay marriage case." The court came down 5-4 in favor of allowing same-sex marriage to be legalized in all 50 states of our union.
For some, this has been cause for great celebration. For others, this is a disaster of epic proportions. Personally, I am delighted. I feel that the church has, for many generations, over-emphasized the "regulation of sexuality" instead of the proclamation of the Gospel as its mission, particularly in recent years regarding same-sex relationships. There are only 7 or so verses in the 10,000 verses of the Bible that have anything to do with same-sex sexuality, so it doesn't seem very logical to me that this is as big a deal to God as we often make it out to be.
But to those who don't agree with me, that's okay. We are a big diverse church and different opinions on matters of faith and doctrine are to be expected and (honestly) encouraged. What I would ask is that people not buy into the hype and exaggerations of the panicked and the fearful (or those who would exploit the same for their own ends.) This is hardly the end of the world, no matter what your position or beliefs.
What I would ask you to do is to keep in mind the words of our denomination's founder, Martin Luther. In his many writings, Luther articulated what has come to be known as the "Two Kingdoms" doctrine, the idea that God rules the universe through two distinct and separate entities: The government (aka "the sword" or the Kingdom of the Left) and the Church (the Kingdom of the Right.)
The purpose of the Kingdom of the Left, i.e. worldly government, is to create order. To this end, it produces laws and enforces them. Some laws echo commandments in Scripture, such as the various laws regarding homicide echo the commandment "Thou shalt not murder." Others have no parallel in our spiritual writings, such as the law to stop at an intersection where a stop sign is posted. These latter laws fit the purpose the Left-Kingdom by keeping order and allowing society run reasonably smoothly.
Of course, with government being a human institution, things don't always work out perfectly, but the intent is still there. What government is not allowed to do is to infringe on matters of the soul. According to Luther, a government cannot tell you what to believe about matters of faith and God, cannot compel you to worship in particular way, and cannot order you to attend a particular church (or no church at all.) This is the territory of the Right-hand kingdom, the Church.
In Luther's own words...
God has ordained the two governments: the spiritual, which by the Holy Spirit under Christ makes Christians and pious people; and the secular, which restrains the unchristian and wicked so that they are obliged to keep the peace outwardly… The laws of worldly government extend no farther than to life and property and what is external upon earth. For over the soul God can and will let no one rule but himself. Therefore, where temporal power presumes to prescribe laws for the soul, it encroaches upon God's government and only misleads and destroys souls. We desire to make this so clear that every one shall grasp it, and that the princes and bishops may see what fools they are when they seek to coerce the people with their laws and commandments into believing one thing or another.So what does all this have to do with gay marriage?
Well, what has essentially happened in Obergefell vs. Hodges is that the Kingdom of the Left has decided, for the sake of order, that there is a benefit to society in allowing same-sex couples access to the privileges and benefits of marriage. Things such as tax credits, visitation rights, inheritance, etc. are now available to same-sex couples as they have been to heterosexual couples. That's really it.
Well, what does this mean for the Church or for the individual Christian? Well, that depends. This ruling of the government does not presume to dictate the practice of either. There is no new law that now compels a church or a pastor to preside at a gay wedding if they do not wish to. There is no new law that requires an individual Christian to attend a gay wedding. Nothing has really changed in regards to what we might believe or how we might practice our faith. There is a lot of fear-mongering and hype that this is what has happened. It is not true.
And if it were, you would find me among those opposing such laws. Why? Because they cross that line between the Two Kingdoms. The government cannot tell me or you how to practice our faith. That is something only the Church can do.
In the long run, I suspect this will be a lot of "sound and fury signifying nothing." Homosexual individuals will be getting married; some of them in the church, but only if that is the wish of the individual pastor. The Church will continue to have this debate about the importance or lack thereof concerning those seven verses and people will continue to agree or disagree as is their wont. In the end, things will look pretty much the same as they do now. The sky is not falling. The end of the world is not nigh (at least, not anymore than it has been for these past two millennia since Christ ascended.) The world is still turning and will continue to do so until God wishes otherwise.
My hope, as I somewhat eluded to earlier, is that we, as the Church, move beyond the distractions of being society's guardian of morality. There is one lesson in this for those of us who center our lives more predominantly in the Kingdom of the Right, that perhaps we've lost our focus somewhat. We are here to proclaim the Gospel and to serve the world in need, to build up the Kingdom of God, not to be the new Pharisees who regulate people's romantic lives. That's really not our job. It's good to have a reminder of that.
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