Donna ‘Riley’s posting at More Light Presbyterians is “Queering the
Marriage Discussion.” She states
that “there is something decidedly queerer at stake here than marriage
equality. As with ordination the heart of this issue remains: they call queer
relationships sinful; we call them holy.” In explaining the meaning of her use
of the word queer Riley quotes Jamie Heckert:
To queer is to make strange,
unfamiliar, weird; it comes from an old German word meaning to cross. What new
possibilities arise when we learn to cross, to blur, to undermine, or overflow
the hierarchical and binary oppositions we have been taught to believe in?
And this is basically what Riley’s posting is about, how to
blur, undermine and overflow the biblical meaning of marriage, that is,
marriage between one man and one woman. And since Riley pigeonholes biblical
marriage in the same slot as racism and suggests that it leads to unjust
economic systems she is attempting something more than seeking marriage equality.
Added to her renunciation of biblical marriage Riley
believes that those opposed to same sex marriage are frightened of, as she puts
it, “the realities of unmarried queers in deeply meaningful spiritual
relationships.”
Frightened of people and their relationships, never! But yes, we are troubled and longing in
prayer for those whose sinful relationships and attitudes lead away from the embrace
of God’s forgiveness. God loves the sinner, God longs for the sinner, God
forgives the repentant sinner.
There is a family that is not the ‘nuclear’ family but the
household of God, those who are centered on the Lord Jesus Christ and his word.
Among the family members are married men and women, single moms and dads and
the unmarried, all who have repented of numerous and various kinds of sins.
Jesus was a friend of a family of three single people, Mary,
Martha and Lazarus. He praised Mary for sitting at his feet listening to his
words. She had chosen the good part and it would not be taken away from her.
(Luke 10:42) The household of God, the community, the body of Christ, sits at
his feet. They listen to the words of Jesus.
They obey his word, the holy Scriptures.
Not just Riley, but all of us, God calls to his
righteousness, his purity, his forgiveness.
Or do
you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not
be deceived neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate,
nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers,
nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were
washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in
the Spirit of our God. (1 Cor. 6:9-11)
"The troubled find their peace
In true surrender.
The prisoners their release
From chains of anger.
In springs of living grace
I find a resting place
To rise refreshed,
Determined to follow"
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