Yesterday was Martin Luther King day. I didn't attend any programs or speeches. I didn't go see the movie Selma. I did read his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," in which he argued that contrary to those who called for patience, it was past time for action, which included non-violent civil disobedience. When laws are unjust, violating the moral and spiritual law of God, it was not only appropriate, King said it was necessary to disobey those laws. He cited the Scriptures where Peter and John told the Sanhedrin that they must obey God rather than men.
For an entire generation, my denomination the United Methodist Church has been mired in debate over human sexuality. When I was in seminary back in the mid-seventies, the first open rumblings of what has become a seismic cataclysm were heard as some began agitating for a relaxing of our Book of Discipline's stance on homosexuality. The Discipline states that while we believe all people are of worth and value before God, and all people are eligible to receive the ministry of the church, "self-avowed practicing" homosexuals are not eligible for ordination, and our clergy are not allowed to officiate at same-sex marriages or blessings.
Every four years, our denomination has General Conference, where legislation is passed and the Discipline is revised. The only body with authority to speak officially for the denomination is this General Conference. Individuals and local congregations may not agree with all that is done at General Conference, and may speak out against legislation that is passed there, but General Conference is still the only official mouthpiece of the church. For over forty years, at each General Conference, individuals, congregations, and various denominational boards and agencies have submitted legislation to change the Book of Discipline, wanting us to approve homosexual practice, and give permission for our clergy to officiate at same-sex weddings. Each successive General Conference for the past forty years, these resolutions have failed, but bit by bit they have chipped away at the resistance, gaining ground every quadrennium. Until the last General Conference.
All the while the traditional Biblical stance has been gradually eroding, something else was also happening that went unnoticed until recently. The United Methodist Church in the US has been hemorrhaging members for a generation, while the church in Africa has been growing by leaps and bounds. At the last General Conference in 2012, the pendulum began to swing back for the first time, due to the growth of the conservative and evangelical African representation. The African delegation's growing strength finally tipped the balance of power, and for the first time in my lifetime, the LGBT lobby lost ground legislatively. I predicted two years ago that the result would be that since their agenda was not going to pass legislatively, those wanting to change the church's stance would resort to ecclesiastical disobedience. I have been proven correct, as we are seeing clergy violating their ordination vows to uphold the teachings of our church and abide by the Discipline, with many of our bishops leading the way. Consequences for these actions so far have been negligible or non-existent, putting us in the position of having church law that no one is willing to enforce, which is tantamount to ecclesiastical anarchy.
And yet...there is precedent. Peter and John declared their obedience to God rather than the Sanhedrin law. Martin Luther King preached and practice civil disobedience for when the laws were unjust. And those in our denomination who have been agitating for changing our stand on homosexuality are making the same claim to a higher law of love, justifying their ecclesial disobedience by it. All of which leads me to ask, "Where and how do we draw the line between just and unjust laws?" It is a slippery slope, and once on it, it's hard to turn around. I believe there are solid Biblical reasons for rejecting the claims of "progressive" Christianity in this area; I have yet to read or hear Biblical justification for same-sex practice that is even remotely convincing to me. What I have seen seems forced and contrived, convincing only to those already in the camp. Nevertheless, I am grateful to have witnessed the debate for the past forty-odd years. It has forced me to dig more deeply into the Scriptures, and the discussions while often tedious, have kept me from blithely dismissing people whose convictions are far different than mine. There is always a human face behind the issues, and knowing that, while not changing my beliefs, has hopefully kept me from standing my ground in ways that demean or denigrate others. We are all in need of grace, and having dealt with these issues in the past hopefully will in some way prepare me for the day when I too must stand on the other side of the law, declaring with the original Martin Luther, "Here I stand. I can do no other!"
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