A Bridge Over Troubled Water

Over the past twenty-four hours I have gone back and forth on whether to write something about the Supreme Court declaring the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional.  With some trepidation, I think I need to say something about this historically important moment.  I think it is particularly important for me, as a Pastor, to say something about this whole mess, but I'm challenged by the fact that I serve a diverse congregation, where some will celebrate the defeat of DOMA and some will mourn it's passing.  So I'm not just going to vent my opinions, though I think you'll see where I stand.
What I would like to do is ask a couple of things from various interested parties.  First, I would like to ask something from the "winners," the ones who have been fighting and praying for equality in the eyes of the law and who now feel vindicated and set free.  Please be gracious winners.  I know it's tempting to want to wave your rainbows in the faces of those who would deny you something you feel is a basic human right.  I know that it feels good to finally have such a high and august court recognize that the boots that have been on your throat were unjustly sanctioned by the law of the land. Do not think you are fighting the people who disagree with you, and please do not start naming them villains.  You are fighting the status quo, and the way we have "always done things," which as a Pastor, I will tell you is a very powerful enemy.  Know that your struggle for recognition and equality is not over, and if you want to win more and more support from the American people: grace, not victorious strutting, is going to be a more powerful magnet.
Second, to the people who feel that the defeat of DOMA is another nail in the coffin of our already decaying society, I say what Jesus and Angels alike said to people in uncertain times, "be not afraid."  Fear is the mind killer.  And I know, you're saying you're not afraid, you're angry, you're frustrated, you're discouraged that our culture seems to be swerving away from Christian morals, but fear is underneath all of those emotions, fear of the unknown and the different, fear that we may be provoking God with our moral relativism, fear that we just aren't what we used to be.  Christian ethics should be a line of strength that pulls us through the fear.  I know what the Bible says about "a man lying with a man as he lies with a woman," and I know all about abominations of various sorts, but if you zoom out and look at the nature of the Law, and how it protects and includes the widow, the orphan and the alien in our midst, you might notice that the current debate over civil rights for gay people strikes a certain biblical ethical chord as well.  If you are specifically Christian, you might notice that Jesus was always taking up with the sinners rather than the fearful religious types and angry mobs with stones in hand.
Look for the heart of a Living God, who holds faith, hope and love as the greatest forces in the universe (and the greatest of these is love).  Have faith that God is with us through these questions, and that His mercy trumps whatever judgment you think might be hanging over our heads.  If we act in love towards our fellow humans we cannot go wrong.  Seriously, we can't go wrong loving our neighbors: gay, straight or otherwise.
Finally, for those of you who feel sort of in between and unsure, remember that wisdom will always be vindicated, even if her cries get drowned out momentarily.  Heed the wise advice of Gamaliel in Acts 5.  He was a man who was confronted with a cultural phenomenon that he did not fully understand and could not see the full consequences of: nascent Christianity.  Instead of reacting with fear and violence, he simply said, "wait and see."  If the word proclaimed by the apostles is true you won't be able to stop it, if it is false it will come to nothing.  How's that for Christian ethics?  Trust that God is still active in the world, even if the world does not know or acknowledge God.  That's what I believe, and that's why I'm not afraid, and that's how I keep going: looking for the faith, the hope, the love and the grace, because I know that's where God is.