Wade in the Water: Sermon on Sexual Orientations and Forms of Life

" ... Right now the larger church is in such waters when it comes to how we understand and relate to non-straight expressions. It is my hope that we can see the forms of life drawn by gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, two-spirited, and queer individuals and couples. It is my hope that we can repent from flooding the waters over them. From within these waters the church can move towards public expressions of theology and practice that demonstrate our welcome and affirmation of non-straight individuals and couples who seek to follow Jesus.

The theologian Catherine Keller, who greatly influenced my thinking for this sermon, says that “to love is to bear with the chaos. Not to like it or to foster it but to recognize there the unformed future.” In some ways this is a re-statement of our baptismal commitment as Christians, that is, to be willing to enter and be submerged in the waters when necessary, to allow the sins that bring death to be dissolved so that we might be re-created and newly re-lated to each other, to wade in the water, and to know the one who hovers over us speaking the words that bring life, "you are my child, my beloved in whom I am well pleased."