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Please see both cartoon panels above.
Welcome back to Part 13 of A History of Incompatibility. In this series, we explore the development of Christian beliefs around human sexuality, particularly as it relates to present church schisms over LGBTQ inclusion. If you are just now joining the story, I recommend going back and starting at Part 1.
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This week, we begin the final movement of the story, processing history, scripture, and theology through a Wesleyan lens. I do not imagine I can produce any silver bullet theology that will shut down arguments once and for all. I will not be building any apologetic for LGBTQ inclusion that can’t be refuted by another Christian insisting otherwise. I am an ordained United Methodist deacon, and so I will be presenting one way Wesleyan Christians can be faithful to the work of the Holy Spirit. And I am a gay man with full assurance of my salvation, so I will not argue to prove my existence.
This entire project is heavily influenced by John Wesley’s popular 1778 abolitionist pamphlet, Thoughts Upon Slavery. Near the end of his life, John Wesley realized that chattel slavery was not just a systemic evil, it was a systemic evil that was to be challenged and abolished. He collected historical information and presented this tract offering a theological imperative for Christians to change their minds. I believe this tract is important to modern-day Wesleyans because it provides us a framework for acknowledging lived experience in current contexts to inform and challenge our harmful interpretations of scripture. No faithful Wesleyan today would accuse John Wesley of elevating experience over scripture, so it seems fitting that we learn from Wesley’s example how one can hold a very high view of scripture AND challenge predominant Christian interpretations of scripture by highlighting the discrepancies between harmful interpretations and lived experience. Wesley was known for evoking both head and heart responses from his audience, using reason and an appeal to the emotions to evoke a religion of the heart.
And so, the first two movements of my story began in the lived experience of history: the very real ways the church has come to conclusions that have caused great harm in the LGBTQ community.
This third and final movement is the “So what?” And I am beginning with the flood of our baptismal waters. One by one, we have found ourselves crucified with Christ, drowned in our baptism and raised to new life. I’m deeply drawn to the medieval paintings presenting the crucified Christ surrounded with fiery seraph wings, a symbol of the stigmata of St. Francis. At once, the image conveys Christ’s terrible death, and his victory over death. At once, it conveys what Christ has done for me, and my participation in his life.
As we begin to explore a Wesleyan theology rich enough to fully affirm LGBTQ life, we start together. Because broken and wounded as we are, we are the Body of Christ. Even as my denomination splits. Even as gay people marry who we love. Even as trans people transition. Even as one church provides a place for LGBTQ people to thrive and another church provides an environment where we think our only option is suicide. We are the Body of Christ. And so this final movement will cling fiercely to Christ. See you back here next week.