A Short Teaching on Christian Sexual Ethics in the Present Life of the Church

The Rt. Rev. Henry N. Parsley, Jr., Bishop of Alabama

Diocesan Convention 2005

 

      As your bishop I am frequently asked questions on a number of subjects. Lately many questions have been focused on the teaching of the church on sexual ethics. I hear it said sometimes that much has changed in the church’s teaching. This is in part a response to the on-going debate in the Episcopal Church following the 74 General Convention and in part, I believe, a concern about the confusion and distortion in our society over matters of human sexual behavior. I believe that it is important for me to say some things about the teaching of the church on this subject.

      First, our understanding of what it means to be Christian has not changed. We are Christian people because we believe in God and in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. As Episcopalians and Anglicans we are members of the Church Catholic and affirm the doctrine expressed in the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds. The creeds summarize the witness of Holy Scripture as the church has understood it since the apostolic and patristic age. As part of the Church Catholic we believe that the dogma and doctrine of the creeds represent “the faith once delivered to the saints.” The Book of Common Prayer contains the teaching of the Episcopal Church and Anglican tradition expressed in creedal affirmations, the sacraments, liturgies and prayers, and in the Catechism. When I am asked what the Episcopal Church believes, I always say read the Prayer Book and worship with us and you will find out.

      Secondly, the Episcopal Church’s teaching on the authority of the Bible has not changed. We believe “the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God and to contain all things necessary to salvation,” in the ancient words of the Prayer Book. As the Windsor Report has said, “Within Anglicanism, scripture has always been recognized as Church’s supreme authority.” The report goes on to affirm that we believe that “Jesus, the living Word, is the one to whom the written Word bears witness as God’s ultimate and personal self-expression” and to say that the phrase ‘the authority of scripture’ actually means “the authority of the triune God exercised through scripture.”

      Anglicans, however, are not Biblical literalists. Our tradition has held for centuries that the truth of the scriptures is best revealed using tradition and reason as tools in the interpretive process. Bishop Carpenter used to carry around a three-legged stool, which is still used at Carpenter House, to illustrate this. This understanding has allowed Anglicans to welcome many of the insights of Biblical criticism, science, archaeology, and theological development to our understanding of God and God’s purposes known in scripture. Our understanding of the truth of God revealed in the Holy Scriptures has evolved over the centuries, as the Holy Spirit continues, according to Jesus’ promise, to lead us “into all truth.” As the Windsor report emphasizes, “Our shared reading of scripture across boundaries of culture, region and tradition ought to be the central feature of our common life, guiding us together from entrenched positions into fresh appreciation of the riches of the gospel as articulated in the scriptures.”

      Thirdly, the church’s teaching on sexual ethics has not changed. We have upheld and continue to uphold fidelity in monogamous marriage, abstinence in singleness, chastity in all relationships, and mercy for all as the Christian standard and norm for sexual expression. The report of the Lambeth Conference of 1998 affirmed this clearly when it said, “The Holy Scriptures and Christian tradition teach that human sexuality is intended by God to find its rightful and full expression between a man and a woman in the covenant of marriage, established by God in creation and affirmed by our Lord Jesus Christ. Holy Matrimony is, by intention and divine purpose, to be a life-long, monogamous and unconditional commitment between a woman and a man.” Singleness and celibacy as well have been honored among Christians since the New Testament period. Sexual morality has always been a core value for the people of God and high standards for sexual behavior are an abiding aspect of Christian ethical teaching.

      We live in an age when some of the mores and practices of modern culture are not in keeping with traditional Christian teaching on sexual ethics. Modern Western culture has come to sensationalize and exploit sexuality and encourage sexual experimentation to an extreme degree. Marriage is often not held in the high esteem it deserves and divorce is too frequently chosen over life-long faithfulness. The emphasis on individual fulfillment easily over-shadows the importance of the right-ordering of relationships and the common good of community.

      It is doubtless true that many of us fall short of the church’s moral teaching in this arena of life. The church is called to minister pastorally to all persons, recognizing the reality of our human struggle and failure, and to help all know the love and mercy of Christ for their lives. It is well to remember that the church is a hospital for sinners not a fortress for the righteous. Yet the church steadfastly continues to affirm that sexuality is a sacred gift and responsibility, meant to find its right and full expression in the covenant relationship of marriage between a man and a woman, whom God “makes one flesh in Holy Matrimony.”

      So what is all the current fuss about? The church has not changed its teaching on the scriptures as “the Word of God containing all things necessary for salvation,” nor its affirmation of the creedal faith, nor its teaching on sexual morality. The issue with which our church and others are struggling at present is how, within the context of these teachings, to minister pastorally and faithfully to persons who are homosexually oriented. How should the church’s teaching on sexual ethics rightly apply to persons who are in this personal situation? This is the central concern in the current debate. Some believe that abstinence in singleness is the faithful and right choice for them, which is the church’s traditional teaching. Some believe that for those who are intrinsically homosexually oriented this teaching needs to be amended to offer them a monogamous, lifelong covenant similar to that afforded heterosexual persons.

      This question is seen by some to be one of civil rights and justice for a significant minority of the human population. Others believe that, for the church at least, it is also a significant issue of Christian ethics. I believe that it has both dimensions.

      The Episcopal/Anglican Church has been abundantly clear in rejecting forms of sexuality that are inherently contrary to the Christian way and sinful, such as promiscuity, pedophilia, pornography, adultery, prostitution, incest, and all forms of sexual exploitation. We have also been abundantly clear in affirming that homosexual persons are loved by God and are full and valued members of the church, and that no discrimination or hatred toward them is in keeping with the teaching of Jesus or the obligations of Christian charity. As the Lambeth Conference report of 1998 said to persons who are homosexually oriented, “we wish to assure them that they are loved by God and that all baptized, believing, and faithful persons, regardless of sexual orientation, are full members of the Body of Christ. We call upon the Church and all its members to work to end any discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and to oppose homophobia.”

      The election by the Diocese of New Hampshire of V. Gene Robinson, a gay man in a committed relationship, to be their bishop and the subsequent confirmation of the election by the General Convention has brought our disagreements on some of these matters to the fore in the Episcopal Church. Faithful people hold different views of this event. It is interpreted by some to be a conscientious, even prophetic action. It is seen by others to be a departure from the received faith and order of the church. But this event does not, on its own, change the church’s teaching, which remains as described above. The Windsor Report is an attempt to help us affirm and sustain our communion in Christ in the midst of disagreement. It calls for actions to heal the wounds that have occurred and it charts a path to help us work through these important questions before the church in the years to come.

      In the Diocese of Alabama I am committed to following the wise and well-considered recommendations of the Windsor Report in regard to the immediate issues that face us in our church and the Anglican Communion. This includes our long-standing policy of not blessing same sex unions and not ordaining single persons who are not abstinent, which I understand to be the teaching of the church. This includes our baptismal promise to “respect the dignity of every human being” and to love all persons as Christ loves them. And this includes the commitment, called for by Lambeth 1998 and the Windsor Report, to listen to the experience of homosexual persons and continue to engage the theological and pastoral concerns their experience raises for the church’s ministry.

      We are living in a time of differing opinions held by faithful persons in our church. As always we are to be a community of reconciliation in the cross of Christ. It is my belief that we must uphold the received teaching of the church, as articulated by the Lambeth 1998 report, as we seek the wisdom of Christ about the important questions before us. On-going discernment and debate about these matters will likely be a part of our life for years to come. The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion are blessed with considerable gifts to enable us to address these matters faithfully, thoughtfully, and justly in the context of deep and abiding Christian faith.

      The Archbishop of Canterbury, in an address to the General Synod of the Church of England, has recently stressed that in the church unity and truth must be held together, “For a Christian I believe that unity is what enables us to discover truth within the body of Christ, not simply truth according to my own preferences, my own intelligence, my own resources, but in the richness of life and understanding that is shared in the body.” Communion is indispensable to seeking God’s truth and it is incumbent upon all of us to uphold the unity of the church.

      This is not the first time the church has experienced disagreement on matters of ethics and teaching in regard to the complexities of human life and Biblical understanding. Nor will it be the last. Such times call for the hard work of studying the scriptures, listening to one another, and of corporate discernment in communion.

      As we hold steadfastly to what we have received, such times call all of us to exercise Christian restraint and patience and to show extraordinary respect for each other and especially those with whom we may differ. Such times call us to prayer and to faith that God is working through this, as in all things, to accomplish his purposes for the world.

      As your bishop I pray for wisdom, love, and oneness among us as we journey through these days. Christ is counting on us. The world is looking to us to be a beacon of love and hope. Let us follow Paul’s admonition to live “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:2-3).