The Church's Failures: A Necessary Confession

Today's Reading

Read James 2:1-13: "My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. ... If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself,' you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin."

Then read John 8:1-11, where Jesus encounters the woman caught in adultery and says to her accusers: "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her."

Reflection

Before the church can speak with any credibility on matters of sexuality, it must first confess its sins. And those sins are not minor.

The history is devastating. Gay and lesbian people have been bullied, ostracized, mocked, and driven to despair by Christians who claimed to be speaking for God. Parents have disowned children. Pastors have publicly humiliated congregants. Youth groups have taught teenagers that same-sex attraction is the worst possible sin — creating a hierarchy of transgression that the Bible does not support. Conversion therapy programs, often run by well-meaning Christians, led to psychological damage and, in some cases, suicide. The church that was supposed to be the safest place for broken people became, for many LGBTQ+ individuals, the most dangerous.

Tim Keller, who held a traditional sexual ethic throughout his ministry, was unflinching on this point: "If you have contempt for gay people, if you are derisive of them, if when they come near you, you think 'unclean' — you do not have the spirit of Jesus. Jesus touched lepers." Keller understood that you cannot hold a biblical ethic with an un-Christlike spirit and expect to be heard.

Vaughan Roberts, an Anglican minister who has publicly spoken about his own experience of same-sex attraction while holding a traditional ethic, wrote with equal directness: "We have used the Bible to satisfy our need for an enemy rather than using it to examine our own hearts. We have treated gay and lesbian people as problems to be solved rather than neighbors to be loved."

James 2 condemns partiality — treating some people as less worthy of honor, less welcome in the assembly. The church that warmly embraces the remarried couple while freezing out the gay Christian is practicing exactly the kind of partiality James condemns. The church that preaches against homosexuality from the pulpit while tolerating gossip, greed, and gluttony in the pews has a log in its eye.

John 8 is equally confronting. The Pharisees brought the woman caught in adultery to Jesus — not because they cared about her sin, but because they wanted to trap Jesus. Their concern was theological point-scoring, not holiness. Jesus' response was to turn the moral spotlight away from her and onto them: "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone." One by one, they left.

But notice what Jesus also said to the woman: "Go, and from now on sin no more." He did not condemn her, and he did not excuse her. He offered grace and called her to a new life. The church that only condemns and the church that only affirms are both failing to follow Jesus.

Going Deeper

Confession must precede proclamation. If the church wants to speak about sexuality with integrity, it must first lament the harm it has done. Not as a rhetorical strategy, not as a prelude to "but here's what the Bible really says," but as genuine repentance. What specific confession do you need to make — personally or on behalf of your community?