I have been following the lively exchange in the American related to homosexuality and the church. I wish your readers could have been present at the United Church of Christ General Synod in Atlanta on July 3 (as I was) to hear the excellent sermon by the Rev. Kenneth L. Samuel, pastor of Victory for the World Church in Stone Mountain, GA, an African-American congregation with 5,000-plus members.
Rev. Samuel took us to several biblical texts about which we have come to think differently, thanks to a Still Speaking God. Most of us would no longer sanction slavery as a God-ordained institution and charge slaves to obey their masters (Col. 3:22). Where would many of our churches be if women were forced to keep silence (I Cor. 14:34-35)? And, speaking on the eve of many 4th of July picnics, Rev. Samuel added, “All of us who love bacon, fatback ham, barbecue ribs, pork chops and football ought to be glad that God is still speaking.” (Lev. 11: 7-8)
For Rev. Samuel and the members of Victory Church, civil rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons is also a matter of justice for the Still Speaking God.
A close reading of the Bible shows marriage as an institution in which women are property, not equal partners. Polygamy and concubinage are part of the biblical norm. Clearly, most of us have recognized that the goal is not to duplicate the biblical standard for marriage, but to insist on greater love and justice.
State Rep. Jeanette Mott Oxford
St. Louis