(Note: The reports on the educational series, A Conversation about Gay Unions, on the following pages are abbreviated versions of all presentations. The rector's reflections have been mailed to all parishioners and full texts of the entire series are on the parish Website at http://www.thechapelofthecross.org/2005/GayUnions.html.)

A CONVERSATION ABOUT GAY UNIONS - Part two, April 10, 2005

Presenter: The Rev. Gray Temple, Rector, St. Patrick's Church, Atlanta, Georgia

Summary by Barbara Day

Gray Temple, a Morehead Scholar and UNC-Chapel Hill graduate (1965), author of Gay Unions-In the Light of Scripture, Tradition, and Reason, and rector of St. Patrick's Church in Atlanta, Georgia, spoke to a group of parishioners and others who filled the chapel at the Chapel of the Cross on Sunday evening, April 10, 2005. His presentation focused primarily on his book which had been synthesized in a morning presentation (see review by Day on p. 11 of this issue of Cross Roads). Temple, described as a liberal charismatic who prayerfully came to the conclusion that his homophobia was not a stance favored by God, went through a period of turmoil at St. Patrick's, now described as having become one of the conspicuously vibrant worship centers in the Episcopal Church.

Temple began the conversation by asking each of us to look at who was on either side of us. He asked, "Do you think you agree with God about them? See if you are able to turn to them in boundless affection. Ask their God to bring each of them to the peak of their powers."

Expressing joy in being back in Chapel Hill and at the Chapel of the Cross, and emphasizing that good people mostly do good things, Temple said that he favors sacramental equality for gay people in the church. By this he means all of the sacraments including the sacraments of Holy Matrimony and Ordination, believing that those who participate faithfully should not be denied these sacraments. "Tune me out if you like," said Temple, "but tune God in and pray that the one who is made manifest to us in the person of Jesus of Nazareth would be here and apprehend us. We talk too much about God when we are too distant to have been apprehended." He asked us to keep our hearts rubbing up against God's heart.He asked us to pray for him and for one another now.

The Episcopal Church, he said, has been asking us to talk and pray with one another about the topic of gay unions for a long time. He has formed some conclusions: The two sides are not morally or intellectually symmetrical. There is a distinct advantage to one side and he believes that he represents the advantageous side and that in God's good time it will prevail.

In the area of Reason, the matter has been debated and neither side has found the argument persuasive. We have not found ourselves drifting toward the middle. Debate is endless. People say same-sex marriage will alter and pollute marriage. The response is, how? How does that impact your marriage? The response is repeated. Something other than reason is going on. Temple said we have failed; "We must open ourselves to the mystery of God in humble submission and look around at our gay brothers and sisters and bask in that affection. Our hearts will be transformed. It may take a while for our minds to catch up."Reiterating his stance in his book, Gay Unions, he indicated that he did not know anyone whose mind was changed by reading, rather we change when we find someone we love who is gay. This question, he said, will not be resolved scientifically or legally; it will be resolved personally as each of us is apprehended by the person of God and as we permit the love of God for us to radiate out to men and women whom we discover to be as lovable as ourselves.

Regarding Tradition, Temple wants to discuss a couple of outrageous things, "I personally will miss Anglicanism a great deal more than God will," he said. He reported that he had served in several provinces of the Anglican Communion in the Third World in Africa and Southern Asia. He had the title of Honorary Canon in a diocese in Southern Kenya and loved those people. He regretted to say that the practice of Anglicanism in their provinces is difficult to distinguish from Islam; women sit on one side, men on another. Men get the benefits he said. When there is movement to improve (nationally or locally) the lot of women, the Anglican Church is silent or opposed to it. Whom else do we betray if we say to our gay brothers and sisters, we postpone you for several generations in order to make peace with that?

"There is, however, a big tradition that we should embrace in Anglicanism and that is an understanding that we are bound together sacramentally, not confessionally," Temple said. We don't always agree with each other, but we can all kneel down together and receive the Eucharist together.

Turning attention to the Scripture, Temple proposed that "We must pay attention to what the Bible says is important; St. Paul was interested in how people could get transformed ... by turning in to the presence of God who is right here in this room tonight." What did the writers in Leviticus 18 or 20, Genesis 19, or Romans I think they were talking about? Temple proposed two considerations (without which we will not understand Biblical writers):

• Until the mid-1830s, the standard wisdom was that there were not two sexes, but one. When one talked about men and women, they meant strong and weak.
• Sex was thought of as a specimen of violence, the strong upon the weak. One must understand these two things about sex and gender to understand the Bible. Temple concluded that, "The Bible does not know anything about homosexuality or heterosexuality. It was not the way people thought. It is way past time that we quit using the Bible to look down on people who are as good as we are."

The presentation and discussion ended with prayer: "O God and Father of all, whom the whole heavens adore: Let the whole earth also worship thee, all nations obey thee, all tongues confess and bless thee, and men and women everywhere love thee and serve thee in peace; through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen."

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