Civil Partnerships

At a recent Kirk Session at my church we were asked to discuss if we thought that the ministers of our churches should be allowed to conduct blessings of civil partnerships. Here is what I said at that meeting.

My brother is gay. He once told me he would like to believe in God but God wouldn’t want anything to do with him. I replied with the cliché that God loves the sinner but hates the sin. I should have told him the truth, it’s not God that has the problem with him, just the vast majority of people that represent Him.

Same sex couples that want their partnership blessed by the church would probably only seek this if they are Christians. As Christian homosexuals they will know the parts of The Bible that condemn sex between same sex partners more than anybody. They will know that although God made them with homosexual tendencies, He also gave them free will and a conscience to use it. If they have decided to follow Jesus then, like everyone else, they face a daily battle to not sin against God.
If they choose to face that battle with a partner whom they love and trust and who faces the same day to day struggles, then that is their choice.

Christian alcoholics say that they were created with this condition but with the help of Jesus and their Christian friends they fight it every day. Shouldn’t homosexuals get that same support?

Some would say that blessing their partnership encourages them to sin.
Our ministers are given the chance to use their discretion when marrying people who have previously been divorced. However Jesus tells us that ‘a man who divorces his wife, unless she has been unfaithful, causes her to commit adultery. And anyone who marries a divorced woman also commits adultery.’

In 1 Corinthians Chapter 6 verses 9 & 10 Paul mentions those who are drunkards or commit adultery or practice homosexuality in the same breath as being those who will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

So surely our ministers should be given that same discretion to decide to bless the partnership of two people committed to each other and to serving God.