In June 2018, the RCA General Synod commended the “Great Lakes Catechism on Marriage and Sexuality” for consideration by the Commission on Theology (COT) and the wider RCA. In response, a diverse group of people from the LGBTQ community, parents, pastors, educators and others shared their thoughts with Room for All and the COT, offering alternative perspectives on a faithful ethic for living as sexual and gendered people of God. Room for All is grateful for the opportunity to share those responses in “Outsights” over the next several weeks.
A Tale of Two Presidents
Deb Tiemens – Iowa
I wanted to respond to the Great Lakes Catechism on Marriage and Sexuality so that people might better understand what its message means to an LGBTQ person. How sentence after sentence says, “You are not welcome here.”
Every time I started, I found myself staring at a blank page. There was so much I wanted to say, yet what could I possibly write that would make a difference to any one? Those who could understand, well, they already understand! Those who don’t understand aren’t going to respond to other ways of interpreting scripture. They aren’t going to respond to another depiction of the psychological pain and scarring that statements like this cause LGBTQ persons within the church and without. And they aren’t going to respond to the law of the land, which is that same-sex couples now have the same right to marry as their heterosexual counterparts (which the catechism denies to gay couples, yet says is the only way we can express our sexuality in a holy manner).
Nope. I’ve got nothing.
One thing that does keep circling through my brain is a tale of two presidents. Earlier this summer, in his “10-year Reflection,” Northwestern College president Greg Christy had this to say before sharing accolades of the past decade: “While there are many cultural issues that threaten to distort God’s vision for human flourishing, issues related to human sexuality are at the forefront. Pornography, premarital sex, adultery, sexual assault, the objectification of women, and same-sex activity all exemplify the brokenness of sexual desire and expression.”
I remember walking across Northwestern’s campus as a student with one of the College’s student leaders when he turned to me and said, “I think all homosexuals should be gathered up and shot.” Somehow, I managed to endure that comment without visibly reacting, lest my dear friend discover he should start his genocide with me. As difficult as that was, it is even harder to imagine how I would have withstood the College’s president proclaiming that not only was I on the moral plane of a rapist (he has since removed “sexual assault” from his reflection, but not before the damage was done), but a distortion of “God’s vision for human flourishing.” I grieved for the LGBTQ students at my alma mater whose hearts suffered the weight of those words.
It helped to think of the college campus where I am a staff member and where, just a month earlier, the president and his wife had hosted a Pride Lunch at the president’s residence to kick-off the Iowa City Pride celebration. The pride flag was flying at the front door as the two of them greeted hundreds of LGBTQ faculty, staff and allies. They welcomed everyone who entered with a handshake and the words, “We’re glad you’re here.” It was a joyous occasion filled with music, laughter, dancing, conversation and warm hugs. I left the event filled with such gratitude for a leader who, along with his spouse, would go out of his way to say to the LGBTQ people in his campus community, “I see you and I appreciate you. You are welcome here.”
What a contrast. It reminds me of the song, “Johnny’s Café” by John Fischer. I first heard it performed by the artist at Northwestern when I was a student. The story compares the warm and welcoming atmosphere of Johnny’s Café with the church a “half mile” away that didn’t know how to share the same level of hospitality with strangers. It resonated with me because that was the Jesus I knew. The Jesus who says, “I see you and I appreciate you. You are welcome here.” And that kind of welcome you feel in your bones.
(Excerpts from) Johnny’s Café Words and Music by John Fischer
Go spend the day down at Johnny’s Cafe
All kinds of people there with plenty to say
If you’ve got nothing to say to folks at Johnny’s Cafe
You’ve got nothing to say at all
And the lady pouring coffee she knows the regulars by name
And if she doesn’t know you she calls you Honey just the same
And we all love to hear it
Even if she has to fake it
‘Cause it’s nice to think that someone really cares
Someone cares
Half a mile down the road you’ll find a church with a steeple
And on Sundays the pews are full of well-pressed beautiful people
There’s a leading politician whose wife is a musician in the choir
And a corporation head who is trying to get a little bit higher
And the preacher pouring sermons he knows the regulars by name
And if he doesn’t know you he’ll shake your hand just the same
And we all love to hear it
Even if we have to fake it
But it would be nice if someone really cared
Someone care
Go spend the day down at Johnny’s Cafe
All kinds of people there with plenty to say
Now if Jesus were here I think we’d find Him today
Down at Johnny’s Cafe