See response from John Scepanski

                                  See response from Jan Comer

                                  See Letter from Margaret Barnes 

Dear Peg,

I hope this letter finds you well, and enjoying your "retirement" from the provincial women's board. I think of you every time I drink chamomile tea and enjoy the delicious honey you generously shared with us each Christmas we served together on the board. While I sure don't miss the work, I miss the board's good fellowship and hope to see you and other members at the women's conference this summer.

I am writing you because a letter you wrote to Kay Ward's husband, Aden, was posted on the WNW. moravians.org web site. (Not to be confused with the official Moravian church site of "Moravian" in the singular dot org!) Did you know it's on that web site? I am sorry you were so distressed by Aden's original post to Unitas, an E-mail chat group of Moravians. I myself didn't know much about homosexuality, or any homosexuals for that matter, until l served as a synod delegate from my congregation in 1995. That began an eye-opening experience! In keeping with my "lawyer style" when preparing for a case, I did an awful lot of reading and talking with others on this issue- not that that makes me an expert, by any means. It did create lots of questions that I continue to wrestle with, and significantly raised my awareness that persons with homosexual orientations are currently serving in ordained, called capacities, not only in both provinces of the Moravian church, but in other Christian denominations as well. I pray for their continued strength to live out the Moravian requirement of celibacy, found in "The Expectations for Clergy" section of Our Book of Order, especially since, as Paul tells us in first Corinthians, not everyone has the gift of celibacy.

Something you wrote in your letter reminded me of one of the questions I wrestle with, so I wanted to share my question with you. You wrote:

Homosexuals are born children of God -true, but I feel Satan has claimed them as his own and is laughing at all humans who choose this lifestyle because they are going against Christ's teachings.

I can't find anything in the New Testament where Jesus speaks to homosexuality. Can you tell me where you found Jesus' teaching on this? I do find these words of Jesus in Matthew 19 verse 9: "And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another, commits adultery."

So I really wrestle with what seems to be the Christian church applying a double standard here. Double standards go against what I've been taught both as a Christian and an American about fairness and equality. We allow divorced and remarried heterosexuals in our churches all the time without so much as murmur they are committing adultery .Heck, we even remarry them in the church and let them be pastors! How is it we disregard this clear teaching of Jesus in Matthew concerning heterosexual conduct, allowing them to yield "to selfish desires," while insisting on strict celibacy for homosexuals?

As I said, I've thought about this for a while, and here's my current thinking for what it's worth, although I really do welcome hearing any light you can shed on this. Recently I was in a place where there was some hand holding and smooching between a same sex couple and I found myself feeling repulsed by the display. Much like, as I reflected upon it, when my grade school was integrated in the mid 1960's and I began to eat with African-American children. So I'm wondering if what's really behind our rejection of homosexuals isn't the fact we can find scripture verses saying it's wrong, but rather because we've been taught homosexuality is a cultural taboo. Then just as we used scripture to resist integration, or to resist freeing African-Americans before the Civil War, or resisted giving women pain killers during childbirth because God in Genesis tells us that's our punishment, or used scripture to argue against other rights we women now enjoy, are we now using scripture against homosexuals to enforce a cultural taboo?

I guess another way of saying this is, until we decide to exclude remarried people who (according to Jesus' teaching in Matthew 18:9) are committing adultery, I'm pretty reluctant to exclude homosexuals who are in an adult covenant relationship with one another, because the Bible says what they are doing is sinful. And if I'm honest with myself, for my beliefs to be congruent with my actions (which in my mind is what Christian discipleship is about) I and my church have to treat homosexual persons the same way we treat remarried adulterers. As long as they are not promiscuous, as long as they are faithful to their vows of covenant or remarriage, I'm just hard pressed to condemn one couple with scripture and not the other couple when Jesus' teaching is so clear on remarriage. Perhaps too, I will see God working through homosexuals much as I do some of the remarried adulterers in my congregation and in our province, despite what sex acts they do with one another .

On another note, my husband Ted, who is the volunteer coordinator for the One Stem Growing Campaign, was glad to hear its marketing and publicity is working! And hopes that you can agree to at least remain on the same "trunk" or "branch" as Aden in mutual love of the Savior and our Moravian church!

Grace and peace,

Margaret Leinbach