Dear Editor:

Chris Brundage writes in response to Phillip Warren’s comments about his correspondence with Dean Waldt: “I'm aware that homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching, as that teaching has been commonly held by the faithful. The voting on Amendment A shows that. The rule of faith weighs against same-sex intimacy. But the rule of love bends toward it.”

The larger context of this statement allows the reader to conclude that Chris Brundage would complete the thought by saying: “But the rule of love bends toward it… to embrace and celebrate it.” I disagree with Chris’s use of the word “love” and its resultant action. I want to lay out a different scenario.

I believe that homosexual behavior is sinful. The church preached the law saying, “Homosexuality is wrong. Turn away.” The church also turned its back on grace. It failed to trust the transforming power of covenant community to which we belong: the body of Christ. The body has all that it needs, through spiritual gifts, to proclaim the gospel in word and deed. It also has all that it needs to repair itself from injury from within and without. The body of Christ is the agency through which the Holy Spirit releases grace to heal and grow by: dissolving isolation with connection; speaking words of forgiveness in the face of failure; standing compassionately in the midst of repentance’s grief; modeling growth through mentoring; and applying discipline through “lashed-to-the-wrist” accountability.

This kind of love that Chris talks about is very different than the kind implied by Christ. As a result, it leads to a very different predicate to Chris Brundage’s dangling assertion. “The rule of faith weighs against same-sex intimacy. And the rule of love bends toward it… to offer healing.”

Grace and peace,