Christianity and queer family: a couple of items

[sophiaserpentia]

First, the United Church of Christ has moved to endorse same-sex marriage (thanks to rhonan for the heads-up that this was coming):

The president of the United Church of Christ said his denomination "acted courageously to declare freedom" when it passed a resolution endorsing same-sex marriage on Independence Day.

The resolution calls on member churches of the liberal denomination's 1.3 million members to consider wedding policies "that do not discriminate against couples based on gender." It also asks churches to consider supporting legislation granting equal marriage rights to gay and lesbian couples and to work against laws banning gay marriage.

The endorsement by the church's rule-making body Monday makes it the largest Christian denomination to endorse same-sex marriage. The vote is not binding on individual churches, but could cause some congregations to leave the fold.

from United Church of Christ Backs Gay Marriage

Second, this from torbellino: Procedings from a conference held at the Canadian Orthodox Monastery of All Saints of North America, to define the family in terms of Orthodox Christianity.

Based on the definition of family as tradition-bearer, we can say that there is a wide scope in the Orthodox Christian vision of what a family is. Indeed, the most familiar definition of "family" would be mother, father and children. But in Orthodoxy a family can be any group of people that embrace and pass a common story of who they are, how they came to be, where they are going, and how they get there. Thus, for example, a monastic community is a family; this is why we speak of monks and nuns in familial terms, father ("abba"), mother ("amma"), brother and sister.

Another example of this can be found in the history of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries we find in Ukraine the emergence of groups of married faithful who dedicated their time and effort to the enrichment of Church life. They would give financial and material assistance to the Church, and organize Christian philanthropic efforts in their local communities. These groups called themselves "Brotherhoods."

A modern example of how Orthodoxy views the family can be found in response to a debate has emerged on the INTERNET about the ancient Christian rite of "Bratotvorennya" ("The Making of Brothers"), which is referred to in a book by the historian John Boswel, Same Sex Unions in Pre-Modern Europe. Boswel's assertion is that this rite refers to an ancient Christian rite of same-sex marriage; needless to say, this idea has created a fair-sized stir among both homosexual and homophobic Orthodox Christians. We cannot agree with Boswell that this rite constitutes a same-sex marriage service because it does not contain the acts of Betrothal or Crowning, which are essential in the Orthodox wedding rite. However, based on the idea of family as tradition-bearer, we can accept that through it two men or two women became "family."That is, united in bearing a common tradition, they became"brothers" or "sisters," and took with them into that new relationship all of the implications of these terms. This calls to mind Jesus' assertion that His true mother and brothers are those who hear the word of God, and keep it.

... Family, from an Orthodox perspective, cannot be collapsed into the image of the Bourgeois-Christian family which developed during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in western Europe. The collapse of the image of the Christian family into American images of the suburban family at the end of the twentieth century is even less legitimate as a Christian image. There is no ideal family, from an Orthodox perspective, and certainly the bourgeois European family and the American suburban family, so much longed for and idealized in popular culture in our day, was anything but Christian in its conception.

First these types of family structure are creatures of a particular historical circumstance as all the histories of the family well document. They have developed within very narrow political, cultural and economic frameworks. The Bourgeois-Christian family has its origins in the merchant and professional classes that are largely responsible for the development of modern democracies in the West. Second, this conception of the ideal family is centred on family interest (self-centred if you will) and thus inherently closed. It is on this legacy that the image of the ideal family of the Moral Majority in America has constructed its nostalgic image of family and lobbied for various social and political policies in the political arena as a means of extending this particular image of family. The logical consequence of this image of the ideal family is the suburban gated communities of middle America. This ideal image of the nuclear family, rampant since the 1950s, is predicated on fear, self-interest and nostalgia. To the extent that this captures our thinking we are engaged in a form of idolatry of the family and it leads to the pursuit of the development of a narrow set of cultic notions about family.

Comments

[badsede.livejournal.com]

The UCC is also expected to reject a resolution that Jesus Christ is Lord. (seriously) So, maybe this isn't Christian news after all. ;)

[aerope.livejournal.com]

do you have a link to that? i'm a little surprised and curious about the details of the matter.

[badsede.livejournal.com]

There are some links further down in the thread.

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

Uh, are you referring to this?

(UPDATE: ADOPTED BY FULL SYNOD ON MONDAY, JULY 4)
A consolidated proposal that would reaffirm both Jesus Christ as Lord and Sovereign and urge continued use of the UCC's tradition cross and crown logo will be the recommendation of a Synod committee. It suggests that two previously separate resolutions be combined into one Synod statement.

The Rev. Brent Becker of St. Paul UCC of Cibolo, Texas, was author of the original “Jesus is Lord” resolution.

“I just wanted to make it specific and explicit, to have people say, ‘I do accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior.’ What’s the problem to reaffirm this? What’s the harm?” he asked. “It’s neither a conservative nor a liberal issue. Surely this is one thing we can all agree on.”

[badsede.livejournal.com]

Yes. It's an odd situation, although one that I really don't have any investment in, just looking on from the outside.

[legolastn.livejournal.com]

As sophiaserpentia has already noted, at least some version of a resolution affirming "Jesus is Lord" did pass (not sure what the final wording was, but I imagine it will eventually be distributed). But, even if the Synod had rejected the resolution, to say this would make the denom not Christian is a bit like saying that people opposing the Flag Burning Amendment are un-American or not patriotic. It would have been defeated because there are other principles at stake.

[badsede.livejournal.com]

Except that the non-burning of the flag is not a defining element of America, nor has it been since America was founded.


I figured there had to be more to it, but my comment was really mostly a joke. Unfortunately, when we consider that the only thing even resembling a substantive difference between the original resolution and the substitution is a statement that this belief is a requisite belief, it certainly does seem that the reason for it being turned down was internal politics over the fact that the resolution was porposed by "fundamentalists." To me, that's even more disappointing, a point of fundamental Christian theology being turned into fodder for a inter-denominational conflict of ideology.

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

I suspect it has a lot to do with the negative triggery connotation that many liberal Christians have associated with the phrase, "Jesus is Lord." It evokes a feeling and image of Christianity that progressive denominations want to distance themselves from. Speculating as an outsider, I don't think it necessarily reflects any intent on the part of people within the UCC to deny the prime position of Jesus Christ as redeemer.

[badsede.livejournal.com]

First, that should have been intradenominational....

I don't think it necessarily reflects any intent on the part of people within the UCC to deny the prime position of Jesus Christ as redeemer.

But it may. One satire of the UCC: "Unitarians Considering Christ." Probably uncharitable to both groups, but you get the idea. But again, looking on from the outside.

What connotations/images are associated with "Christ is Lord"? The only ones that I can think of that anyone wants to distance themselves from have nothing to do with being progressive or liberal - except maybe in the formal Catholic heresy sense of the word.