Do the right thing

Do the right thing. Easy to say. Not so easy to determine.

We Lutherans, however, are comfortable when we struggle with this problem. We are not moralistic. We know that right behavior does not determine our value before God and we embrace a profound sense of moral ambiguity.

We understand that faith is trust in God. It is not the acceptance of a set of teachings. The consequence of faith is service to neighbor. God’s radical adoption of a sinner by grace leads to a radical freedom. Freedom from coercive requirements and a freedom to serve others, especially the poor and oppressed.

I remember when the old LCA (Lutheran Church in America) was debating whether or not the church should stop investing in companies that did business in apartheid South Africa. Emotions ran high. The treasurer of the LCA at the time was an executive with Mobil Oil who did business in South Africa. He argued that his company did more for the victims of apartheid by doing business there than if they stopped doing business there. His argument was compelling to me. He was a leader in the church I love and he was a good man. Certainly, with his business sense and knowledge of the world, he and his company would do the right thing.

However, the LCA voted to withdraw all of our investments from companies doing business in South Africa.

Why?

We listened to the VICTIMS of apartheid who begged and pleaded that the churches of the world stop supporting companies doing business with that corrupt and immoral government. We, the Lutheran Church in America, did the right thing because we stood in solidarity with the poor and oppressed.

Now the question is – where does Jim Shields get off telling us what the right thing to do is? Good question. Welcome to the world of moral ambiguity.

I believe that the church must be a community of moral deliberation. There are no moral absolutes and we have to participate in this messy world.

Regarding the issue of homosexuality, our church conducted a twenty year study of human sexuality and produced a policy that was adopted by two thirds of the church wide assembly. With that foundation, the church wide assembly approved the ordination of homosexuals in committed relationships.

Emotions ran high during this debate and a few of our members have chosen to leave the church.

But did we do the right thing?

I say yes because our policy favors the victims of what I see is an injustice. Some members of Christ the King are homosexual. Some members have children who are homosexual. Rebecca and I have known these people and their children for many years. They are wonderful people. When we heard homosexuals being described with words like, “unnatural”, “abomination”, “sinful”, and deviant, our hearts broke. We could never use those words to describe the people in our midst who we know and love. Yet these beautiful people had to sit in silence while some factions in our church used horrendous language to describe their sexual orientation.

We do the right thing when we speak out on behalf of the poor and oppressed.