June 16, 2010
Dear Family and Friends,
“My domestic partner and I …” This gentleman, whom I call Robert, became somewhat exceedingly open after I
shared with him the need for Bibles in China, those smuggle missions, the legal printing press, and the much
improved situation in recent years. “Your domestic partner? Do you mean…you know?”
“Yes, I’m gay.” Robert looked much relieved when he responded. Unexpected, but surely a highlight of my Synod
Assembly experience. In the next hour I learnt his miserable youth and much of his adulthood as a high school
teacher when he had to hide his orientation; and his liberation after coming out of the closet. Now in his retirement,
Robert enjoys doing a few different things for his church in Long Beach.
Apart from Robert’s personal odds and joys, I also learnt something about the gay community in Long Beach, their
particular neighborhood in the city, bars and restaurants where people hook up with one anther and their special
bond in that culture. None of this may be new to you. You may even know someone from that community in your life.
What surprised me were the gay ministers he identified on the Assembly.
It almost felt like a totally unexpected tornado, like the one that hit the Minneapolis Conference Center and the huge
Central Lutheran Church next door, knocking the cross off one of its towers. Make no mistake. I am nowhere close to
anyone calling down fire from heaven. Fire and tornado are at the Divine discretion. Instead, I love, respect, and
welcome people of this orientation. As I ponder about the Pauline passage (Gal.3:23-29) for this Sunday, “there is
neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female,” I remember a pastor arguing for adding “gay nor straight”
there to contextualize the Word of God for such a diverse time and world we live in.
Bearing in mind the divine warning in Revelation 22:18, I hesitate to think of adding anything to the Bible. Instead, I
am theologically concerned. Around the social statement of sexuality and ordination of gay ministers, the “bound-
conscience” and “structured flexibility” principles surely help one claim a sincerely-held conviction about any
doctrine. Meanwhile, the truth of the Bible seemingly has been reduced to sincerely-held opinion. In the midst of this
radical shift, I cannot help but wonder about the authoritative biblical and theological guidance in the church.
I remember a wonderful line from John Stott, addressed to those of us involved in evangelical social action. We all
need to be “conservative radicals,” he said. We need to be conservative about one thing, and one thing alone: the
absolute authority of God’s Word. Once it has been put aside, “There is nothing but the social gospel,” as shouted a
voting member at the Assembly.
Prayerfully,
Pastor Frank
Dear Family and Friends,
“My domestic partner and I …” This gentleman, whom I call Robert, became somewhat exceedingly open after I
shared with him the need for Bibles in China, those smuggle missions, the legal printing press, and the much
improved situation in recent years. “Your domestic partner? Do you mean…you know?”
“Yes, I’m gay.” Robert looked much relieved when he responded. Unexpected, but surely a highlight of my Synod
Assembly experience. In the next hour I learnt his miserable youth and much of his adulthood as a high school
teacher when he had to hide his orientation; and his liberation after coming out of the closet. Now in his retirement,
Robert enjoys doing a few different things for his church in Long Beach.
Apart from Robert’s personal odds and joys, I also learnt something about the gay community in Long Beach, their
particular neighborhood in the city, bars and restaurants where people hook up with one anther and their special
bond in that culture. None of this may be new to you. You may even know someone from that community in your life.
What surprised me were the gay ministers he identified on the Assembly.
It almost felt like a totally unexpected tornado, like the one that hit the Minneapolis Conference Center and the huge
Central Lutheran Church next door, knocking the cross off one of its towers. Make no mistake. I am nowhere close to
anyone calling down fire from heaven. Fire and tornado are at the Divine discretion. Instead, I love, respect, and
welcome people of this orientation. As I ponder about the Pauline passage (Gal.3:23-29) for this Sunday, “there is
neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female,” I remember a pastor arguing for adding “gay nor straight”
there to contextualize the Word of God for such a diverse time and world we live in.
Bearing in mind the divine warning in Revelation 22:18, I hesitate to think of adding anything to the Bible. Instead, I
am theologically concerned. Around the social statement of sexuality and ordination of gay ministers, the “bound-
conscience” and “structured flexibility” principles surely help one claim a sincerely-held conviction about any
doctrine. Meanwhile, the truth of the Bible seemingly has been reduced to sincerely-held opinion. In the midst of this
radical shift, I cannot help but wonder about the authoritative biblical and theological guidance in the church.
I remember a wonderful line from John Stott, addressed to those of us involved in evangelical social action. We all
need to be “conservative radicals,” he said. We need to be conservative about one thing, and one thing alone: the
absolute authority of God’s Word. Once it has been put aside, “There is nothing but the social gospel,” as shouted a
voting member at the Assembly.
Prayerfully,
Pastor Frank
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| Columns Section: 世紀網站專欄區 世纪网站专栏区: 008-024 王浩 專欄 王浩 专栏 Pastor Frank Wang Column 作者：王浩 王浩 Pastor Frank Wang Frank's Monthly Pastoral: 2010 June 16: Special Pastoral on Authority of the Word |
