Today we wind up our sermon series on tough issues. Some of you might be relieved. Now I commend you on your willingness to look at these topics over the last five weeks. I know in some churches these topics would never have been the focal point of worship.

But your openness as a congregation and your willingness to look at tough issues has made this journey an adventure rather then a struggle. Having said that lets look at our final topic, same sex marriages.

Nine years ago this subject wasn’t even on anyone’s radar screen but it’s certainly a topic of discussion today. You see in the year 2000 the state of Vermont passed legislation that recognized civil unions between same-sex couples, guaranteeing them all the benefits and protections that married couples had under the law.

In the last few years five other states have joined the state of Vermont by also recognizing same sexed unions. Our neighboring state of Iowa is one of those five. In the year 2006 our national congress enacted the Defense of Marriage Act which barred the federal government from recognizing same sex marriages and allows states to do the same. Currently 41 states have used that federal law to established state laws by banning same sex marriages. Our state of Wisconsin is one of those 41 states.

This law also allowed states to formally define the word marriage and in our state as well as the other 40 states not recognizing same sex unions, marriage is defined as a union between a man and a woman. So a quick look at the facts suggest that most people in our country and most states are against same sex marriages.

The reasons might vary as to why this is so, but by far the biggest reason is that most believe that marriage is a covenant solely reserved for a man and a women. Well how about civil unions between same sex adults? Although statistics indicate that most in our country are also against this, there does seem to be a bit of an openness among some in recognizing civil unions as long as these unions are not called marriage. Well that’s the basic facts and predominant thoughts on this issue, but what does God’s scripture say about same sex marriages? It is probably no surprise to see that scripture says absolutely nothing about same sex marriage but scripture does talk a lot about marriage and when it does it always talks about it in the context of a man and a woman.

Our two scriptures that we read in the worship service are an example of that. Although Paul felt it was best for people to stay single, largely because he thought that the world was soon coming to an end with the return of Jesus, Paul none the less acknowledges in his letter to the church at Corinth that marriage does have its place in life. He also acknowledges that marriage was between and man and a woman.

In our scripture from Matthew Jesus also affirmed marriage as having a role in life. Like Paul, Jesus also acknowledged that marriage was between a man and a woman. Not only did Jesus affirm marriage but Jesus also made it very clear to everyone that from the beginning marriage was God’s plan for how a man and a woman were to live together. They were to live as one unit, one flesh.

So both Jesus and Paul affirm marriage, placing it squarely in the context of a man and a woman. Now we know that homosexuality was present in Jesus and Paul’s days. Jesus says nothing about it, but Paul speaks out against it. So when we look at the testimony of scripture, when we see marriage always being talked about as a man and a woman and when we consider Paul’s words condemning homosexuality I think we can safely infer that the Bible would not support same sex marriage.

So when we consider the biblical testimony and the current social voice of wisdom and thought we find both of these resources echoing the same view, and that view is that marriage is for a man and a woman, rather than two persons of the same sex. But what about experience? What does this resource say? Well as we discovered throughout this sermon series, with just one exception, which was last week’s topic, experience is diverse and ambiguous.

I’m sure you can find gay individuals who extol the idea of gay marriage and you will find those who are opposed to it. You will no doubt find family members of gay couples who support marriage and you will find family members of gay couples who are against it. Clearly we know that as a whole, society is generally against the idea of gay couples marrying. Most clergy would also fall into that same group. Yet there are some clergy who will welcome the opportunity to marry a gay couple.

So when it comes to the resource of experience, once again we see a wide diversity. Some people are against gay marriage but favor some kind of uniting ceremony or civil union as long as it’s not called marriage, while others would be against that as well.

So where am I on this issue? Well I do not favor gay marriages and of course would never participate in one. When it comes to civil unions I’m still thinking about that, but even here I know that I would not participate in a civil union if asked. You see I was asked once, many years ago, to perform a unity ceremony for two women and respectfully declined.

It wasn’t easy to tell these two women that I could not do a service for them, because personally I liked them. They were both retired nurses in the Army, each carried the rank of Cornal. So we also had that in common. They also loved sports I liked that about them too. They were really active in the church, and in general were just wonderful people. But despite liking them, I could not marry them because to do so would go against my own personal beliefs as well as the beliefs of our denomination. By the way, they understood and respected my decision and continued to remain a strong part of our church and I think they reacted this way largely because they knew that I and others in our congregation were not condemning them because of their life style, but simply disagreeing with it. There is a difference you know.

You can disagree with someone’s life style choices, and but you don’t have to condemn them or stop loving them.

And perhaps this is the most appropriate faith response we can make as a church to this issue. Don’t judge, don’t condemn those who would like to be married to someone of the same sex, it is not your place to judge them, it’s Gods. But also don’t feel badly if you disagree with that kind of life style, because the majority of people in our country and in God’s church stand along side of you, also choosing not to affirm gay marriage.

So don’t judge and don’t be afraid to disagree, perhaps this is the most appropriate faith response to this social issue. I don’t know where you are when it comes to this topic, but I do hope that as you reflect on this issue you will do so prayerfully and intelligently making use of the helpful resources that God provides you in life.

Well, we are done. Our journey looking at tough issues is over. Where we go from here remains to be seen but I do hope that you will continue to join us each Sunday in worship as we look at issues that are fun and relevant to our call to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Amen