The church navigating on pink waves
Introduction
This article is based on a PhD thesis with the subject: gay liberation and ecclesiology (ecclesiology is the teaching of what the church should look like, how it should be organised etc.).
This combination has an emphasis that
differs from the usual "church and homosexuality
articles". Instead of the church making homosexuality
problematical, roles have been switched now: the gay liberation
movement makes the prevailing way of being church to a problem.
The central question of this study is therefore: which
contribution could gay theology offer to ecclesiology (the way
the church should function) ?
The origin of homosexuality
On basis of research in the fields of cultural anthropology and social history this study concludes that the concept of "homosexuality" is determined within a context, which came into existence in Western Culture, in the second halve of the nineteenth century. In this context relations between persons of the same sex need not imply a homosexual nature. The development of a separate category "homosexuality" turned out to be a tool to control and regulate the relations among persons of the same sex, but gave simultaneously momentum to their emancipation.
Having made an analysis of essentialist and
constructivist positions the author declares himself in favour of
the constructivist approach, which does not consider
homosexuality a transcultural and transhistorical constant, but a
social-historical resultant. Both on historical grounds (gay
identity is not only a creation of physicians) and viewed from
the present situation (the heterosexual dominance), the
denouncement of a gay identity is not desirable. However, the
author does not regard gay identity as a essential personal
characteristic, but more as an expression of a social position.
Understood this way, gay identity has an emancipatory function,
fighting the norm of heterosexuality.
Queership as a programme
Having studied the gay/queer movement, the author comes with his own definition of queership as a programme. The contents of this programme are determined by two factors. First, through the individualisation of both the aversion to gays and homosexuality itself, two opposite identities came about in our society, defining themselves by rejecting the other identity. Gay liberation will consequently not only mean "a place under the sun" for homosexuals, but liberation from homosexuality, a breaking through this individualisation.
The other factor is the intertwinement of
sexuality and gender. Binary thinking in terms of maleness and
femaleness will soon lead to "forced heterosexuality".
The liberation of homosexuality is thus a matter of breaking down
the prevailing codes of male and female attitudes as well. This
lead to a definition of queership as: a programme to set oneself
free from all obligatory forms of sexuality and fixed gender
roles. A queer is anyone (apart from gender or sexual
preferences) who binds oneself to this programme (this means your
grandmother can be "queer" too !).
Queer theology
The struggle for liberation in the past by the poor, the black, by women and gays has its consequences for the ecclesiology. Class distinctions and poverty, racism, sexism and aversion to gays are not "only" ethical questions (as many church leaders say) but they affect the heart of the church.
Sadly many churches reproduce the prevailing social relations and often theologically legitimises them too. This has to do with power. The ruling structures are the ruler's interest but the powerless and the marginalized have increasingly claimed their rights within society and church.
New forms of church life grew from the making of dominating ecclesiology to a problem: basic Christian communities or a church of the poor, a politically committed black church devoted to the abolishment of the church life based on racial distinction, and a women's church. All these are examples of people rediscovering the meaning of "being church": a community of equals, where the social structures that marginalize people on the bases of class, race or sex, are not reproduced.
Within all these examples there is room for thinking that includes others: room for non-poor making matter of the poor their own business, for whites who adopt the conditions of being black, and for men who identify themselves with women. The final prospect is the renewal of the whole church, without separatism.
These examples show similarities with queer
theology: making the prevailing ecclesiology to a problem,
because this reproduces and legitimises the social hetero
dominance in the church, new forms of being church come into
existence: gay-churches, groups for service, reflection and
action, a church that commits itself to queership. The author
opts for an inclusive ecclesiology, for a church committed to the
programme of queership and thus transcends the distinction
between homo and hetero.
Ecclesiology through pink-coloured glasses
Eschatology (the future of God) precedes
ecclesiology. There are points of conflict in the area between
the Kingdom of God and our world, here the appeal of God's
Kingdom comes to us: the appeal of victims. Gay liberation is
such a basic point of conflict, where the essential questions of
humankind are put forward on an existential level. The church, as
the ecclesia, is called on to listen to God's appeal, as this
resounds when the appeal of victims of social conflicts is made.
Listening to gays, the church can interpret their experiences in
the light of the Gospel. In the author's view gay liberation can
be interpreted as liberation by and from God, as an aperitif
before the future and complete salvation.
The Church is like a (gay)bar
God gives us right now "appetisers" of the future salvation in His church. In that way you can say that the church is a sort of "bar" where people can taste, drink on the coming glory ! Isn't that what we do when we celebrate the Lord's Supper ? We drink on our future salvation.
One of the appetisers God is serving is gay liberation, this is an appetiser of Gods Kingdom to come. Why ? Because gay liberation heals people, it gives wholeness, reconciliation with the deepest longings, it opens up the way to find happiness, it makes it possible to give and receive love, to become the person God wants you to be. Liberation of homosexuality can help all people to transcend the boundaries of heterosexuality and homosexuality.
Gay people have a place in the church not because they meet the criteria but because it pleases the Lord to call gays to his Church.
Queership as a way to reconciliation
Since 1900 there is a dividing wall between homo's and hetero's. A dividing wall means enmity because people define themselves in terms of rejection and boundaries: "I am not gay". Because of this others have to say: "I am gay". Behind this dividing wall is the wall between femaleness and maleness from which the compulsion to heterosexuality emerges.
In the early tradition of the Church reconciliation in the body of Christ was also focused on the dividing wall between maleness and femaleness (Gal. 3:28).
This wall still stands in our day's where gay people feel the struggle with the hetero-drill in their bodies. The first necessity is to reconcile with your own homosexual feelings, the victory over the enmity against yourself. Many people don't succeed in this and live without reconciliation with themselves, God and others. The not-being- reconciled with your own feelings can easily lead to homophobia and homo-aversion.
With their bodies gay people are ambassadors of reconciliation. They know what it means not to "become like the world" (Rom. 12:2) for the world with its dividing-wall between man and woman, homo and hetero will soon be gone (1 Cor. 7:31).
This leads often to suffering because the status quo feels threatened.
But the only way to believe in the One who
brings salvation, is to walk the way of salvation. Therefor gay
people have to remind the church to her call to be a
reconciliation-community. The dividing walls should be demolished
(Ef 2:14). In Christ antagonisms have been overcome, in Him is
neither men and women, homo and hetero (Gal 3:28). In a way the
church should be a resocialization-community: a place for
liberation and change, a place where one is not defined by one's
gender and sexual preference. Instead the church often reproduces
the social boundaries or in the case of homosexuality even
legitimises its suppression.
Baptism, Holy communion and the mission of the church
Through "pink eyes" a baptised person is no longer a slave of the way sexuality and maleness and femaleness are organised in our society. Those receiving baptism are incorporated into the familia Dei (familiy of God), through which the meaning of the family is reinterpreted.
At the Holy communion it could well be that gays in particular present the figure in which Christ comes to us at the Holy Table. Here church discipline must have its place. Those who violate the community by driving a wedge between homo and hetero, will finally place themselves outside the community.
The mission of the church is directed
towards the conflict areas in society. The ones in office are
"earesdroppers" (overhearing, listening out for the
victims' appeal) and "catamites" (which keep alive the
awareness of a different lifestyle, which may be a skandalon
to the world). The appeal of gays has to do with the unity of
humanity, which belongs to the coming of the Kingdom of God and
which is essential. Commitment to queership may jeopardise an
existing "unity" (which rests upon and in disunity) but
accepting dividing walls within the church is the end of the
church as a reconciliation-community.
Summary and adaptation of the (Dutch) PHD thesis of Dr. S.H. Lanser:
Het schip der kerk op roze golven, over
homobevrijding en ecclesiologie.
Narratio, Gorinchem The Netherlands, 1999
