Hi Sarah
I looked on the website of 'The United Church of Christ' [http://www.ucc.org/index2.html ]and I found an article:
'Does God have a plan for same-sex relationships?' by Andrew G. Lang
Here's an extract:
[i]'Like all other women and men, lesbians and gays are called by God to live a life not for ourselves, but for others. We are called to covenantal relationships in which our lives correspond to the inner life of God who is self-in-community, who in God's own being is self-for-others.
'Gay and lesbian unions are covenantal relationships if they conform to this Trinitarian structure. Like heterosexual marriage and celibate community, these relationships are "schools for sinners," in which two partners learn how to live in the paradox of freedom that is unlimited precisely because it is limited by the other. The partner in a same-sex relationship is truly "other"—not through the complementarity of a man and woman, of course, but in the mutuality of two persons who in freedom choose each other and delight in being chosen. God creates these relationships because within the limits of our given sexuality we are always called out of isolation into community. Always. Always! Through these relationships we learn what it means to be truly human, to care for another as much as we care for ourselves, to learn that a life enclosed on itself is death, but a life opened to other lives is God's gift and command to those who believe.'[/i]
http://www.ucc.org/theology/acton1.htm
I think the attitude of this church and certain others is very commendable. Anything that allows for love, tolerance, kindness, etc, in a world which contains so much hatred and violence has to be commended, I think.
How does your church - and others with a more liberal attitude - get past the argument, which has been posted in other threads on homosexuality, that God, via the Bible (Leviticus & Corinthians, if I remember correctly), condemns homosexuality?
Is it, otherwise, reasonably traditional in its ways and beliefs?
Perhaps, since their argument would be that of a Christian church, it might be one that could spread to other, less liberal, Christian groups!?
