Should we really be suing the church?

I understand the argument that there is a difference between homosexual orientation and homosexual activity, although accepting this premise makes it easier to argue for a variety of sexual (and non-sexual behaviour) that many will find distasteful, or even illegal.

I have spent many an hour focused on the Biblical texts, and appreciate why gay Christians make the case for openly gay relationships. I am not convinced however; I find their arguments a case of special pleading.

But I simply cannot understand how any senior clergyman can even contemplate, let alone justify, taking the church to court because he (or she) is dissatisfied with the way they are being treated.

It has been widely reported that the current Dean of St Albans has hired an employment and discrimination law specialist, to fight his case under the Equality Act 2010, which bans discrimination on the grounds of sexuality.

Jeffrey John, the first openly gay priest to be nominated as a Church of England bishop, was forced to step down as the suffragan Bishop of Reading in 2003 after conservative evangelicals raised objections.

And two years ago, according to a leaked memo composed by a former dean of Southwark Cathedral, he was passed over as Bishop following the intervention of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York.

Church leaders have a God-given duty to teach and apply the Scriptures, and so I find it impossible to see how any church leader can wriggle his or her way out of Paul’s clear advice to some disgruntled members of the Corinthian Church.

When one of you has a dispute with another believer, how dare you file a lawsuit and ask a secular court to decide the matter instead of taking it to other believers! Don’t you realise that someday we believers will judge the world? And since you are going to judge the world, can’t you decide even these little things among yourselves? Don’t you realise that we will judge angels? So you should surely be able to resolve ordinary disputes in thislife. If you have legal disputes about such matters, why go to outside judges who are notrespected by the church? I am saying this to shame you. Isn’t there anyone in all the church who is wise enough to decide these issues? But instead, one believer suesanother right in front of unbelievers! Even to have such lawsuits with one another is a defeat for you. Why not just accept the injustice and leave it at that? Why not let yourselves be cheated?” ( 1 Corinthians 6 NLT)

Given his background the apostle knew that they were not even reaching the Jewish standard illustrated by the Rabbinic maxim “If one Israelite has a cause against another it must not be prosecuted before the Gentiles”.

And so he makes the telling point that even the best outcome will always prove to be no more than a pyrrhic victory. We have already lost the moment we institute any lawsuit, for when we take each other to court we are engaged in a form of Christian self harm!

We do better to imitate the behaviour of the Old Testament Patriarch Joseph. He was hated and overlooked, falsely accused and even forgotten by those he had helped. But Joseph remained faithful to the God who can take men’s evil and use it for our good, and even future advancement.

If we have faith in Joseph’s God then we can serve Him wherever we are, whatever the limitations confident that He will always ensure we are in the right place at the right time.

Jesus rebuked James and John on one occasion because they were seeking advancement (as well as dividing his closely knit band of disciples). He told them that they needed to see things from a totally different perspective. Greatness, he said, is not found in titles of position but in humble trust in God and selfless service of others.

Service, as someone once acutely observed, is not the route to greatness in the Kingdom of God, it is the mark of greatness itself. Church leaders of all sexual orientations would do well to remember this.