The same can of worms ... but, it's been a while.

I was discussing female pastors with a friend, a pastor's wife, and specifically my father's reaction to the topic. Everytime my father meets a female pastor he immediately thinks they are a lesbian. I was telling her about his reaction to a specific female pastor, one that I like a lot and know my friend knows well. When dad saw her he said, "She's a dike." My friend said, "Well, she's not out of the closet, but if she was a lesbian - she'd still be the same person ... and that person is a really good pastor."

Now, I've generally been opposed to gay pastors. Some days I support it, but most I find myself opposed to it. I usually hold with the camp that says that a pastor should be a moral compass and shouldn't live in sin. Well, when my friend said that I realized that I would support this particular pastor if she was a lesbian. She's a good pastor and is effective. She wouldn't have any more sin than any of the other pastors or be in any more of a lifestyle sin than most. I've always felt that all of the arguments in favor of it were pretty weak. Now, I find myself supporting it.

My favorite bumper sticker states, "It was Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve!" I love this because it's so wrong. God made a perfect creation - one man and one woman ... and, no pain in childbirth, no need for clothing, etc. God made a perfect creation - one without homosexuality. But, Adam and Eve chose sin - and because of that we have pain in childbirth, a need for clothing, and ... Adam and Steve. Homosexuality is a sin - but it's no worse than any sin I've ever committed.

If we were honest with ourselves we would realize that to one extant or another we all live in sin. When a girl gets knocked up we make her marry the man who she had sex with. Marriages end in divorce (which God hates) so often partly because people are in lust (a sin) and not love. We have unfriendly churches, skyrocketing divorce rates, and we sin by lying about our sin. My Aunt Sharol lied to a cop to get out of a ticket and now claims she didn't (technically) lie.

My reasoning isn't that "we have so much sin why not add a little more" or that "things are so bad in the church that this won't even matter. My reasoning is that when we think the best of ourselves and the worst of others we are living in sin. When we view our sin as "less sinful" than the sin of others we blatantly lie about the nature of sin. I believe that the term "lifestyle sin" is a technicality that we have made up to insulate ourselves from the pain of viewing our own sin. We decide that a person openly living in sin is worse than when we lie about our sin so that no one needs to see how black our hearts are.

Some days my heart is pretty black. It would be pretty easy to avoid looking at my own sin by focusing on the sin of others. If we won't allow a pastor to serve because he or she is living a lifestyle of sin - well, we don't have a pastor in the conference who could continue to preach. Jesus told us to do the exact opposite - to focus on our own sin. I feel that everyone should resist the powers of sin and run into the arms of Christ - but I am thoroughly convinced that no sin will prevent a person from preaching the good news of Christ.