Pastoral e-Note July 2 2015

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Dear Friends in Christ, I received an interesting question by email this week. I asked Katherine Orr's permission to share it with you, along with my reply. She was gracious to give me permission. I share it with you as a pastoral response to living in a 5-4 culture. Here is her question:

Dear Pastor, I know that you said you will be looking at pastoring in a 5-4 world later this week, but I had a question related to that. I know that in the 4 Gospels, Jesus does not mention homosexuality, but it is mentioned in the Old and New Testaments. I am not sure where I fall on the spectrum of this debate. I tend to search in the Gospels first, but do not always feel comfortable looking in what Paul says (I sometimes have issues with Paul). So my question is; can the Gospels only inform my decision? Am I being narrowminded and shortsighted for only looking in the Gospels? Katherine Orr (My Response) Dear Katherine, I'd like to respond by first of all saying that I believe in the primacy of Scripture. The Bible is the primary source of revelation and truth. "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." I believe the Holy Scriptures are able to bring about encounter with God, understanding about humanity and instruction in our living. It has an authority about it for the faithful, but it is not authoritative. We do not worship the book of God. We worship the God of the book. Wesley


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Pastoral e-Note July 2 2015 by Brentwood United Methodist Church - Issuu