Gay minister row deepens

The Church of Scotland is in a bind just like the Anglican Church is and other ecclesial bodies. The Rev Scott Rennie is a minister who has come out as a practicing homosexual. He lives openly with a partner, having been a married man and being the father of one. Some in his church complained that they did not know of his sexuality. It all came to a head on Saturday evening, when the General Assembly in Edinburgh voted by 326 to 267 in support of Mr Rennie, who is the Church of Scotland's first openly gay minister.

Now the Kirk is split. The difficulty that the Christian Faith has is reconciling new demands with the traditional teaching of the Church that sexual relations can only be within matrimony. For Catholics, this is a sacrament, for evangelicals this is more of an ordinance. However, all are united in accepting that this is what marriage is about. A proportion of believers are prepared to accept accommodation for new beliefs in order that Christianity "may be relevant to the present day". That's a fair position, but it can never be the accepted position of all believers.

The Church of Scotland is currently deciding whether to "allow gay ministers". If they do, they will have to allow provision for those who fundamentally disagree. I am of the opinion that a church is better off with impaired communion than no communion at all. It may not be the best result but at least it accommodates diversity. None of us is without sin and we should not come to this issue from a position of triumphalism.

It's not for me to tell the Rev Scott Rennie how to conduct his life. However, I would not like him to tell me that adherence to the traditional understanding of the Faith is something to be done away with. The vast majority of Christendom stills upholds the traditional teaching. The Faith is either revealed as a whole Truth or it is a partial truth yet to be fully revealed.

As a thought, I was wondering about the woman at the well. She had had five husbands and the man she was with was not her husband. If Scott Rennie was at the well, how would he reply?