Sermon Illustrations
Same-Sex Marriage, Single Christians, and the Church
Christianity Today 's Katelyn Beaty has a fantastic article exploring a much-needed angle on same-sex marriage. Beaty claims, "Much of churches' and individual Christians' tacit acceptance and explicit support of same-sex marriage stems from this: We would hate to prevent anyone from receiving the gift of mutual, monogamous sexual companionship …. In subtle and not-so-subtle ways, perhaps local churches have acted as if monogamous sexual unions are the closest icon of heaven in this life." We assume that everyone—gay or straight—must have marriage in order to be a complete human being.
But Beaty argues, ‘Because marriage … is not a guarantee in this life, far less a fundamental right. Rather, it is a gift and a vocation, given to many but not all, it seems …. When it comes to our deepest sexual longings, none of us—married or single, gay or straight—gets what we want. But we who follow the risen Lord, an unmarried man while on this earth, get one guarantee: the promise of a new family, constituted by everyone who calls God Abba.’