MY FIRST SERMON ON HOMOSEXUALITY
Jack Cottrell – July 2015

The first time I preached a sermon on homosexuality was 42 years ago, on October 18, 1973. By that time the gay liberation movement was well under way, having begun with the Stonewall riots in June 1969. The occasion for my “sermon” was the official “coming out” program for gays at the University of Cincinnati. The theme of the program was “Gay Is Here”; the main speaker was Frank Kameny, a leading activist in the gay liberation movement. (He coined the slogan, “Gay is good,” patterned after “Black is beautiful.”) One of his talks at U.C. was entitled “Gay, Proud, and Healthy.”

On the last day of the conference a panel of “clergy” was gathered to address “The Church’s Concern for the Gay.” When the program was planned, the original three participants were a Catholic, a Protestant, and a Jew. The Catholic was the leader of an unofficial rogue organization for Catholic homosexuals. The Protestant was a Unitarian-Universalist minister. The Jew was a humanist professor from the Hebrew Union College, located just a few blocks down the street. When the campus ministers group at U.C. heard about this plan, they complained to the organizers that there should be someone on the panel who would take a genuine Biblical approach to the subject. The organizers of the conference agreed. By that time I was known as a professor of ethics at Cincinnati Christian University (then called Cincinnati Bible Seminary), so the campus ministers felt comfortable asking me to be the fourth person on that panel.

The rules were this: each member of the panel was given two minutes to make a brief statement as to how we thought the “church” could help advance the gay liberation cause. The other three participants were completely sympathetic, of course. When my turn came, I preached my first sermon on homosexuality. I preached a six-point sermon in two minutes. The gist of its content was this:

I. GOD. There is a Creator-God who is the sovereign ruler of our universe. II. LAW. As our Creator, God has given us creatures a universal law code we are expected to obey. This law code forbids homosexual activity. III. SIN. When we break any of God’s laws, we become sinners and are placed under eternal condemnation. IV. LOVE. Nevertheless, even though we are sinners, God still loves us and wants to save us from our sins. V. GRACE. In his grace God has provided a way to save us, even though it cost him his only begotten Son’s death on the cross. VI. JOY. If you will accept Jesus as your Savior and his Lordship over your lives, you will be able to exchange “gay” for joy, i.e., for true happiness for eternity.

I should point out that the audience was mostly composed of gay students and others from the gay community. I particularly remember a young man seated on the front row who was wearing a dress, a fur jacket, lipstick, and dangling feminine earrings. After I had spoken, the Q&A time began. Most of the questions were directed to me, and none of them were kind. Finally the Jewish panel member piped up and declared, “I did not come here for a revival meeting.” From that point on the questions were mostly to the other speakers. I had done what I could. I had simply wanted the audience to know the true Biblical message about homosexuality. I believe the six points of my abbreviated sermon can still accomplish that purpose.

But this was just my first sermon on homosexuality. In July 2015 I preached a second one. See the post to follow.