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Touch, Untouchability and Change: Chris Fewings

One of the delights of Lay Anglicana is the length and thoughtfulness of the comments people leave, and their willingness to enter into debate. A question that has been raised recently is why on earth the Church of England and the Anglican Communion is putting so much energy into debating same-sex relationships. Aren’t there more important issues to think about, like worshipping God, preaching the good news, and feeding the hungry?

Falling in love, sexual desire and living with a partner are such an important part of most people’s lives that it’s not surprising we make them pretty central, especially in a religion which proclaims that God became human. And it isn’t just a private matter for the couple, which is why we celebrate weddings in church.

The body of believers and believers’ bodies

But church is a response of the whole body of Christ to God, so it doesn’t focus on coupling – we go to church to be one with everyone (however fleetingly and imperfectly), not primarily with our partners. So why is the church busying itself so much with what goes on in the bedroom?

Church and society have always acknowledged the power of sex to bind people in life-giving relationships and to harm. The majority, perhaps the vast majority, once thought that having sexual relationships with your own sex was harmful – and so abhorrent that we shouldn’t even talk about it. And men like Benjamin Britten who were happily settled with a male partner certainly wouldn’t have wanted to draw attention to their illegal acts.

Times have changed, and churches are wrestling internally to provide an appropriate response which takes account of all the treasures we’ve received from scripture and tradition. Meanwhile, many gay Christians feel they are ostracised, or second-class citizens, or feel such a conflict between what they are taught and what feels like a God-given love that they live miserable lives, cut off from family and friends. If we have a mission to the outcast, what can we offer here?

Shouting down homophobia

In my wandering around blogs and comments on them in the last few months to try to make sense of the churches’ stances on homosexuality, I’ve sometimes wondered about those who are shouting down ‘homophobia’ of various kinds. They often paint a picture of intolerant religions and a tolerant society. But when I was a young child, male homosexual acts were criminal. A friend in a previous generation married to avoid being outed. Even in the eighties, the Sun screamed “Gay Plague” at people infected with HIV/AIDS. In the early nineties, no Conservative politician could admit to being gay. All this had very little to do with religion. If there’s a 21st-century broad secular consensus that loving the same gender sexually is entirely normal, it’s new (and of course homophobic bullying is still rife in schools).

I suspect that the majority of people (including many lesbian, gay and bisexual people, to their great cost) in Great Britain over 40 or 50 will have grown up with

  • the feeling that gay sex was distasteful if not abhorrent
  • an assumption that it was second-best or even wrong .

I imagine that many people, religious or otherwise, who now bang on about gay rights have, like me, reached this position gradually, perhaps with some soul-searching or careful study. I notice in myself (as a heterosexual man who has never had a gay relationship) a desire to side with the underdog and to be seen as being on the right side and appreciated for it. It’s a short step from this to launching an attack on ‘the other side’ – those who believe what I once believed! Admitting how late and how slowly I came to what I believe now doesn’t quite fit.

Have you changed your mind? How did that happen?

We need to hear something of the stories of people (especially Christians) like me who have changed or are changing their minds. What happened? Did re-examining the Bible help? Did you take a fresh look at tradition? Did a particular book enlighten you? What role did those close to you play? Have you ever felt an attraction to your own sex? What are your emotional reactions to different kinds of touching? What, if anything, do you find repellent? It’s all your own business of course, but sharing some of it privately or publicly might help us all understand each other better.

It would be good to hear to from those who have looked into the issue deeply and kept broadly the same opinion. And from those whose approach is to show compassion to people they see as sinners – what form does that compassion take? Have they imaginatively entered into the other person’s experience of falling in love, or of rejection?

Stories

My gradual change of mind came first, my sporadic crusading zeal much later – the latter was inspired by the stories of two or three people who are close to me. I realised their pain, and recognised the difference between generously ‘allowing’ people to be gay and actively celebrating it. I think we all need to hear – really hear – stories from LGBT and queer people, Christians and others, particularly seekers who have felt turned away by the church. Stories of rejection and struggle, but above all stories of ordinary relationships, kitchen sink and Hollywood sunset.

We need to hear stories of relationships which have gone wrong too, even from people who feel they have been damaged by consenting same-sex relationships. We need to hear from people who find all sex distasteful, and from those who feel their relationships don’t fit into any easy category. We need to suspend judgment and listen, and notice our own reactions before we voice them. If we want to judge sin, first we must enter fully into the costly compassion of Christ.

I hope to hear a little of your story in the comments to this page, and am happy to share a little of mine there too. Links to other relevant stories (online, in film, or books) could also be helpful.

 

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Illustration from Wikimedia, downloaded under CCL. Saints Sergius and Bacchus. 7th Century icon. Officers of the Roman Army in Syria who were tortured to death for their refusal to worship Roman gods.
Bacchus is thought to have died from severe torture while Sergius survived the initial torture to be beheaded. They are the protectors of the Byzantine Army with a feast day of October 7th.
Yale historian John Boswell considers the saints to be an example of an early Christian same-sex union reflective of tolerant early Christians attitudes toward homosexuality based on this icon depecting what some claim is a religious wedding with Jesus as best man and still surviving writings

 

 

 

 

 

22 comments on this post:

Keith Jillings said...
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That does seem to be the trend. When I was young, homosexuality was very much in hiding, illegal, and would make life pretty miserable in most places.

One of my daughter’s friends, a very likeable person, “came out” about ten years ago, and was almost disowned by her parents. We realised that she was exactly the same person she had always been – but no longer living a lie. That made us do some rapid and serious heart-searching!

Theology didn’t help at that stage, but some very wise friends did. “Judge not!” was the operative point. Sadly, the churches weren’t ready for that (maybe still aren’t) but her desire for God’s love and the Gospel are undimmed.

I’m not sure the law should interpose itself into individual’s consciences such that Christian hotel-keepers can’t choose who they will or will not welcome, or Christian registrars choose who they will or will not marry. If most hoteliers, registrars, adoption agencies will serve LGBT folks, it’s a tad inquisitional to force some out of business for following their consciences.

Why not “both … and” rather than “either-or”?

Chris Fewings said...
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Thank you Keith. I guess the question about hoteliers etc is a bit different if you believe that being gay is just part of what some people are, not a choice – a bit like being a woman, or black.

I agree totally that ‘Judge not’ is a pivotal message that often doesn’t seem to be heard.

Joyce said...
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My own story about this matter is rather prosaic and possibly fairly typical. Nothing exciting,certainly. I was in my teens and at work when the bill to legalise homosexual acts between consenting adults in private in England and Wales was before Parliament.I like your expression about the instinct to side with the underdog. In those days everybody I knew felt sorry,theoretically at least,for homosexuals in general – with the exception of those who were corrupters of youth and thus deserved Hell – because they suffered if anybody found out.
It was fashonable in the sixties to make jokes about politics and items in the news : “Christine Keeler had a splinter in a very personal place. The doctor said,’What do you expect ? You’ve had a whole cabinet up there.'”
“George Brown asked the Prime Minister what to do about the homosexual behaviour bill. Harold told him to pay it.”
I don’t recall discussions more serious than the latter joke. Possibly the men I worked with didn’t talk about it in front of girls.
I’d been to a ‘bog-standard’ state school where we learned in R.I. that scripture told us that the only acceptable physical sexual relationships were those within marriage. We took it that everybody else had to control themselves because the Bible said bodies were temples of the Holy Spirit.I’ve never thought otherwise.
Sexuality, as opposed to sexual behaviour, was to my generation and to those who brought us up,nobody else’s business. Desire in itself still seems to me to be no sin. Behaviour only is right or wrong.
I still believe that one person’s choice to obey or disobey the Word of God is only anyone else’s business if it impinges on the well-being of others. Sin or righteousness is otherwise between oneself and God.
Although in practice I knew a handful of homosexual men, all of whom were perfectly decent blokes who’d not hurt a fly,( I have never knowingly met a lesbian ) I believed firmly until I was approaching my sixties that homosexual acts were as sinful as adultery or fornication. I also thought there must be something wrong with the mental make-up of anyone who desired to mate with their own sex : if sexuality is a fundamental part of our personality,then if it’s distorted,much else about a homosexual person must be,I decided.
A few changes made me view things somewhat differently. One of these was getting the internet and listening to Dr Laura Schlessinger every day. She is ‘the real Frasier Crane’ and I heard of her through talking to American Frasier fans on the internet.
She is Jewish and takes a traditional moral stance about marriage,especially insofar as the wellbeing of children is concerned.She thinks women should ‘get out of Dodge’ for instance,if their husbands are violent or dangerous and not keep children in the situation.
She has enemies who continue to spread the rumour that she is anti-gay.I can’t imagine what they hope to achieve. I have heard her every day for nearly twelve years and the truth is the opposite. The way she counselled gays who rang in,talking to them about relationships and religious issues in the same way as she did with other callers made me reconsider my own attitude. Her straightforward responses such as ‘Go to another church’ or ‘Your mother already knows’or even ‘Meeting the love of your life does not give you the right to abandon your children’ were given totally unequivocally.When she set up her own broadcasting service last year she mentioned that one of the reasons she’d done so was that more and more radio station executives were threatening to stop taking her show if she continued what they called ‘talking to gays as if they were human beings’. Dare I say ‘Only in America’ ?
Another consideration for me was that civil partnerships came in in UK. In this country we regard civil marriages as sacredly binding as church ones, so it occurred to me that civilly-partnered same-sex couples should not be regarded as committing fornication.
I’ve never been infuenced by a few Bible verses here and there out of context being used to condemn homosexual acts in particular.
On the internet I came across a number of LGBT people in the USA who said they weren’t accepted in their B and M churches. I don’t believe anyone should be rejected by a church unless they are carrying an infectious disease,smell so badly they disturb concentration,or distract the congregation by disruptive or drunken behaviour. So that stimulated my side-with-the-underdog attitude. I found myself echoing Dr Laura with ‘Then go to another church’ while wondering to myself why they’d told anybody.
Last but not least although these things have been in no particular order, I heard Rev. Richard Haggis on The Moral Maze.There was what Dr Laura calls a real man. No wimp this,but someone fully prepared to put his money where his mouth was.He was going to get a civil partnership at the expense of his career. Since he turned up in i-church not long after I joined I’ve chatted to him almost every day. What a preacher, what a brain !
I’ve never been one to set a great deal of store by what The Church says. I care a bit but don’t base decisions on it. I read the Bible for myself and make up my own mind. If I ask a clergyman for clarification of scripture it’s because his Greek is better than mine or I believe he is more theologically erudite,not because somebody poured oil over him once. That’s probably why I’m still CofE.

Chris Fewings said...
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Thank you for this very full account Joyce – I think stories like this may help different generations understand each other a little better. It seems that hearing about the experiences and feelings of gay people directly from them (on the radio and on the net) has had quite an impact on your attitudes.

UKViewer said...
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Joyce,

That’s just brilliant.

22 September 2012 10:14
22 September 2012 09:48
22 September 2012 01:34
18 September 2012 19:37
18 September 2012 15:29
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Looking deep, drinking deep, gasping for air.

Let me tell my story. I´ll try and keep it brief. I always loved God. I felt God. I didn´t talk about God, although I went to Church, Summer Camp, etc…God was a customized God for me. I knew the best of everything I felt was Godgiven, nobody told me, I knew. I felt glee. I ran in the Sun, I loved the rain and I built Snow Men and Forts in the Winter. Lilacs blooming in the Spring made me wildly happy…they still do.

Thanks be to God.

I was a child. I began to know me, but I didn´t understand me. I was cautious, I bit my fingernails and had secret longings although I don´t remember being too afraid of others because I had friends and played fearlessly…careful is what I was. I was different. Why? That was hard to figure out. I was as different as different could be for a boy child not-growing-into full-fledged ¨normal¨ heterosexuality. I liked being me, yet, I had to be wary of ¨thems.¨ I didn´t want them to humiliate me. I was artistic, I was creative. I didn´t want them to know ¨secrets¨ about me. When forced, at school/beyond, I would say whatever it was I thought they wanted me to say, ¨to be¨ like them…I always tried to figure out what was ¨expected¨ of me. I discovered how to be the real me secretly and leaped and danced in my living room when no one was home except me. Sometimes others helped me discover me. I felt some shame, but I needed to survive, I wanted to be alive…so, I did what I had to do and wrote my own rulebook…I lived in and out of denial.

I went to College. I hid more and drank lots but, alas, I went to school in the San Francisco Bay area in California. I got lucky. I sometimes climbed out of my Fraternity House window to pursue discovering the sexual nature in me. I met others who were as secretive as me. We had fun and we sometimes had our own parties…secretly.

Bishop James Pike/California was a bit of a renegade at the time…he made sense to me…there seemed to be room for a person like me who thought differently about Christianity and how ¨to be.¨ Breathing room, literally…I gulped it down, and ran for cover, thanking God for helping me ¨be¨ me.

At the age of 35 I was drinking on my living room floor. It was a solo cocktail party in the middle of the night. I was miseable, my escape mechanism wasn´t working for me. My two Cocker Spaniels were keeping me company. I wanted to kill myself because even with support and acceptance from people like me, I felt embarrassed and awkward about being me. I thought I was losing my mind. I knew that anyone who I would want to love, wouldn´t want me…I´d become a drunk and I had drifted away from the innermost loving part of the authentic me. I felt ugly. I felt hard. I was hanging on by a thread to my soul.

Then, I felt God inside of me and yelled out for God to ¨take this away¨ from me. God did. I went to bed. Gradually, year after year, I tried to nurture the authentic in me, I had help for recovering folks who were like me. I moved away from feeling guilty, ugly and self-loathing. It worked I discovered how to be ¨free¨ of feared ¨rejection¨, by me and others, the shame fell away…I learned how to stand up, look you in the eye and be the authentic me that God created me to be. That´s what God wanted from me. Authenticity.

This is a true story and it´s almost 34 years later as I write this…my last night drinking/twisting was December 13, 1978.

I request EQUALITY for me and people like me.

Chris Fewings said...
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Your story reminds me a little bit of the autobiography of H.A.Williams, Some Day I’ll Find You. He was an Anglo-Catholic priest whose life ground to a complete halt (in the early 1950s I think) because he was denying the existence of his own homosexual impulses. As I remember the story, he could scarcely move from his room for several weeks. Eventually he found a psychotherapist who helped him come to terms with himself (he carried on seeing him for 18 years). As he recovered, he began incorporating his new psychological insights into his preaching at Cambridge, and later the sermons were published in the book True Wilderness because they rang true for so many people. He didn’t touch on the subject of his homosexuality in public or in his writing for decades, but his experience of facing repression in the light of his faith led him to explore areas which many Christians needed to explore.

His autobiography was one of the books which helped me see gay Christians differently.

19 September 2012 17:11
18 September 2012 22:50
Richard Haggis said...
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I’ve never been all that sure about Professor Boswell’s stuff. When you read it, you feel he’s finding what he wanted to find, and there isn’t enough evidence to argue against it (nor for it, really).

But it’s certainly true that we change our stances. I was very anti-gay as a teenager, for the simple reason that that is what I knew I was and I didn’t want to be. I wanted to get married and have children, like everyone else. Love put an end to both the hostility, and the other dream, although I’m married now, but in a different way from the one I’d envisaged. Probably too old for children. There comes a point when you realise that you are comfortable enough with who you are that it really doesn’t matter how other people live, because you’re living what you’ve chosen, and so are they. I don’t mean in the biological basics of sexuality, which I think are largely genetic, but in terms of partners, and social networks, and the various senses of belonging. For my father’s sake, I didn’t invite my cousins to our wedding, although they all invited me to theirs, but when we started talking about these things, they said they’d all known for years, and it was no big deal. Even one of my father’s uncles sent us a contribution to the wedding day, and told my father he was “a silly sod” for not attending. If we’re spared, perhaps we can make amends with a 10th anniversary party in a few years.

Chris Fewings said...
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I haven’t read John Boswell’s books – what I’ve read about the ‘brothering’ Orthodox church ceremonies which he makes much of made me think that in some cases they may have been used as a quiet pastoral way of affirming partnerships which went beyond spiritual brotherhood.

I hope you are spared! The story of how your father’s attitude stopped you even finding out the response of the wider family is a sad one.

19 September 2012 17:24
19 September 2012 00:47
John said...
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I joined the Church of England in the mid-1970s BECAUSE it was an open and welcoming church which knew I was gay and living with a partner, the parish welcomed us and included us in every possible way. In the early 60s and 70s the Church was a real haven of understanding in a world of bigotry and hatred… a place of sanctuary in troubled times. The Church and churchpeople were also very much at the forefront of campaigns to change the laws of the land. After the laws were changed it took decades for movement from mere legality to equality to have any real meaningful effect on the day to day life of gay people; harassment by police, army and other institutions remained at a very high level and commonplace. And through this period of change Church remained for me a haven of welcome and inclusiveness. I realise I was fortunate in this regard not all of Church was so welcoming and others will tell tales of horror and rejection by followers of Christ. My own experience in the liberal catholic side of Anglicanism was nothing but supportive. I was loved and accepted by my family, friends and by my church, and this allowed me to cope with the discrimination elsewhere.
How on earth has the Church managed in 40-50years to move from being, in my experience, the one institution that offered acceptance and love to same sex couples to being the one institution (and an institution of State) that discriminates against them and does so with impunity from the laws of the land. Imagine the Church being left behind by the Police and the Armed Forces in matters of, love, nurture, inclusion and equality! Who would have believed it 40 years ago? Where to now?

Chris Fewings said...
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I wonder if you were very fortunate in the particular churches you attended? Were all ‘liberal catholic’ congregations and clergy so welcoming then?

Perhaps the biggest change has been from a “don’t ask, don’t tell” culture to a new era where gay people and others want their loving relationships to be equally affirmed and celebrated – an era where people are in general much less secretive about sexual experiences and their emotions.

John said...
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Chris I was indeed very fortunate and I thank God for the gift of that experience, which has been similar in the handful of parishes I have attended through the years… not all liberal catholic. I cry and rage for those who have not had similar experience of God or Church. I am accepting of my sexuality and believe it to be God given but I also believe it is only one part of the complex equation of who I am before God. I have never felt rejected by God, my parents, my siblings, my friends or my church at the parish or personal level. But recently I and many others have felt considerably unloved and rejected by the institutional part of my Church as it struggles with issues of human sexuality.

John said...
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BTW did anyone else notice the cool over the ear headphones Ss Bacchus and Sergius are wearing around their necks. Do you think they have some early Ipod under their togas? Early fashion icons?

20 September 2012 22:07
19 September 2012 22:36
19 September 2012 17:32
19 September 2012 09:55
UKViewer said...
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I like you, spent my early adult life where homosexual acts were illegal. I also came from a Roman Catholic background, where such acts were (and remain) a mortal sin.

I joined the Army, where for the first 30 years of my service, even though civil law had been amended, the services actively discriminated against homosexuals through forbidding it. Being found out, meant either disciplinary action (Court Martial) or administrative action to terminate your service. Basically, you were sacked or discharged against your will.

I would say that on the whole, my views on someone being gay, were completely ambivalent to something that I had no experience off and ignorance probably means that I didn’t really care one way or another, but just followed the policy which was anti-gay and discriminatory. By this time, I had long abandoned religion and any prejudice that I might have had for or against it all.

The services justified their position as for reasons of operational efficiency. The believed that straight personnel wouldn’t want to serve alongside someone who was gay? An assumption because nobody was openly gay, so how would they know?

In the late 1980’s, one or two brave ex-servicemen and women, took the MoD to the European Courts of human rights on this and other legacy issues such as servicewomen being paid less than their male counterparts.

An example of the equal pay issue were restrictions on females from certain jobs because the perception was that their physical strength or physiology was inferior to male and that they wouldn’t be able to cope with certain jobs. Which has subsequently been demonstrated as wrong. The other proposition was that where males and females were in combat situations, the males would be over protective towards the females to the detriment of the overall team performance.

Generals, Admirals and Air Marshalls serving and retired had managed to convince the government of the day for years that they were right. Retired officers wrote to the times and used the Old Boy net to influence decision making to maintain the status quo.

In the end, the MoD lost both cases had to pay substantial compensation to hundreds who had been discriminated against over many years. It was obliged to rethink it’s whole policy and culture on gender and sexuality The announcement that Gays would be allowed was met with threats from many senior people that they would resign rather than serve alongside them.

In the event, it all just went quiet. Nobody resigned and a new culture entered the services. In 1999 I was sent on an Equality and Diversity Officers course, which changed me profoundly. I learned so much about my own culture and prejudices that I was astonished and ashamed that I could have thought or acted in such ways. I was totally converted and perhaps became a zealot in this respect. I made every effort to change culture, starting with commanding officers down to the most Junior Ranks. I briefed recruits on entry and was involved in policy direction, implementation and extensive E&D training for the following 10 years. So, I point to 1999 as the Defence Academy where I experienced the sea change that changed my culture and attitude to all sorts of discrimination.

When I became a Christian in 2008, everything fell into place. The things that I had taught on a secular course, suddenly matched the Christian ethics and values that I now espoused. So, to find that the Church discriminated (lawfully?) in gender and sexuality, was bit of a culture shock. I anticipated that Roman Catholics hadn’t changed (and I was correct in that thesis) but I couldn’t understand the CofE view on the matter. And, I have to admit that I can’t accept that part of their theology or policy. I wrote as much in a paper on the ‘Issues of Human Sexuality’ document I was required to respond to during the Pre-BAP, discernment process. I accepted that for the moment this was the Churches position, but I didn’t have to agree with it and that I would actively work to change it.

That remains my position. I responded to the government consultation on Gay Marriage positively and found the CofE official statement both weak, confusing and theologically flawed.

If the two greatest commandments are your start point, the Churches position is unsafe and illogical.

Chris Fewings said...
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A fascinating story – I guess not many of us would have expected the army to be the source of such enlightenment!

The Church of England position is much more difficult to understand than the Roman Catholic one because it seems so inconsistent.

19 September 2012 17:37
19 September 2012 12:24
Chris Fewings said...
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On Twitter, Stephen Heard drew my attention to an article by vicar Dave Tomlinson, who describes himself as ‘post evangelical’ – it includes a brief account of his daughter’s coming out. Mainly he’s proposing that the underlying meaning of the Bible is what matters: God is love and those who live in love live in God and God lives in them.

A couple of quotes:

“I believe that the arc of the gospel is bent toward inclusiveness.”

“But Peter needed courage to follow the arc of the gospel, the trajectory of the Spirit, to confront his own prejudices and those of his friends and colleagues. And today we need similar courage to confront the discrimination of our friends and colleagues in the church.”

http://www.davetomlinson.co.uk/be-proud-of-who-god-made-you/

19 September 2012 19:37
Dorothy said...
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This is a great book (yes I am biased as the author is a friend of mine) about coming out in the Anglican Church in New Zealand. People tell their stories. They are varied, as people and their experiences are varied.
http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Outspoken-Liz-Lightfoot/9781877578083

Chris Fewings said...
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Thanks Dorothy.

Here’s the description of the book Dorothy links to:

“‘Outspoken’ [by Liz Lightfoot] presents the narratives of eleven people who have come out in the Anglican Church in New Zealand, including two ordained church members. The author has written a general introduction, plus an introduction to each individual story and reflections on it. This book closes with a Postscript that discusses truth and the Church; community, belonging and rejection; ideas about hell and damnation; the theology of denial; and, the implications and ramifications of the ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ approach. The author notes that ‘People’s lives are sacred ground and the area of sexuality is one where people are arguably at their most vulnerable’. She hopes that this research will contribute to community building within the Anglican Church.”

‘People’s lives are sacred ground’…

20 September 2012 12:39
19 September 2012 22:36
Phil Groom said...
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For me it’s also been a journey: conservative evangelical upbringing with a “Gay? No way!” view of sexuality. But down the years I’ve got to know a number of gay people and discovered that contrary to all the prejudices my upbringing gave me, they’re perfectly normal people. So I’ve asked myself, what’s with the anti-same-sex stuff in the Bible? My conclusion: it’s all about faithfulness.

God loves faithfulness. That’s the overriding context, the central message of scripture from beginning to end — from Adam & Eve’s betrayal of God’s trust in Eden through to Judas’ betrayal of Jesus in Gethsemane, and everywhere in the Law, the Histories and the Prophets, right through the New Testament letters into Revelation: faithfulness leads to life; unfaithfulness sucks, kills and destroys.

The Bible simply knows nothing of faithful same-sex relationships: what it addresses is an idealised heterosexual world, and in that world, the sex acts it condemns are those which betray faithfulness in that world; but that idealised world never existed, of course, hence, for instance, the concession of divorce.

Today, we live in a world where faithfulness and homosexuality are not mutually exclusive: the condemnations no longer apply. They are, quite literally, history.

23 December 2012 11:41
Phil Groom said...
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That’s the theological/biblical side; on the more personal side, I can express things no better than Emma Jayne’s Notes from a Gay Christian Woman

Chris Fewings said...
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Thank you so much for that link Phil. Cause that it also be read in the church of the … well, all seven of them. It should become part of the Good Friday liturgy. I wonder if we could draw it Dom Sebastian Moore’s attention. He’s written a lot about scapegoating.

23 December 2012 18:23
23 December 2012 11:46
Chris Fewings said...
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Peter Ould, a priest in the Church of England, who describes himself as post-gay, tells his story here: http://www.e-n.org.uk/p-4228-'Of-course-no-one-is-really-gay‘.htm

26 January 2013 17:08

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