HOW TO RELATE TO AN IMPERFECT CHURCH

(Notes of a talk to the Melbourne chapter of Freedom2B – 16 March 2012)

BUT FIRST: † I’m ignorant about many things – I’m a ‘practising heterosexual’ (52 years 2 months), not a scientist, psychologist, anthropologist, biblical scholar, Catholic/Eastern Orthodox…

† I do know a little bit about Evangelical/Protestant/Pentecostal/ Anglican churches; social psychology of religious organisations; what clergy think/believe; what a healthy church looks like; what hundreds of gays/lesbians etc. tell me about their lives…

† So: I’m not here as a preacher, proof-texter, know-all…

† Terminology? Shorthand for LGBTIQQ? Mostly ‘gay’ sometimes ‘lesbian and gay’. 

LOVE OF GOD/SELF/OTHERS – ‘I love God as much as I love the person I love least’… (Dorothy Day) 

 The Way of ‘Bureaucratized Religion’ vs The Way of Jesus: 

 Pharisees (law/doctrine vs compassion/love), Sadducees/Zealots (power), Samaritans (faith) etc. 

 vs. Jesus: Luke 4:18-19, Matthew 23:23, Luke 11:42, Luke 5:15-16 

† Justice (right use of power) – Who has what kind of power over you? What power do you have for others? 

† Compassion/love (especially for those ‘not like us’ / the marginalized) – Who are they? 

† Faith (God can deal with our enemies) – Is reconciliation always possible? The alternatives? 

Sociology of Religion: The ‘routinization of charisma’ (Google it!)

Politics of Apology: (Left – ‘yes: oppressive system’ vs. Right – ‘Not our problem: we aren’t/weren’t there!’) 

Gays and the Church: The Alternatives: Stay (but remain closetted); stay (but come out, and work within system); stay (but be prophetic and berate the system’s ungodliness); leave (and either be angry or resigned) 

RESOURCES: † 48 Welcoming/gay-friendly churches in Australia 

† 4 Articles on the Bible and Homosexuality

† Rowland Croucher: Was Jesus a Christian?  † Pharisees Ancient and Modern  † ‘How to Know the Lord’ (Social Justice) 

† 3 Gays Confront an Unjust (Anglican/Catholic) Church 

† Yvette Flunder – Where the Edge Gathers  

† Bishop Gene Robinson – In the Eye of the Storm 

So, my dear friends: God regards you – yes you! – as an unrepeatable miracle of God’s creation. My humble suggestion is that you agree with God about that (even if some who claim to be God-followers haven’t ‘got it’ yet) !!!

~~

Rowland Croucher

jmm.aaa.net.au

Note 1: here’s a Youtube upload of the talk

Note 2: http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/churches-more-gay-friendly-than-ever/story-e6frea6u-1226309741692