For whom the Bell tolls

  Imagine with me, for a moment, a church that spoke to the world as it is rather than the way it wishes it was. Imagine, even, a church that listened rather than always spoke. Imagine a church that looked at everybody, whoever they were, and recognised the image of God in them. Imagine a church that looked for goodness rather than turned its face away in case because it felt uncomfortable. Imagine a church that saw each and every person as a child of God, beloved of God, holy and blessed and welcomed by the God we serve.   For a long time, those of us who think LGBTQIA lives and loves are held within the heart of God have expended time, energy, effort, arguing for a place at the table. We have become apologists, arguing on others’ terms to show that we’re not the second class citizens, at best, and the wilful destroyers of the church, at worst, that we’re painted as being. We have faced opposition at every turn, from bishops, from church authorities, fro...

 Hard as it is to imagine now, given my athletic physique and sporting prowess, but when I was a child I was rather partial to pie. I didn’t really care what type of pie it was – sweet, savoury, ideally both together in the same meal. The only thing I did worry about was whether there would be enough for me.   All of our lives seem to feature this kind of pie, in one way or another. However old we get, however wise we think we are, we can never quite shake that fear of losing out. The finite nature of the world continues to scare us – the scarceness of resources, whether that is a genuine, real or a perceived threat. There is only so much to go around, and we’ll be damned if we lose our slice.   This Sunday is celebrated as Racial Justice Sunday in many churches around the country. That celebration is as much of an aspiration as anything else – all of us know that racial justice remains a dream that we yearn for rather than something for which to be congratulated....

  I thought it might be useful to offer a few thoughts on the most recent paper by a number of bishops, of differing theologies and yet in opposition to same-sex marriage. The original paper can be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aYyMitqZL7c0ftjxM3_maGmptBzVVz_D/view .   It’s notable that these bishops come from different theological stables, which probably does give some indication as to why the resulting theology here is so disappointingly light and unconvincing. It appears to lack a coherence theological thread and suffers because of it. Nonetheless, it is good that bishops are finally willing to say what they think – even if we might disagree with it. The risk of saying what you think, of course, is that your arguments are open to challenge. This is my small offering in that regard.   In the first instance, the paper does not offer what it claims to offer – ‘a relatively short theological summary of the doctrine of marriage as ...