The Possibility of Difference

One of the things that happens in the Church's conversations with/about/to gay people, is that they are rarely conversations with/about/to people. We are an "issue". Now this is - of course - completely understandable. If you are straight (and most people are) then homosexuality in the Church, in the family, in the workplace, in life, is an "issue". It may be an issue that comes very close. You may have very good gay friends. A close relative. And you may really want to understand. But for gay people, things (I speak personally, but I think this works as a pretty good general rule) feel a bit different. My life isn't an issue. It's my life. The same applies to an Australian. A disabled person. To someone who is left-handed or (God love them) ginger. There may be different distinguishing factors, but we are all people. It's amazing that this needs to be said, but it really does. I have watched in horror following the publication of Jayne O

Two similar - and very different - autobiographies have recently hit the bookshops and they both deserve a wide readership. I was fortunate to hear Jayne Ozanne preach at the University Church, Oxford on the weekend her ' Just Love ' volume was published. Jayne took the Gospel passage for the day (two encounters with Pharisees from the end of Mark 2 and beginning of Mark 3, where Jesus declares himself Lord of the Sabbath and then heals on the Sabbath because it is lawful to do good) and spoke powerfully about the love of God which transforms people who have been pushed down and hurt. God's love heals, restores and makes new. She read a passage from her book as she spoke, and it was a terrific mixture of exposition and proclamation of very good news indeed. Her autobiography is at times simply a rollicking good yarn. It reads like one of the page-turning missionary tales of yore that I would devour as a callow Christian youth. Her story of profoundly trusting faith,