The Possibility of Difference

Apologies for the radio silence... I've been busy elsewhere! Today the Church Times has published a two-page spread with a terrifically written-up account of a conversation I had with Stanley Underhill. Click the link to read it. Stanley is in his 90s, and is a retired Angican priest and also gay. Last year he published his autobiography, Coming out of the Black Country . It's a very moving account of a life lived mostly in secret, with terrible loneliness and shocking medical 'treatments' along the way to 'cure' him of being gay. Now a resident at Charterhouse, he is a delight and it has been a real treat to meet him and to share our stories. We talked about my story too, and about my book and the hopes we both have to make a difference so that those LGBT+ Christian people who follow us may know more and more of God's love in their lives and in their Church experience. Thanks to Madeleine Davies at the Church Times for asking us to do these conv...

Oxford Diocese has launched a new diocesan magazine, Pathways , and asked me to contribute a 500-word piece for it on being gay and evangelical. My piece is paired with another by a chap who takes a more conservative view on life. At his age so did I... more conservative than him, I expect. Anyway - click here to read both on the diocesan website - or simply read on for mine... I can remember exactly where I was the day I realised I needed a new theology.  A friend in Memphis does work in civil rights theology. He teaches me that when you are an oppressed minority and become aware of it, Jesus is dynamite. Every word Jesus speaks is explosive because it’s about you. It doesn’t matter if it’s about lepers or tax collectors or Canaanite women - it’s about you. You hear a Gospel of life and hope and freedom, and it is God’s promise for you.  This became real for me on a miserable Tuesday afternoon one February in my early 40s. I suddenly understood I had spent 3...

Months ago, the bishops in the Diocese of Oxford sent out a letter  to 1,500 ministers, setting out their thinking on LGBTI+ people in the diocese. I posted  my response to it on this site. Today, the diocesan eNews has informed us that some have replied, expressing grave concerns. The Church Times says 104 serving clerics have signed this letter - mostly evangelical. Fairly inevitably. The original letter, the evangelical response and Bishop Steven's reply to that are all available via those links. As I read these various writings, I find myself musing on Galatians. Especially as I got towards the end of the new letter and read this: We would love our bishops to  articulate clearly God’s lo ve for us in helping us see both the attractiveness of deep friendships, but also the appropriate setting for sexual intimacy  –  namely in marriage between a man and a woman. However, if they are unwilling to do this, we would ask them to recognise the seriou...

One of the most moving responses I have seen so far to the Oxford bishops' letter on inclusion  came from someone who said that she was surprised and delighted by the way in which the bishops made her feel part of the church by their words. Usually, this kind of official pronouncement makes gay people feel slightly 'other', a separate order of humanity within the church, but here the respondent was grateful to feel like she was genuinely listened to and part of the same church. That is no small tribute I think to Bishop Steven Croft, who I have personally experienced as someone who is keen to listen and understand. He stands up for LGBTI+ people in the wider church, knowing that the simple promise of 'nothing about us without us' matters. And indeed, I see in the wording of the letter conversations and challenges and journeys and stories that I have witnessed and known of, and that's part of why I welcome it so strongly and am so grateful for it. Giles Godda...

Today, the Bishop of Oxford together with his area bishops in Dorchester, Reading & Buckingham, sent out a letter to the 1,500 clergy and lay ministers in the Oxford Diocese. The letter begins with a quotation from Colossians 3, words which the whole Diocese is being encouraged to live with in this season. It then considers six areas before its final conclusion, returning to Colossians: The current national process on questions of sexuality in the Church of England; the wider debate; inclusion and respect (the longest section, which re-iterates the Lichfield principles ); liturgy and prayers; an announcement of a new chaplaincy team in the diocese for LGBTI+ people and their families; and a commitment to ongoing listening to all within the church. The journey toward full acceptance for LGBTI+ people in the church is long and complicated, but letters like these in a diocese like ours from bishops who are united in courage, compassion, faith and love, take our journey forward...

I’ve just arrived in Atlanta, Georgia. I’m not sure what I’ll do today, but I think I may go down to the  Centre for Civil and Human Rights. Civil Rights theology has a lot to say for those of us engaged in LGBT+ theology. There comes a point when a minority community starts reading the Bible with different eyes. Instead of being told we are excluded, different, not worthy of the ordinary things that others get by token of ‘tradition’ or ‘privilege’,  we start to read every verse and ask -  “Why not us too?” If lepers are worthy of Jesus’ time and healing, why not us too? If a Samaritan woman gets living water, why not us too?  If you all get faith the size of a mustard seed and it moves mountains, why not us too? You see, traditionally, we are told there are six or seven verses in the Bible that are about gay people; and they all say that what gay people do is bad. But that’s just a nonsense, because why aren’t all the other verses about gay people ...

For me, as I look back, just a few days on, at the two launch events for my new book last weekend, the most remarkable thing is - how much I can’t remember! OK - so here are some headlines. Some facts. There were over seventy people at Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford on Friday, and around half that number in Steeple Aston the day after. The first event was the big public launch, the second a chance for folk in my parishes to celebrate and enjoy the occasion. At Christ Church, we had bishops. Three of them. At Steeple Aston we had cake. Enough to feed a small army. You can decide which event you would rather have attended from that. Both featured people buying buying books, and me signing them - as you’d expect - checking every now and then ‘So that’s to Theodora spelled the usual way?’  Clare Hayns, Chaplain at Christ Church, hosted on Friday. Clare had organised the whole event brilliantly - so much so that I hadn’t had to do anything really. Thanks to Clare, the Ca...