View From The Pew
by Gerry Hunter
(Posted Apr. 7th, 2000).
The latest in a series of papers, issued as part of the dialogue on same-sex unions by the diocese of New Westminster are now available. Subtitled "Stories from Church Members," they were prepared, assembled, and distributed under the auspices of the commission on gay and lesbian voices. The ostensible purpose of the papers is that of "listening to the life and faith experience of gay and lesbian Christians."
These papers will be made available to those participating in the mandated dialogue in this diocese. There, they will be discussed. Many others will, no doubt, read the papers, which have been posted on the Web site of the diocese of New Westminster. (http://vancouver.anglican.ca) There being no evident guides being made available to either the dialogue participants, or to the general readership, this is an attempt to provide at least some background for those who may wish to read them.
Why would it be necessary to have some background? And why would anyone undertake to provide it, when the commission provided none?
There are several reasons. The first reason appears of a title page of the document circulated to the parishes in the diocese. The co-chairs of the committee are, respectively, the Rector of one of the sponsoring parishes of the synod resolution to bless "same-sex unions," and a self-identifying advocate of the gay agenda. The second reason is that some of the papers circulated to the parishes are not placed on the Web site. In other words, the commission is presenting a different face to dialogue participants than to the larger Christian community and the world. Thirdly, the Introduction, which is the same in both the posted and circulated materials, does not offer any assurance, or give any confidence, that the presentation of these documents lacks an underlying agenda.
In the Introduction, we find stated explicitly, to the credit of the commission, that it is "composed primarily on gay and lesbian people who volunteered to talk about their experience as homosexual Christians....” It also states that "an "ex-gay" person" (the quotation marks around ex-gay are in the original) also participates. It is interesting to note that nowhere in the paper is the word gay placed in quotation marks. However, whenever the term ex-gay is used, it is always placed in quotation marks. Is there a message there? When one remembers the report on the bishop's meeting with Integrity a little over a year ago, one will recall that this inclusion is for the sake of the appearance of credibility.
The introduction does not suggest, though the reader would do well to consider, that is much easier to find people who are active in a given lifestyle who are willing to discuss their experience than it is to find those who have put a given lifestyle behind them who are willing to relive the experience. To use a sexual example, would a philandering husband, who had changed and amended his ways, be eager to discuss his former sexual escapades? No one who contemplates these issues, and reads these emotional, personal papers, should overlook this intrinsic bias.
The readers and dialogue participants are invited to “listen.” Nowhere are they called to critically evaluate what they hear or read. The theological agenda in this mandated behaviour pattern is quite disturbing. Compare the role that participants and readers are called upon to assume with the activities of the Beroeans in Acts 17. Once again, believers are being coaxed to set aside their critical faculties, and to permit themselves to allow their reason to be washed over with the waves of feeling and emotion, which these papers are sure to generate. Once again, experience is presented as the governing factor in questions of faith. The reader and listener should be aware of this call, not surprised by it considering its source, and ignore it.
The introduction, at its end, denies that the goal is to do “theology by anecdote.” The basis for this denial is very obscure indeed, in the light of the three proffered reasons to “engage this process.” (I was struck by the use of the term “engage”, since the approach touted up to that point was one of “let go and let listening.”) Of all of the statements in the Introduction, this one lacks credibility to the highest degree of any statement in it.
The reasons given for “engagement” are three: First, the Bible is of no use in this situation. Second, experience is equivalent to tradition. Third, the “real world” is what is important. In evaluating the reasons, the reader or listener would do well to recall that “heaven and earth will pass away, but my word will never pass away.”
The call in the Introduction is to read or listen in complete isolation from faith, scripture, tradition, or reason. Only experience matters, according to the purveyors of the missives. In writing this Introduction, the authors have done the community of believers a great service. That community has been expected to hold that this “dialogue process,” which prompted the promulgation of these papers, is, in some sense, Christian discourse. A reading of this Introduction will demonstrate to believers, once and for all, that the process has no similarity whatsoever to Christian discourse. We should all give thanks that that issue, at least, is no longer in doubt.
From:
http://vancouver.anglican.ca/Dialogue/DOSSVoices1.htm
While the worldwide Anglican Communion debates the blessing of same-sex unions and the place of homosexual persons in the Church, one point on which almost all Bishops agree is that Anglicans of goodwill should listen to the life and faith experience of gay and lesbian Christians.
· 1997: The Canadian House of Bishops restates its opposition to the blessing of same-sex unions but simultaneously affirms its intention "to continue open and respectful dialogue with those who sincerely believe that sexuality expressed within a committed homosexual relationship is God's call to them."
· 1998: A majority of the bishops meeting at Lambeth reject same-sex blessings, but they too commit themselves "to listen to the experience of homosexual persons" and affirm "that all baptised, believing and faithful persons, regardless of sexual orientation, are full members of the Body of Christ."
· 1999: In response to synod action Bishop Michael Ingham launches the Dialogue on Same-Sex Unions. The process includes the study of Scripture, engaging in respectful discussion, and -- reflecting the commitments of the House of Bishops and Lambeth statements -- listening to the life and faith experience of gay and lesbian Christians.
The Bishop's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Voices was formed to help parishes engage this aspect of the dialogue process.
As the name implies, the Commission is composed primarily of gay and lesbian people who have volunteered to talk about their experience as homosexual Christians, about their families, spiritual lives, and sexuality. They are men and women, couples and singles, seniors, parents, evangelicals, "liberals", and formerly "ex-gay" people. A few non-gay people also participate: parents of gay children, a bisexual person, an "ex-gay" person, and "straight" friends of gay people.
Commission members come from a variety of Anglican traditions and theological perspectives. Some are ordained, many have completed theological studies, and others have served the Church as lay persons. All Commission members are from our diocese.
As a Dialogue participant you will have several "listening" opportunities. A few Commission members will visit one of the twinned-parish meetings, a conversation that may include two or three short biographies or testimonies followed by questions. Your Dialogue group might also invite Commission members to other parish meetings as resource persons to share their unique experience or insight. And to get the listening started you can meet several Commission members in the short stories below - a small sample of the real-life experience gay and lesbian Anglicans bring to our discussion.
So why are Anglican bishops around the world committed to listening to gay and lesbian people? And how will "storytelling" help us discern God's purpose regarding the blessing of same-sex unions? There are at least three good reasons to engage this process.
1. Listening to gay and lesbian Christians will help us understand the Bible and apply it to our current situation rightly. When trying to understand what a passage means for us (in relation to what it meant to its writer and original readers), one biblical scholar offers this advice: God's Word is the same for us as it was for them if our circumstances are "genuinely comparable," if we share "similar specific life situations." To apply God's Word rightly we need to understand both our current "life situation" AND the historical context of a Bible passage, and then ask how these situations compare. Listening to the life and faith experience of gay people will enable us to make informed comparisons and to ask relevant questions as part of our biblical inquiry.
2. Listening will help us appreciate our Anglican tradition and community. Lesbian and gay Christians are believing and baptized Anglicans, equal participants in our faith community. As the Canadian bishops reported, "We are experiencing a growing awareness that the persons of whom we speak are here among us. They are our sons and daughters. They are our friends and relatives. This recognition has not always been present." Like meeting distant relatives, hearing the stories of gay and lesbian Anglicans gives us a fuller understanding of who we are as a Christian people. Their experience is part of the shared history of God's people, part of the tradition on which we draw to discern God's purpose.
3. Listening grounds our reasoning and "theology-making" in the real world. Only gay people can explain why the blessing of same-sex unions is important to them, and only they can share first-hand experience about living as homosexual persons in the Church. We have already benefited from including women, racial minorities, and lay people in our theological discussions, and we have already experienced the danger of doing theology for and about other Christians without their participation. Listening closely to the life and faith experience of gay and lesbian people will ground our discussion in reality, help protect us from uninformed prejudice and ignorance, and remind us of the practical and personal implications of our decisions. Lesbian and gay people provide our "reality check."
Of course the life and faith journeys of gay and lesbian people are not, in themselves, sufficient proofs for any particular argument or position, nor is the presentation of their stories an attempt to do "theology by anecdote." On the contrary, respectful, active listening is a tool we use throughout our Bible study and engagement. By hearing and reflecting on the testimonies of lesbian and gay Christians we become better equipped to understand God's Word, to embrace our tradition, and to think clearly about the real world in which we live.
(Commission members are taking significant personal risks when they share details of their lives with the Church family for the purpose of aiding our discussion. Dialogue participants are asked to honour these brothers and sisters by respecting their confidentiality and personal boundaries. If you have a question but are unsure whether it is appropriate, please refer it to your discussion facilitator first.)