Category: Voices of Hope

“All One in Christ”(Part 6) – “Daring to Abide” by the Revd Dr Ayla Lepine

Abiding is hard.

Many find themselves prayerfully staying anchored, somehow, within the turmoil of situations that cause distress or harm.

How is the genuine fruitfulness of real freedom for every human being, in all diversity, to be won? How can the Church truthfully say we are all one Body in Christ when some of our members are in deep pain and those who would be part of the Body find that there are places in the Church that actively resist and injure them? An Ash Wednesday hymn gives me great hope: ‘naught I fear when I abide in thy heart and wounded side.’

‘Abide’ has multiple meanings.

When we say that we ‘cannot abide’ something, it suggests a sharp lack of toleration, and being on the point of abandoning or rejecting a course of action or a situation.

As a Christian, I commit each day, especially in Lent, to a different kind of abiding. I abide with Jesus. I seek signs of hope. I long for what St Augustine describes as obedience to God that leads to ‘perfect freedom.’

The quality of abiding that Jesus offers in John’s Gospel is the deepest possible experience of indwelling. Jesus asks us to rest with him, stay with him, and go beyond ‘come sit by me’ to ‘we are all one.’ We cannot grow unless we trust that Jesus is the source of that growth. Trusting that Jesus abides with us teaches us to love ourselves.

Without love, we’re nothing. As children of God, the truth of our LGBTI lives is a gift to be celebrated.

In the Ordinal, candidates for ordination are reminded that they cannot do anything in their own strength. Jesus is calling to us – lay and ordained – to abide. Through him, we can be truly free, and genuinely fruitful.

But only if we dare to abide in him.

A Prayer

Gracious God, grant us the wisdom and humility to abide in you as you abide in us. Grant us hearts, minds, and hands that are truly open so that the fruit we bear in obedience to you will lead to true freedom.

Amen.

The Revd Dr Ayla Lepine moved from Canada to the UK in 2003. Her PhD in Art History at the Courtauld Institute of Art focused on the Gothic Revival and Anglicanism, and prior to ordination she was a Lecturer in Art History at the University of Essex. She is a Trustee of Art and Christianity, and is the Assistant Curate at Hampstead Parish Church in the Diocese of London.

Next week – A series of reflections on “Created in God’s Image”

 

“All One in Christ”(Part 5) – “My Beloved…” by the Revd Jide Macaulay

Many  of us who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex or Queer (LGBTIQ+) often find ourselves defending hope, speaking out for justice, preaching reconciliation because we know what it is to have a deep desire to be loved and cherished by our Christian family.

These are perilous times within our faith communities.  There are many who are clearly on the attack, who seek to offend and want to “defend” discrimination and religious intolerance without any thought of the consequences on the emotional and psychological well-being of those it affects directly.

If you find yourself faced with one of these situations, perhaps you might want to read and reread these two Bible verses (and then maybe read them once again).

For they are filled with hope and assurances. We are God’s people, regardless of our race, disability, faith, religious expressions, sexual orientation or gender identity.

Tragically, many LGBTIQ+ people have had to become refugees as the trauma they have faced has caused many of them to flee their country of origin in order to find a safer place.  They have had to  abandon their families ,and as they have walked away many have sadly lost the ability to find their faith in God.

God is calling us each to a place of healing and reconciliation, of peace and joy. Scripture reminds us (especially those of us who are LGBTIQ+) that there are times when we may have been called horrible names and victimized.

But not anymore!

People may have tried to tell us that we are not human and therefore that we cannot be a child of God – just because of who we love. However, Paul’s message to the Romans speaks directly to us. He says “And in the very place where it was said to them, “You are not my people”, there they shall be called children of the living God.”

It is therefore important for those of us who identify as LGBTIQ+ to embrace and acknowledge that we too are “My Beloved…children of the living God.”

A Prayer

Gracious God, help us to understand that we are “Dearly beloved, Children of the living God” and that we may enjoy your grace, love and peace in our land.

Amen. 

Tomorrow – the Revd Dr Ayla Lepine, Daring to Abide, John 15: 4

“All One in Christ”(Part 4) – “Nothing Means Nothing!” by the Revd Andy Marshall

My relationship with these verses goes right back to when I was a teenager, brand new to the Christian faith.  In those days, I would pore over the Bible in my room every morning and night.  Initially without Bible reading notes, or any sort of teaching about how to read the Bible, this time often involved letting the Bible fall open somewhere and then reading what I found.

At the same time as I was exploring what initially felt – to me – like a radically inclusive faith, I began hearing very negative things said about gay people (there was no conversation about other identities in those days).  While my new-found faith offered such hope, it would also bring much hardship.

One day, the verses above jumped out at me, and really spoke hope to me.  I remember highlighting the verses, underlining them, and writing them down in my journal.  There was nothing that could separate me from God’s love.  It was such a revelation and such a powerful anchor for my faith.

Years later, when I joined a conversion therapy group that I was a part of for 2 years, there were many dark and difficult days.  But these verses spoke hope to me and helped me to hang onto my faith, until I eventually realised that the love of God that they spoke of, was for the person that I already was.  With time, I would reflect on these verses, while trying to allow myself to feel the inalienable truth of being that person that God created and loved.

The verses still evoke a powerful emotional reaction in me now … over 2.5 decades later. I hope you know that nothing in all creation can separate you from God’s love.

A Prayer

Loving God, creator of all life, in all its beautiful diversity,

I give you thanks for the wonder of your creation, for the wonder of humanity, for the wonder of us, for the wonder of me.

In today’s reading, I am reminded that nothing in all of creation can separate me from your love. There have been, and there will be, people who attempt to tell me differently, but help me to lean on the promise of your word and the assurance of your love.

Help me to be more aware of your love with each passing day, to carry it with me into the day and to share it with those around me, so that they, too, may know your life for them.

Amen

Tomorrow – the Revd Jide Macaulay, “My Beloved..”, Romans 9: 25-26

 

“All One In Christ” (Part 3) – “May They Also Be In Us” by Andrea King

Andrea King is an independent consultant working with senior leaders in public services to improve safeguarding/protection arrangements and mental health services for children and young people. Andrea also studies at Regents Park College (Oxford) reading Theology as an ‘independent’ ministerial student and a member of the LGBTI+ community.

In the times when the impact of hate and exclusion pulls you to your knees, in the times when the loss of hope runs deep and very simply it hurts to breathe, I pray that you know that you are not alone. As we each wrestle with division, look up and remember these words.

I don’t know about you, but John’s gospel has always moved me deeply. Jesus’ long farewell to those He loved spans several chapters. It matters. John gives it the time it deserves.

These are precious words that describe intimate relationship between Father and Son, it’s a profound and deep love, an interpenetration (perichoresis) of Father, with Son, with Spirit. It’s a beautiful image of separate, yet interweaving, relationship – it is a precious intimacy.

How remarkable then, that Jesus goes onto say ‘may they also be in us’.

Can I suggest that just for a moment close your eyes? Draw close to the God that you know and love. Imagine Jesus praying that prayer with you in mind. Stating that you are intimately bound by the love of Father, Son and Spirit; your heart and soul forged in holy union with the Almighty.

Astonishing?….Yes.

True?…..Indeed.

This gift is immeasurable. It is unique. It encompasses every part of us – our height and depth, both the good and the bad. We are each intimately known and loved by God. Nothing can ever separate us from that love. Nothing.

But neither does that love allow us to separate from each other.

This love, mutual respect and inter-dependent co-existence, is designed to facilitate unity. It is designed to bring together, to break down the walls, the fears, the insecurities and misjudgements, the unease that separates human beings one from the other. It is designed to bind us together, firmly, in Divine inter-relatedness.

What a joy and what a challenge. Very simply, there is nowhere to hide, in this gentle absorption within the Divine.

Maybe, just maybe, the challenges and divisions that we live within, whilst real and at times all-consuming, in the light of His countenance, fade away to become background noise. In that light we have the space to be more fully what we were originally intended to be. The ‘I’ is less important, the ‘we’ in divine community is preoccupying. We are fully ourselves in Him.

And so, when you find yourself on your knees, look up. Know that you are held, that you are loved, and that you are inter-woven in His Spirit. In this period of Lent, hard as it maybe, I ask you to try and see the ‘other’ past the hurts and the pain, the judgements and the asides, and find the echo of Divine love.

Maybe, just maybe, if we can look past our differences, to the things that truly unite us, to the ultimate love that binds us, we will more fully resemble the community we were intended to be.

God bless you and keep you. Rest in Him, I pray.

A Prayer 

Dearest Father,

We draw close, and find rest, in You. Help us to open our minds and hearts to the enormity of your precious relationship. In our frailty, help us Lord we pray, to see what unites us and to find Your reflection in those around us. Help us to resemble the community of Your people more fully, we pray in Jesus’ name,

Amen.

Tomorrow – the Revd Andy Marshall, “Nothing Means Nothing”, Romans 8: 38 – 39

“All One In Christ” (Part 1) – “Holding on to Hope” by Luke Dowding

Hope for me is often something that is neglected – I can often choose not to hope because it can seem futile in the face of all that must be done.

Hope feels abstract, unsubstantiated, naïve.

I believe this is the case for many LGBTQ+ siblings, because when we have hoped, we have often been let down or betrayed. Our hope has been used against us, to encourage us to belong to communities which have then not been as we wanted them to be, or as we had been led to believe. This is particularly relevant in Christian communities where many people believe they are inclusive and affirming, yet don’t sacrifice their privilege and power to truly include “the other”.

And yet, here many of us are – remaining, however close to losing our grip on the edge we might be. Our churches are becoming abundant in their queerness, in the revelation of the multitude of queer identities who are slowly and steadily finding safety to come out, to be who God created them to be.

I have been challenged by this passage recently, and particularly its use by the Revd. Dawn Cole-Savidge in her bid for the role of President of the Baptist Union of Great Britain in May 2020. Dawn uses this text in her deliberate and imaginative inclusion of all people in her ministry, and I am inspired by that and by the hopeful message the passage shares.

Our churches, institutions, and organisations may attempt to prevent us from fully belonging, whether that is through ordination as in my case, marriage in many of the circumstances of my Anglican siblings, or the recent and devastating blow delivered in the US United Methodist Church.

Yet, we should have hope.

Hope, not in that which is created by those themselves who are created beings, but in the promise of a future glory in which all are gathered before the Divine and embraced in love.

And such a hope begins now – with every one of us, as by our presence we are building the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.

A Prayer 

God of hope; encourage us to seek you and to put our faith in the promise of a gathering of all the diversity of creation, not just those who retain power and privilege today.

Build us up in love, bind us together in truth, deliver us into hope.

Amen.

Tomorrow – Alex Clare-Young “Breaking Down Dividing Walls”, Galatians 3:8

Surely God is too big to cry?

But not according to Hosea. Sure, he’s never reduced to helplessness, but that does not mean he’s never reduced to tears. For love is something that you cannot coerce by mere exercise of power or strength of will. Love is something that we can always refuse to give if we insist upon doing so. We can even deny it to omnipotence.

Hosea knew from personal experience that there is no pain in the whole world quite so intense as that associated with unrequited love. Some of us, I guess, know it too. For, like him, we have been rejected by those we’ve loved: our family, our lover, our church?

Well, the prophet would have us realise that God does not just offer us patronising pity when we feel like that. He knows exactly how we feel because he’s been there himself. He is no stranger to the pain of a broken heart.

You want to see how much the heart of God is wounded by our callous indifference to his love? Then look at the cross! Its very shape symbolises the fierce collision of contradictory emotions which Hosea speaks about. There the divine love and anger collide in one momentous catharsis.

As the Apostle Paul puts it, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself (II Cor5:19).

A Prayer

The other gods were strong; but Thou wast weak;

They rode, but Thou didst stumble to a throne;

But to our wounds, only God’s wounds can speak,

And not a god has wounds but Thou alone.

 (Jesus of the Scars  by Edward Shillito – written while on service during the 1914-18 war)

Please note that Dr Clements plans to launch a free audio archive of his 20-year ministry in Cambridge this Easter. The website will also provide free access to his past books, publishers permitting, which have long been out-of-print.

Next Week – A Series of Reflections on “All One in Christ”

The Book of Ruth is unique in the Bible. Not because it has a woman’s name – there is also the Book of Esther (and if you have a Jerusalem Bible, you’ll also find the Book of Judith) – but because it describes the loving relationship between two women.

In the first five verses of the Book of Ruth, Elimelech, his wife Naomi and their sons leave their hometown, Bethlehem to escape a famine and settle in the land of Moab. He dies, and his sons marry, but soon they also die, leaving their widows, together with their widowed mother bereft and without a protector.

Now that they are all three widows, they are counted as worthless in their society, and with little hope for their future. Naomi vows to return home to Bethlehem, and urges her daughters-in-law to seek new husbands as a means of survival. One of them, Orpah, does that, and we hear no more of her. But the second, Ruth, declares that she will not leave her mother-in-law in this most moving verse.

In a book which focuses on human relationships, this story of devotion is deeply moving. Ruth is prepared to leave her own home, culture and religion to cling to Naomi, and to be guided by her. (Mona West* points out that the Hebrew word used to describe Ruth’s “clinging” to Naomi is “davka” – the same word is used in Genesis 2.24 to describe the relationship between a man and a woman in marriage.)

Boaz, a kinsman of Naomi’s, hears of her devotion, and becomes Ruth’s protector and eventual husband, though with Naomi still at the heart of this unconventional new family unit. Boaz and Ruth have a son, Obed (who was to be the grandfather of King David) and when the women of Bethlehem gather to celebrate this new birth, they all congratulate Naomi and celebrate the love that Ruth has for her.

I believe God’s blessings can be found for all who show love and humility in their lives, as did Naomi and her daughter-in-law, Ruth.

It’s a simple, human story, but one for our own time too, as we celebrate those who are strangers in our land, and form non-traditional family units, but through them, and their love and devotion, God is at work to bring great blessings for the future.

I hope you will not find it inappropriate that as a gay man, and in solidarity with my lesbian sisters, I have chosen to celebrate the Biblical relationship between two women on this International Women’s Day!

A Prayer

God of Ruth and Naomi, of David and Jonathan, we thank you for the example of love which transcends boundaries of age, gender, and nationality. Inspire us to celebrate true love wherever it is found, and to acknowledge you as the source of all love and beauty; through Jesus the Christ, in whom God’s love is made flesh. Amen.    

Tomorrow – Dr Roy Clements, The Passion at the Heart of the Universe, Hosea 11

*The Queer Bible Commentary on Ruth

The Revd Gareth Wardell worked in the field of overseas aid and development for many years.  He is now a Vicar in the Diocese of London.  (Photo: “Two dog collars for the price of one!”  Gareth with his Pastoral Assistant, Libby!)

These words, spoken about Jesus at his baptism, are ones I have clung to over the years as God’s word to all who experience exclusion simply for being themselves.

Most LGBTI+ people experience rejection early in their lives.  Starting school on a tough local council estate in the 1970s, I learned quickly to blend-in and not attract attention.  In the family home we spoke received pronunciation, but within weeks, I’d learnt to speak with a fluent ‘saaff-east London’ accent. This wasn’t affectation, it was an essential survival technique!

I think it’s also a metaphor for the way many gay people live their lives in a straight person’s world.  Changing to be acceptable to others is a daily experience, especially for those growing up evangelical. I vividly remember hearing a preacher describe gay people as “a stench in the nostrils of God” (I was longing to tell him it was just my aftershave, but thought better of it!)

In my final year at university, I was shocked to read in the small-print of my application forms for the Diplomatic Service ‘Homosexuals are deemed to be a security risk and need not apply’.  I didn’t, obviously! As I grew older, I tried my best to fit-in, praying earnestly that God would change me so that I could become acceptable.

What a difference three decades makes!

Today, overt discrimination against LGBTI+ people is illegal and those employers once seen as bastions of homophobia (the police, the armed services etc.) now compete with each other to win Stonewall diversity awards.  Not so the Church. As a Vicar I work for one of the few organisations still allowed to discriminate against its LGBTI+ employees or office holders.

Change is coming, but not fast enough. When I’m feeling low, the temptation is to believe the lie that who I am is unacceptable; that I’m ‘intrinsically dis-ordered’.  At such times I hold on to God’s words: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’

A Prayer

Almighty God, thank you for your great love for all your children. Your son Jesus was despised and rejected by others. Draw close today to all who feel demeaned and belittled simply for being the people you have made them. During this season of Lent help us to be especially mindful of those on the margins and teach us afresh what it means to take up our cross and follow in the way of Christ.  Amen.

Tomorrow – the Revd Canon Chris Newlands with a reflection for International Women’s Day