Saturday, March 1, 2014

Humility and Human Sexuality

Bit of a Saturday round up here. This year I am trying to minimise posts re homosexuality but it is impossible not to take note of this and that as the year unfolds, not least in our own church as we head to General Synod in May. Here are a few things which take my eye:

A protest by the Anglican Church League against the consecration of Sarah Macneil as the first woman diocesan bishop in Australia (as Bishop of Grafton). At the heart of the protest is concern about Dr Macneil's views on sexuality.

But while in Sydney and its environs I somehow noticed that the Surry Hills Baptist church is having a very interesting conference, A Different Conversation, with a wonderful array of speakers, from our own Kiwis Louisa Wall and Margaret Mayman through to a represent of Liberty Christian Ministries. Here is the link to the speakers and panellists.

Humility in the title to this post is a theme in this very thoughtful article by a leading Catholic theologian, John Langan. His base point, See The Person is, arguably, the hardest thing to do in debates about what makes us human.

Meanwhile head over to Thinking Anglicans for the latest posts on the mess or is it morass the C of E finds itself in as the bishops there recently tried to square the circle on these matters.

Finally, to make my own position clear, I am as disturbed a Western Christian as anyone over the legislation signed in Uganda recently which can only make life traumatic for many citizens. Incidentally, writing here in these islands, +Jim White has an eloquent post on the matter here.
UPDATE: Our Archbishops have spoken here.

FURTHER UPDATE: Phil Groom has an impassioned appeal, here, to the English bishops re the English bishops bishop-less-ness over homosexuality. But is he right? Is faithfulness the sole criteria by which to judge what is marriage? You can comment at his site ...!

FINAL UPDATE: Who are the Pharisees being referred to in the phrase 'dead hypocritical Pharisaism'? And not criticism of the Groom post in the comments ... to which you might like to add your own voice!

I am not going to accept any comments on this post. I think we have been round and round here about homosexuality and I could do with a break from moderating comments on this apparently-tricky-to-play-the-ball-and-not-the-player topic. I will not always impose this restriction through this year. But today, read the links ... and comment at them if you wish.

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