This brought me to my knees. It is beautifully and lovingly written and contains a deep understanding of God's love. I don't think our minds can comprehend eternity and such concepts as unconditional love. You just presented it from a human perspective, and I am grateful. It rings true.
As a gay woman who was raised in the church and has always had a deep longing for God, your experience resonates with me. My parents feel exactly as your friend does - they love me, but they can’t accept my sexuality. They will never meet my wife nor visit our home. We have agreed to a limited relationship as a result - in which we don’t discuss the most important person in my life. It’s painful and sad, but I have accepted it and I hold the tension of it on a daily basis.
As a contemplative, I’ve also experienced the true love and acceptance of God for ALL PEOPLE. In Him “there are no Jews or Gentiles, slave or free, male or female” - just people. This love grounds me and allows me to love my parents with full acceptance of their limitations.
Hi Korie, gosh that is so hard. My story includes my reality that my brother and his partner limit a relationship with me because I am a Christian and ordained in the Anglican Church - so we have now very little connection as he sees me as part of an organisation of hate and religion as oppressive. So the cost is both ways to me also where I find myself as a partnered gay man with family who keep a distance because I am a Christian and some church friends who see me as revisionist and not orthodox - it is a middle place - and the only way I cope is because of a deep contemplative relationship with God. I don’t fit, but I take heart because I follow Jesus who did not fit and therefore there is hope.
Excellent point. It is always a balancing act for us who are not accepted by society - but I know that I know that Christ accepts and loves me fully without any condition or limitation. That’s the grounding point. God bless you!
This brought me to my knees. It is beautifully and lovingly written and contains a deep understanding of God's love. I don't think our minds can comprehend eternity and such concepts as unconditional love. You just presented it from a human perspective, and I am grateful. It rings true.
Thanks Susan, it is sincerely from the heart.
This is such a beautiful article. Thank you.
What a beautiful, inspiring piece. Wisdom that is needed across all divisions within the Church, and indeed the whole world. Thankyou.
Heartbreaking and holy.
Susan Martin said it so well - we struggle to grasp eternity and unconditional love.
Thank you for helping us to do better, to remember that unconditional love and gentle embrace.
Thanks Sarah
What a beautiful article thank you Ian. My own feelings too but so well expressed.
As a gay woman who was raised in the church and has always had a deep longing for God, your experience resonates with me. My parents feel exactly as your friend does - they love me, but they can’t accept my sexuality. They will never meet my wife nor visit our home. We have agreed to a limited relationship as a result - in which we don’t discuss the most important person in my life. It’s painful and sad, but I have accepted it and I hold the tension of it on a daily basis.
As a contemplative, I’ve also experienced the true love and acceptance of God for ALL PEOPLE. In Him “there are no Jews or Gentiles, slave or free, male or female” - just people. This love grounds me and allows me to love my parents with full acceptance of their limitations.
Hi Korie, gosh that is so hard. My story includes my reality that my brother and his partner limit a relationship with me because I am a Christian and ordained in the Anglican Church - so we have now very little connection as he sees me as part of an organisation of hate and religion as oppressive. So the cost is both ways to me also where I find myself as a partnered gay man with family who keep a distance because I am a Christian and some church friends who see me as revisionist and not orthodox - it is a middle place - and the only way I cope is because of a deep contemplative relationship with God. I don’t fit, but I take heart because I follow Jesus who did not fit and therefore there is hope.
Excellent point. It is always a balancing act for us who are not accepted by society - but I know that I know that Christ accepts and loves me fully without any condition or limitation. That’s the grounding point. God bless you!