Week 1—Welcome to the Workshop
Welcome! Our first week of Holding Faith / Holding Family was all about introductions. This is hard work—looking at long-held beliefs and assumptions and daring to reconsider them. It can be anxiety producing. Our team (Lina, Sarah, Mitzin, and myself) are honored to be with you on this journey, and grateful for your courage in saying yes to the invitation.
Our desire at Haven is to be a safe space. It's a safe space for gay, lesbian, bi, transgender and queer folks. But it is also safe space for people who are conflicted about all those things. People who are not sure what they think. Most of us come from evangelical settings, places that don't affirm those things. Some of us might still be. Most of us have had a journey to get to where we are today. And really, all of us are still on a journey, discovering new things. So we want to just celebrate showing up, listening, being attentive. We want to make this a safe space to ask questions, have strong convictions or to be uncertain. Free to not know everything.
Honesty, confidentiality, and non-judgmental support will be key as we move forward. Being known as our authentic selves is another key component, so much of our time was spent sharing our stories. For those who aren't able to join us in person for this workshop, I encourage you to nurture relationships where you can be authentic, known and supported in your journey of faith.
Resources
Throughout this workshop we'll explore your questions, and resources to help in that exploration. Remember that the topics we'll be exploring around LGBTQ+ inclusion are complex. Devout Christians will have a range of views on these issues, as well as on the larger issue of biblical interpretation. So there is plenty of room for discussion, growth and wonder.
Three initial resources that I will draw from in this course:
1. Torn, by Justin Lee. I like this book for several reasons: First of all, Lee is evangelical—this book is very winsome and respectful of evangelical Christianity. Also, he is gay. There are a couple of other books written from an evangelical perspective that I will recommend that are written by straight evangelical leaders. And that's helpful—it was a straight evangelical leader who helped me in my own journey from non-affirming to affirming. But I think it's important first to hear the stories of gay Christians. In this case, it's not a horrible story—and I'm grateful for that. He had a loving family. It's not a church-bashing book. But he does share honestly what it was like to grow up as a devoutly Christian gay youth in an evangelical church and family.
2. Changing our Minds by David Gushee. Gushee is one of the most influential evangelical scholars to write about affirming theology. He is a past president of the American Academy of Religion, He does an excellent job of addressing the biblical concerns most evangelicals have about LGBTQ inclusion
3. Unclobber by Colby Martin also focuses on biblical concerns. This book is more technical than Gushee's so great for those who want a deep dive into the Greek and Hebrew texts and historical setting of the biblical concerns.
I also encourage you to set aside time weekly to process what you are learning. How you might do that varies—for some it might be journaling, others a prayer walk, or meeting with trusted friends for deep discussion. Set aside at least 30 minutes weekly for your own discernment practices that help you listen to God's leading.
Reading the Bible Together
What bothers most Christians about queer inclusion is the Bible. The verses in the Bible which address homosexuality are called the "clobber verses"—because to queer Christians they feel like they're used to clobber them. Sometimes it might feel like there must be 100s of these verses in the Bible, but in fact there are just six. We'll discuss just 1-2 each week.
Along the way we'll be exploring not just those six "clobber verses" but what we believe about the Bible in general. Which is helpful, because LGBTQ+ inclusion is not the first major controversy the Church has had, nor will it be the last. The skills we learn throughout this process will help us to address a whole host of issues that will arise as we seek to live out our faith in real-life relationships and communities.
Devout Christians have a range of views of the Bible. Some are what we call "inerrantists"— who believe that every word is literally the words of God's own self. Some feel the Bible is a book written by men a long time ago that is of mainly historical interest. In between those two extremes are a range of more nuanced beliefs—that the Bible is inspired by God in a way that the words of humans are intermingled with a movement of God's Spirit, or that the Bible is the best picture we have of God. All of these views co-exist within modern Christianity and even within historic Christianity. We have a range of views within this group.
Yet, regardless of where we land on that continuum of belief, all of us have things in the Bible that are troubling or confusing to us. One for me is the "conquest passages" in Joshua and Deuteronomy, passages like Deut. 7:1-2 where it seems like God is ordering the genocide of an entire people group. Rachel Held Evans writes: "When it comes to processing these troubling stories, there are generally three types of people: (1) those who accept without question that God ordered this military campaign in Canaan and has likely supported others throughout history. (2) those who are so troubled by the notion of God condoning ethnic cleansing that it strains their faith or compels them to abandon it. (3) those who can name all the Kardashian sisters and are probably happier for it."
Evans goes on to point out how when we train ourselves to look away, to ignore the parts that are troubling or confusing, we train ourselves to be comfortable with genocide, rape, oppression, slavery—all sorts of horrible things. We may be tempted to ignore the parts of the Bible that are disturbing, confusing or ugly. But if we choose to look away, we learn nothing.
Exploring these difficult passages of Scripture without looking away takes courage. So I want to again celebrate you for just coming here each week. Being willing to ask the hard questions.
One rubric I've found helpful for dealing with troublesome passages is what I call a "Jesus-centered hermeneutic." In John 10:30 Jesus says, "I and the Father are one.” Col. 1:15-19 says: Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation… He is before all things, and in him all things hold together… For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things.
Jesus came to show us God. To show us God's heart, God's values, God's nature. To show us who God is. Jesus is the best picture we have of God. So, while we may never answer every question we have about Joshua—or Genesis—or Revelation, we have Jesus. And Jesus shows us who God is. When we encounter troubling passages or differing interpretations like we will see in the weeks ahead, we can fall back on this: how does this interpretation square with the picture of Jesus we see in the New Testament? We should reject any interpretation that deviates sharply from that image and picture of God that is revealed in Jesus Christ.
Next week, we’ll explore chapters 1 & 2 of Torn by Justin Lee, and the story of Sodom in Genesis 19:1–26.
Our Haven community has committed to spend the next seven weeks praying for you as explore your faith and the questions you may have. May we experience together the expansive, remarkable love of God on a deeper level.
Loving God, we want to be lead by you. So help us to lean in. Help us to listen. Help us to be kind and respectful to one another. Help us to open our hearts to what you are saying to us today. I pray your presence be with us as we seek you. May we know the height and depth of your love in a new and incredible way.
In Jesus' name, Amen.