We have a set of questions on our post-it notes and on the wall we have two columns – the right column and the wrong column, or the truth column and the heresy column, the I am a fanatical disciple column and the I have definitely backslidden column. OK I stop now but I wanted you to understand the situation is hypothetical as I don’t actually have any post-it notes to hand.
My first visit to a certain country back around 1990 I was picked up from the airport by a pastor. ‘Glad you are here do you mind if I ask a question or two?’
‘Sure, fire away.’
‘If you had someone come to faith who had gone through a sex-change, then they came to tell you what would your counsel be.’
Pulling on the principle in Paul that ‘in whatever state you are in when called remain in that state’ as a tentative guide I said, ‘I think we start from where we are and work from there.’
‘Yes that has been our approach. There are those in our midst now though who were on the process, have come to faith and have not progressed to an operation. They are uncomfortable with some of our responses. But that is the world we live in. Another question? So assuming we run with your guide, last week I had X come to see me. Born biologically as a man, having gone through surgery, now as a woman, has fallen in love with a man and would like to pursue the relationship. Any perspectives?’
Guidelines are great but I was glad we were simply talking in a car. That Christian community were grappling with those issues for real. So back to the post-it notes! Imagine having to put on the right / wrong columns the set of issues that community was dealing with.
In the isolation of safety and non-interaction with the very real evidences of a fallen world all around us I can quickly put the post-it notes in the right columns. At least to the level of a basic set of issues. And if I sit and talk with people who are struggling day-to-day with deep personal issues of identity (for a host of reasons, and not always because they are ‘damaged’) I find it increasingly hard to determine where all the post-it notes should be aligned.
There are core aspects I believe we need to be clear about. The centrality of Jesus and that he alone is the lens to see who God is and what true humanity is called to be. Scripture then is vital for it is from there that we have to draw that image of Jesus – it is the word testifying to the Word. An encounter with the Spirit of Jesus (and not really ‘an’ encounter but continual encounterings) remain indispensable. The above though will not, and I don’t think it is meant to, determine that we will know exactly what columns all our post-it notes will be placed in. Over time some will move to the other column, and quite a few will come off the board and back to the table, and I do not think that is the sign of losing the plot. There is something bigger than rights and wrongs. Here are three that I think are higher up the list of desired outcomes:
- A knowledge of God, that is not legalistic but bathed in grace, where we have the confidence to get some of the plot wrong and he will turn a blind eye to that. (I have put that in a way that I need to think about rather than get in my bus and demonstrate how easily I can drive through the gaps in the sentence!)
- A humility that is slower to correct than ever before and more ready to listen, realising that resolving things the right way (my way or the highway!) will probably not be the path to the most redemptive solution.
- An ability to hear (listen) to those who do not carry my deep convictions. In doing so I might just be witnessing more powerfully than quickly proclaiming truth. In honouring them, I might just be humanising them.