Church in a gay bar
you need a good title to drive traffic to your blog, something controversial...in my blog feeds 2 articles came up with similar titles. John Morehead writes on Church as gay bar and the Ooze has an article by Peter Walker called CULTURAL REFUGEES IN GAY NIGHTCLUBS. Morehead cites someone who cites someone else who says, "that people don't visit churches as spiritual seekers any more than an evangelical would visit a gay bar." Walker's article is about his visit to a gay bar with some friends, gay and straight and observes, "maybe it wasn’t appropriate for me. But right or wrong, I’d rather take chances to discover these refugees in hiding than stay so safe that I never meet the people I once called 'lost.'" I also will admit to visiting a gay bar. A friend of mine brought me to a gay bar or two in Manhattan several years ago. I was in a bit of culture shock. Perhaps if I thought I wanted to pursue a gay lifestyle I'd risk returning. And this is where I disagree with Morehead.
People aren't flocking to churches, necessarily, but if God has been drawing their hearts they will overcome their culture shock. The issues with churches aren't form and format. The issues are grace and love. If you wear funky robes and and burn funky candles but are full of love and grace and resemble Jesus, you'll attract people. If you grow a goattee and get multiple piercings and quote Velvet Revolver lyrics from behind your music stand in a cafe back room, but don't have love, you are an idiot. But the person who offers a system of spiritual healing that only asks for some money and accepts without condemnation, that funky eastern shop attracts people who are in their core, religious. I agree with the idea from that we are born with God shaped holes in our souls. We are born with Eternity in our hearts.
Walker's thought is, "Maybe we could take a little break from the tired gay topic in church. Maybe if we let people come in and feel safe, the Holy Spirit would do some amazing, powerful things. Maybe we jump the gun on the Holy Spirit. Maybe we don't trust the Spirit to speak without our vulgar voices chiming in at a whim." This is the risk that the liberal church took. It's the topic because it's the issue in society and the Love letter from heaven adresses it. Those guys who are so relieved once they are in the walls of the gay bar are not seeking safety from violence but safety from their conscience. It's a sinning support group. As long as the sinner wants to embrace the sin, the church can't help much. Nor will the church help anyone by pretending the topic is moot. The church needs to keep seeking a simpler explanation of the relationship between God and sex. Like every other part of life, sex is sacred, a gift that can be used to glorify God.
People aren't flocking to churches, necessarily, but if God has been drawing their hearts they will overcome their culture shock. The issues with churches aren't form and format. The issues are grace and love. If you wear funky robes and and burn funky candles but are full of love and grace and resemble Jesus, you'll attract people. If you grow a goattee and get multiple piercings and quote Velvet Revolver lyrics from behind your music stand in a cafe back room, but don't have love, you are an idiot. But the person who offers a system of spiritual healing that only asks for some money and accepts without condemnation, that funky eastern shop attracts people who are in their core, religious. I agree with the idea from that we are born with God shaped holes in our souls. We are born with Eternity in our hearts.
Walker's thought is, "Maybe we could take a little break from the tired gay topic in church. Maybe if we let people come in and feel safe, the Holy Spirit would do some amazing, powerful things. Maybe we jump the gun on the Holy Spirit. Maybe we don't trust the Spirit to speak without our vulgar voices chiming in at a whim." This is the risk that the liberal church took. It's the topic because it's the issue in society and the Love letter from heaven adresses it. Those guys who are so relieved once they are in the walls of the gay bar are not seeking safety from violence but safety from their conscience. It's a sinning support group. As long as the sinner wants to embrace the sin, the church can't help much. Nor will the church help anyone by pretending the topic is moot. The church needs to keep seeking a simpler explanation of the relationship between God and sex. Like every other part of life, sex is sacred, a gift that can be used to glorify God.
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