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The Tears of Things

From First Thoughts

I’ve been talking recently with an Episcopal priest about the ongoing agonies of the Anglican Communion. Although he and I find ourselves in different places on the questions of the hour, he and I were also a bit surprised to see each other struggling to articulate a very similar posture . . . . Continue Reading »

Discipleship for Wayfarers

From First Thoughts

I recently talked with Matt Woodley of Preaching Today about how pastors might approach the topic of homosexuality in sermons and other parish teaching opportunities. (The interview is available for free, but you might have to register at the site to access it in its entirety.) For those who have . . . . Continue Reading »

Celibacy is Not the Gospel

From First Thoughts

Is celibacy “good news” for gay Christians? That’s the way the question is often asked, and very poignantly, too (for instance, in the recent posts by Stephen Long at his blog Sacred Tension and also by Rowan Williams : “In what sense does the Church actually proclaim good news . . . . Continue Reading »

It Gets Better for the Chaste, Too

From First Thoughts

Matthew Vines has assigned my book, Washed and Waiting: Reflections on Christian Faithfulness and Homosexuality , as one of the core texts of his new training program, The Reformation Project . Matthew disagrees with my conclusions in the book, but he assigned it so that the participants in the . . . . Continue Reading »

How Do Bodies Matter?

From First Thoughts

In the most recent issue of Christianity Today , Andy Crouch has an excellent editorial on the church’s future and matters LGBTQIA. Please do read the whole thing. He writes, There is really only one conviction that can hold this coalition of disparate human experiences [i.e., the experiences . . . . Continue Reading »

After Exodus, What?

From First Thoughts

Here are a few preliminary thoughts and questions about the recent announcement that Exodus International, the largest and most influential of the so-called “ex-gay” ministries, will be closing its doors : 1. Like many younger people who are Christian and gay, I have shied away from much of . . . . Continue Reading »

On Reading James Brownson

From First Thoughts

In the latest issue of The Living Church , I review James Brownson’s new book Bible, Gender, Sexuality . Here’s my summary of the book’s main argument: Brownson argues that . . . gender complementarity is nowhere “explicitly portrayed or discussed” in Scripture. Genesis . . . . Continue Reading »