A Message from the Convener of Affirmation Scotland
Welcome to the new look AS website. After two years of life it felt right to re-launch the website with a new design and some new content. We hope that you find it easy to get around and the information and resources useful. We’re very grateful to those who have done this work for us and we’re happy to receive comments on the content – and ideas for the site’s development. AS exists to be supportive to lgbt Christians: what can we put on the website that will achieve that aim?
Does it get easier to be lesbian and gay in the church? When you meet older gay people who grew up in the times when homosexuality was illegal it is humbling to hear of the way relationships were formed and sustained in secret. So many people, inside and outside the church, kept themselves so private, lived quiet unassuming lives and carried a fear that they would be found out. I wonder how those older lesbian and gay people view younger people who are now able to have their relationships legally supported by the state. And what of the many openly lesbian and gay people in the media about whom so little fuss is made. Did you know that one of the presenters of Radio 4’s Today programme is gay? No fuss about it when he started work recently!
Yet while society moves on the church lags behind. Is it easier to be in the church now? I think that the church is largely still like British society in the 1950’s and not just in its attitudes towards sexuality. While the church has all the right words to say about respect for people, openness and honesty, love for ourselves and our neighbours it has been often unable to make these words flesh – to incarnate them in congregational lives. So it’s wonderful that we can publicly advertise on this website two congregations who are affirming of same-sex relationships. There will be other congregations where lgbt Christian do feel welcome and we’d love to know of them. We’d also encourage congregations and Kirk Sessions to make a stand and give a lead to the rest of the church.
It’s easy to knock the church (it’s big and moves very slowly!) It’s easy to let fear get the better and hide away when in actual fact no-one in your congregation is waiting to cast the first stone. Fear creates in the fearful shame – a powerful and disabling emotion. While there may have been (and may still be) good reasons to be fearful, the Christian need carry shame – belief in a God who embraces us as we are removes our shame. The gospel is a message of love – a love that casts out fear. I believe that many congregations are longing to hear some honest reality about the gospel and about sexuality both from the pulpit and in congregational discussions. I believe that in time the Church of Scotland and all the churches in Scotland will become affirming. I don’t know when it will happen and I don’t know how big the churches will be – many more Christians might give up on the church long before that time. I also believe that many in our country – of all sexual orientations – are longing for the churches to embody a faith that holds together sexuality and spirituality and sets us all free to be fully human and Christ-like.
[April 2008]