LGBTI+ and Church of England Teaching Documents – a history

LGBTI+ and Church of England Teaching Documents – a history

I wrote this document in July 2018 before the proposed teaching document had been renamed Living in Love and Faith. I have made minor amendments but otherwise left it unchanged. I wrote this history of the teaching documents published by the Church of England to demonstrate to myself why I was feeling so angry in 2018. I was angry because, following Pilling and the Shared Conversations, a further delay of three years was being engineered by the House of Bishops who still lacked the guts to confront the human sexuality of LGBTI+ people and the need to radically include us as equals in the Church.

Living in Love and Faith – a doomed project

Living in Love and Faith – a doomed project

Prof Helen King and the Revd Canon Dr Judith Maltby , both involved with the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) process, have written about it on the ViaMedia web site. They wonder where the project is going after publication of the House of Bishops’ Pastoral Statement on Civil Partnerships. The archbishops’ minimalist apology and the failure of the College of Bishops to withdraw the Pastoral Statement have severely undermined their confidence in the collective ability of the bishops to learn from LLF.

Love, honesty, openness, courage and integrity please, bishops

Love, honesty, openness, courage and integrity please, bishops

The latest issue of Private Eye carries an article about bishops in the Church of England. It opens with comments about the recently published guidelines on heterosexual civil partnerships and moves on to comments about the Bishop of Birmingham, the Rt Revd David Urquhart. Private Eye says there are those in Birmingham diocese who question his own unusual domestic relationships. The guilty party in all of this is the bishops themselves, collectively, with one or two honourable exceptions. Some of them argue forcefully for what they claim are Biblical teachings that result in rank dishonesty and prejudice about LGBTI people in the Church of England. They are responsible for enforcing a closeted life on otherwise honourable, loving, deeply pastoral, and gifted people.

How to confront a hypocritical and abusive institution

How to confront a hypocritical and abusive institution

On Monday, Jayne Ozanne, a member of the General Synod and campaigner for LGBTI equality, talked about “the deep levels of hypocrisy that exist among certain church leaders” and said she believed it’s time to end this hypocritical charade, time for honesty and plain straight speaking. I believe it is time to force the Church of England to face the truth, confronting Archbishops and bishops and the people who control the levers of power in the institution with the truth directly from the inside.

The 40th anniversary of a feral priest’s priesting

The 40th anniversary of a feral priest’s priesting

Forty years ago today I was ordained a priest by Bishop Mervyn Stockwood in Southwark cathedral. I have never marked the anniversary of my priesting before. This year I’ve become acutely aware that I am unable to mark the anniversary in the traditional way. What does it mean for me to be a priest now - a priest unable to preach, lead worship or preside at communion?

Jesus: the Evidence; Channel 4, April 1984

Jesus: the Evidence; Channel 4, April 1984

In April 1984 Channel 4 broadcast three one hour long documentary programmes titled Jesus: the Evidence. Three of the issues addressed in the programmes were that Jesus never called himself God in the Gospels; that the titles attributed to Jesus in the Gospels (e.g. ‘Son of God’) were not in fact used during his lifetime; that Jesus, as a Jew, was hardly likely to have claimed to be God. I find myself wondering how many Church of England clergy still believe that Jesus thought of himself as divine, the Son of God. How many think that Matthew and Luke’s birth narratives are historically true? How many think the resurrection narratives in the four gospels are accurate historical accounts of an event that happened?

Boris kippers and sacred truth

Boris kippers and sacred truth

We are living through a three-decade long period of regression in our national life, a regressive movement found in other countries. I observe regression taking place in the social, political and religious realms. Fewer people speak with an independent mind, rooted in the wisdom that comes from commitment to truth-telling, integrity, and a deeply embedded set of values, whether they are grounded in Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Moslem, Hindu, philosophical, agnostic or atheist traditions. The regressive era we are living through needs an infusion of Wisdom teachers and practitioners. Without them, we lack the people capable of teaching us about ourselves, our behaviour patterns, insecurities and anxieties and addictions.

True and untrue images of God in the church

True and untrue images of God in the church

Prayer is a two-way process. We are making something of the Mystery of God in our prayer and prayer is making something of the Mystery of God in us. At least, this is what can happen when it is ‘true’ prayer, remembering Ken Leech’s phrase, prayer that is truly open and radical, taking risks, allowing the Mystery we call God to impact us, our preconceptions and prejudices, our emotions and energies.

The Christlike God – seamless creation and evolution

The Christlike God – seamless creation and evolution

I’ve been reading The Christlike God written by John V. Taylor, formerly Bishop of Winchester and published in 1992. There is much in the book that echoes my own ideas about God, creation, evolution, and contemporary contemplative life. In the penultimate chapter, Dwell in me, I in you, (John 17.21,22), Taylor writes about the author Charles Williams and his use of the word coinherence to describe the relationship between God, the divine other, and us, human kind, Homo sapiens. I believe the universe, the divine Mystery and human life are seamlessly interwoven, coinherent, as Charles Williams describes.

Holding the House of Bishops to account - Sara Gillingham’s challenge

Holding the House of Bishops to account - Sara Gillingham’s challenge

Sara Gillingham wrote about herself as a person with intersex characteristics and her experience of the Living in Love and Faith process in an article published by the Church Times in January 2019. More recently she has accused the LGBTI+ groups in the Church of blindly following a Process set out by the House of Bishops and failing to hold the House of Bishops to account. We need, she said, to hold each other accountable as well, as we are failing currently to set-out a roadmap against which we can measure our own successes or failures in bringing about change.