Faith, Pride, and Chat this Friday
Don’t forget Faith, Pride, and Chat, our informal social evening, is taking place on Friday, 30 March at 7 p.m in St George’s Church on High Street. More detail….
Accepting Sexuality Annual Lecture: Notes on the Margins of the Church
Accepting Sexuality, a Methodist group, will be holding it’s annual lecture Notes on the Margins of the Church at 8 pm on Friday 24 February in Grosvenor House, Glengall Street, Belfast. The lecture is held in association with Changing Attitude Ireland.
Revd Dr Hugh Rayment-Pickard will be speaking about why the Church needs the people it has pushed to the margins: if the church really seeks insights it needs to those whom it has pushed away.
Hugh Rayment-Pickard MBE is a founder and currently Director ot Communications for the education charity lntoUniversity. Before that, he worked for over 20 years as a priest in London parishes. He is the author of several publications including The Myths of Time: from St Augustine to American Beauty and The Inclusive God.
Accepting Sexuality is an informal group of Methodists, ordained and lay, working for the Church’s welcome and inclusion of LGBT people.
Changing Attitude Ireland is a Church ot Ireland organisation with ecumenical Friends, working For the inclusion of LGBT persons within the Churches.
Faith and Pride 2012: Call for Contributions
The theme for this years Faith and Pride event in July is Fear Not, taken from Luke 12:32.
Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
As with last year, the event will consist of two talks, each about half an hour long. If you would like to give one of the talks, or be involved in any way, please contact us. Although Faith and Pride is a Christian organisation, contributors do not have to be Christian. Contributions should reflect the theme of Fear Not in some way, and should be consistent with our ethos: “We’re not about arguing or putting down someone else’s view. We’re putting forward an alternative view.”
We also invite submissions of papers and articles of interest to gay Christians. Although articles and papers do not have to have a theme of Fear Not, they should still be consistent with our ethos.
Book Launch: Moving Forward Together: Homosexuality and the Church of Ireland
Changing Attitude Ireland is launching a new book, “Moving Forward Together: Homosexuality and the Church of Ireland”, in Belfast on Tuesday 7th February and in Dublin on Thursday 9th February.
The book, co–edited by Ginnie Kennerley and Richard O’Leary, includes short articles in straightforward language written by leading theologians and well known Church figures, as well as personal accounts from both lay and ordained gay or lesbian people. Among the contributors are Dr Nigel Biggar, Regius Professor of Moral & Pastoral Theology in Oxford, Dr Andrew Pierce from the Irish School of Ecumenics, the Bishop of Cashel & Ossory, Archdeacon Gordon Linney, and Dr Alan Acheson. You can download the table of contents and the foreword and preface.
The book will be launched in Belfast on 7 February at 4.45pm at the Good Bookshop, Donegall St (next to St Anne’s Cathedral) where the speaker will be Lady Brenda Sheil. The Dublin launch will be on 9 February at 6.15pm in the Trinity College Gallery Chapel, where the speaker will be Judge Catherine McGuinness.
It can be bought at the following locations.
- DUBLIN
- Best Sellers, Dawson St
- The RE Resource Centre Rathmines
- Books Upstairs, Dame st (opposite TCD)
- The Exchange bookshop, Dalkey
- BELFAST
- The Good Book Shop (Donegall st, next to St Anne’s cathedral)
- No Alibis bookshop (Botanic Avenue)
- LONDONDERRY
- Eason bookshop
- COUNTRYWIDE
- Some Church of Ireland cathedral book stalls
- BY POST
from The Treasurer, Changing Attitude Ireland,.
36 Seahill Road Holywood Co. Down BT18 0DJ Northern Ireland
P&P £1 or €3 according to UK/ROI address
Order Form
The First Faith, Pride, and Chat Meeting
Biscuits!
Faith and Pride is holding it’s first Faith, Pride, and Chat meeting at 7 p.m. on Friday 27th January in the Sunday School Room at St George’s Church on High Street in Belfast. It will last about an hour, and afterwards some of us might be going to the cinema in Victoria Square. Everyone is welcome.
Faith, Pride, and Chat is an informal social gathering where you can meet other LGBT Christians and talk about anything, including being gay and Christian, in a safe, non-judgemental environment. There will be coffee, and possibly even biscuits.
If you need more information, or if you get lost and need directions, please contact us on 07590 928616.
And if you can’t make it this time, don’t worry. We will be holding Faith, Pride, and Chat on the last Friday of every month. Watch this website for details.
Faith, Pride, and Chat
Faith and Pride will be holding the first of our monthly social meetings at the end of January. They will be an opportunity to meet other gay Christians in a welcoming environment. Full details will follow.
A True Christian Position on Same-Sex Marriage
In the UK, and in many countries across the world, there are many different forms of marriage. These are all accepted as marriage, even though they aren’t “Christian”. On its own, that is enough to suggest that conservative Christians should not oppose the emergence of same-sex marriage. True, same-sex marriage isn’t part of traditional Christian beliefs, but neither are Hindu marriages, Jewish marriages, or civil marriages. The religious freedom that allows conservative Christians to celebrate their form of marriage means that conservative Christians should allow other people to follow their religious or philosophical views to celebrate marriage in their own ways – including Christians and other people of faith who want to celebrate same-sex marriage.
There is another reason for Christians accepting same-sex marriage, even Christians who believe that all same-sex relationships are wrong. A recent study showed that where same-sex marriage is allowed, the health of gay men improves. That means that by opposing same-sex marriage, you are effectively encouraging poorer health in gay men, which is hardly a Christian position to take.
Supporting same-sex marriage is not the same as approving of same-sex relationships, any more than supporting civil marriage is the same as supporting atheism. Opposing same-sex marriage is denying other people the religious and philosophical freedom that we all enjoy. Opposing same-sex marriage is wishing poorer health on a subset of the population. A Christian should support same-sex marriage, even if he or she believes that same-sex relationships are wrong.
Belfast Pride 2012 – and Beyond
We are currently planning the Faith and Pride events that will take place in and around Belfast Pride 2012. What would you like to see happen? Or maybe you have an idea for something you would like to see happen at some other time of year. Add a comment, or let us know through the Contact page.
Being LGBT and Having Faith in Northern Ireland: a Report
The Irish Peace Centres has launched a report LGBT Communities’ Experiences of Faith and Church in Northern Ireland.
Mephibosheth had Two Dads
Mephiboseth was the son of Jonathan.
Jonathan son of Saul had a son who was lame in both feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but as she hurried to leave, he fell and became disabled. His name was Mephibosheth. (2 Samuel 4:4, NIV)
After the turmoil surrounding David’s accession had calmed down, he asked “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” (2 Samuel 9:1). David was able to trace Mephibosheth and summoned him to court.
“Don’t be afraid,” David said to him, “for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.” (2 Samuel 9:7)
David showed kindness to Mephibosheth for Jonathan’s sake. Why would he do this? It was because of the covenant between David and Jonathan, as Jonathan mentioned in 1 Samuel 20:42:
Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘The LORD is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.’” Then David left, and Jonathan went back to the town.
As I mentioned in my talk, the word “friendship” is one that is introduced by the translators of the NIV.
David and Jonathan’s families were united by the covenant between them. When Jonathan was killed, David took his son under his wing and treated him as his own son. Was this adoption? And did Mephibosheth have two dads?
Not Quite Adoption
No, this is not quite adoption in the sense that we know it in the modern world. By the time Mephibosheth was ‘adopted’ by David, he was old enough to have a son of his own (2 Samuel 9:12), and in the modern Western world by the time someone is old enough to have children of their own they are usually too old to be adopted.
However, David did look after Mephibosheth in a fatherly way, so I think it is safe to say that David was a father to him. Mephibosheth did have two dads.
Definitely Not Political
The real significance of David’s adoption of Mephibosheth, of course, is that it shows that David and Jonathan’s relationship was one based on love and partnership, not politics. Politically it was a foolish idea to have any of Saul’s heirs around, and on one occasion there were rumours that Mephiosheth was trying to usurp David (2 Samuel 16:3).
But if David and Jonathan formed a relationship based on love, a spousal-type relationship, then this makes perfect sense. David looked after Jonathan’s sole surviving heir because Jonathan was his spouse, making Jonathan’s children his step children.
Faith and Pride 