God calls us, and we respond;
Christ leads us, and we are to follow; The Spirit beckons us, and we are urged to enter into new life.
We come to worship the God of life and laughter,
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a new process
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homosexuality in the church is a new issue
The compassion of Christ for all people is distorted by attempts to introduce discredited ideas about homosexuality into the Christian community. The word, homosexual appears nowhere in the Bible. Attitudes of hatred and exclusion towards homosexual people are not biblical. Translators are guessing when they choose the word homosexual to translate Greek or Hebrew words of unknown meaning. It is as credible as describing Joseph's coat as radioactive or polyester. The failure to teach congregations biblical understanding is one reason for continuation of both the fundamentalist or literalist approach to scripture and, at the other end, the approach by those who seem easily to disregard the major messages of the Bible. More people recognise the McDonald's logo than the cross. What is the significance of Easter? Either Easter is the transforming centre of the universe or we have been wasting our time for 2000 years. As a church, the issue is how much the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ grasps us; not saying no to what is happening in society. In the crucifixion, God is identifying with the most humiliated persons. It is a powerful point for persons suffering to know that God has suffered with us and for us ... there is the hope of the Resurrection. The God of life raises the dead. The whole concept is a living reality. History is full of lost and hopeless people being redeemed. Are we empowered by these truths? |
We are a congregation bitterly divided into factions, filled with members who are arrogant in their wealth and position, lax in our celebrations of the sacraments, scandalous in our behaviour confused in our theology, and bereft of stable leadership. Nevertheless, we are called as the body of Jesus Christ to live out and witness to the transforming reality of his grace.