{"id":130013,"date":"2024-06-17T12:22:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-17T16:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=130013"},"modified":"2024-06-17T18:56:07","modified_gmt":"2024-06-17T22:56:07","slug":"af-can-the-gsfa-help-the-cofe-bishops-tell-right-from-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=130013","title":{"rendered":"(AF) Can the GSFA help the CofE bishops tell right from wrong?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

So, what\u2019s the way out?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step forward, Revd Sam Ferguson, the Rector of The Falls Church Anglican in Virginia, USA, who also addressed the GSFA gathering.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revd Ferguson does not see the current controversies as a threat, or something to be managed, or put to one side \u2013 instead he explained that the controversy was a gift and an opportunity.  \u201cIf you look at the history of the Church\u201d, he said, \u201cChristian doctrine is typically produced in the pressure of heresy and controversy, not in a vacuum.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He described the LGBTQ movement as, \u201ca flower on a tree, that is a completely a new way of understanding what it means to be human – so underlying the whole LGBTQ movement are a whole different set of assumptions about being human.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

His thesis was that to address these assumptions, which affect us all, the Church needs to discover an ever more compelling vision of biblical anthropology, which will then shape our response with compassion and clarity.  Compassion for individuals who experience pain. Clarity because the truth is not subjective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Living up to the challenge, in less than an hour, he set out three of the unarticulated assumptions which shape the world in which we live and are seen in the LGBT movement.  He then offered a glorious, biblical alternative to each one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. I am a self-made individual, answerable to no-one<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. My sense of self is located in my feelings rather than any objective reality<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. I find my hope in happiness (and sex) and my healing in transition<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    As he travelled from creation to the new creation, Ferguson showed compassion for the fallen world and pointed to the resurrection hope for hurting people.  He challenged those present that the church needed to offer \u201ca thick enough ecclesia, Christian community, to come around people who are hurting \u2013 but it is a Spirit-shaped community and a Spirit-shaped transformation.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The presentation was steeped in his own American culture, yet his biblical exegesis landed with those from all nations.\u00a0 The Q&A just kept going and when time was eventually called, he was surrounded by delegates from all over the world. There was no \u2018deep listening\u2019 \u2013 but those listening wanted more.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>

    The CofE bishops are stuck because they cannot agree on the answer to a simple question \u2013 \u201cIs same-sex sex sinful?\u201d Can the GSFA Assembly help? https:\/\/t.co\/JKE1AgzVya<\/a><\/p>— Anglican Futures (@AnglicanFutures) June 14, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote>