Keizer (quoting his anonymous curate) wrote:

...on the rightness of blessing same-sex unions, she was simply not sure, and that it was difficult for her—-so palpably difficult that I knew I’d ruined the rest of day just by asking—-"to sit here and say I don’t know."

This is precisely where I fall, and I would submit that this is also where other self-proclaimed centrists fall as we watch the Anglican Communion tear itself apart over sexuality issues. People are being asked to take sides, even if it is just to stand aside while events play themselves out.

For me, the question is, do we go with the Gospel of George W. Bush that "if you are not with us you are against us" or the Gospel of Jesus Christ that "s/he who is not against us is for us"? Is there a place for a both/and position in the church?

How can it be called "centrist" if 1/10 or more of our members are left as second class citizens of our churches? I think there really is no middle ground on this one - there is no space between blessings and no blessings.

How can someone "not know?" No one really cares to ask us gay folk what we really think about the whole thing. What exactly is it that gives people pause? I don't get it. My relationship with my partner is one of the strongest and most loving relationships that I know, and very many straight couples come to us for advice and counsel. How can what we have either be non-existent or anathema to the Church? Just because some BC Palestinian shepherds were revolted at figments of their lurid imaginations? They're dead and gone, and we're here and now. Why are their opinions more important than the loving realities of healthy same-sex relationships that exist right before your eyes, and sit in your pews?

I'm sorry, but what was placed here to read (I don't have a subscription) came across as rather dismissive of some rather harsh realities gay and lesbian persons face, and not just in the developing world, I might add. I for one don't have the right to visit my partner if he were hospitalized.

It's easy to decide that those radicals are the problem, rather than taking a good hard look at ourselves, especially centrists who often have quite a lot of "in" in a Communion increasingly closing space off for gay and lesbian persons--Lambeth is a sign of this.

Where poverty is a reality, often gay and lesbian persons are even more vulnerable as we were reminded by a deacon who showed us a video of the lives of lgbt folk in Uganda, many of whom are members of Integrity Uganda. I'm reminded that one young man, when his family and village learned he was gay, put him to live in the pig pen with the pigs before he fled to the capital. Trying to toss aside the sexuality issue--so that we can get on with the Gospel is easy for those who are not in their person affected. When some of the pain of the deep divisions of Sin that we've been willing to tolerate and mete out when only gays were affected comes affect us through sad divisions, we get concerned. Centrism as I see it is blind to some real harm, and is often not the same as moderates or those wanting moderation, but those who would like to keep the conversation going as long as those people who are the issue aren't a part of it, don't raise a stink, and don't have any power in the situation.

Just today, the president of The Gambia announced (because refugee gay men have been fleeing there) that any homosexual would have his head cut off. How do centrists respond to this? I've read things like "all the pain for God's glory" nonsense by prominent centrists. Really. Is that God's glory. Is that how we cover up our own unwillingness to come to another's aid?

Who wants a blessing from such as this? This Communion has very little Gospel for lgbt persons, and trying to fudge around that to hold it all together is not of God no matter how much we Jesus it up so that we can have some peace.

In its entirety, Keizer's essay is far more thoughtful and complex than responses to selections taken out of context allow for. I hope that everyone who comes across this webpage will acquire a copy of the entire essay and read it all very carefully before making critical judgments about the author's views.