Dithering or deciding?

There have been a lot of headlines about the Church of England in recent weeks.

Many open letters have been written, a celibate gay bishop has been paraded, and even Church meetings in Tunbridge Wells have got a mention. I don’t think it is just the lack of real news during the ‘silly season’ that has caused it. No, it is also the fact that the Shared Conversations about Scripture, Sexuality and Mission are officially over, and the time has come to make a decision. And there is no easy answer.

Which way?

As the Archbishop of Canterbury is reported to have said at Greenbelt: ‘I am constantly consumed with horror at the way that we have treated LGBTI people and constantly consumed with an urge to find a way of changing that in the right way, but I don’t know what that is yet.’ He went on: ‘We have to find a way to love and embrace everyone who loves Jesus Christ, without exception and without hesitation. But that includes those who feel same-sex relationships are deeply, deeply wrong, or live in societies that do. The inclusion of LGBTI people in the church is essential. We cannot pretend that inclusion, from the point of view of someone in a same-sex relationship that falls short of the blessing of the Church, is going to feel like inclusion. We’re conning ourselves if we think we can do less than that and it will feel like inclusion. But when you do that, it will feel like exclusion to other people.’