I knelt there beside his prone body, his mouth was open at an awkward angle that matched his position on the ground. “God, help me, God help me” he managed to squeeze the words around his tongue, his eyes rolling back into his head out of pain… or perhaps it was fear.
Last weekend was a long weekend for those of us in Auckland: Auckland Anniversary weekend, to be precise. Now usually I don’t plan my holidays very well in advance and this one was no exception. In fact, it turned out that I planned my holiday so poorly that I didn’t actually have one.
I had, instead, agreed (in collaboration with my friend Alastair) to prepare the church service for that Sunday.
Now, it’s a great honour to be asked to do something like this and so I do take it seriously. It does mean a great deal of work, though, particularly around choosing the songs. If you choose a song that’s too old, then you scare away the young people (we have far too few of them at our church as it is). If you choose songs with too much “he”, “him” and “father” business, you upset the Lesbians (and we have too few of those as well). If you change the words to someone’s favourite song, however, you’re going to have a grumpy old man on your hands. Frankly though, we have quite a few of those at our church, so we can afford to ruffle a few feathers from time to time.
ACC, it sounds like some sort of city council, doesn’t it? Truth be told it’s a community of faith. An organisation of gay Christians dedicated to serving the needs of gay Christians in New Zealand, whatever those needs may be.
For me, the need was quite great back in 2005 or so. I was in a “questioning” phase in my life. It’s interesting that both gays and Christians use this term “questioning” to refer to a time in one’s life when you’re questioning the assumptions you’ve lived under so far. It’s a phase where you step outside your comfort zone and take a risk (some call it a leap of faith) in order to grow as a person.
I apologise for yet another “gay” post. This will be the last for a while, I promise, but given the referendum in the US and the recent law change in South Africa, I thought it was timely.
In a recent referendum, 8 American states recently voted on constitutional changes to “protect” marriage. Only one state did not pass that referendum. The vote in most states was pretty emphatic and overwhelmingly: “yes, protect marriage by making it only between a man and a woman”.
Why? Most gays wonder why other people feel so strongly about our private lives that they feel they should make new laws specifically preventing us from legally legitemising our existing monogamous, long-term relationships.
Ok, so Ted Haggard’s been all over the news and, in my arrogance, I feel like I have something to say on the matter.
What? You don’t know about him? Well, I guess maybe it’s only big news here in the US, or maybe only big news in Christian circles.
Essentially, it’s a story of a man, just a man. A man who (it turns out) has been living with a big secret his entire adult life. You see, from the current evidence, it looks like he’s gay. “Huh” you say “that’s not a problem, some of my best friends are gay.” Yeah, true. I agree, I don’t have a problem with him being gay. I know many gay people, and I consider myself gay. There’s nothing wrong with that.
I was discussing the problem that religious people face when confronted by homosexuality. I was discussing it with someone who could be considered a fundamentalist who was actively lobbying against gay rights.
Now, of course, I am pro-gay and I believe that one can explain away the apparent scriptural condemnation of homosexuality in much the same way as we explain away things like pork, women speaking in church and having long hair. Still, it is quite valid (and even necessary) for a Christian who still feels homosexuality is wrong to be able to still express their Christianity in the way that they feel is most appropriate.
I started thinking about what the scriptural answer to this would be. Here is my highly biased response to her.
Well, I threatened some time ago that I may make some religions posts. That time has come. This first post is a hodge-podge mixture of my feelings about my own faith. When my friend and colleague Brendon found out I was a Christian, he was fascinated and wanted to hear my views on creationism. I guess it’s kind of like a freak show: “What? You believe in that?” Ok, so let’s talk creationism, I’m game!
This post is a self-indulgent religious post with no pictures. You have been warned 
Last Sunday’s church service touched on the concept of generosity. Now, personally, my cynical mind suspected that the admonishment to be generous seems to be quite common in American churches, where they’re always trying really hard to bolster up the offering so they can afford that new sound system or gold trimmings on the pews. That said, I did take something away from that. For me, generosity is a core part of the Christian lifestyle, but it’s generosity of spirit, not necessarily of money. (more…)
So I am now officially a New Zealand citizen! The ceremony was very nice. There were only about 20 people there so it was quite cosy.
The person leading the ceremony made it out to be a very special (almost spiritual) occasion. I disagreed with him a little there. For me, the special / spiritual occasion had already happened many years ago, the moment I set foot on New Zealand soil. A date I will forever remember: December 5th, 1997. (more…)
I had a very interesting discussion with my friend & colleague Brendon on Friday after work. He had suggested that we get together sometime over a drink to discuss sex and religion. Seeing as I really like sex, religion and drinking, I considered this to be a fantastic offer.
We met up after work at a bar in custom’s street and had a few drinks. Well, I had a few drinks, he had one 
.
Today I had lunch with an old friend, Viren (known as “V” to his friends). I bumped into him a month or so ago but hadn’t seen him in what seems like years. Looks like a lot of things have happened in the meantime.
I won’t go into the all too private details here on this very public blog, but I will say that after talking to him I realise he’s going through his “quarter life crisis”. I went through mine recently and am still dealing with the aftermath at the moment. It’s a fantastic experience: you re-evaluate things and realise things about yourself that are perhaps a little frightening. It’s well worthwhile. I recommend it to anyone 24+
One of the most interesting changes in V (from my perspective) is the change in his approach to religion.
I came across this website: http://www.godhatesfags.com and I laughed. What delightful satire! I mean, it’s so black, so cutting, so realistic, you could almost be forgiven for believing…
Hang on…
Oh, I see…
Why can’t God speak for himself? Why would he choose to speak through people like this?
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