The liberation of humanity by Christ.

Image by six steps  via Flickr

The inclusivity of the church is based on the notion that to exclude anyone must be God’s ‘will’.  To exclude anyone demands a reason.  To state that reason clearly is a duty before God so that your judgement against the excluded is understood and can be examined properly.

Sin excludes us for a time, until and unless we can ask for forgiveness, repent, and become reconciled by the passion of Christ to God, humanity and the Church.

Sexual orientation and gender are matters that cannot be used to exclude us from being wholly part of the church, not honestly anyhow, for it has no possibility of repentance.  It is what one is and to repent because of it would be to be abhorred by one’s own nature that God made.  It cannot be considered as 'being sinful'.

The liberation of the 1960’s didn’t discover anything new, rather it revealed what was already there, but it has become a challenge to the church.  It is a challenge for the church in that the church cannot ignore the openness of society and must state clearly what it believes when that openness appears to challenge its tradition or doctrine.

The problem arises when the church learns from the liberation of the 1960’s that it is challenged, not in terms of tradition or doctrine, but in terms of its prejudice.

Mr C