realising reality

I know that I am showing my age, but I struggle with the idea that you can make a living by posting content online. The idea that someone’s job might be ‘Youtuber’ is bizarre to me. I know the mechanics of it (I have not monetised this bloggage) but it’s the concept that I struggle to get my brain around. It feels like money for nothing (cue Sting singing ‘I want my, I want my MTV’ – young people, look up ‘Dire Straits – money for nothing’).

Now even as I typed the previous paragraph I realised that it’s not money for nothing. These people are using their creativity and skills to make the content which people want to watch and for which they receive money via adverts, etc. There’s skill in imagining, preparing, recording, editing and so on. Perhaps it’s becoming a new art form. I just have to realise this reality.

And it’s that mind-shift which I, and many of my contemporaries, have to make. It’s not the first time. Previous generations had to get used to the idea that there were people who designed and built cars or aeroplanes instead of carts and carriages. They had to come to terms with the notion that rocket science had become a thing and was not just science fiction. I grew up in the era when home computers began to become commonplace and ‘computer games programmer’ became a job – my eldest daughter has that job.

Believe it or not Christians have done this over the centuries: coming to realise new realities. You may not believe me because we seem to struggle when it’s our turn to embrace change. I think the reason for that is that fresh realisations appear to undermine received truths and traditions that have been at the heart of what we believed.

But is it actually change? Or is it a fresh realisation of the extent of God’s love and grace and inclusivity – realising the reality?

It’s not new for people of faith. We see it happening in the pages of the Bible. In the early chapters of the Bible those who are eunuchs (castrated males, or males who are unable to procreate) were excluded from being part of the worshipping community (Deuteronomy 23:1). Later in the Old Testament we see that they were honoured and blessed by God as part of the community of faith (Isaiah 56:3-5). In the New Testament we see an Ethiopian eunuch being led to faith in Jesus (Acts 8:26-40).

(Mischievous question: if you want to stay true to the Bible, which attitude towards eunuchs is correct?)

Similar progressions towards full inclusion happen with those who are Gentile (not Jewish) – which is significant as the Bible narrative happens in a Jewish context; slaves – which is significant as the Bible narrative happens in a world where slavery is accepted and commonplace; and women – which is significant as the Bible narrative happens in an enormously patriarchal context.

In fact one of the sweeps of the Bible is of people discovering more and more that God is for everyone, not just them: culminating in Jesus’ example, his life, death and resurrection which are for ALL. It’s a move towards full inclusion and rather tragically we keep having to relearn and apply this.

In church history we have seen this progression: for example, regarding slaves, women, and divorced people. In some cases we have re-ignited disputes that Jesus had settled. Each time it has happened there has been resistance within parts of the church, usually with reference to some verses in the Bible that apparently support the oppression of some people. Yet now there is a settled view about slavery and, for the most part, about women and divorced people (although there are still Christians who don’t accept full inclusion of women and divorced people).

The area of inclusion that is currently the focus of discussion / debate / argument / schism (delete according to your experience) is around human sexuality. I believe that the handful verses in the Bible that are used to support a negative stance towards full inclusion in this current situation cannot simply be taken at face value (as with much of the Bible). I am convinced by the explanations of these texts that you find, for example, in Affirmative by Jonathon Tallon. They need to be read in their context and the original text should be allowed to reclaim its original purpose. Because of this I believe that LGBTQ+ siblings should be embraced fully in churches, and I am privileged to minister in an Inclusive Church.

I am not going to rehearse the discussion / debate / argument / schism (delete according to your experience) here because you can find many other places to explore that. If you disagree with me (and I know some of you will) there are plenty of places where you can express your contrary views*.

But if, as I said earlier, one of the sweeps of the Bible is of people discovering more and more that God is for everyone: culminating in Jesus’ example, his life, death and resurrection which are for ALL, we need to embrace this fully if we want to be in step with him. I believe that future generations will look back on us and wonder how people got so worked up about this, in the same way that we view the slavery debates.

Whoever you are: God made you, God loves you, and God thinks you’re fabulous.

*If you disagree with me, please show Godly grace and don’t abuse the comments section for this blog or Facebook.