At the beginning of his book he writes, “Fortunately, for the really big and important things—the existence of God, the reality of sin, the love of God revealed in Jesus—the Bible speaks so clearly that you have to work hard not to understand what it means and how it applies. But many other things, including specific questions about how we should then live in light of these big things, require a great deal more work. They require more prayer, more loving dialogue with others, more careful reading by everyone, more arduous study regarding the meaning of ancient words first written in a cultural context far removed from our own, more deliberative, Spirit-led discernment regarding how the words apply to us today, more patient fleshing out of such discernment in a real community in real time.”
“Such a process is demanding, especially when the issue at hand—what does the Bible say to people who experience profound same-sex attraction – is something relatively few of us actually experience. It’s easier to offer easy answers when we are not the people facing the hard questions.”
We would do well to think about how we best can have these non-anxious conversations. Unity within our churches depends on this. He goes on in his book to do this hard work of exploring the questions and the gentleness and compassion with which he writes is notable.