A Better Conversation about Homosexuality (Part 9): Not About Sex

This may come as a shock, but our conversation about homosexuality is not actually about sex. 
     I know sex is part of homosexuality.  It's right there in the middle of the word and in the middle of our thoughts.  But it doesn't belong in the middle of our conversation.

Photo Credit: Nick Sherman

    Our global culture tends to make desire our highest good - specifically fulfilling our desires.  17th century Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza would be right at home in postmodernism: "Desire is the very essence of man."
     David Fitch (a leading missional theologian) recently argued that world has a universal underlying paradigm that "desire is innate, not shaped, cannot be changed, and is who I am."  He continues: "This ... is so much part of the water we swim in, it is rarely if ever challenged. It plays deep into the psyches of the sexually charged cultures of the young. It drives the sexual controversies in society at large and in the church."  He proceeds to challenge and to break apart that paradigm.  I'd like to echo and reframe his arguments here. 

First of all, despite our cultural expectations, desire ≠ right.  
 We believe desire = right (as in good).
    Elvis started it out: "It feels so right, so right.  How can it be wrong?  ...  I know that nothing can't be wrong that feels so right."  But recent singers have carried forward this philosophy: Ne-Yo ("How can something that feels so right be so wrong?") and Carly Rae Jepsen ("Wrong feels so right").
     We have a basic cultural belief that whatever we desire is right.  If we want it bad enough, it must be inherently good - or at least good for us.  Even if it's normally bad for others, it must be good for us.
    However, we know that desire is a fickle thing and not a faithful barometer for ethics.  My desire for five bratwursts in two days during was not a good thing.  One of the essential elements of criminal prosecution is proving that the accused had sufficient motive (desire) for the crime.  We know that desire can easily lead us astray.

We also believe that desire = right (as in having a right to something).  
If I really desire it, then I have a right to it.   The US Declaration of Independence has enshrined our right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" in our national documents, but the entire world has this motto etched on our minds.  Do not stand in the way between humans and our desires.  That is a good way to get yourself killed.

Renovating Holiness: Helena the Hedgehog and Holiness (Janel Apps Ramsey)

This essay is part of the Renovating Holiness Project.  Janel Apps Ramsey is a staff member at Bloom Church Denver.  She graduated from NTS with an MA in Theological Studies.  She loves exploring topics of women and church, wholeness and healing, and techno music.  She lives with her husband Baird, cats Yao and Ty, and Helena the Hedgehog.  She loves waking up and seeing mountains every single day.

Photo Credit:

Denis-Carl Robidoux

    The community where I serve expresses its vision as “cultivating gardens of resurrection.”  To explore this idea more fully, I’d like you to meet Helena the Hedgehog. A hedgehog is a softball sized insectivore with short sharp spines on her back and sides.  They have a soft furry underbelly and an expressive face with a cute button nose that wiggles from side to side.  Hedgehogs, in their native habitat, live in gardens and hedgerows in several parts of the world.
    Helena lives in a cage in the corner of my living room.  In a perfect world, I could train Helena to live in my garden during the summer and then bring her inside to protect her during the winter and spring.  (They hibernate and often die in the cold.)  But unfortunately, when she does what she was created to do, she isn't really thinking about the fact that I want her to stay only in my patch of garden.  Helena was created to tend the garden at large to help make all things new.
    Stewardship is in her DNA.  Eating bugs, stirring up the soil, and protecting the garden are all things she does naturally.  She is a kingdom creature, cultivating what is given to her.  However, when my cats want to play with her, or when she sees an arm come over her like the shadow of a bird, she takes a defensive posture.  She immediately curls up into a ball and puffs out her quills.  In this defensive posture, safety means keeping everything else out.
    For Helena, vulnerability comes when she is doing what she was made to do.  Moving around in the garden means that her belly is exposed and her defenses are down.  A few weeks ago, I let her out to roam the yard.  She was SO excited.  She walked the entire fence line, rambled through the raspberry bush, and foraged through the grass.  In her excitement, she got a little cut on one of her legs,which she barely even noticed.  I had to keep an eye on it the next few days and make sure she was okay.
    If I just put her in a cage with food, water, clean bedding, and a wheel to run on, she would be well taken care of.  But if I never picked her up and played with her, or let her run around outside, she would get bored, which would lead to several negative behaviors.  When bored with the world, hedgehogs will self-harm.  To release their energy and frustration, they will gnaw on their feet, sometimes until they can’t walk.  Second, if they get suspicious and paranoid, they will stop allowing you to tend to their needs.  From rolling into an indistinguishable ball of prickles to head-butting you when you are trying to care for them, they can become extremely difficult to interact with.  Even though I am trying to help her, to trim her nails so she can move around better, she butts me out.

A Better Conversation about Homosexuality (Part 8): Not About Equality

Photo Credit: See-Ming Lee

     The conversation about homosexuality is not about equality.  Not just about equality.  Not simply that.  Equality is not the primary issue at hand.  Not for Christians.

     For Christians, the primary issue at hand is understanding how the Bible guides our lives.  Nothing supersedes that.  We use tradition, reason, and experience to help us understand the Bible, but still the Bible is the primary material for ethics and theology.  As we look at the whole spectrum of the Bible, the parts that speak directly to homosexuality, sexuality, and relationships and the parts that speak to the broader issues of God's movement in the world, what is the confluence of all of those texts? How does the overall story of the Bible speak to the specific issue of homosexuality?  That is the primary question at hand for Christians.
     The larger culture is in a broad push to affirm "gay equality" across all sectors of society.  A notable example is Obama's push for gay partners to have the same rights as straight partners in all areas of federal law.  His twitter feed called his latest effort "another victory for equality."  A great many business and organizations are making similar choices in their own employment policies.
     With this kind of wide-scale change, the questions relating to gay marriage can feel like a no-brainer issue of equal rights for all people.  The no-brainer rating of this issue increases as the age of the opinion-holder decreases, by the way.  But cultural change is not always good.
"Everyone's doing it" doesn't hold much weight logically or theologically.

A Better Conversation about Homosexuality (Part 8): Not About Whether We Believe in the Bible

Photo Credit: David Campbell

     "The Bible says homosexuality is wrong" - that's the starting point for many conservatives.  The greatest fear among both conservatives and moderates is that, if the Church accepts homosexuality in any form, then we are rejecting the authority of the Bible.  

     The whole debate about homosexuality is fraught with such heavy emotional baggage in part because it is attached to this larger issue of Biblical authority.  

For many, the question of gay marriage is simple: “Either you believe the Bible, or your don’t.”  

The great fear is that we Christians will lose our ethical bearings in the world and become lost in a moral swamp of squishy ground in which everything is personally debatable.  

     On one hand, this makes a lot of sense.  For Christians, the Bible is our moral compass.  The Bible is our guide for life.  Christians believe the Bible is inspired by God and actually alive with the Spirit of God.  The Bible is our supreme authority for understanding God and how God wants us to live in this world.  Of course, we also use reason, tradition, and experience to help us understand the Bible, but the Bible’s voice is always in the trump suit.  The Bible always has the authority to correct us.  The Bible is always the voice that moves the Church to reform when we have gone astray.  It is good and right for Christians to highly value the authority of the Bible.
     And when the Bible talks directly about homosexuality, it is always negative.  Accepting something the Bible seems to reject outright sounds like heresy to many.  It sounds like gay-affirming people are saying we get to pick and choose which parts of the Bible we believe in.  And of course, if we can pick and choose which texts have authority over us, then none have actual authority.   

If we are the filter of authoritative texts, then we are the real authority not the Bible. 

    Some advocates of gay marriage and other gay rights are perfectly fine with this conclusion.  

Whether Christian or not, they view the Bible as an archaic, mostly obsolete book.  

These Christians view it primarily as the story of God’s work in the world, but they see it as so heavily weighted with ancient cultural baggage that it has nothing meaningful to say about ethics in today’s world. 
     Another group of Christians prioritize Jesus’ teachings over all else, to the point of radically discounting both Paul and the Old Testament.  With all of their good intentions and honest love for Jesus, these genuine Christians are also practicing Marcionites.  Marcion was a 2nd century Christian leader who rejected the Old Testament and parts of the New Testament in favor of the portions that incline theology toward an all-forgiving God.  Marcion was ruled a heretic, and the global Church affirmed our commitment as Christians to the authority of the whole Bible.

     However, a whole other set of gay-affirming Christians remain Bible stalwarts.  They believe in the Bible with their whole hearts, and they are trying to shape their lives by the Bible’s teachings.  They remain deeply committed to the authority of the whole Bible - both Old and New Testaments.  And yet, as they understand the Bible, gay marriage is an acceptable option for Christians.  Even more, some of them feel that the Bible itself compels them to work for gay equality in the Church.

Renovating Holiness: A View from the Dutch Pews (Ank Verhoeven)

Editor's Note: This essay is part of the Renovating Holiness project.  Ank Verhoeven is a pastor in the Netherlands, and this essay reflects a series of dialogs with the people and pastors of Vlaardingen Church of the Nazarene, a church of some 1,700 people. 

Vlaardingen Church of the Nazarene

    Personally, I feel torn.  I love theology; I really do.  I love to talk about it; I love to think about it; I love to study it.  But I so hate how it can divide people.
 
    I just read a discussion on Facebook, of all places, about creation versus evolution. There are arguments to and fro, but all seem to be missing the point of the relationship between God and man.  In a loving relationship people are never testing the words of their significant other to be scientifically true, are they?  It just matters if everything that is significant for the relationship is true, and more importantly, trustworthy.  Why should God’s Word be treated so differently?
    In the present discussion concerning entire sanctification, it is no different.  
There are arguments against arguments, dividing people more than unifying them.  In my opinion, that should never be the purpose of the discussion.  Is the Church of the Nazarene not the place where tolerance for differences in interpretation should be most expected and even valued?  I cannot accept the fact that a theological difference could lead to division in our denomination.  That is why I wanted to participate in the project of the formation of this book.
    I put myself to the task of discovering how the people of my own congregation perceive the concept of sanctification, hoping to find points that would bind us, instead of divide us.
    The Dutch are Calvinistic from origin.  A couple of years ago, there was an internet test issued on how much people score on a Calvinistic attitude towards life, and even atheists (and Nazarenes) scored well above 60%.  Calvinism among the Dutch is often characterized by remarks as: ‘If you’re born for a dime, you will never become a quarter,” or “If your head sticks out above the wheat on the field, don’t be surprised if you lose it in the mowing.”  All of these sayings are trying to make sure that you remain a very humble person.  Success is in no way applauded as it is in the United States.  The possibility of being holy or perfect, even in the meaning of John Wesley’s “Christian Perfection” is, therefore, hard for us Dutch to wrap our brains around.

A Better Conversation about Homosexuality (Part 7): Not About Sodom and Gomorrah

“Where are the men who came to spend the night with you? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!” (Genesis 19:5).

www.freebibleimages.org

     The Biblical cities Sodom and Gomorrah have become idiomatic of wanton sinfulness.  In Genesis 18, God tells Abraham that God will destroy the twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah "because their sin is so flagrant" (18:20).  
     Two angels then go into Sodom to investigate, and they eventually agree to stay in the home of Lot, Abraham's nephew.  That night, the men of Sodom surrounded Lot's house and demanded to have sex with the visiting men.  
     This story is often cited as a proof of the evils of homosexuality.  A traditional interpretation of the story is that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were so sexually corrupt that God could not stand their presence on the earth any longer.  The text's depiction of men demanding sex with men is often seen as evidence of God's prohibition of homosexuality as a whole.  In fact, the word "sodomy" (having various meanings relating to "unnatural" sex) gets its meaning from the city of Sodom. 

      However, this is a gross misreading of the text.  Nothing in the Sodom and Gomorrah story says anything about modern homosexuality or gay marriage. 

Consider the following basic points. 

1. Sodom and Gomorrah is about rape.  The straight narrative of the story is that the men of Sodom try to gang rape Lot's guests and threaten to do even worse to Lot.  The issue at hand is primarily power and domination, not sexual desire.  Men raping men was a common form of humiliation against prisoners of war.  For some reason, the men of Sodom were trying to show their utter dominance over Lot and his guests.  This has nothing to do with consenting sexual relationships and even less for gay marriage.  

Renovating Holiness: Last Round of Contributors

The Renovating Holiness project is well underway.  Gen-X and Millennial Nazarenes from around the world are revisioning sanctification for the 21st century.  We have inherited a beautiful theological house that is in serious need of renovation. 

Photo Credit: "Nathan"

These are the topic summaries for our last round of contributors.

Christa Klosterman (Pastor, Idaho & Oregon)
For the last many decades, each denomination has had its own distinctive element of theology or practice, a way to be set apart from the others.  For Nazarenes it has been holiness and our distinctive doctrine on sanctification.  In these current days, the lines we once drew to separate us from each other have disappeared or have become blurry.  What might it look like for the people called Nazarenes to share holiness with the broader Christian community?  And what might Nazarenes learn about holiness from the broader Christian community?

Montague R. Williams (Eastern Nazarene College)
Holiness and Racial Reconciliation: Considering Possibilities and Limitations
Christians in the U.S. have been expected to participate in congregations that match them racially.  Because racial division is heightened among evangelical congregations, it is not surprising from a sociological perspective that one rarely hears about racial reconciliation in Nazarene churches and statements.  However, from a theological perspective, there is a great deal of space to consider the connections between holiness and the hope and practice of racial reconciliation.  Making use of insights from interdisciplinary sources, I would like to identify possibilities and limitations of leaning on the doctrine of holiness for racial reconciliation.

Chad Maxson (Trevecca Nazarene University)
God’s Church and The Lens of Christ
Martin Luther spoke of God seeing us through Christ.  Wesleyans have often discounted that notion of imputed righteousness.  In this essay, I will touch on Dunning’s four relationships (self, others, God, and world) to make the case that, rather than aligning the human will with God’s will, sanctification is about aligning our vision with God’s.  When we see ourselves, others, God, and the world through the lens of Christ, we see true. Thus we are restored to the image of God.  This process requires guidance, which means that God’s Church is vital to entire sanctification.

A Better Conversation about Homosexuality (Part 6): Not about Individual Worth

When Christians start talking about homosexuality, most LBGT people feel that their personal identity is under attack.

Photo Credit: Axel.Foley

This is unfortunately understandable, but fortunately not true.

     It's understandable for several reasons.
     First of all, some Christians mistakenly paint homosexual practice as a super-sin.  They give the impression in more ways than one that homosexual sex is worse than heterosexual adultery, or almost any other kind of sin under the sun.
     Second, many Christians and other conservatives have developed somewhat of a conspiracy theory called "the gay agenda."  The idea is that there is an organized plot to liberalize America, to destroy "family values", to disenfranchise Christians, and otherwise to bring general moral corruption.  Somehow a great majority of the focus in this perceived cultural battle has focused in on homosexuality in general and gay marriage in particular.
     Third, as I said in a previous post, many LBGT people feel that their sexual orientation is part of their core identity as a person.  Therefore, when anyone says anything negative about that sexual orientation, the LBGT person naturally feels deeply threatened.  The message they hear - based on conversations with my gay friends - is something most Christians never meant to say: "Who you are as a person is fundamentally bad or sinful or evil." 
     Lastly, it seems that many Christians have drawn a line in the theological and ethical sand on the issues relating to gay marriage. 

A Better Conversation about Homosexuality (Part 5): Not about Nature vs. Nurture

     Are people born this way?  Or are they shaped this way by experience?

Photo Credit: McBeth

People often think the "nature vs. nurture" debate is extremely important.  

     For gay-affirming people, the argument for "nature" usually goes something like this.  
1. I was born gay.  I always knew I was different.  I knew from a very early age that I liked girls instead of boys.
2. If I was born this way, then God made me this way.
3. God doesn't make mistakes.  I am beautiful and good as God's beloved child.
4. My homosexual orientation is a good, God-given part of my nature.
5. I can live as a practicing homosexual and still honor the God who made me this way.

     For people who reject homosexual practice in all formats, the argument for "nurture" usually goes something like this.
1. Most gay people experienced some kind of abuse or poor parenting.  
2. Those experiences unfortunately warped the person's sexual desires toward homosexuality instead of their God-given heterosexuality.
3. Acting on those desires is a choice, and the gay person should pray and work for a reorientation to God-honoring heterosexual desires.

Renovating Holiness: Sarmiento on THE POWER OF ONE

Christian Sarmiento, South America Regional Director for the Church of the Nazarene, is a few years too old for the Renovating Holiness project.  (To qualify as a full contributor, you must be born on or after 1960.)  However, he believes in the project and contributed this essay for the discussion.

     “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:1-6, NASV).

     What does the “Power of One” mean? Is this a new “fad?” Is it another church program?
The expression, “Power of One,” points to God, Jehovah.
     He reveals Himself to Moses saying: “I am the Lord [Jehovah]; and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty [El-shaddai], but by My name, Lord, I did not make Myself known to them” (Exodus 6:2-3).
     Jehovah means, “to be,” and it encompasses all the tenses: The God that was, that is and that will be; the eternal and only God. He is the “God Almighty” [El-shaddai], meaning the “most powerful” Being. He is the most sufficient, the most sustaining, the One that supplies more than what is necessary to have the highest realization of all. He is the “God of Power,” the God of creation, history, and salvation. His supreme call to Abram was: “I [am] God Almighty, walk habitually before Me, and be thou perfect” (Genesis 17:1, Young’s Literal Translation).
     Since God is who He is, he expects that His people “shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5).

A Better Conversation about Homosexuality (Part 3): Not About an Orientation

Photo Credit: Umayyr

The conversation that the church is having is not about homosexuality as an orientation.  

     In a statement on homosexuality, my own denomination puts it like this:
The Bible says nothing about homosexuality as the term is often used today. Homosexuality is often used today to describe a person’s sexual orientation. The Bible does not address homosexual orientation.  What the Bible does talk about are homosexual acts. … Sexual orientation is not usually a willful choice.  …  It is amoral, neither moral nor immoral.  Sexual behavior is a moral choice.

     Being gay is not sinful.  Having the sexual orientation toward the same sex is not sinful or evil.  It is amoral.  Sin is in the action or intention, not in the desire or tendency.

True Confession: I am oriented to eating donuts by the dozen.
And whole pizzas, and vats of guacamole, and entire pecan pies.  I could eat an entire half-gallon of ice cream without flinching.  I am oriented to destructive overeating.  That orientation is not sinful in itself.  Camping out in Krispe Kreme is.  Sin is not in the desire.  Sin is in the action.  Holiness and health come in disciplining the desire for the sake of right action.

True Confession: I am a raging heterosexual.

A Better Conversation about Homosexuality (Part 2): 4 Reasons We Need to Talk

One of the most common responses to this series so far is: “Why do we even need to talk about this?”  My conservative brothers and sisters feel that discussion is pointless because the Bible gives a clear prohibition against homosexual activity in all forms.  As one friend said, “Are we going to decide that God was wrong?”
Here are 4 reasons we need to talk about homosexuality.

1. Kids are dying.  LBGT (Lesbian, Bi, Gay, Transgender) teens and young adults are four times more likely to attempt suicide than straight kids.  When LBGT kids experience rejection from their families, they are eight times more likely to try to kill themselves.  No matter our theological position, we have an ethical responsibility to cultivate an environment that keeps our kids alive, no matter their questions and orientations.

2. The world is talking about this.  Not only are our collective opinions changing rapidly, but also as a culture, we're having this conversation openly.  Even people who don't identify as Christians or frequent a church are actively making religious connections in this conversation about homosexuality.  Consider this song by Macklemore and Mary Lambert:

World Vision Shifted the Center on Gay Marriage: Facts, Implications, & Questions

World Vision is blowing up the internet via gay marriage.  What's going on?

THE FACTS:
Just in case you've been living under a rock, let me update you on some of the basics.

1. Rapid Legal Change. The United States is experiencing radical and rapid changes in our cultural and legal stances on gay marriage.  At the beginning of 1999, no states allowed same-sex marriages or civil unions.  Now, 15 years later, 17 states have legalized gay marriage; 4 have legalized same-sex civil unions; and federal courts have struck down gay-marraige bans as unconstitutional in 5 states.  That's a total of 26 states in which gay marriage or civil unions are considered legal (at least by federal courts).  If you can do the math, that's a majority of US states.  Zero to majority in 15 years.  That's fast.  (See this map for a very helpful visualization of this change.)

2. Change within the Church.  Officially, a few large denominations have accepted gay marriages or unions or given room for local churches and pastors to make their own decisions (eg. Episcopals, some Lutherans groups, United Church of Christ, and Presbyterians).  Acting independent of their denominations, quite a few Christian leaders have come out in favor of gay marriage, and some pastors are performing gay marriages or blessing gay "unions" despite prohibitions from their denominations.  Furthermore, within the larger Christian Church, opinions "in the pews" are changing much faster.  According to this Gallup Poll, 66% of Catholics and 41% of Protestants say "gay/lesbian relations are morally acceptable."  Other studies show (like this one), those numbers skyrocket among people under 40 and even more for people under 25.  All of this is a drastic change in a very short time.

3. World Vision Changed Policy about Gay Marriage.  On March 24, Rich Stearns (WV's US President) announced that WV "will now permit Gay Christians in legal same-sex marriages to be employed" at WV.  (If you don't know, World Vision is one of the largest and most respected Christian charities in the world.)  Basically, they made a small change in their "Code of Conduct" to reflect the changes mentioned above - including gay marriage as a form of marriage.  They still expect their employees to abstain from any sex outside of marriage.  The rational was simple (even if bold).  WV has a simple mission: to reduce poverty around the world.  WV has consistently refused to take stances on divisive issues within the Church: divorce/remarriage, abortion, modes of baptism, women in leadership, evolution, etc.  Given the extreme debates currently happening, gay marriage is CLEARLY a debatable issue for Christians (as in it is being debated), and this issue is extremely divisive and emotional.  So WV was trying to take a neutral stance to stay out of the debate.  WV was trying to say, "Some of our partners think gay marriage is OK, and some don't.  We're going to remain neutral and let you guys sort that out yourselves so that we can all work together to combat poverty." Alas, that didn't work - see the next fact.

Renovating Holiness: Contributions Round 5

Photo by morganlevy

We now have more than 130 confirmed contributors to the Renovating Holiness Project.  Having inherited our grandparents' theological house which desperately needs updating, we are faced with three options: resentment, rejection, and renovation.  Nazarenes from around the world (from at least 24 countries) are joining together to revision sanctification for our world and our time.

Here are the next round of introductory submissions.  Enjoy.

To read the previous submissions, click here: Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4.)

Ryan Quanstrom (Pastor, North Carolina)

Entrepreneurialism as Holy Living

I would be working off of Wendell Berry's The purpose of a Coherent Community and some work done by Peter Storey. Holy people don't let broken systems sin for them. We need people to be righteous with their purchases to do that, they need entrepreneurs. 

Janary Suyat de Godoy (Pastor & Asia-Pacific NYI Coordinator, Philippines)

Holiness and Small Groups

Is holiness an individual pursuit? I have been a part of a traditional church in my growing up years and was taught to go to church, attend all the services and programs, sit in Sunday school classes and have my personal devotional time. It is just in the last 5 years that I have been involved in small groups, and have experienced the richness it has brought to my understanding and pursuit of holiness.

My essay intends to present an understanding of holiness in a small group setting, that holiness is not just an individual affair, but something we share.

Arseny Ermakov (Booth College, Australia) 

Separation or Presence? Reimagining the Biblical Theology of Holiness

Holiness in the Bible is traditionally defined through the terminology of ‘separation’ or ‘withdrawal.’ This has a profound effect on the understanding of God (as unapproachable “Other”), the Church (as separate from the world) and the practices of sanctification (emphasizing withdrawal from the wider society and culture). 

I would like to suggest that separation is not a primary meaning of holiness in the Scripture. Depending on the context, holiness in the Bible may refer to power, glory, wholeness, perfection, goodness, morality, being set apart, and life. Moreover, holiness in the Scriptures has never been equated with God’s withdrawal or absence. On the contrary, holiness constantly indicates the presence of God in the human or heavenly realm. 

I strongly believe that in order to restore the balance in our theological universe, we ought to see holiness primarily as a concept of presence rather than one of withdrawal. This paper will demonstrate that holiness as powerful, contagious, transformative, and inclusive presence could be found in both Old and New Testaments. This notion of holiness forces us to reimagine the identity and the mission of the holy people of God in the modern world. We would have to move away from a static category of status of separation to a more dynamic and dialectical concept of holiness that embraces both notions of presence and being set apart.

Renovating Holiness: Discovering the Values of Holiness [Grant Zweigle]

This is the first full essay submitted to the Renovating Holiness Project.

Grant Zweigle pastored in Kansas City, MO; Seattle, WA; and currently in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Grant and his wife Aisling are relocating to Manila, Philippines with their two boys in 2015. Grant is completing a Doctor of Ministry at Nazarene Theological Seminary. 

  My grandmother lived in a German Mennonite Brethren community in Southern Russia as a young girl. When her parents immigrated to Canada they made their new home in a German Mennonite Brethren community in Yarrow, British Columbia. My grandmother learned some English in school, but spoke German at home and in church. Her family maintained their cultural distinctiveness in their new home, even as they adapted to a new way of life in Canada.

  My mother spoke some German in home and in church, but English was her first language. Her parents brought her up in the German Mennonite way, but as a young adult she forged her own way and more fully embraced the life and culture of Canada than her parents did.  

  My mother never spoke German to me. When I was 2, my Canadian mom and American dad moved to the United States. I am culturally an American and an English speaker. I tried studying German in high school and college, but it didn’t stick. I’ve always known my ancestry is German Mennonite with a Canadian flavour, but it didn’t seem to have much bearing in my everyday life.

  Eight and a half years ago, I moved back to Canada to pastor First Church of the Nazarene in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Since coming back to Canada, I’ve been able to spend more time with my grandmother who is now 95. When I visit my grandmother, she shares stories with me about her childhood in Southern Russia; about why and how her family came to Canada; and about the joys and struggles of making a new life in a new land.

  Over the course of her lifetime, my grandmother has learned to adapt to the cultural changes taking place around her. Some of these changes were forced upon her, but some she willingly embraced. As I’ve listened to her stories, I’ve discovered that many of the values that are dear to my grandmother are dear to me as well. Some of these values transcend culture. These include hospitality, generosity, stewardship, courage, diligence, faith, hope and love. As a dad, I now want to instil these values into my two boys. I like to take my boys to visit their great-grandmother so they can hear her stories and be inspired by the values that have shaped our family.

  Our spiritual grandparents and great-grandparents in the Church of the Nazarene had to adapt to cultural changes taking place around them. Some of these changes were forced upon them, while others they willingly embraced. As the spiritual grandchildren of these holiness pioneers, we would do well to listen to their stories, and in doing so we might discover values that we can embrace and pass on as well. 

     Vancouver First Church of the Nazarene is a traditional Nazarene church in the midst of a rapidly changing urban context. Many of the core members of our church are of that generation of spiritual grandparents who lived a life of holiness in the midst of changing and challenging circumstances. 

Send Us All

Not like the vaulted cathedrals,

Not like the pews with names and reservations,

Not like the hair-sprayed televangelists,

Not like the nice churches who say nice things to nice people,

Here at our doors shall stand a sign: All are welcome!

Open hearts, aflame with the burning love of God,

Open, open, open, to all who come.

Keep, O normal churches, 

your nice people, 

your beautiful people, 

your people who have their shit together and put on pretty faces.

Give us your freaks and your punks, 

your hippies and granolas, 

your Goths and your bikers.

Give us your homeless and your unemployed,

your job-hoppers and bed-hoppers, 

your addicts and your hard drinkers.

Give us your hookers and your strippers,

your gamblers and smokers,

your dippers and your chewers.

Give us your church-haters and your liberals,

your atheists and agnostics,

your fundamentalists and your prudes.

Give us your gays and your lesbians,

your transvestites and transsexuals,

your offenders and your victims.

Give us your polluters and your tree-huggers,

your executives and lawyers,

your tax-evaders and your tax-collectors.

Give us your doubters and your name-it-and-claim-its,

your hypocrites and holier-than-thous,

your skeptics and your relativists.

Give us your seekers and your strugglers,

your lovers and haters,

your saints and your sinners.

Send us all of these, for they are like us.

We lift high the cross of Christ, 

Brother of exiles, Friend of sinners.

His nail-pierced hands shout world-wide welcome

For all who long to breathe free,

For all who long to find home,

For all who didn't measure up, 

For all who need a new start,

For all who want a new world.

We lift high the cross of Christ,

So that we will all be transformed together.

Progress and Stuckness

OK, so maybe I just coined a new word there - stuckness - the state of being stuck.  In our Crowdsourcing series, as we address the big questions that we and our neighbors have about faith, what really stands out is that they are the same questions we’ve had for many decades (even centuries): science and faith, the problem of suffering, Christianity and world religions, judgmentalism and hypocrisy in the church.  We seem to be stuck with these.

But let’s talk about the progress, too.  Last week, as I looked at the rough and broken sheetrock that is still visible around our new and newly stained doors, two beautiful truths about our church hit me.

1. We are obviously a work in progress.  Our interior paint job is better but not finished.  We still have temporary walls and curtains.  We have a thousand different improvements on our wish list, and it seems like at least a hundred are halfway done.  But we’re still welcoming in new people.  We’re a work in progress, and we know it.  We aren’t trying to hide it.  Come on in, and don’t mind the dust.  That describes not only our building but our people as well.
2. Our progress is obvious.  The old joke asks, “How do you eat an elephant?”  -- One bite at a time.  We bought a $500,000 elephant with this old building, but we are steadily chipping away.  Paint, chairs, door stoppers, curtains, couches, carpets.  If you pay attention, you can probably see something new each week.  And that describes our people too.  We are growing in faith and mission.  Tribe, Free the Girls, Kairos Outside, World Vision at the Chicago Marathon, and local hospitality and love.  As individuals, people are taking steps of faith and courage and hope to actually live more like Jesus.  It’s beautiful. 

Maybe that progress is the answer to our stuckness.  As we live open and honest lives following Jesus with love for our neighbors, people will find the answers to their biggest questions in our lives and in our community.  May people find answers to their questions in the love and truth they find in us.