ID WTn GLBT

Yesterday, I shared that we had been gone for three days at a clergy conference. The bishop who lead the conference was quite good. He looked at three questions: Who am I? How do I be/become who I am? What is my goal/end?

The answers came from the ancient Eastern Orthodox church. (I liked it!) The short and simple summary is: I am the image of God. I become my true self through theosis (infilling of Holy Spirit, godliness, sancitification). My goal is living into the Kingdom of God. In contrast, he shared, recent research indicates that the contemporary church has not done a very good job of teaching the Christian faith to our young people. Very few are serious about Jesus. We have, instead, according to the book Almost Christian by Kenda Creasy Dean, produced a generation which is Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. [A handy review of her work here: http://ymtoday.com/articles/2666/almost-christian-in-a-nutshell ] He was clear that this approach to God (do good to feel good, God should always make me feel good) was problematic. I agreed with the good bishop.

The question of identity (ID in my title) is cetntral to young people, but also for us older folks. If we are the image of God then we must understand Who God is to understand who we are called to be. In Jesus we discover what it means to be truly human. In Him we find our identity. I am a priest in West Tennessee (WTn in title). Humans live and grow in particular times and places. I am here and now. Others live in times or space much different from mine, which affects who they are. The issue of diversity was one which the bishop mentioned many times. (Diversity is, of course, a huge issue in the Episcopal Church, it is something we hear about quite a bit.) Even if I am not totally on board with the 'diversity crowd' I am aware that they help me to see that there is a dangerous temptation to think that everyone should be in "my image and likeness" rather than God's. Christian community requires that we live with and love people who are different from us. The world is full of different kinds of people.

The effort to face diversity has been the source of great conflict in the Episcopal Church, in particular around the issue of Gay, Lesbian, Bi-Sexual and Trans-Gendered people. (GLBT in title) WTn has made a decision to focus more on care for the people in the GLBT group. Discussions and debates about this have ended. (My group lost) We are moving into a new (Progressive) place. A presentation was made to the clergy by priests on the GLBT task force. One presenter prefaced his remarks by sharing the research of a psychologist. The young man, according to the priest telling us the story, is brilliant and in his study had determined that GLBT folks who live in US states which are unfriendly to them exhibit higher incidence of mental illness. However, he pointed out, so do all the other people, too. On the other hand, GLBT folks living in gay friendly states have better mental health, and so does everyone else. The conclusion was pretty evident: the Traditional understanding of homosexuality (etc.) produces mental ill health.

I cannot debate those findings. I would like to know more about the definitions and the criteria. Even so, I have not read the study nor am I a brilliant psychologist or researcher. But yesterday something occured to me. The presentation on GLBT began with a focus on the 'therapeutic' rather than the theological. I did not catch it for almost two days (who says reflection is not helpful?). Driving in my car I suddenly realized that the very thing we were told that we do, but should stop doing (focus on therapeutic) is what we did and kept doing!

I do not think that obeying God should create mental illness. I will, however, say that living in a fallen world, where the values are confused and often inverted, is a treacherous thing. I will also say that, in theory, it is not inconceivable that making people feel better about sin (whatever sin it is) can no doubt reduce the level of stress that people feel and contribute to "mental health". If research found that there is less "mental illness" in States where lying, stealing or fornicating is considered acceptable and supported, that would not lead me to change my understanding about those things either (even though some people are born with propensities in each of those areas as well).

I have read some Orthodox writings where the image and likeness of God are understood in Greek rather than Hebrew ways. The Jew sees the words as a repetition and intensification of the same idea. Some Church Fathers saw 'image' as a given (my identity and souce of my dignity) and 'likeness' as a task (the hard work of becoming godly). Image is a gift, a grace; likeness is a work, a holy endeavor of discipline and discipleship. All persons are the image of God. We should treat all humans with dignity. But the image of God has suffered the effects of our sins and choices. As we are more or less the 'likeness of God' we enhance or diminish that image. The church does well to keep that in mind, when dealing with all people, even GLBT folks. The church does well to keep in mind that spiritual health is important, just as important as mental or physical health. The work of godliness entail struggle, pain and suffering. It includes the ugly moment of acknowledging that my desires are twisted and my behaviors are imperfect. Not an easy task in WTn, not an easy task anywhere!