Coming Out as Celibate (to my Gay Hairstylist)
Nervous about sharing your beliefs on sex ethics outside of church?! I was, and then a TikTok notification made it unavoidable. This is how I faced my fears. 😬
“A year ago when I downloaded Tiktok, I enabled a feature that allows you to see who's viewed your Tiktok profile (and vice versa)…”
“When Heavyweights Change their Minds” in Firebrand Magazine
A blurb recently appeared on the Yale University Press website for a new book by Dr. Richard Hays and his son (out Sept 2024) in which it seems he'll reveal his change to a revisionist sexual ethic. Like me, many Christians over the past few decades have read Hays's 1996 "Moral Vision of the New Testament" and referred back to his earlier work to justify our commitment to historic sexual ethics. When theological heavyweights like Hays change their minds, it's disorienting for many. For me, it led to a now all-too-familiar cycle of fear, disappointment, betrayal, and hop
Vocational Singleness is a Gospel Cornerstone
Some who know Jesus experience crippling doubt. Others who don’t yet know Jesus see a Creation in chaos. Christ’s promises seem to ring hollow, the kingdom is coming too slowly, the gospel feels feeble. Thankfully a potent vehicle of kingdom work and kingdom hope for the early Church is available to God’s people today, if we will only embrace and nourish it. Amid Christ’s ministry on earth, he instituted a vocation meant to give us hope for the kingdom to come and to bring forth that kingdom with undivided attention: the vocation of singleness.
The Ascetic Fetish
Christian celibacy is a tragically misunderstood concept. Depictions of kingdom singleness, from Renaissance paintings to modern television shows, often misrepresent Christ's invitation and early Church practices, tempting some ordinary Christians to ignore their calling and others to indulge in a caricature of the vocation of Jesus. These thoughts swirled through my mind as I took up an invitation to spend a holiday weekend at a friend’s house in the land of 1000 lakes…
A Pandemic of Romance Idolatry
Tiger King. Schitt's Creek. Perhaps the most popular shows of covid-times tells us something about what we value. Perhaps it reveals that we've suffered from a pandemic of romance idolatry long before masks and vaccines.
Reframing Our Sermons on Sexuality
What if sexuality sermons centered how God made all of us for intimacy in the context of family instead of focusing on marriage and sex? I recently had the opportunity to write for Outreach Magazine about framing conversation in terms of "sexual stewardship".
Is it really better to marry than burn with desire?
From Fathom Magazine - Today, more Christian young adults are postponing marriage or considering never marrying than ever before, and the church at large fears plummeting marriage percentages and the declining birth rates that follow. As those numbers soften, their refrain booms louder: “If abstinent singleness isn’t easy for you, don’t worry. Just get married.” Armed with 1 Corinthians 7:9, they plead with the under-thirty crowd, “PLEASE. Get married.”
Why say gay? Expanded 4-Part Series
Read this 4-part series explaining why I uses “gay” and “gay Christian.”
The Case for Vocational Singleness
From Christianity Today - How can our churches raise up more kingdom workers to heal our communities with undivided attention? Our churches need to become places where young adults genuinely discern whether God is calling them to vocational singleness or Christian marriage.
Can Anglicans in North America Offer Something Better Than Gay Marriage?
The congregations that would become the ACNA endured decades of TEC slowly (or not so slowly) abandoning orthodoxy on many fronts, but sexual ethics served as the breaking point. At least in the eyes of this cradle Anglican, a belief that God had something better to offer gay people than gay marriage was at the very center of the ACNA’s origins. Plus, many perceive the ACNA as the first major group to leave a mainline denomination over gay marriage. For these reasons, fulfilling our commitment to offering gay people a viable path for thriving according to God’s wisdom is central to our credibility. To put it simply, many people have been waiting to see if we meant what we promised or if we just didn’t like gay people.
Boy Erased Review: Church, Repent
Boy Erased highlights a theologically and psychologically destructive school of thought. The practice of gay conversion therapy has led millions of LGBT+ Christians to lose their faith and commit suicide. And these ideas and practices continue today, albeit in more subtle ways. The Church must repent of what we have done, and we must make sure it never happens again.