November 1990

 
 

When Jesus told his disciples that to
follow him meant taking up a cross, he
wasn't kidding, believe me.

As a Christian lesbian, I get it from all
sides. There are those Christians who be-
lieve that we are Satan's children or worse.
Then there are the so-called "ex-gays" who
believe that to be a good Christian is to be
straight. Most mainstream churches are
still at odds as to whether gays and lesbians
should be accepted into their denomina-
tions, especially as ministers, despite gay
and lesbian causes affiliated with many of
them.

My fellow gays and lesbians tend to be
antagonistic toward religion (which, unfor-
tunately, is at times justified). Given these
circumstances, how could gay or lesbian
Christians experience their faith in an af-
firmative setting? How could they experi-
ence it in a way that is meaningful in their
lives?

Those very questions are dealt with in

a new book by Chris Glaser called Come

ARANOFF

/\'l"'I‘<),l<l\lLZYS /\'l' L/\

UPSON

Dedicated to Serving

the Needs of the
Lesbian and Gay
Community
GENERAL CIVIL PRACTICE

V

Susan L. Aranoff Lisa A. Upson

A Call to Faith
Home. This is Glaser's second book, his
first being Uncommon Calling, which was
about his unsuccessful pursuit of the minis-
try in the Presbyterian Church.

Unlike some books on the subject of
homosexuality and the Church, Come
Home does not dwell primarily on the gay
and lesbian "clobber" passages in the Bible.
Only one short chapter is devoted to the
interpretation of Scripture in general, and
not necessarily the "clobber" sections. In-
stead, Glaser's emphasis is on bringing
those gays and lesbians who were at some
point turned off to religion back into the
fold. Come Home is an affirmation of our
worth as Christians.

Glaser divides the book into what he
calls "five spiritual moments:" accepting
God, receiving "our spiritual inheritance,"
discerning God's call once we receive this
inheritance, witnessing to both the church
and the gay and lesbian community at large,
and offering our "unique vision" to the
Church. With each movement, Glaser illus-
tiates how one can almost inte-
grate step by step both spiritu-
ality and sexuality. He uses ex-
amples pulled both from the
Scripture and from his own
and others’ experiences and
does so in a style that is neither
stuffy nor overly scholarly.

In Come Home, we get to
meet a Jesus who is not this
fierce judge and card-carrying

 

Republican that some would have us be-
lieve. Instead, he is a kind, loving friend
who invites us all into his family uncondi-
tionally. This is a Jesus who talks to us
about our own experiences, as shown in a
passage where Glaser depicts Jesus talking
to a lesbian about "loving eternally." The
lesbian asks "who is my neighbor?" and
Jesus answers her with the parable of the
Good Samaritan, only this time it is about a
man with AIDS being helped by Jerry Fal-
well.

We also meet gays and lesbians strug-
gling with their faith, and those finding a
supportive church community: the minister
who, when diagnosed with AIDS, travels
the country to teach churches how best to
serve PWA's; the lesbian minister afraid to
come out to her congregation; the man who,
upon overheating Glaser talking to another
man about his work in the Presbyterian
Church, asks about this church Glaser is
speaking of.

These stories and many others help
make our own personal struggles of faith a
less lonely experience. Knowing how oth-
ers like Chris Glaser were able to fully
affirm themselves as both gay and Chris-
tian without fear or apology is inspiring.

Come Home is simply that: a call to
those of us out there who would be gay and
Christian that it is safe to go back to the faith
that once condemned us; it is ours for the
taking.

FAMI
THE

 

Susan Franz, M.A.
Kate O'Brien, M.S.
Psychotherapists

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