The ultimate question

TOMORROW I turn 42.

NOT the answer to the Ultimate Question!

In the first novel and radio series of Douglas Adams‘ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxya group of hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings demand to learn the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything from the supercomputer, Deep Thought, specially built for this purpose. It takes Deep Thought 7½ million years to compute and check the answer, which turns out to be 42. The Ultimate Question itself is unknown.

If you don’t know the story, you might enjoy this clip from the BBC TV series:

So, having reached this auspicious age, do I have the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything?

Do I even know what the question is?

Certainly not!

Do I have something to say that might help, inspire and motivate others to make a difference?

Perhaps – time will tell. Increasingly I have come to believe that I do.

Last week I saw a poster titled ‘How To Build Community’ which contained the words:

Know that no-one is silent, though many are not heard. Work to change this.

I read this as an invitation and a challenge. This blog is an attempt to be heard, not just for myself, but for other lesbian, gay and bisexual Christians who struggle with their sexual orientation in faith communities that judge them, at best, to be defective heterosexuals, rather than recognising and valuing the gifts and insights that embracing their diversity can bring.

This is a new beginning. I aim to reflect both my experience and of those who have shared with me on our journey to self-acceptance, as well as comment on current issues in the LGBT and Christian communities, especially the international campaign for marriage equality and what this means for the churches. I am particularly interested in exploring ‘coming out’, as gay in the Christian community, and as a Christian in the gay community, and what this means for our identity and our faith.

But enough for now, I am off to the seaside for a birthday weekend!

Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2012/08/31/the-ultimate-question/

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  1. […] a happy coincidence that I managed 42 days – I started this blog the day before my 42nd birthday and, in the science fiction spoof The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To […]

  2. […] a poster called ‘How To Build Community‘, was part of the inspiration that led me to start this blog around nine months […]

  3. […] Completing my 42nd year felt like an apt moment to do so, since 42 is the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe and Everything! […]

  4. […] BEEN almost five years since I started this blog – but in the last five months I have been unusually […]

  5. […] FIVE YEARS AGO today I began this blog – little did I know then that: […]

  6. […] an attempt to be heard, not just for myself, but for other lesbian, gay and bisexual Christians who struggle with their sexual orientation in faith communities that judge them, at best, to be defective heterosexuals, rather than recognising and valuing the gifts and insights that embracing their diversity can bring.[1] […]

  7. […] not something I imagined I would do, as little as ten months ago, never mind ten years ago when I began reflecting on my faith journey in this blog. Here is the testimony I read to introduce myself to the […]

  8. […] TEN YEARS AGO today (as I turned 42) I began this blog. I wrote a brief retrospective after five years. Here’s an update on the next five: […]

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