Tag: Church of England

Liverpool Pride: Reflection on ‘Icons’ theme & Open Table 8th birthday

THIS is the reflection I gave for the eighth birthday of Open Table @ St Bride’s Liverpool on 17th July 2016, a celebration of what we have achieved in the past year, and looking forward to Liverpool Pride on 30th July with the theme: ‘Liverpool Icons’. I will follow this post with a report on …

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2016/08/06/liverpool-pride-reflection-on-icons-theme/

A brief history of Open Table – A journey in grace and truth

THIS is an extract from a newly published book, Journeys in Grace and Truth, which asks: Is it possible to hold a positive view of same-sex relationships while being a biblically rooted Evangelical? It features essays from twelve senior Anglican Evangelicals who believe so, and share how they came to new insights.  These include the current and …

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2016/06/21/a-brief-history-of-open-table-a-journey-in-grace-and-truth/

#WeAreOrlando – Solidarity with those lost and injured in terror attack #OnePulse #LoveWins

SUCH a sad few days since news of the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub broke on Sunday. The worst terror attack on US soil since 9/11, the worst gun crime in US history, and perhaps the largest murder of LGBT people since the Holocaust. How do we respond in the face of such horror? I have …

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2016/06/17/weareorlando-solidarity-with-those-lost-and-injured-in-terror-attack-onepulse-lovewins/

One flesh: The play – #LGBTHM review part 7

In Interfaith Week, November 2015, the LGBT Foundation in Manchester held an event called ‘Believing In LGBT Young People‘, which was the inspiration for the Divine Love event I facilitated in Liverpool in LGBT History Month this February. At this event I met a young playwright and director who was promoting her new play, One Flesh, …

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2016/05/17/one-flesh-the-play-lgbthm-review-pt-7/

Sorry seems to be the hardest word – On the C of E’s apology to LGBTI Christians

‘It’s a sad, sad situation, and it’s getting more and more absurd.’ So sang Elton John 40 years ago – his lament for a lost relationship could have been written for the Church of England this past month. At the first full meeting of its governing body this year, the General Synod met this week to …

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2016/02/20/sorry-seems-to-be-the-hardest-word-on-the-cofes-apology-to-lgbti-christians/

How can we disagree well? A personal response to the #Primates2016 meeting

THIS WEEK the heads of Anglican churches around the world (known as Primates) will gather in Canterbury to debate the future of their global network, the Anglican Communion, because of deep divisions over church teachings on sexuality.

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2016/01/10/how-can-we-disagree-well-a-personal-response-to-the-primates2016-meeting/

A momentous decade – Reflecting on ten years of UK civil partnerships

IT’S TEN YEARS this month since the first civil partnerships for same-sex couples in the UK. The first couple to benefit from the new legal recognition for their relationship were Chris Cramp and Matthew Roche from West Sussex, on 5th December 2005. Yet when images from the first UK civil partnerships appear in the media …

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2015/12/05/a-momentous-decade-reflecting-on-ten-years-of-uk-civil-partnerships/

Making noise for #AntiBullyingWeek, #InterfaithWeek, #TDOR

THIS WEEK in England there is an interesting combination of commemorations – Anti-Bullying Week, Interfaith Week, and Trans* Awareness Week, culminating today in Trans* Day of Remembrance (TDOR). I have been at four events in the past week to mark these campaigns: ‘An All Embracing Faith’ – Keynote speech by Ruth Hunt, CEO of Stonewall …

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2015/11/20/makingnoise-antibullying-interfaith-tdor/

What is a ‘shared conversation’?

WHAT IS a conversation if it’s not shared? Talking to myself? Enjoying the sound of my own voice? Only hearing views I agree with? This odd phrase was chosen by the Church of England to describe its facilitated listening process to seek some reconciliation, or at least ‘good disagreement’ over diverse views on sexuality and same-sex …

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2015/10/26/what-is-a-shared-conversation/

Some principles for making prayerful decisions

THIS WEEK, the church where my partner and I volunteer to run a monthly LGBT inclusive service, faced a huge decision – whether to commit to at least ten years of major fundraising and building work, or to walk away and start afresh somewhere else. A question this big was hard to answer – the …

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2015/10/24/some-principles-for-making-prayerful-decisions/

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