Delivered to the saints ... in person

On Sunday, October 28, the GodTalk Radio Show devoted its entire two hours to James Loney. James is a gay pacifist. He got himself two hours of coverage on our radio show because some people care as much about the adjective as they do about the noun (maybe the two parts of speech should be reversed).

James first made the news in November 2005, when he and three other members of Christian Peacemaker Teams were kidnapped in Iraq by the Swords of Righteousness Brigade. James was held in captivity for 118 days. One of his associates, Tom Fox, was executed by the Brigade.

This past week, James underwent another harrowing experience. He found himself "uninvited" from a Winnipeg conference on social justice co-sponsored by the Archdiocese of Winnipeg and Micah House (aka the Catholic Centre for Social Justice). Why was James uninvited? Different explanations were given to the media, but the bottom line seems to be that the Archdiocese of Winnipeg was uncomfortable with James' openly gay sexual orientation.

Several of our radio show listeners jumped all over the Roman Catholic church for being homophobic. One caller even suggested the church was behind the times, clinging to archaic views of sexuality that make no sense in contemporary society. I'm not sure I want to determine truth with a calendar. Just because something's old doesn't mean it's out of date. (A 1956 Fender Stratocaster is over 50 years old, but it's still a masterpiece. True vintage vibe.) The Bible instructs the Christian community to "earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" (Jude 3). Perhaps this is what our RC brothers and sisters believe they are doing when they they oppose homosexuality.

What the church sometimes forgets, though, is that our faith was delivered to the saints in person -- by Jesus. When God chose to speak the loudest, he sent a person, not a set of propositions or a statement of faith. God didn't issue a press release; he gave his one and only son, who entered the human condition and redeemed it from within. That's the meaning and mystery of the incarnation.

What does that mean for us? At the very least, it means we should be willing to enter situations that feel unusual and uncomfortable ... perhaps even sinful. We can't pretend people don't exist. We need to put relationships -- not religion -- front and center, first and foremost. It's not about pretending we agree on everything. It's about caring enough to show up and start a conversation.

In my mind, that's exactly what the GodTalk Radio Show is all about. It's an opportunity for people, who might otherwise never speak to each other, to enter each other's lives for an hour or two every Sunday night. When the lines are open, we're moving forward. It's only when we start believing we have nothing more to say to each other that we're going in the wrong direction.

I hope you'll join the conversation. It's not talk radio unless we're talking. Sunday nights, 9-11 p.m., on CJOB 68 Superstation.