The Snow Is Coming!

Pause for Thought

From Rev Ruth Scott, an Anglican vicar in Richmond.

I wonder, Chris, if you can remember the first time you found yourself at odds with what you’d been brought up to believe was true? What about the moment you knew you could no longer accept a viewpoint valued by the people whose understanding you’d always shared? This week, my attention was caught by a news item about a high profile Evangelical Christian, Steve Chalke, who used to do Pause for Thought. As a result of his on-going pastoral work and biblical studies he's reached the point where he believes the Church needs to rethink its traditional attitude to homosexuality. As you know this is a contentious issue for many Christians. Having wrestled with the subject for some time Steve admitted to being ‘afraid’ in sharing his shift in understanding. He knows many people in his own community will find it unacceptable. Inevitably his change of mind challenges their position. I was moved by his courage, particularly when I read responses from people who’d previously held him in high esteem but now felt he’d fallen from the Way. Sometimes it takes more guts to question our own community's values than those of other groups, and when people we care about no longer see things as we do, it’s much more threatening than when we’re called to account by those who aren’t part of our gang. In extreme situations of conflict to question your own side is to risk being seen as a traitor. Those who work to build peace between communities often find themselves threatened as much, if not more by their own people as by the ‘enemy’ representatives with whom they’re negotiating. The gospels say that a prophet is honoured except in his own country, his own home. That’s because sometimes we’re more concerned with comfort than truth, and we don’t like it when those close to us disturb our certainties.