I have served as a pastor for more than thirty years. The most difficult issues I have faced have been matters of love. Time after time I have talked with people who have been deeply hurt by the people they love and trust most. These issues of love, devotion, affection, attraction, and sexuality are the dirty secrets that have consumed a great deal of my time as a shepherd of God’s people. Love may be bliss, but it is fraught with difficulty and pain. Consider the many painful situations associated with love and sex:
It is the issue of homosexuality that has commanded the attention of our society and the church. The response of the Christian church has been varied. Some have endorsed same sex relations, a position that borders on apostasy. Other Christians have passionately protested the homosexual agenda, a position that fails to offer a proactive Christian response. I have repeatedly suggested that until the church adequately responds to the first four issues above, we have no moral authority to protest the homosexual agenda. With this in mind, I would like to commend Wesley Hill’s Washed and Waiting: Reflections on Christian Faithfulness and Homosexuality (Zondervan, 2010). Hill writes as a committed Christian who suffers from and struggles with homosexuality. But this book is not primarily about homosexuality; it’s about the painful struggle of loneliness. Many people who cannot understand homosexual attraction will find much in this book that speaks into their lives. Those of us who know and love homosexuals will get a glimpse into their hearts and minds, while seeing a reflection of ourselves. The presentation of the gospel in this book is rock solid. Hill’s reflections are refreshingly transparent and honest. More and more, I have the sense that what many of us need is a new conception of our perseverance in faith. We need to reimagine ourselves and our struggles. The temptation for me is to look at my bent and broken sexuality and conclude that, with it, I will never be able to please God, to walk in a manner worthy of his calling, to hear his praise. But what if I had a conception of God-glorifying faith, holiness, and righteousness that included within it a profound element of struggle and stumbling? What if I were to view my homosexual orientation, temptations, and occasional failures not a damning disqualification for living a Christian life but rather as part and parcel of what it means to live by faith in a world that is fallen and scarred by sin and death? The Bible calls the Christian struggle against sin faith (Hebrews 12:3-4; 10:37-39). It calls the Christian fight against impure cravings holiness (Romans 6:12-13, 22) (Washed and Waiting, 145-146). I recommend this book to those who have homosexual family members and friends. I recommend this book to any person who has struggled with sexual temptation of any kind. I recommend this book to every pastor who will be offering biblical counsel to struggling heterosexuals and homosexuals. I recommend this book to church leaders who are seeking a Christian response to the prevailing sexual immorality of our culture. It is my prayer that through this book Wesley Hill will provoke the church to move beyond homophobia to a biblical view of a redeemed community that offers redemptive love, godly counsel, and sanctifying prayer. That is view of the church that Wesley Hill seeks to promote. But anyone who joins such a community should know that it is a place of transformation, of discipline, of learning, and not merely a place to be comforted and indulged. Engaging with God and entering the transformative life of the church does not mean we get a kind of “free pass,” an unconditional love that leaves us where we are. Instead, we get a fiercely demanding love, a divine love that will never let us escape from its purifying, renovating, and ultimately healing grip (Washed and Waiting, 68).
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