Basic Bio
You may be wondering, “Who is this guy? And why is his blog worth reading?” Well, here’s a brief summary. I will be telling more of my life story in my blog posts.
Personally, I . . .
- am a devout follower of Jesus Christ,
- have two delightfully loving parents, two sisters and a brother, eight nieces and nephews, one great-niece, and two godsons (ages 9 and 18),
- live in the Newberry Place Cohousing Community in the Belknap Lookout neighborhood in Grand Rapids, Michigan (an intentional community of 20 households, including almost 20 kids)
- enjoy traveling, gardening, camping, hiking, bicycling, reading, writing, keeping up with the news, having in depth conversations, and playing various games with the Newberry kids,
- like to listen deeply to people and understand what makes them “tick,”
- am an INFP (Introvert, Intuitive, Feeling, Perceiver) on the Myers Briggs Personality Type Indicator and a One (Reformer/Perfectionist) on the Enneagram.
Professionally, I . . .
- am a graduate of Calvin College (Bachelor of Arts) and Calvin Seminary (Master of Divinity),
- am an ordained Christian minister (first in the Christian Reformed Church and now in the United Church of Christ),
- am a Board Certified Chaplain with the Association of Professional Chaplains (after 4 units of Clinical Pastoral Education),
- work as a hospital chaplain for Spectrum Health, a chaplain for First United Methodist Church, and a chaplain for Gays In Faith Together (GIFT).
A few years ago I attended a weekend men’s retreat, and at that time I created (or discovered) a personal mission statement that still resonates with me:
My mission is to co-create a world of unconditional love by affirming each person as a beloved child of God.
I also happen to be gay. Furthermore, since 1991 I have provided pastoral care for hundreds of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) people and many of their families. I have also provided education for thousands of people in churches, college classes, and other venues about the experience of LGBT Christians. Along the way I have read dozens of books by Christian authors who have studied the Bible in great depth to discern how the Christian community should respond to those who are gay. I am in my early 60’s, and so I can now say that this ministry and its related theological reflection have been a significant part of my life’s work.
For years I have been typing out my thoughts on this subject, and I am now forming these various writings into a book, which I hope to publish in the not-too-distant future. In my blog posts I am rolling out my book section by section. I welcome your input on my blog posts so that I can make the book as good as it can be!
Why the Blog Title?
Lens of life? What does that mean?
Let’s start with the “lens” part of that phrase. How do we look at the world, ourselves, other people, and God? How do we look at the Bible? How do we look at the life of faith?
In other words, how do we interpret them, understand them, and find meaning in them?
We always do so through some “lens,” that is, through some perspective or framework or set of values. So when we face something that is new for use, we immediately “see” it and try to make sense of it by using a certain “lens” or set of “lenses.”
What “lens” do we use when we consider the reality that some gay couples, including gay Christian couples, are now getting married?
I am learning to see such realities through a “lens of life.” I believe that to do so is profoundly biblical. I will expand on this theme throughout my blog posts. For now I invite you to consider my favorite passage in the Bible, John 10:10b, where Jesus says,
I came that they might have life, and have it abundantly.
If this is what Jesus came for—to give us abundant life—doesn’t it make sense that we should go through life seeing the world with this expectation in mind? How is Jesus inviting us into life today, in this particular situation or relationship?
What about the subtitle, “A Pastor Looks at Marriage for Gay Couples”? Well, as I mentioned above, this theme summarizes a significant part of my life’s work.
Now the Christian community is facing a question that most people never even considered: “How should the church respond to gay Christians and the marriage of gay Christian couples?”
Why this question, and why now? First, most gay people now feel safe enough to reveal their sexual orientation to family and friends, and so most Christians now personally know—and love—someone whom they know is gay. They care about the question because they care about their gay family members and friends.
Second, we are facing the question with an even greater sense of urgency because of the recent US Supreme Court’s decision to legalize marriage for gay couple throughout the nation. So Christians are asking, “What does it mean to be pastoral to gay people and gay couples who may want to get married?” And “What does it mean to be prophetic in the face of these major changes in our society?”
Rather than simply answer the question, I am inviting my readers to think about how we will ask and answer these questions. And I am proposing a very focused “lens” for this journey. We simply need to ask, “What is life-giving? What approach leads to the abundant life that Jesus promised?”
I look forward to exploring this theme with the readers of my blog!
The photo on the Home page
That’s is a photo of me hiking in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado (Arapaho Basin to be precise). I really enjoy exploring this incredibly beautiful world that God has made!