Theology

Sir, The Rev Simon Tillotson’s anguished correspondence on the issue of the church and the ‘gay’ community (letters 27 January) posits the need for a ‘theology of welcome’ and a ‘theology of sanctification’. I have found in the New Testament only one theology that the church should believe and practise which I would like to call a ‘theology of transforming grace’. It is the culmination and application of the lengthy gospel message of Romans that those who were once ‘slaves to sin’ are now ‘free’.

Our freedom -- like that of the ancient Israelites who were rescued from slavery in Egypt -- is to worship/serve the living God who is in covenant relation to those who he has called. We are to respond to his grace by presenting every aspect of our lives to him in worship. Our service is worship, and we worship by serving, being transformed, by thinking differently. I think the gay visitor or observer needs most of all to be presented with this theology from the pulpit and observe it being believed and practised by the people.

The central dynamic of our gospel is probably its movement of those who were in slavery to freedom, but Pharoah was commanded to ‘let my people go in order that they may worship me’, a worship that involved every aspect of life. I think that solves the apparent theological problem. People who are being transformed will become welcoming. And the transformation which is discernable will also be attractive. There are no short cuts, but there is real hope for all no matter where they are starting from. Of course, this is a life’s work for the whole congregation. David Barnes, Greenford, Middlesex