Living in the Tension (LITT) Community Gathering

Each LITT will start at 7pm in Room 120 at 5255 N. Ashland Ave in Chicago. Here are the remaining dates and forum topics:

June 25: Gay Pride Parade: Original Intent and Current Purpose

July 22: I Do Exist—Ex Gay Viewing and Discussion

Aug 11: Discussion with a Gay Secular Person

Aug 27: Discussion with an Ex-Gay Person

Sep 17: Discussion with a Gay Christian

Oct 8: Secret Confessions (Oct 11th National Coming Out Day)

Nov 5: Gay Marriage

Nov 17: Discussion with a Straight Conservative Christian

Dec 3: Discussion with a Celibate Person

Dec 14: The Actual Argument

Here is a reminder of why The Marin Foundation hosts these discussions:

Purpose for Living in the Tension Community Gathering:

Christians need to start willfully planting themselves in the middle of some very uncomfortable places—making a conscious commitment to stay in that place with the GLBT community. In 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. was locked up in a jail in Birmingham, Alabama. In a letter to confront his fellow white clergymen, MLK reflected on his life’s work to that point and said: “I must confess that I am not afraid of the world tension. I have earnestly opposed violent tension my whole life, but there is a type of constructive, non-violent tension which is necessary for growth.”

I’m going to be real right now—the Christian community has been running from that constructive, non-violent tension for too long when it comes to gays and lesbians. The productive growth that MLK was talking about only comes retrospectively, after much time has been spent immersed in tension filled areas with what we are most uneasy about. Those tension-filled areas are dirty, uncomfortable, confusing, overbearing and uneasy. And they’re worth every minute for the kingdom we so boldly claim ourselves to be a part of.

Mission Statement:

For gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, ex-gay, celibate and straight (progressive and conservative) people to all willfully enter into a place of constructive tension, intentionally forming a community that peacefully and productively takes on the most divisive topics within the culture war that is faith and sexuality.

Why:

Culture wants to resolve conflict—we want to use our different communities’ filtration systems to elevate the conversation through the tension. Get past the stereotypes. Learn and practice what it means to live in unanswerable questions. Shift the paradigm away from a ‘fix it’ culture to one that turns hearts onto Christ amongst the most uncomfortable places.

Stay. Commit. Reconcile. Grow.

He was a Jewish carpenter and therefore I build bridges ©

Much love.
http://www.themarinfoundation.org/