Hello again,
It has been a while since I last shared anything at length with you about the Bible.
I came across the story that I am going to share with you just yesterday. I must be honest, for someone who feels he has a good Bible knowledge, it is quite disconcerting when you come across a story that you do not recall ever hearing before, but there it is. A new narrative, to me, though of course the Narrative is not new, it's in the book of Genesis.
So what is this story? It is a story about Isaac. Backtrack a bit, his father, Abraham had dug some wells but after Abraham died, Philistines who were jealous of Abraham's and Isaac's wealth, went and filled up the wells with Soil, basically destroying the Wells and so Isaac had his servants go and redig the wells, and Isaac gave the wells the same names that his father, Abraham had given them, but Isaac needed more wells and so his servants went and dug another well but the Gerarites were unhappy about this and so they argued with Isaac's servants about the well, and so Isaac called that We'll "Contention". So the servants went and dug another well, but the Gerarites came and disputed about that well too, and So Isaac gave that we'll the name "Enmity" and so the servants went and dug another well a bit further away, but this time nobody came to argue with them about the well, and so Isaac gave this well the name "Open place".
What can we learn from Isaac and his servants in this story? I have read a few good sermons on this but I am going to try and share with you my take on the story. Be interested to know if you have heard or read this story before and whether you have or not, I would love to hear what you think we can learn from it. I do not care whether you think this is historically accurate or just a story, I am more interested in hearing people's understanding of what we can learn. Share it in the comments.
My lesson learnt is this
In life we will at some point encounter quarrelsome people who do not do anything to help, but will always claim to have a better idea or may say that you should not be doing what you are doing for any number of reasons. They will stand in the way of progress. We have a choice - we can stand around and argue with those people and get absolutely nowhere, or we can refuse to engage and just keep on doing what we're doing. I am not 100 % sure what to make of the fact that Isaac named the first two wells, except maybe that those wells belonged to him no matter what others said, and so he named them. He called the first well "Esek" which means Contention. The existence of opposition did not deter Isaac, and it should not deter us either. He went ahead with digging the next well, but it appears that more opponents came and tried to stop them digging there either. Isaac called the second well "Sitnah" meaning "Enmity" - I read that the word Sitnah has the same root as the Word Satan. I do not know if you believe Satan is real or not or how you perceive Satan as an entity, but however you believe Satan represents a spirit of opposition and accusation.. When you are working hard on something and all you hear are critical unhelpful whining and sniping, it can be soul destroying. While I would advise against a one size fits all type of solution - certainly different situations require different responses, but what I understand from this story is that despite the opposition, the servants of Isaac pressed on, and went and dug a third well. Maybe one way of dealing with it is to just move on and start working away from the complainers. I did not read anywhere in the story that the servants fought with the Gerarites. The Gerarites could have gone and dug their own wells but they chose to dispute with Isaac.
Many years ago there was a "Christian magazine" called the "Berean Call" . The thing about that magazine was that it was full of challenging churches for doing what they deemed to be as doctrinal error. It was totally relentless, and it was annoying. They were self appointed "doctrine checkers, and they took their name from a Church spoken about in the Book of Acts that were commended for checking things out for themselves. But the magazine had taken this to mean that we are supposed to be the doctrine police, they were very keen to point out all the supposed dodgy doctrine. I must admit in the beginning I agreed with them because I subscribed to the same doctrines - essentially Protestant doctrine, but something, I cannot remember what it was - maybe the prompting of the Holy Spirit, I realised that what they were doing was not okay. I stopped picking up a copy of it at the back of the church. Thankfully too, the pastor of my church actually stopped the magazine being delivered to the church.
We are told in the book of Colossians not to get involved in meaningless quarrels. I realise that people don't believe what they choose to quarrel about is meaningless, but I think that we should ask ourselves if the thing we are arguing about is in fact really important. We need some objectivity. Even if the other person started it, we can either continue the argument or refuse to get drawn in.
As a gay Christian, I have experienced what many like myself have, people judging me as "Not a real Christian" because they cannot reconcile the idea that someone is born with their sexuality which is what it is and cannot be altered by choice or an act of the will. So they dismiss this well established reality with their fiction of everyone being naturally heterosexual and that anything other than heterosexuality is regarded to them as a disorder, and so they decide that gay people must either renounce and repent of their sexuality and live as heterosexuals, or if they cannot manage that, then at least, live celibate lives. I realise that many who cannot reconcile being LGBT with their religious beliefs (because it is not only an issue with some Christians) argue with sincerity and genuine concern. I however been on my own spiritual journey with these matters, and for me, I have reconciled myself with being gay whilst not in any way losing my faith in Jesus Christ. For me those who continue to argue with me about this matter are like those Gerarites. Like a servant of Isaac, or God actually, I need to not let them stop digging down and finding the fresh water. If I am blocked at Esek, or Sitnah, Contention or even enmity I just need to move along and start digging again, and eventually I will find The Rehoboth - open space, where I can be. When they were able to dig this well without being pestered by the people of Gerah, Isaac said, "Now the Lord has given us room and we will flourish in the land." I want to say that for me, my Rehoboth was the LGBT Christians who I met through Gay Christian Network (that changed its name to Q Christian Network) and then "Courage" which had been a Gay conversion ministry, aiming at trying to change gay people to be heterosexual, but had at some point before I discovered it, realised it was a foolish objective, and it's leader, Jeremy Marks, transformed the Ministry into an LGBT affirming Christian Ministry. In 2012 Jeremy decided he would step back from this type of ministry, and a new ministry emerged called Two:23, and many of my friends who I made through Courage continued with Two 23, and I met many more who joined in the intervening years. Also, Igot involved with House of Rainbow, an international Christian ministry for LGBT people with many groups in different African countries where in some cases being LGBT is against Criminal Law, and LGBT people face a great deal of persecution. The founder and CEO of House of Rainbow is Rev'd Jide Macaulay. I must also say that the Parish of Walthamstow, became an open space for me as for the first time, I was in a Church that didn't tell me I was wrong for being gay, and did not prevent me from being involved in ministry because of my sexuality. In fact, they helped me form a group for LGBT people in our borough, Waltham Forest. We called the group "RAINBOW TR EE" . For me, knowing that I was not alone in this struggle and that there are many more who know what it is, was a release valve, so to speak. It took me 25years, roughly, to find my Rehoboth. Like Isaac, I can say, I can flourish in the land, or in my case, my faith.
