Washed and Waiting

This past week I spent time in a neighbourhood in Hamilton, that my family and I are planning to move to in order to begin a new fellowship.  As I was walking the main street through the community I noticed how many rainbow flag stickers there were in the shop windows.  These, of course, are the symbol of the gay and lesbian community displayed, I imagine, to express support.  I found myself asking myself what it would look like to minster to this community, to share and reach out to them?  I found myself asking, what if it is members of this community that God brings into our path?
I have a heart for this community.  Kim and I have some friends, even more friends of friends and through different industries in which we have worked, have had many acquaintances that are from the gay community.   It saddens me to know that for many of them, they feel totally isolated from the church, unwanted, unwelcome and persecuted.  I have often wondered about what it looks like to, on the one hand, hold to what I consider the biblical position that same sex orientation is a part of the fall, and yet still welcome, love, serve and walk with those with such an orientation.  We do this everyday with other sins like pride, gossip, lying, worry, greed and materialism - our churches are full of individuals with such struggles.  But somehow, we as the church treat same sex orientation differently.  The other problem that I face, is that I won't ever know what it means to experience such an orientation, to struggle with what that means to my faith and relationship to God, and to know that my sexuality, which is so closely tied to identity, may not have a safe means for expression within a biblical context. 
With these questions and thoughts in mind, I turned to a book that I remembered hearing about from my friend Tim's blog, that addressed this issue entitled "Washed and Waiting," by Wesley Hill.  It is a book written by a gay Christian, a man who has a same sex orientation, who believes that homosexual practice goes against God's express will and has thus chosen to live life as a celibate, faithful follower of Christ.   I am not much of a reviewer, but when I find something helpful I do like to try to pass it on.  What comes below is a bit of my experience with the book.
What I found in the pages of this book was deep theological reflection that was at the same time very accessible, and most importantly, personal.  Hill bravely opens up his life and experiences to us in a poignant and personal way, helping us to better understand what it must be like to try to walk as a faithful follower of Christ who experiences same sex attraction.  He leads us through his experience of self discovery,  his understanding that homosexual practice is against God's express will, his struggle with the fact that God has not taken this "thorn in his side" away, and his decision to thus live in celibacy.  All the way along Hill shares with us the painful emotional struggles that came with his discoveries and decisions.  Most importantly, however, is the honest depiction of what it still feels like as he lives out his faith; the acute feelings of loneliness and isolation that sometimes flood his heart.  As mentioned earlier, this personal sharing comes with a mix of deep theological reflection and this reflection would benefit all who are seeking to live a life of faith.  I found his thoughts on the nature and struggles of sin, sanctification, suffering, the body of Christ and more, to be most compelling, thought provoking and helpful to Christians of all walks.
I have come away from the experience of reading this book both enriched as well as better equipped.  I may not ever be able to fully sympathize,  but I do thank Hill for helping me to better understand.