Love Is an Orientation: Elevating the Conversation With the Gay Community, the new book by Andrew Marin is probably the best thing out there that I’ve read on the relationship between the church and the gay community.  Absolutely fantastic book and a must read for any Christian!

I loved his emphasis on opening and sustaining dialogue – as opposed to the tendency usually seen to fight and set up battlefields.  What was so fascinating to me was the Biblical case for a loving discourse, without setting aside scripture or in some way compromising.  By elevating the conversation, he refers to actually having a conversation instead of the arguements and lines in the sand that normally seem to happen.  As I read what Marin wrote, I found myself over and over thinking this is what I’ve been looking for.  There is absolutely something broken in how the church as a whole in the United States has responded to and interacted with the gay community.  My frustration has always been that I am fairly conservative theologically, but even in that feel that the application of that theology has been misguided and directed wrong.  I feel as though we’ve had our priorities all wrong.  Is God more interested in making America a sinless haven or is His biggest priority the heart and lives of all His children?

But I digress!  The book is incredible.  Absolutely a must read, if for no other reason than to challenge your thinking.  This ‘issue’ isn’t going away and as a church we need to stop just reacting, demonizing those who don’t agree with ‘us’, and begin to seriously consider how Jesus would walk our communities and the responses that would come from Him.