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Messy Grace: How a Pastor with Gay Parents Learned to Love Others Without Sacrificing Conviction - Softcover

Kaltenbach, Caleb

 
9781601427366: Messy Grace: How a Pastor with Gay Parents Learned to Love Others Without Sacrificing Conviction
Softcover
ISBN 10: 1601427360 ISBN 13: 9781601427366
Verlag: PRH Christian Publishing, 2015

Inhaltsangabe

Sometimes, grace gets messy.
 
Caleb Kaltenbach was raised by LGBT parents, marched in gay pride parades as a youngster, and experienced firsthand the hatred and bitterness of some Christians toward his family.
 
But then Caleb surprised everyone, including himself, by becoming a Christian…and a pastor.
 
Very few issues in Christianity are as divisive as the acceptance of the LGBT community in the church. As a pastor and as a person with beloved family members living a gay lifestyle, Caleb had to face this issue with courage and grace.
 
Messy Grace shows us that Jesus’s command to “love your neighbor as yourself” doesn’t have an exception clause for a gay “neighbor”—or for that matter, any other “neighbor” we might find it hard to relate to. Jesus was able to love these people and yet still hold on to his beliefs. So can you. Even when it’s messy.
 
  
“Messy Grace is an important contribution to the conversation about sexual identity for churches and leaders. Caleb's story is surprising and unique, and he weaves it together compellingly. He states his views clearly, leaves room for disagreement, and champions love no matter where you are in this conversation.”
—Jud Wilhite, Sr. Pastor, Central Christian Church

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Caleb Kaltenbach is a pastor who speaks widely on issues of faith, reconciliation, and sexual diversity. Caleb is a graduate of Talbot School of Theology (Biola University) and received his doctorate from Dallas Theological Seminary. He and his wife, Amy, have two young children and reside in southern California.

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Foreword 

I first met Caleb in college. He was a freshman, and I was a junior. He came with very little knowledge of the Bible (he was a new Christian), but he possessed a huge love for God and people. I saw Caleb as someone eager to learn about God and to make a difference in the world. 
One day we were both sitting outside a professor’s office, waiting to talk to him about a class. I asked Caleb how he came to Bible college and sat in disbelief as he told me about himself. I had never heard a story like that before. 
After graduation, Caleb and I were on staff together at a church in Los Angeles. There we started an alternative worship service for young adults. During that time, I watched Caleb deepen his love for God and people. Because of his childhood experiences, he was able to relate with those who disdained Christians. He understood what it was like to be angry at God for the way believers treated others. God certainly used Caleb’s experiences to touch the hearts of many people. Now, after knowing him for twenty years, I’m still blown away by how God continues to write this story. 
Throughout the years I’ve encouraged Caleb to share his story with as many people as he can. Many of us have told him again and again to write it down. Today, I’m proud that you’re holding it in your hands. Such messy grace takes great courage to share. 
Some authors have inspirational stories to tell, while others have insightful points to make. What makes Caleb’s writing so powerful is that God has given him both. You’ll read about a boy who was raised in the LGBT community, who later followed Jesus. You’ll read about how some Christians hated people he loved, and how his coming to faith wrecked his own relationships. You’ll read about how Christians can hold true to what God says about sexuality while being gracious and loving. 
If you think this story is just about a kid from the LGBT community, then you’ve missed the bigger point. It’s about how we love people who are different from us. It’s about how any story can be redeemed by God. It’s about the messiness of grace and truth. 
When you read this book, you may not agree with everything Caleb says, but you’ll see his heart for people on both sides of the issue. I’ve been personally impacted by what God has done through Caleb and his family. I know you will be too. 
—Kyle iDleman, author of Not a Fan 
   and teaching pastor at Southeast 
   Christian Church, Louisville, Kentucky 


1 A Collision of Communities 

For a couple of minutes after I pulled into the church parking lot, I continued to sit in my Ford Escape, my hands gripping the steering wheel as if I were still driving. I hadn’t turned the car off yet. Maybe I could back up and attend church down the road. I mean, did I really have to preach a sermon today? 

I closed my eyes and tried to imagine I was somewhere else, maybe the beach or Disneyland. I wished it were some other time than now. But wishing did no good. I was actually here, in the parking lot of the church in Dallas that I was pastor of at the time. This was the Sunday morning in September 2012 I had been dreading for weeks. 

After a while, I turned off the ignition, but I stayed seated in the car. People were pulling into the parking lot around me and heading into the building. Everyone in the church was expecting me to come in and deliver a sermon. What they didn’t know was that I was feeling nervous about preaching this day. Really nervous. Generally, I’m very comfortable with preaching, but I was having an anxiety attack about this particular message. 

Most Sundays, after the sermon, I was bound to hear comments like “That was a good one, Pastor,” or “You sure let ’em have it,” or “I  never thought of those passages in that light.” Today, none of those comments would mean anything. Regardless of what I said this morning, someone was bound to get hurt. 

I got out of the car, grabbed my bag, and hurried toward the church. 
After entering the building through the front doors, I had to slow down because I was greeted by a group of church members in the lobby. I put on my church face and shook hands, hugged people, and told them what a great day it was going to be. I laughed at jokes and reminisced about when the Cowboys were a good team. 

As soon as I could politely break away from the crowd, I jogged down the hallway toward my office door. I unlocked it, turned on the light, and collapsed in a chair. A small part of the morning was past me, but the worst was still to come. 
Immediately, thoughts began swirling in my head: How did I get into this? How can I be sure
God led me to this day? What kind of a moron would plan a Sunday like this? 

Oh yeah, me. 

Every August I plan the sermon calendar for the following twelve months. During the most recent planning period, I knew that a presidential election was coming up in November. So I thought that for the fall it would be a good idea to do a sermon series dealing with some political issues from a biblical standpoint. We called the series “For or Against.” The idea was to communicate to the congregation that our church should be known for what we are for, not what we’re against. 

When autumn rolled around, many people loved the series, but there were also critics. The funniest criticism I got was from a woman who complained about the series poster. One side of the poster had a red background with a thumbs-up image on it, and the other side had a blue background with a thumbs-down. Her complaint was that because we had a thumbs-down on the blue side, we were taking a stand against the Democrats. I assured her that I and the guys who designed the poster had no political bashing in mind. She grudgingly accepted my assurance—I think. 

Today’s sermon, however, would bring a whole new set of critics to the table. The title of this day’s sermon was “For or Against Different Lifestyles.” 

I was preaching about homosexuality. 

Yeah, let me say it one more time: that was my idea. Back in August, it had seemed perfect.
Today I wanted to go back and punch Caleb-from-a-month-ago and yell “What in the world were you thinking?!” because he was forcing me to preach on a subject that was not only difficult in general but also hard for me on a personal level. 

As I sat in my office, I could hear the worship music start in the auditorium. I waited through the first two songs. They seemed to be going by too quickly. Was the worship pastor intentionally speeding up the songs? At the beginning of the third song, I got up from the chair, grabbed a water bottle and my Bible, and headed toward the door. 

Backstage, I put on my mic and stood there, trying to return the smiles of those around me, until I heard the last song. 

It was time. 

I felt my heart pounding, my stomach jumping, and sweat forming. So I closed my eyes and prayed: Lord, you’re the one who called me into ministry and to this place. You’re the one who allowed me...

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Verlag
PRH Christian Publishing
Erscheinungsdatum
2015
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
1601427360
ISBN 13 
9781601427366
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
224
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Verantwortliche Person
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