I have been reading on occasion an excellent blog written by Jamie Arpin-Ricci, of Winnipeg, Canada. He calls it (e)mergent Voyageurs, and it won an award for Best Religious Blog in the 2006 Canadian Blog Awards (I have no idea what that really means or how you get such awards, but it sounds cool). Jamie runs a small YWAM base in Winnipeg and focuses his ministry on the inner city of that great metropolis.Â
In a recent post he took a hammer, a nail, and attached his heart to a cross for all to see. He shared his struggle with homosexuality as a married Christian who believes that homosexual conduct is a sin. He said in a straightforward way “I believe that practicing homosexuality is inconsistent with Christianity.”
I was so moved by his honesty and amazed that he had the courage to write the post. I struggled even with linking to the post, and here Jamie is revealing in a blog what most Christians would be afraid to say out loud.Â
As I considered what he wrote my first response to his post was this:Â
This is a fabulous post. Thank you for speaking from your heart and honestly revealing your hurts. . . . [I]t seems the place we can least share our struggles with sin is in . . . churches [and Christian circles]. As a result, we are driven either to deal with [our struggles] secretly (and things like Ted Haggard’s struggle being made public [in the ugliest of ways] result), or we deal with them by sharing them with non-Christians, who have no Spirit of understanding or Love by which to give us godly counsel and unconditional love [and as a result we just slip further and further into the sin]. This is one of the most problematic aspects of the Church today.
I truly appreciate your honesty and integrity in sharing this and believe that it will lead to more opportunities for God to minister to many through you.
What do you think? Take a look at his post and the comments (about 97 last count). Do you think that our purity mindset keeps sin hidden? Are we like the Priest and the Levite who maintained purity at all costs, even when it meant walking on the other side of the road away from someone in dire need of help, leaving only an “unclean” Samaritan to show real love? Do you think Ted Haggard would have been able to repent without such a public disgrace if he had people willing to listen to his struggles in love or if he believed that there were such people out there? I think Jamie may well have quite a ministry ahead of him to Christians who are struggling with sexual problems and non-Christians who are looking for honesty and Christ-likeness. I think we should pray that God will use Jamie and multiply his ministry there in Winnipeg.
In 2 Corinthians 1:3-7, God’s Word says:Â
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.