We’ve had the third of our Cascade Conversations in the diocese this evening – they’ve been in Perth, St Andrews and Stirling. Numbers have been strong. People want to talk about human sexuality.
We’ve tried to re-create something of the atmosphere of the Pitlochry Conference. We’ve modelled ‘honest conversation across difference’ and tried to engage with diversity.
For me, all this is part of the way in which our church engages with human sexuality questions in general – and same sex marriage in particular. We’re opening up a space in which difficult conversation can take place. I’ve watched people searching for the words in which they can articulate deep feelings.
It’s that space for dialogue which our church needs at this point. We’re preparing for the time when we shall address the same issues synodically. Speaking to the Church of England General Synod about his travels to every Province of the Anglican Communion, Archbishop Justin Welby said that the prize was ‘visible unity in Christ with functional diversity’
Visible unity in Christ transcends our diversity and makes possible a church in which functional diversity becomes possible.