Till We Have Faces

blank face The Fall, 2013 issue of  Leadership Journal  has an article by Stanton Jones up entitled, ” Help, I’m Gay .” It is billed as “A pastoral conversation about same-sex attraction.”

The editors chose to illustrate the article with the picture at left.

This would be a good image to use on a gun range, where shooters can see the outline of a human head with no human features to disturb them as they practice aiming to kill. It is not an appropriate image for preparing Christian leaders to respond like Christ to the plea, “Help, I’m gay.”

Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people have faces. If Christian leaders want to offer pastoral care to us, they need to be able to look us in the face. If they will not show our faces, or are uncomfortable looking at our faces, they are not seeing us as human beings, and are not ready to be Christ to us.

For more images of faceless gay people from Christian publishers:

Faces: A Pet Peeve

Welcoming and Shaming

[ Cross-posted from Spiritual Friendship ]

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