Washed and Waiting: Reflections on Christian Faithfulness and Homosexuality

"Gay," "Christian," and “celibate” don't often appear in the same sentence. Yet many who sit next to us in the pew at church fit that description, says author Wesley Hill. As a celibate gay Christian, Hill gives us a glimpse of what it looks like to wrestle firsthand with God's "No" to same-sex relationships. What does it mean for gay Christians to live faithful to God while struggling with the challenge of their homosexuality? What is God's will for believers who experience same-sex desires? Those who choose celibacy are often left to deal with loneliness and the hunger for relationships. How can gay Christians experience God's favor and blessing in the midst of a struggle that for many brings a crippling sense of shame and guilt? Weaving together reflections from his own life and the lives of other Christians, such as Henri Nouwen and Gerard Manley Hopkins, Hill offers a fresh perspective on these questions. He advocates neither unqualified "healing" for those who struggle, nor their accommodation to temptation, but rather faithfulness in the midst of brokenness. "I hope this book may encourage other homosexual Christians to take the risky step of opening up their lives to others in the body of Christ," Hill writes. "In so doing, they may find, as I have, by grace, that being known is spiritually healthier than remaining behind closed doors, that the light is better than the darkness."

• The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics
• The Doctrine of Humanity (Contours of Christian Theology)
• Not the Way It's Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin
• The Moral Vision of the New Testament: Community, Cross, New Creation, A Contemporary Introduction to New Testament Ethics
• Exploring Christian Theology: Creation, Fall, and Salvation
• Is God anti-gay? (Questions Christians Ask)
• Darkness Is My Only Companion: A Christian Response to Mental Illness
• Theological Anthropology (Sources of Early Christian Thought)
• After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters
• People to Be Loved: Why Homosexuality Is Not Just an Issue