The Ferment

5 - Tim Otto - Brave Spaces


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Tim Otto is an openly gay Christian pastor, affirming of same-sex relationships for others, while committed to a life of covenanted celibacy for himself. He is truly queer. In one sense, he doesn’t fit in anywhere. In another sense, he has found his people and lived among them for thirty years. Tim lives as a life-long student of the art of loving as a member of an intentional, common-purse Christian community in San Francisco.

In his characteristically soft-spoken way, Tim challenges the self-righteous chauvinism of both right and left in the culture wars, holding out a vision of brave spaces, where the adventure we are called to is to love the people who make us uncomfortable and to seek truth in the conversations we find difficult.

Episode References:
  • Tim Otto’s book: Oriented to Faith
  • Church of the Sojourners
  • Shane Claiborne
  • Pope John Paul II, Theology of the Body
  • Richard Sipe, expert on celibacy and clerical sex abuse
  • Robert Bella, Habits of the Heart (edited)
  • Alana’s song, “Holy Fool” 
    It makes all kinds of sense
    If you clench your fist
    that I clench mine more
    that I close my door
    We all understand
    if I raise my hand
    back at someone else
    to protect myself
    But what do we do with our Holy Fool?
    What do we do with our Holy Fool?
    And when my god is mocked
    and my cheeks get hot
    I can mock right back
    to stay right on track
    And laugh at your own crude
    certitude
    'cause I can't be sure
    if you are too
    But what do we do with our Holy Fool?
    What do we do with our Holy Fool?
    I want this plot of mine
    to align
    with a triumphant march
    that "changes hearts"
    But what I often mean
    is for others to see
    with the kind of sight
    that would see I'm right
    But what do we do with our Holy Fool?
    What do we do with our Holy Fool?
    And if Easter can't
    be the loser's chant
    and I've forgotten
    what this is all about
    Then my hallelujah
    Maybe my hallelujah
    my hallelujah
    is a violent shout
    What do we do with our Holy Fool?
    Who hangs between our differences
    over what needs to be saved
    What do we do with our Holy Fool?
    Whose foolishness outpours the heavens
    into the wisdom of our graves
    Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah
    to this Ancient, Holy Fool
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    The FermentBy Marcus Peter Rempel & Alana Levandoski

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