Wesley Hill''s personal experiences and biblical reflections offer insight into how a nonpracticing gay Christian can "prove, live out, and celebrate" the grace of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit.

For many who are on this path, it''s a lonely one. The reality of loneliness and isolation of the celibate homosexual Christian is something that Hill lives and takes seriously in his pursuit of the gospel-centered life. To those on a similar journey, it''s often a life of uncertainties and questions.

In Washed and Waiting, Hill explores the three main struggles that have been part of his daily effort to live faithfully:

Interspersed throughout these main sections are character sketches and stories of people who have experienced this journey''s trials and triumphs.

Hill offers wise counsel that is biblically faithful, theologically serious, and oriented to the life and practice of the church. As a celibate gay Christian, he gives us a glimpse of what it looks like to wrestle firsthand with God''s "No" to same-sex sexual intimacy and contemplate serious and difficult questions.

This is a book written primarily for gay Christians and those who love them. Part memoir, part pastoral-theological reflection, this book wrestles with three main areas of struggle that many gay Christians face: (1) What is God’s will for sexuality? (2) If the historic Christian tradition is right and same-sex behavior is ruled out, how should gay Christians deal with their resulting loneliness? (3) How can gay Christians come to an experience of grace that rescues them from crippling feelings of shame and guilt? Author Wesley Hill is not advocating that it is possible for every gay Christian to become straight, nor is he saying that God affirms homosexuality. Instead, Hill comes alongside gay Christians and says, “You are not alone. Here is my experience; it’s like yours. And God is with us. We can share in God’s grace.” While some authors profess a deep faith in Christ and claim a powerful experience of the Holy Spirit precisely in and through their homosexual practice, Hill’s own story, by contrast, is a story of feeling spiritually hindered, rather than helped, by his homosexuality. His story testifies that homosexuality was not God’s original creative intention for humanity—that it is, on the contrary, a tragic sign of human nature and relationships being fractured by sin—and therefore that homosexual practice goes against God’s express will for all human beings, especially those who trust in Christ. This book is written mainly for those homosexual Christians who are trying to walk the narrow path of celibacy and are convinced that their discipleship to Jesus necessarily commits them to the demanding, costly obedience of choosing not to nurture their homosexual desires. With reflections from the lives of Henri Nouwen and Gerard Manley Hopkins, Wesley Hill encourages and challenges Christians with homosexual desires to live faithful to God’s plan for human sexuality.

Foreword INDIES Award FinalistIVP Readers' Choice Award

In an age where neither society nor the church knows what to do with gay Christians, Greg Coles tells his own story.

Let's make a deal, you and me. Let's make promises to each other.

I promise to tell you my story. The whole story. I'll tell you about a boy in love with Jesus who, at the fateful onset of puberty, realized his sexual attractions were persistently and exclusively for other guys. I'll tell you how I lay on my bed in the middle of the night and whispered to myself the words I've whispered a thousand times since:

"I'm gay."

I'll show you the world through my eyes. I'll tell you what it's like to belong nowhere. To know that much of my Christian family will forever consider me unnatural, dangerous, because of something that feels as involuntary as my eye color. And to know that much of the LGBTQ community that shares my experience as a sexual minority will disagree with the way I've chosen to interpret the call of Jesus, believing I've bought into a tragic, archaic ritual of self-hatred.

But I promise my story won't all be sadness and loneliness and struggle. I'll tell you good things too, hopeful things, funny things, like the time I accidentally came out to my best friend during his bachelor party. I'll tell you what it felt like the first time someone looked me in the eyes and said, "You are not a mistake." I'll tell you that joy and sorrow are not opposites, that my life has never been more beautiful than when it was most brokenhearted.

If you'll listen, I promise I'll tell you everything, and you can decide for yourself what you want to believe about me.

"He is risen indeed!"

Easter Sunday is the holiest day of the year, a day when even those who don't usually observe the Christian calendar or attend liturgical churches greet each other with the proclamation "Christ is risen!"

But Easter is more than a day—it's a season even longer than Lent. In fact, for the Christian who has died with Christ and been brought to life in him, Easter is the new, joyous, and radical way of living. The world is turned upside down. In this short volume, priest and New Testament scholar Wesley Hill explores the history and significance of the season of Easter for the church and for our own spiritual formation.

This volume of the Fullness of Time series offers readers

About the Series

Each volume in the Fullness of Time series invites readers to engage with the riches of the church year, exploring the traditions, prayers, Scriptures, and rituals of the seasons of the church calendar.

Wesley Hill''s personal experiences and biblical reflections offer insight into how a nonpracticing gay Christian can "prove, live out, and celebrate" the grace of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit.

For many who are on this path, it''s a lonely one. The reality of loneliness and isolation of the celibate homosexual Christian is something that Hill lives and takes seriously in his pursuit of the gospel-centered life. To those on a similar journey, it''s often a life of uncertainties and questions.

In Washed and Waiting, Hill explores the three main struggles that have been part of his daily effort to live faithfully:

Interspersed throughout these main sections are character sketches and stories of people who have experienced this journey''s trials and triumphs.

Hill offers wise counsel that is biblically faithful, theologically serious, and oriented to the life and practice of the church. As a celibate gay Christian, he gives us a glimpse of what it looks like to wrestle firsthand with God''s "No" to same-sex sexual intimacy and contemplate serious and difficult questions.

This is a book written primarily for gay Christians and those who love them. Part memoir, part pastoral-theological reflection, this book wrestles with three main areas of struggle that many gay Christians face: (1) What is God’s will for sexuality? (2) If the historic Christian tradition is right and same-sex behavior is ruled out, how should gay Christians deal with their resulting loneliness? (3) How can gay Christians come to an experience of grace that rescues them from crippling feelings of shame and guilt? Author Wesley Hill is not advocating that it is possible for every gay Christian to become straight, nor is he saying that God affirms homosexuality. Instead, Hill comes alongside gay Christians and says, “You are not alone. Here is my experience; it’s like yours. And God is with us. We can share in God’s grace.” While some authors profess a deep faith in Christ and claim a powerful experience of the Holy Spirit precisely in and through their homosexual practice, Hill’s own story, by contrast, is a story of feeling spiritually hindered, rather than helped, by his homosexuality. His story testifies that homosexuality was not God’s original creative intention for humanity—that it is, on the contrary, a tragic sign of human nature and relationships being fractured by sin—and therefore that homosexual practice goes against God’s express will for all human beings, especially those who trust in Christ. This book is written mainly for those homosexual Christians who are trying to walk the narrow path of celibacy and are convinced that their discipleship to Jesus necessarily commits them to the demanding, costly obedience of choosing not to nurture their homosexual desires. With reflections from the lives of Henri Nouwen and Gerard Manley Hopkins, Wesley Hill encourages and challenges Christians with homosexual desires to live faithful to God’s plan for human sexuality.

Foreword INDIES Award FinalistIVP Readers' Choice Award

In an age where neither society nor the church knows what to do with gay Christians, Greg Coles tells his own story.

Let's make a deal, you and me. Let's make promises to each other.

I promise to tell you my story. The whole story. I'll tell you about a boy in love with Jesus who, at the fateful onset of puberty, realized his sexual attractions were persistently and exclusively for other guys. I'll tell you how I lay on my bed in the middle of the night and whispered to myself the words I've whispered a thousand times since:

"I'm gay."

I'll show you the world through my eyes. I'll tell you what it's like to belong nowhere. To know that much of my Christian family will forever consider me unnatural, dangerous, because of something that feels as involuntary as my eye color. And to know that much of the LGBTQ community that shares my experience as a sexual minority will disagree with the way I've chosen to interpret the call of Jesus, believing I've bought into a tragic, archaic ritual of self-hatred.

But I promise my story won't all be sadness and loneliness and struggle. I'll tell you good things too, hopeful things, funny things, like the time I accidentally came out to my best friend during his bachelor party. I'll tell you what it felt like the first time someone looked me in the eyes and said, "You are not a mistake." I'll tell you that joy and sorrow are not opposites, that my life has never been more beautiful than when it was most brokenhearted.

If you'll listen, I promise I'll tell you everything, and you can decide for yourself what you want to believe about me.

"He is risen indeed!"

Easter Sunday is the holiest day of the year, a day when even those who don't usually observe the Christian calendar or attend liturgical churches greet each other with the proclamation "Christ is risen!"

But Easter is more than a day—it's a season even longer than Lent. In fact, for the Christian who has died with Christ and been brought to life in him, Easter is the new, joyous, and radical way of living. The world is turned upside down. In this short volume, priest and New Testament scholar Wesley Hill explores the history and significance of the season of Easter for the church and for our own spiritual formation.

This volume of the Fullness of Time series offers readers

About the Series

Each volume in the Fullness of Time series invites readers to engage with the riches of the church year, exploring the traditions, prayers, Scriptures, and rituals of the seasons of the church calendar.