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| With Dr. and Mrs. Yap Kim Hao and members of the church |
Homosexual sex is still punishable by prison time in
Singapore, but the government has promised not to enforce the law. The Singaporean
lesbian and gay community formed a group called Safehaven in 1998 to offer
support and fellowship for Christians to discuss issues about faith and
sexuality. The Free Community Church was subsequently formed, whose mission is
“to create sacred space and give voice
to the lives and experiences of minority communities, recognising their
potential to transform lives and the wider church for the common good and glory
of God.”
I was invited by Dr. Yap Kim Hao, former General Secretary
of the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA), to visit Singapore. I have known Dr.
Yap since my college days when I was introduced to the Asian ecumenical
movement. Through meeting other young people at the CCA assembly in 1973 in
Singapore, I was conscientized to the social issues of Asia and became aware of
our collective identity as “Asian.”
Since his retirement from full-time ministry, Dr. Yap serves
as pastoral advisor to the Free Community Church. I was very impressed that at
83, Dr. Yap has taken on a new cause and has committed himself to helping this
fledgling community.
The Free Community Church rents space at a commercial
building. Its members come from all walks of life and they are both gay and
straight. The core members who welcomed me include the pastor Miak Siew and
a teacher, a psychiatrist, and a business school administrator. Most of the
members seem to be professionals.
I delivered a lecture on “Loving the Body, Loving God.” I
discussed the dualism of mind and body in Christian theology and introduced resources
in the Bible and in the mystic tradition to envision a more positive approach
to the body. I encouraged the audience to recover an expansive view about the
body, pleasure, and Eros.
Some of the things I have said were quite “radical” for the
audience, as some of them have come from conservative religious background, as
churches in Singapore are generally quite conservative. After the lecture, some
were interested in exploring further sexual ethics and morality. One asked how
could we love and respect the body when the Bible says that our body is God’s
and God is the potter and we are the clay (Isa. 64:8)?
In my response, I said that it is very customary for those
of us who have grown up in Chinese families to think about sex in terms of
right and wrong. Sex has been understood primarily in moralistic terms, and is
often associated with danger, risk, and taboo. Love, however, is often beyond
right and wrong, black and white.
Why can’t we think of sex in terms of aesthetics—of beauty,
communion, excitement, desire, and ecstasy? I encouraged the Free Community
Church to practice the ministry of accompaniment with all those who sexualities
are questionable or even “indecent,” to borrow theologian Marcella Althaus-Reid's language.
I am very encouraged to know that in addition to the
Free Community Church, there is a small Metropolitan Community Church in KualaLumpur as well as the Blessed Minority Christian Fellowship in Hong Kong, which
celebrated its 20th anniversary this year.
An all Asia “open and affirming” church and life conference
called “Amplify 2012” was held from June 22-24 in Hong Kong. With the theme
“Transcending Boundaries—Restoring Hope,” the conference brought together
participants from nine Asian countries. Bishop Yvette Flunder, Presiding bishop
of the Fellowship of Affirming Ministries in San Francisco and Bishop Gene
Robinson, bishop of New Hampshire of the Episcopal Church USA were the plenary
speakers.
At the end of my lecture, a woman came up to ask if I have
spoken to other lesbian and gay groups in Asia. I said that while I have met
with individual lesbians and gay men in Asia, I have not given a
theological lecture in a predominantly lesbian and gay group. I was very
grateful to have the opportunity to speak at the Free Community Church and meet
Asian lesbian and gay Christians.