My Review of "Messy Grace"

Caleb Kaltenbach's Messy Grace: How a Pastor with Gay Parents Learned to Love Others without Sacrificing Conviction is an important book in the struggling conversation about homosexuality in the Church. Caleb Kaltenbach's parents divorced when he was but a toddler, both of them identifying with the LGBT movement. In this semi-autobiographical book Caleb tells the unexpected story of how he went from a decision never to become a Christian to not just becoming a Christian, but a pastor.

The first few chapters of Messy Grace offer a window into a real life -- Kaltenbach's life -- a life that began in the heart of the LGBT community (where clubs, parties, marches and the like were the norm). A life that knows first-hand how graceless Christians can be toward that community. A life that has lived the harsh truth: Christians are often less loving toward their LGBT neighbors, in a way that diminishes the Gospel of Grace.

So, make no doubt about it, this is a book about Grace.

This Grace, though, is also messy. As Kaltenbach observes at one point: "Typically, when we wrestle with the tension of grace and truth, we either go all the way to the grace side, where everything is deemed acceptable, or we go all the way to the truth side, where we speak truth and have no love. It’s harder to live in the tension of grace and truth". The Bible, Kaltenbach maintains, is clear about homosexuality. Something he's had to come to terms with on a personal level. But while he thinks Christians owe our culture the word of truth -- we also owe that truth in a graceful way.

That's what makes Grace so Messy.

I was, though, deeply disappointed to see how little he grapples with the textual issues involved in the variety of interpretations of the biblical text. His is a one-sided analysis, that I ultimately find less convincing.

But his narrative is an important one. In terms of how we Christians deal with others, Kaltenbach highlights, we must do so relationally, with Grace.

That's what makes this book an important contribution to the conversation about homosexuality in the Church.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

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