Meet our Patrons - Paul Bayes intro
Channel: Open Table Network
Date: 2021-02-19

Watch the recording of our Q&A with former Bishop of Liverpool Paul Bayes, in conversation with OTN Coordinator Kieran Bohan here [59 minutes]: https://youtu.be/otELsXdGSsY

Here is Bishop Paul's message for the Open Table Network:

It's been a particular privilege for me to support the work of Open Table and a real treat to be invited to be a Patron of the Network. That's because I believe that God loves and includes everyone, and that permanent and faithful and stable relationships between two people is something to celebrate as a gift from God.

I believe that's true, but I also believe that we're not just debating things like that. We're talking about people's lives. There was a bishop once, Lesslie Newbigin was his name, and he said that the best thing you can have to interpret the Christian Gospel is a community of people who live it out.

Open Table is a community, it's a network of communities. It offers support and care. It offers love and friendship to all, especially LGBTI+ people. It's inclusive, and it lives that out. We talk a lot about love and inclusion, but what matters most is that people should know what it feels like. It feels like people together. It feels like love and friendship shared. It feels like Open Table.

So thank you for your companionship, your mutual care, your struggle for justice and against homophobia. Thank you for your friendships. Thank you, even in these days when we can't meet for providing safe space for people.

Thank you for including me in this movement of the Spirit, and may God continue to bless you, and to bless you all into the future.