A Humbled, Contrite Heart

[arthurmerlin]

Title: A Humbled, Contrite Heart
Author: ArthurMerlin
Pairing: Arthur/Merlin
Rating: 15
Word Count: 675
Warnings: Religious themes, angst
Summary:
Merlin sits on a park bench as he contemplates his future.

Notes: This was something on my mind, which I felt I had to jot down. It might lead to a longer story if there's interest in that, perhaps after I've

Comments

[owensheart]

I've a lump in my throat now. Poor Merlin.

Sometimes I wonder if the Church understand the comandment "love thy neighbor as thy self" I honestly don't think Jesus Meant us to Love our neighbors only if they are NOT gay.

Well written and very poigniet piece.

[arthurmerlin]

Thank you, I completely agree; the Church (Catholic and Protestant) has a lot to apologise for.

I have this story fleshed out in my mind. I'm not sure if I'll write it up. The idea is, though, that Arthur and Merlin love each other, but their relationship broke down for religious reasons. And now that Merlin's been hurt by the Church, he turns to the one person who can truly understand - Arthur - and has a quasi-religious experience of healing ultimately leaving him with a sense of hope.

I wanted to bring down the lofty theological and political arguments, which are rattling around at the moment, to the actual reality that Church teaching is hurting individual lives and relationships.

I'm glad it touched your heart it, and thanks for commenting :-)

[arthurmerlin]

Don't be sorry :-)

Thanks for your encouragement, I'll certainly think about it! That little summary I gave in the comment above is about as detailed as my thinking has been as to a plot. But I've sort of imagined Arthur as a Pentecostal-type person; with his father being the Pastor of a big modern mega-church type place; I don't think he works so well as a Catholic. Hmm... let me think for a bit, and see what I come up with...
*scurries off to think* :-)

[silverwings2020]

Wow, this was absolutely fantastic. Merlin's pain was obvious and wonderfully written, and I adore how you had took the answer-to-my-prayers cliche and made it really work beautifully.

Thank you for posting this. :)

[arthurmerlin]

Thank you so much :-)

I like the idea of prayers being answered not by some voice from the sky, or angel appearing at the foot of a bed; but through ordinary people :-)

[arthurmerlin]

Thank you :-) It's amazing how often those two characteristics of tragedy and hope exist alongside each other; of course, it sometimes takes the one to recognise the other!

I think I will continue it :-)

[the_crazy_freak]

This sounds like a really interesting and meaningful piece, so I think you should definitely continue it, if you have a bigger story in mind.

And I (obviously) agree with your opinion of the Church. They should really honour the important and crucial teachings of Christ (such as 'Don't judge others' and 'Love every person'), which they mostly don't.

[arthurmerlin]

Thank you :-)

I often think that if Jesus were to appear in the middle of the Vatican, or Lambeth Palace, or wherever a meaningful place for Evangelicals is; the first thing he would say would be: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you... have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practised" ... the more things change the more things stay the same :-)

[jonah_strange]

A very well written and sad story. Thank you

[arthurmerlin]

You make a number of really excellent points :-) I spent the last year of my degree really unpacking the history of Christianity and homosexuality using examples from the early Church; where I found evidence for a thriving gay Christian community in Antioch, and even evidence that the great Latin Father - St. Augustine - may have been homosexual and certainly had a gay relationship, which was the most emotionally involved relationship of his life… to date, nobody’s challenged my conclusions. So, can the institutional Church change? It’s changed in the past, and it still has the capacity to make remarkable and shocking changes today; if we were having this conversation 100 years ago, for instance, the thought of an English Mass would have been unthinkable, but now it’s commonplace. If John Paul I's pontificate had lasted for longer than 33 days, I'm sure we'd already have Catholic acceptance for homosexuality; he'd already published some writings to that effect when he was still a Cardinal. And if Cardinal Martini had been elected in