It's tiring, really. I wish they would just accept the new law and move on. Jesus said, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's." They can follow the laws of their land without incurring moral guilt, especially in an area as Biblically debatable as the LGBTQ movement. We're not talking about murder or torture here.
I'm not saying I'd vote for it, or that it's my business to vote for it, but the point is I don't have to vote for it and so let's all just please move forward.
As Christians, some of our gay friends have seemed slightly bewildered by our faith. There are religious items in our home, mostly concentrated in private areas to keep guests of different faiths comfortable, but there are a few small trinkets out and visible. Anyway, we live our faith. We go to church, we pray before meals, we talk about religion. I occasionally wear a beautiful, glittery cross my husband gave me for my birthday. We chat about religion and theology in our spare time when guests aren't over, and in the instances my husband finds a guest who seems interested he delves right in with him, too. The best part is: we aren't judgmental. You can be gay, or atheist, or doubting, relapsed, Hindi, Muslim, Wiccan, nominal, recovering, or polygamous, or Asatru (Norse pagan), or divorced, or having premarital sex, or whatever sin you had or have. My husband and I decided those people are welcome in our house because Jesus would want them to be. He was fairly clear on the matter: be a friend to the sinner, the broken, the weak. Help the widowed, orphaned, poor, and disadvantaged. If we made our home a place where we didn't admit sinners, where would we sleep? The answer seemed obvious. It makes me sad it has been less obvious to some other Christians.
That is why every single one of the groups mentioned above is one of our friends, family, neighbors, extended network, or otherwise part of our life and our daughter's life. We believe it's good for her and for us. We all need grace. We take the Biblical command to provide hospitality seriously, and so we strive to make our home a place where all are welcome, where rest and food and friendship and laughter happen. This is our way of witnessing. As Saint Francis of Assisi said:
I feel saddened when I see these other Christians in the news, creating new wounds between the two groups and reopening old ones, alienating the gay community when we desperately need to understand each other. How can we love our brother from a distance? How can we know his needs until we ask him?
Jesus loved everyone, without exception. There was no sin too abominable for the Christ.
Jesus and Paul, who together gave most of the directives in the New Testament, lived as Jewish men in a Roman society. Put another way, they were a monotheistic minority in a pagan majority. Food and entertainment were often preceded by public--pagan--prayer. Neither man seemed very concerned with taking down the blasphemers and heretics around them; they seemed to take for granted that their religion was solely on a voluntary basis, and rather than organizing protests against the local temple prostitutes, they focused on training their own members in holiness. Standards of righteousness were strict for members of these Jewish and later Christian-Jewish churches, and can be found throughout the New Testament, but never were they applied to spiritual outsiders and certainly not as some type of demented proselytizing.
Love does not require accepting, or condoning, but it does require a willingness to learn and give and share.
My friends, Jesus extends His hand to you, no matter your past, your religion, or even your present.
No comments:
Post a Comment