“Be just and fair to all. Do
what is right and good, for I am coming soon to rescue you and to display my
righteousness among you.” Isaiah 56:1
It's a day to step back from what
our church is teaching, “Her Story, Jesus, Women and the Church.” It is a good
teaching and has enabled me to find a change of heart regarding men. They can bring good things into my life if I
let them. (A small smile.) The blanketing, prejudicial judgments have been swept away; a very
good thing.
It has, unfortunately, also stirred up a wasps’
nest of very vivid, very unpleasant memories. The series isn’t entirely to
blame for where I am at this morning.
I watched a movie, “Boy Erased”
at work a couple of days ago. It was an outing to the local theatre where they
played the movie of our choice just for us. The back cover blurb on the DVD depicted a
coming of age story for a young gay man, the son of Baptist pastor…It was not. It was two hours of ugly but, as the only staff present, I could not leave. Even when I fled to the relative safety of the theatre lobby, I could still hear it. I am haunted by what I saw and heard.
Oh, Lord, this true story of
what happens when Christians don’t get it right was brutal, violent, and full
of hate; where conversion therapy is used to shame and oppress. It is no
different than the harm done to our Aboriginal people through the Catholic/Government Residential Schools. Only the characters and religion have changed.
A young man who had been physically beaten
with a Bible as part of the “cure” died by suicide.
Conversion therapy as a way to “cure” homosexuality is still being used.
As for my own attitudes towards
homosexuality, as a follower of Jesus, I have no right to cast the first stone. None of us do. I have no right to condemn those who don’t know Him or even those who have missed the point of Jesus' work on the Cross.
Perfection is God’s work. His
perfection and perfecting way is perfect.
I have no right to deny anyone the love of
God. My work is to come along side to encourage, love…to be just and fair to
all.
All means everyone.
I am, when all is said and
done, a sinner who earnestly desires that prayer, spoken words of love, replace condemnation and fear.
And at the moment feeling rather confused because,
Lord, how and where does accountability fit into this? If we are surrounded by
people who believe as we do, how do we know when we get it wrong? Which, as history and current events reveal, we do very well and frequently.
May God have mercy on us. Guide those of us who stray from Your heart, Your way, into truth.
(I had written the following
paragraphs before going back and adding about the movie.)
Tomorrow’s lesson will be
teaching about husbands, wives and the profound mystery.
Sigh. I am not sure I am either
ready or able to hear it. Yet, sometimes the medicine that makes us feel better
comes with an awful taste. So while there is dread, and a valid concern for how
vulnerable I am already thanks to the uninvited flashbacks, there is also a willingness
to face what will come of it.
Through Jesus, the joy will come. He has proven it will be so time and again.
Sometimes the tears have to
fall like rain first. The movie has opened the floodgates already to a grief and sorrow that is far deeper than my own. It is for those who feel they are justified to do harm, to oppress and to hate, believers and non-believers alike. It is for those who don't know there is a better way.
I want to be just and fair because hate is ugly. All it does is sicken the soul and drive others
away from God. Only…this isn’t something I can do on my own...
It might be good to end with a
911 call…Psalm 91:1 (Thanks to the friend who brought this idea to my attention!)
“Those who live in the shelter
of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.”
All these things I pray in Jesus' most precious name. AMEN!
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