Gays and Buffets

I tossed all night over this blog.

Should I write it?
What will people say?
What will they do?
I don't want to cause a fight.
I don't want to cause waves. 
Should I write it?
Should. I. Write. It?

As I sit here this morning,much of the Earth still slumbering, my heart is shattered.
Truthfully, I was on a "hope high" the last few days.

Hope for the LGBT community, hope for the church, hope for the denomination I grew up in, hope for equality, hope for all.

It is hard to not let my hope be drowned in the cess pool of hate. 
It is hard to not completely wash my hands of so many people after reading how they felt and what they thought regarding the rights and discrimination of people. 

My mind reflects back to the photos in my middle school history books, of African American students shoving through a crowd of hate, just to attend the same school as their white brothers and sisters.
Just to exist equally. 

The faces in the crowd were filled with absolute hate and disgust.
To them, it was their right...to hate.
Their religious right, even.

With clinched fists and furrowed brows, with ropes and torches, we have always found ourselves on the wrong side of history.

We have claimed religious right as we pointed fingers at "witches," burning and drowning them with hate in one hand and the Bible in the other.

We have claimed religious right as we hung frayed nooses over our brothers' necks, hanging them with hate in one hand and the Bible in the other.

Now, we claim religious right as we slam and lock our doors in our brother's and sister's faces, denying them with hate in one hand...
and the Bible in the other.

Some people claim it was God's hand in the voting poll, leading to the outcome of stripping the gays of their equality.

I will not be afraid to speak out and stand up to you anymore.

You. Are. Wrong.

The Jesus I know would not be a part of your viciousness.

You claim to stand on His teachings as you cower behind your closed business doors, but do you even know Him at all? 

Galations 5:14 
" The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."

Double take.
Yes, that verse did in fact just say what you think it did.

And I'm pretty sure Jesus meant it, too.

The ENTIRE law can be summed up right here: let love win.

You want to skip around and pull parts of scripture that you want to, just to suit you?
You want to skip the part about gluttony as you hobble your way to the buffet after church on Sunday, right after preaching from you pulpit about gay people?
You want to skip the part about loving your neighbor as yourself and continue ranting on social media about gay people?
You want to skip the part about washing dirty feet and turn your head as you close your business doors to gay people?
You want to skip the part about letting love win, as you strip rights from your brothers and sisters?

You claim you are "loving" gay people by warning them.
You claim you are "loving" gay people by pulling their seat at the table from right under them.

Well, I'm going to tell you something in "love."
You are missing it in your own rage, blinded by distasteful hate and God has nothing to do with it.

Jesus said to come to the table and eat.
Who the hell do you think you are to decide who belongs at the table and who doesn't?

In Matthew 21:31, we find a moment (of many) where Jesus knocks the religious right upside the head. His own disciples, even. The dudes who knew Him best.
They think they know the right answer.
They think they've got it figured it out.
So right when they think they know who was doing it right, who was doing the will of the Father, Jesus says, "Wrong again, losers! Pay attention! Even the whores and low down tax collectors are going to enter heaven before you..because you're missing it!"

I think the 2015 version might sound a little like, "Wrong again, losers! Pay attention! The gays and lesbians will enter heaven before you...because you're missing it!"

Jesus' entire life was about letting love win.
That's it.
In the end, when you approach Jesus, what will you have clenched in your hands?
Will it be your religious rights?
Or will be love?

But, you've heard all this before.
My voice will sadly, most likely, be a small, short, faint breeze.
Another reason why I wasn't sure if writing this blog would even be of importance or need.

But, even so, should we stop speaking?
Should we stop standing?
Should we lose our hope completely?
No.

I will not shut up or sit down.
I will not lose hope.
I will let. love. win.




All of this was said in love,
of course.