Hmm

Hmm
 Today I ran into a most provocative statement from a certain Nadia Bolz-Weber. She said “If your congregation doesn’t have a drag queen, you should go out and get one.” I am happy to report that the Church of Christ congregation I attend in Lewis Center, Oh has a member of the LGBT community, me.

  I do of course wish there were more like me. While I do feel accepted, I don’t always feel acknowledged. I don’t know. Maybe we need a big sign on the door saying “Sinners Welcome”. Thats more important than a church  name. You have probably  guessed I have a provocative streak of my own.

 You cannot help but notice a certain disconnect between the sort of people Jesus invited into his kingdom and the religious figures we see today. Few were wealthy. The wealthy often declined the offer. The religious thought they could approach God on their own. Anyway, they didn’t want to hang out with sinners. Jesus didn’t mind. That was what he came for.

 Oh and before I go on, please drop the “God loves the sinner and hates the sin” mantra. You do know how condescending it sounds, don’t you? You cannot always separate the sin from the sinner easily. Then too, there are just too many times when people in the church think they know what a person has to change to please God, when they don’t. I try to avoid judging others. I don’t want to face a heavenly audit of my sins.

 To tell the truth, we need more LGBT people in the churches. We need them to demonstrate the grace of God and we need the to be there to comfort others who are struggling with gender issues. You can of course say the same thing about alcoholics, drug abusers, people who suffer from chronic depression. This is what the church is about.

Footnote: I just read an article about a Catholic church that denied communiou to a transgendered teen because as they said “she was living in sin.”  Funny, I thought we all were.

Good Morning

I realize that some of what I am going to say could be considered sacrilege. Its not my intent I assure you.

I  woke up today as I always do, with remnants of dreams from the previous night on my mind. I went to Facebook. A friend had posted a video of some dude in a cowboy hat speaking in a heavy Texas drawl, ignorantly speaking out about gender matters and saying something about cowboys. My response was "Cows are girls, Bulls are boys" -Gallagher

There was a post of a former friend about his daughter's wedding. This sent me to look up a certain quote I remember by C.S. Lewis, as I was feeling sorry for myself because I am 66 and live alone.

This led to another train of thought. It was about studying scripture. I get the idea that while scripture is very important, it seems to suggest that everything of any importance has already happened and my experiences in the Fiery Furnace or the experiences of other Christians today are of no consequence.

 It is nice to know God saved Daniel from the lion's den, but what about me? If you are inclined to think me self-centered, remember my ability to endure depends on the trustworthiness of God. Go ahead, try to tell me you have never cried out it pain to a God who seems deaf and powerless. Happens all the time here.

 Is God active today? Hard to tell. The story of the Gospel isn't complete yet. The study of scripture is important, but if that is all we do we are missing the point of why it was written.